Detenido Dagoberto Valdés cuando se dirigía a La Habana

Punt de vista: Detenido Dagoberto Valdés cuando se dirigía a La Habana: "El editor de la revista Convivencia, Dagoberto Valdés, permanece detenido, según informaron a este blog fuentes de la disidencia. Valdés fu..."

domingo, enero 30, 2011

Leccion para los ciberactivistas cubanos


La pupila insomne en un post que reproduce Cubadebate, hace referencia al shut down de internet por parte del regimen egipcio de Hosni Mubarak. El asunto ya tratado anteriormente en este blog A lesson to Cuban ciber activists: Egypt's Internet still offline, a day later , es del mayor interes por cuanto una medida similar podria ser aplicada por el regimen cubano en un escenario de inestabilidad social. -----------------------------

De Irán a Egipto: usos y desusos de Internet “sobre el terreno”

Iroel Sánchez
Tráfico de Internet en Egipto a partir del 27 de enero- ARBOR NETWORKS
Tráfico de Internet en Egipto a partir del 27 de enero- ARBOR NETWORKS
Cuando en junio de 2009 la llamada “revolución verde” alentaba la desestabilización en Irán a través de Internet la Secretaria de Estado norteamericana intervino ante Twitter para pedirle que postergara una operación de mantenimiento que implicaba la interrupción de Sigue leyendo

Desde #Cuba: Plantón en Palma Soriano por la libertad de Néstor Rodríguez Lobaina/ TANIA MONTOYA VÁZQUEZ

En la vivienda del ex-prisionero politico Marino Antomachi Rivero, sita en calle Paquito Borrero #256 /24 de febrero y remus.

Se encuentran plantados Marino Antomachi Rivero, Reinaldo Rodriguez Martinez, Carlos Alberto Reyes Casanova, Eddy Soca Betancur, Ernesto Antonio Veras Rodriguez, Raudel Ávila Lozada, Jose Batista Falcón, Rotney Bejerano Silot, Carlos Manuel Castellano Pozo, Alfredo Bravo Betancur, Roberto de la Rosa Estrada, Juan Carlos Figueroa Cola, Jose Enrrique Martinez Ferrer, Angel Lino Issac Luna, Nelsa Fernandez Fonseca, Julio Cobas Rivero, Maikel Osorio Martinez, Idalmis Nuñes Reinosa, Eunise Madaula y Tania Montoya Vázquez?
Tania Montoya Vázquez
Tania Montoya Vázquez
Tania Montoya Vázquez
Tania Montoya Vázquez
“Ellos nos tiran piedras y palos, nosotros les contestamos gritando LIBERTAD Y VIVA LOS DERECHOS HUMANOS, y con eso los desarmamos”

Loro cubano/ Humor

Desde La Voz de Cuba Libre
El loro cubano
   
Un niño regresa de la escuela a su casa, cansado y hambriento y le pregunta a su mamá:

      -Mamá, ¿qué hay de comer?

      -Nada, hijo.

El niño mira hacia el loro que tienen y pregunta:

      -Mamá, ¿por qué no comemos loro con arroz?

      -No hay arroz.

      -¿Y loro al horno?

      -No hay gas.

      -¿Y loro en la parrilla eléctrica?

      -No hay electricidad.

      -¿Y loro frito?

      -No hay aceite.  ;
Y el loro contentísimo grita:

   
  -¡¡VIVA FIDEL!!... COÑO! ¡¡VIVA FIDEL!!

Se recrudece represión contra la resistencia en #Cuba

Hasta cuando el exilio cubano va a continuar permitiendo la represion impune a los opositores pacificos por parte de un regimen tiranico, totalitario y corrupto
--------------------------------------- 
 
Alerta internacional: Recrudece represión contra la resistencia en Cuba 

netforcuba

Santa Clara y Caimanera, Cuba, 29 de enero de 2011. Directorio Democrático Cubano. Veintiséis de los veintisiete miembros de la resistencia interna cubana, que fueron detenidos con violencia en el día de ayer, 28 de enero, por fuerzas de la policía política del régimen castrista, permanecen encarcelados y en huelga de hambre, según las informaciones del activista Carlos Álvarez Guerra. Solamente Guillermo Fariñas Hernández fue excarcelado en horas de la noche y su familia lo tuvo que trasladar al hospital con deshidratación y dolor en el pecho. En estos momentos se encuentra en su casa en la Ciudad de Santa Clara.

Los defensores de derechos humanos que se encuentran detenidos y en huelga de hambre en la sede de la Seguridad del Estado de Santa Clara son: Idania Yánez Contreras, líder de la Coalición Central Opositora(CCO); Alcides Rivera Rodríguez, del Presidio Político Pedro Luis Boitel y la CCO; Alexis Oms Pérez, Foro Cubanacán Press (FCP); Ramón Alboláes AbreuAna Rosa Alfonso ArteagaOmar Suárez GarcíaJorge Luis Oliver DíazYunieski García López,Damaris Moya PortielesFrank Reyes LópezJosé Lino Ascencio LópezYanet Yánez  NúñezCarlos Baluarte ObregónRafael Pérez GonzálezHeriberto Pérez del SolAlejandro Gabriel Martínez MartínezBenito Ortega SuárezFrancisco Rangel ManzanoFélix ValenzuelaCarlos Olivera, todos de la CCO;  y los periodistas independientes Guillermo del Sol Pérez Liset Zamora Carrandi.

"Exigimos a las autoridades y a la Seguridad del Estado que suelte inmediatamente a los hermanos que están presos, golpeados y torturados física y psicológicamente en los calabozos, le estamos exigiendo al gobierno cubano la liberación inmediata de los presos políticos que tiene en las mazmorras de la prisión, le exigimos que cese las golpizas que le están dando a nuestros hermanos, a nuestros hijos, que cese de una vez y por siempre, a este psicópata asesino de Fidel Castro que libere inmediatamente a esa hermanas, que sus hijos están llorando constantemente como son los casos de Idania Yánez Contreras, Yris Pérez Aguilera y Damaris Moya Portieles", afirmó Álvarez Guerra al Directorio Democrático Cubano.

El activista agregó que se encuentran en la casa de Idania Yánez Contreras en huelga de hambre exigiendo la libertad de los detenidos los miembros de la CCO: Justo Luis Alonso GarcíaRicardo Pupo Sierra y el propio Carlos Álvarez Guerra.

El Directorio Democrático Cubano pudo además comunicar con activitas de la resistencia en Caimanera, Guantánamo desde donde se informó que desde el día 28 de enero a las 6 de la tarde la Seguridad del Estado organizó un acto de repudio frente a la vivienda de la activista María Alfonso Córdova. De acuerdo a las informaciones de Eliécer Aranda Matos, delegado del Partido Democrático 30 de Noviembre Frank País en esa región, agentes de la Seguridad del Estado y policías vestidos de civil han utilizado a niños para tirarle piedras a la vivienda.

"Tienen un audio gritando consignas em favor de la dictadura, diciéndonos cosas, ofendiéndonos. Se subieron en el balcón de un segundo piso, quitaron un cartel que teníamos que decía `Vivan los derechos humanos, Zapata Vive y libertad para Roberto Pérez Alfonso', un activista que fue detenido el día de antier, y estamos pidiendo la libertad de él. Aquí tienen este acto de repudio desde ayer y no sabemos lo que pueda suceder, aquí nos encontramos varios activistas y no podemos entrar, no podemos salir, no se pueden buscar alimentos para los niños que tenemos aquí", informó Aranda Matos al Directorio.

Asimismo dijo que a travez del alta voz los agentes de la Seguridad del Estado han manifestado que tienen carta abierta para agredir a los activistas.

"Dicen que les dieron orden de guerra, dice que tienen cuenta abierta para hacer con nosotros lo que les de la gana, eso lo dijeron por el audio, estamos en esta situación y no sabemos lo que pueda suceder los activistas Eliza Milagro Reinera CostaVilma Reinera AcostaErnesto Carrera MorenoAlfredo Reinier SantanaRafael Pérez CaballeroYeris Curbelo AguileraLuis Gilberto MatosLázaro Coll RodríguezYoangel Aranda MatosEliecer Aranda MorenoYisel Flor LobainaYurisal Alfonso CórdovaLázaro Chacón AlfonsoRicardo Veriel FrómetaMaría Alfonso Córdova, Yaneisy Curbela Aguilera y quien les habla Eliécer Aranda Matos; los niños que se encuentran son: Eliecer Aranda Reinier de 9 años de edad y que fue golpeado cuando el acto de repudio en la casa de Tabío en Guantánamo, José Ernesto Lisiey de 4 años, Zoila Reinier Acosta de 5 años, Yurisán Alfonso Flores de 4 años y Jesús Frómeta  Reinier, de 7 años", afirmó el activista.

Caso Posada Carriles: Key witness' trips to Cuba and $80,000

Defense focuses on key witness' trips to Cuba

The U.S. government paid nearly $80,000 to a confidential informant and main witness in the case against Luis Posada Carriles. 

BY JUAN O. TAMAYO jtamayo@ElNuevoHerald.com

The unusual trips to Cuba of a key witness in the trial of Luis Posada Carriles began to emerge in court Friday as the defense questioned him for a fifth day.
Jurors also heard testimony that the U.S. government spent nearly $80,000 on the witness, Hialeah exile Gilberto Abascal, after he agreed to testify against Posada.
Abascal was on the witness stand for a fifth straight day Friday as defense lawyer Arturo V. Fernandez continued trying to attack the credibility of the 45-year old handyman.
CUBA VISITS
The witness acknowledged he visited Cuba four times in 2003-2004 and made two or three trips to the Cayman Islands -- a popular transit point for flights to and from Cuba.
Hernandez portrayed the trips as unusual, saying that the Cuban media had reported Abascal's presence among Posada's supporters in Panama in 2004. Posada was on trial in Panama on charges of plotting to assassinate Fidel Castro.
Abascal testified he had no reason to be concerned when he traveled to Cuba because ``I wasn't doing anything wrong in Panama.''
The trial closed for the weekend before Hernandez, who has described Abascal as a Cuban intelligence collaborator, could ask more questions about Abascal's Cuba connections. The witness is expected to return Monday.
Abascal is the prosecution's main witness so far to the charge that Posada lied under oath when he claimed he was smuggled by land from Mexico to Texas in 2005. He testified that he helped smuggle Posada to Miami by sea from Mexico.
Posada, a CIA-trained bomb expert, also is charged with lying when he denied that he masterminded nine bombings of Cuban tourist spots in 1997 that killed one Italian visitor, and when he denied ever having a Guatemalan passport.
Abascal acknowledged that he twice denied to FBI agents in Miami that he helped smuggle Posada into Miami, but on a third interview ``told the truth because I was afraid.''
He became a confidential informant, and the FBI and U.S. immigration officials paid nearly $80,000 to Abascal from November 2005 to January 2007, according to government reports introduced as evidence.
That included $8,800 for ``services,'' nearly $40,000 for housing and $27,560 for food.
The numbers were not explained, but indicated Abascal was relocated when he became an informant.
The reports showed Abascal cooperated because he wanted money and FBI help with his citizenship application, and feared losing his disability payments for a workplace injury. He was eventually naturalized, despite acknowledging several income tax and other dodges.
`DON'T SPIT ON ME'
Abascal also continued snipping at Hernandez, whom he repeatedly accused of harassing him and his family. When the lawyer approached to show him a document, he snapped, ``Don't spit on me.''
In the Panama case, Posada and three other Cuban exiles were arrested in 2000 on charges of plotting to kill Castro. They were convicted of lesser charges in 2004, and were later pardoned by Panamanian President Mireya Moscoso.
UNDER OATH
After his release, Posada lived in Central America but turned up in Miami in 2005, telling U.S. immigration officials under oath that he had sneaked from Mexico into Texas.
Abascal testified that he was part of a group of Cuban exiles that sailed the yacht Santrina from Miami to Mexico's Isla Mujeres, picked up Posada and took him into Miami.
When the Santrina arrived back in Miami, Posada was transferred to a smaller boat and taken to a restaurant on the Miami River where other friends were waiting for him, according to his testimony.
The driver of the smaller boat returned to the Santrina later saying that by sheer coincidence a ``chief of police'' had been eating at the restaurant.
Former Miami Police Chief John Timoney made a brief cameo appearance at the trial Friday, testifying he was having lunch at the riverside Bigfish restaurant March 15 of 2005 when he saw a boat pull up to its dock.
Three or four ``guys who looked like they had just come in from fishing'' got out and walked past him, Timoney recalled.
He added that he did not recognize any of the men or Posada, sitting at the defense table.

#Cuba / Ferry: Who will take the ferry from Cuba?

French ferry operator proposes Caribbean link

And then who will take the ferry from Cuba?

---------------------------------------------------- 

A French ferry operator that plans to launch passenger service between the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico March 16 would like to extend a leg from the Dominican Republic to Cuba and — ultimately — from Cuba to Florida, Diario Dominicano reported.

Daniel Berrebi, who controls America Cruise Ferries Inc., said he perceives the three island nations as the major tourism destinations in the Caribbean; his idea is to replicate ferry operations in the Mediterranean that live off multi-destination tourism.
Berrebi met with officials at the Cuban Interests Section in Washington, according to the Dominican newspaper. He said his company also obtained a U.S. Treasury Department license to operate direct ferry service between Cuba and Florida; however, the current license is restricted to cargo shipments. America Cruise Ferries is incorporated both in Puerto Rico, which is subject to U.S. sanctions against Cuba, and the Dominican Republic.
Berrebi

The company, which is co-owned by Mexican and Puerto Rican investors, uses the 1,100-passenger Caribbean Fantasy for its three-times-a-week Santo Domingo-Mayagüez/San Juan service. The 650-foot ferry can carry 70 vehicles and 165 containers.
A previous service by Ferries del Caribe between Puerto Rico and Santo Domingo was suspended after three years in 2009.
Florida-Cuba service has been in the sights of cruise operators from the United States, Canada and Argentina throughout the past decade. None of these companies managed to establish a U.S.-Cuba connection; without this backbone, their other routes to Florida ports have not been sustainable.
America Cruise Ferries: Trying to establish a trans-Caribbean link

#CUBA: EXILIO A "DESEMBARCAR" EN CUBA


Un cubano en Canarias  lanza el siguiente Llamamiento de un cubano a las asociaciones y organizaciones de exiliados de #Cuba

Compatriotas:
En estos días estamos siendo testigos de la fuerza del pueblo, de lo que se puede lograr cuando todos se unen, dejan atrás sus diferencias y luchan por algo común, la libertad propia y la de todos sus compatriotas.
Primero fue Túnez y ahora ocurre en Egipto, países donde sus dictadores han sido o están siendo derrocados por prácticamente los mismos motivos que sufrimos los cubanos de dentro y fuera de Cuba:
-Corrupción
-Desempleo
-Pobreza
-Violaciones de derechos humanos
-Falta de libertad
Dichos regímenes al igual que el régimen cubano se han extendido en el tiempo, se han envejecido, pero el pueblo espontáneamente con una mínima chispa a deflagrado generando una enorme explosión social que ha derrocado la dictadura que les oprimía, las razones de los cubanos son mayores, mucho mas tiempo de dictadura, mucha mas represión y crueldad del régimen castrista.
Todos nos preguntamos: ¿Cuando va a ocurrir eso en Cuba?
Yo, cubano que vivo en el exilio desde hace 11 años me pregunto: ¿Nos vamos a quedar sentados esperando a que la chispa se encienda en Cuba o vamos hacer algo para prenderla?.
Pido a todas las organizaciones y asociaciones de cubanos en el exterior que están en contra del régimen que promuevan esa chispa en el interior de nuestra patria, pido que presionemos al régimen en sus sucursales (embajadas y consulados), tenemos ese deber con nosotros mismos y con nuestros familiares. ¿Que mas podemos perder?
Es mayor el riesgo de no hacer nada que el riesgo que corremos al hacer algo.
Pido que dejemos atrás las diferencias, ya habrá tiempo de dirimirlas en democracia, pido que busquemos el objetivo común, democracia y libertad para Cuba.
No quiero ver a mi pueblo vendiendo cds piratas en sus portales, no quiero ver a mi pueblo resignado a ver su única salida en un billete de avión, no quiero ver a mis ancianos vendiendo maní o periódicos porque no les alcanzan sus pensiones para pasar su vejez, no quiero ver a mis hijos gritando cada mañana “pioneros por el comunismo”.
Organizándonos en torno a esa idea, dejemos la chispa encendida para que luego nuestros compatriotas dentro de forma espontanea hagan la explosión social que todos esperamos.
Tenemos mas que perder si no hacemos nada....piénsenlo.
---------------------------------------

me lo pense y estoy de acuerdo con el si:
 el llamado a los exiliados cubanos es montarnos todos los que tengamos verguenza y cojones en cualquier medio de transporte sean aviones, avionetas, planeadores, papalotes, barcos, barquitos, yates, yatecitos, chalupitas, botes y botecitos, balsas y camaras de bicicleta, desde nuestros respectivos paises y "desembarcar" pacificamente alla, sin pedir permisos, ni pagar habilitaciones de pasaportes y plantarnos en el medio de aquello hasta que se vayan los Castros y sus sucesores.

Hijos de Mubarak llegan a Londres

Hijos de Mubarak llegan a Londres - Internacional - EL UNIVERSAL

Entre ellos se encuentran Gamal Mubarak [foto], el pretendido heredero del satrapa egipcio Hosni Mubarak. Tipico comportamiento de dictadores y totalitaristas de todas las epocas. Cuando veamos a mas de uno de los descendientes del Clan Castro en el exterior, ya sabremos que pasaron de la fase del terror a la huida.

Al igual Canada le revoco su residencia a los familiares del tirano tunecino, Londres debera hacer lo mismo. No puede haber lugar en la tierra donde puedan refugiarse y escapar de los crimenes de toda indole que han cometido.

Opposition battles repression in Russia



Washington Post Staff Writer


IN MOSCOW -- Russia has set off on an ever more authoritarian path as it heads toward a presidential election next year, sending ominous signals to the already weakened opposition and confronting the United States and Europe with vexing new political challenges.
President Dmitry Medvedev, who positions himself as Prime Minister Vladmir Putin's liberal alter ego, repeatedly assures the West that just the opposite is true. At the Davos World Economic Forum this week, he said Russia was fighting corruption, developing rule of law - if slowly - and becoming increasingly democratic. "Russian citizens believe they live in a democratic state," he said.
The experience of Boris Nemtsov argues otherwise. In the past few months, Russian authorities have made it clear they are willing to contort the legal system to their own ends, smother dissent and brazen out Western disapproval. They are clamping down hard even though they have effectively silenced the opposition.
Nemtsov, a former deputy prime minister, was caught in the tightening vise when he was arrested at a legal demonstration on New Year's Eve. He was put in jail for 15 days and risks a similar end Monday when he intends to stand up again for the right of freedom of assembly at another protest, which also has been given city permission to gather on a central square at 6 p.m.
Nemtsov, now 51, was a luminous political star in the early post-Soviet days, when most Russians still dreamed of democracy. He was young, energetic and smart - a physicist turned politician who charmed voters and won high approval ratings as a regional governor. For a time, he was seen as a likely heir to President Boris Yeltsin.
Instead, Putin assumed the presidency, later became prime minister, and relentlessly marginalized his opposition, Nemtsov among them. On carefully controlled television, where most Russians get their news, critics ceased to exist.
So Nemtsov's arrest on New Year's Eve, along with other dissenters from various parts of the political spectrum, was an unambiguous message. The protesters had gotten a permit to gather, choosing Dec. 31 - and now Jan. 31 - in honor of Article 31 of the Russian Constitution, which guarantees freedom of assembly and which is routinely disregarded. He was seized as he was leaving the square, accused of heading to an unapproved rally and of disobeying police. He was hustled off a few days after former oil baron Mikhail Khodorkovsky was given a second jail term in a case widely considered politically motivated.
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"After the Khodorkovsky verdict, the authorities decided to continue to demonstrate to the country and the world that the law means nothing to them," said Igor Klyamkin, vice president of the Liberal Mission Foundation, expressing a widely held point of view. "They wanted to show that the authorities are the master of every situation, regardless of the law."
And if anyone was considering attending even an approved demonstration, maybe they should think again.
A recent report from Freedom House, a nonprofit organization based in Washington that examines the level of civil liberties around the world, expressed alarm over the increasing repression here, and in other parts of the globe, and criticized the democratic community for failing to rise to the challenge.
"Russia is not a free country," David J. Kramer, executive director of Freedom House, said in an interview, and recent events suggest officials have stopped pretending it is.
Kramer starts with November, when Russian officials marked the anniversary of the death of Sergei Magnitsky by promoting the officials tied to his case. Magnitsky was a lawyer who uncovered a $230 million fraud, documented police complicity, and then was charged with the theft himself. He died at age 37 after a year in pretrial detention - Kramer describes it as murder because Magnitsky was denied medical treatment and kept in inhumane conditions.
"It shows a complete and utter disregard by authorities for basic human rights," Kramer said.
Nemtsov undaunted
Nemtsov spent 40 hours sitting on his jacket in a dank 5-by-10-foot room with no windows, toilet or bed. In court, he was made to stand for more than four hours while defense witnesses were brushed aside. Police officers, who were not the ones who arrested him, testified that he was abusive toward police and heading toward an unsanctioned protest.
Opposition leaders from other points on the political spectrum also were arrested, including Eduard Limonov, the 67-year-old founder of the National Bolshevik Party, who wears a Lenin-like beard, and Konstantin Kosyakin, a slight 64-year-old activist with the Left Front. Others were detained in the days that followed as they stood in silent protest outside the detention center.
Nemtsov emerged defiant. "The main goal was to destroy my character and the will to continue my opposition," he said in an interview, "but they failed."
Out of jail, Nemtsov is pushing ahead, organizing a new People's Freedom Party with democratic allies Vladimir Ryzhkov, Mikhail Kasyanov and Vladimir Milov, and planning to nominate a presidential candidate this spring.
There is little chance they can get the party registered, and they will not appear on television screens. "I don't see any political future for him or for them, at least for now," said Klyamkin. "I cannot see how they can get into the elections."
Nemtsov says they will use the Internet to get their message out and crisscross the country distributing 1 million copies of what he calls modern samizdat, a pamphlet outlining the ways that Putin is destroying the country.
The United States, which has been pursuing a reset of relations by concentrating on dealing with Russia on areas of common interest, has criticized repressive actions in Russia. After Nemtsov's arrest, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said, "We regret that these actions seem contrary to statements that President Medvedev in particular has made."
Nemtsov said the West should forget polite talk and pursue sanctions, not against Russia but against its corrupt circles of officials. The United States, he said, should drop Cold War-era measures like the Jackson-Vanik amendment that imposes trade sanctions. "That only provokes anti-American feeling," he said. Instead, he said, Congress should adopt a Support Russian Democracy Act, listing the officials responsible for human rights violations, freezing their assets and banning them from entering the country.
Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin (D-Md.), chairman of the U.S. Helsinki Commission, has already introduced a bill that would ban visas for 60 officials linked to the Magnitsky case. In December, the European Parliament urged a ban on visas for the officials. Last week, Chris Bryant, a member of the British Parliament, suggested that the officials were engaged in "economic terrorism" and called for a visa ban and asset freeze.
Nemtsov, who has appealed his treatment to the European Court of Human Rights, has an additional list of Russian officials he says should be banned, beginning with Putin's top deputies - if not Putin himself. "It will be great," he said, smiling happily.

A lesson to Cuban ciber activists: Egypt's Internet still offline, a day later


Editor's note: This story was updated many times as the story evolved Friday. Please see updates below and click here for a more recent story on the situation.
Egypt has gone offline.
In a stunning development unprecedented in the modern history of the Internet, a country of more than 80 million people has found itself almost entirely disconnected from the rest of the world.
The near-disconnection--at least one Internet provider is still online--comes after days of street protests demanding an end to nearly three decades of autocratic rule by President Hosni Mubarak. Those followed this month's revolution in Tunisia, another country with little political freedom and high levels of corruption, and reports of overnight arrests and clashes with security forces.
Jim Cowie, chief technology officer at Internet-monitoring firm Renesys, said that at approximately 2:34 p.m. PT, his company "observed the virtually simultaneous withdrawal of all routes to Egyptian networks in the Internet's global routing table." (See CNET's earlier coverage of network disruptions.)
"Virtually all of Egypt's Internet addresses are now unreachable, worldwide," Cowie wrote in a blog post this evening.
A major service provider for Egypt, Italy-based Seabone, reported that there was no Internet traffic going into or out of the country after around 2:30 p.m. PT (12:30 a.m. local time), according to an Associated Press dispatch.
Al Jazeera English reported that the Mubarak government "denied disrupting communications networks" in advance of widespread protests planned at more than 30 mosques and churches on Friday, which is a day off in Egypt with banks and many businesses closed. (A spokesman for the Egyptian embassy in Washington, D.C., also denied earlier reports that Facebook and Twitter were selectively blocked.)
While the cause of the disruption remains unknown, it seems clear that yanking Egypt's Internet addresses was a conscious decision, not the result of a fiber cut or a natural disaster. That means Egypt will be conducting a high-profile experiment in what happens when a country with a $500 billion GDP, one that's home to the pyramids and the Suez Canal, decides that Internet access should be restricted to a trickle.
That trickle can be found at the Noor Group, which appears to be the only Internet provider in Egypt that's fully functioning. (Cairo-based bloggers are speculating that its unique status grows out of its client list, which includes western firms including ExxonMobil, Toyota, Hyatt, Nestle, Fedex, Coca-Cola, and Pfizer, plus the Egyptian stock exchange.)
An analysis posted by network analyst Andree Toonk, who runs a Web site devoted to monitoring networks, shows that yesterday there were 2,903 Egyptian networks publicly accessible via the Internet. Today, there are only 327 networks.
Noor is "the only provider that doesn't seem to be impacted by this," Toonk wrote.
That's led Egyptian Internet users, at least the ones still connected, to go on Twitter to urge others to use Noor's dial-up numbers if their own network was down.
Unconfirmed reports from Egypt suggested widespread telephone outages as well. Early in the morning in Cairo, a series of complaints of mobile phone outages said Mobinil, the country's largest mobile provider, was no longer providing service. Other reports said only land lines were working. Complaints about SMS outages have become common.
There are some parallels. Wired magazine's HotWired, succeeded by Wired.com, reported in 1996 that "the U.S. government has quietly pulled the plug on Iran's Internet connection." During a state of emergency in Bangladesh in 2007, satellite providers were ordered to cease airing any news shows. And in Burma later that year, the country's ruling military junta pulled the plug on the nation's limited Internet access.
Twitter and Facebook have become effective communications tools during social unrest and protests--in Iran and Moldova, along with Tunisia and Egypt, more recently. YouTube videos, too, have documented the massive street protests in Cairo.
Egypt's Internet disruptions coincided with activist action. Anonymous, the group that launched distributed denial-of-service attacks on Web sites of financial institutions and others opposing WikiLeaks last year, released a video in which it threatened to launch DoS attacks on Egyptian government Web sites if the authorities did not curtail censorship efforts. Earlier today, five people were arrested in the U.K. in connection with those attacks.
The threats weren't necessary. Egypt's new firewall has brought down almost every entry on a list of the 25 most popular Web sites in the country, including egypt.gov.eg, presidency.gov,eg, and cabinet.gov.eg. The exceptions are ones like jeep.com.eg, which are hosted in the United States. The Web site for the U.S. Embassy in Egypt was unreachable.
In a YouTube interview today (see transcript), President Obama stressed that Mubarak has "been an ally of ours on a lot of critical issues" and has "been very helpful on a range of tough issues in the Middle East." Obama added, however, that political reform "is absolutely critical to the long-term well-being of Egypt."
Egypt receives over $1.3 billion annually from U.S. taxpayers in the form of military aid, according to the U.S. State Department.
Update 9:10 a.m. PT Friday: A check of Egypt's top 25 Web sites shows that they're still offline, with the exception of a few like Chrysler's that are hosted in the United States.
Update 9:15 a.m. PT Friday: Vodafone has confirmed in a statement that "all mobile operators in Egypt have been instructed to suspend services in selected areas," and its chief executive said at a conference that the wireless provider was directed to "turn down the network totally."
Update 9:20 a.m. PT Friday: European networking organization RIPE has posted a telling graphic showing how Egypt's network went dark. After the normal noise of networks being added and deleted, there was a sharp spike yesterday between 2 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. ET, and virtually no activity since.
Update 9:22 a.m. PT Friday: White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said on Twitter: "Very concerned about violence in Egypt--government must respect the rights of the Egyptian people & turn on social networking and internet." Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a speech that "we urge the Egyptian authorities to allow peaceful protests and to reverse the unprecedented steps it has taken to cut off communications."
Update 9:45 a.m. PT Friday: Our sister site CBSNews.com has posted this remarkable video of clashes between protesters and security forces.
Update 10 a.m. PT Friday: Here's a telling chart of how many Egyptians are using the Tor anonymizing network. There's a dramatic spike around January 24, which coincided with the beginning of widespread protests. A second chart shows Tor traffic from Egypt going back through November 2010.
Update 10:22 a.m. PT Friday: Al Jazeera English's online chief, Mohamed Nanabhay, is reporting that "nearly 45 percent our of current web traffic to our @AJEnglish Egypt coverage is coming from America."
Update 10:40 a.m. PT Friday: There is no evidence, contrary to some reports, that Syria's Internet connection is down. Compare this chart from an Egyptian provider showing the network going completely dark with this one from the government-owned Syrian Telecommunications Establishment that depicts normal activity. Web sites in Syria remain accessible. The rumors originated a few hours ago when Al Arabiya news service said that "Syria suspends all Internet services," and followed up with a denial from the authorities. Reuters reported earlier this week that Syrian authorities have banned programs that allow access to Facebook Chat from cellphones.
Update 10:50 a.m. PT Friday: Al Jazeera's frequently-updated blog is reporting that military vehicles have entered the streets of Cairo and the president's party headquarters is on fire. The network has also created a roundup of its Twitter-ing correspondents, who have just reported that "protesters appear to be looting the ruling National Democratic Party headquarters in Cairo." The NDP is chaired by Mubarak and has for decades maintained an iron grip on political power in Egypt.
Update 11:20 a.m. PT Friday: And now, U.S. economists analyze how social networks influence protests. Jeff Ely, an economics professor at Northwestern University, writes: "Communications networks affect coordination. Before committing yourself you can talk to others, check Facebook and Twitter, and try to gauge the momentum of the protest...If it looks underwhelming you stay home, go to work, etc. And therefore so does everybody who gets similar information as you. All of you benefit from avoiding protesting when the protest is likely to be unsuccessful." George Mason's Tyler Cowen adds that the security forces' response "increases the likelihood that the Egyptian government sees these protests as very serious indeed."
Update 12:35 p.m. PT Friday: Just finished a live CNET Reporter's Roundtable on this topic with my colleagues Rafe Needleman and political scientist Deborah Wheeler. The archived video, once we process it, should appear here.
Update 12:41 p.m. PT Friday: A faux Twitter account for Hosni Mobarak--Al Jazeera is now reporting that his ouster is more likely than not--announces: "The Internet will be turned on again, but it will be read-only. Meaning that you will be able to read, but not write."
Update 12:45 p.m. PT Friday: I wrote a CNET article earlier this week titled "Internet 'kill switch' bill will return" that reported on forthcoming legislation from senators Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine). That's now getting passed around with comments like "Mubarak flipped the "kill switch" in Egypt to shut down dissent" and headlines like "Egypt's communications 'kill switch.'"
Update 12:55 p.m. PT Friday: On his Forbes.com blog, Andy Greenberg writes: "On Friday afternoon, the loose hacker group Anonymous began a campaign to fax thousands of copies of WikiLeaks' latest missives--a series of State Department cables revealing human rights abuses under Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and tacit U.S. backing for his administration--to Egyptian numbers." On the other hand, it doesn't seem as though protesters need any more information about government corruption. (Why did WikiLeaks wait so long to release these, by the way?)
Update 1 p.m. PT Friday: Renesys has updated its post with a telling graphic showing how Egypt's globally reachable networks fell dark within a 15-minute period yesterday: "An estimated 93 percent of Egyptian networks (are) currently unreachable...Sequencing looks like people getting phone calls, one at a time, telling them to take themselves off the air. Not an automated system that takes all providers down at once; instead, the incumbent leads and other providers follow meekly one by one until Egypt is silenced."
Update 1:10 p.m. PT Friday: Index on Censorship's Egypt regional editor Ashraf Khalil is in Cairo and filed a dispatch today. Excerpt: "Thanks to the blanket communications shutdown, the protests today took place in an information vacuum. On Tuesday, even during the demonstration, everybody was checking Twitter both to coordinate and for news on what was happening across the country. This time nobody knew what was happening anywhere else--not even on the other side of the river in Tahrir Square."
Update 1:12 p.m. PT Friday: The Internet Society is condemning the Egyptian Net disconnection: "The Internet Society considers this recent action by the Egyptian government to block Internet traffic to be an inappropriate response to a political crisis. It is a very serious decision for a government to block all Internet access in its country, and a serious intrusion into its citizens' basic rights to communicate."
Update 1:20 p.m. PT Friday: And here's a Reddit.com thread titled: "As evidenced by what is happening in Egypt, the only f--king way the president needs an emergency Internet kill switch is if the government is doing something really f--king bad."
Update 2:45 p.m. PT Friday: We've posted a new article, and any further updates will appear there.

Will there be a chocolate drought?


No-go: Fairtrade training schemes for farmers have ground to a halt because of political unrest in Africa

Drying up: Ivory Coast cocoa supplies are under threat after many farmers have fled the country

Will there be a chocolate drought? World’s supply of sustainable cocoa could run out by 2014

By Simon Watkins And Jo Thornhill

The world faces a chocolate ‘drought’ over the next few years, an expert warned yesterday.
Political unrest in the Ivory Coast, where 40 per cent of the world’s cocoa beans are grown, has ‘significantly’ depleted the number of certified fair trade cocoa farmers.
Many have fled the West ­African country, while fair trade training programmes have also come to a halt.
Fairtrade training programmes have ground to a halt because of the danger farmers face in rural areas.
The situation is already affecting chocolate manufacturers, who are facing the highest cocoa prices for over 30 years.
Prices jumped by 10 per cent this month alone. Analysts are predicting they could soon hit $3,720 per metric tonne - a level last seen in January 1979.
It follows a curb on international cocoa exports initiated earlier this week by the country's new president,  Alassane Ouattara.
Angus Kennedy, the editor of Kennedy's Confection and a leading British chocolatier, said chocolate producers are facing 'one of the biggest challenges to hit the industry in recent history'.
'Supplies of sustainable cocoa are set to run out, it's that simple,' he said.
'The Ivory Coast is a complete no-go area for cocoa traders as it's too dangerous, so training new farmers and trying to cut problems in the region is now, mostly impossible.
'So in effect, its sustainability is not sustainable. Prices can't go up as it's reported because there basically isn't enough certified cocoa left to sell.'
Of the world's 5.5 million cocoa farmers, only 10 per cent have been trained and certified as sustainable fair-trade producers.
The certification is granted by specially-trained teachers, and the course runs for up to three years.
But the political turmoil in Ivory Coast means both the farmers and trainers are fleeing the country, leaving a severe shortage of certified cocoa beans.
Even if the political situation improves, it could take three years or more for the number of certified fair-trade farmers to reach its former level.
According to Mr Kennedy, manufacturers are now fighting for the rest of the world's sustainable cocoa bean stock.
'Things could get nasty now as producers start to fight over the last stocks,' he added.

Detencion de Farinas [Fotos] o donde estan los periodistas independientes?

lo simpatico de todo esto es que las fotos las publican lapatilla y efe y no hay ni una fotico de carnet de los cientos -miles tal vez- de periodistas independientes.

DesdeCUBA OUT


Terror en Punto UNO por las protestas en Medio Oriente


El regimen de los Castros esta aterrorizado con las masivas protestas que dieron al traste con el regimen dictatorial y corrupto de Tunez y tienen en jaque al Egipto de Mubarak, donde la ciudad de Alejandria ha sido tomada por los protestantes y en El Cairo han quemado la sede del partido del viejo Mubarak. 

Mientras el Diletante en Jefe se entretiene en ordenar reproducir citas entrecortadas del informe a la nacion del presidente Obama, pues no tener nada que decir no es motivo suficiente para permanecer callado.

Tal y como se aprecia en el Granma, Órgano Oficial del Comité Central del Partido Comunista del Clan de Biran...,  no estan absoluto interesados en informar de las mismas a la poblacion, ni siquiera de manera mediatica o manipulada. No saben a quien culpar, porque el odiado "imperialismo" esta muy lejos del asunto y las mismas han sido protagonizadas por lo que ellos denominan "pueblo".


Y Farinas lo confirma en su reciente intento de depositar flores en una estatua de Jose Marti con motivo de su natalicio. 

Las brigadas antimotines deben estar en estado de maxima alerta y los tanquistas en posicion 1, mientras disidentes como Chaviano y Gomez Manzano entablan un batalla campal  no contra el Kxtrizmo en las calles, sino en una comision ad hoc discutiendo problemas de dinero.

Independientemente del origen aun no claro de las protestas, una chispa prende la llama y la llama la pradera. Habra aun alguna chispa en Cuba?

La sede central del partido de Mubarak en El Cairo en llamas

La sede central del partido de Mubarak en El Cairo en llamas

Y no se expanden estas "espontaneas" protestas a otras regiones donde imperan dictadores aun mas corruptos, como la que se ubica en los Puntos Uno y Cero?

Que hay detras de las revueltas "democraticas" en el Medio Oriente?

Una interesante y no descartable hipotesis politica se expone en el sitio NUEVA EUROPA- Nueva Eurabia  sobre el origen y desarrollo de las revueltas "espontaneas" que sacuden a Tunez, Egipto y el Libano actualmente y que pueden propagarse a otras naciones de la region.

La yijad universal comienza en los países musulmanes

jueves, enero 27, 2011

Egipto: Lecciones p/ blogueros cubanos en tiempos de crisis

Lecciones para los internautas cubanos y particularmente para los blogueros de la isla, sobre las medidas de absoluto control de la telecomunicaciones que toman los regimenes totalitarios en momentos de crisis.
-------------------------------------------------- 
El blog The Huffington Post retoma un reporte de la página The Arabist y declaraciones del corresponsal de la cadena CNN Ben Wedeman
Internet y los mensajes SMS de celular fueron cancelados en el Cairo, y quizá en todo Egipto, luego de la ola de protestas en el país, informó The Huffington Post.
El blog The Huffington Post retomó un reporte de la página The Arabist y declaraciones del corresponsal de la cadena CNN Ben Wedeman.
"No hay Internet, no hay SMS. ¿qué sigue? ¿la telefonía celular y casera? Demasiado por la estabilidad", escribió Wedeman en su cuenta de Twitter.
Además, el diario Los Angeles Times informó que el servicio de Black Berry también estaba bloqueado.
Ayer, la Red Euro-Mediterránea de Derechos Humanos condenó la "fuerza excesiva" utilizada a su juicio por la policía egipcia para reprimir las manifestaciones en el país y la "censura" en internet y en los medios de comunicación, ejercida desde que comenzaron las protestas.
En un comunicado, la EMHRN (por sus siglas en inglés) denunció el uso de munición real, balas de goma y gases lacrimógenos para dispersar "manifestaciones no violentas organizadas por ciudadanos pacíficos".
También denunció el bloqueo de sitios web como Facebook o Twitter, donde se difundía información sobre las protestas.

Billionaire Tunisian fugitive loses right to stay in Canada

Billionaire Tunisian fugitive loses right to stay in Canada

Government revokes Belhassen Trabelsi’s permanent residency status, but facing justice in Tunisia could still be a long way off

Muertes del Kaxtrizmo: El asesinato de Salvador Allende

A casi 38 anos del asesinato del ex presidente chileno Salvador Allende, a manos de su propia guardia personal encabezada por el ex general de brigada cubano Patricio de la Guardia, algunos sectores chilenos estan solicitando una investigacion sobre las circunstancias de su muerte.

Legitima la inquietud, pero le recomiendo a los chilenos que no miren hacia adentro, o solo lo hagan para interrogar a Max Marambio, sino que enfoquen su investigacion directamente a Cuba.

Un Fidel Castro en sus mas entusiastas momentos de foquista guerrillero, nunca vio con buenos ojos la llegada al poder del socialista Allende mediante las urnas. Es cierto que la victoria electoral se debio a un conjunto de circunstancias donde la polarizada sociedad chilena le concedio solo el 36,3 % de su voto, mientras Jorge Alessandri de la coalición de derecha y Radomiro Tomic de la Democracia Cristiana, obtuvieron un 34,9% y 27,8% respectivamente.

Auto invitado Castro a Chile, prolongo por un mes su visita, para contribuir decisivamente a agudizar aun mas la sociedad chilena con su intromision en los asuntos internos en todas las regiones del pais y su descarado apoyo publico al MIR de Miguel Enriquez, padre del candidato presidencial asesorado y propuesto por el siniestro Max "El Guaton" Marambio,
Marco Enríquez-Ominami.

La version del "suicidio" de Allende sentado en su butaca de presidente, cubierto con una bandera chilena y su banda presidencial y sosteniendo un AKM de culata plegable siniestro "regalo" de Fidel Castro, es solo creible para los idiotas y entusiastas de novelas policiacas y de espionaje y no para personas sensatas.

Amigos chilenos, no pierdan su tiempo, cojan por los huevos a El Guaton y el les expondra con lujo de detalles la planificacion y ejecucion de ese asesinato politico.

Infolatam » Blog Archive » Chile: la investigación de la muerte de Allende reabre dudas

An useful idiot: American surgeon to help with heart surgery in Cuba

American surgeon to help with heart surgery in Cuba | Cuba News Headlines. Cuban Daily News

I could accept anything he wants to say, but Riveron said he was shocked when he witnessed Cuba's health care system in action. For instance, the country's surgeons perform heart transplants, a very high-tech procedure.

"That's really been a focus for them, to be as good as or better than the United States," Riveron said.

To much isw to much does not matter if they took him to foreigners room in Cira Garcia clinic or Amejeiras Hospital, he is useful idiot.

Chiste del dia: Cuba denuncia a Google por atacar "libertad de expresion" del Kaxtrizmo

Sin dudas este fuera el chiste del ano sino se tratara del regimen de Cuba, que envia a sus mazmorras con largas condenas de carcel a personas solo por expresar una opinion diferente a la que dimana del Clan de Biran.

La informacion la trae ABC:

El Gobierno de Raúl Castro denuncia al gigante de internet ante la Unesco por «silenciar» a los cubanos

El Gobierno de Raúl Castro ha denunciado ante la Organización de las Naciones Unidas para la Educación, la Ciencia y la Cultura (Unesco) que Google busca «silenciar» a los cubanos al suspender varios de sus servicios, entre ellos, el canal de vídeos en YouTube del sitio oficial Cubadebate.
Hace unos días el popular portal de vídeos decidió suspender la cuenta de Cubadebate, conocida por divulgar las «reflexiones» del ex mandatario Fidel Castro, debido a una denuncia por infracción del copyright de un vídeo relacionado con el presunto terrorista cubano Luis Posada Carriles, procesado en Estados Unidos.
La embajadora cubana ante la Unesco, María de los Angeles Flórez, ha denunciado este hecho durante el Simposio Internacional de Libertad de Expresión, celebrado este miércoles en París. «Nos quejamos con gran determinación de la censura de Google y su ataque a la libertad de expresión en contra de un emplazamiento alternativo en un país bloqueado, cuyo acceso a Internet es vía satélite y sin los recursos para tener sus propios servidores multimedia», ha dicho Flórez.
Cuba ha aprovechado este escenario para cargar contra Reporteros Sin Fronteras (RSF) por haber guardado silencio «ante flagrantes violaciones de la libertad de expresión». Según Flórez, no es un secreto que RSF está especializada en ataques contra países del sur, especialmente contra aquellos que están en desacuerdo con el actual orden mundial, según ha informado Prensa Latina.
El Gobierno de la isla asegura que Google restringe a los cubanos el acceso a varios de sus servicios, entre ellos Google Earth, Google Code y Google Chrome, pero además dice tener pruebas de declaraciones de sus directivos contra el régimen castrista. «No se trata solo de declaraciones de los directivos, sino de hechos de censura, unas veces más abierta y la mayoría de manera sofisticada. Hoy la censura hacia nosotros también es silenciarnos, acallarnos la voz, una censura más pérfida», ha indicado el presidente de la Comisión Nacional Cubana para la Unesco, Juan Antonio Fernández, en declaraciones a Cubadebate.
Supuesta violación de derechos de autor
El vídeo que le costó la cuenta en YouTube a Cubadebate se refiere a la presentación en Miami del Fondo Legal para Posada Carriles «editado de un material mucho más amplio que circuló en la red y había sido reproducido en varios sitios sin autoría», ha explicado el portal. Estas imágenes forman parte de una serie de programas especiales que ha comenzado a transmitir la televisión oficial de la isla sobre Posada Carriles, un ex agente de la CIA que está siendo proceso en Estados Unidos por 11 cargos relacionados con fraudes migratorios, pero que Cuba ha solicitado en extradición por terrorismo.
Según Cubadebate, en su canal de Youtube habían más de 400 vídeos y 1,6 millones de descargas, desde su apertura hace casi tres años. «Quien haya seguido nuestros vídeos, sabe que la inmensa mayoría son filmaciones originales y que cuando utilizamos otras fuentes, solemos citarlas, siempre que estén correspondientemente identificadas», ha aclarado.