Black flags to Memorialize Victims of u.s. sponsored terrorist acts up in Cuba
Crystal | 07.02.2006 12:29 | Terror War
The Cuban People have unveiled a large New Monument outside the u.s. spy base in Havana.
The monument counters a scrolling illuminated propaganda - displayed on the building by u.s. agents.
The New Monument consists of 138 black flags with a white star.
The New Monument symbolizes the more than 3,400 people that have murdered by u.s. agents by violent acts against Cubans since their 1959 revolution.
Vigil
The New Monument was unveiled during a ceremony organized by the People of Cuba to honor victims of US-sponsored terrorism against Cubans.
"They are white stars over a black background, representing the light of a people that are in pain and mourning for their children and families," said professor Carlos Alberto Cremata, standing next to Fidel.
Fidel had condemned the u.s. propaganda as a "gross provocation"
Mr Cremata is the son of the co-pilot of a Cuban airliner, which was bombed by a u.s. agent in 1976, killing all 73 people aboard.
After the flags were raised, Cubans began a 24-hour vigil in front of the US mission, holding posters with the faces of the people the u.s. has murdered in Cuba.
The u.s. spy base in Havana began displaying propaganda in January.
Fidel described the scrolling propaganda as a gross provocation, and soon the Cuban People turned what had once been the car park of the building into a major construction site.
Huge cranes were brought in and teams of builders worked there non-stop.
Already Cubans have put up scores of posters in the capital caricaturing President Bush as both a fascist and a blood sucking warmonger and a terrorist lunatic.
The u.s. has been trying to overthrow the Cuban peoples Self rule for 45 years and the u.s. has failed because the Cuban People will Not allow it.
Crystal
Comments
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Fluff
07.02.2006 13:26
Tell me does the editorial board at Indymedia UK really care about oppressed peoples or only those ones repressed by governments it doesn't like ?
Raul
Prisoners ?
07.02.2006 13:27
Tell me does the editorial board at Indymedia UK really care about oppressed peoples or only those ones repressed by governments it doesn't like ?
Raul
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Raul
Stalin era
07.02.2006 13:28
Tell me does the editorial board at Indymedia UK really care about oppressed peoples or only those ones repressed by governments it doesn't like ?
Raul
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Raul
The Cuban day - is this how you would want to live ?
07.02.2006 13:46
Legal and Institutional Failings
Cuba’s legal and institutional structures are at the root of rights violations. Although in theory the different branches of government have separate and defined areas of authority, in practice the executive retains clear control over all levers of power. The courts, which lack independence, undermine the right to fair trial by severely restricting the right to a defense.
Cuba’s Criminal Code provides the legal basis for repression of dissent. Laws criminalizing enemy propaganda, the spreading of “unauthorized news,” and insult to patriotic symbols are used to restrict freedom of speech under the guise of protecting state security. The government also imprisons or orders the surveillance of individuals who have committed no illegal act, relying upon provisions that penalize “dangerousness” (estado peligroso) and allow for “official warning” (advertencia oficial).
Political Imprisonment
In early July 2005 the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation, a respected local human rights group, issued a list of 306 prisoners who it said were incarcerated for political reasons. The list included the names of thirteen peaceful dissidents who had been arrested and detained in the first half of 2005, of whom eleven were being held on charges of “dangerousness.”
Of seventy-five political dissidents, independent journalists, and human rights advocates who were summarily tried in April 2003, sixty-one remain imprisoned. Serving sentences that average nearly twenty years, the incarcerated dissidents endure poor conditions and punitive treatment in prison. Although several of them suffer from serious health problems, the Cuban government had not, as of November 2005, granted any of them humanitarian release from prison.
On July 13, 2005, protestors commemorated the deadly 1994 sinking of a tugboat that was packed with people seeking to flee Cuba. The protestors marched to the Malecón, along Havana’s coastline, and threw flowers into the sea. More than two dozen people were arrested. Less that two weeks later, on July 22, another thirty people were arrested during a rally in front of the French Embassy in Havana. While the majority of those arrested during the two demonstrations have since been released, at least ten of them remain incarcerated at this writing.
Travel Restrictions and Family Separations
The Cuban government forbids the country’s citizens from leaving or returning to Cuba without first obtaining official permission, which is often denied. Unauthorized travel can result in criminal prosecution. The government also frequently bars citizens engaged in authorized travel from taking their children with them overseas, essentially holding the children hostage to guarantee the parents’ return. Given the widespread fear of forced family separation, these travel restrictions provide the Cuban government with a powerful tool for punishing defectors and silencing critics.
Freedom of Assembly
Freedom of assembly is severely restricted in Cuba, and political dissidents are generally prohibited from meeting in large groups. In late May 2005, however, nearly two hundred dissidents attended a rare mass meeting in Havana. Its organizers deemed the meeting a success, even though some prominent dissidents refused to take part in it because of disagreements over strategy and positions. While barring some foreign observers from attending, police allowed the two-day event to take place without major hindrance. The participants passed a resolution calling for the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners.
Prison Conditions
Prisoners are generally kept in poor and abusive conditions, often in overcrowded cells. They typically lose weight during incarceration, and some receive inadequate medical care. Some also endure physical and sexual abuse, typically by other inmates with the acquiescence of guards.
Political prisoners who denounce poor conditions of imprisonment or who otherwise fail to observe prison rules are frequently punished by long periods in punitive isolation cells, restrictions on visits, or denial of medical treatment. Some political prisoners carried out long hunger strikes to protest abusive conditions and mistreatment by guards.
Death Penalty
Under Cuban law the death penalty exists for a broad range of crimes. Because Cuba does not release information regarding its use of the penalty, it is difficult to ascertain the frequency with which it is employed. As far as is known, however, no executions have been carried out since April 2003.
Human Rights Defenders
Refusing to recognize human rights monitoring as a legitimate activity, the government denies legal status to local human rights groups. Individuals who belong to these groups face systematic harassment, with the government putting up obstacles to impede them from documenting human rights conditions. In addition, international human rights groups such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International are barred from sending fact-finding missions to Cuba. It remains one of the few countries in the world to deny the International Committee of the Red Cross access to its prisons.
Key International Actors
At its sixty-first session in April, the U.N. Commission on Human Rights voted twenty-one to seventeen (with fifteen abstentions) to adopt a blandly-worded resolution on the situation of human rights in Cuba. The resolution, put forward by the United States and co-sponsored by the European Union, simply extended for another year the mandate of the U.N. expert on Cuba. The Cuban government continues to bar the U.N. expert from visiting the country, even though her 2005 report on Cuba’s human rights conditions was inexplicably and unjustifiably mild.
The U.S. economic embargo on Cuba, in effect for more than four decades, continues to impose indiscriminate hardship on the Cuban people and to block travel to the island. An exception to the embargo that allows food sales to Cuba on a cash-only basis, however, has led to substantial trade between the two countries. Indeed, in November 2005, the head of Cuba’s food importing agency confirmed that the U.S. was Cuba’s biggest food supplier. That same month the U.N. General Assembly voted to urge the U.S. to end the embargo.
In an effort to deprive the Cuban government of funding, the U.S. government enacted new restrictions on family-related travel to Cuba in June 2004. Under these rules, individuals are allowed to visit relatives in Cuba only once every three years, and only if the relatives fit the government’s narrow definition of family—a definition that excludes aunts, uncles, cousins, and other next-of-kin who are often integral members of Cuban families. Justified as a means of promoting freedom in Cuba, the new travel policies undermine the freedom of movement of hundreds of thousands of Cubans and Cuban Americans, and inflict profound harm on Cuban families.
Countries within the E.U. continue to disagree regarding the best approach toward Cuba. In January 2005, the E.U. decided temporarily to suspend the diplomatic sanctions that it had adopted in the wake of the Cuban government’s 2003 crackdown against dissidents, and in June it extended the sanctions’ suspension for another year. Dissidents criticized the E.U.’s revised position, which Spain had advocated, and which the Czech Republic, most notably, had resisted.
Ladies in White (Damas de Blanco), a group of wives and mothers of imprisoned dissidents, were among three winners of the prestigious Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought for 2005. The prize is granted annually by the European Parliament in recognition of a recipient’s work in protecting human rights, promoting democracy and international cooperation, and upholding the rule of law. As of this writing, it was not clear whether the Cuban government would allow representatives of Ladies in White to travel to France in December 2005 to receive the prize.
Relations between Cuba and the Czech Republic continue to be strained. In May 2005, Cuba summarily expelled Czech senator Karel Schwarzenberg, who was visiting Havana to attend the dissidents’ two-day meeting. On October 28, on the eighty-seventh anniversary of the establishment of independent Czechoslovakia, the Cuban authorities banned a reception that the Czech Embassy was planning to hold in Havana, calling it a “counter-revolutionary action.” The Cubans were reportedly angered by the embassy’s decision to invite representatives of Ladies in White to attend the function.
Venezuela remains Cuba’s closest ally in Latin America. President Castro and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez enjoy warm relations, and Venezuela provides Cuba with oil subsidies and other forms of assistance.
Raul
You forgot to mention...
07.02.2006 14:12
Paul Edwards
Amnesty International was responsible for the "Kuwait Incubator Lies"
07.02.2006 14:55
Never forget the Amnesty was DIRECTLY responsible for publishing and publicising the lies of the New York PR agency that CREATED the story of Iraqi troops throwing babies out of incubators in Kuwait.
The same Amnesty had no problem at all with the targetted bombing of hospital facilities and medical supply warehouses in Fallujah. Amnesty International is NOT what is says on the tin.
Damn, next we'll have some sad sack quote LIBERTY here.
Please remember, if the non-gov organisation is big, and static, and bureaucratic, its infiltation is so trivial, it would hardly count as a training exercise for the 'security services'
twilight
You Forgot To Mention
07.02.2006 15:11
...
Are they by any chance related?
07.02.2006 15:41
Steffan
e-mail:
baboonpower@hotmail.com
Homepage:
http://extremefool.blogspot.com
It's a pity
07.02.2006 15:53
sceptic
To Sceptic
07.02.2006 16:45
Castro is more supported by Cubans than any British of American goon will ever be in their own country.
...
paul edwards You Are Dead Wrong
07.02.2006 16:55
The Cuban People are responsible for the heroic defense of the freedom they so much enjoy I pity you ignorance.
Jack
Right, I see -
07.02.2006 18:37
sceptic
Sure thing sceptic
07.02.2006 19:45
...
yeah, cubans are proud of their revolution
07.02.2006 20:40
That's why so many are so keen to escpe the country, even if they drown in the attempt.
That's why they lock up librarians.
And that's why Indymedia hides every post which points out any abuse of human rights in Cuba.
Sure thing the media are controlled. Indymedia is controlled by those who will not allow people to read about abuses that do occur. And this post will probably be hidden too.
sceptic
...
07.02.2006 21:54
Chile, Allende, socialist candidate, so the CIA organised a general strike, and helped Pinochet into power, murdering Allende and thousands of others in the process.
Look at Venezuela now, with the US funnelling millions of dollars in aid to the oppostion parties in order to oust Chavez, via the National Endowment for Democracy. Chavez was democratically elected, but when he was briefly ousted by a militiary coup, the US were the first to accept the new ( thankfully short-lived ) regime.
Haiti, Aristide, democratically elected, left wing. Kidnapped by the US and flown out the country, while US funded anti-Aristide forces took over the capital.
Nicaragua. The democratically elected Sandanistas take power, and the US wages a war against them, funding the 'Contras', death squads, who murder thousands of people, until the Sandinistas are voted out of office by a population tired of the conflict.
Elections can be a tricky business in Latin America, because the bloody United States of America can't tolerate anybody being elected who they don't like, and do everything in their power to get rid of the regime. For example, how fair is an election in Cuba, as long as the US have their blockade in place, and the economic pressure that puts on the people, who might vote against Castro, just because they're tired of the sanctions? How fair would an election be in Cuba, with the US providing millions of dollars in aid to anti-Castro oppostion forces?
Cuba has been remarkably free considering the recent Latin American history of vicious right-wing and US backed dictatorships. And the human rights situation in Cuba is not even a quarter as bad as the US-backed 'democracy' of Colombia. Considering a nearby superpower is trying everything in it's power to destroy the Cuban government, there has been a surprising lack of torture, death-squads, 'disappearances', which you saw with Pinochet, in Central America, and even to this day in Colombia, all of whom were or are funded by US dollars.
Sceptic, why don't you read about the history of Latin America, or even visit the place, and maybe you will be able to appreciate exactly how exceptional Cuba has remained while US funded, tyrannical regimes have tortured and murdered their people in the neighbouring countries. And take note, that now in Latin America, the people are voting for governments who are friendly towards Castro and Cuba. Castro is considered a hero by the Latin American people, who are tired of Gringos trying to tell them what to do and who should be their leaders.
El pueblo unido jamas será vencido.
Hermes
-.-
08.02.2006 00:21
Chavez isn't popular with the US - given the language he's been using, I'm not altogether surprised.
Allende is always quoted - but different times, different customs. That was the height of the Cold War, and in wartime you make some funny friends [vide Stalin] and enemies.
I'm quite prepared to accept the US has meddled in South America, and often for the worse. However, the actions of the US confer no moral virtue on Castro. Indeed, if the US hadn't put sanctions on Castro, the regime might have crumbled earlier. It's probably held together more by dislike of the US than any love for Castro.
As for apathy in politics in Britain - oddly enough, it's a rather healthy sign. People turn to political extremes when things are going wrong. Whether it's true or not, people in Britain don't get worked up abput politics because they reckon there's not a lot to get worked up about.
sceptic
Septic you worthless bag of flatulence
08.02.2006 08:35
Fidel Is the leader of the Cuban people because they want him to be their leader your spew “if the US hadn't put sanctions on Castro , the regime might have crumbled earlier” is a totally ignorant statement the Cuban people love the Free Cuba that is Cuba today thanks to the Cubans and Fidel's hard work and intelligence
the fascist americans lame attempts to punish the Cuban People for taking their freedom and Country back, has had no effect on the great Cuban peoples Revolution the americans are like a mosquito a bug ,irritant kind of like you, except you much more closely resemble a maggot
ben
playground names
08.02.2006 10:31
Realy? They don't have a lot of choice, do they?
sceptic
Ever thought of it this way
08.02.2006 13:40
...
The septic apologist
09.02.2006 13:38
Ummm, yeah, it's been almost two years since the US last invaded another country. You talk about 'in wartime' but you seem to forget that we are at war right now. Either the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, or the more abstract 'War on Terror'.
Empires act in a certain way, they always have, at least for the past few thousand years of known history.
Mark
...
09.02.2006 15:50
However, I do believe the people should be able to choose their leaders more freely than they can in Cuba at the moment, but I think a pre-requisite for free and fair elections is that there is no foreign interference in those elections, or in the situation of that country. If you look at how many civil rights have been taken away in the US after 9-11, and then you think about how Cuba has had to put up with proportionately much greater pressure and terrorism than the US has, then maybe you can understand the Cuban situation a little bit.
Anyway, do you agree with ending sanctions against Cuba?
Hermes
Indeed
09.02.2006 17:12
As history shows, the best way for a dictator to get his people to rally behind him is to point out the threat from a foreign power. "Support me against the nasty XXXXs". The US has shot itself in the foot by its hostility to the Cuban regime - understandble enough in 1962, but not today. The worst insult the US could give to Castro is to ignore him.
Democratic politics tends to end up as two not dissimilar parties arguing for the middle gorund. The middle ground is where most voters are to be found, so, if you want to be elected, that's what you've got to go for. On rare occasions - 1945 and 1979 in Britain - there are seismic shifts in where the common ground lies. Thus with Chavez today.
But I think if the US shrugged off Chavez' rhetoric, and ignored his provocative speeches, a lot of ground would be cut away from him. Why has he got the attention he has? Not because he's doing wonders for Venezuela (he might be, but that's not what catches people's attention) but because of the speeches he's been making. And the US are rising to his bait. For what can Chavez really do? He needs to sell oil on the international market, otherwise he'll go broke. The market being international, there's no real way he can say where the oil goes. And suppose he does send all his oil to China. Well, that means China buys less on the international market, so prices go down. The reason why OPEC was so succesful in the 70s was that all the producers took action. One producer by himself will not have nearly the same impact.
sceptic
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