The Media branding of Yoani Sanchez kicks into high gear–So keep your eye on The Ball, folks

yoaniball

In brief: The Ball is the “embargo.” The Terrorism listing is linked. Both constrict the Stalinist regime’s jugular. Both worry the Castro regime above all else. With Hugo Chavez fading, the future of the financial flow through its jugular is making the Stalinist regime antsy. So a regime/media offensive is underway to start procuring this vital flow from the north.

“For Cuba, being able to influence U.S. policy and elite opinion-makers is equally important–possibly even more important– than recruiting spies with access to U.S. intelligence information.” (Norman Bailey Office of the Director of National Intelligence, 2007.)

To most people anywhere over .0000009 millimeters outside Miami-Dade borders the “Cuba Embargo” is a triviality they occasionally glimpse while sifting through much more important news. “Archaic,” “Counterproductive” “Hurts U.S. businesses,” “Hurts hardworking U.S. farmers,” “Hurts Cuban people,” etc., is what they probably retain from their skimming of the headlines and the highlighted quotes from Cuba “Experts.”

Now Middle America will be bombarded with the revelation that–whaddaya know!–even a gen-you-wine Cuban Dissident concurs with the “expert” views they always read and hear in the news!

And when I say “Middle America” it applies almost literally. This headline appeared today in The Kansas City Star (and in many of the other 30 syndicated McClatchy papers:)

“Yoani Sanchez may be a dissident in Cuba, but she agrees U.S. embargo must go.

Obviously if he was introduced as somebody who slips in and out of Cuba at will and takes under the table payments from Castro’s biggest partners in crime the impact of Phil Peters’ anti-embargo “expertise” would diminish. If anti-embargo propagandist Arturo Lopez-Callejas were introduced as a former Castro Intelligence official, and nephew in-law of the Stalinist dictator, same thing. So we hear from the MSM that the first is “a former Bush administration State Dept. official” and the latter a “scholar in Denver.”

“Well Hot Damn!” reacts the typical distracted reader or viewer. “Deze guys sure don’t sound like Commie-lovers to me!”

Same with Yoani Sanchez. First the “swing voters” on the embargo must be convinced that she’s a gen-you-wine and visceral opponent of Castroism. Only then does her anti-embargoism make a serious mark.

Please note: The woman’s personal motivation is not the issue here–it may well be as pure as the driven snow. Our concern is with the motivation of her facilitators–and especially with the results of her Good-Will (against the embargo) tour.

(I apologize for appearing to insult the intelligence of regular Babalu readers with these digressions, but we have many new friends from outside Miami-Dade coming aboard who need some basic background on Cuba news, and we’re delighted and honored to welcome them.)

She’s only been out of Cuba for two days, and we’ve seen some of the headlines. By the time she hits New York and Washington D.C.–can you imagine the media barrage?! And be assured no media mention will omit the “embargo,” and her oppositon to it. Just watch….and keep your eye on The Ball, folks.

Unreal

Council of the Americas Inconvenienced by the Rule of Law

Via Capitol Hill Cubans:

Council of the Americas Inconvenienced by the Rule of Law

Last month, U.S. President Barack Obama stated in an interview with New Republic:

I continue to believe that whenever we can codify something through legislation, it is on firmer ground. It’s not going to be reversed by a future president. It is something that will be long lasting and sturdier and more stable.”

President Obama is right.

It is for this reason that — in 1996 and 2000 — the U.S. Congress codified clear conditions on human rights, democratic reform and the dismantling of the Castro regime’s repressive apparatus before any trade and travel sanctions can be lifted.

The Council of the Americas’ “Cuba Working Group” disagrees.

In a “white-paper” this week, the Council of the Americas urges the President to disregard codification and unilaterally change U.S. law.

According to its author,”[O]ur hands are tied by an antiquated law that’s being too strictly interpreted.”

Wonder if he feels the same way about the U.S. Constitution?

Since 1996, State, Treasury and Congressional lawyers have all agreed on the codification of U.S. sanctions and the explicit limits placed on the Executive Branch’s authority to suspend or terminate it without Congressional approval.

Why? Because the codification language is very clear.

Moreover, if any doubts remain, there is a pesky bit of American jurisprudence called legislative intent to confirm it.

(For non-lawyers, legislative intent is the design, plan or purpose that the legislature had in drafting, and enacting a particular statute.)

It states:

“It is the intent of the committee of conference that all economic sanctions in force on March 1, 1996, shall remain in effect until they are either suspended or terminated pursuant to the authorities provided in section 204 of this Act (requiring a Presidential determination that a democratic transition is under way in Cuba).”

And what are these sanctions?

The committee of conference modified the definition of ‘economic embargo of Cuba’ to include all statutes or regulations relating to trade, travel, and transactions involving Cuban assets imposed under section 620(a) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, section 5(b) of the Trading with the Enemy Act, the Cuban Democracy Act of 1992, section 902(c) of the Food Security Act of 1985, or any other provision of law. It is the intent of the committee that this definition be interpreted broadly, in part, in order to ensure that the suspension or termination of any economic sanctions on Cuba be pursuant only to the authority granted in section 204 of this Act.”

And if you still have some doubt, ask the original conferees of the 1996 Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act, who are still in Congress today — namely, U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ), U.S. Rep Peter King (R-NY) and U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL).

Not so, says the Council of the Americas.

Thus, their crackpot team of unnamed lawyers have assembled a whole new interpretation (17-years later) that incredulously gives the President the authority to create new travel categories and commercial exceptions — thereby terminating existing prohibitions.

As a reminder to these legal phenoms, the last travel and commercial exception created (post-codification) was in 2000, when agriculture and medicine sales (and travel related to these sales) were authorized.

This was done through an Act of Congress — the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act (TSREEA). 

Why?

Because codification required it.

President Bill Clinton would have liked to do it himself at the time, but he did not have the legal authority to do so.

Bottom line: If the Council of the Americas or anyone else wants to change U.S. law, then persuade Congress to do so.

It’s that simple.

We live in an open and democratic system that grants us that right.

But apparently that’s too burdensome for them, as it requires too much discourse, debate and hard-work.

So instead — why not just ask the President to twist and bend the law? 

That’s something more worthy of a Chavez, Correa or Morales.

Whatever happened to the Council of the Americas “commitment” to the rule of law in the Western Hemisphere?

Is that also open to a new interpretation?

It seems that in the Council of the Americas’ zealousness to change U.S. policy toward Cuba — recall its founder David Rockefeller has wined and dined Cuban dictator Fidel Castro — it has sadly lost its way.

Trouble in Medical Paradise

grocho

How dare you!

We provide you with the worst medical training in the world, feed you crappy food, house you in hovels, force you to work without compensation, and then you go on strike?

What the Hell!  Ungrateful wretches.  Cabrones.

It seems that the South African medical students arrested by the Castronoid authorities as they gathered outside their country’s embassy in Havana were not random malcontents.

As it turns out, nearly 200 of their fellow South Africans studying in the Castro Kingdom are so displeased with their living conditions that they have gone on strike.  The South African government is having a hard time dealing with these renegades.

At issue are questions of food and living stipends.  The South Africans are protesting their steady diet of pork, pork, and nothing but pork.  They also want an increase in their monthly stipend (provided by South Africa): from $200 to $700.

Whether or not they are aware of the fact that doctors in Castrogonia only earn about $50 per month remains unclear.  And whether or not they know that strikes are illegal for all Cubans also remains unclear.  Apparently, they think they are better than the natives, and deserve much more.

South African  medical students in Cuba on strike

Johanesburg-  Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has written letters to South African medical students in Cuba who embarked on an illegal strike in order to define the government’s position on the issue, his department said on Thursday.

On 7 February, 187 of the 1 200 South African students studying medicine in Cuba went on strike, spokesperson Joe Maila said.

Their demands include a more than 300% stipend increase, that a health attaché be sent to Cuba, and that they no longer want to be served any meal that contains pork.”

In dealing with this matter the department suspected that there might also be problems of cultural differences, adaptability and perhaps psychosocial changes, which make it difficult for them to cope with their studies,” he said.

“In this regard, the department promptly dispatched a team consisting of a senior social worker, a senior psychologist, HR manager and a doctor… to assist the students accordingly.”

He said the team joined the ambassador in Cuba, academic staff at the university and the Cuban government to negotiate with the students.

During the negotiations the students gave the embassy two ultimatums, Maila added, including that the ambassador sign a document that these demands will be met or they come back home….

Up to now we know of no student who has to abandon studies because such a matter was not resolved. Our students in Cuba are usually served alternate diets consisting of beef, chicken or pork.

“However, for the two or three weeks, the Cuban government had problems in acquiring beef and chicken, hence they could only serve what was available, which was pork,” he added.

Maila added that the stipend would not change as accommodation, food, transport and tuition is jointly sponsored by the two governments.

“For the students to firmly believe that if such a demand is not met they rather come back home, have left the minister with no option but to grant them their wish, because under no condition will the government be willing to meet such [an] outrageous and unreasonable demand of $700 (about R6 218) per month.

Full report HERE.

Other views from Cuba’s dissidents

As we have been writing about the last couple of days, too much weight and responsibility has been placed on Yoani Sanchez, the Cuban blogger and dissident currently on the Brazil leg of her world tour. Yoani has done some amazing things and she deserves the all the credit and accolades given her, but we must also be cognizant of the fact that she is not the leader of the dissident movement in Cuba nor does she speak for the thousands of opposition members on the island. She is, however, the Cuban dissident with the loudest voice, and we thank the media for allowing a dissenting voice against the tyranny of the Castro dictatorship to be heard far and wide. Nevertheless, the loudest voice does not mean the only voice.

We are reminding everyone about this not with the intention of belittling or diminishing Yoani’s point of view, but to elevate the voices of other opposition leaders and members in Cuba who have not had the good fortune of the media providing them with extensive coverage. The news coverage of Yoani’s statements tends to portray her view, especially regarding the U.S. embargo against the Castro dictatorship, as a singular view shared by all dissidents in Cuba. In reality, nothing could be further from the truth. Therefore, it is only fair that other views from Cuba be given equal consideration.

Yesterday, we showcased the views of former political prisoner and opposition leader Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet, and today, we are publishing the views of another prominent dissident in Cuba and a former political prisoner, Hector Palacios.

Via Capitol Hill Cubans:

Hector Palacios

“I think the first reform that any Cuban who leaves the island should ask the world is to demand that the Cuban government recognizes the opposition.  If the Cuban opposition is not recognized, there can’t be a dialogue, so there’s no use in talking about lifting the embargo. [Yoani] would need to have spent some time in political prison to understand that it would be of no use for the U.S. to lift its embargo toward the Cuban government, unless beforehand, the regime lifts its embargo toward the Cuban people.”

Latest Reform of Cuba Dictatorship turns island into one giant pawn shop

You have to hand it to the Cuban dictatorship. When it comes to “reforms,” they know how to get creative. The latest reform to hit the Cuban people has now turned the island into the world’s largest pawn shop.

The AP via Philly.com:

Cuba lets borrowers use gems, autos as collateral

HAVANA – Cubans can now use personal property such as jewelry, cars and works of art as collateral for loan applications under the island’s nascent lending system, according to a new law enacted Thursday.

The measure expands Cubans’ ability to apply for credit to build homes, start their own businesses or invest in farming equipment. Previously Cuban banks , all of them run by the state , only accepted liquid collateral such as solvent co-signers, bank deposits and personal income.

Some would-be lendees have complained that they were unable to get credit because they lacked such liquid assets.

Cuba announced its new credit system in late 2011. Most loans have been small so far, and are limited according to the lendee’s ability to repay.

Part of President Raul Castro’s economic reform plan, the rules on collateral are apparently intended to give the expanding entrepreneurial class a leg up. Changes under Castro in recent years have increased the ranks of legal private business operators, independent workers and farmers.

Taking effect Thursday with its publication in the government’s Official Gazette, the law lists items that are acceptable collateral including precious stones, paintings, sculptures, second homes and agricultural goods from livestock to farm equipment.

The goal is to “diversify the ways people can access credit, now with the possibility of offering as collateral other goods that are not the ones traditionally accepted by the bank,” Juana Lilia Delgado, a member of a commission set up to supervise the economic reforms, told Communist Party newspaper Granma.

Opposition in Cuba continues to resist and the Castro regime continues to oppress

While the news media is busy covering other Cuba related news, the Castro dictatorship continues its violent oppression of the opposition and their valiant struggle against tyranny.

Via Pedazos de la Isla:

Opposition leaders in Antilla arrested, diverse groups respond with solidarity

Members of ADO and other pro-freedom groups in meeting. Photo by: Luis Felipe Rojas

At around 3 PM on Wednesday, February 20th, leaders of different dissident groups were arrested by the State Police in the Eastern municipality of Antilla after a series of meetings.

The detainees were Rolando Rodríguez Lobaina, general coordinator of the Eastern Democratic Alliance, Yoandri Montoya, president of the Bayamo Youth Movement, and Eriberto Liranza Romero, president of the Cuban Youth Movement for Democracy. After the arrests, all the dissidents were abandoned in different desolate locations throughout the province of Holguin.

Eriberto Liranza, from Havana, recounts that he was visiting the Eastern region of the country since February 14th and that he had been trying to dodge police vigilance and persecution since then.

On the 15th, I evaded persecution in the city of Velasco, in the municipality of Gibara. I was with a couple of other activists and we managed to escape without being arrested until arriving to Antilla“, where he participated in the 9th Anniversary celebration of the Eastern Democratic Alliance along with another 50 activists.

He explains that after carrying out another commemorative activity in Antilla during morning hours of the 20th, a group of dissidents congregated outside the home of Lady in White Mildred Noemi Sanchez and carried out a protest, shouting slogans like “Orlando Zapata Lives” and “Down with the dictatorship“. Zapata was the political prisoner who, after tortures, mistreatment, and a lengthy hunger strike, died on February 23rd, 2010. He is considered a martyr and symbol of resistance by the internal Cuban opposition.

It seems that this protest was too much for the regime. It bothered them very much that we were freely going out to the streets“, said Liranza.

It was at that moment that the arrests occurred.

They arrested a group of us- Rolando Rodriguez Lobaina, Yoandri Montoya, Delmides Fidalgo and me… they aggressively put the handcuffs on us, they put them on very tightly, hurting our hands and arms“, recounts the dissident, “then they shoved us into police vehicles, where there was a glass window dividing us from the drivers seat. It was extremely hot inside“. They were taken to the Pedernales Unit, a center notorious for its mistreatment and torture of recluses, both political and common ones.

Continue reading HERE.

Yet another heartbreak for Cuban dictatorship supporters in the U.S.

Once again, the “Cuba Experts,” the Castro regime lobbyists, the academics, the journalists, and American elected officials who fight tooth and nail every single day for the survival and enrichment of the vile and barbaric Castro dictatorship in Cuba have been left feeling like a teenage girl dumped by her boyfriend a week before the prom.

Yesterday, State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland left these poor souls brokenhearted when she unequivocally stated that the Castro dictatorship, which harbors fugitive terrorists and actively supports terrorists organizations and governments from all over the world, will not be removed from the State Department’s list of State Sponsors of Terror.

Juan Tamayo in the Miami Herald:

U.S. denies it’s ‘currently’ considering removing Cuba from terror list

A newspaper report that top State Department officials believe Cuba should be removed from the U.S. list of countries that support terrorism drew denials Thursday from the department and the White House.

The Boston Globe had reported that “high-level U.S. diplomats” have concluded Cuba should be taken off the terror list, which would allow Secretary of State John Kerry to “remove a major obstacle to restoring relations” with the island. Interviews with “top administration officials and members of Congress indicate there is a growing consensus in policy and intelligence circles that Cuba’s support for terrorist groups has been terminated,” the Globe added.

The report also noted that Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat who has long favored improving relations with Havana, met in recent days “with officials to review the Cuba policy.”

But the report carefully added that U.S officials “emphasized that there has not been a formal assessment concluding that Cuba should be removed from the terrorism list.

On Thursday, State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland responded: “I saw that report. Let me say firmly here it is incorrect. This department has no current plans to remove Cuba from the state sponsor of terrorism list.”

“We review this every year, and at the current moment we — when the last review was done in 2012 — didn’t see cause to remove them. We’ll obviously look at it again this year, but as I said, we don’t have any plans at the moment,” she added.

Continue reading HERE.

Florida Senator Bill Nelson invites Yoani Sanchez to speak before senate

Via SaintPetersBlog:

Bill Nelson invites Cuban opposition blogger to speak before Senate
nelson, bill2

Bill Nelson wrote opposition blogger Yoani Sanchez today, inviting her to share her views with some of his Senate colleagues on ways to further promote freedom, democracy and human rights for the Cuban people.

“Your courage and dedication to the cause of human rights has earned you many followers and I’m sure you will be well received … ,” Nelson wrote in a letter to Sanchez. Nelson has been a long-time critic of the Castro regime.

Sanchez is expected to be in Washington, D.C. in mid-March, as part of an international tour she began this week that will stretch nearly three months.  The blogger has also announced plans to visit Miami April 1, and speak at the iconic Freedom Tower owned by Miami-Dade College.

Nelson called the setting fitting.  “It is where we welcomed Cuban refugees who fled the Castro regime in the 1960s,” Nelson wrote.

Continue reading HERE.

Chavez Death Watch: Breaking the Bad News Gradually

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From the BBC:

Officials in Caracastan admit that their Idol ain’t doin’ so well.  Drip, drip, drip…. little by little they are preparing the nation for a replay of the death of the arch-Caudillo in 1975: Generalisimo Francisco Franco.

Hugo Chavez’s ‘breathing problems persist’

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is still suffering breathing problems following his return from Cuba where he was treated for cancer, officials say.

Information Minister Ernesto Villegas said Mr Chavez was continuing to receive treatment at a military hospital in Caracas.

It was the first official communique on the president’s health since he returned to Venezuela on Monday.

Mr Chavez went to Havana for surgery on 11 December.

It was his fourth operation in an 18-month period for cancer, which was first diagnosed in mid-2011.

He is said to have suffered a severe respiratory infection following the latest surgery.

“The breathing insufficiency that emerged post-operation persists, and the tendency has not been favourable, so it is still being treated,” Mr Villegas said in a televised statement.

President Chavez, in office for 14 years, was re-elected for another six-year term in October 2012, but his swearing-in was delayed because of his illness.

Doubts remain about whether his health will allow him to return to active politics.

For a more detailed report in Spanish (ABC) go HERE.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court in Caracastan has officially recognized Chavez as president, even though not a single one of the judges on this tribunal have been allowed to visit the ailing dictator in the hospital since he arrived back home four days ago.   That story HERE, in Spanish (ABC).

Ros-Lehtinen: Cuba’s Designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism Reaffirms Regime’s Long Standing Threat to U.S. National Security Interests

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PRESS RELEASE

February 21, 2013

Cuba’s Designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism Reaffirms The Regime’s Long Standing Threat to U.S. National Security Interests, Says Ros-Lehtinen

(WASHINGTON) – U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Chairman of the Middle East and North Africa Subcommittee, released the following statement regarding Cuba’s designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism. Statement by Ros-Lehtinen:
 
“I am relieved that the State Department spokesman stated today that it is not true that Cuba is being considered to be taken off the State Sponsor of Terrorism list. The Castro brothers align themselves with the likes of Ahmadinejad of Iran, al-Assad of Syria, Qaddafi of Libya before his death, along with terrorist groups, such as the FARC and the ETA. Just this week, Ali Saeedlou, Vice-President for International Affairs for fellow State Sponsor of Terrorism Iran, is in Cuba visiting the Castro brothers to expand its collaboration between these pariah states.
 
“No one can ignore the well documented threats of the Cuban Intelligence Service (CIS). CIS has a longstanding record of expanding their active espionage operation against the U.S. The WASP network was an example of Cuban spies sent to the U.S. to harm our interests and kill American citizens. The Cuban Five were convicted of trying to penetrate U.S. military installations and the Ana Belen Montes case reaffirmed the intention of the Castro regime to compromise U.S. national security operations and activities. Montes also provided highly classified information to the Cuban regime which is believed to have caused the death of U.S. servicemen operating in Latin America. The Cuban regime also harbors fugitives of the U.S. justice system, including cop killers, and continues to provide support for Iran’s nuclear ambitions.  
 
“It is important to keep Cuba on the list of State Sponsors of Terrorism because the secretive and dangerous regime conspires with extremist elements around the world and, due to its proximity to the US, poses a threat to our national security.”
# # # #

Reports from Cuba: Military Counterintelligence Threatens Independent Journalist Again

By Ivan Garcia:

Military Counterintelligence Threatens Independent Journalist Again

Digital image

In recent days a very concerned neighbor approached me to warn me about an investigation by special services. “We have been watching him for some time,” the official told the neighbor. This is nothing new.

According to neighborhood sources Military Counterintelligence (CIM) has been looking for three years into any bit of information that might be useful in compiling a file or record on me. They are particularly interested in my private life.

In August of 2010 a unit of special troops from the Armed Forces arranged a meeting to question me for more than an hour. Among the threats made, they told me, “In other countries they don’t meet with you for writing an article; they kill you.”

I am a Havanan who writes about his perceptions of Cuban life, in particular of Havana, a province where I have lived since 1965, when I was born. There are various Cubas. Dissimilar realities. It would be presumptuous to think that one simple independent journalist could capture the complex and rich panorama of the entire island.

There are those who applaud and vote early in elections in which nothing is resolved. The ones who believe in the system. Opportunists who use their party membership card as a winding staircase up the superstructure of power.

Of course there are also male and female hookers. Transvestites and homosexual prostitutes. Mediocre teachers on the rise. Apathetic doctors who arrive at their clinics every morning motivated by “special patients” bearing gifts in hard currency or in kind.

People who go to work only because their jobs give them the chance to rob anything they can. From a light bulb to a kilogram of flour. There are also drugs to be found on the streets. Young people, fifteen to thirty years old, who comfort themselves with psychotropics and marijuana.

There are honest people too. One can, of course, find many respectable citizens. But my own personal reading of the situation is that the number of Cubans disenchanted with the government’s economic and political mismanagement is on the rise.

In any conversation – on the street, in your neighborhood or in an old taxi – you will hear people loudly complaining about the olive green autocrats. They will confess to you their desires to emigrate. They will tell you they are tired of fifty-four years of exotic and inconclusive tropical socialism, which fails to satisfy their expectations.

Cuba wounds or it consoles. It depends on how you look at it. Personally, I do not believe that free health care, education and cultural access justify the lack of democracy.

In many aspects of its public life, Cuba has become no different from other impoverished third-world countries. There is no organized crime or legions of beggars on the streets.

But there are formidable “cartels” or “clans” of corrupt bureaucrats who manipulate the supply and demand of the national economy from behind the scenes. More than a few have become rich – very rich – by profiting from scarcity.

Read more