Hi Jen,
My name is Juan Carlos Suarez Rodriguez and I am the person who will be protesting in front of Parliament Hill this Monday July 13th 2009.
I am a survivor of the tragedy that already cost over 75,000 lives to the people of Cuba in over 50 years of Cuban dictatorship. I left my country in august of 1994 in a raft made of inner tubes and wood ..I spent a year in Guantanamo bay as a cuban refugee awaiting to be allowed to enter the US and finally now Iam here in Canada, a coutry I wanted always to visit.
I was only 17 years old when I was brutally beaten by cuban police in downtown havana just for using a public washroom where only tourists could go...they were Germans and Canadian tourists the ones visiting havana in those days ..Iam 43 years old now but still have the scars in my head and witness in Havana wheeling to testify to the truth of what happened that day.
Iam sending you as much information as I can about what happened on July 13th 1994 and why I will be paying tribute to my fellow cubans who have die trying to escape the "PARADISE ISLAND" Tourism agencies sell unscrupulously to Canadians who are totally missinformed about the reality of our people.
I am also sending you photos with very disturbing images about this reality and my question is '''''why does the canadian press does not address this reality to canadian people""" """why Canadian press does not exercise their right to investigate violations of human rights in our country as it does in other countries''' and again''''Why do the canadian government continue to turn a blind eye on these violations after being a cosignatary of 6 international treaties against human rights violations'''' it is just Hipocritical and totally offencive to cubans the fact that we are not allowed to visit hotels in our country while Canadians are being served in luxury resorts from where our own people are banned.""""how will Canadians feel if something like that was done to them''''' all this questions are the questions we all cubans have to ask you becuase our embassy here does not represent us but represent the tourism industry that keep them in power.
I will be building a raft in front of the parliament hill this July 13th to honor the lives of those who are still in the bottom of the sea and ask the Canadian government to respect the international treaties it has signed by looking into crimes against humanity commited by Cuban government.
Attached is also a photo of Raul Castro blindfolding a young farmer acused of treason in the mountains of Cuba at the beguining of the revolution...this young man was later executed by Raul Castro himself ..the message that this government is sending to the world is that it is OK to execute people today and 50 years later became a president of a country without a single question???..
I am planning on building rafts in Ottawa till this government allow me to testify as a survivor and as a witness of the crimes against humanity the government of cuba have commited and for which Iam asking to open an international investigation immediatly...this is 2009 and no government who sign international treaties agains violations of human rights should be doing business with a government suspected of mass murder and genocide...I have the evidences and I have the witnesses and survivors...I just need the media.