SUNRISE IN HAVANA

Friday, December 30, 2011

Genocide: Worse Than War

It's so difficult to understand how any human being can justify the killing of mass groups of people. Goldahngen's who's own father survived the Jewish holocaust, points out that extreme cruelty is at the heart of genocide. Though you hear time and time again soldiers say they were just doing their job or following orders, but if that were true, why is there always evidence of torture, rape and unimaginable suffering before killing them.

The victims are thought of as subhumans, thus making it okay to kill them. People who chose to kill another human being, basically don't view them as humans and its starts years before the actual events.

Contrary to popular belief, genocide doesn't happen spontaneously. Many times years of propaganda, describing and depicting a particular group as a threat, as a danger to their way of life, etc. Examples of this are Serbia, Nazi Germany and Rwanda. Add to the mix the feeling that they are untouchable and nothing can stop them.

Genocide's goal is to eliminate a group of people. Glodhagen says we should remain vigilant and be aware of any elimination policies, before the mention of killing even starts.

The Armenian Genocide by the Turks, during WWI are yet to be recognize, though France has now criminalized the denial of said genocide, which has enfudiared the Turks - Tuff!

This film is also available at http://to.pbs.org/hMZzq0 Watch Daniel Goldhagen's ground-breaking documentary focused on the worldwide phenomenon of genocide, which premiered on PBS on April 14, 2010.

Friday, December 9, 2011

Cuban Exiles Put on Fireworks Show Near Havana

HAVANA (AP) — A coalition of Cuban exiles sailed south from Florida on Friday to protest the island's human rights record with a nighttime fireworks display, eliciting a stern rebuke from Havana officials who called it an affront to national sovereignty.

Organizers said their boats would anchor a little more than 12 miles (19 kilometers) from the Cuban capital, just outside Cuba's territorial waters, and by early evening multicolored explosions could be seen intermittently far off on the horizon from Havana.

Only a handful of people were along the Malecon oceanside promenade amid a steady wind and sporadic rain. Almost entirely missing were the masses of young Cubans who gather to socialize on a normal Friday night.

When an Associated Press crew tried to interview the few who were there, a pro-government crowd of more than 20 people ran across the wide boulevard yelling "American press!" and demanding that a video camera be turned over. Some were holding bottles of alcohol and appeared to have been drinking.

The journalists identified themselves as accredited members of the press with the right to work in Cuba. One cameraman was punched in the face, another's thumb was sprained and a video camera was broken in the melee before the crew managed to leave the scene.

Exile organizers in Miami insisted the 18th protest flotilla over the years would be peaceful and was not a provocation, though they said they were trying to coordinate the protest with actions by dissidents on the island. They called on other Havana residents to bang soup pots in solidarity during the fireworks on the eve of International Human Rights Day. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jFO5q0qCGz4_dDs1XM0Dw1iwYIxQ?docId=787ab92aa9524f49b5be13a53e84179f

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Chairman Ros-Lehtinen Questioning Secretary Clinton on Cuba

SUSCRIBIRME A BOHERASE

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Hablemos Press journalist who wrote about the possible intravenous bacterial infection of Laura Pollan arrested

http://www.netforcuba.org/photos/Oposicion-Cubana/Carlos%20Rios%20Otero%20foto%20Hablemos%20Press.jpg

Havana, October 17, 2011- Six agents from Cuban State Security arrested independent journalist Carlos Rios Otero at his home at 5:30 pm on Friday the 14th.

Rios Otero, who is a member of Independent Press Agency Hablemos Press, had published an article the day before detailing the critical condition of Lady in White Laura Pollan and other cases of Ladies in White who became ill after being injected during acts of repression.

According to the journalist, the agents took him to the Aguilera police station in Lawton, Havana, where he was constantly threatened until after midnight.

His arrest took place two hours before the announcement of Laura Pollan's death, at the same time when it became evident that many of the cell phones of peaceful opposition members had been cut off.

At the home of the journalist at Correa #163, Santos Suarez, a patrol car appeared with two uniformed police officers and two plainclothes agents of State Security. Another two agents in civilian clothes arrived on motorcycles. One said to Rios: "Carlos, we need to talk."

In his articles for Hablemos Press, one on September 12th "IPK Denounces Medical Power," and on October 28th, "Lethal Vaccinations against the Cuban Dissidence," Rios explored the possible relationship between the grave illness of Laura Pollan and the puncture inflicted on her at the last attack she suffered.

He cited previous instances, such as the other Ladies in White who had been injected and then suffered dizzy spells, blurry vision, fever, loss of equilibrium, diarrhea, nausea, cramps, irregular menstrual cycles with heavy bleeding, and other symptoms attributable to bacterial infection or reactions to toxic substances.

Rios said: "They placed me in the back seat between two plainclothes agents and with the two motorcycles leading a caravan that appeared to me as if I were the president of the republic. In the Aguilera station at a section they call "The Pit," they interrogated me and the four agents threatened me regarding signs that had appeared in the streets with the word "NO." I belong to the "NO" campaign. They threatened me with prison for the signs, calling it a "crime of propaganda for the enemy," but I refused to sign an "admission." They interrogated me about my friends and about a repair done on my house - remember that Dr. Darsi Ferrer was imprisoned on the pretext of the materials used in the repair of his house. They avoided talking about my articles dealing with the health of Laura Pollan and the puncture she suffered on her forearm during the last act of repression carried out by them and their paramilitary "Rapid Response Brigades." After releasing me around midnight, one said, 'Laura has died.'"

Carlos Rios believes that the sudden interest in him has nothing to do with the signs on the streets, but with the death of Laura Pollan while he writes of how the government's "battle of ideas" includes suspicious injections.

According to family members, Lady in White and photo journalist for Hablemos Press, Sandra Guerra, was "sequestered by State Security agents on Saturday morning when she was traveling to Havana to attend the funeral for Pollan."

Net for Cuba

Babalu blog,

Hablemos Press

Monday, October 17, 2011

SIGN CONDOLENCES BOOK FOR LAURA POLLAN, PRESIDENT OF THE LADIES IN WHITE

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/condolencias-por-el-fallecimiento-de-laura-poll%C3%A1n-tole.html

Laura Pollan Toledo was one of the cofounders of the Cuban opposition movement known as Las Damas de Blanco (Ladies in White). This group arose spontaneously after the arrests in Cuba's Black Spring, of 75 opponents to the regime of Fidel Castro. Women, wives, mothers, sisters and other female relatives of these peaceful men came together to demand their immediate release.

Laura is the wife of independent journalist and prisoner of conscience Héctor Maseda Gutiérrez, imprisoned in the 2003 crackdown and sentenced to 20 years imprisonment. She was a Professor of Spanish and literature, she worked until May 2004 when she left to fight for her husband's unjust imprisonment.

Laura has spoken out many times, explaining to the international community the repression prevailing in Cuba and denounced the inhuman conditions suffered by prisoners of conscience, deported to prisons far from their families, not receiving proper medical care and to be victims of cruel and degrading treatment.

The home of Laura is one of the meeting places of the Ladies in White. State Security knows this , so more than once Laura has found among her things hidden microphones. But she does not mind, in these five years of struggle for freedom for her husband and all Cuban prisoners of conscience, she and the other ladies have proved to be too brave to be intimidated with threats.

A courageous attitude has led them to confront a host of difficult situations. Insults, threats and smear campaigns released by the Cuban government made every day in their lives. On April 21, 2008, the world witnessed the violent eviction of a group of ladies who were protesting peacefully in the Revolution Square in Havana. Among them was Laura.

As a member of Las Damas de Blanco, Laura along with the other Ladies in White was honored with the European Parliament's Sakharov Prize for Human Rights in 2005, and in 2006 the prize from Human Rights First.

She contracted a viral infection that affected her lungs and was admitted to the Hospital "Calixto García" in Havana in were she contracted, a second virus that affected her kidneys and she also contracted dengue fever and died on Friday 14 October 2011 in the evening, leaving a deep emptiness and pain in the Cuban community and all lovers of freedom and democracy.