Thursday, September 07, 2006
Renting a bus
Here we have Los Fonomemecos calling Cuba trying to rent a bus. Thanks to a fellow freedom fighter for passing it on!
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
"Surprise" visit from Morales
U.S. beats Cuber
The U.S. beats Cuber 8-5 in baseball yesterday in apartheid Cuba. No pictures of the dictator in a sporty addidas outfit? No video of mini-me and the dictator in the latest segment of "Dictators in Love" crying over the outcome of this game?
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Message from the dictator/translation
Here is the message from the dictator:
Dear compatriots
In recent days, some film images and several photographs were published, which I know much pleased our people.
Some opined, with reason, that I looked a little thin, as the only unfavorable element. I am very glad that they perceived it. This allows me to send you several more recent photos and, at the same time, to inform you that in a few days I lost 41 pounds. I add that very recently [the doctors] removed the last surgical stitch, after 34 days of convalescence.
Not on a single day, even on the most difficult ones since July 26, did I fail to make an effort to rectify the adverse political consequences of such unexpected health problem. The result is that, to my relief, I moved forward on several important issues. I can tell you that the book "One Hundred Hours With Fidel," by [Ignacio] Ramonet -- in which, during the days I was ill, I reviewed in detail every answer I gave -- is practically finished and will be published soon, as I promised you. That did not keep me from strictly performing my duties as a disciplined patient.
It can be affirmed that the most critical moment has been left behind. Today, I recover at a satisfactory pace. In the next several days, I shall be welcoming distinguished visitors; that does not mean that each activity will be immediately accompanied by film or photographic images, although the news of each event will always be presented. We all must understand that it is not convenient to systematically present information or offer images about the state of my health. We all must also understand, with realism, that the duration of a complete recovery, whether we want it or not, will be prolonged.
At this moment, I am not in any hurry, and no one should hurry. The country marches on well and moves ahead.
Today began the School Year, with more students and perspectives than in any other moment for our country. What a marvelous event!
One detail remains: to ask each of the honest compatriots who together constitute the immense majority of our people not to blame anyone for the discretion that, for the sake of the security of our Homeland and our Revolution, I asked everyone to observe. Infinite thanks!
/signed/ Fidel Castro Ruz
Sept. 4, 2006
Translation from El Cafe Cubano:
Dear suckers,
In the recent days you have seen films and pictures that were carefully crafted, manipulated, and photoshopped. I know that weird video with mini-me caught you off guard, but the cat has to come out of the bag sometime. I have lost a lot of weight and this fake beard and wig are very uncomfortable, but fooling you my people is my main objective. Those pesky exiles are awaiting my demise, so I have to be discreet and to make sure I can continue to pillage my people. My deal with evil is not done, so I will be here for a while, even though I don't know what the heck raulita is doing? Even Mirta was here!
School has begun and it's time to start brainwashing our children and providing them with no incentive. Time for them to begin their homage to me!
Now I am ready to meet and greet all those easily fooled media journalist!
Onward to a Apartheid Cuba!!!!
Your Dictator in Cuber
Monday, September 04, 2006
Hip hop that does not get any press
In the world of music expression is the ultimate freedom, yet artist who are anti-communist or those who criticize the apartheid dictator never make it to MTV or are ignored on purpose. Rap about Leche Guevera and your hip, rap about the injustices of the apartheid regime in Cuba: silence. Welcome to the "hood" in Cuber, the real hood where you can be silenced just for speaking out against the regime!
Fellow FREEDOM FIGHTER and resident music critic Charlie Bravo has this post and video:
Y'all know that rock is the background music of KillCastro, and that our own soundtrack in Cuba was rock, rock, and more rock. But give God what's God's and Ceasar what's Ceasar's when somebody has the required set of cojones and opposes a tyrant with whatever resources he happens to have at hand and when such a young man doesn't bend his neck to be chained by the Beast. These are the people for whom we wake up every morning to write and maintain this blog: the Cuban rebels who are not pawns of anyone, who say it like it is, and who are ultimately the ones who will down the tyranny, with or withouth help.El Aldeano raps about the despair of the Cuban people, and point to its culprits, without mincing words. The video is damning, the lyrics are poignant.His stage name, el Aldeano, comes from the fact that a once very alive and bustling city, Havana, is being transformed into a miserable "aldea" or hamlet by 47 years of tyranny. And he shows that too.Thanks to Orlando el Confeti for introducing us to el Aldeano.Now that you are at this don't miss Randee Akosta el lirico de los Paisanos.And then, look at Bill Clinton endorsing his Cuban sex toys. My only message for the producers, it's not the embargo which keeps cigars out of your reach and music out of your stereo, it's fidel castro who keeps freedom out of the lives of Cubans.Out of Havana, in Santia-ghetto de Cuba, you can find more lively music. But it's not all about the booty shaking, even though that's plentiful. Trespeso resides in New Zealand, and gets you in touch with the music that's breaking the mold in the eastern tip of Cuba, Oriente. We are rockers, but our hats are off to everybody who opposes the kasstros tyranny.
H/T to CB and Orlando!
Fellow FREEDOM FIGHTER and resident music critic Charlie Bravo has this post and video:
Y'all know that rock is the background music of KillCastro, and that our own soundtrack in Cuba was rock, rock, and more rock. But give God what's God's and Ceasar what's Ceasar's when somebody has the required set of cojones and opposes a tyrant with whatever resources he happens to have at hand and when such a young man doesn't bend his neck to be chained by the Beast. These are the people for whom we wake up every morning to write and maintain this blog: the Cuban rebels who are not pawns of anyone, who say it like it is, and who are ultimately the ones who will down the tyranny, with or withouth help.El Aldeano raps about the despair of the Cuban people, and point to its culprits, without mincing words. The video is damning, the lyrics are poignant.His stage name, el Aldeano, comes from the fact that a once very alive and bustling city, Havana, is being transformed into a miserable "aldea" or hamlet by 47 years of tyranny. And he shows that too.Thanks to Orlando el Confeti for introducing us to el Aldeano.Now that you are at this don't miss Randee Akosta el lirico de los Paisanos.And then, look at Bill Clinton endorsing his Cuban sex toys. My only message for the producers, it's not the embargo which keeps cigars out of your reach and music out of your stereo, it's fidel castro who keeps freedom out of the lives of Cubans.Out of Havana, in Santia-ghetto de Cuba, you can find more lively music. But it's not all about the booty shaking, even though that's plentiful. Trespeso resides in New Zealand, and gets you in touch with the music that's breaking the mold in the eastern tip of Cuba, Oriente. We are rockers, but our hats are off to everybody who opposes the kasstros tyranny.
H/T to CB and Orlando!
Dictators in love
I razz raulita a lot, but this latest video from mini-me and the dictator is sickening and weird. Spanish T.V. should do a new soap opera: " Dictators in love" instead of continuously ripping off successful novelas from other countries and showing it as one of their own.. A la Betty La Fea
"Llamado a la Conciencia Nacional "
From Misceláneas de Cuba:
Llamado a la Conciencia Nacional
2006-09-04
Juan Carlos Linares Balmaseda
4 de septiembre de 2006
La Habana – “Hago un llamado a todos los cubanos para enterrar este régimen ya”, exhorta el activista de los derechos humanos Darsi Ferrer Ramírez, de 36 años, médico de profesión, y quien reside en calle San Bernardino 265 ubicada en la barriada capitalina de Santos Suárez.
Juan Carlos Linares Balmaseda (JCB): Acerca del último hostigamiento el Dr. Darsi relata:
Darsi Ferrer Ramírez (DFR): “Pasada las 2:00 de la madrugada del día 1 de septiembre tocaron a mi puerta con furia y cuando abrí había varias decenas de policías, muchos con pistola en mano, como una docena de autos patrulleros. En pantalones fui empujado e introducido en uno. Me llevaron para la estación de policía de Aguilera en Lawton. Cuando me bajaron uno de los guardias exclamó: `a estos gusanos hay que matarlos a palos’.
“Allí responsabilicé a la seguridad del estado por lo que pudiera ocurrirle a mi hijo que había quedado solo en la casa, porque mi mujer cuidaba a su mamá enferma en otra parte de la capital. El niño tiene cinco años. Es asmático grado 3. Y de lo peor me enteré después: mi mujer tuvo que romper una ventana para entrar al apartamento y se encontró al niño durmiendo y una llave del fogón de gas abierta, lo cual constituye un intento de asesinato. Eso va más allá de un diferendo político o ideológico. Se trata de uniformados que son capaces de matar niños sin ningún tipo de escrúpulos.
“Casi amaneciendo me sacaron del calabozo para interrogarme. Insistían en el por qué yo había pegado tres pegatinas en lugares públicos de mi cuadra que decían CAMBIO.
“Eran oficiales interrogadores de la seguridad del estado desconocidos para mí, en ropa de civil y con seudónimos, porque ni siquiera tienen el coraje y la honradez de dar su identidad. Todo lo contrario a los que luchamos por un mejoramiento de la sociedad cubana. A las siete y tanto me soltaron y tuve que regresar descalzo y sin camisa. Yo parecía una persona psiquiátrica caminando por las calles.
“Ese mismo día 1ro., como a las doce del mediodía, en pleno barrio del Vedado, me arrestan nuevamente. Soy metido en un patrullero y conducido hacia la estación de 21 y C, donde me esperaba otro patrullero que me vuelve a traer para la estación de Aguilera. Sin explicación ni motivo, otra vez caigo en un calabozo. Como a las 11 de la noche me sacan a interrogatorio. Dos oficiales esta vez uniformados de verde y con la insignia de la seguridad del estado. Me liberaron cerca de la 2:00 de la tarde del día 2.
“Les reafirmé que el cambio es necesario. Que este pueblo está cansado de tanta arbitrariedad. Que estos son momentos de determinación y de exigir una nueva nación con verdadera soberanía, para que todos quepamos en esta isla, y no seguir engordando tiburones en el Estrecho de la Florida con cubanos desesperados que intentan emigrar. Para que no se siga deteriorando la esperanza en la juventud. Ni los niños sigan acostándose con hambre y sus padres sin poder enfrentar estas desgracias”.
JCB: ¿Quieres decir algo más?
DFR: “Sí. Quiero hacer un llamado a la unidad de los cubanos, me refiero a todos los cubanos residentes en la isla y en el exilio, y en especial a todos los lideres de la oposición, para que asimilen con claridad que ahora es cuando se necesita de su liderazgo, encausando la vanguardia de la desobediencia civil pacífica. Deben incentivar a no cooperar de ninguna manera con las actividades represivas del régimen, y motivar a la población con acciones precisas y concretas. Pegando pegatinas como esas de CAMBIO en lugares públicos, y sacando a sus vecinos de la letanía y la indiferencia. Y llamo al exilio a que nos apoyen y a todas las organizaciones que luchan por la democratización de Cuba, tanto las de adentro como de las de afuera de la isla, para que acaben con las diferencias por simples que sean, y a luchar juntos. Mi principal mensaje es que el cambio está en cada uno de nosotros los cubanos. Fidel Castro tiene que abandonar el poder ya, y no puede aceptarse una sucesión del castrismo”.
H/T to Stefania at Free Thoughts
Friday, September 01, 2006
"Detención del Doctor Darsi Ferrer"
Estimados Hermanos:
Ayer en horas de la madrugada sobre las 2:30 am, el Doctor Darsi Ferrer Ramírez, fué detenido arbitrariamente, por alrededor de 50 Miembros de la Policia Política vestidos de Policias sin chapas puestas, en 12 patrulleros.
Con pistola en mano le tocaron la puerta fuertemente y lo esposaron al momento, llevándoselo en pantalón , descalzo y sin camisa , sin decir a que lugar, dejando solo a la vez a nuestro pequeno hijo de 5 años, porque yo me encontraba en casa de mi madre que estaba enferma.
Darsi les dijo que el niño estaba hay, que dejaran llevarlo con él hasta que yo lo recogiera y no le hicieron caso,por lo que se lo llevaron, pero antes de hacerlo abrieron la llave del gas de la casa y cerraron la puerta. Gracias a la coolaboración de algunos vecinos que me fueron a buscar rápido a la casa logramos romper una ventana y entrar donde por suerte mi niño aún se encontraba con vida.
El paradero de Darsi era desconocido hasta que a las 6:11 am, se personó un oficial del Ministerio del Interior en la casa para decirme en que Unidad estaba , y alrededor de las 8:00 apróximadamente lo soltaron.
En estos momentos a la 1:00 pm, fué detenido arbitrariamente nuevamente en una esquina de la oficina de Intereses cuando se disponia a entrar, sin dar ninguna explicación se lo volvieron a llevar. Por lo que ahora voy en busca de su paradero que espero que sea una Unidad y no otro lugar donde esté. Lés envio este mensaje para que sepan que yo Yusnaimy Jorge Soca, responsabilizó y acuso al gobierno, a la Seguridad del Estado, y a todo aquél que tenga que ver en el intento de asesinato de mi hijo Dariel Ferrer Jorge, de solo 5 años, y de mi esposo Darsi Ferrer Ramirez.
Yusnaimy Jorge Soca.
Ayer en horas de la madrugada sobre las 2:30 am, el Doctor Darsi Ferrer Ramírez, fué detenido arbitrariamente, por alrededor de 50 Miembros de la Policia Política vestidos de Policias sin chapas puestas, en 12 patrulleros.
Con pistola en mano le tocaron la puerta fuertemente y lo esposaron al momento, llevándoselo en pantalón , descalzo y sin camisa , sin decir a que lugar, dejando solo a la vez a nuestro pequeno hijo de 5 años, porque yo me encontraba en casa de mi madre que estaba enferma.
Darsi les dijo que el niño estaba hay, que dejaran llevarlo con él hasta que yo lo recogiera y no le hicieron caso,por lo que se lo llevaron, pero antes de hacerlo abrieron la llave del gas de la casa y cerraron la puerta. Gracias a la coolaboración de algunos vecinos que me fueron a buscar rápido a la casa logramos romper una ventana y entrar donde por suerte mi niño aún se encontraba con vida.
El paradero de Darsi era desconocido hasta que a las 6:11 am, se personó un oficial del Ministerio del Interior en la casa para decirme en que Unidad estaba , y alrededor de las 8:00 apróximadamente lo soltaron.
En estos momentos a la 1:00 pm, fué detenido arbitrariamente nuevamente en una esquina de la oficina de Intereses cuando se disponia a entrar, sin dar ninguna explicación se lo volvieron a llevar. Por lo que ahora voy en busca de su paradero que espero que sea una Unidad y no otro lugar donde esté. Lés envio este mensaje para que sepan que yo Yusnaimy Jorge Soca, responsabilizó y acuso al gobierno, a la Seguridad del Estado, y a todo aquél que tenga que ver en el intento de asesinato de mi hijo Dariel Ferrer Jorge, de solo 5 años, y de mi esposo Darsi Ferrer Ramirez.
Yusnaimy Jorge Soca.
Thursday, August 31, 2006
Prisoners threatened
From Net For Cuba International:
PRISON AUTHORITIES THREATEN PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE IN SEVERAL CUBAN PRISONS WITH EXECUTION BY FIRING SQUAD
August 2006
My husband, prisoner of conscience Diosdado González Marrero, sentenced during the wave of repression of March, 2003 to a 20-year prison sentence, denounces and informs national and international public opinion from the Provincial Prison Kilómetro Cinco y Medio in Pinar del Río, that since August 1, 2006, prison authorities have ordered and authorized prisoners to attack anyone who expresses opinions with respect to Fidel Castro’s health. In addition, every prisoner is obligated to turn in the names of prisoners who express their ideas on the matter to authorities, who will take measures against them.
The prisoners, ‘Pascual’ of Post #1 and Diosdado González Marrero of Post #8, were threatened by prison authorities that all those attempting to leave on rafts and political prisoners would be shot if something happens to Fidel Castro or if the United States intervenes in Cuba.
The same type of thing is occurring in Las Mangas Prison in Granma Province where prisoner of conscience Félix Navarro was beaten by two common prisoners and where he received threats of being shot, according to what his wife, Sonia Alvarez Campillo, who visited him on August 16, 2006, informed me.
On the other hand, in Aguica Prison in Colón, Matanzas, prisoners are also being threatened with being beaten and punished if they express their opinions regarding Fidel Castro’s health.
This difficult situation of violence and aggression in Cuban prisons, encouraged by prison authorities, can provoke uprisings in the jails.
ALEJANDRINA GARCÍA DE LA RIVAResident of Calle Santa Rita #29, El Roque, Perico Matanzas, Cuba
PRISON AUTHORITIES THREATEN PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE IN SEVERAL CUBAN PRISONS WITH EXECUTION BY FIRING SQUAD
August 2006
My husband, prisoner of conscience Diosdado González Marrero, sentenced during the wave of repression of March, 2003 to a 20-year prison sentence, denounces and informs national and international public opinion from the Provincial Prison Kilómetro Cinco y Medio in Pinar del Río, that since August 1, 2006, prison authorities have ordered and authorized prisoners to attack anyone who expresses opinions with respect to Fidel Castro’s health. In addition, every prisoner is obligated to turn in the names of prisoners who express their ideas on the matter to authorities, who will take measures against them.
The prisoners, ‘Pascual’ of Post #1 and Diosdado González Marrero of Post #8, were threatened by prison authorities that all those attempting to leave on rafts and political prisoners would be shot if something happens to Fidel Castro or if the United States intervenes in Cuba.
The same type of thing is occurring in Las Mangas Prison in Granma Province where prisoner of conscience Félix Navarro was beaten by two common prisoners and where he received threats of being shot, according to what his wife, Sonia Alvarez Campillo, who visited him on August 16, 2006, informed me.
On the other hand, in Aguica Prison in Colón, Matanzas, prisoners are also being threatened with being beaten and punished if they express their opinions regarding Fidel Castro’s health.
This difficult situation of violence and aggression in Cuban prisons, encouraged by prison authorities, can provoke uprisings in the jails.
ALEJANDRINA GARCÍA DE LA RIVAResident of Calle Santa Rita #29, El Roque, Perico Matanzas, Cuba
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Why the silence?
Very quiet in Cuber after the love-fest between the dictator and mini-me. All these whispers about Mirta in Cuba, Raulita wanting to open up a little, but remain in power with his cronies. It seems that a deal has been struck because it's just to quiet! Even with MSM you can hear crickets in the background concerning Cuber. Everyone has a scenario with the whispers on what will happen in Cuba when the dictator is finally dead. Folks may I remind you : are we going to sell out our brothers and let the dictator, raulita, "tricky ricky" and the killhouse gang off free? Am I wrong? My brothers and sisters what about the political prisoners? What about all the atrocities? I hear "reconciliation" thrown out very easy, yes we are together with the Cuban people, NO reconciliation or sell out to the KILLHOUSE GANG!
This should be about FREEDOM, DEMOCRACY, and SELF DETERMINATION.
I will leave you with this quote from Jose Marti:
"Other famous men, those of much talk and few deeds, soon evaporate. Action is the dignity of greatness. "
This should be about FREEDOM, DEMOCRACY, and SELF DETERMINATION.
I will leave you with this quote from Jose Marti:
"Other famous men, those of much talk and few deeds, soon evaporate. Action is the dignity of greatness. "
Monday, August 28, 2006
Humberto Fontova
Here we have freedom fighter and author Humberto Fontova pulling no punches on his latest article:
American GIs liberated Paris 62 years ago last week. But pay no attention to the French troops strutting at the fore of the liberation parades on newsreels. Sure, some fought, mainly Foreign Legionnaires. But Ike allowed their strutting because Ike was "politically correct" before political correctness was cool.
The free world rejoiced at the time and the celebrations in Paris surpassed New Orleans' Mardi Gras – or so we hear. It so happens my father-in-law, a lifelong New Orleanian, helped blast the Nazis out of France and spent some leave in Paris. He was in a superb position to judge, and says it was no contest.
Sure, grateful and gorgeous French gals mobbed him. Sure, corks popped and champagne gushed. Sure, bands played and many legs were kicked up in the raucous jubilation. Still, "It was no Mardi-Gras, Hom-Boy-Da (New Orleanian for Humberto, very similar to old Brooklynese)," he assured me. "Nobody parties like us New Orleanians."
The Christmas Eve before his passing ten years ago, I complained about my wife's oyster dressing. "A bit dry," I huffed.
"I think it's delicious, honey!" he quickly turned to his daughter. "Sure beats my Christmas Eve feast in 1944."
That night, made expansive in these usually mum matters by the wine, my father-in-law told us that his 1944 feast had consisted of frozen C-rations and the setting was a quaint little Belgian town named Bastogne. This was the first time his own daughter had heard of his role in the very epicenter of a little dust-up later known as The Battle of the Bulge.
Here's a trademark, I've noticed, of relatives of genuine combat veterans. We thrill at the newsreels on the History Channel. Those on the spot would rather forget that "thrill."
Weeks later, my eyes popped as my mother-in-law pulled out an old satchel and displayed a Screaming Eagle shoulder patch and some medals I identified as a Bronze Star, a Silver Star with Oak Leaf Clusters and many others. The Purple Hearts I had expected from his forehead scars and limp.
In December of 1944, eager to wish the GIs a Merry Christmas, Hitler shifted twenty ferocious Panzer and SS Divisions from the Russian Front to the Western Front. He figured that those green American kids, most of whom had been dancing the jitterbug only a few months before, would cower and quickly cave in before the Reich's toughest soldiers. Then these would blast their way to Antwerp and bust the Western Front wide open.
Der Fuhrer's reaction to the reply from those besieged Bastogne defenders is not on record. But the reaction from the German commander who demanded their surrender is. "Vat does deez 'Nuts' mean?" asked the rattled German officer. "Eez deez reply negative or affirmative?"
"In plain English," laughed the 10st's Col. Harper, who had handed him the message from Gen. McAuliffe, "It's the same as 'Go to Hell!' So on your way, Bud!"
A few months after that hellish Christmas in Bastogne, those same Panzer divisions, who once surrounded and pounded them, surrendered to our GIs, who often shared their smokes, blankets and C-rations with them as the U.S. government started detoxifying their nation from Hitler's infection – not with firing squads and mass graves but by feeding and housing them while rebuilding their cities. Nothing could be more thoroughly American.
But not everyone was keen on forgiving and forgetting, especially the French. According to the Harper Collins Atlas of the Second World War, Nazi repression caused 172,260 French civilian deaths during the occupation. Liberation also meant payback time. The heavy hand of retribution fell mostly on native collaborators, and the term "collaboration" proved very sweeping. Usually the phrase "guilt by association" is a pejorative to condemn an obvious injustice. In liberated France it became the dominant legal axiom. Historian and National Review editor David Pryce-Jones estimates 105,000 summary executions of French collaborators in the months after the liberation.
Merely writing favorably about the occupiers was sufficient for a death sentence. The French writer Robert Brasillach was an example, and De Gaulle himself minced few words rationalizing the verdict. "In literature as in everything, talent confers responsibility." And that was that. On February 6, 1945, Brasillach crumpled in front of a firing squad.
Imagine this legal principle of "intellectual crimes" applied after Cuba's liberation to Castro's literary and journalistic collaborators, and with transnational enforcement. The mind reels.
Half the staffs of every publication from the New York Times to Le Monde would be dangling from nooses. Every publisher save Regnery and Encounter would be sending flowers in loving memory of half of their authors. The door of every faculty office of every liberal arts professor from Harvard to Georgetown and from Berkeley to Oxford would sport an RIP note. Every TV network save Fox would find half its anchors marched to the gallows.
You readers are aghast, right? This fantasy is more proof that I'm a "vengeance-seeking Cuban-exile crackpot"!
For the record, I advocate nothing of the sort for liberated Cuba, and neither has any Cuban-American.. Here's a better analogy for the current news cycle: If Hitler had died in 1944, should the Free French have embraced a Nazi regime headed by Goering, Ribbentrop and Himmler? Would enlightened opinion universally denounce the French who balked at such an accommodation as "hardliners" and "crackpots"?
According to the Cuba Archive Project, headed by scholars Maria Werlau and Dr. Armando Lago, the Castro regime – with firing squads, forced-labor camps and drownings at sea – has caused an estimated 102,000 Cuban deaths. Cuba was a nation of 6.5 million people in 1960. France was nation of 42 million in 1940 – and as mentioned, 172,260 of these died from Nazi policies.
My calculator reveals that Castroites caused an enormously higher percentage of deaths among the people they "liberated" and lavished with free and exquisite health care than the Nazis caused among the French they enslaved and tortured with the SS and Gestapo.
The Free French, having lost a much smaller percentage of their compatriots to the Nazis than Cubans lost to the Castroites, demanded the heads of every Nazi, every Nazi collaborator and every person who ever uttered anything nice about a Nazi. At Nuremberg the French helped sentence Goering and Ribbentrop to death. In 1987 they found Lyon Gestapo chief Klaus Barbie in Bolivia, had him extradited, and sentenced him to life in prison. All of this was hailed as justice.
Cuban-Americans merely decline to legitimize the rule of Cuba's Goerings, Ribbentrops, Himmlers and Barbies – which is to say, a regime that killed (proportionately) five times as many of their Cuban compatriots as the Nazis killed French. Yet everywhere from the New York Times, to the Boston Globe to the Orlando Sentinel to the Wall Street Journal, Cuban-Americans are being portrayed as insufferable, reactionary blockheads, and the Republicans they elect as craven and unprincipled hacks. All this for refusing to cuddle up to a Cuba run by Raul Castro, Che Guevara's primary rival as the Cuban regime's chief executioner.
Romanian general Ion Pacepa was the Soviet bloc's highest-ranking intelligence defector. He knew Raul Castro well and shared his insights in a recent National Review article: "Raul ... has been the brutal head of one of Communism's most criminal institutions: the Cuban political police. I met him in that capacity. He was cruel and ruthless. Fidel may have conceived the terror that has kept Cuba in the Communist fold, but Raul has been the butcher. He has been instrumental in the killing and terrorizing of thousands of Cubans."
Note that Pacepa regards Castro's political police as "one of Communism's most criminal institutions." Coming from a man who learned the ropes of his profession from Stalin's henchmen and who served as Nikolai Ceausescu's chief spy, this is saying something.
Had Raul Castro only worn a swastika, Miami Cubans and the Republicans they elect would now be hailed as selfless proponents of decency and justice instead of vindictive quacks.
Humberto Fontova is the author of Fidel: Hollywood's Favorite Tyrant, a Conservative Book Club Main Selection.
American GIs liberated Paris 62 years ago last week. But pay no attention to the French troops strutting at the fore of the liberation parades on newsreels. Sure, some fought, mainly Foreign Legionnaires. But Ike allowed their strutting because Ike was "politically correct" before political correctness was cool.
The free world rejoiced at the time and the celebrations in Paris surpassed New Orleans' Mardi Gras – or so we hear. It so happens my father-in-law, a lifelong New Orleanian, helped blast the Nazis out of France and spent some leave in Paris. He was in a superb position to judge, and says it was no contest.
Sure, grateful and gorgeous French gals mobbed him. Sure, corks popped and champagne gushed. Sure, bands played and many legs were kicked up in the raucous jubilation. Still, "It was no Mardi-Gras, Hom-Boy-Da (New Orleanian for Humberto, very similar to old Brooklynese)," he assured me. "Nobody parties like us New Orleanians."
The Christmas Eve before his passing ten years ago, I complained about my wife's oyster dressing. "A bit dry," I huffed.
"I think it's delicious, honey!" he quickly turned to his daughter. "Sure beats my Christmas Eve feast in 1944."
That night, made expansive in these usually mum matters by the wine, my father-in-law told us that his 1944 feast had consisted of frozen C-rations and the setting was a quaint little Belgian town named Bastogne. This was the first time his own daughter had heard of his role in the very epicenter of a little dust-up later known as The Battle of the Bulge.
Here's a trademark, I've noticed, of relatives of genuine combat veterans. We thrill at the newsreels on the History Channel. Those on the spot would rather forget that "thrill."
Weeks later, my eyes popped as my mother-in-law pulled out an old satchel and displayed a Screaming Eagle shoulder patch and some medals I identified as a Bronze Star, a Silver Star with Oak Leaf Clusters and many others. The Purple Hearts I had expected from his forehead scars and limp.
In December of 1944, eager to wish the GIs a Merry Christmas, Hitler shifted twenty ferocious Panzer and SS Divisions from the Russian Front to the Western Front. He figured that those green American kids, most of whom had been dancing the jitterbug only a few months before, would cower and quickly cave in before the Reich's toughest soldiers. Then these would blast their way to Antwerp and bust the Western Front wide open.
Der Fuhrer's reaction to the reply from those besieged Bastogne defenders is not on record. But the reaction from the German commander who demanded their surrender is. "Vat does deez 'Nuts' mean?" asked the rattled German officer. "Eez deez reply negative or affirmative?"
"In plain English," laughed the 10st's Col. Harper, who had handed him the message from Gen. McAuliffe, "It's the same as 'Go to Hell!' So on your way, Bud!"
A few months after that hellish Christmas in Bastogne, those same Panzer divisions, who once surrounded and pounded them, surrendered to our GIs, who often shared their smokes, blankets and C-rations with them as the U.S. government started detoxifying their nation from Hitler's infection – not with firing squads and mass graves but by feeding and housing them while rebuilding their cities. Nothing could be more thoroughly American.
But not everyone was keen on forgiving and forgetting, especially the French. According to the Harper Collins Atlas of the Second World War, Nazi repression caused 172,260 French civilian deaths during the occupation. Liberation also meant payback time. The heavy hand of retribution fell mostly on native collaborators, and the term "collaboration" proved very sweeping. Usually the phrase "guilt by association" is a pejorative to condemn an obvious injustice. In liberated France it became the dominant legal axiom. Historian and National Review editor David Pryce-Jones estimates 105,000 summary executions of French collaborators in the months after the liberation.
Merely writing favorably about the occupiers was sufficient for a death sentence. The French writer Robert Brasillach was an example, and De Gaulle himself minced few words rationalizing the verdict. "In literature as in everything, talent confers responsibility." And that was that. On February 6, 1945, Brasillach crumpled in front of a firing squad.
Imagine this legal principle of "intellectual crimes" applied after Cuba's liberation to Castro's literary and journalistic collaborators, and with transnational enforcement. The mind reels.
Half the staffs of every publication from the New York Times to Le Monde would be dangling from nooses. Every publisher save Regnery and Encounter would be sending flowers in loving memory of half of their authors. The door of every faculty office of every liberal arts professor from Harvard to Georgetown and from Berkeley to Oxford would sport an RIP note. Every TV network save Fox would find half its anchors marched to the gallows.
You readers are aghast, right? This fantasy is more proof that I'm a "vengeance-seeking Cuban-exile crackpot"!
For the record, I advocate nothing of the sort for liberated Cuba, and neither has any Cuban-American.. Here's a better analogy for the current news cycle: If Hitler had died in 1944, should the Free French have embraced a Nazi regime headed by Goering, Ribbentrop and Himmler? Would enlightened opinion universally denounce the French who balked at such an accommodation as "hardliners" and "crackpots"?
According to the Cuba Archive Project, headed by scholars Maria Werlau and Dr. Armando Lago, the Castro regime – with firing squads, forced-labor camps and drownings at sea – has caused an estimated 102,000 Cuban deaths. Cuba was a nation of 6.5 million people in 1960. France was nation of 42 million in 1940 – and as mentioned, 172,260 of these died from Nazi policies.
My calculator reveals that Castroites caused an enormously higher percentage of deaths among the people they "liberated" and lavished with free and exquisite health care than the Nazis caused among the French they enslaved and tortured with the SS and Gestapo.
The Free French, having lost a much smaller percentage of their compatriots to the Nazis than Cubans lost to the Castroites, demanded the heads of every Nazi, every Nazi collaborator and every person who ever uttered anything nice about a Nazi. At Nuremberg the French helped sentence Goering and Ribbentrop to death. In 1987 they found Lyon Gestapo chief Klaus Barbie in Bolivia, had him extradited, and sentenced him to life in prison. All of this was hailed as justice.
Cuban-Americans merely decline to legitimize the rule of Cuba's Goerings, Ribbentrops, Himmlers and Barbies – which is to say, a regime that killed (proportionately) five times as many of their Cuban compatriots as the Nazis killed French. Yet everywhere from the New York Times, to the Boston Globe to the Orlando Sentinel to the Wall Street Journal, Cuban-Americans are being portrayed as insufferable, reactionary blockheads, and the Republicans they elect as craven and unprincipled hacks. All this for refusing to cuddle up to a Cuba run by Raul Castro, Che Guevara's primary rival as the Cuban regime's chief executioner.
Romanian general Ion Pacepa was the Soviet bloc's highest-ranking intelligence defector. He knew Raul Castro well and shared his insights in a recent National Review article: "Raul ... has been the brutal head of one of Communism's most criminal institutions: the Cuban political police. I met him in that capacity. He was cruel and ruthless. Fidel may have conceived the terror that has kept Cuba in the Communist fold, but Raul has been the butcher. He has been instrumental in the killing and terrorizing of thousands of Cubans."
Note that Pacepa regards Castro's political police as "one of Communism's most criminal institutions." Coming from a man who learned the ropes of his profession from Stalin's henchmen and who served as Nikolai Ceausescu's chief spy, this is saying something.
Had Raul Castro only worn a swastika, Miami Cubans and the Republicans they elect would now be hailed as selfless proponents of decency and justice instead of vindictive quacks.
Humberto Fontova is the author of Fidel: Hollywood's Favorite Tyrant, a Conservative Book Club Main Selection.
Sunday, August 27, 2006
MIRTHA DIAZ BALART
This was sent to me by a fellow freedom fighter who wants to remain anonymous, gracias mi hermano!
EL TRAGICO VIAJE DE MIRTHA DIAZ BALART
El Confidencial - España Infosearch: Francisco Díaz - La Nueva Cuba
Anochecía cuando en el domicilio de Mirtha Díaz-Balart Gutiérrez, en la calle de Alonso Cano de Madrid, sonó el teléfono. Al otro lado de la línea, Fidelito, desde La Habana, le pedía que fuera a visitarle. Ella quería quedarse en Madrid, pues su segundo marido, enfermo de alzheimer, se encontraba bastante mal, después disfrutaría de unos días de vacaciones con su hija, que es profesora de la Universidad Complutense, y tal vez al final, sí, acudiría a visitarle.
“No, no, mamá, el tiempo apremia; tienes que venir cuanto antes”, le dijo Fidelito con voz imperativa. Aquel mandato le extrañó. “Es necesario que vengas”, le repitió el hijo, de 57 años, sin aportar más detalles, pues todo en Cuba –sobre todo, las líneas telefónicas- está controlado.
Mirtha, ya con 78 años, entendió el mensaje, modificó sus planes y aceleró los preparativos de su viaje a Cuba. Eran los primeros días del caluroso mes de julio en un tórrido Madrid. Formalmente, iba de vacaciones a ver a su hijo.
Tres semanas después, el martes, 1 de agosto, el mundo entero conocía la noticia de la abdicación de Fidel Castro en su hermano Raúl, jefe del Ejército Revolucionario, cinco años menor que él, a causa de una enfermedad muy grave que le obligaba a ser intervenido urgentemente en una clínica. De sus dolencias nada se sabe por mor de la imposición del ‘secreto de Estado’, pero “es posible que tenga cáncer de estómago en fase de metástasis”, señala una fuente próxima a la familia.
Entre tanto, mientras ella estaba en La Habana y por una de esas paradojas de la vida, Emilio, el segundo marido de Mirtha, con el que ha convivido más de 45 años y tenido dos hijas, moría de repente en una residencia del norte de Madrid, en la que se encontraba ingresado y había superado una afección pulmonar.
Mirtha Díaz-Balart, la primera y única esposa con la que Fidel Castro se casó por la Iglesia, fue una de las primeras personas en enterarse de la enfermedad del dirigente cubano y en viajar desde España, donde reside desde 1968, para estar al lado de la familia del comandante.
Ha podido visitar a su ex marido con las debidas reservas para no levantar suspicacias y conocer personalmente su mal estado de salud. En los momentos decisivos, cuando uno se despide de la vida, la familia y los amigos, se olvidan las diferencias y para el comandante sólo cuenta el cariño y la querencia, dice un conocedor de la familia del dirigente cubano.
La principal disputa entre Fidel Castro Ruz y Mirtha Francisca de la Caridad Díaz-Balart Gutiérrez se produjo a causa de su hijo. Se habían conocido en la Universidad de La Habana cuando estudiaban Derecho. Ella pertenecía a una familia rica e influyente y él daba sus primeros pasos de dirigente estudiantil. Era el año 1948. Se enamoraron, se casaron, disfrutaron su luna de miel en Miami.
El 1 de septiembre de 1949 nacía su hijo Fidelito. Ella abandonó los estudios para cuidarlo. Pero Fidel seguía su camino, intervenía en la revuelta contra el dictador dominicano Trujillo, participaba en el ‘bogotazo’, organizaba el asalto al cuartel de Moncada el 26 de julio de 1953. Vino el fracaso, la cárcel, la medida de gracia del dictador Fulgencio Batista y su salida hacia México. En 1955, Mirtha se divorció de él.
Pero cuando Fidel se enteró de que se disponía a casarse de nuevo con Emilio Núñez Portuondo, un chico de derechas, hijo del embajador cubano en la ONU, consiguió, gracias a su hermana Lidia, amiga de la madre, que le enviara al niño a México, y allí lo retuvo secuestrado en casa de unos amigos. Mirtha consiguió rescatarlo gracias a la intervención de la policía mexicana el 9 de diciembre de 1956. Unos días antes, Fidel, Raúl, y otros 79 guerrilleros habían desembarcado en el Granma para guerrear contra el ejército de Batista.
Aquella disputa es agua pasada y, según fuentes de la familia, tanto Mirtha como Fidelito, que es ingeniero nuclear, sólo viven pendientes del desenlace del viejo. Sobre la gravedad de su enfermedad nada pueden comentar. Sobre la apertura democrática del régimen, fuentes cercanas a ellos señalan que “será gradual” y explican que “el Ejército Revolucionario controla el país y defenderá las conquistas socialistas y la continuidad del régimen"..
EL TRAGICO VIAJE DE MIRTHA DIAZ BALART
El Confidencial - España Infosearch: Francisco Díaz - La Nueva Cuba
Anochecía cuando en el domicilio de Mirtha Díaz-Balart Gutiérrez, en la calle de Alonso Cano de Madrid, sonó el teléfono. Al otro lado de la línea, Fidelito, desde La Habana, le pedía que fuera a visitarle. Ella quería quedarse en Madrid, pues su segundo marido, enfermo de alzheimer, se encontraba bastante mal, después disfrutaría de unos días de vacaciones con su hija, que es profesora de la Universidad Complutense, y tal vez al final, sí, acudiría a visitarle.
“No, no, mamá, el tiempo apremia; tienes que venir cuanto antes”, le dijo Fidelito con voz imperativa. Aquel mandato le extrañó. “Es necesario que vengas”, le repitió el hijo, de 57 años, sin aportar más detalles, pues todo en Cuba –sobre todo, las líneas telefónicas- está controlado.
Mirtha, ya con 78 años, entendió el mensaje, modificó sus planes y aceleró los preparativos de su viaje a Cuba. Eran los primeros días del caluroso mes de julio en un tórrido Madrid. Formalmente, iba de vacaciones a ver a su hijo.
Tres semanas después, el martes, 1 de agosto, el mundo entero conocía la noticia de la abdicación de Fidel Castro en su hermano Raúl, jefe del Ejército Revolucionario, cinco años menor que él, a causa de una enfermedad muy grave que le obligaba a ser intervenido urgentemente en una clínica. De sus dolencias nada se sabe por mor de la imposición del ‘secreto de Estado’, pero “es posible que tenga cáncer de estómago en fase de metástasis”, señala una fuente próxima a la familia.
Entre tanto, mientras ella estaba en La Habana y por una de esas paradojas de la vida, Emilio, el segundo marido de Mirtha, con el que ha convivido más de 45 años y tenido dos hijas, moría de repente en una residencia del norte de Madrid, en la que se encontraba ingresado y había superado una afección pulmonar.
Mirtha Díaz-Balart, la primera y única esposa con la que Fidel Castro se casó por la Iglesia, fue una de las primeras personas en enterarse de la enfermedad del dirigente cubano y en viajar desde España, donde reside desde 1968, para estar al lado de la familia del comandante.
Ha podido visitar a su ex marido con las debidas reservas para no levantar suspicacias y conocer personalmente su mal estado de salud. En los momentos decisivos, cuando uno se despide de la vida, la familia y los amigos, se olvidan las diferencias y para el comandante sólo cuenta el cariño y la querencia, dice un conocedor de la familia del dirigente cubano.
La principal disputa entre Fidel Castro Ruz y Mirtha Francisca de la Caridad Díaz-Balart Gutiérrez se produjo a causa de su hijo. Se habían conocido en la Universidad de La Habana cuando estudiaban Derecho. Ella pertenecía a una familia rica e influyente y él daba sus primeros pasos de dirigente estudiantil. Era el año 1948. Se enamoraron, se casaron, disfrutaron su luna de miel en Miami.
El 1 de septiembre de 1949 nacía su hijo Fidelito. Ella abandonó los estudios para cuidarlo. Pero Fidel seguía su camino, intervenía en la revuelta contra el dictador dominicano Trujillo, participaba en el ‘bogotazo’, organizaba el asalto al cuartel de Moncada el 26 de julio de 1953. Vino el fracaso, la cárcel, la medida de gracia del dictador Fulgencio Batista y su salida hacia México. En 1955, Mirtha se divorció de él.
Pero cuando Fidel se enteró de que se disponía a casarse de nuevo con Emilio Núñez Portuondo, un chico de derechas, hijo del embajador cubano en la ONU, consiguió, gracias a su hermana Lidia, amiga de la madre, que le enviara al niño a México, y allí lo retuvo secuestrado en casa de unos amigos. Mirtha consiguió rescatarlo gracias a la intervención de la policía mexicana el 9 de diciembre de 1956. Unos días antes, Fidel, Raúl, y otros 79 guerrilleros habían desembarcado en el Granma para guerrear contra el ejército de Batista.
Aquella disputa es agua pasada y, según fuentes de la familia, tanto Mirtha como Fidelito, que es ingeniero nuclear, sólo viven pendientes del desenlace del viejo. Sobre la gravedad de su enfermedad nada pueden comentar. Sobre la apertura democrática del régimen, fuentes cercanas a ellos señalan que “será gradual” y explican que “el Ejército Revolucionario controla el país y defenderá las conquistas socialistas y la continuidad del régimen"..
Saturday, August 26, 2006
A simple message
What do you think about this?
Received this via e-mail! Well my freedom loving brethren, what do you think about this? For those who don't know who he is click here.
Friday, August 25, 2006
"collaborator"
These are not my words, but that of Carlos Alvarez . Get this he says he was a collaborator with Cuba's intelligence using short wave radios and using a code name: "David." Now get this comedic relief:
"Carlos Alvarez insisted, however, that he had distanced himself from the communist government by the time he confessed details of his work last year. He also denied being a Cuban agent and said he was never employed by that government."
"I was not an agent of the Cuban government. I was a collaborator, which is very different," the Florida International University professor "
Mr Alvarez it sounds like to me that you are a SPY for that evil, corrupt, apartheid regime. You can fool the MSM, blame the Cuban exiles, but you don't fool us you SPY,SPY, short wave radio ,6 figure fake professor, commie SPY!!!!!
"Carlos Alvarez insisted, however, that he had distanced himself from the communist government by the time he confessed details of his work last year. He also denied being a Cuban agent and said he was never employed by that government."
"I was not an agent of the Cuban government. I was a collaborator, which is very different," the Florida International University professor "
Mr Alvarez it sounds like to me that you are a SPY for that evil, corrupt, apartheid regime. You can fool the MSM, blame the Cuban exiles, but you don't fool us you SPY,SPY, short wave radio ,6 figure fake professor, commie SPY!!!!!
Thursday, August 24, 2006
¨Plebiscito por la Soberanía¨
La civilización ha progresado de modo tal que es imposible organizarla en torno al poder totalitario de un monarca. Lo prueba el estancamiento e involución de Cuba.
En el siglo XXI los países democráticos son los que ostentan mayor desarrollo y estabilidad. Sus gobernantes responden durante un plazo al mandato de sus electores, que los eligen por el voto de las mayorías.
El Sr. Fidel Castro, a los ochenta años de edad y con marcado deterioro de su salud, es incapaz por ley natural de volver a ejercer funciones como administrador absoluto del país.
La sucesión hereditaria en otro anciano militar enfermo para regir el destino de los cubanos muchos la consideran perpetuar una dinastía antinatural, antidemocrática e irracional.
Las decisiones que afectan a toda la sociedad deben ser consultadas y aprobadas por la nación, por mecanismos que le permitan ejercer libremente su soberanía.
Al pueblo de Cuba le asiste el derecho y es hora de que pueda decidir con garantías mediante el voto directo en Plebiscito la elección o no de quién asumirá como su máximo representante.
El Plebiscito demostraría que no hay nepotismo ni voluntarismo, pues sería un medio definitorio de legitimidad.
Por tanto, como ciudadanos Exigimos a los gobernantes se realice un Plebiscito que decida la Aceptación o No sobre el traspaso de poder al Sr. Raúl Castro.
Paso indispensable constituye la excarcelación inmediata y sin condiciones de todos los disidentes pacíficos presos políticos, y el cese de la persecución por expresión de ideas divergentes de la oficialidad.
Dr. Darsi Ferrer Ramírez
Dado en la Habana, a los 23 días de agosto de 2006.
En el siglo XXI los países democráticos son los que ostentan mayor desarrollo y estabilidad. Sus gobernantes responden durante un plazo al mandato de sus electores, que los eligen por el voto de las mayorías.
El Sr. Fidel Castro, a los ochenta años de edad y con marcado deterioro de su salud, es incapaz por ley natural de volver a ejercer funciones como administrador absoluto del país.
La sucesión hereditaria en otro anciano militar enfermo para regir el destino de los cubanos muchos la consideran perpetuar una dinastía antinatural, antidemocrática e irracional.
Las decisiones que afectan a toda la sociedad deben ser consultadas y aprobadas por la nación, por mecanismos que le permitan ejercer libremente su soberanía.
Al pueblo de Cuba le asiste el derecho y es hora de que pueda decidir con garantías mediante el voto directo en Plebiscito la elección o no de quién asumirá como su máximo representante.
El Plebiscito demostraría que no hay nepotismo ni voluntarismo, pues sería un medio definitorio de legitimidad.
Por tanto, como ciudadanos Exigimos a los gobernantes se realice un Plebiscito que decida la Aceptación o No sobre el traspaso de poder al Sr. Raúl Castro.
Paso indispensable constituye la excarcelación inmediata y sin condiciones de todos los disidentes pacíficos presos políticos, y el cese de la persecución por expresión de ideas divergentes de la oficialidad.
Dr. Darsi Ferrer Ramírez
Dado en la Habana, a los 23 días de agosto de 2006.
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