Añel, De Armas, Sotomayor, Pacheco, Gálvez… ¿se dejarán calar por Cala?

Ichikawa

Si los escritores cubanos de Miami como Armando Añel, Armando de Armas, Sindo Pacheco, Rodolfo G. Sotomayor, Joaquín Gálvez, etc., se dejan meter el pie de que Alejandro Ríos y pandilla cuelen el panfleto de Ismael Cala en la Feria del Libro de Miami como un gran documento de la cultura hispana, no podrán quejarse de nada más.
No podrán protestar, por ejemplo, cuando Amir Valle o la fogonera Venegas pretendan imponerse como los sucesores de Lezama, Piñera o Arenas.
No es que boicoteen la Feria, pero algo hay que decir en ese café de Demetrio para que respeten a Miami.

Pro-Castro aspirante democrata a alcalde de Nueva York

martinoticias

Chirlane McCray and Bill de Blasio/ www.nydailynews.com

Diarios neoyorquinos pusieron de relieve el fin de semana la filiación izquierdista y los escarceos con los sandinistas nicaragüenses y con Cuba del candidato demócrata a la alcaldía de Nueva York, Bill de Blasio, quien el 5 de noviembre próximo se medirá en las urnas con el republicano Joe Lhota.

Un comentario publicado en The New York Times dice que “de Blasio, el defensor público de la ciudad, ha mencionado solo ocasionalmente el tiempo que fue un joven idealista que se opuso a las guerras en el extranjero (…) a fines de 1980 y principios de 1990” y su activismo ha sido “omitido en el sitio web de la campaña”.

Pero una revisión de cientos de páginas de archivos y “más de una docena de entrevistas sugieren—señalan—que su época de joven activista fue más influyente en dar forma a su ideología de lo que se conocía, y con mucho fue más política que un trabajo típicamente humanitario”.

El Times destaca que De Blasio se convirtió en un ardiente simpatizante de los revolucionarios nicaragüenses. “Ayudó a recaudar fondos para los sandinistas en Nueva York y se suscribió al periódico del partido, Barricada”, y cuando se le preguntó en 1990 sobre sus metas sociales dijo que “era un defensor del socialismo democrático”.

Tras apuntar que el político demócrata se declara ahora “progresista” y que en su época de activista hasta dio publicidad a fiestas parta celebrar la revolución cubana, destaca que incluso pasó su luna de miel en la isla en 1991 “en violación de la prohibición de viajes establecida por EE.UU.” y hasta hoy habla “con admiración” de los sandinistas.

Un artículo difundido por el periódico New York Post, apunta que de acuerdo con la visión que tiene De Blasio de “combatir la desigualdad y la injusticia económica” podría mirarse a lo que sucede en Cuba, donde las cifras “reflejan el paraíso” que describe el político.

El Post subraya que luego de 54 años en los que Fidel y Raúl Castro han sacado adelante el sueño socialista “todo el mundo es igualmente pobre, con salarios promedios al mes de $19 dólares, mientras un par de zapatos de niño cuesta casi esa cantidad”.

Según el periódico, el alboroto armado con el sistema de salud cubano es “un chiste”, porque cada cual debe llevar sus propias sábanas, orinales y comida a los hospitales, y “rezar para no morir de una infección o por negligencia”.

El autor del artículo narra sus propias experiencias de un viaje a Cuba y dice haberse quedado pasmado por la “total ruina” de todo excepto de la policía. “La una vez gloriosa arquitectura de La Habana se derrumba, y hay pollos y puercos en una buena parte del centro de la ciudad, pero no agua corriente”, añade.

Dice que la mitad de los carros son propiedad del gobierno, que las pequeñas ciudades dan la impresión de haberse quedado detenidas “en el Siglo XIX”, y que el transporte público “consiste en un hombre conduciendo una carreta halada por un caballo”.

También destaca que la TV e Internet son escasas y “fuertemente controladas” y que cualquiera que se queje de eso “puede terminar en una celda”. 

Médico de la Salsa: ¨Vengo a Cuba a normalizar mi situación con el Ministerio de Cultura¨(Vídeo)

buscando patron y patronicio que la cosa esta dura en jayalia. ok. te vamos a emplantillar como cantante de salsa "b", pero ahora vas para el mato grosso do sul brasileno a curar parasitos.

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Desde la chiringadecuba

Pobre asistencia y protesta en juego de Industriales en Fort Lauderdale

matthew22712

 El video de la intervencion policial  Aqui >>

Denounced by Havana! I Must Be Doing Something Right

cubaconfidential

By Chris Simmons

James Bruno

By James Bruno in DIPLO DENIZEN

Whether as a diplomat or as a writer, I don't feel fully successful in my work unless denounced by oppressive regimes and their propaganda organs. Well, it's happened again. Yesterday, "El Heraldo Cubano," denounced me as a "yankee ex-intelligence officer" who helped "carry out subversive actions against the Cuban government." The Miami Herald describes El Heraldo Cubano as "an official Cuban blog." A Cuban intellectual and former political prisoner now residing in the United States says that the blog is an arm of Cuban intelligence.

El Heraldo Cubano's screed is in reaction to my latest political thriller, HAVANA QUEEN, which apparently has come to the attention of both Cuban intellectuals and their government. Emails concerning my book from the former have been forwarded to me. I have no indications yet that copies, digital or print, of HAVANA QUEEN are circulating inside Cuba. My novel poses a scenario for the collapse of the Castro regime. I draw on my service in Cuba as well as copious research.

Anyway, here are highlights of the denunciation, translated into English:

"With all that information, Bruno decided to fictionalize his experiences in a kind of thiller, under the suggestive title of Havana Queen, where he distorts the internal situation and invents others, with views that were approved by the Department of State in their prior security review done as a security measure to prevent information leaks that reveal the espionage work of the American federal intelligence agencies and, in particular, the Defense Intelligence Agency.

"Unintentionally, James Bruno confirmed in Havana Queen that which Cuba has denounced repeatedly, that the United States uses its diplomatic mission in Havana as a headquarters for human and technological spying, while it selects, trains and finances counterrevolutionary elements to carry out subversive acts against the Cuban government.

"If someday this outdated policy is replaced by one that recognizes the right of Cubans to choose the political and social system they want to, allowing Americans to freely visit the island, and in the United States they detect Bruno’s absence, remember his prophecy: "If I go missing, look for me... in Cuba."

Well, what can I say? First, thanks to El Heraldo Cubano for adding to my authorial notoriety. We writers crave attention and, the more controversial, the better. History has shown that official condemnations have done wonders for authors' book sales. Boris Pasternak comes to mind. While by no means in his league, I can use all the denunciations I can get. Tell you what, Heraldo Cubano: should you need more fodder for your anti-Bruno propagandizing, just shoot me an email. I'll be glad to send you more dirt on myself.

But... I can't consider myself to be a true thriller writer success and victim of oppression unless I hit the Big Leagues. I really, really would love to be denounced by the biggest kahouna in the vast Castro propaganda machine: the official organ of the Cuban communist party, Granma! Hey, Heraldo Cubano -- how about putting in a bad word for me??

Executive Editor of NYT Picks Cuba as Vacation Spot

breitbart

By Warner Todd Huston 

www.nydailynews.com

In a long article bemoaning the fact that the new CEO of the New York Times likes to keep his eye on the newsroom, an interesting anecdote reveals executive editor Jill Abramson has a special vacation destination when she wants to unwind: Cuba.

Former BBC head Mark Thompson was hired in September of 2012 to take over as the CEO of the New York Times, but when he finally began to execute his duties, the paper's editors and writers found that he was making a habit of hanging around the newsroom. This was not to their liking.

"The Times’ reporters and editors, eager to hold on to the protocols of a legacy media world, hold quasi-religious views about the sanctity of the newsroom against the influence of business concerns," the article in New York Magazine notes. "The mere presence of a corporate suit among the journalists was like a belch in a cathedral nave."

The article is an amusing illustration of the "uneasiness" between the editors and journalists of the paper of record and their new overseer, who has taken the non-traditional tact of keeping his thumb directly on the denizens of the newsroom instead of observing the usual hands-off role most executive "suits" had obeyed in years past.

But one bit of info is telling. Executive editor Jill Abramson finds one of the most oppressive countries in the world to be a fitting vacation spot.

Deep in the story we find this passage (emphasis added):

In February, when the staff held farewell parties for two popular veteran (and, by Times standards, expensive) editors, Jon Landman and Jim Roberts, who had been encouraged to take buyouts, Abramson left on a trip to Cuba with her sister. "I remember at one point Jill announcing she was leaving on this vacation because she was exhausted by all the tension of the buyout," says a colleague. "Oh, I'm sorry, it was even harder for the people who were leaving."

So, here we learn that the executive editor of what is purported to be the premier American newspaper, the New York Times, thinks the oppresive Communist utopia of Cuba is the best place to unwind.

Cuba is not a threat but ...Shortwave Radio Broadcast to Unknown Cuban Agent

Cuba Confidential

The Living Peter Jennings

Wealthiest Cubans and Castro–“Same as it Ever Was…Same as it Ever Was!”/ Humberto Fontova

By Humberto Fontova

From Today's Miami Herald:

"One of the Fanjul brothers, Alfy, whose sugar empire in Cuba was expropriated by Fidel Castro and whose exile remake extends from Florida to Santo Domingo, has met in Havana with Cuban officials who want to engage exiles, according to media reports....Miami businessman Carlos Saladrigas has openly said he has investors ready to help fund the cuentapropistas, the new class of entrepreneur the Cuban government has licensed, with millions in micro-loans."

 

(Fanjul Brothers on Left; Carlos Saladrigas on right)

I now call your attention to some of the The Cuba Study Group's eminent members:

I now call your attention to some of the Cuba Study Groups eminent "Experts" (their term!)

Arturo Lopez-Levy, Marifeli Perez-Stable, Phil Peters, Julia Sweig and more.

A HIDEOUSLY(!!!) Politically IN-Correct new book by the publishers who also happen to publish the works of such as Judge Robert Bork, Prof. Thomas Sowell, Amb. John Bolton, Jean Francois Revel, etc. expose these "experts" as perhaps operating under other than purely scholarly motives. This book also rebutts (with full-documentation) the "expertise" of many of the media's eminent Cuba "experts" To wit:

From the eminently respectable The Atlantic magazine, by Julia Sweig's friend and CFR cohort Jeffrey Goldberg: "Batista, was a friend only to a handful of oligarchs and American mafia leaders.”
Front page news for these eminently "educated, respectable and influential" U.S. Cuba "experts": Cuba’s oligarchy in fact denied Fulgencio Batista admittance into their Havana Yacht Club and largely bankrolled his violent overthrow. From Cuba’s richest man, sugar magnate Julio Lobo, to Pepin Bosch of the Bacardi dynasty, and hundreds of oligarchs in-between, Castro’s July 26 Movement was funded by the very people the learned Mr Goldberg (Julia Sweig's friend) claims were Batista’s “friends.”

(Left: Julio Lobo, Right: Jose "Pepin" Bosch.)

Keep reading on  Babalú Blog >>

ALVAREZ GUEDES sobre Radio Martí y el racismo en Cuba y EEUU

se estaria refiriendo a enrique patterson? el mismito que monto una escena en el miami dade college que lleno de estupor a algunas de nuestras eminencias presentes como montaner, benemelis, maria cristina herrera, [ja]blanco, etc;  cuando a un infortunado se le ocurrio expresar que ojala la luz blanca de dios iluminara al recien electo presidente obama en los asuntos kubiches. "y por que la luz tiene que ser blanca y no negra"- vociferaba patterson saltando del estrado hacia el infeliz que habia sido miembro de un team de infiltracion y preso politico, pero que ahora empequenecido ante la histeria pattersoniana balbuceada que siempre habia visto blanca la luz de dios.

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Desde el sitio de Ichikawa

 

Guillermo Álvarez Guedes

En la tertulia de ese sábado en la Flor del Southwest, Romerillo quería hablar sobre el racismo aquí en los Estados Unidos y en Cuba. Los invitados eran más o menos los mismos, más un negrito cubano recién llegado, que consiguió enseguida trabajo en Radio Martí, y que daba conferencias de vez en cuando en algunas universidades. Los comunistas en Cuba lo habían enseñado a trepar, y lo hacía muy bien. Ya se había colado en la elite de la intelectualidad miamense. El se imaginó que por ser negro, y según él, filósofo, iba a robarse el show en la tertulia, pero se cogió el culo con la puerta, pues Romerillo había invitado también a un amigo suyo, que además de ser negro, era anticomunista desde que Fidel se instaló en el poder. En dos ocasiones, estando en Cuba, le había preparado atentados al máximo líder. En los dos salió herido, y en el primero perdió a su hermano menor. A su padre lo habían llevado a paredón, y su mamá estaba cumpliendo una condena de veinte años. Era maestra, y se negó a adoctrinar a sus alumnos. Como siempre, Romerillo hizo la presentación de la tertulia.

-Hoy, ya muchos de ustedes lo saben, vamos a hablar de racismo. Racismo en Cuba, en los Estados Unidos y en todas partes. Le cedo la palabra al profesor Amaya, un gran conocedor de este tema.

-Muchas gracias. Yo quisiera comenzar hablando de racismo en Cuba, antes y después de Castro. Hace poco oí a alguien por radio (creo que un recién llegado) decir que antes de llegar esa revolución al poder en Cuba, había mucho racismo y que Castro había eliminado eso. Evidentemente, ese señor que hablaba (lamento no poder acordarme de su nombre), o era un desconocedor total de ese problema, o lo habían infiltrado aquí los comunistas para que realizara esa labor, y tratara de dividirnos a los cubanos.

Alguien lo interrumpió:

-Perdóneme profesor, pero para fortalecer su argumento, quiero dar el siguiente dato: en 1965, Edgar Hoover, el que creó el FBI, declaró que en aquellos momentos había, en el sur de la Florida, más de cinco mil infiltrados del régimen de Cuba. Imagínese ahora. Perdone la interrupción. Prosiga.

-Ese señor que se manifestó así en ese programa, tal parece que nunca oyó hablar de Juan Gualberto Gómez, o ignoraba que el primer presidente que tuvo el Senado de la República de Cuba era un negro que se llamó Morua Delgado, y que por la Cámara de Representantes y el Senado desfilaron infinidad de negros y mulatos que nunca hablaron de racismo.

Desde atrás, uno gritó:

-¿Y Batista, qué era, blanco? De lo único que le han hablado a estos negros verde olivo de ahora, es de la guerrita de 1912 y de lo racista que era José Miguel Gómez. Los infiltraron aquí para que lo repitan en todas partes, como cotorras.

-No quiero extenderme, porque hace falta que otros opinen y no disponemos de mucho tiempo.

-Si alguien aquí discrepa de lo que ha dicho el profesor, este es el momento.

El negrito verde olivo levantó la mano.

-Negar que en Cuba había racismo antes de la revolución es algo que nadie cree.

Lázaro Reguera, el otro negro que estaba en la reunión, muy conocido de los exiliados por su lucha contra el castrismo, dijo sin levantarse de su silla:

-Y negar que ese gobierno revolucionario que usted representa…

-No, yo no represento ningún gobierno. Yo soy un hombre libre.

-Ahora, cuando estaba en Cuba no lo era.

-Mire señor, yo a pesar de haber llegado hace poco tiempo, en ningún momento he dejado de combatir el régimen de Castro.

-Le están pagando muy bien para que lo haga. Tengo entendido que usted, desde que llegó, está cobrando un sueldo de Radio Martí.

Chacho desde atrás, gritó:

-¡Y llegó hace nada más que tres meses! Yo tengo un amigo periodista que perdió su  pierna en Playa Girón combatiendo al comunismo, que hizo su solicitud para trabajar en Radio Martí hace más de tres años, y todavía no le han contestado.

(Álvarez Guedes, Guillermo. Cadillac 59. Novela. Minerva Press, USA. 2000. Pp. 198-200)

La FIU, la democracia castrista y los balseros de Bahamas

El Comunicador Hispano

Por Andrés Pascual

El Nuevo Herald informó hoy en primera que “FIU se prepara para una Cuba democrática…”

¿Qué sabrá el libelo? Si, porque, cuando se  funciona como cubil del castro-comunismo en esta ciudad, como el centro docente, a lo mejor “se conocen cosas”, digo yo.

Sin embargo, aunque cualquier cosa pudiera suceder, el ajetreo de chivatos, agentes de la contra-inteligencia castrista, disidentes, opositores… tal vez tengan mareado al “tanque pensante” de la avenida 107 que, en cuanto a hacerle daño a Cuba y a la democracia de todo el continente por ser un feudo de degenerados castristas encubiertos en catedráticos de conferencia, no tiene similar.

Las actividades anticubanas y antiamericanas colocan a la gente de FIU en plano de enemigos de cualquier situación cercana a la libertad no solo de Cuba. Quien prepare comunistas, agitadores, incluso posibles terroristas, no puede ni jugar con la palabra democracia.

La decidida confianza y el apoyo irrestricto a Yoani, a Fariñas y a cuanto oportunista y enviado llega de Cuba con visa de turista-disidente a vacilar, también está jugando su papel en la decisión de FIU para dar opiniones a “rajatabla” que, antes, se cuidaban celosamente de decir para no confrontar el ridículo.

Yo no sé qué esperan para pasar a 4ta el asunto del barco coreano si Obama cantó su ITÁ: “no es asunto mío, Castro puede pasar por ahí lo que quiera, que el mejoramiento del ambiente hasta la reanudación plena va, como no fueron  los 10 millones".

En ninguna otra parte del mundo causó efervescencia y la única razón que lo explica es que está involucrada la tiranía cubana, a la que Obama no tiene ningún interés en hacerle daño por influencias de nadie.

Otra gaita que parece que no surte efecto es la protesta por los detenidos en Bahamas. A pesar del “llamamiento” sobre las torturas y maltratos, arenga constante de la comunidad económica de Miami, incluso al exilio, no se ven resultados favorables aparentes.

En este caso la Administración del Califa tampoco ha dicho ni esta boca es mía con la seriedad que el asunto amerita ni con otra tampoco, aunque  Joe el Mofles se pavoneó para saludar a un huelguista y a Ramón Saúl antes de que plantara.

Hoy Ileana Ross dijo algo de medio lado, como quien no quiere las cosas, sin embargo, se leen las entrelíneas: eso es problema de Raúl y de la “Comunidá”, porque no se puede hacer de 5ta columna contra el exilio a tiempo completo y pedirle compasión, solidaridad y ayuda cada vez que se les enreda la pita. De Dios hay que acordarse siempre, no solo cuando truene.

Yo no apruebo que los maltraten, tampoco que se cosan la boca y menos que lleguen a Miami, porque sé que, a la primera oportunidad, estarán en Cuba defendiendo la acera de enfrente del exilio, que aquí nadie comemierda y se vive con la gandinga hecha un hierro.

Un survey del 41, como acostumbran diariamente para apoyar al castrismo miamense a fin de conocer si esos que están en la protesta viajan a Cuba o viajarán próximamente, es lo que se impone.

Y no confundir lo que digo con falta de humanismo, pero, para mi salud y la del exilio, esos que están en Bahamas y el 95 % de los que están por acá deberían estar en Cuba.

Tal vez les entreguen los detenidos a Castro ¿quién sabe? sin embargo, a lo que no le veo la mínima razón es a solicitar que los consideren presos políticos o exiliados, primero, no han estado procesados en Cuba por luchar contra la tiranía, por lo que no son ex presos y sin acomodo por parte del Dpto de Estado a la 207 no pueden ser exiliados.

¿Cuál es la razón para otorgarles los créditos? Además de salir en balsa y carenar donde están ¿Qué hacen contra la tiranía? ¿Eran perseguidos políticos en Cuba? De otro lado, estoy completamente convencido de que, si lograran obtener la autorización que les solicitan, al año un día llenaban con Inmigración como Ajuste Cubano por las razones que todo el mundo sabe.

El fenómeno de estos cubanos ha puesto sobre el tapete que Miami es de los comunistas: son muchos, pero no responden al llamado de sus hermanos caídos en desgracia la cantidad suficiente para impresionar ni tienen poder para mover una mota de algodón en sectores políticos.

Todo eso y lo que les espera se lo buscaron por aliarse a la pandilla y conspirar contra el exilio, que ni Joe García ni Ileana ni Ramón Saúl tienen punch como para influir e imponerse en nada ni a nadie y el caso lo demuestra. Si sucediera algo, sería porque una fuerza mayor actuara en favor de los detenidos.

Hace varios años, el gobierno mexicano deportó a Cuba a un grupo que llegó por la mañana y, a las doce del día, se habían movido todos los resortes pertinentes en el exilio, boicot incluido y, a las 6 de la tarde, el propio presidente azteca le imploraba a Castro que le devolviera al grupo completo.

Eran otros tiempos… mejor que se acostumbren a estos que ellos mismos contribuyeron a ponérselos malos…

La única ayuda de peso que pueden lograr debería ser la de Andrés Gómez, Max Lesnick y el propio Obama.

Tal vez Holder les viniera bien como intermediario y, si necesitan poder de convocatoria, ahí está el Inmundo en su programita nocturno ¿Por qué no prueban con esta gente ahora, como hacen cuando necesitan derogar leyes que regulen los viajes y las remesas?

Group Founded by “Former” Cuban Spy Denounces US-Cuba Policy

cubaconfidential

By Chris Simmons

CAFE Denounces Mario Diaz-Balart’s Attempts to Reverse Advancements in U.S.-Cuba Policy

The Executive Committee of CAFE, Cuban Americans for Engagement, would like to express our severe dismay over the recent language introduced by representative Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL) to the House Financial Services Appropriations Bill for the fiscal year 2014 that would reverse important advancements in U.S.-Cuba relations.

The language contained in sections 124 and 125 of the bill, which was passed by the full committee on Wednesday, would adversely affect two major policy changes of the Obama administration that have brought about improvements in the relations between the citizens of both nations over the past four years.

Section 124 would effectively dismantle the “people-to-people” licensing program, allowing American citizens to travel to Cuba for educational purposes, by defunding the program. These licenses have allowed U.S. citizens to legally visit Cuba and experience the island first-hand, ending their reliance on the skewed portrayals of Cuban reality by either the U.S. government or the corporate-controlled media.

These visits have also allowed Cuban citizens to interact with average U.S. citizens and to discover that most people in the U.S. desire normal relations with their Cuban neighbors. These educational exchanges have served to reinforce the similarities of both peoples and to express our shared interests.

The provisions in section 125 are particularly disturbing because they negatively affect thousands of Diaz-Balart’s own constituents and their families in Cuba by requiring OFAC to monitor and report details on Cuban American travel to Cuba and on all remittances carried to Cuba, whether by Cuban Americans or others.

These remittances that have been taken to Cuba in the past years have helped to bolster the nascent mixed economy and allow Cubans on the island to start and maintain small businesses. Without these much needed investments Cubans wouldn’t be able to participate in this new paradigm. The regulations imposed by this legislation would require a costly and intrusive monitoring system and would ultimately lead to diminished monetary support for the limited, yet increasing, free enterprise that is now possible in Cuba and less humanitarian and other donations to Cuba’s religious NGOs.

It is extremely hypocritical and downright un-American of Diaz-Balart and the Republican controlled Appropriations committee to discourage Cuban Americans from taking advantage of the economic reforms taking place in Cuba. These are the same public figures that decry the communist, authoritarian government’s control over the economy. These remittances have been the lifeblood of recent reforms in Cuba and Diaz-Balart’s shortsighted and malicious attempt to curtail such funds is an affront to the American way of life.
CAFE will join others in fighting to keep this hateful language from ever making it to the president’s desk and we hope that Diaz-Balart’s mean-spirited tactics will be met with negative results at the polls on Election Day in November of 2014. Diaz-Balart’s attempt to control the American citizenry’s right to travel and sabotage his own constituent’s efforts to contribute to the welfare of their extended communities in Cuba is a disgusting act of political posturing that shouldn’t be accepted by any sector of the American government or society.

CAFE advocates an end to the unconstitutional restrictions on travel to Cuba imposed by the U.S. Congress and exhorts the U.S. State Department to at least, in the mean time, establish a single general license to cover all currently permissible categories of travel to Cuba. We also support the unlimited investment by Cuban Americans in Cuba and the end to the embargo that prohibits individuals and companies subject to U.S. jurisdiction from most trade and economic transactions with the island.

Editor’s Note: “Former” self-professed Cuban Intelligence Officer Arturo Lopez-Levy is a founding member of CAFÉ. More on this group can be found in the May 10, 2012 post: CAFE: Changing the Aroma of Cuban-American Politics, CAFE: Changing the Aroma of Cuban-American Politics

Congressional Black Caucus Supports Boycott of Florida (But Not Cuba)

capitolhillcubans

U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) and others members of the Congressional Black Caucus are calling for an economic boycott of the State of Florida over the jury verdict in the case of Trayvon Martin.

We respect their opinion.

Yet, ironically, these are also the leading Congressional voices against the economic boycott of Cuba's brutal dictatorship, which disproportionately represses its Afro-Cuban population.

Which raises the question:

Why didn't they support an economic boycott of Cuba when the Castro regime denied water to Afro-Cuban political prisoner Orlando Zapata Tamayo, who consequently died in a hunger strike protesting the beating and abuses he suffered? 

Or more simply:

Why do they continue to defend the Castro regime?

From The Hill:

Congressional Black Caucus members would support Florida boycott

A number of House Democrats are lining up behind the Rev. Jesse Jackson's threat for an economic boycott of Florida following the not-guilty verdict in the death of Trayvon Martin.

Exerting pressure on Florida's economy as Jackson is suggesting, they said, could help overturn the state's controversial stand-your-ground laws that many contend contributed to the tragedy.

"That's probably the best strategy, because people understand dollars and cents," Rep. Lacy Clay (D-Mo.) said Friday. "And they understand, if there's a significant drop-off in revenues – at conventions, at Disney World and Universal Studios – that that will get the attention of the powerful."

Rep. Bennie Thompson echoed that message. The Mississippi Democrat called the verdict "a travesty" that "does not speak well for this country," and said he would "absolutely" support an economic boycott of the state.

"[It] could have significant economic significance if properly organized," Thompson said Friday. "What I gather from a lot of people who have feelings about it, he [Jackson] would get … support."

Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) said she's also on board.

"I would support whatever it takes to get these stand-your-ground laws off the books," she said.

Emilio Ichikawa » Freddy Balsera, el Vice de “Balsera Communications” y una reunión “dialoguera” en la Calle 8

Emilio Ichikawa

www.balseracommunications.com

Alfredo J Balsera, conocido en la esfera pública de Miami como “Freddy”, estuvo programado (parece que finalmente no participó) en un audaz evento “dialoguero” celebrado en el Teatro Tower de Miami, en la Calle 8 de la Pequeña Habana, el jueves 4 de octubre de 2012. Según el programa del evento Balsera debía concurrir al panel titulado “U.S. Policy and the Vote”, moderado por Wayne Smith, ex Jefe de la Oficina de Intereses de Cuba en La Habana y uno de los grandes defensores de la normalización de relaciones entre EEUU y Cuba.

La reunión no tuvo apoyo oficial; pero no está de más llevar carta de que el Vice President & General Counsel de “Balsera Communications” es Carlos Gimenez, hijo del Alcalde del Condado Miami Dade.

Castro Apologists Support Migration Talks

cubaconfidential

By Chris Simmons

Julia Sweig/  vimeo.com

U.S., Cuba Resuming Migration Talks

By Portia Siegelbaum / CBS News

Havana Cuban and U.S. officials will hold the first migration talks between the two nations since 2011 in Washington on Wednesday.

Analysts believe both countries have a strong interest in getting them off the ground again. "I think there is a lot of clarity in both capitals that geographic proximity and family connectivity require the two governments to establish a regular channel for problem solving and information sharing in this space," says Julia Sweig, Director of Latin American Studies, Council on Foreign Relations. "Much has changed regarding the flow of people back and forth," she added.

Periodic discussion of the issue has taken place since 1980, but an accord was not reached until 1994, when the two countries sat down to find a solution to the rafters' crisis in which 30,000 people fleeing economic troubles at home set out on flimsy crafts hoping to reach U.S. shores. The following year, the U.S. and Cuba signed a second migration accord. Both were agreements to work toward "safe, legal and orderly migration." And they called for regular reviews of their implementation.

The Bush Administration broke off these twice-yearly talks, along with taking other measures such as severely restricting the rights of Cuban Americans to travel back to the island -- limiting them to only one visit every three years. President Obama reestablished the rights of Cuban Americans to visit their homeland as much as they want and resumed the talks, only to break them off over the detention and jailing of U.S. contractor Alan Gross, which the State Department has repeatedly said remains a major obstacle to any improvement in relations between the two neighboring countries.

Gross is serving a 15-year sentence in a Havana military hospital for bringing sophisticated communication equipment illegally into Cuba as part of a USAID program to promote democracy on the island. In Havana's eyes, the program aims for regime change.

Arturo Lopez Levy, lecturer and PhD Candidate at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver, and a Cuban-American says, "Opening the talks again is a sign of both sides' will to explore ways to advance their positions through negotiations. It opens the possibility of a new virtuous cycle in which a positive action by Cuba or the United States can be reciprocated by the other side. Issues such as Alan Gross' situation and the presence of Cuba on the list of State Sponsors of Terrorism are on the table because both sides know that their interlocutor would react positively to a goodwill gesture."

Nevertheless, when the talks were announced last month, State Department spokesman William Ostick said they do not signify a change in U.S. policy toward the island.
Instead, he insisted that, "Continuing to ensure secure migration between the U.S. and Cuba is consistent with our interests in promoting greater freedoms and increased respect for human rights in Cuba."

But critics of warming relations eye with unease the fact that Wednesday's talks follow recent bilateral meetings in Washington on direct mail service, suspended since the 1960s. The migration accords commit the United States to issue visas to a minimum of 20,000 Cuban migrants each year, while Cuba promised to discourage irregular and unsafe departures.

The U.S. also agreed to return illegal migrants picked up at sea to Cuba and Havana promised not to take reprisals against them and to allow U.S. diplomats posted at the U.S. Interests Section in Havana to visit the returnees to make sure they are not being treated unjustly. This is important, as it represents a relaxation of Cuba's previous restrictions on the movement of American diplomats on the island.

Similar softening in these movement limitations is taking place in the U.S., with Washington giving Cuban diplomats posted there or at the U.N. in New York permission to travel to different states, even to Miami.

The U.S. Interests Section also recently took steps to speed up visa interview appointment scheduling and is processing many thousands more Cubans than before. But ordinary Cubans, particularly young ones asking for temporary tourist visas, still complain that they are more often than not turned down as possible immigrants.

The interviews take place in a waiting room, with the visa applicants called up to a window. Anyone there, including others waiting to be interviewed, can hear what's being said in the interviews being conducted. The "interviews" often last less than a minute. In January 2012, the Cuban government relaxed its travel restrictions, allowing a much greater number of people, including dissidents, to leave the island and for a much longer period of time without losing their property or rights as citizens, to two years instead of 11 months.

That, says Lopez Levy, is a game changer in reaction to which both countries "probably need to update their cooperation in this area in which there are new challenges and opportunities." He sees the new situation as one in which both sides have something to bring to the table. "Presidents Obama and Raul Castro can bring new positive dynamics to the people to people relations," he points out. "(Mr.) Obama can implicitly support economic reform in Cuba by easing the trips to Cuba and Cuban-Americans permanence on the island for long periods. Raul Castro can provide a better environment around the U.S. interests' Section work in Havana, cooperating with more educational and cultural long term trips and contacts."

Cuba: Damage Control Over Dissidents Abroad

capitolhillcubans

The visits abroad by a host of Cuban dissidents have become a public relations fiasco for the Castro regime.

With their first-hand accounts of Cuba's reality, these dissidents have successfully unmasked the facade of Raul Castro "the reformer."

Thus, the regime has begun a damage control campaign.

This was evident in two recent columns:

One by a renowned Castro regime defender, Julia Sweig of the Council on Foreign Relations, and another by "former" intelligence official-turned-doctoral candidate, Arturo Lopez-Levy.

In "Cuba After Communism," published in Foreign Affairs, Sweig's arguments were predictable:

Discard dissidents, Raul's reforms are "la bomba" and his new Vice-President Miguel Diaz-Canel is "the man." 

Meanwhile, Lopez-Levy's post in HuffPost Voces goes for a direct, full-frontal, attack on Cuba's dissidents.

(Note to journalists: Lopez-Levy, a "former" MININT official, is a relative of MININT Col. Luis Alberto Rodriguez Lopez-Callejas, Raul Castro's son-in-law and head of GAESA, the business monopoly of the regime.  Thus, as a courtesy to readers, disclosure of his inherent conflict-of-interest in preserving the family business is appropriate.)

The focus of Lopez-Levy's ire are Cuban democracy leaders Guillermo Farinas, Antonio Rodiles and Yoani Sanchez.

After a diatribe of endless sentences and concoctions, he tries to discredit them with this noteworthy line:

"None of these people have been elected to any public office, nor represent any organization with more than one-hundred people.  They could run for a seat in municipal elections, where they could be freely nominated (though not to elections as provincial or national representatives), but haven't won a single seat anywhere."

In other words, only listen to those "selected" by the Castro regime to public office.

It's not even worth commenting on his ridiculous assertion regarding municipal "elections" in Cuba.

However, we'd note that Farinas' Cuban Patriotic Union (UNPACU) has thousands of courageous, self-identified members, as does Rodiles' "For Another Cuba" campaign.

Not an easy task in a totalitarian police state.

Moreover, we'd also note that Yoani Sanchez has more Twitter followers than Fidel and Raul Castro combined. Even if you add Mariela's followers, Yoani still tops them.

Based on Sweig and Lopez-Levy's criteria, Mandela, Havel, Walesa, Marchenko, Suu Kyi, Sakharov, Pithart, Solzhenitsyn and Dimitrov would have been mere figments of history.

Perhaps that's what they would have preferred.

SATS en Miami Dade College: Agentes de influencias desbocados

propiciado por antonio rodiles
EstadodeSats

Max Leznik sobre charla de Cónsul en Miami

para los cubanos el derecho a invertir en su propio pais esta sujeto a su comportamiento "respetuoso" con el regimen que permita su repatriacion. desde afuera ninguna inversion es legal ni directa. a continuacion las declaraciones del agentazo venido a menos:

UNICEF: Cuba otorga un lugar privilegiado a la niñez y la adolescencia

no sorprende las declaraciones de la representante de la unicef en cuba, pues una mirada al sitio de la organizacion de naciones unidas permite corrobar que es una avanzada representacion de la federacion de mujeres cubanas kaxtriztas UNICEF - Cuba

Two U.S. Reps. Host Reception in Support of Cuban Spies

capitolhillcubans

A couple of weeks ago, a group of (literally) pro-Castro activists (mostly foreigners) held a forum and march in Washington, D.C. in support of five (now four) Cuban spies imprisoned in the U.S.

It's always fascinating to watch pro-Castro activists use democracy to support a dictatorship.

Donning their Che berets and "Viva la Revolucion!" signs, they marched in front of The White House and held various speaking engagements, including one (of course) at the Cuban Interests Section, where they held a teleconference with Rene Gonzalez, one the five spies who completed his prison term and was returned to Cuba (thus, now four remaining).

An item that was curiously on their agenda was a "Reception at Capitol Hill hosted by a U.S. Congressman."

However, no details were included.

Why?

Was this U.S. Congressman too embarrassed to be hosting an event in favor of Cuban spies convicted in U.S. federal court for, among other things, conspiracy to commit murder and infiltrating U.S. military facilities?

Never missing a propaganda opportunity, the Castro regime's state media revealed that the Congressional hosts were U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL) and U.S. Rep. Yvette Clark (D-NY) -- below is a picture of them at the event.

Apparently, there was even a video of the entire event also, but it has since been removed.

How come?

Are U.S. Reps. Rush and Clarke too embarrassed to be seen and heard praising the Cuban dictatorship and its spies?

Maybe not -- but they should be

Cuba “Expert” and Florida voter-ballot “Expert” — been ‘hangin together!

Babalú Blog

By Humberto Fontova

Congressman Joe Garcia and Raul Castro's nephew-in-law Arturo Lopez-Callejas ("Artie Levy to you!"-- also known as "The Castro Family's Fredo") 'hangin in Washington last Feb.

"This past 25th through the 27th of February 2013, CAFE, Cuban Americans for Engagement, held a trip to Washington D.C. to meet with different officials and legislators of the U.S. Federal government...our group was received by three members of Congress, Sam Farr (D-CA), Joe Garcia (D-FL), and by Jim McGovern (D-MA). In the executive branch we were received by the U.S. State Department. Apart from these visits we met with two prominent analysts of U.S.-Cuba relations. Peter Kornbluh, a principal analyst at the National Security Archives at George Washington University, and Wayne Smith...We also visited the Cuban Interest Section and met with Ambassador Jose Ramon Cabañas and other members of the Cuban office in Washington."

Question: if Jose Ramon Cabanas is prevented by Federal law from traveling more than 25 miles from his spying-headquarters (Cuban Interest section office) why are Peter Kornbluh and Wayne Smith (and Lopez-Callejas) allowed to roam freely from sea to shining sea?