Tannin' and Swimmin'

I'm off for the weekend. Doing the family beach thing. Headin' pa' la playa.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Ah, Yes! The Worker's Party.

Tell me agian, who starves the Cuban people?

HAVANA, July 28 (Víctor Manuel Domínguez, Lux Info Press / www.cubanet.org) - The 250-some workers of a seed producing company in Bayamo have not been paid their salaries since June while auditors peruse the books looking for reported irregularities committed by a company executive.

Reportedly Ricardo Fermín Martí, the company economist, sold an unspecified amount of seed to the private sector. The authorities' immediate response to the finding consisted of transferring Martí to another job and freezing the company's accounts until they can determine the amounts involved in the transaction or transactions.

To workers' complaints, company management, and union officials, along with Communist Party officials, said that until they can determine the extent of the problem and allocate responsibilities for the same, nothing can be done.

The case is not an isolated one, said labor activist Sergio Núñez. In nearby Cauto Cristo, also in Granma province, 187 peasants attached to the Carlos Bastida Agricultural Cooperative have not been paid for the last three months because the accounts there have been frozen by request of the Popular Savings Bank. Bank executives denounced the improper use of funds allocated to the Coops food services branch.

Núñez also pointed out that the government press recently carried news of a peasant woman who hadn't been paid in two years due to the negligence of Ministry of Agriculture officials.

Cuban Oil

Repsol YPF, a Spanish petrochemical giant, is conducting oil exploration off of the coast of Cuba. While the attempt to find oil in Cuban waters is deemed a "long shot," any success in the area would ultimately be detrimental to the Cuban people.

Sure, there would be some immediate benefits. No more power outages, enough fuel for passenger vehicles and tranports. Life would get a bit easier. But, finding oil off the coast of Cuba would be a boon for Castro and his despotic regime. He would no longer have to rely on foreign oil, which at the moment comes primarily from Chavez's Venezuela. And, as you may know, come August, Chavez may be a thing of the past.

Not having to rely on foreign oil subsidies means that Castro can use the leftover finances to further tighten his grip on the Cuban people. Thus prolonging his party's reign.

It could also lead to the easing of sanctions against the island - or the lifting of the embargo alltogether - as it would be incredibly naive to think that US oil companies would allow themselves to be prevented from drilling so close to their own shores.

This worries me. I hope efforts come up empty. I really do.

The Story Tony Chao Flores

Humberto Fontova has yet another heartwrenching article at Newsmax on that best friend of the left that runs some island in the Caribbean.

A quick excerpt:

In 1961 (the year of the paredon) a 20-year-old boy named Tony Chao Flores took his place at the execution stake, but he hobbled to it on crutches. Tony was a photogenic lad, a cover-boy in fact. In January of 1959 his smiling face was featured on the very cover of Cuba's Bohemia magazine, a combination Time-Newsweek-People, let's call it. In the photo, Tony's long blond hair dangled over his tanned face, almost to his green gallego eyes. His trademark smirk showed below. The senoritas all swooned over Tony. He always had his pick. Tony was actually a rebel at the time, wearing the uniform of Castro's own 26th of July Movement.

He'd taken them at their word. Let's face it, we're all idealists and a bit gullible at 18. (much harder to fathom are the thousands in their 30's, 40's, 50's and 60's, both in Cuba and the U.S., who swallowed Castro's BS by the shovelful, rolling their eyes and rubbing their tummies deliriously - then asked for seconds!)

Within days of marching into Havana, Castro's deeds began to manifest: mass-jailings, mass-robbery, firing squads. The reds grabbed all newspapers, magazines, radio and TV stations. They banned elections, strikes, private-property, free-speech. Each dawn, from one end of the island to the other, Castro and Che's firing squads piled up the corpses of any who resisted. None of that "engagement," none of that "dialogue," none of that "re-conciliation" Castro's agents (on his payroll and off) constantly whimper about nowadays - none of that lovey-dovey stuff was mentioned when Castro held the hammer. Now that he's stone broke, without a Russian sugar-daddy and out of sap creditors to stiff - well, now his U.S press agents can't shut up about "re-conciliation" and "dialogue."

Please, read the whole thing.

No Mango For You

Here's a quick article that shows the sheer absurdity of Castro's regime:

HAVANA, July 27 (Moisés Leonardo Rodríguez / www.cubanet.org) - Lack of transportation has put a crimp on the government's effort to collect the current mango crop, but peasants who grow it are forbidden from selling their produce to the people. The result: No mangoes in the markets and 200 hundredweight of mangoes disposed of in the river Saná.

As a matter of fact, says local human rights activist Guillermo Llanes, this is the second time the massive dump takes place. Government officials had done the same last month.

Unbelievable, no?

Look out your window.

Photo lifted from Burton Terrace.

LILEKS

Go. Read. Now.

Makin' Glue

Bill, of In Dc Journal fame, is making glue out of Michael Moore. A definite must read.

More baby steps in Cuba

In preparation for Fidel Castro's visit to Santa Clara, Cuba for the July 26th ceremonies, one particular slogan, painted in large red block letters read:

Bienvenido Fidel, esta es tu casa.

Welcome Fidel, this is your home.

The beauty of it is that it was painted on one of the entrance walls to a cemetery!

Build Your Bunker Now

And disguise it. Build it in the shape of a mosque. And get yourself enrolled in some nightschool classes, you are gonna need to speak French. Most importantly though, don't be afraid of terrorists. Because the Democratic Party says we should not fear them. They are not our enemies. It's our neighbors that are enemies. And our mailmen. And the guy at the gas station. And our barbers. It's anyone that has the gall, the hatred, and the audacity to be a Republican.

It's got to be true! Ted Kennedy says so:

The only thing we have to fear is four more years of George W. Bush!

Because the sun rises

Kelley's back, and I can once again smell the flowers.

Welcome back Kelley. Te estrañamos.

Castro is Crazy

Seriously, the man is a few beers short of a six-pack. In a speech given during his July 26th celebration, to a captive audience no less, Castro denied the prevalence of prostitution in Cuba. (All evidence to the contrary.) He also denied that children are exploited, and then, brought little Elian Gonzalez up on stage to prove the point. Oh, the irony.

In fact, prostitution has been so rampant throughout Cuba that a new word evolved in thE language. The term jinetera(o) is now used to describe those who sell themselves to tourists for a few dollars or necessities the Castro regime fails to provide them. The word originates from "jinete" meaning saddle.

I will not link them here, but Google the terms "jinetera" and you will find a plethora of tourism related sites all talking about the availability of cheap sex in Cuba.

Oh, and check out the photo of Castro in the above linked article. Tell me, doesnt that look like a face of a man that is completely demented?

Loved Letters

I was stopped at a traffic light yeterday when a metro-bus pulled up next to me. On it's side was one of those huge advertising things they put on buses nowadays. I don't usually pay any mind to these loud attempts for my attention, but this one hit home for me. There on the side of this bus in the city of Miami, in Little Havana, the hub of the Cuban diaspora, was a sign that read:

The sign had pictures of familiar places in Cuba displayed around the Parcels to Cuba! Dollars to Cuba! and Travel to Cuba!. But there was one slogan in particular that completely blew me away. It read: Cuba. Un sentimiento familiar! Roughly translated it means: Cuba. A family feeling.

How inexplicably sad. It's enough that Fidel Castro and his regime divide the Cuban family, but to have it now exploited for profit, undoubtedly by Cubans living in exile, is just heartbreaking. Marazul Charters serves as a travel agency, a bank and a postal service all in one, cloaking it's exploitation of the Cuban hardship by touting it's "family feeling" thing. It even sells prepaid phone cards for Cuba.

Things are so different now.

When I was a kid I remember times when the phone would ring in a house full of people and I'd answer it. From the handset would come a faint, crackling "Llamada de Cuba. LLamada de Cuba" (Call from Cuba. Call from Cuba). I would immediately look to the nearest adult and say "Llamada de Cuba." The phone would be wrested from my hands in almost a panic and the rest of the room would go completely silent. It was a call from Cuba! They may have been waiting weeks for it, sometimes months. There could have been any number of problems or things going on in my house at that precise moment but nothing, nothing, would be more important than that phone call from Cuba.

My father or mother or whatever adult it was that got the phone would acept the phone call from Cuba and wait for the connection. Whoever else was in the house just sat there in total silence, waiting, staring at the person on the phone. The telephone conversation would usually go something like this (translated):

HELLO? CAN YOU HEAR ME?... YES. YES. I HEAR YOU... WHO IS IT?...WHO?... FLOR?..SI. AY FLOR. IT'S SO GOOD TO HEAR YOUR VOICE... FINE...FINE. WE ARE ALL FINE. HOW IS PAQUITO?.. AND THE KIDS?...Y MARTA? HOW IS MARTA?...

Whoever was on the phone would turn to everyone around and fill us in on the details. Flor and her husband were fine. The kids are growing so fast...Marta got on the list to leave...

YES. YES. I'M STILL HERE... BAD NEWS? WHAT BAD NEWS?... WHO?... MAMACITA? I CANT BELIEVE IT. HOW DID IT HAPPEN? WHEN?... HELLO? CAN YOU HEAR ME?... ARE YOU STILL THERE?... FLOR?...HELLO?...FLOR?...

Mamacita or Papasito or any one of the countless family members was dead. Everyone that had been listening intently were already in sobs. My father of mother or whoever it was that was on the phone would hang it up, gingerly, and stare at it as if expecting it to ring once again. But it never rang twice. Telephone calls from Cuba usually only meant someone in the family had died and the government had allowed them a call to family in Miami.

All the telephone calls were monitored and the minute the news for which that phone call was granted was relayed, the connection was cut. And that was it. the question of how the person died and when, whether it was an accident or the person had been disappeared, or had suffered, or went in their sleep - all of that had to wait.

All of the detail of a dead relative would come to us via another form. We would learn about how Mamacita had died by way of a crumpled letter arriving months later, having been smuggled to Miami by someone from Cuba - usually someone we had never met - that had been granted leave. Cubans that left the island not only left their families behind but carried with them word from who knows how many other families who had no more contact which each other. It must have been quite a task for those Cuban letter carriers to have to, upon first arriving in the land of the free, be bearers of bad news to complete strangers.

My grandmother had a letter she received in that fashion. It was from a family friend and told of the death of a relative. I don't recall exactly who it was that had died, but I remember my grandmother cherished that letter. She must have read it a million times, each time in sobs. There were days that she would bring out the letter specifically. The person's birthday, or wedding anniversary or the anniversary of their death. Other days, she would just bring the letter out and hold it unopened. Staring at it but with her thoughts clearly on something deeper.

I never really thought about my grandmother and her letter until just yesterday, when I sat next to a bus advertising the sending of remittances to Cuba. I realize now the true strength of my family and the clarity of their convictions. And I understand the enormous sacrifices they made.

When Christmas Was Prohibited

Celebrating Christmas was forbidden for decades in Castro's Cuba. There were no Noche Buena celebrations allowed, no Christmas trees, no mistletoe. There were no gifts from Santa. It was just another day.

Fidel took December 25th away from his people and gave them July 26th instead. Instead of celebrating the birth of Christ, Cubans were forced to celebrate the birth of the Revolution.

This year's celebration of the July 26th movement was held in Santa Clara province yesterday, and while I have no news on the event itself, I do have something on the preparations:

SANTA CLARA, July 23 (Javier Machado, Cubanacán Press / www.cubanet.org) - Contrasting with the mass rallies of previous anniversaries, this year's July 26 celebration in Santa Clara's Ernesto (Che) Guevara Square will be limited to 30,000 carefully selected invitees who have been given a long list of strict do's and don'ts'.

Attendees will all wear red or black shirts, the original colors of Castro's July 26 movement, and may not have with them newspapers, food, containers with liquids, umbrellas, or hats with signage in English. The only thing they are expected to hold will be Cuban flags. They must check in to the event with previously-issued credentials at least five hours before starting time to be admitted.

All those who are expected who cannot make it, must let the appropriate authorities know so that "the chair that goes to that pass will not be empty" is the way Party officials explained it at preparatory meetings. For every 20 attendees, there will be one designated group leader who will make sure they don't move about, even to go to the rest rooms, reportedly.

Roaming Party militants and members of the Association of Fighters of the Revolution will patrol the perimeter of the Square.

In the days leading up to July 26, Santa Clara residents have noticed an increase in the number of cars with Havana plates, some coming and going, some just stopped with their occupants observing everything around the Square. Residents have also said they have seen people in the roofs of buildings and on trees.

Several commercial operations near the Square have all given their workers time off.

The ceremony itself is officially set for 7 p.m. , but there are rumors that it could be held as early as 7 a.m.

We need more Calgon!!!!

Three members of the United States House of Representatives accused UBS, Switzerland's largest bank, of laundering money for the Cuban government.

To the tune of $3.9 BILLION!

Castro is saying the money came from tourism and dollar store sales. But, seriously, that a hell of a lot of money to be coming from just those sources.

Los Chancleteros

I used the term Chancletero - a derivation of the cuban word "chancleta" which means flip-flop shoes - to describe John Kerry a few months back because of his penchant for flip-flopping on issues.

But in Cuban, a chancletero or chancletera is also used to describe a crass or vulgar individual. Which now makes it appropriate to use the same term - Chancletera -to describe Teresa Heinz-Kerry as well.

Run, Ricky, Run

Don't let the door hit your ass on the way out. Asshole.

Cat Fluff

A few weeks back I wrote about the kitten killer who was tossing kittens out of his car window in morning rush hour traffic on a heavily traveled street. Then I posted a subsequent entry when I found a kitten, very similar to the ones the guy was killing, living in my backyard.

It was all sort of karmic in a weird karma sort of way.

Well, I am here to report that the kitten is still living in his ficus condo. It's pretty amazing as I have a dog as do my neighbors. But, he has dug himself a nice little home in the root system of the tree. No, he's not living underground. The tree he chose is the huge ficus I have at the canal's edge that was felled by Huricane Andrew back in '92. It's roots are vertical and exposed, the main trunk of the tree is horizontal. Yet the tree is still striving. It's huge and beautiful. A testament to nature. So now the kitten that I like to think is enjoying a second chance is living in the tree that I know is living off a second chance.

I have tried everything to get the kitten to come to me. I open a can of cat food and go outside doing a "Here kitty kitty. Here kitty kitty" falsetto every day. I have inched the can closer and closer to the house. I laid catnip toys out for him, water, treats, you name it, and he still wont come. It's like he has some sort of trauma and is freaked by humans.

I've tried catching him with a net. My neighbor and I have tried to surround him and get him to come out. I've even tried the "put some food under a box held by a stick attached to a rope that I can pull when he's eating and thus capturing him inside the box" trap but to no avail. He will not stand under that box. It's like he knows it's a trap.

He doesn't sleep in the tree at night however. As soon as we let the dog in for the night and turn out the backyard lights he sneaks onto the pool deck area and sleeps on the concrete somewhere. Babalu just sits by the kitchen door and stares at him, as if the cat is mocking him.

The minute I flip the kitchen lights on in the morning, I see him scurrying away to his tree palace. The minute he sees any kind of canine or human movement, he bolts...ahem...like a cat outta hell. It is the oddest thing.

I am starting to get a bit worried about him. That kitten is basically living canalside, with all the snakes and buffo frogs and insects and gators and mosquitos that are out there. No matter how resourceful he is, any one of those things can kill him.

Still, it is pretty awesome to see him living in that tree. He's like a feline Tarzan or Robinson Crusoe. And he's damn cute too, in a squatter Siamese kitten kinda way.

And I have no idea how to get him out of the tree and into the house. Nor have I been able to find a proper name for him. We have to call him something other than "treecat." (Although it has a nice ring to it, dont you think?)

Does anyone out there have any idea how to get him to come to us? Are wild, traumatized, freaked out kittens tamable?

And a name. He/she/it needs a proper name. Any ideas?

Nunca Olvidemos

Never forget.

Remember. So your kids and your kid's kids dont have to.

Dissident Freed

Martha Beatriz Roque, one of the 75 encarcerated dissidents and the only woman of the group, has been released.

She was found guilty, among other things, of creating a Web site that reported on Cuba's deteriorating economic situation.

It was Roque's second stint in jail. She served three years in the late 1990s for criticising the government's economic policies along with three other economists known as the Group of Four.

This is, of course, good news. However the only reason she and the other recently released prisoners were freed is because their health was failing. It would not be poltically expedient for Castro to have a dissident die in jail.

My Morning

The plans for a certain project at the university have to be approved by the building department by tomorrow but I had some comments from the buiilding department's structural reviewer so I had to get in touch with my structural engineer and have been unable to do so for three days but then he calls and says he will be in the office until noon and he needs the review set of drawings and calculations which are not in my office but in the hands of the person processing the plans through the building department so I call the person and she is at another building departmnent in downtown Miami and cant leave before noon so I have to go get them from her over there so I drive over and sit in the parking lot waiting for her to come down cause the plans are in her car and why should I go up and look for her but she comes down after Ive been waiting a half hour and get the plans and calculations and I haul ass to the engineer's office as it's almost noon and it's about a 15 minutes drive to his office but I get there and find that the street of his office is basically closed and there a hell of a lot of people around just sitting down on the sidewalks and all over the place in general so I have to park 4 blocks away and walk. . . With a huge set of plans and specifications. Wearing a black shirt and in the damn sun and heat. And I've been running around like a mad man all morning. And the street is filled with people. And. It. Is. Hot. As. Hell.

My first thought is that there is something going on at the Colombian Embassy Consulate which is right across the street from the engineer's office. But, looking at the people all around me, none of them even remotely resembles a Colombian. And it's just too damn quiet for it to be a mass of latin people.

So I continue lugging the damn documents and drawings through the maze of people towards the engineer's office. It is unbeleivably hot. I mean HOT as in 98 degrees and really humid. I'm sweating from parts of my body I didnt even know existed. I have to walk around, over, side step and practically jump over some of these people sitting here in the sun waiting for something.

What the hell are all these morons doing waiting out here in this heat? What could they possibly be looking forward to that much? What could possibly merit heat stroke?

Then it dawns on me. Books and Books. It's right next door to the engineer's office an there's a damn book signing going on. Now I know it's not Anne Rice or Steven King or any other writer that gets this kind of press coverage and following. These are not the dress like vampires kind of freaks. these are completely diferent kinds of freaks altogether.

Then it dawns on me again. It's Bill. Bill Freaken Clinton is coming to sign books here this afternoon and there are people already waiting. They must have been waiting since freaken dawn.

For the love of life, don't these people have JOBS?!!!

I get to the door of the engineer's office and there are 4 college age guys sitting right in front of the entrance reading. Excuse me I say. Could you guys please move? I need to get in.

They moved out of the way complaining like teenagers, mumbling under their breaths. I go in and meet with my engineer. Everyone in his office is laughing at all the morons waiting outside in the heat.

As Im leaving the 4 morons see me coming and start to move all their shit out of the way again. I open the door, step outside, close it and turn to them and say:

Are you guys here waiting for Sandy Berger's autograph? Cause it'll be a long wait.

If looks could kill, I'd be dead right now. But, since they can't, and I'm sure those dumbass college kids wouldnt even think about touching me, I just laughed my ass off in front of them and continued laughing my ass off all the way down the street.

I would never, ever stand in a line like that for any celebrity, especially one the likes of Clinton, because, as my wife always says "My family left Cuba so we wouldn't have to stand in line."

Best part about this is, I have to go back there this afternoon. Next time, I'll be a little better prepared.

Happens every time

Every time I read something from or about Jose Marti, I am reminded of a red haired Irish girl. This morning, when I lifted that quote by Jose Marti posted below I immediately went back to my december archives to one of my favorite posts ever on this here blog.

I didnt write it. The redheaded Irish girl did. Sheila took on the subject of Cuban poetry when I asked her to submit an entry for my BlogCuba project back in December. Her post brought - and still brings - tears to my eyes. I can't count the number of times I've read that post and the poems therein.

Click here to see what I mean.

So, since I'm feeling a bit literary right now, I thought I'd offer up two poems from that particular post from the redheaded Irish girl.

From Jose Marti:

And this one from Cuban poet Nicolas Guillen:

Thank you Sheila. You have no idea how much that post of yours touched me.

Slap on the Sunscreen!

Cuban authorities are now allowing actual Cubans onto tourist beaches! How magnanimous! All that ordinary Cubans have to do to get in now is show ID and sign a registry. Of course, they are only allowed in between the hours of 6 AM and 6 PM.

Cubans on the island must be ecstatic! Now, as long as its during daylight hours and they have alerted the government that they intend to go for a quick swim, they can mingle with the European and Canadian and South American tourists!!!

What joy! Imagine being allowed to go anywhere in your own country!

What will the regime think of next?

HAVANA, July 20 (Moisés Leonardo Rodríguez, Grupo Decoro / www.cubanet.org) - Cubans are only allowed at Esmeralda beach in Holguín province, a popular tourist destination, under strictly regulated conditions and are closely watched while there, said local human rights activist Guillermo Llanes.

Until recently, Cubans were not allowed to approach the beach fronting the three hotels in the area at all, Llanes said, but a complaint by a foreign journalist evidently embarrassed authorities into relaxing the regulation, to some extent.

Now Cubans are allowed in after presenting identification and signing up in a registry, and only between the hours of 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. All the time they are there, they are watched by security agents for the three tourist hotels that front the beach.

Llanes said several of the security personnel have acknowledged to him that they feel watching the Cubans is an additional burden to their workload.

José Martí on Socialism

"Socialist ideology, like so many others, has two main dangers. One stems from confused and incomplete readings of foreign texts, and the other from the arrogance and hidden rage of those who, in order to climb up in the world, pretend to be frantic defenders of the helpless so as to have shoulders on which to stand..."

----José Martí

Shamelessly lifted from Operation Enduring Service.

From the WTF? department:

Michigan City OKs Amplified Islamic Prayers.

Let me get this straight now, in some places in this country there are people suing the government for the words "under God" in the pledge of allegiance and for having a Christian symbol in a city's emblem, and in other parts of this country, Islamic prayers will now be broadcast via loudspeakers five times a day?

Seriously, WTF?

It's what I've been saying all along.

It's all about Perspective.

There are some people, Americans, always complaining about having their rights trampled on by the government. Oh! They boycotted our album because we spoke our minds! Oh! My employer fired me for making remarks against the President! Oh! It's my right as an American to travel wherever I want and I not being allowed to travel to Cuba! My rights!!!!! They are being trampled! It's the crushing of dissent!!! We live in a police state!!! This is fascism!!!

I've always maintained that these folks have absolutely no clue. Had they lived in a country like Cuba, or Sudan or Iraq under Hussein or China or North Korea, true police states, I'm pretty sure they would see how unbelievably silly those comments are. Indeed, inane.

Hearing comments like those above coming from Americans has always made me chuckle. Made me think, Geez. These people have absolutely no idea what being oppressed means. Oppression isn't having to wait in line while your bags are checked at the gate at an airport. Oppression isn't a bunch of listeners calling a radio station and asking them to boycott a certain musician. Oppression isn't about the government raising your taxes.

Want to know what opression really means? Ask an Iraqi who for the first time in decades gets to make his own decisions about his life. Ask a Sudanese whose wife or sister or mother or daughter has been taken away and repeatedly raped and beaten. Ask a Cuban still dripping wet from swimming to a shore somewhere in the Florida Keys and who for the first time in his life feels his feet touch upon the ground where freedom grows. Ask a Cuban that's lived on soy products for most of his life the first time he steps into a Costco. You will need to wipe his tears and pick him up off his knees.

Ask them. They'll tell you that you have no idea what freedom really is even though you and your life are the epitomy of it.

There's never an egg timer around when you need one...

How much time before the left moonbattery starts crying Conspiracy!!! It's a Bush conspiracy!!!! on Sandy Berger's stealing of documents from the national archives?

5... 4... 3... 2...

Taken in by some Botox and a grin

Bill's right on the money with this post about Kerry over at In Dc Journal.

Just a reminder ... I don't think that I could ever vote for such a man; someone that has never apologized for or disavowed such destructive, treasonous comments that were very possibly uttered in the name of career advancement. And no, "Where did all that dark hair go, Tim?" does NOT count as an apology.

I don't want this man as my President. Some might dismiss this as some blustery, right-wing talking point, but to me it's just common sense; I can't respect what the man did, and because he hasn't atoned for it, I can't respect the man.

Pathetic media

Here's a representative of links from media sources in my Cuba news rss feed this morning:

US travelers challenge Cuba restrictions
MSNBC - USA

HUMANITARIAN group returns from defiant trip to Cuba
Fort Worth Star Telegram (subscription) - Fort Worth,TX,USA

HUMANITARIAN group returns from defiant trip to Cuba
Team 4 News - Rio Grande Valley,CA,USA

Three of the eight news stories are the same. Hype about the Pastor's for Peace "humanitarian" mission to Cuba this past week.

It is nothing new with these newsfeeds. Every day I get them and every day the media covers, for the most part, stories such as the Pastors'. Defiance of the US trade and travel embargo gets you a ticket to the front page.

Meanwhile and on ocassion there's a link such as the following sprinkled in:

7/18/04 - FREE CUBA'S POLITICAL PRISONERS
Voice of America - Washington,DC,USA

Notice it is from the Voice of America and not your standard media outlet.

A group of obviously leftist "pastors" travel to Cuba, bring back a box of tourist trinkets and a few packs of Cuban coffee and they get all the attention while a man such as Dr. Elias Biscet not only rots in jail but is being systematically starved to death and this story does not merit, in the eyes of the pathetically left leaning media, the ink to print the story.

If this imbalance in the news does not change, we are truly doomed because, in essence, the way Americans perceive their government - as they are informed by the media - dictates policy. And does anyone really want reporters running their country?

Light Posting

Haven't been feeling too well since last week. Went to the Doctor's and found out I have high blood pressure. He gave me a prescription, I filled it and started taking it.

Still not feeling 100% so I will probably not be posting as much this week. Hopefully the medication will kick in fully and Ill get used to the side effects.

UPDATE: First, thanks to each and every one of you for your well wishes. You guys really rock. Second, I went back to the doctor yesterday afternoon and found my blood pressure to be below normal, which means the meds i was prescribed were to strong for my condition. So, I am now taking a lower dosage of the meds and am starting to feel better. I'm told, however, that it will take a few more days for me to get accustomed to them.

Again, thanks for all the get wells and advice. You guys are all alright. I take back all those nasty things I said about you.

Cuba's higher education

Read this, tell me what you learn:

HAVANA, July 16 (www.cubanet.org) - Miguel Tejeda Tenorio, secretary general of the Union of Christian Workers, says his daughter was expelled from university because of her relationship with him.

Dayli Tejeda Herrera was a third year chemistry student at the Universidad Central de las Villas.

"After three years of study my daughter was suspended because, according to the administration, the university is for revolutionaries," said Tejeda Tenorio.

Love you long time

President Bush calls Fidel Castro a pimp.

Ronald Reagan, E.P.D.

Posted at the Command Post OpEd section:

I'm sitting here at the office surfing the web, checking various Cuba related sites as I do so often when I come across something that just completely nails me. Something that at the same time wrenches my stomach and pains my heart and touches my very core. I'm angry and sad and frustrated and hopeless and detached and proud and hopeful and brave all at the same time.

Last month, it seemed as if all of America mourned the loss of President Ronald Reagan. This country paid its solemn respects to a great man. Condolences accompanied tears for the one man many believe brought about the end of communism in Europe. Ceremonies, rites, flowers, salutes, services and prayers... it was an all encompassing display of admiration for our former President.

The whole world paid its respects. Letters of sympathy were written, world leaders flew in, speeches were read aloud and solidarity with the Reagan family was shown through visits and attendance to ceremonies and church services from people all over the globe.

Some countries and world leaders weren't as sympathetic at the former President's passing. Cuba's remarks were: "He, who never should have been born, has died." This statement makes today's find on the net all that much more important.

This is a link to a letter of condolence for the Reagan family (pdf format) from Cuba. It has no fancy letterhead or graphics, no official government seals. It is made up of a cover page, one page of text, and six pages of signatures.

The letter is from the "Biblioteca Independiente Jesus Yanez Pelletier", one of Cuba's few remaining independent libraries. These "independent" libraries are nothing like the libraries we are accustomed to here in the U.S.. They consist usually of a small collection of banned books and are run out of private homes. There are no computers, no internet access, no card catalogues, no Dewey decimal system, just a few well worn and probably tattered books.

That's one of the reasons this letter is all the more endearing. It comes from a place where there is a lack of everything. From a country so entrenched in the backward ideology that is communism that not even an old Smith Corona could be mustered to offer a typed letter to one of the world's most revered leaders.

Here's the text of the letter, roughly translated:

Cover page:

Independent Library Jesus Yanez Pelletier Silvio Herrera Nuñez, Director carme #324 & Esperanza Y Vives La Habana Vieja, Havana

Condolences at the death of former President Ronald Reagan

R.I.P.

Text, page two:

I heard a voice from heaven say, "Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on." "Yes," said the Spirit, "let them find rest from their labors, for their works accompany them." Apocalypse 14:13

We the undersigned would like to offer our most deepest sympathies to the widow, and family members of former President Ronald Reagan, and to the people of the United States, on the passing of this eminent man. To whom we are thankful for the disappearance of communism in all of Europe and for the democratization of all of those countries who lived under its misfortune.

We men and women who are lovers of liberty; representatives of political parties; independent libraries; religious authorities; members of civil and humanitarian organizations and family to political prisoners and prisoners of conscience, raise our eyes to God and offer our prayers for the eternal peace of Mr. Ronald Reagan, and we ask God to keep him near and shine on him His eternal light.

The just shall be in everlasting remembrance; he shall not fear the evil hearing.
Ps. 127. 3

It took over a month to clandestinely collect the 109 signatures found on this letter and then smuggle it out of Cuba to the US. These one-hundred nine men and women signed their name to this letter at great risk to themselves and their families. There must have been many whispered conversations, secret meetings and back channel communications. This hand written, smuggled note of respect, admiration and condolences for a former President of the United States could very well get each and every one of these people encarcerated, tortured, starved and even killed.

In Cuba, people are persecuted for much much less.

Gracias a Dios

It means "Thanks to God." It is also the name of a remote area in Honduras that was the end and the beginning of the journey for freedom of 4 Cuban rafters.

They lived a harrowing experience at sea. Cuba to Honduras is a much greater distance than Cuba to the US. They were thrown in jail for almost a month and then had to swim an hour and a half to shore after being dumped off the coast of Honduras by a smuggler.

Imagine how those men must have felt when finally reaching freedom yet knowing that they were only halfway done with their journey. From Hunduras they would need to travel through numerous countries to ultimately try to cross the Mexican border into the US.

All of this for the freedoms you and I sometimes take for granted.

Thanks to Scott of Burton Terrace for the link.

Let me reiterate

When you leave Cuba for the U.S. and apply for political asylum, you are thus a political exile. This means that you do not agree with the politics of Cuba and that you made a decision to not support her government.

It's just that simple.

You knew you would be leaving family behind when you left. Yet you still made the decision to leave. That's what being an exile is. If you could not live without seeing your family in Cuba then you should have stayed.

It's just that simple.

If you say that family comes first, then you should have stayed with your family. They come first after all.

It's just that simple.

Unless of course, you came to the US not as a political refugee but as an economic refugee, in which case you should not have applied for political asylum and you should not have been allowed to stay in the US.

It's just that simple.

Your family will just have to make due with what their government provides them. The more US dollars you send to your family in Cuba, the more economic assistance you provide to the very government that is responsible for your family's plight.

It's just that heartbreakingly simple.

FIDEL CASTRO IS AN ALCOHOLIC CAPITALIST

Don't believe me?

Click here.

Download may take a minute or two, but I promise, it's worth it.

Taking a Stroll thru the Blogroll

Aaron has a damn good caption post up at the Rantblog. Bring your thinking cap.

There's some Cremasteration going on over at Jay's. What's that you say? Well, it ain't testicular torsion. Find out at One Fine Jay's. Also, after the cremasteration, comes the Hillaryfication.

Ja mon, when Steve's not writin' and cookin', he be puttin' togethah some mighty righteous reggae lyrics at MooreIsfat. Irie mon, irie.

Rob A., on the other hand, doesnt write lyrics, he just calls it like it is.

Pam takes a stand against the haters.

Jim has an excellent write up about Dodie, his seventy-five year old, gun-toting step-mom.

And now, back to work I must go....

Feliz Cumpleaños!!!!

Today is my blogfather's birthday!

Drop on by Dean's World and have a piece of cake. Don't worry, the candles only charred half of it.

Huh????

That's what I thought when I read this:

HAVANA, July 14 (www.cubanet.org) - Some former members of the Association of Combatants of the Revolution have been accused of abusing the membership cards they kept when they didn't renew their membership.

"Many of those who left the association did not return their membership cards and now are using them even to use public washrooms free of charge," said an association leader in the Managua section of the capital.

The association consists of former members of the armed forces.

Current members have until August 20 to provide photographs for new cards.

You mean in a country with free healthcare and 100% literacy, and where the average doctor makes a measely $15 a month, people have to pay to pee?

I GOT GYPPED!

If it weren't for Max of Badthings, I would not have even known I'd been gypped. (Thanks for the heads up, Max!) It seems I was not mentioned in today's Washinton Post.

Why would I be mentioned to today's Washington Post you ask? Well, because I was the inspiration, the link, the main reason this particular article was written in the first place.

Julia Watson, special contributor to the Post, wrote an article, called "The Pig in My Chinese Box - How I Roasted a 60-Pound Porker in Less Than Four Hours" about how she made a lechon using a Caja China.

Why should I get kudos for that you ask? Because of this:

I found the box completely by accident. One day I Googled "mojito," searching for a recipe for the rum, crushed mint, sugar and soda cocktail, but a link to a Web-log brought me to another kind of mojito. It was a recipe for pork marinade, also called mojito, and it accompanied a poetic account of the steps one Cuban was taking to roast a pig for his family's Christmas Eve celebration.

That weblog she mentions is Babalu Blog. The poetic account is one I wrote for Christmas titled Noche Buena.

I'm calling the Caja China maker here in Miami and demanding a freebie, after all, it was my Noche Buena that got him a mention in the Post.

Kerry, His Supporters and another Cubanism

Thought I'd mix in yet another Cubanism today with a lil' bit o' politics.

Cubanism:

Dime con quien andas y te dire quien eres.

Translation:

Tell me whom you are with and I'll tell you who you are.

Usage:

Mr. Kerry, dime con quien andas, y te dire quien eres.

Thanks to Lee of Right Thinking for the inspiration.

Pastors for Peace: Traitors

The Pastors for Peace entourage met with family members in Cuba of the five Cuban spies recently found guilty of spying in the US.

The five spies spearheaded a spy ring dubbed "The Wasp Network" where they infiltrated anti-Castro exile groups and US military bases. They were convicted and three - Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino, and Antonio Guerrero - were sentenced to life in prison; two others, Fernando González and René González [no relation], received 19 and 15 years, respectively. Gerardo Gonazalez was complicit in the killing of 4 Brothers to the Rescue Pilots in February 1996.

This Pastors for Peace meeting is nothing but pure propaganda for Fidel's Communist Party and as such is a treasonous act on behalf of the Pastors as the five spies have all been convicted of espionage against the US.

Pastors for Peace dubs itself an "ecumenical organization" yet allows itself to be used as a puppet for Castro's political gain.

Right now, on the very island where they are being led around to numerous rallies and meetings with prominent government officials, Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet, one of Cuba's most prominent detained Christian dissidents, rots away in jail without medical care or even food. Dr. Biscet has not been fed since June 17 and has been surviving on rations given to him by fellow prisoners.

I'm sure the fanfared caravan of "Pastors" will not be making a stop at the Kilo 8 prison in Pinar del Rio where Dr. Biscet is held. Biscet is, after all, just a black, Christian activist who wants freedom for his people.

Ironic no?

Art and The Party

Presented without commentary:

Party officials disrupt arts students' launch of papier-mâché boat

HAVANA, July 12 (Richard Roselló / www.cubanet.org) - Communist Party officials in Batabanó stopped the launching of a papier-mâché boat that was somehow supposed to stand for drug addiction and hauled three art students and their professor to Party headquarters to "discuss the incident" July 3.

The three students at the provincial School for Arts Instructors, who said they had obtained a permit from the local police chief, were carrying the boat on their backs the approximately one-and-one-half miles between Batabanó proper and Surgidero, the port, when Party officials intercepted them.

The students said they saw the end-of-the-school-year project they had dubbed "Sinking Vices" as a contribution to the campaign against drugs being waged nationally. Accordingly, they had made arrangements with the vice-president of the local writers' association to videotape the event.

Once at the water's edge, they intended to launch and board the approximately 10-foot boat they had adorned with references to alcohol, cigarettes and drugs. Presumably, the boat would have sunk rapidly since it consisted of a wire structure covered with papier-mâché.

All this is what presumably would have happened if, as they were carrying the boat on their backs, Party officials hadn't got wind of a rumor involving rafters and the presence of representatives from the press and had not decided to take a hand in the matter. Bystanders later described the confrontation at the entrance to Surgidero as "ill-mannered and rude," singling out the local Party ideologue as a particular offender, and blamed the officials' "uncompromising" attitude for the lack of communication between the two groups.

The students, after discussing the matter with officials at the Party's municipal headquarters, gave their names only as Carlos, Jesús, and Julián, and said officials had told them they had thought the event might have been meant as a provocation and had only intervened to protect them from the wrath of the populace. The three said officials also told them that for this type of event, a police permit was not enough; in future they should first get a permit from the Party.

Party officials later explained that arts projects such as these are unnecessary, inasmuch as there is no alcoholism in Batabanó.

A local hand, with a possibly more jaundiced view of affairs, pointed out three outlets for alcoholic beverages within 200 feet of the headquarters of the Communist Party Municipal Committee of Batabanó and ticked off the numerous instances in which consumers ­and their brawls­ have stumbled past the office's doors.

"And neither Party militants nor police have ever interfered," he said.

SCUMBAGS

Atlas Lines, whom Operation Give contracted for containers to ship to Iraq, is currently holding $30K and is not responding to any efforts to contact them. This is unbelievably enfuriating.

We need your help. Let's call them, email them, contact the local news in Atlanta...anything to set their asses straight. Or, if anyone has other suggestions contact me.

Scumbag Contact info:

Atlas Line
President: Alicia Ludwig

Phone: 404-766-4676
Fax: 404-209-8493

Fidel's Nephew Bitch Slaps Kerry

WASHINGTON—Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla. and nephew of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro) today released the following statement denouncing John Kerry’s two-sided Cuba strategy:

Once again, John Kerry is trying to be on both sides of an issue. He says he supports the Cuba embargo, but then he wants to allow travel, which is 90 percent of what the embargo is. Either he does not know what he is talking about or he is blatantly lying. Either way, Kerry is clearly incapable of handling foreign policy.

Go Mario!!!!

Via Latinopundit.

Prosperity is impossible without freedom.

Here's a link to an excellent article in Canada's National Post aptly titled: "Propping up a tropical tyranny." I rarely agree politically with our Canadian neighbors, but this article really hits the nail on the head.

Read the whole thing.

Boycott Bacardi????? NEVER!!!

Apparently, there's a group out there boycotting Bacardi products because of, get this, Counter-revolutionary Activities.

It has been a bad couple of decades for the Marxist dream, but the Revolutionary Communist Group (RCG) doesn't give up easily. They claim that ever since Bacardi rum's Cuban assets were forcibly nationalised by Castro in 1960, the company has covertly financed repeated US plots to overthrow him. The RCG's campaign, with its roots in Britain's student body, is called Rock Around the Blockade (RATB). It calls upon revellers not to drink the company's products and to mock its frontman, Vinnie Jones, whenever possible. "Bacardi shares the responsibility for the suffering imposed on Cuba over the last 40 years by those who refuse to accept the socialist path chosen by the Cuban people," reads the RATB website.

A spokesman for Bacardi UK says: "We became aware of this group about five years ago, and we have discussed the matter with the National Union of Students, who understand our point of view and continue to trade with us."

You can have my Bacardi Mojito when you pry my dead, cold fingers from around the empty glass.

Via Tim Blair via Ian.

UPDATE:Stumpjumper and zombyboy beat me to the punch with this one. I can't believe I missed their post on this yesterday.

On the right side

Rob A. of Fine Why Fine sent me this link about a Cuban serving in the US military in Iraq. Pfc. Eldis N. Lima, a petroleum supply specialist with the 424th Quartermaster Company at LSA Anaconda in Iraq, has served with both the Cuban Infantry and the US Army.

A soldier by force in one country, and by choice in another.

Can you say DUMBASS?

Woke up to find the following comment in an old post titled "Fidel Castro - Hypocrite Extraordinaire":

Dear friends. comrades and ignorant foes, I am an American Soldier, and I admire Fidel Castro. I have nothing against him and cubans. I've read his biography and the stories that are still told today about past and present. He is the only military commander I respect. I say to the Cubans, let Castro know that their is American Soldier that will lead the way from the shit-hole our government has put us in. Someday. I will visit Castro and I will present to him a gift and kiss his right hand. Dear America, you will know my name and cause.

What a dumbass.

Poll on Cuba

I urge you to drop by World Net Daily and vote in today's poll "What do you think of 'Christians' who support Cuban dictator Fidel Castro?"

The results may very well surprise you.

Thanks to Aaron for the heads up.

Sanity Switch Set To "Standby"

From Scott at Burton Terrace:

Never mind that the rest of the globe, the world, you know, PLANET EARTH...is trading with Cuba, lounging on its beaches, and yes...sending cash remittances to their loved ones on the island. You'd think that spending and trading from THE REST OF THE WORLD would keep Cubans from starving. But...you see, there's this thing called communism that, I guess somehow it's Bush's fault that there's communism in Cuba, that prevents actual persons, individually, to get any benefit from the trade and tourism on the island.

Let me make this as clear as I can. If people are starving because Cuban Americans can now only send $900 a year instead of $1,200 a year, has it ever occured to anyone that MAYBE the system in Cuba is a FAILURE and that it needs to be CHANGED?

So while Canadians and Germans are getting great tans...somehow Bush is starving the islanders. It's Bush's fault. Can someone turn on the sanity switch, please?

Could not have said it better myself.

I need a new boat.

Maybe I can get one real cheap at auction:

New Cuba vessel limits issued.

New U.S. traveling restrictions at sea require vessels less than 100 meters going from the United States into Cuban territorial waters to first obtain a Coast Guard-issued permit.

Violators may face civil penalties up to $25,000 a day and an on-the-spot ticket of up to $10,000 and vessel forfeiture if the Coast Guard can prove the operator went to Cuba.

I hope the Coast Guard keeps itself busy and stops every single American vessel that may have come from Cuba. Here's why:

Alfredo Chunaciro, 50, a native of Cuba who now lives in Cape Coral, has many relatives still in the country and said the new restrictions will hurt the Cuban people, and the person to blame is Castro.

“In Cuba, you can find anything — Coca-Cola, Marlboro cigarettes — but you have to have the dollar to get it.

“But America let it happen. We provided millions of dollars to the economy by sending money to our families. Now they don’t have the dollars for anything, and they have become accustomed to the American way of life.

“It is hurting the Cuban people, but it will also be the collapse of the government,” Chunaciro said.

(emphasis mine)

Message From Fidel's Nephew

Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, Fidel Castro's nephew, on the embargo:

Keep the Cuba embargo? YES.

The riveting story of Jose Contreras' family's daring escape from Cuba has captivated the attention of millions of people. Their story has helped put a magnifying glass onto Cuba and our policies toward a hostile terrorist regime just 90 miles off our shore.
Last year, President Bush established the Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba, tasking the group with identifying ways in which the U.S. could best help accelerate a democratic transition. In response to the commission's recommendations, the President acted decisively to strengthen sanctions against the dictatorship, such as taking steps that would enable the Cuban people to view TV Marti, which Fidel Castro has been jamming, and significantly increasing support for Cuba's growing pro-democracy movement.

Some people do not understand the embargo of Cuba. Its purpose is to keep American hard currency out of the hands of a Communist thug by restricting most trade and travel. Since the military controls all tourism-related business ventures in Cuba, lifting the U.S. travel embargo would put at least $5 billion to $6 billion directly into Castro's hands every year. That influx of cash would allow Castro to return to his practice of exporting his troops to wage terror against the U.S., as he did in Grenada.

Last year, Castro's tyrannical regime intensified its crackdown on dissidents, executing three young men whose only crime was to seek freedom in the United States. To lift sanctions would not only reward Castro's injustices against the Cuban people but also it would further strengthen this dying dictatorship and prevent Cuba from much needed democratic change.

According to U.S. law, the Cuban regime has the power to lift the sanctions itself if it would 1) release all political prisoners; 2) allow freedom of press, labor unions and political parties, and 3) hold free, supervised elections. Castro cho