Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Cubans Will Dress in Black on January 1st


January first will be the 50th anniversary of the death of freedom for the Cuban People. In 1959, Castro and his bearded Men Marched into Havana and life as we knew was lost.

The ones that stayed, the one that left, we all lost something.

Since in someway we are all in mourning, someone among the Cuban Bloggers came up with the idea of all Cubans dressing in black on the 1st. I don't remember who exactly came up with this idea, so if anyone does, please let me know.

So lets do it! Dress in Black, for the prisoners of conscience, for the ones that were killed, for the rafters, for the mass graves, for an end to the Castro family dictatorship, for what our country lost and for the hope of a better Cuba.

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Cubas Healthcare a Model for the Rest of the World?

Cuban Independent Photojournalist Luis Alberto Pacheco Mendoza, took these four disturbing photos, in a Cuban Hospital, giving us a glimpse into the state of Cuba's health care system. This is what Michael Moore didn't show you.

The following short video shows these pictures and others taken by undercover photographers. I take no credit for these photos. I'm just helping give a voice to those who have no voice.


Saturday, December 27, 2008

The Romanovs Last Prayer

This is the hatred Castro brought to our beautiful Island. This should have never been done. May the Romanov family rest in peace.
From the youtube chanel of iddoproductions:
This video is dedicated to the last Imperial Family of Tsarist Russia.

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Merry Christmas!





Monday, December 22, 2008

The DesdeCuba Blogs are not blocked!!


The blogs from Desdecuba.com were not blocked. I have been trying since this morning to no avail. Now I'm hearing from different Cuban blogs that they are not showing up are. They include: Generacion Y, Desde aqui, El blog de Dimas, Retazos, Potro Salvaje, Blog La Colmena y Lo Nuestro.

Fantomas said...Charlie Bravo said...
Apparently the site is under going some maintenance and should be up and running very soon. That's a relief.

Susana, a regular commenter at OctavoCerco apparently has talked to Yoani, and there's a maintainance problem affecting their umbrella site: desdecuba.com.
Yoani's message, verbatim:

"They are performing some maintainance on the server we use at desdecuba.com, so the problem doesn't seem to come from the "hairy and". Let's wait till tomorrow to see if everything gets back to normal".

I e-mailed Yoani, too, to offer some help in case she needed any.
Thanks to all who worried....

Cuban Police Kill a Mentally Unstable Man


CIEGO DE ÁVILA, Cuba, December 23 (Tico Morales, APLA / www.cubanet.org) - Madrigal, a man with mental problems and well known in the community, took his clothes off during one of his usual crisises and walked around town in his birthday suit, without no one, not even the popular social workers coming to his aid.

Madrigal was beaten with baton by several policemen, and while they were handcuffing him, the most famous insane person in town was strangled by these men in uniform.

People were so infuriated with the police, that the Secretary of the Communist Party, from Ciego de Ávila, “compañero Tapia”, traveled to the area to calm things and ordered that the Florencia Chief of Police be demoted.

During the victims funeral, new fights broke out when family members began attacking the police in attendance at the holy ground, throuing anything they could get their hands on at them.

What happened to Yoani and Reinaldo's blogs?

I have just tried to enter Desdecuba.com and all the blogs are gone!! It's about 10:16 a.m. Pacific time. What is happening?

I'm having withdrawals!!!

The Bond Which Unites All Cubans

The old Castros have destroyed our Island and scattered us all over the world and though it's true that Cubans are divided by many things, it's also true that we are united by so much more, and the ties to our culture, no tirant will ever destroy. Though our hearts may be broken, we still have among others, our music, to bring us happiness wherever we are in the world.

Conga Santiaguera

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Raul Castro Offered Exchange of Prisoners With the US

Children Kidnapped in Cuba


In 1971, my father left Cuba, leaving his two kids behind-my brother age 1 and me, 6 years old. The Cuban government would not allow us to leave with him, even thought we had a visa from a Spain and money for the flight.

Even though they tried to indoctrinate us, we didn't become pioneers of the revolution and didn't become like Che. Eight years later we were allowed to leave, with our mother. The Castro regime, considers Cuban Children, the property of the State.

It's been nine years, since Elian Gonzalez, arrived on the coast of Florida in a raft. His mother Elizabeth Broton, died in the attempt, during the odyssey. His father, manipulated by the Cuban government, asked that Elian be returned to the Island, to be reunited with his father, and he succeeded.

Even though Elian's mother gave her life, for her son to have a better life, her sacrifice was in vain. US authorities, returned him to Cuba.

The Castro's double standard is sickening! As reported by Maria Elvira Salazar at: http://www.mariaelvira.com/secuestrados-english.html

Currently, there are over 2,000 Cuban children kidnapped by the Castro Regime in Cuba.

These children, the majority under 18 years old, are prohibited from reuniting with their parents, simply because the Cuban government considers their mothers and fathers, already exiled and residing outside of Cuba, and the majority practicing physicians, as deserters and/or traitors of the Cuban Revolution.

What is the crime committed by these doctors/parents? Why are they considered traitors to the Revolution? Simply stated, the physicians abandoned their overseas assignments to provide medical services in various countries, including Venezuela. The Cuban government categorizes these physicians as deserters, because through these doctors' services, the Cuban government receives large sums of badly-needed hard currency.

In addition, Cuba uses these doctors to create the perception to the rest of the world that it is truly concerned about the medical well being of citizens in other countries, and therefore wants to assist by providing medical services for these unattended, medically deprived populations. The truth of the matter is that Cuba's provision of physicians to these countries, to provide such medical services, has resulted in an extremely lucrative business venture for the 50-year-old Castro dictatorship.

Therefore, these doctors' abandonment of their assignments, prevents the Cuban government from receiving large sums of money for the medical services that the doctors would have provided, had they chosen to stay in their assigned country. Many of these physicians take advantage of the only opportunity they have to flee the Castro dictatorship, in search of liberty and democracy. Unfortunately, and certainly in revenge, the Cuban government retaliates by separating the physicians, indefinitely, from those individuals they love most, their children.

Ironically, the argument used by Cuba in the famous Elian Gonzalez Case, that advocated for family unity, and the right of every child to live with his/her natural parents, in this current day context, obviously, for Cuba, does not apply.

Friday, December 19, 2008

Other Prisons Have to Close


President Elect Barack Obama talks about closing the prison in Guantanamo bay, but turns a blind eye to the 581 prisons on the other side of the fence of Guantanamo Bay, filled with prisoners of conscience living in subhuman conditions.

As reported by José Ramón Pupo Nieves, Holguín Press / www.cubanet.org) - HOLGUÍN- Independent reporter prisoner of conscience Juan Carlos Herrera Acosta, that a few months back sewed his mouth shut in protest, has denounced the difficult conditions of his life in the provincial prison of Holguín,

According to Carlos, in a section of the prison known as "Viejo Espigón", which measures 10 meters by 6 meters, 56 inmates coexist with just 2 toilets. “This is truly chaotic, during physiological necessities. Other areas of the prison are in similar conditions", said Herrera

He also said that he heard about Barack Obama's plan to close the jail at the Naval Base of Guantánamo. "When will the world open it's eyes and realize, that there are other Guantánamos, that also need to be closed, here in Cuba?, enfazised the prisoner of conscience.

Cuban Revolution Billboards Burned


As reported by (Lamasiel Gutiérrez, Isla Press / www.cubanet.org) – Photo from NuenoAccion.com. A dozen billboards, allegorical to the Revolution, were burned in Zone 11 of Alamar, Havana del Este, Municipality. between the 14, 15 and 16 of December.

Police, delegates of the zone and Committees of Defense of the Revolution, visited house to house each neighbor suspected of the arson, but with no results.

There were urgent meetings called, to test the patriotism of the people in the area and pick up clues, that could lead then to the perpetrator/ors of the sabotages.The meetings concluded with "long live Fidel, the revolution and down with imperialism.

At the end of this information, no suspects had been arrested.

Ah the site of panic by the Castro regimes puppets, just beautiful. Burn baby burn!!!

NewJudicial Association Formed in Cuba


HAVANA, Cuba, December 15 (José Antonio Fornaris, Cuba-Verdad / www.cubanet.org) – A group of lawyers has announced the creation of an independent organization named Cuban Juridical Association (Asociación Jurídica Cubana.

"One of the inescapable immediate first steps is to contribute to the slow but progressive establishment in the country of an authentic State of Law," the association said in a press release.

The associate said that it will educate the Cuban people about the State of Law and will give free advice to the public.

The association's president, Wilfredo Vallín Almeida, said members will give legal support to parties opposed to the government.

Afro-Cuban Young man, Beaten in Regla, City of Havana

This is how the Castro Regime, treats Afro-Cubans

HABANA, Cuba, Diciembre 19 (Iván Sañudo, Agencia Libre Asociada / www.cubanet.org) –

Afro-Cuban young man Alexis Manuel García, beaten last December 17th on the corner of Marti and Agramonte, in Regla, Havana, while he talked to individuals dedicated to the selling and buying of convertible money.

Patrolmen who arrived at the scene, according to eye witnesses, asked for their identification cards of all that were present. García, very upset, made reference to the Cubans lack of freedom.

Without an explanation one of the cops, pulled out his baton, and beat García until he fell to the floor, at which time, he began to kick him. Passers by began to yell at the policeman: Abusive, assassin, savage!, until the beating stopped.

Alexis Manuel, was taken to police station No.13, and his status is unknown-according to his mother, he was in isolation.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Simon Bolivar


Today is the anniversary of the death of Liberator Simon Bolivar, who died December 17, 1830. Bolivar was a Venezuelan military leader and politician and one of the key figures in the Americas Independence from the Spanish Empire, along with the Argentinian Jose de San Martin. He contributed in a decisive manner to the independence of the current, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Peru y Venezuela. He was given the honorary title of Liberator, by the Cabildo of Merida in Venezuela.

Today, 178 years after his death, he is remembered throughout the Americas.

In front of a monument in his honor, in the center of Caracas, Venezuela, a group of young University students, are beaten by a Chavez mob, while they were trying to gather in
remembrance, of the death of their hero.

It would appear that they haven't noticed, they no longer live in a democracy.

All I can say, to the Venezuelan people, is to have strength, and fight for you country, before is too late. Don't let Chavez destroy your land and your people, like the Castro brothers did to ours.

"Gods Speed".

The Seed of Lucifer Vs Yoani Sanchez


During a resent Press Conference dealing with sexuality, at the Museo de Bellas Artes, in Havana, the daughter of Dictator Raul Castro, Mariela, a Sexologist and supposed defender of Homosexuals, and the famous Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez, had a brief exchange.......

Mariela: Including treatment for transgender people is something that’s called for in the law. We don’t ask for more.

Yoani: I’d like to ask if this entire campaign being undertaken, in some way, for society to accept sexual preference could, at some point, move to other roles and will also fight for tolerance of other aspects which could be points of view and political and ideological preferences. Will we also come out of these closets?

Mariela: I don’t know because I don’t work in that area. The ideological and political field is outside my responsibility. I think I am doing the best I can given my ability.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxNGB9PLnF8

Now it would seem that the daughter of the "Lord of no Mercy", has grown airs of grandeur and look at how she talks about Yoani,

"All seems to indicate, that our opposition have ran out of intellectual resources, when they turn to individuals that are "insignificant and poorly prepared", that far from making it difficult for us, facilitate our area of work".

The "Seed of Lucifer", thinks that all the fuss she is making, will somehow give her the international influence and recognition that Yoani Sanchez has earned! Hahhhh, dream on!!

In the forum Cenecex, she refered to Yoani as a Gallita "female cock", to which Yoani replied, "in her language as a specialist in gender and sexuality, the word has homophobic connotations. Perhaps because I am ignorant about the terms of her specialty. I fail to understand what she wanted to tell me by saddling me with a masculine role in a feminine noun; yes, in the case of grammar I can boast about knowing something. Does she believe that I do the work of a man because I demand rights and claim respect for political preferences?"

The homophobic in disguise added among other things, that Yoani "doesn't seem to be interested in the rights of the Cubans, and instead in sabotaging the efforts that we are making to legitimatize ourselves". Say what?

In her last entry in her blog Generation Y. Yoani responded in this manner,
I don’t see the feathers on my tail but, if to be a very delicate hen I must accept that a group of septuagenarians—old men—decide every aspect of my life, then I’m inclined to transvestism and will cock-a-doodle-doo like the rooster with the most hormones in the barnyard. You go girl!!!

The demon spawn said also, "some friends wrote me to let me know that the young woman, has started a big ruckus in some blogs, dedicated to discrediting the Cuban Revolution". Hello! I hate to be the barer of bad news, but the Revolution is 50 years old and it was discredited a long time ago, without any help from us.

What does this "Rich Tramp" think she is? Does she think anyone believes she is interested in the equality of homosexuals? We all know too well, that the Cuban government has systematically spend decades trying to destroy them. The Cuban gay community has been marginalized, tortured, assassinated and imprisoned. All she is trying to do is get transgender patients to Cuba in order to make her father's regime richer and stronger.

The daughter of the second oldest Mummy in Cuba, should stick to what is, her area of work, being that she is so progressive and liberal-not exactly in between her ears.............and let the job of defending the right of the Cuban people to the "Insignificant", because she is not even worthy to stand in the same room with Yoani Sanchez!!

Oswaldo Paya and the Varela Project

First Part:



Second Part:

Monday, December 15, 2008

"Pedro Luis Ferrer: One Man's Revolution" (2008)


Pedro Luis Ferrer, a Cuban poet and musician who lives outside of Cuban society, for having the audacity to express what he thinks. His music is no longer played in Cuba's media, but it's known throughout the Island.

This is what Ferrer says: "If I don't leave Cuba, don't assume I have stayed", words from his song, "If I don't Leave Cuba".

"You hear that people leave a country, but not about when a country leaves the people. A country abandons you, then loneliness is born, when you no longer have a country".

Canaldocumental TV,
"Recorded in Havana, while Pedro Luis Ferrer was rapping up the recording of his last CD. Recording was finished and edited in Spain, during a tour through Europe."

The folowing video is a the courtesy of Canaldocumental on Youtube. http://www.canaldocumental.tv/



Sourse: Interview given by the videographers Waldo Capote y Armando Guerra a CanalDocumental. More info en http://www.canaldocumental.tv/

More from maestro Ferrer:

LA DIALECTICA DEL GUAPO
Cubana 100%
Yo No Tanto Como él

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Cuban Vice-President's Girlfriend Kills and Dismembers Young Lover


Accoding to Cuba's newspapers, in Cuba, nothing ever happens, but according to the digital newspaper Nuevo Accion , a horrendous crime of passion occurred in Havana, Cuba, two days ago, at the hands of the girlfriend of Cuba's Vice-President Carlos Lage. Lage's girlfriend, Laritza Ulloa, a television host, had another lover, much younger then she was. She stabbed him and them dismembered him in the bathtub of her house.

The Nuevo Accion adds that the Cuban police reports that, Laritza Ulloa, had discovered that her young lover had raped her daughter and that the dismemberment had been done by Laritza on her own, but according to Nuevo Accion, "in some government circles,
"they suspect Carlos Lage was involved, due to the dismemberment been done with impeccable precision, from the surgical point of view and because everyone knows that the Vice-President of the Castro government is a doctor". Seems to me he would make a good candidate for the "Forensic Department", performing autopsies!

The photographs were sent out from inside the police. On their page the Nuevo Accion has published the horrendous photographs. I choose not to publish them here, due to the horrific and offensive content. I want to warn my readers that they are difficult to look at and if you impress easy
, I suggest you use discretion. The two photos published by this newspaper are the least offensive and they are really graphic-the others were according to the digital newspaper, too disturbing.

But remember, nothing ever happens in Cuba!!

UPDATE:

This story continues to be unconfirmed, since there is no free press in Cuba. Adding to the confusion, there are three Laritza's on Cuban TV-Latitza Vega, Laritza Camacho and Laritza Ulloa, who is the only one linked to the Vice President Carlos Lage. I tried to find a video of Laritza Ulloa and the only one I found has been deleted.

We might never know the truth at this rate!

"Che, The Butcher of the Cabana"

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Che Film Opening in Los Angeles


This week, Benicio Del Toro was in Havana celebrating the opening of “Che,” a film that glorifies the Butcher of La Cabaña.

We must not remain silent, we, Cuban exiles, Cuban Americans, and those who know the truth, have a responsibility to that truth. Just as there is no film glorifying Hitler or Stalin, this film is an abomination that should not have been made.

In the name of the victims, Please join us in publicly denouncing “Che.” Reports Babalu Blog.

Where: The Landmark Theatre, 10850 West Pico Blvd , Los Angeles , CA 90064

When: Friday, December 12, 7:00 PM

For more information, email Fernando: fmarquet@sbcglobal.net or

Ziva: ziva@babalublog.com>

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

International Human Rights Day


All over the world, December 10th is recognized as the International Human Rights Day. In Cuba, as well as in other countries, the basic human rights to witch every human being is entitled, do not exist.

I would like to share with readers of this site, a message from one of many Cuban patriots. He suffered torture, imprisonment and violations of his human rights. His only crime, to have the audacity to think and speak freely. Those basic rights are not allowed in our country of birth.

"Though many Cubans are not interested in this subject, throughout the last fifty years, in our beloved Country the basic rights that all human beings should have, have been insulted and trampled and at the same time anyone that has had the strength to defend those rights has been subdued without scruples. Cuba and it's controlling totalitarian regime, have been loyal destroyers of everything that smells like freedom.

Today I remember, how many times I was taken to a police Station and detained for days, with the sole objective of forcing me to renounce my memership of groups involved in democratic activism.
Officials that had been prepared and trained to terrorise and neutralize any vestige of opposition, stocked the lives of all activists.

Cuban State Security, is a great apparatus of officials, instructed on how to maintain political order through the subordination of the people and force then to abide by their totalitarian ideology. The majority of Cubans, have determined not to involve themselves in anything that has to do with going against the state in power.

It's heartbreaking to see a nation destroyed. The elderdy completely umprotected, the young desperate to scape reality in any way possible.
Some going abroad and others sucumbing to drugs and alcoholism, that little by little lacerate and destroy the Cuban soul.

While the apathics, only critisice, the ones with the courage to make the oposition against the tirany. May of them live locked away in the miserable Cuban prisons. As a Cuban who loves freedom, I will always be commited, with all inside Cuba, with the intention of defending the values and rights of our countrymen in the Island.

One day this suffering will finally end and justive will drop to their knees all those who have mutilated the Cuban Family. I am also committed to this justice. Hurray for the 10th of December and Hurray for Human Rights, And of course,

Down with Communism and it's colaborators".


Nestor Fernandez.

Monday, December 8, 2008

Christmas Tree


In her most resent post "The Trees Sprout" Yoani Sanchez writes.........

"Stopping in the doorway of a church in Reina Street, I had decided not to get closer to the crèche and the crystal balls that hung from the branches. The stories of what happened to those who had been rejected for believing in religion stopped me at the door. Mouth agape at the size of that fir, I overcame my fear and approached the warm manger".

I don't remember ever seeing a Christmas tree in Cuba. The first one I saw was in Spain when I was thirteen years old. I will always remember those 4 months I spent in Madrid, after leaving the Island. It was there that I began to discover, how beautiful life can be, without Communism. It was there that I made my first snow man. I remember that day I played in the snow all day and the next morning I woke up with the worst cold of my life, but it was worth it.

In Cuba my teachers would make fun of my beliefs, because they new I took Catechism classes and went to Mass every Saturday night. While my classmates listened quietly, the teacher would ask me..........

___ Lets see, why don't you go stand on Main Street, with a statue of the Virgin Marry, and see if she can protect you from the passing cars........ and they would laugh!

They were blind. They new not, that under the protection of my church y felt safe and at peace. I had my faith, but did they have? Oh yes.......they had "The Revolution".

The happiest moments of my childhood, after my father left, were spent there, at the Saint Peter and Saint Paul Parish.

I want to whish everyone a very "Merry Christmas".

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Protest Against the Opening of Films About Che!


Movie series based on the life of human waste Che Guevara, premiered in Miami, sparking a heated protest by the Cuban-American community. Miami's Mayor Matti Herrera accompanied the protesters, reported the newspaper El Nuevo Herald.

According to this newspaper, "The movies which premiered in Miami will be presented this weekend at the XXX Festival of New Latinamerican Film in Havana, with the participation of the director and main protagonists"-It would seem that Fidel Castro-the oldest Mummy in Cuba, is pleased with the films. Gag me!

With the Cuban American history and pain associated with this butcher, you would think that other Hispanics, and some Americans, would have the decency, to keep trash like this away from South Florida, but it's almost like they do it on purpose.

A set of movies based on that arrogant, murdering, racist, pile of menuer, that was Ernesto Che Guevara, is nothing to be proud off and should not have been brought to Miami. Perhaps we Cuban-Americans have not done our job, educating the rest of the world, about what this executioner did to our countrymen.

Here is an actual execution in Santa Clara of the Mayor of that City:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YO6aH4EiQ_Q

Friday, December 5, 2008

Cuban-American Congress Woman Hangs up on President Elect. Obama


Cuban-American Congress woman, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, received a telephone call from President Elect. Obama, but she thought it was a prank and hung up on him, not once but twice. Eventually one of her staffers called her a she had him identify an inside joke they share, then she knew it was the real thing.

"I thought it was one of those South Florida Radio Station, playing a joke on me", she said during on interview on the Fox News Chanel. I think she's got something there, I've heard them call people inside Cuba-it's pretty cool actually.

I must say, I'm impressed! Obama reaching out to a prominent Cuban-American, is a very good sign in my book. She said, "We talked about Cuba and Israel".

Alright!!

Thursday, December 4, 2008

The Bloggers Reunion in Havana Will go on as Planned


"We have decided that there won't be an inaugural ceremony, but, we have not renounced having the reunion of Bloggers on Saturday", said independent reporter Reinaldo Escobar.

The Cuban blogger Yoani Sánchez said this Thursday, that the intimidation from the government to halt the realization of the meeting of Bloggers, planned for this Saturday in Havana, is a sampling of the "fear" the authorities have of any "unauthorized reunion, that "escapes" their "control".

"The Cuban government is afraid of any gathering of people, who by their own initiative decide to get together to discuss a subject that is outside of "official control", whatever it may be", she told AFP, and and affirmed, that the strong police warning she received on Wenesday, will not make then cancel the encouter".........................

This was reported by Cubaencuentro

Cuban Authorities Continues, Bloggers Intimidation


As Reported by Cuba Intependiente: What happened to Yoani Sanchez is not an isolated incident.

Claudia lives in Cuba and writes on her blog Octavio Cerco

A Mi Tambien (Me too)

"With Reinaldo Escobar on the telephone, still without connection and finding out from him, about everything that had happened, I didn't have time to express my disgust with the Canceling of out first Bloggers Reunion, because at that exact moment, a policeman knocked on my door and handed me a respective citation":

"You are to appear tomorrow at the Police Station at Zapata and C at 2 pm".

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Yoani at the Police Station

As I wrote last night, Yoani Sanchez, winner of the Best Weblog in the "The Bobs", for her Generation Y blog exposing the reality of life in Cuba, as well as numerous other awards, was summoned to a local police station in Havana where she resides with her Husband and son.

Yoani and her husband were interviewed by two members of the Ministry of the Interior (secret police), who refused to sign a formal statement-the bastards want no paper trail!

They read from a script.........

"We want to advise you that you have transgressed all the limits of tolerance, with your proximity to elements of the counterrevolution".

Referring to a scheduled meeting, that will bring together Cuban bloggers from inside and outside Cuba, they informed her that, "The activity planned in the next few days, can not be realized".

They went on to say, "On our part, we will take all measures and will make the pertinent reports and accusations necesary. This activity, with the moments this Nation is living, trying to recuperate from the hurracanes, will not be permited".

BASTARDS!!

Before they asked her to leave, she called them Cowards, for not signing the statement read to her. Wow......What guts!

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Yoani Sanchez is in Danger!!


There is the possibility that Yoani Sanchez, the blogger who turned the eyes of the world to the real Cuba, could be in danger. To anyone reading this, please contact the newspapers, radio, TV, etc. Lets not leave her alone, now that she needs us!! I translated this as best as I could. She has been called in to a police station for questioning!

On her blog Generation Y, the blogger who won the best Weblog Award and Reporters Without Border in the "The Bobs" wrote tonight with the same humor and wit that characterizes her, but definitely worried :

First Round
by: Yoani Sanchez at Generación Y , December 2, 2008

I swear, that I have not ran a red light, that I have not bought cheese in the black market, in more then two months and I have not left a store without paying. I don't remember violati the laws -to much- these days. I have not even pretended to be a foreigner in order to use the Internet in some Hotel.

I have nevertheless, been called into the police station along with Reinaldo. We are to go down to the Police station on 21 and C in Vedado. I wonder if I should take my tooth brush or will I just receive a brief ear tug.

I leave you with the official document I received today from the hands of a sweaty official, that had to go up 14 flights of stairs -I've had no elevator for a month–.

Tomorrow at nine in the morning, I will know what it is about, wait for news after two.

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Supporting International Aids Day from our Blogs

Why Should You Participate?

HIV/AIDS has been a global epidemic for more than 27 years. Most of today's youth have never known a world without it. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently published national HIV incidence (new infections) that showed much higher numbers that previous estimates. The time is now. Together, we can prevent the spread of this pandemic – through awareness, care, prevention, education and research.

“HIV/AIDS has now become a pandemic that has literally put the world at risk, affecting diverse populations in different ways”. –Dr. Nora Volkow, NIDA Director

On December 1st, individuals and organizations will recognize World AIDS Day. This year’s theme is leadership – from all sectors, including government, but also leaders among individuals and families, communities, non-profits and other organizations. The question is not should you participate, but how can you? Both NIDA and AIDS.gov recognize the leadership of Bloggers Unite and invite bloggers to join them in their mission to prevent and stop the spread of HIV/AIDS.

From Bloggers Unite their iniciative, downlad the baner and publish it in your blog.

Bloggers Unite

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Two Young Men Viciously Beaten by Cuban Police!!

Violence in the streets of Havana. The police brutally beats two young men. Notice in the video, how one gets pushed into traffic, narrowly avoiding traffic. They get beaten continously, even though, they are not fighting back. This happened in August 2008, across from the University of Havana.

Yoani Sanchez Wins Another Award!!!


Yoani Sanchez, the Cuban blogger, who for the past year, has connected us with what's happening inside Cuba, and is considered by FP En Espanol, one of the 10 most influential intellectuals of Iberoamerica, winner of the Ortega y Gasset 2008, and the jury award from Bitácoras.com 2008.

She is once again bestowed, with the award for best Weblog and Reportes Without Borders given by the jury for the Deutsche Welle International Weblog Awards "The Bobs".

The jury said, "Sanchez gives voice to an entire generation of Cubans and provides the world with a window into Cuba through her clear and poetic writing".

Additionally, she has been included among the 100 personalities selected this year by El País, a Spanish newspaper!

On her blog Generacion Y, Yoani writes,

"We still lack that which is the most coveted prize: the right to dialogue, dissent and to dye ourselves in the political colors of our choosing within our Island. We must not let this phenomenon be limited only to the blogosphere, we have to go in search of the jackpot: free opinion".

Yoani Sanchez has become the voice for the Cubans in the the Island. Lets hope that one day soon, her blog can be read inside Cuba. This award is a triumph, not only for our Yoani, but also for the Cuban dissidents and the exiles who desire freedom for Cuba.

This frail looking woman, who walks 14 flights of stairs to get to and from her apartment, in Havana, since the elevator broke, has been able to do what no one else before her has accomplished. Cuban Author, Jose Marti wrote, !A reported is much like soldier!. At this rate, she is going to topple the Cuban government with out firing a canon nor a rifle!

Congratulations Yoani!!

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Peaceful Protests not Allowed in Cuba


During the early years of the Castro Regime when my parents were teenagers, they attended two separate schools in Havana. My mom attended Instituto de Mariano and one day after school, my mom and a group of her classmates decided to have a peaceful protest, to speak out against the land reform laws being implemented by Castro. They thought they still lived in a democracy.

The school my dad attended Instituto Tecnologico de Marianao, was run by a Spaniard by the name of Grasiano Lipiz. He was a refugee from the Spanish Civil War, when Franco was in power. Lipiz was a Communist, who was now free to show who he really was. He literally brought wood sticks and handed them out to his students and ordered them to go out on the street and beat up the “worms” from the other school, who were protesting. This is kind of how a civilian police works. They were all just 15 and 16 year old kids. My dad who didn’t even know that my mom was in the other school, remembers, thinking, “Why should I beat them up, they haven’t done anything to me”. He blended in with a crowd and disappeared-he was good at that. Years later when sent to the work camps, he would stand in the back so the sergeant who had a photographic memory, so that he couldn’t memorize his face.

Many students followed Lipiz order and during the scuffle, the police showed up and started arresting the protesters and not the attackers! My mom avoided being arrested when she ran and jumped on a bus. Many of her classmates were not so lucky and were arrested. My grandparents took her out of school after that incident and she lost contact with her friends.

Years later, when my parents shared stories, they realized how lucky they were and how disturbing that evil can rise up in the most unexpected places.This story happened in the early sixties, but thousands of others followed it and this violence against it's citizens goes on today. If you ever wonder why the Cuban people don't revolt; it's fear of retaliation by the authorities, that will stop at nothing to keep them slaves.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

The Cuba of the 1930s

A voyage through time, takes us to the Cuba of the 1930s. Lets hope, that someday soon, the "Pearl of the Caribean", can once again regain the luster it once had.



Saturday, November 22, 2008

Letter to New York Mayor Bloomberg


This is the message I sent to New York Mayor Bloomberg, expressing my opinion on the Statue of Che Guevara, which was placed in Central Park New York.

"It has come to my attention that a statue of murderer Ernesto Che Guevara has been placed in Central Park, near the Doris C. Freedman Plaza. As a Cuban American I am appalled at the lack of ethics that your city has shown. Che's victims have yet to find justice and yet a statue of their executioner stands in the heart of Capitalism and the City he wanted to bomb. You wouldn't think of erecting a statue of Hitler there! Take Che's statue down!!"

Friday, November 21, 2008

A Statue of Murderer Che Guevara in Central Park


I am so angry, my whole body is shaking!

Che Guevara sent thousands of Cubans to be executed by firing squad, including a 14 years old boy, who he shot himself. A statue of Mass Murderer Che Guevara in New York Central Park Near the Doris C. Freedman Plaza.

I just learned about this on the Babalu Blog-posted by Ziva.

This is a spit on our suffering! Che's victims are still waiting for justice and their murderer gets a statue in the USA! I don't think so!

You have got to be kidding me. Ohhh if only I lived in New York, that statue would be no more. I hope someone destroys that piece of crap soon!

In Venezuela they unveiled a bust of Che and it got beheaded. I predict when enough Cubans and and their friends find out about this, it’s going down.

In Cuba we had to stare at his ugly mug, plastered everywhere, but we will not go quietly into the night. Lets post this around the globe and take this murderous thug's tribute down-preferably in pieces!

Contact info for the Commissioner, Department of Parks and Recreation: http://nyc.gov/html/mail/html/maildpr.html

Contact info for Mayor Bloomberg:

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg
City Hall
New York, NY 10007
PHONE 311 (or 212-NEW-YORK outside NYC)

FAX (212) 788-2460

E-MAIL:
http://www.nyc.gov/html/mail/html/mayor.html

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Picadillo


People ask Cuban American all the time, how we let Communism happen to our country. We didn't, and my parents generation tried to stop it, in so may ways. The problem was, that every time someone opened their mouth in protest, they paid a heavy prize.

Picadillo was my home town’s trash collector. He was kind of vocal about his views on the new government. Sometimes he would have a few drinks and sometimes he was sober but he would talk about all the misery around him and about things he thought were wrong with Castro’s government.

One day, he disappeared and no one saw him for two weeks. When he emerged, he was no longer talking. He had been jailed and while there, was tortured and told to keep his mouth shut, or they would kill him. He never spoke again.

Friday, November 14, 2008

The Re-Conquering of Cuba


There isn’t a day that goes by, that I don’t thank my parents for getting me out of Cuba. As I watch my own children, I tremble at the thought of what their lives would have been like in a country like Cuba.


A land that gave so many of her sons and daughters, to the fight for independence is once again being re-conquered by the leeches of the world. The Spaniards, the Italians, even Cubans themselves are putting money in their pockets at the expense of Cuba’s misery.


Under aged girls are being sold into prostitution, for the enjoyment of foreign tourists and even Cuban Americans, who know they would never get

away with it, here in America.


A young woman leaves the Island with her Italian boyfriend, who has promised to marry her. He talks her into undergoing a routine eye surgery to correct a vision imperfection and in stead, has her corneas removed. She later returns home, alone and blind.


Young Reggeaton, Elvis Manuel frustrated with his situation in Cuba, left his country a few months ago on a raft. He had been promised a hefty contract in Miami. He said, “My music is everywhere,but I don’t have a cent to buy something to eat.”. He took the chance of his life to follow his dream and never made it to US soil, becoming another statistic. Bodies wash up on Florida shores everyday. For Cubans, the cold war has not ended. Over 90,000 Cubans had died in the attempt to escape extreme circumstances.


As the United States and most of the world moves on, Cubans can not move on, because our wounds are still open. Our dead have found no justice and their executioners are still in power. For us the wall has not fallen. The once Pearl of the Caribbean we called home, is now a land in ruins.

Sunday, November 9, 2008

Gays Should Have Equal Rights Too!


For as far as America has come; in the fight for equal rights, it has not come far enough. I have never understood homophobia. In Cuba, my country of birth, being gay was a crime against the state, with a penal code number, attached to it. From 1960 to 1979, homosexuals, were victimized and imprisoned by the Castro Regime. One tragic example was the brilliant author, Reinaldo Arenas, who spent decades under constant repression years in prison, because of who he was.

This last week, Proposition 8 passed, to the dismay of so many gay couples that wanted to have the right to marry whomever they wanted. Who are we to decide who should marry whom. It wasn't to long ago, that Mexicans and African-Americans weren't allowed to marry whites.

Supporters of Prop 8, poured millions of dollars to spread their message. Churches of course were the main contributors. How extremely disturbing, but expected, that churches would give millions of dollars, not to the poor, not to refugee's around the world, but to a hate campaign.

Supporters of gay rights filed three lawsuits Wednesday asking the California Supreme Court to overturn Proposition 8. They argue that the measure is an illegal revision of the constitution and it fundamentally alters the guarantee of equal protection.

I fail to see what gays having the right to marry, have to do with restoring traditional marriage. This effort, is nothing more then fear and the stigma of homosexuality

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Obama Wins the U.S. Presidency


History has been made tonight. From now on, every little boy and girl, no matter what the color of their skin will know, he/she can be anything they want to be, even president of the United States of America.

As I saw Rev. Jessie Jackson and the tears ran down his face, I felt that I knew what this means to African Americans. America is even better that I thought and for that I'm deeply touched. In spite of our differences, American looked passed the color of Barack Obama's skin and made him the first African American president.

I can't help but feel that this is historic and I can see in the faces in the crowd both black and white how important this day is to our country. Perhaps in some small way the pain of racism and the ghosts of slavery can find peace at last.

The seed of the Old Confederacy and the once Party of Slavery and the KKK, the Party who stood in the way of the Civil Rights movement and Dr. King, today elects a black man as president.

I can't say that I'm happy, I wanted McCain to win of Course, because I don't agree with Obama's policies and I can't shake this uneasy feeling, I really hope I was wrong............

Then there is Senator John McCain, the patriot and the man I voted for. He should have won! For your service, dedication, and sacrifice to this great country, I thank you with all my heart.

John McCain, Senator and Patriot, Concession Speech


Barack Hussein Obama, President Elect, Acceptance Speech

Dr Elias Biscet-A Prisoner of Conscience

Dr. Biscet is serving a 25 year prison term in Cuba for demanding basic human rights to prisoners and speaking out against abortion and the practice of denying emergency care to live born aborted babies.


Before and After Castro

Cuba's Prisoners of Conscience Video

Video from eaglephin Chanel on Youtube. This video is dedicated to the Cuban Political prisoners. It's enough to drive anyone to tears.

Black Panther Guards in Front of Philladelphia Polling Station

An African-American View of Obama

Barack Obama ACORN Voter registration community organizer black militant left wing tax and spend liberal, sais http://www.youtube.com/user/obamabooty


Two Black Panther Members Try to Intimate Voters in Philadelphia!



Update on this story
May 29, 2009

I have just learned that President Obama's administration has dropped the charges against these to men, in spite of the fact that the New Black Panther Party" has been denounced by the original "Black Panthers"

Monday, November 3, 2008

The Mac is Back!!!

Obama's Pastor and Mentor

Obama must think we are stupid. For twenty years he sat through this man's hate filled cermons and he can look at his interviewers with a staight face and say, he didn't hear Reverend Jeremiah Wright talk like this!

Obama's Civilian Security Army-In his Own Words!

When Does a Baby's Civil Rights Begin?

Obama & 'Live Birth Abortion'

We are all Created Equal

MacCain-For the Love of His Country!

What McCain did for the Love of his country, your country, my country! He served our country bravely and he has the scars to prove it!

Tomorrow, when we vote, lets remember who will be the best man for the job. We need more then pretty words and empty promises. Who has put his country above himself. Obama who has done nothing or John McCain, who has already been tested.
Other adds by McCain/Palin

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Who Has Obama Winked At?

New Team Sarah Ad Highlights Obama’s Associations with Ayers, Khalidi, Wright:

Team Sarah, a grassroots coalition of diverse women dedicated to advancing Governor Sarah Palin's Vice Presidential candidacy announced the release of a new web ad in response to Barack Obama's recent Wink ad that attacks Governor Sarah Palin.