Informe revela mas de 200 muertes y desapariciones durante el gobierno de Raúl Castro

Pablo Alfonso/ martinoticias.com

diciembre 27, 2013

El gobierno de Raúl Castro tiene un impresionante historial de más de 200 casos de muertes y desapariciones en Cuba, de ellos 166 documentados, durante los siete años de su mandato, según revela la organización Archivo Cuba en su más reciente informe.

En la lista se destacan 86 fallecimientos en prisión por denegación de asistencia médica en prisión, 46 suicidios de presos y 15 homicidios extrajudiciales. El recuento incluye a los reclusos, muertos en huelga de hambre: Wilman Villar Mendoza, Orlando Zapata Tamayo, Yordanis Ballagas Ramírez y Roberto Antonio Rivalta Junco; y califica las muertes de Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas y Harold Cepero Escalante como presuntas ejecuciones extrajudiciales.

Hay dos casos reportados como desapariciones forzosas. El primero identificado como Alberto Sigas Hechevarría, 32 años, miembro de un grupo de oposición pacífica, que había sido amenazado de muerte por agentes de Seguridad del Estado.
El 15 de enero de 2010, salió de su domicilio para visitar la casa de su mamá y nunca más fue visto. Su esposa lo reportó como desaparecido, la policía le informó tres días después que estaba detenido en Villa Marista, cuartel general de la Seguridad del Estado, pero nunca regresó.

En circunstancias semejantes desapareció el activista político, Roberto Amelio Franco Alfaro, de 62 años, quien salió de su casa por última vez el 20 de mayo de 2009, señala Archivo Cuba.

El informe de 10 páginas abarca desde el 31 de julio de 2006 hasta el 15 de diciembre de 2013 y está disponible en inglés en el sitio web cubaarchive.org.

Archivo Cuba es un programa de Free Society Project (FSP) una organización independiente fundada en el año 2001, en Nueva York, presidida por María Werlau, con el fin de promover el respeto a los derechos humanos y preservar la memoria histórica mediante investigaciones, becas y publicaciones.

La organización tiene una amplia base de datos digital que documenta los crímenes políticos ocurridos en Cuba desde el triunfo de la revolución castrista hace 55 años.

Cuba: Raul Castro Issues Stern Warning to Enterpreneurs and Self-employed

TheBlaze.com

Story by the Associated Press; curated by Dave Urbanski

cubaxdentro.wordpress.com

HAVANA (AP) — President Raul Castro issued a stern warning to entrepreneurs pushing the boundaries of Cuba’s economic reform, telling parliament on Saturday that “those pressuring us to move faster are moving us toward failure.”

Castro has legalized small-scale private business in nearly 200 fields since 2010 but has issued tighter regulations on businesses seeing as going too far or competing excessively with state enterprises. In recent months the government has banned the resale of imported hardware and clothes and cracked down on unlicensed private videogame and movie salons.

Castro threw his full weight behind such measures in an address to the biannual meeting of the communist legislature, saying “every step we take must be accompanied by the establishment of a sense of order.”

“Inadequate controls by government institutions in the face of illegal activities by private businesspeople weren’t resolved in a timely fashion, creating an environment of impunity and stimulating the accelerated growth of activities that were never authorized for certain occupations,” Castro said.

He told lawmakers that Cuba wanted better relations with the U.S. but would never give in to demands for changes in Cuba’s government and economy, saying “we don’t demand that the U.S. change its political or social system and we don’t accept negotiations over ours.”

“If we really want to move our bilateral relations forward, we’ll have to learn to respect our differences,” Castro said. “If not, we’re ready to take another 55 years in the same situation.”

President Barack Obama shook hands with Castro at the memorial service for former South African President Nelson Mandela in Johannesburg, which caused quite a stir.

El "llanten" de Raul Castro por el fracaso de las reformas economicas - 2013 [Video completo]

Cuba: Nieta de Raul Castro es hija de un terrorista chileno

Fotos tomadas de  yustedsabiaque.blogspot.com
Leer en Cuba al Descubierto >>

Cuba: Una ilusión sin porvenir

Cuba Encuentro

Alejandro Armengol

armengol.blogspot.com

Sorprende el afán de los marxistas cubanos por encontrar asideros en un mundo que sobrevive en medio de las ruinas. Habitan un país con un sistema que no llegó a derrumbarse —como ocurrió con el socialismo en Europa Oriental—, pero que lo único que ha logrado es una salvación fragmentada. Alguien con un convencimiento verdadero en la existencia de un porvenir para el socialismo —no viene al caso referirse a los montones de oportunistas— se enfrenta a la paradoja de vivir en una nación cada vez más alejada de este sistema político. Al tiempo que su vida es regida por un gobierno alabado como símbolo de la resistencia anticapitalista, encuentra que mencionar esa resistencia es uno de los pretextos más socorridos para no emprender las transformaciones imprescindibles para salir de la crisis económica y social en que está inmersa la Isla. Al final, la retórica que impide hablar de reformas y cambios —y se limita a señalar una pálida actualización— es un cubo de agua fría que cae a diario sobre los cubanos. Da la impresión que los planteamientos sobre el futuro, que hacen estos supuestos herederos de Marx, resultan más bien una racionalización para justificar el aferrarse al pasado.

En primer lugar, en Cuba nunca ha existido socialismo. Fidel Castro, por conveniencia política circunstancial, jugó la carta de situar su gobierno dentro del campo del comunismo soviético. Lo demás son diferencias, matices que vale la pena estudiar y semejanzas bastante conocidas. El comunismo ―tal como se conoce y como se puso en práctica en la desaparecida Unión Soviética― es un sistema malsano por naturaleza, como en su momento lo fue la esclavitud. No tiene ni nunca tuvo salvación. El engendro que llevó a la práctica Vladimir I. Lenin fue el de un sistema totalitario cruel e inhumano. Desde hace largas décadas muchos defensores del comunismo han buscado en las características personales lo que no es más que el fundamento de un programa que desprecia al individuo y encadena a toda una sociedad bajo un mando despótico. En lo que se refiere a forma de gobierno, Stalin no fue ni un desvío torpe y sanguinario, ni tampoco el hijo putativo de Lenin. El estalinismo fue el fruto y el logro de la práctica leninista. Por supuesto que existen diferencias tácitas y estratégicas entre el modelo adoptado por el primero, al inicio de la revolución rusa, y la puesta en marcha después por el segundo de una teoría centrada en la URSS y fundamentada en un nacionalismo ajeno a los planteamientos de Lenin, pero en cuanto a la maquinaria del poder, esta comenzó a edificarse tras la toma del Palacio de Invierno. Hay quizá una paranoia y un antisemitismo propios de Stalin que llenan su biografía, pero sólo en algunos aspectos particulares podrían trazarse diferencias. Lo demás es aplicar al estudio de la historia una de las mejores tramas novelescas jamás creadas: Dr. Jekyll y Mr. Hyde.

Considerar al estalinismo como una desviación del comunismo, y no como el resultado a partir de su esencia, es un argumento repetido una y otra vez en las argumentaciones que muchos marxistas cubanos continúan sosteniendo. Tal asidero ―que ya no resulta conflictivo como años atrás― encierra una esperanza: que en un futuro justificaría trasladar igual tesis a la mayor parte del mandato de Fidel Castro o incluso de su hermano. Así, todo se limitaría a definir el momento de desvío dentro del proceso revolucionario cubano y a partir de ahí hablar de un Fidel o un Raúl similares a Stalin, pero al mismo tiempo salvaguardando el ideal leninista.

Cualquier estudioso del marxismo que trate de analizar el proceso revolucionario cubano descubre que se enfrenta a una cronología de vaivenes, donde los conceptos de ortodoxia, revisionismo, fidelidad a los principios del internacionalismo proletario, centralismo democrático, desarrollo económico y otros se mezclan en un ajiaco condimentado según la astucia de Fidel Castro. No se puede negar que en la Isla existiera por años una estructura social y económica —copiada con mayor o menor atención de acuerdo al momento— similar al modelo socialista soviético. Tampoco se puede desconocer la adopción de una ideología marxista-leninista y el establecimiento del Partido Comunista de Cuba (PCC) como órgano rector del país. Todo esto posibilita el análisis y la discusión de lo que podría llamarse el “socialismo cubano”, pero no por ello libra de moverse en un modelo fantasioso.

Cuba sigue siendo una excepción. Se mantiene como ejemplo de lo que no se termina. Su esencia es la indefinición, que ha mantenido a lo largo de la historia: ese llegar último o primero para no estar nunca a tiempo. No es siquiera la negación de la negación. Es una afirmación a medias. No se cae, no se levanta.

Por eso la pregunta de ¿por qué no se cayó el socialismo cubano? puede ser respondida en parte con otra interrogante: ¿qué socialismo? Y luego complementada con otra más correcta: ¿por qué no se cayó el castrismo? La desaparición de un caudillo no es igual a la de un sistema. En Cuba el PCC nunca ha funcionado como una estructura monolítica de poder real, que actua con una verticalidad absoluta, sino era y es más bien un instrumento de poder del gobernante

Son muchas las contradicción en que viven quienes aún defienden una vía socialista para la Cuba del futuro. Quizá la más importante es que la cúpula de gobierno que dice constituir la principal garantía para impedir el establecimiento de un capitalismo, al estilo norteamericano, es a la vez el principal obstáculo a la hora de buscar soluciones de acuerdo a un pensamiento revolucionario.

Obama shook Raúl Castro's hand after SIX MONTHS of secret U.S.-Cuba talks, report claims

Confirmed: 'We're in talks' with Cuba on a wide range of issues, said Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes (L), shown with the president on Air Force One

dailymail

By David Martosko, U.s. Political Editor 

The handshake seen 'round the water cooler was no fluke, it turns out.

When President Barack Obama approached the podium at Nelson Mandela's memorial service and made a beeline for a row of foreign leaders – stopping first to shake Cuban dictator Raúl Castro's hand – it came after representatives from the two historically antagonistic nations had already been in talks for six months.

'[B]ehind the scenes,' two Daily Beast national security reporters wrote on Tuesday, 'U.S. and Cuban officials have held midlevel discussions in Havana and Washington on a range of issues, including direct postal service, migration issues, disaster response, and search and rescue at sea.'

During the president's trip back from South Africa, Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters on Air Force One that 'it's been quite some time since the Presidents of the United States and Cuba were even in the same place.'

But he acknowledged that 'we’re in talks on issues associated with migration that, again, I think allow for there to be greater connectivity particularly among Cuban Americans and Cuba.'

News that the two leaders' deputies have been meeting in secret comes after nearly five years of a foreign policy thaw between the U.S. and the communist island nation, and nearly two decades after Mandela himself suggested that the two countries re-evaluate their icy Caribbean staring match.

The Obama administration has already turned heads by lifting an earlier prohibition on family travel and money transfers to Cuba. But a hostage situation and the iron fist that Castro wields against pro-Democracy activists have largely kept the U.S. at arms' length.

National Security Adviser Susan Rice laid out a case for the softer approach on Dec. 4 during a speech during a Washington, D.C. human right summit.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2522263/Obama-shook-Ra-l-Castros-hand-SIX-MONTHS-secret-U-S-Cuba-talks-report-claims.html#ixzz2nW99fhkl

The White House on the Obama-Castro Handshake

Lord Rothschild

capitolhillcubans

From The White House's Daily Press Briefing with Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest:

Q. What I wanted ask about was the famous handshake with Raul Castro.  And I’m wondering -- we all saw the President exchanged some words with Castro.  I’m wondering what those words were, and did the name Alan Gross, the American political prisoner being held in Cuba, come up?

MR. EARNEST:  It’s my understanding -- I obviously wasn’t there. That's why I’m not sleep deprived today. It’s my understanding, based on people who did talk to the President after his speech, that they didn't have a robust, substantive conversation about policies, but rather exchanged some pleasantries as the President was making his way to the podium. So there was not an opportunity for the President to chronicle his many concerns about human rights abuses on the island of Cuba.

The President did not have the opportunity to say to him directly something that he said many times, which is that Alan Gross should be released. So they did not have an opportunity to have a robust exchange of ideas.  Rather, they had an opportunity to exchange pleasantries.

Q. So you said the President has said many times that Alan Gross should be released?

MR. EARNEST:  He’s said it before.  Maybe it’s not many times, but he has said before that Alan Gross should be released.  I think we put out a statement from the President just a couple of days ago on this topic.

Q . And what -- so I understand he’s there, he passed -- I know this was not a prearranged handshake. But obviously, you knew that Castro was going to be up there on that stage.

MR. EARNEST:  That's correct.

Q. Was it discussed beforehand what to do when the two would inevitably come face to face?

MR. EARNEST:  Not to my knowledge.  Not to my knowledge.

Q. And can you -- you’ve seen some of the criticism.  John McCain actually compared this to Neville Chamberlain shaking hands with Hitler.  What’s your response to all that criticism, that people say that the President shouldn’t have given Castro the opportunity to have a handshake with the leader of the United States?

MR. EARNEST:  Well, again, first of all, the President shook hands with everybody who was on the stage, and Mr. Castro was one of those individuals who was on the stage.

The second thing I’d point out is, I think even in the few number of times that I’ve stood at this podium, I’ve been asked about other people who have tried to draw connections between recent political events and the terrible reign of Adolph Hitler.  That is a dangerous and usually unwise thing to do in public.

The third thing I guess I would say is that there used to be a pretty important principle that originated in the Republican Party, I believe, that partisan politics should stop at the water’s edge.  And it’s unfortunate that we did see a number of Republicans yesterday who criticized the President for a handshake at Nelson Mandela’s funeral.  That is I think an important progression in a number of politicians’ views on that topic.

Q. Is there anybody that the President would not -- is there any world leader the President would not shake hands with? If Assad had been on that stage, Kim Jong-un had been on that stage -- I mean, is there -- I’m trying to gauge the principle. He shook hands with everybody on the stage. I mean, is there anybody he wouldn’t?

MR. EARNEST:  That’s a difficult hypothetical to entertain, and I decline to do it at this point.

Platano para sinsonte o Nada más que un apretón de manos

que el castrismo sobrevivio es un hecho, pero la pregunta debiera ser si podra sobrevivir el neocastrismo y alcanzar la fase postcastrista sobre lo cual no tengo absolutamente ninguna

flickrhivemind.net

duda salvo que un cataclismo geologico provoque la desaparicion del pedruzco del caribe. pero eso es peccata minuta y exquisitez akademica.

el asunto cayo-yuma esta como platano para sinsonte y no por el handshake que era protocolar pero que igual el califa pudo haber facilmente esquivado. "casualmente" los organizadores se lo pusieron en el camino y no en el otro extremo. muy felices por cubadebate y la rinconada, el ego de potencia global reconocido: 5 oradores extranjeros [todos por cierto de izquierda] y uno de ellos el sonriente socarron.

no hay lobby cubano-americano que pare el handshake entre los kerry y los brunitos, ni electores, ni versailles, ni nadie; es asunto decidido que se aproxima aceleradamente al punto tangencial que hara superfluo el tema.

por que el general de hojalata tendria que negociar con la oposicion y disidencia "democratica" la mayor parte de los cuales de hecho estan a favor de la normalizacion de las relaciones dicho sea de paso, si estos no movilizan ni al socio de la secundaria y no constituyen una alternativa real al poder?

estan conversando hace rato y lo unico cierto es que cuando se conversa es porque hay intereses compartidos aunque los alan gross y el correo y el banquito sean solo excusas para sentarse a la mesa. the facts are the facts y hasta que no se demuestre lo contrario el handshake no fue casual sino un sondeo para evaluar el efecto y los danos colaterales que tendran los proximos pasos que se evaluan. se que esta en contra de la naturaleza de los hermanos de biran, posiblemente de la "logica", pero una salida del tipo "retiro" del general a mitad de su mandato eliminaria ipso facto todos los pretextos de los escrupulosos que quedan por ahi. igual no hace falta que el asunto va de cualquier manera y ya el sinsonte esta saboreando el platanito maduro.

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

Cuba Encuentro

Eugenio Yáñez

Un apretón de manos entre dos personas puede ser un gesto puramente cortés, el símbolo del logro de un acuerdo, o como dice Humprey Bogart al final de “Casablanca”, el comienzo de una bella amistad.

Entre esos significados caben infinidad de variantes posibles. Sin embargo, tratándose de juicios entre cubanos, es más probable aferrarse a extremos que buscar eventuales tonos grises para describir la escena que en veinticuatro horas dio la vuelta al mundo y que posiblemente dentro de veinticuatro más no trascienda mucho más allá del Teatro de Operaciones Militares de la Calle Ocho o de las barricadas anticastristas de Hialeah.

Raúl Castro rápidamente quitó temperatura al saludo, respondiendo a un periodista extranjero que fue algo “Normal, somos gente civilizada”. Sin embargo, de inmediato los apologistas de La Habana hablaron de la necesidad de normalizar las relaciones entre ambos países, recomendando como primer paso el canje del contratista norteamericano Alan P Gross por los espías de la Red Avispa, soslayando la verdadera obligación del régimen de normalizar sus relaciones con el pueblo cubano.

Una publicación tan respetada como “The Economist”, de Inglaterra, recordó otro apretón de manos entre Bill Clinton y Fidel Castro, donde no sucedió más nada, y destacó que “el rápido pero muy público” saludo de Obama y Raúl Castro “parecía una señal de acercamiento entre Estados Unidos y Cuba”, pero sin perder la perspectiva señaló que sería mucho más útil y esclarecedor buscar signos en las acciones de ambos gobiernos que en un saludo protocolar, destacando que: “Habría sido francamente grosero” hacia Raúl Castro “evitar el saludo, sobre todo en una ocasión en que Obama pronunció unas emocionadas palabras sobre el espíritu de reconciliación de Mandela”.

Interesante que, al menos durante las primeras horas, no apareciera ningún especialista en lectura de labios que nos permitiera conocer qué fue lo que se dijeron ambos mandatarios en siete segundos (traducción incluida), o que expertos en lenguaje corporal no dieran sus criterios, ya que ambas cosas habrían ayudado a llegar a conclusiones sobre un brevísimo encuentro que muy a la ligera ya algunos califican como “histórico”, y que no fue casual, lo que no existe en política, ni tampoco provocado por alguna de las dos partes o por las dos a la vez.

Sin embargo, más que esos matices, es importante destacar lo que no se puede pasar por alto en el homenaje a Mandela en Sudáfrica, y son las palabras del presidente Obama al dirigirse a los presentes:

“Hay demasiados líderes que aseguran ser solidarios con la lucha por la libertad de Madiba [Mandela], pero no toleran la disidencia en su propio pueblo”.

Palabras que, pronunciadas ante tiranuelos como Raúl Castro y Robert Mugabe, aún sin mencionarlos, tienen mucha más trascendencia, y expresan mucho mejor que un apretón de manos la opinión del presidente de Estados Unidos sobre líderes de quincalla que posan como demócratas, o hasta de propulsores de “cambios”, por permitir en su país algunos oficios medievales por cuenta propia y relajar —nunca eliminar— determinadas coyundas sobre la población, mientras cercenan libertades políticas y derechos humanos y reprimen violentamente a los opositores.

Por eso a los cubanos les sonaron tan huecas las palabras de Raúl Castro en la ceremonia de Johannesburgo, quien citando al Demagogo en Jefe recordó que su hermano había dicho en un momento: «Nelson Mandela no pasará a la historia por los 27 años consecutivos que vivió allí encarcelado sin ceder jamás en sus ideas; pasará porque fue capaz de arrancar de su alma todo el veneno que pudo crear tan injusto castigo; por la generosidad y la sabiduría con que en la hora de la victoria ya incontenible supo dirigir tan brillantemente a su abnegado y heroico pueblo, conociendo que la nueva Sudáfrica no podría jamás construirse sobre cimientos de odio y de venganza».

Generosidad y sabiduría de Mandela que ni Fidel Castro ni su hermano han mostrado durante más de medio siglo de dictadura, incapaces de arrancar de sus almas el veneno que las corroe, y donde los “cimientos de odio y de venganza” han sido la base y fundamento de su política y su hostilidad hacia los cubanos que piensan diferente: desde mítines de repudio o insultos y calumnias sin posibilidad de defensa, pasando por juicios amañados o negar el derecho a exiliados a regresar a su país, cesantear a opositores y familiares para después acusarlos de mercenarios o vagos, hasta imponerles larguísimas condenas de cárcel en condiciones infrahumanas o llevarlos al paredón de fusilamiento.

Quienes quieran dar toda la trascendencia que deseen al apretón de manos en Sudáfrica entre Obama y Raúl Castro están en todo su derecho. Quienes deseen especular a partir de este hecho, o incluso desarrollar teorías de la conspiración, también. Respeto todas esas posiciones.

Sin embargo, yo me quedo con algo que me parece mucho más concreto y real: que el Presidente de Estados Unidos expresó, ante ellos mismos, que en el mundo hay dirigentes que se expresan solidarios con las luchas de Mandela, “pero que no toleran la disidencia de su propio pueblo”.

Raúl Castro podría demostrar que no desea seguir perteneciendo a ese bochornoso grupo. Aunque dudo que sea capaz de hacerlo.

Barack Obama será visto como un presidente que le dio un apretón de manos a Raúl Castro, y éste como un líder de pacotilla, de esos que “no toleran la disidencia de su propio pueblo”.

5 out of 6 “foreign dignitaries” listed on the official Mandela memorial service are known Marxists

Trevor Loudon's New Zeal Blog 

By: Cliff Kincaid*
Accuracy in Media

If President Obama’s handshake with Cuban dictator Raul Castro is news, Castro’s featured presence at the Nelson Mandela memorial service and what the South African government said about him are equally newsworthy. South Africa was described as “joined at the hip” to Cuba and in its debt for “liberation.”

Yet, this part of the memorial service has been carefully edited out of most of the “mainstream media” coverage of the event.

The service was organized and orchestrated by officers of the African National Congress (ANC), the ruling party of South Africa which operates as a front for the South African Communist Party. Baleka Mbete, ANC chairperson, introduced Raul Castro’s speech by saying, “Comrades, we will now get an address from a tiny island—an island of people who liberated us, who fought for our liberation in Cuito Cuanavale—the people of Cuba.”

Cuito Cuanavale refers to the foreign intervention of thousands of Cuban military troops on behalf of communist Angolan government forces in Africa under the guidance of Soviet military officers during 1987 and 1988. This was a critical time when communist forces backed by the Soviet Union, Cuba and China were determined to crush the non-communist pro-freedom movement UNITA (The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola).

As part of his effort to turn the tide against communism in Africa and elsewhere, the “Reagan Doctrine,” President Ronald Reagan strongly supported UNITA and its leader, Jonas Savimbi.

In the end, the communists solidified control of Angola, assassinated Savimbi (shot 15 times, twice to the head and once to the throat), and then took over Namibia and South Africa as the white population—fearing extinction in the face of the onslaught—made deals with the communists.

Mandela, in commemorating the 20th anniversary of the battle in 2008, referred to it as “a turning point for the liberation of our continent and my people.” This helps explain why the Cuban regime is held in such high regard by the South African government. The ANC and SWAPO (the South West Africa People’s Organization) communists in Namibia greatly benefitted from the Cuban imperialistic intervention. Of course, Mandela’s communist movement also enjoyed the support of Libya and the PLO.

After Raul Castro’s speech, during which he highlighted Mandela’s visit to Cuba to meet with and thank Fidel Castro, ANC deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa said, “Thank you President Castro. We thank you for all the support and help that we continue to get from the people of Cuba during our years of struggle, and our countries continue to be joined at the hip in the areas of development…”

AIM noted in our column about current South African President Jacob Zuma that he traveled to Cuba in 2010 to receive the top Communist award from Raul Castro himself. Zuma also told a meeting of young communists in South Africa, “Work begins today in earnest to improve the quality of life of all our people and to build Cuban-style patriotism and internationalism within our ranks.”

Of the 6 “foreign dignitaries” listed on the official Mandela memorial service program as giving a tribute to Mandela, five are known Marxists: Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff (a former terrorist herself); Chinese Vice President Li Yuanchao; Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba; Cuba’s Raul Castro; and of course President Obama. The other speaker was President Pranab Mukherjee of India, described as a “close friend” of Marxists in India who has “remained a friend” of the Communist Party of India during his political career and leadership in the United Progressive Alliance. Indeed, he has been labeled a “communist agent.” The Indian delegation to the memorial service included Sitaram Yechury of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M).

Earlier in the memorial service, Andrew Mlangeni, identified as a Mandela “family friend,” spoke on Mandela’s behalf. Now considered an “elder statesman” in the ANC, he had studied “military science” and “guerrilla theory” in China. The Stephen Ellis book, External Mission, confirms that Umkhonto we Sizwe, which became the military arm of the ANC, was launched by the South African Communist Party after negotiations with Chinese Communist mass murderer and dictator Mao Tse-tung. The cover of the book, which also reveals that the East German secret police trained the ANC’s security personnel, shows a photograph of Mao Tse-tung meeting with SACP leader Yusuf Dadoo, a Muslim Indian South African communist.

Mandela ran Umkhonto we Sizwe, which carried out violence and terrorism, and he went to prison as a result. He was never a “political prisoner.” He refused to renounce violence in order to be released early. He could have been hanged for his conviction for terrorism.

Although Mandela is being widely praised for his spirit of “forgiveness” and “reconciliation,” the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), led by Mangosuthu Buthelezi, was never fully accepted as a legitimate partner and actor in South African politics by Mandela’s ANC. The IFP advocated the abolition of apartheid, or racial segregation, but refused to engage in violence and terrorism against innocent people. It also had an anti-communist orientation.

“The armed struggle, and Inkatha’s refusal to engage it, had driven a wedge between our organizations,” Buthelezi says. “Propaganda against me and Inkatha was rife and there were many attempts on my life.”

But the U.S. government under Obama is in complete support of the South African government and provides an estimated $500 million a year in foreign aid to the regime.

The United States ambassador to South Africa, former Democratic Party operative and radical organizer Patrick Gaspard, recently announced that American taxpayers would provide an additional $100,000 in U.S. government funding for the purpose of the “preservation of documents” relating to Mandela. The money was given to the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory, the official home of the Nelson Mandela Foundation. This is the same group offering a poster featuring a quotation of Mandela under an image of communist murderer and Castro henchman Che Guevara.

In supporting South Africa, the U.S. is supporting Cuba. Obama’s handshake with Castro only confirms this fact.

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

*Cliff Kincaid is the Director of the AIM Center for Investigative Journalism

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen: Obama-Castro Handshake WAS PLANNED

Video aqui >>

Marco Rubio and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen Slam Obama For Castro Handshake

miaminewtimes

Fox News predicted that President Obama's handshake with Raul Castro "could rile Cuban-American lawmakers," and Marco Rubio and Ilean Ros-Lehtinen have sure enough delivered.

According to the Hill, Rubio isn't so much angry that the handshake took place, but rather that Obama didn't take the opportunity to lecture Castro.

"If the president was going to shake his hand, he should have asked him about those basic freedoms Mandela was associated with that are denied in Cuba," Rubio said. "It remains clear that Cuba is the same totalitarian state today that it has been for decades. This totalitarian state continues to have close ties to terrorist organizations."

The White House says that the handshake was a brief, unplanned encounter, and was in the peaceful spirit of Nelson Mandala's memorial service.

Obama may not have taken the opportunity to speak to Castro directly, but that may be because he was on his way to give a speech in which he sent a direct message to Castro and his ilk.

"There are too many people who happily embrace Madiba's legacy of racial reconciliation, but passionately resist even modest reforms that would challenge chronic poverty and growing inequality," he said in his speech. "There are too many leaders who claim solidarity with Madiba's struggle for freedom, but do not tolerate dissent from their own people."

Rep. Ilean Ros-Lehtinen was less measured in her response. She called it "nauseating."

"Sometimes a handshake is just a handshake, but when the leader of the free world shakes the bloody hand of a ruthless dictator like Raul Castro, it becomes a propaganda coup for the tyrant," she told Fox News.

Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez has noted that the handshake was not shown on Cuban television. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen also seems to forget that a big part of Cuban propaganda is getting Cubans to think that its the imperialist hand of any U.S. President that is actually bloodied. We doubt the Castro regime wants to make more of the handshake then what it was.

Capitol Hill: Ileana Ros-Lehtinen on Obama-Raul Castro handshake

Video from Lord Rothschild

Transcript from  Democracy Now!

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: We turn now to the historic moment Tuesday when President Barack Obama shook hands with Cuban President Raúl Castro as both men participated in the memorial service for anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela in South Africa. The White House said the handshake was unscripted. It marked the first time a U.S. president has shaken hands with a Cuban leader since 2000. In Washington, Republicans expressed outrage over the exchange. During a hearing in the House, Republican Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida sparred with Secretary of State John Kerry, who said it did not represent any change in U.S. policy toward Cuba.

REP. ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN: Mr. Secretary, sometimes a handshake is just a handshake. But when the leader of the free world shakes the bloody hand of a ruthless dictator like Raúl Castro, it becomes a propaganda coup for the tyrant. Raúl Castro uses that hand to sign the orders to repress and jail democracy advocates. In fact, right now, as we speak, Cuban opposition leaders are being detained, and they’re being beaten while trying to commemorate today, which is International Human Rights Day. They will feel disheartened when they see these photos. Could you please tell the Cuban people living under that repressive regime that a handshake nonwithstanding, the U.S. policy toward the cruel and sadistic Cuban dictatorship has not weakened? Thank you.

SECRETARY OF STATE JOHN KERRY: Ladies and gentlemen, today is about honoring Nelson Mandela. And the president is at an international funeral with leaders from all over the world. He didn’t choose who’s there. They’re there to honor Mandela. And we appreciate that people from all over the world and from all different beliefs and walks of life who appreciated Nelson Mandela and/or were friends of his came to honor him. And I think, as the president said—I urge you to go read his speech, or if you didn’t see it or haven’t read it, because the president said in his speech today honoring Nelson Mandela, he said, "We urge leaders to honor Mandela’s struggle for freedom by upholding the basic human rights of their people"—

REP. ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN: And would you say Raúl Castro is upholding their basic human rights?

SECRETARY OF STATE JOHN KERRY: No, absolutely not.

Obama Shaking Hands with Raúl Castro Insults Efforts of Cuban Dissidents

breitbart

By Frances Martel 

President Obama's warm greeting to Cuban dictator Raúl Castro at Tuesday's memorial for Nelson Mandela rightfully sparked the ire of those with a passion for human rights. In greeting Castro, Obama discredits the work of dissidents Castro routinely arrests and assaults.

The handshake triggered visceral reactions across the political spectrum. On the left, many heralded it as indicative of the power Nelson Mandela had to bring about peace (despite half a lifetime's embrace of violence). On the right, revulsion: the President of the United States exchanged a peaceful gesture with a brutal mass murder and oppressive tyrant, never once showing that same warmth to the dissidents that peacefully call for change in their country. 

For many, especially those that see no issue with a such an approving gesture at a funeral, it is difficult to understand the greater meaning of accepting Castro as an equal. This is especially true without looking at Castro's opposition--that is, at the people whose plight President Obama willfully ignores and whose oppression he embraces as he embraces their oppressor. To that end, below are five of profiles of dissidents on the island with whom President Obama should interact and whose missions he should bolster--political activists seeking to liberate their country from oppression.

1. Guillermo Fariñas

Often denominated "Cuba's Mandela," Guillermo Fariñas does not share the history of early violence or support of oppressive dictatorships abroad with the late South African leader. Fariñas, a Sakharov Prize winner, made his name through his 24 hunger strikes in jail, where few of his supporters expected to see him live. Live he did, and he visited the United States and met President Obama while here. He demanded one thing of the President: "don't negotiate with Cuba."

Fariñas returned to the island after his voyage abroad and was arrested and beaten by state police again shortly thereafter.

2. Jorge Luis Garcia Pérez (Antúnez)

Antúnez is perhaps the second highest-profile Cuban dissident on the island after Fariñas. He rose to prominence in 2007 after serving 17 years in Castro's political gulags for spreading "enemy propaganda." He is a great admirer of American civil rights leaders, and his wife founded the Rosa Parks Movement in Cuba.

Antúnez has been significantly more critical of President Obama than Fariñas, telling the Heritage Foundation that he was alarmed by the fact that "the government of Mr. Barack Obama has exercised a political agenda of approach and relaxation with the regime of Havana." He did not receive an audience with the President on his visit to the United States this autumn but did meet Cuban-American senators Marco Rubio and Bob Menendez, as well as Florida Senator/honorary Cuban Bill Nelson.

3. The Ladies in White

Also Sakharov Prize winners, the Ladies in White (Damas de Blanco) are a coalition of mothers, wives, sisters, and daughters of Cuban political prisoners. Led by Berta Solér since the death of widely recognized dissident leader Laura Pollán, the group highlights the struggles of women left behind to fare in the socialist dystopia while their husbands toil in jail for thoughtcrimes. 

Solér and the Ladies visited the United States recently as well, only to be told by President Obama that he could see "changes" in the Cuban government that they apparently had missed.

4. Gorki Águila

Unlike any other dissidents on this list, Gorki Águila is not exactly a political figure. He is the lead singer of a punk rock group dedicated to fighting communism with profane anti-establishment lyrics. Porno Para Ricardo (the name meaning "censored pleasure for the individual") boasts songs with titles like "El Comandante," "I Don't Like Politics (But Politics Likes Me)," and "How To Fuck Over A Communist." Needless to say, Águila is perennially the victim of police beatings and arrests for his outrageous music, the kind of antics that would make him a beloved star in the States.

Ted Cruz Walks Out During Raul Castro Speech at Mandela Funeral

breitbart

By Tony Lee 

On Tuesday, after President Barack Obama shook hands with Cuban dictator Raul Castro, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) reportedly walked out of Nelson Mandela's memorial service when Raul Castro was speaking. 

A Cruz spokesperson told Newsmax that Cruz believes "Castro has wrongly imprisoned and tortured countless innocents" and that Castro "learns from Mandela."

"Just as Mandela was released after 27 years in prison, Castro should finally release his political prisoners; he should hold free elections, and once and for all set the Cuban people free," the spokesperson said. 

Cruz's father, Rafael, is from Cuba, and he came to the United States before Raul's brother--Fidel Castro--came to power in 1959.

Juana Florinda Vera García la interprete ingles-espanol de Fidel y Raul Castro

fotos y datos personales exclusivos en Cuba al Descubierto >>

Will A Handshake Lead To Better U.S.-Cuba Relations?

By Krishnadev Calamur

 AP

In everyday life, a handshake is rather ordinary. But when President Obama shook hands Tuesday with Cuban leader Raul Castro at a memorial service for the late South African President Nelson Mandela, this was how it was described:

-- "a simple gesture that signaled possible thawing between the leaders of the two Cold War foes"

-- "an unprecedented gesture"

-- "perhaps a deliberate seizing of the moment to edge forward the prospect of a thaw in relations ... after more than half a century of hostility"

-- "a symbolic gesture that came after decades of estranged U.S.-Cuba relations"

Despite Tuesday's handshake, Obama told mourners in Johannesburg that "too many who claim solidarity with Madiba's [Mandela's tribe name] struggle for freedom ... do not tolerate dissent from their own people." It was an apparent reference to Castro and leaders of other nondemocratic nations gathered at the service.

More at KCUR >>

Cuban-American lawmakers dismayed over Obama handshake with 'thug' Castro

Fox News

Cuban-American lawmakers voiced disappointment Tuesday over President Obama shaking the hand of Raul Castro during the memorial service for Nelson Mandela, calling it a "propaganda coup" for the Cuban government. 

"It is nauseating," Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., who fled Cuba with her family when she was a child, told Fox News. 

Speaking later at a hearing with Secretary of State John Kerry, the congresswoman held up photos of the handshake and said political dissidents would be "disheartened" by them. 

"Sometimes a handshake is just a handshake, but when the leader of the free world shakes the bloody hand of a ruthless dictator like Raul Castro, it becomes a propaganda coup for the tyrant," she said. 

Distrust of the Castro government runs deep in the Cuban-American community, particularly in Florida where many refugees still live. 

Obama's brief encounter with Castro, though -- unlike the historic phone call earlier this year between Obama and Iran's new president, Hassan Rouhani -- was described as spontaneous. 

An administration official said "this wasn't a pre-planned encounter," adding: "Above all else, today is about honoring Nelson Mandela, and that was the president's singular focus at the memorial service." 

At the hearing on Tuesday, Kerry said Obama "didn't choose who's" at the Mandela ceremony. Asked by Ros-Lehtinen if Castro is upholding basic human rights, Kerry answered: "No. Absolutely not." 

Obama shook Castro's hand as he made his way down a line of dignitaries, including South African President Jacob Zuma and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, on his way to deliver an address honoring the late South African leader. 

In the speech in Johannesburg, Obama praised Mandela as the "last great liberator of the 20th century." 

"He changed laws, but he also changed hearts," Obama said. 

Ros-Lehtinen said afterward that Castro should have listened to Obama's message about how some leaders praise Mandela without respecting human rights. "I think that was a message to Raul Castro," she said, calling him a "thug." 

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., also released a statement saying: "If the president was going to shake his hand, he should have asked him about those basic freedoms Mandela was associated with that are denied in Cuba." 

The handshake came amid a memorial service that lauded Mandela's spirit of reconciliation. It's unclear whether more will come of the gesture, as efforts by the Obama administration to thaw relations between Cuba and the U.S. have been slow-going. 

The U.S. government in 2011 eased the embargo on the island by allowing some Americans to travel there. But the U.S. freeze on Cuba, dating back to when Fidel Castro took power, largely has remained in place - and Cuba's human rights record, particularly its intolerance of political dissent, continues to draw the scorn of rights groups and western governments.

Should President Obama Have Stopped to Shake Hands With Cuba's Raul Castro?

Fox News Insider

President Obama stopped to shake hands with Cuban President Raul Castro today at Nelson Mandela’s memorial service. Some are calling into question the handshake given the long history of distrust between the U.S. and Cuban governments.

Radio talk show host Michael Graham acknowledged that it’s the president’s job to deal with unpleasant people. However, he said, “I would say unless he’s going to talk about Alan Gross, the American who has been held there for four years, […] that would be something to chat about.

Fox News contributor Jehmu Greene countered, “It wasn’t a conversation; it wasn’t a diplomatic meeting. It was a handshake.”

On a day spent remembering a man who brought people together, Greene said we should ask ourselves, “What would Nelson Mandela do? […] We can’t also forget that there are so many families who have been separated by 90 miles of water.”

Bill Hemmer interjected, “There are a lot of those families who would tell you it’s the Castros who separated them.”

“It’s not that Cubans and Americans can’t get along,” Greene responded. “Our leadership has failed on this on both sides of the aisle. So if we can start with a handshake as a step in the right direction to maybe bring these families back together, I think that that’s a good thing.”

What do you think of the handshake?

 

Obama shakes hands with Cuba’s Castro at Mandela service

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

worldnews

Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

President Barack Obama shakes hands with Cuban President Raul Castro.

By Erin McClam, Staff Writer, NBC News

Briefly laying aside differences hardened over decades, President Barack Obama on Tuesday shook the hand of the president of Cuba at the memorial service for Nelson Mandela.

The handshake appeared to be the first between American and Cuban presidents since 2000, when Bill Clinton and Fidel Castro greeted each other at a United Nations luncheon in New York, and only the second in history.

Tuesday, it was Fidel Castro’s brother, Raul, named president of Cuba in 2008, who shook Obama’s hand. The moment came just before Obama delivered a eulogy for Mandela in a Johannesburg soccer stadium.

Kai Pfaffenbach / Reuters

Minutes later, Obama offered implicit criticism of governments like Cuba's when in his speech he said too many people embrace Mandela's legacy of racial reconciliation but passionately resist economic and other reforms. 

"There are too many who claim solidarity with Madiba's struggle for freedom but do not tolerate dissent from their own people," Obama said, referring to Mandela by his clan name. 

On his way to the rostrum, Obama also shook the hand of Robert Mugabe, the strongman ruler of Zimbabwe, and hugged Dilma Rousseff, the president of Brazil, who has stridently opposed spying by the National Security Agency and criticized the U.S. government.

Leaders of almost 100 countries turned out for the service for Mandela, who died last week at age 95.

Former President Jimmy Carter, who was also in Johannesburg for the Mandela service, shook hands with Fidel Castro on a visit to Cuba in 2002, long after Carter’s presidency. That trip was the first by a sitting or former American president to Cuba since Fidel Castro took power in 1959.

Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

Obama stirred controversy with a handshake in the past. In 2009, the president shook hands with the late Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez  — who called the United States "the biggest menace to our planet," among other criticism — at the Summit of the Americas.

El funeral de Mandela fuerza un apretón de manos entre Obama y Raúl Castro

Karel Becerra Hernandez

Diario de Cuba

El presidente estadounidense, Barack Obama, estrechó este martes la mano de Raúl Castro como parte de saludos protocolares en el funeral Nelson Mandela, que se realiza en el estadio FNB, de Soweto.

Obama saludó a los mandatarios y personalidades que se encontraban en el camino a la tribuna de oradores. Entre ellos estaba el dictador cubano, ubicado junto a la presidente brasileña, Dilma Rousseff.

El general sonrió al presidente estadounidense y le dirigió una frase. Aunque forzado por un protocolo, el saludo no tiene precedentes.

Miles de personas asisten bajo una constante lluvia al funeral del Premio Nobel de la Paz, fallecido el jueves pasado. Como los otros oradores, Obama dedicó sus palabras a resaltar la figura de Mandela y su legado.

"A día de hoy, hombres y mujeres siguen encarcelados por pensamientos políticos. Hay muchos líderes que muestran solidaridad por la lucha de Mandela pero que no liberan a su propio pueblo", dijo Obama.

El saludo entre Obama y Raúl Castro coincide con la celebración del Día Internacional de los Derechos Humanos, que el régimen cubano suele acompañar con la represión de los disidentes que intentan realizar actividades por la fecha.