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October 2007
With great respect and sympathy, Alpha 66 would like
to share this interesting article, written by one of
America's most renowned journalists:
Fidel Castro has yet to face justice
by BONNIE ANDERSON
It is deeply wrenching to witness a week of lavish
celebrations honoring Fidel Castro's birth when most
likely every day, somewhere in the world, anguished
families quietly mourn the death of a loved one at
the hands of this heartless, evil man. That Fidel,
himself, may be dying is not much comfort to me. I
believe in justice and while he will be judged by
God when he dies, he has yet to be judged on Earth
for his crimes against humanity.
My father, Howard F. Anderson, was only one of
20,000 people tortured and executed by Fidel Castro.
Before my Dad's execution by firing squad, he had
most of his blood drained from his body to be used
for transfusions for the revolutionary troops. Other
political prisoners who watched the execution from
their cells told me years later that my father
refused a blindfold. And he whistled as the bullets
tore into his body. One of the few memories I have,
since I was only 5 years old at the time, was that
my Dad whistled when he was angry. With the ''ready,
aim, fire'' order, I, too, was wounded forever more.
This ruthless dictator robbed me of a lifetime with
my father, a lifetime of fatherly advice, a lifetime
of memories.
So no, I don't want to see him die this way, of
natural causes, or at this time. I have always hoped
the world would recognize him for what he is and
that Fidel Castro would be judged, convicted and
sentenced for his crimes against humanity in an
international court of law. A death from old age is
far, far too lenient a punishment for a man who has
killed so many people, destroyed the lives of
literally millions.
As a journalist, I refrain from generalities. But I
do believe there are few Cubans on the island and
even fewer Cuban exiles who have not had a family
member either executed or imprisoned by this
megalomaniac. What I fail to understand is why there
seems to be little national compassion for the pain
that Cuban exiles have experienced. Americans show
compassion for cancer survivors, for DUI and rape
victims, for people suffering from depression,
physical and mental abuse. We show compassion for
famine victims in Africa; as an NBC news
correspondent, I broke stories about genocide in
Ethiopia, and the world -- but especially the United
States -- responded with millions of dollars of
money, but most important, with compassion.
Organizations have sprung up to defend and champion
the victims of all these issues, and rightly so.
There is public acceptance that these people have
suffered and have been wronged.
It is morally right. So why, I ask, are Cuban exiles
not afforded the same support and compassion?
I was a CNN network executive when the Elián
González issue was a major story. I was horrified by
the coverage by my network and all others. It pained
me deeply to see sound-bites by people who said
about the Cuban-Americans in this country, ''Why
don't they just get over it? It happened so long
ago.'' I spoke up to my superiors at CNN. And I'm no
longer there. What I told them was this: Would
anyone dare tell a Holocaust survivor, or the sons,
daughters and grandchildren of the Holocaust to
''just forget about it'' because it happened so long
ago?
Of course not. Castro did not kill as many as Hitler
did, and I would never diminish the horror and huge
dimensions of the Holocaust, but Castro was -- and
is -- our Hitler in Latin America.
BORN IN CUBA
Despite my Anglo name, I was born in Cuba. My mother
was born there. Her parents are buried there. My
father was buried there until Castro was so ticked
off by an article I wrote in 1978 as a Miami Herald
reporter that he had my father's remains dug up and
thrown out. I am most proud of being Cuban American.
And I want the rest of the world to understand our
pain. It is part of our daily lives, no matt er
where we live. It is the ache of losing a country,
but it is more than that, too. It is a loss we feel
in our blood and in our bones. It is also clearly an
emotional demise in many ways -- a void in our pasts
which continues to the present and will continue
through the future. You can't make up for years of
lost family experiences -- normal, human experiences
that most other people enjoy. These are memories
that have been stolen for all time. For myself, I
have only two memories of my father and what saddens
me is that I can't be absolutely certain that they
truly are recollections or whether I've simply
grasped onto scenes from the few home movies we
managed to smuggle out of Cuba and morphed them into
memories. When I think of this, it provokes a deep,
dark cutting sadness in me.
Cuban exiles can't expect others who have not
experienced what we have to actually know our pain
and understand our passion for wanting to address
the wrongs done us. Rape victims can't expect that.
Neither can the parents of children who have been
killed by drunk drivers, or family members who have
lost loved ones in the current Iraq conflict. Or
family members of the victims of Columbine, or 9/11.
The people who survived the genocide in Ethiopia and
in so many other places can't expect anyone to truly
know their pain. Our pain is part of our spirit. The
most we can hope for is compassion. The day that
Castro's illness was first reported, I woke up very
early and was watching CBS. On their early morning
shows, they repeatedly said that ''Castro is
considered a ruthless dictator by some in Miami.''
I fired off an e-mail to CBS President Sean McManus.
What I wrote, in short, was this: If a man who
murdered 20,000 people, imprisoned for decades
hundreds of thousands of others, caused countless
hundreds of thousands to flee the country (many
losing their lives in desperate attempts to reach
freedom on flimsy rafts) and has repressed a nation
for nearly five decades - - denying them the most
basic of human rights
-- is not considered a ruthless dictator by all, who
the hell is? I haven't heard back from him. I don't
expect I will. In fact, I suspect he, and other
network executives, will continue to cozy up to the
Cuban government (whoever leads it) in order to make
sure that when Castro dies, their networks have
access to the coverage. That's the way it is in the
corporate news world. But I have faith in my fellow
American citizens. And I know, in my heart and
spirit, that when the truth is known, those of us
who have suffered at the hands of Fidel Castro will
finally receive the compassion we are due.
IN MOURNING
While Fidel is celebrating a birthday, my brothers,
sister and I are mourning the death not only of our
father but also of our mother, Dorothy Stauber
Anderson McCarthy, who died less than two months
ago.
She was 39 years old when Fidel made her a widow.
She struggled to raise us and give us a new life,
and she was most successful. But her greatest
triumph was to instill a sense of right and honor in
us, to teach us strength and morality. A month after
her death, a New York judge ruled that we should
receive millions of dollars of the frozen Cuban
assets held in this country because of Fidel
Castro's murder of my father. It is a very welcome
decision but very bittersweet. Fidel Castro is alive
and he knows he has been tried, convicted and
sentenced to pay for his heinous act. But the fact
that my mother isn't alive to see this final measure
of justice is a soul-deep wound that I will live
with for the rest of my life. I weep for her. I weep
for us, and I weep for all who have been the victims
of Fidel Castro. Happy Birthday? Please.
Bonnie M. Anderson is a 27-year veteran of print,
radio, Internet and television journalism in English
and in Spanish. She has worked on camera for local,
national and international news organizations,
including two decades with NBC News and CNN.
Anderson won seven Emmy Awards, was a finalist for
the Pulitzer Prize and has been nominated for the
María Coors Cabot Lifetime Achievement Award, which
is sponsored by Columbia University. Capt. Anderson
is now following a family tradition and is running a
charter fishing operation out of Culebra, Puerto
Rico.
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July 4, 2007
Food For Thought on this Fourth of July .
Dear Friends:
Here we are commemorating another Fourth of
July. The United States of America, the
bastion of world democracy, takes time every
year to render tribute to celebrate its
unmatched independence and the men and women
that have given the ultimate sacrifice to
maintain the freedom and rights we all
dearly cherish.
On this, the ultimate date of remembrance of
what it means to be free, we in the Cuban
American community, a community that has
become an integral part of the American
tapestry, stand and salute the nation that
has given us shelter and succor in our long
denied quest for freedom.
The
United States of America, my country of
birth which I cherish and would stand ready
to defend, has for years held an embargo
against the country of my ancestors and the
land which I too consider to be home...Cuba.
This embargo has helped keep the Castrist
government, a dictatorship of the most vile
nature, from proliferating throughout this
hemisphere at a greater rate than if we had
no embargo at all. But is it enough?
There are some that look towards the U.S. as
the means for the liberation of our island
nation, but in reality many of us in the
Cuban American community know that the
freedom of our country falls to us to
achieve. Yet we are shackled by an agreement
between this country and the now defunct
Soviet Union. An agreement signed by the
Kennedy Administration that obligates them
to intercede in the fight for the liberation
of the very nation they enforce an embargo
against.
Our freedom fighters are intercepted, our
anti-castrist organizations are foiled at
every turn in their fight for the freedom of
our native soil. We are constantly subject
to arrests and interdiction for simply
wanting to, in our way, give the people of
the island nation, that lies a mere 90 miles
away, the same rights and freedoms they, the
U.S. themselves, enjoy.
Why does the United States still enforce an
agreement with a nation that no longer
exists? Why are our brave and selfless
fighters, that very well resemble those that
we honor on this day, treated like criminals
for wanting to do the exact same thing that
today's honorees have done.... fight for the
freedom of their country?
Many liberals in Congress want to
re-evaluate this country's commitment to the
embargo. They would like an end to, what
they consider, an outdated notion. I submit
that they should be considering ending an
outdated treaty with a non-existent country
that has tied the hands of the Cuban
American community for the past 4 decades.
Call and write your legislators and
representatives and ask them to do away with
a treaty that keeps the Castrist
dictatorship, a dictatorship dedicated to
the downfall of this very country, in power.
Lets put an end to a treaty signed with a
country that fell over a decade ago, yet
continues to dictate U.S. foreign policy. We
are not asking for American lives to be put
on the line. We are not asking for money to
fund our freedom. We are not asking for
Uncle Sam to intercede in what are clearly
Cuban national affairs.
What we are seeking is the freedom to fight
for the liberty of our brothers on the
island. What we are asking is for the same
opportunity that the founding fathers of
this nation had to seek their freedom from
their English overlords. What we are asking
is to allow the Cubans that are on U.S. soil
to participate in shaping the future of
their own country.
Food for Thought on this Fourth of July .
Jose "Alex" Ybarra
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May
2007
It is interesting to note how on certain
occasions the descendents of tyrants and their
accomplices have not had the stomach to keep
silent in the face of so many crimes. That is
what happened in the Soviet Union under Stalin
and some of his close collaborators. We are
seeing this happening now in Cuba in the case of
Castro and Che Guevara. Following is a
declaration that can now be found throughout the
Internet by the grandson of Che Guevara and
published in the weekly, “Proceso” in Mexico
City. Che’s grandson states in this declaration
that the Cuban revolution is a “vulgar and vile
state capitalism”.
- x -x
- x- x- x- x -
Mexico—The Cuban revolution “was not and never
has been democratic”. It’s never been
Communist, now or before, instead it is a
“vulgar and vile state capitalism called
Fidelismo” said the grandson of the guerrilla
Ernesto “Che” Guevara, Canek Sánchez Guevara.
In an article published today in the weekly
newspaper, “Proceso” in Mexico City, Canek
strongly criticizes the “messianism” of Fidel
Castro and his loss of direction in the
revolution that made him go from “the young
revolutionary to the old tyrant” that
“falsified” a noble ideal.
The
grandson of Che Guevara points out that, “The
revolution gave birth to a corrupt bourgeoisie,
to a repressive apparatus willing to defend it
against the people, and to a bureaucracy
increasingly alienated from the people. But
above all, it was undemocratic due to the almost
religious messianism of its leader”.
In
his writing, Canek lays bare one by one the
reasons that have distanced the revolution from
its initial noble purpose. These include the
“criminalizing of the different” which led to
the “persecution of homosexuals, hippies, free
thinkers, union activists and poets” and the
creation of a socialist “bourgeoisie” pretending
to be proletarian.
He
continues that, “The revolution died years ago.
It was killed by those that used it to save
themselves from it. It had to be
institutionalized and smothered by its own
bureaucracy, by the corruption, by the nepotism,
and by the verticalness of the often
mentioned—Revolutionary State”.
In
addition, he left no doubt in calling the
government of Castro a dictatorship and accused
its leader of betraying the initial ideals of
the revolution.
He continues, “In fact Fidel freed Cuba from the
gangster dictatorship of Batista but because of
his obstinate desire to stay in power succeeded
in becoming himself another dictator”.
“All my criticism of Fidel Castro begins with
his departure from the ideals of freedom, the
betrayal against the Cuban people and the
horrendous vigilance that was established to
preserve the state against its people”.
The
eldest grandson of Che Guevara says that the
repression under which the island is today, the
“perpetual vigilance over individuals” and “the
prohibition of associations independent of the
state” is nothing more than “a vulgar capitalism
of the state” that will die when Fidel dies.
He further states that, “Let’s be honest. A
young rebel in today’s Cuba similar to what
Fidel was in the past, would be immediately shot
and not sent into exile” like Fidel was.
Sánchez Guevara closes by saying that Marxism in
Cuba is “only a scholarly assignment” and that
it’s in the ideas of Marx where “one can see in
total the deafening failure of an ideal
completely falsified”.
(The eldest grandson of Che Guevara was born in
Cuba, is thirty years old and a citizen of
Mexico. Today he lives in Oaxaca and works as a
graphics designer. His mother is Hilda Guevara
the oldest of Che Guevara’s children).
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Posted on
Thu, Mar. 01, 2007
Bush
mourns late Cuban revolutionary
The Associated
Press
President Bush on
Thursday mourned the recent death of Mario
Chanes de Armas, who was at Fidel Castro's
side in the Cuban revolution and later spent
decades as a political prisoner in the
leader's jails.
"Cuban patriot Mario
Chanes de Armas was a political prisoner of
the Castro regime for 30 years, one of the
longest sentences of any political prisoner
in the world," Bush said in a statement.
"Like so many Cubans, he sought a democratic
Cuban society only to see his quest betrayed
by a Castro dictatorship."
Chanes de Armas, who
died at age 80 on Saturday at Miami's
Hialeah Hospital, was sentenced with Castro
and others to 15 years by the Batista
dictatorship, though they were granted
amnesty and released 20 months later.
Soon after, they
organized the insurrection which brought
them to power in 1959. But Chanes de Armas
joined the opposition to the new regime when
he became convinced that Castro was
betraying the democratic promises he had
made. On July 17, 1962, Chanes de Armas was
sentenced to prison.
Eventually, he and
four other prisoners were released with the
efforts of several human rights
organizations and his family, who had met
with President George H.W. Bush. In 1993, he
traveled to Washington, where he was
received by President Clinton.
"Mario Chanes was one
of the original plantados, Cuban political
prisoners who were unyielding in their
fervent desire for a free Cuba," Bush said.
"His patriotism and strong sense of purpose
are examples to all freedom-loving people.
Laura joins me in sending our thoughts and
prayers to his family and friends."
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This
article by Oscar Talleda was published in the Daily
Breeze, Torrance, CA, on January 5, 2007.
Harman's
stance on Cuba misguided
A weekend in Havana has persuaded South Bay Rep.
Jane Harman that it's time to change U.S. policy
toward Cuba (Insight page, Dec. 27). What she was
not briefed on during her visit was the brutal
history of the other Castro brother, Raul, who is
now apparently head of the country.
Like his brother now on his death bed, and like
other tyrants such as the just executed Saddam
Hussein, Raul Castro has the blood of thousands of
his countrymen on his hands. Is it fair to ask the
Cuban people, after 48 years of communist
repression, to change a policy that will not
guarantee them freedom and democracy? I think not.
Rather than meeting with government officials,
many of whom are merely figuring out a way to save
their own skin once the people of Cuba are free,
Harman should have met with ordinary Cubans. These
Cubans risk their lives daily for speaking out
against the government.
More importantly, she
should have met with the ones currently in Castro’s
prisons, like Dr. Elias Biscet, who is in jail for
the simple sin of being a Christian and opposing the
Castro government. Or perhaps Harman should meet
with the many Cuban-Americans right here in her own
South Bay district. She will hear a very different
story.
U.S. policy should
continue to require, as a prerequisite for change,
freedom and democracy for the Cuban people. Nothing
short of this is morally acceptable.
OSCAR TALLEDA
Torrance
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December 2006
WAKE UP AMERICA
By: Miguel L. Talleda
Without a doubt, history repeats itself. Hovering
over our land, we are seeing spirits that not
understand historical processes. The United States
as well as the free world it has always championed,
finds itself, as in prior times, at a crossroads.
The path it chooses can either lead to total
disaster or it can lead to a further consolidation
of the principles of liberty with which God
illuminated the founders of this great nation.
It’s the year 1938 and a swaggering madman from Nazi
Germany named Adolph Hitler threatened to conquer
the world so it could be ruled by a superior race.
In an effort to curb these stupid ambitions,
Chancellor Neville Chamberlain of Great Britain
offered Hitler part of Czechoslovakia. But as often
happens when these madmen sense weakness, their
appetite and ambitions grow and soon Hitler invaded
Poland and everything changed. Winston Churchill
came to power in England and was soon involved in a
horrible war that cost millions of lives, yet a war
that no one doubted was necessary to save the free
world.
Be careful! We find ourselves in a similar situation
today. The free world is facing a fanatical Muslim
minority without unparalleled in it’s brutality as
witnessed by the terrorists attacks of the last few
years and culminating with the attack on the Twin
Towers, the Pentagon, and later in Spain and
England.
President George W. Bush responded to such infamy by
cleansing Afghanistan of the presence of Bin Laden,
the chief of these terrorist attacks, and Iraq of
the criminal monster that was Sadam Hussein. These
two victories that liberated over fifty million
human beings from slavery have not been well
accepted by the neighboring countries of Iran and
Syria. These two continue to be allied with
terrorism and are trying their most to destabilize
the newly created government of Iraq which is yet
unable to defend itself without the help of the
United States. The destabilizing actions of Iran and
Syria have given rise to a civil war between
factions of Shiites and Sunnis in Iraq.
In view of this current situation, some people think
that the victorious troops from the United States,
England, and the other allies that represent the
free world should be withdrawn and the country of
Iraq handed over to the terrorists represented by
Iran.
The spirit of Chamberlain is hovering in Washington
today! But be careful. There is a need to know the
thinking of these terrorists who can be found in
every corner of the world today and who are backed
by the Iranian government. They are not hiding their
maquiavelian intentions
of domination.
The President of Iran has been very candid. He hopes
to see the disappearance of the State of Israel and
see the White House engulfed in flames. And this is
nothing new. We should recall that some years ago
they applauded enthusiastically the declaration of
Fidel Castro in Teheran when Castro vowed that, “he
and Iran would bring the Americans to their knees”.
The great General Douglas McArthur, in addition to
his great victorious performance commanding the
American troops in the Pacific during World War II,
taught us a great lesson when he said, “There is no
substitute for victory.”
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Thanks
to the Wall Street Journal for bringing to the
attention of the American people in this impressive
article the kind of enemy we have, as shown by the
idiotic tirade of Hugo Chavez at the United Nations
Assembly. Hate produced by envy have been blowing
against the United States from Latin America,
specially from Cuba and Venezuela, for a long time
and very few were aware of the danger we are in
unless we made the decision to recognize our enemies
and decide to fight back……….ALPHA 66 |
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Chavez Inferno
By Alvaro Vargas Llosa
September
25, 2006; Page A14
It would
have been more appropriate for Hugo Chávez to brandish
Dante's "Divine Comedy" than Chomsky's "Hegemony or
Survival" during his sulfuric broadside at the U.N. last
week. In the first part of the Italian masterpiece, the
author undertakes a journey through the nine concentric
circles of the Inferno, each representing a type of evil.
Dante's description reads like a script of present-day
Venezuela.
Dante's first circle is for those
who lack faith. In Chávez's Inferno, the first circle is
made up of those who
lack food. Cendas, a
research center, maintains that 80% of Venezuelans cannot
meet the cost of a basic daily diet. According to an
official statistic the government inadvertently made public
on the Web site of the Instituto Nacional de Estadística,
between 1999, the year in which Chávez took office, and 2004,
poverty rose to 53% from
43% of the population.
The authorities attributed the figures to an outdated
methodology and now claim the rate of poverty is 42%. If it
were true, that would be embarrassing enough, because it
would mean that poverty has remained at nearly the same
level for eight years.
Dante's second circle is for those
unable to control lust. Chávez's second circle is for those
unable to control homicidal instincts. His government has
degraded social coexistence so much that there have been
more homicides in Venezuela during his seven-and-a-half
years in office than there have been deaths in any single
armed conflict around the world in recent years.
Between 2001 and 2006, the
number of homicides in
Venezuela has
been three times the number of victims in Afghanistan.
Dante's third circle is for
gluttons who leave us with no food. Chávez's third is
reserved for corrupt authorities who leave Venezuelans with
no wealth. The major sources of corruption have been Plan
Bolívar 2000, the state-owned oil company, and social
programs known as "missions." Under Plan Bolívar 2000, the
army took over development programs from the local
governments. In the
case of PDVSA, the energy giant, no one but Chávez and his
cronies have access to detailed financial records. The
budget for social programs, personally controlled by Chávez,
is not included in any government ministry.
Dante's fourth circle is for
misers. In Chávez's Inferno, the fourth circle is made up of
bureaucrats who claim to provide social services but use
funds to pay people to attend rallies or bust up opposition
gatherings. Marino González, from Universidad Simón Bolívar,
says that the "Barrio Adentro" program that purports to tend
to all the pregnant women in the country only serves 2,000
expectant mothers out of a total of half a million each
year. No country
ever became prosperous through socialism, but for a
government that claims to be able to tend to the needy, not
being able to meet even 1% of the commitment is a
particularly hellish sin.
Dante's fifth circle is for those
who succumb to wrath. Chávez's fifth is for political
persecution. Venezuela's human rights record is atrocious.
Two violent incidents
involving Chavista henchmen with many fatalities have gone
unpunished, including the killing in April 2002 of 12 people
who were protesting near the government palace.
There are political prisoners such
as Francisco Usón, former minister of finance in Chávez's
government, who received a six-year sentence for saying he
thought an incident in which a few soldiers died at Fort
Mara in 2004 was no accident. Henrique Capriles, the mayor
of Baruta, was jailed in 2004, accused of organizing a
violent protest against the Cuban embassy which he had
actually helped diffuse.
Dante's sixth circle is for
heretics. Chávez's sixth circle is for heretic journalists
who try to tell the truth.
In December 2004, a "gag law" was imposed making it easy to
prosecute journalists.
The president continually threatens to withdraw TV and radio
licenses -- the reason why there are no opinion programs on
network TV. Government-controlled mobs called Bolivarian
Circles, formed with the help of the Cuban intelligence
apparatus, harass journalists.
Dante's seventh circle is for the
violent. Chávez's seventh circle is another name for
imperialism. His government
has bought (or is buying) 100,000 AK-47s, 53 Mi-35 assault
helicopters, fighter jets, transport planes, patrol boats,
speedboats and Tucano jets from Russia, Spain and Brazil.
Chávez is a long-time supporter of
FARC, Colombia's terrorist group. He granted Venezuelan
citizenship and protection to Rodrigo Granda, its "foreign
minister," until Alvaro Uribe's government hired bounty
hunters to bring him back to Colombia in 2005. The
Venezuelan leader has given financial and political support
to movements from Mexico to Bolivia. (His support for
Ollanta Humala in Peru and Andrés Manuel López Obrador in
Mexico was a major factor in both men's recent defeats.)
Chávez buys influence through oil.
It is a form of blackmail: At OPEC, Chávez fights for
increasing prices, making life hard for poor countries that
import oil, and then offers those very nations oil subsidies
they have no choice but to accept. That is what happened
with the 14 Caribbean countries that make up the Caricom
group. He also sends 100,000 barrels of oil to Cuba daily;
and 200,000 barrels to Bolivia every month in exchange for
soy, poultry and political subservience. And he has bought
$3 billion worth of Argentine bonds to entice President
Kirchner's loyalty. Chávez is
denying his nation its wealth from oil, somewhere between
$40 billion and $50 billion a year. His annual "aid" budget
totals more than $2 billion.
He sponsors 30 countries, including some in Africa, in order
to buy their vote for a seat at the U.N. Security Council.
Dante's eighth circle is for those
who commit fraud. Chávez's eighth is fraudulent
anti-Americanism. Chávez exports 1.5 million barrels of oil
a day to the U.S. Since oil makes up half the government's
revenue and the U.S. is the principal destination of
Venezuelan oil, he pays daily homage to U.S. capitalism.
Moreover,
Venezuela
imported $18 billion worth of goods and services from the
U.S. in 2005. He may have signed 20 trade deals with Iran's
Ahmadinejad, but what he really lusts for is U.S.
capitalism. (Another type of fraud involves the electoral
system. Chávez has manipulated the voter registration rolls,
adding two million phantom voters, including 30,000 who are
100 years old and citizens named "Superman." Four out of
five members in the Electoral Council are Chávez lackeys.)
Dante's final
circle is for traitors. Chávez's ninth is for traitors, too
-- and the place is getting crowded. Army officers betray
Chávez every day. Labor leader Carlos Ortega recently fled
with three officers from a high-security prison controlled
by the army. They evaded security controls thanks to help
from army personnel.
At the end of Dante's Inferno is
the center of the earth, where Satan is held captive in the
frozen lake of Cocytus. In Venezuela's Inferno, Satan is
frozen in oil-rich Lake Maracaibo, a metaphor for
astronomical wealth squandered by tyrannical populism. The
journey through hell is now complete.
Mr. Vargas Llosa, author of
"Liberty for Latin America" (Farrar Straus Giroux, 2005), is
director of the Center on Global Prosperity at the
Independent Institute.
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Caroline Overington: Land of rum and
rumba blighted by communism
THE AUSTRALIAN - OPINION
Caroline Overington
August 26, 2006
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20251894-7583,00.html
TWO years ago, I was given what quickly became an awful assignment.
I was told to visit Cuba. Oh sure, like everybody I thought: dark
rum, hot nights, fat cigars, the rumba.
The reality was very different. Cuba was wretched. Every day the
photographer and I encountered distressing scenes of women, children
and ageing Cubans living in terrible poverty.
Walking down the streets of Old Havana, we saw a very old, wrinkled
woman sitting in the gutter. She was wearing a skirt with
multicoloured petticoats. She had bright red lipstick and her two
front teeth were missing. She was smiling a crooked smile and
sucking on a long Cuban cigar.
The old woman - a grandmother, probably - was sitting there not
because she was a happy little communist, as Fidel Castro would have
it, not because she was thrilled with his socialist revolution, but
because she was dirt-poor and hungry.
Aged 70 or older, she was in a gutter begging, hoping that a Western
tourist such as me would come by, see her pretty dress and her
gap-toothed smile, and exclaim: "Oh, look at you! May we take your
photo?" Of course she would agree, and stick out a bony hand for an
American dollar.
Elsewhere, we found barefoot children searching through rubbish bins
for food. There is a large black population in Cuba - many of them
are descendants of sugar-cane cutters - and there were many blacks
among the beggars. Women with babies at the breast tugged at our
clothes, begging for pennies.
In the Western-style bars, beautiful Cuban girls hung off the arms
of Western men.
We drove into the countryside and found people living with open
sewers and dirt floors, with no food, no coffee, no rum, no pork, no
music, none of the things a Cuban needs to thrive.
Castro's revolution - free food, free education, free health care
for all - was a sad, sorry joke. The classrooms were decrepit, the
school books so old as to be useless. Store shelves were empty.
It was a police state, too. Nobody would speak ill of Castro (if
they did, it was quietly, with a pale, strained face and a furtive
glance over the shoulder).
We visited the homes of dissidents and heard that librarians, poets
and free-marketeers - good, friendly people - had been taken to
prison, some of them sentenced to 20 years or more in a cell no
larger than a toilet block, forced to walk around and around in
circles, 400km from home in a nation where it's impossible to visit
anybody unless you hitch a ride in the back of a creaking,
humpbacked truck known as a "camel", made in eastern Europe and
liable to break down in the Cuban heat.
It was a terrible shock because, like many people, I'd believed the
hype about Cuba: that it was a socialist paradise; that Castro was a
visionary leader; that the Cuban people were happy communists. In
fact, Castro is a gutless dictator who has never been brave enough
to hold a presidential election. Yet across the West he continues to
be celebrated as some grand, visionary leader, instead of being
derided as a lunatic on his last legs.
Now there is a new book, Child of the Revolution, by
Cuban-Australian Luis M. Garcia, who was born in the small Cuban
village of Banes in 1959, just six months after Castro - the wealthy
son of Spanish-born landowners - launched the revolution.
Garcia's book is not political. It's romantic, passionate and
tremendously amusing. But he doesn't ignore the creeping horror of
Castro's regime.
His parents' shop - a modest enterprise - was taken from them. Food
quickly became scarce (except disgusting Hungarian meat in pressed
jelly, fish heads and pigs' trotters, which were plentiful).
Cuban women, who had previously enjoyed hot nights with their
families, dancing the rumba, drinking sweet coffee and partaking of
prayer, took to trudging around the streets carrying la jaba - a
cheap old shopping bag - in search of food. Not everybody was poor,
of course: go to the website therealcuba.com and you can see aerial
shots of Castro's large residences, as well as gruesome pictures of
old Cuban men facing the firing squad.
When Garcia's father - poor, beaten, hungry - finally made the
wrenching decision to leave Cuba, he was sent to a labour camp and
forced to cut sugar cane for three years for no pay, surviving on a
diet of liquid stew made of peas.
The young Luis, meanwhile, went to a camp for boy communists. When
his mother wanted to visit, she had to swap her dress and a pair of
shoes for some beans and pork fat so she could make him a stew.
When she couldn't hitch a ride on a humpbacked jeep, she walked
through the Cuban heat for four hours, with her heavy jaba stuffed
with food. to make sure her boy was all right.
Garcia captures the exquisite pain of leaving Cuba, too. Like all
families, his was told: when you go, that's it, you are considered a
traitor and you can never come back. You will never see a Cuban
sunset, a Cuban beach, again.
Garcia has lived in Australia with his grateful parents since 1972.
He's married now, with children. He published his book in June. In
July came news that Castro was ill and in August he handed over
power to his younger brother, Raul, at least temporarily.
The Cuban community is alive with gossip that Castro - now 80 - is
nearing the end of his life and his reign. In Miami, where so many
exiled Cubans live, there's a nonstop party under way.
Garcia says he's not sure how he feels about the fact that Castro
will soon be dead. "I am apprehensive," he says. "Who knows what
might happen next? But then I think: whatever happens, it can't be
worse."
He's being polite, but I don't have to be. When I hear that Castro
might soon be dead, well, it makes me want to flip up my skirt and
dance a Cuban rumba.
overingtonc@theaustralian.com.au
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May 2006
IT CAN’T GET LOWER THAN THIS
By Miguel L.Talleda
While innocent
and defenseless women who are brave enough to fight for their rights
are beaten without mercy; while Cubans in prison are forced into a
horrible life, the tyrant, the grand bandit that can only be
compared to the worse criminals in the history of the world, amasses
great wealth on the backs of a people dying of hunger and whose
youth is experiencing record high incidents of suicide. FORBES
Magazine just published that Castro is richer than the Queen of
England. His fortune is estimated at $900 million and this only
represents the amount that can be accounted for.
And just as
this miserable jackal of Cuba accumulates this great wealth he joins
with another neighborhood bully, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, in
their sinister plans to carry out their threat to “bring the
Americans to their knees”.
On April 26,
2006, Ricardo Cabrizas Ruiz, a minister in the Cuban tyranny headed
a delegation that met in Teheran with members of the Iranian
government with the purpose to continue “economic and scientific
collaboration” between the two countries. This was reported by the
official Communist newspaper of Cuba, GRANMA.
From Italy we
received a report by Carlos Carraleo sent via the Internet by Lou
Pagani that Iran has just finished celebrating the Third
International Conference of Solidarity with Palestine. This
conference held in Teheran was attended by the president of Cuba’s
puppet parliament, Ricardo Alarcon. Alarcon headed a Cuban
delegation made up of dangerous counterintelligence officers.
According to Carlos Carraleo this group represents nothing more than
one more effort to poison the minds of those that have not yet come
aboard with Cuba and Iran to destroy the United States of America.
And while all
this is going on and pretending to be a saint, the one responsible
for global terrorism, Fidel Castro, in his May 1 speech at the Civic
Plaza (now Revolution Plaza) tries to intimidate the United States
government with stupid attacks against Alpha 66; an organization
made up of true fighters for the freedom of our enslaved country.
The name of ALPHA 66 was mentioned fourteen times during his
speech. We hate to have to show gratitude to the bloody dictator
for reminding the Cuban people that our organization continues
stronger than ever fighting for freedom until total liberation is
achieved.
Furthermore,
does this miserable tyrant think that the American government will
use the “Patriot Act” as a means to protect him?
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April 2006
TWO NEWS ITEMS COMING FROM CUBA ON
APRIL 25, 2006.
By Miguel L. Talleda
MARTHA BEATRIZ
ROQUE CABELLO SUFFERS A VIOLENT BEATING AT THE HANDS OF FASCIST
MEMBERS OF THE RAPID RESPONSE BRIGADES.
In a report coming from
Havana and broadcast live by Radio Mambí in Miami, Florida, during
the program “Round Table” hosted by Armando Pérez Roura, Martha
Beatríz Roque Cabello , member of the
Assembly to Promote
Civil Society in Cuba,
in her own words denounced the assault to which she was subjected on
this day.
In an agitated voice,
often faltering due to her indignation and anger, an emotional Roque
Cabello explained how upon leaving her home and in full public view,
she was assaulted by members of the government’s feared Fascist
Rapid Response Brigades. The perpetrators, who are retired police
and enjoy the protection of the political police officials, began
beating her, throwing her to the ground and dragging her down the
street. All while yelling insults to her. Martha Beatríz explained
how she was hit in the face and for a moment feared she would lose
her eye sight. She also received hits to other parts of her body,
chest and back. This brutal beating occurred under the watchful eye
of the police in charge of protecting the area.
The interview with
Martha Beatríz was brief given her condition. She appealed urgently
to all those outside of Cuba, who value and love freedom, to
denounce these provocations orchestrated by the government, in its
attempt to use violence to stop the peaceful opposition to the
regime. Martha Beatríz called on Cubans to denounce the increasing
brutality and aggression of the Castro government.
(This news comes via
Internet from Redacción de la Cuba Nueva and forwarded by Francisco
Díaz)
***************************************************************************
And while these
motherless animals complicit with the government rejoice by
assaulting defenseless women, but patriotic ones just like other
women throughout our history, Jean Guy Allard published in GRANMA,
the official newspaper of the Castro regime, on this same date, a
piece titled, “ALPHA 66 IN CALIFORNIA:THE ARCHIVES SPEAK”. In this
article Allard not only accuses Alpha 66 of being terrorist, but
also mentions the names of many true FREEDOM FIGHTERS, members of
various organizations in exile. He calls these men and women
terrorists in order to confuse the uninformed, while the Cuban
government meets with members of the government of Iran to see how
they can carry out the threat made by Castro in Tehran, where
together they would work to “bring the Americans to their knees”.
But they had another
thing coming if they thought that once in exile we would forget our
duty with those suffering in Cuba the horrendous consequences of a
regime of terror. They can be sure that we stand hand in hand with
our suffering people. In a subsequent article, we will expand on
these attacks, to which we are sporadically subjected by the
lampooning GRANMA.
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Successful demonstration of the Cuban Memorial at the seat
of the dictatorship
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Washington
D.C., Saturday February 25, 2006. Total success describes the event
supported by the Organizing Committee of the Cuban Memorial.
The peaceful act of protest and denunciation fulfilled its main
goal. Different forms of press media, television, radio, and
newsprint both English and Spanish, were present where a group of
Cuban activists unfolded a large placard with a gigantic panoramic
photo showing more than 10,000 crosses representing victims of the
Cuban dictatorship throughout the last forty-seven years. They also
carried symbolic white crosses and Cuban flags.
Cuban activists Eng. César Alarcón and Ernesto Díaz (writer and
ex-political prisoner) were escorted by members of the secret
service and the metropolitan police during the event as they tried
to hand over to the representatives of the dictatorship in
Washington, the more than 10,000 documented names of victims. They
had to push aside by force a group of contra-demonstrators made up
mainly of homeless from the area and Latin American immigrants
Communist sympathizers ordered and paid by the office of Cuban
Interests in Washington as they blocked the access to the door of
the embassy with the main objective to prevent its presentation.
The representatives of the Cuban regime did not respond to the call
of the Cuban activists at their door, discrediting themselves before
the international press that were present and could corroborate this
unusual fact.
Once again it was demonstrated to the world the insensibility of the
present government of Cuba and its "diplomatic body", that is
equally responsible and accomplices of these murders and
disappearances.
With patriotic pride the Cuban Memorial every year reminds the world
of ours victims.
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November 2005
WHAT IS THE FREE PRESS HIDING
By: Miguel L.Talleda
We like to think that
we live in a country where the press is completely free. Where
newscasters are free to give the news without fear of the offenses
and abuse by bandits as we have been told was the case during the
times of the Wild West and where they are free from the unjust
pressures of those in authority.
So why is it then that
the American press which has abundant space to do so hardly ever
touches upon the problems that can represent grave dangers for our
way of life? Why are they not reporting on events that are happening
now and that affects us all and our future? It is difficult to find
in our daily newspapers details and explanations of these current
events as if it were better for us to remain ignorant of what is
happening.
It is only due to the
new way of communication through the Internet that those with a
clear head, who are not accountable to any business or corporation,
are informing a great number of people of what is happening. The
Internet has provided the opportunity to learn, to analyze, and to
reach conclusions regarding the true dangers facing the free world.
An opportunity that has allowed us to see clearly how the enemies of
freedom try to advance at every chance.
Let’s look at a recent
event. The visit by Cuba’s Minister of Foreign Relations, Felipe
Pérez Roque to Teheran and his joint declaration with President
Mahmoud Admadinehad which said,
“Our mutual cooperation
will make possible a quick change in the current global system to
the benefit of all nations of the world”.
This comes after a
statement made by Fidel Castro in Teheran a couple years ago when he
said that Iran and Cuba “would force the U.S. to its knees”. And to
this we can add the different pronouncements of that cretin Hugo
Chavez who is usurping the presidency of Venezuela and who wants to
spread the poison of Communism to all the countries of Latin
America. Chavez has declared on several occasions his intention to
put an end to our way of life.
It is noteworthy
that we are witnessing growing cases of the bird flu at a time when
Cuba and Iran have reached agreements on the development of chemical
and bacteriological agents.
And as a finishing
touch, we read in the Internet an article by Peter Brookes of the
Department of Investigations of the New Cuba, about the dangers
posed by Iran and its embrace of Al-Qaeda as it members were routed
from Afghanistan in the fall of 2001, and were openly accepted in
Iran.
These “refugees” of
Al-Qaeda originally from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, North
Africa, and parts of Europe, and including the veteran military
commander, Saif al Edel, three sons of Osama Bin Laden, and his
spokesperson, Saleiman abú Ghaith are all today operating from
inside Iran. Saif al Edel was implicated in terrorist attacks in
Kenya and Tanzania as well as the attack on the SS Cole, and the
events in Mogadishu where hundreds died, many of them Americans.
What we are trying to
say is that, the dangers posed by this axis of Iran, Cuba,
Venezuela, Osama Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda that is working tirelessly
to bring the free world and especially the United States to it’s
knees, can only be found by reading the Internet. These dangers
apparently do not merit the analysis that a free press should give
to them for the benefit of the American people and all those who
love freedom.
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June 2005
ESCAPE FROM CUBA
'Our only luggage was hope'
BY SERGIO PERODIN JR.
sergioperodin@msn.com
As a child I had an experience that taught me the price that individuals are willing to pay for freedom.
I was only 7 years old and living in communist Cuba. My parents yearned for freedom and dreamt of coming to America. They secretly planned to escape, along with 72 others who shared their dream. We embarked on a wooden tugboat. Our only luggage was hope, but in that attempt, 41 lives were lost. Among them, my mother and brother. My father refused to give up hope, and a short time later, we risked our lives in a second attempt, but on this occasion, aboard a raft.
It began on the fateful day of July 13, 1994, as we embarked on the 13 de Marzo tugboat at about 2 a.m. About 13 miles off the coast of Cuba, we were suddenly attacked by three Cuban tugboats. They rammed us. Pressure hoses, normally used to put out fires at sea, were used against us. Their impact was so powerful that children were swept to sea from their parents' protective embrace.
Those on the tugboats shouted insults over loudspeakers. In a frenzy, they crashed into the ship, damaging the hull, which caused the tugboat to take in water rapidly. Within minutes, the ship sank. People were screaming and begging to be rescued, but those on the tugboats showed no pity. They circled us and made whirlpools in the water, causing men, women and children to be lost forever in a black sea of despair.
After what seemed an eternity of brutal abuse, the tugboats finally stopped and began picking up survivors. My mother and brother were not among them. Those of us who survived, more dead than alive from the ordeal, were not taken to receive medical assistance. Instead, we were taken to prison, where my father remained. I was later sent home in a small van and handed over to my aunt, to take care of me.
A month later, my dad was released from prison, and we were more determined than ever to attempt our search for liberty once more. It took about two weeks to build a raft. One night we embarked on the raft along with seven others and began navigating the seas with wooden paddles. We paddled for a whole day and suddenly we got caught in a storm. We tied ourselves to the raft with ropes and fell asleep from exhaustion. When we woke up, we noticed that we were being taken back to the coast of Cuba by the rough currents of the storm.
At that instant, it seemed as if all our hopes had been lost, but again with all the strength within us, we continued paddling assured that freedom awaited us. We were rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard and eventually taken to the Guantánamo Naval Base in Cuba.
On Jan. 21, 1995, we finally arrived in the United States. At that moment we felt happier than ever, but there was sadness and anger and disappointment that in our search for a new life, my father and I had lost our most valued treasures -- my mother and brother. Yet the first thing my father and relatives did was fly to Washington and testify before the U.S. Congress on what has come to be known as the Massacre of the Tugboat 13th of March, perpetrated by the Castro regime.
Two months after our arrival, life showed us how generous it can be. My father met an incredibly loving woman who has been a mother to me. A month later we moved to her apartment and started our new life in the United States, supported by her unconditional love and guidance.
I will be graduating from high school today. Another dream has been achieved. To this day, I remember that awful tragedy and I still struggle with the memories. But I know I have another dream to accomplish for myself and the memory of my mother and brother. I will go to college. I will do it in the land where everything is possible -- in the land where I found something so valuable that people are willing to risk their lives to obtain it.
It is called freedom.
Sergio Perodín Jr., a survivor of the 13 de Marzo tugboat massacre, is graduating from Coral Gables Senior High today.
(This beautiful story of courage and determination in the face of one of the most monstrous and heinous examples of the horrors inflicted on our people by the tyrannical regime of Cuba, was sent to ALPHA 66 by La Voz de Cuba Libre &
Fadiazus@verizon.net)
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January. 2005
A HISTORICAL SPEECH
By Miguel L. Talleda
In May 2004 we were already aware that a majority of Cubans in the Los Angeles area were supporting a second term for President George W. Bush because of his sui generis posture in favor of freedom. His actions in Afghanistan and Iraq had already given credence to his words. Consequently, Cuban organizations in Los Angeles met at the Club Cubano del Valle de San Gabriel to draft a document that would be sent to the president.
In this document we let him know that he had shown great courage in the face of terrorism and in the criminal conduct of both Bin Laden and Sadam Hussein. We let him know also that Fidel Castro was equally as criminal and outlawed as these two; that while the United States' attention was focused in the Middle East, Castro was trying to spread Communism throughout Latin America. We expressed to the president our hope that our efforts to fight against the terrorism of Cuba's tyranny would not be interrupted.
In a letter personally signed and dated July 2, 2004, the president responded that both he and his wife Laura appreciated our support and was glad to hear our views.
But were we really ready to hear the historic speech with which President Bush inaugurated his second term? I don't believe so. In fact, we think few people were prepared to hear such oratory that will surely transcend generations and become known as "The Freedom Speech". It is already being compared to the speeches made by Presidents Lincoln and Jefferson in their second inauguration.
"There is only one force of history that can break the reign of hatred and resentment, and expose the pretensions of tyrants, and reward the hopes of the decent and tolerant, and that is the force of human
freedom"....."The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world."
The entire speech of President Bush is a clarion call to freedom, categorical and unambiguous. Those of us Cubans living in and out of Cuba who have hoped and struggled tirelessly for freedom in our homeland see ourselves in this historic call for freedom. As he says, "All who live in tyranny and hopelessness can know: the United States will not ignore your oppression, or excuse your oppressors. When you stand for liberty, we will stand with you."
There is no doubt President Bush is a student of history for he recognizes that the great human tragedies of our time have always been the work of tyrants with evil powers.
Alpha 66 was founded to fight for the freedom of our people. The obstacles we find in our path need to be a thing of the past because our people in Cuba today cannot wait any longer. This call for freedom throughout the world must finally put an end to the terrorism that Castro has spread throughout all of the Americas.
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January
2005
The Delegation of Alpha 66, in the city of
San Antonio, Texas, that our compatriot Dr. Carlos Carbonell, M.D.
presides over, does not rest. Both October 10, and December 7 and the
rest of the native dates, are always remembered in public events that
they organize. Now they have felt hurt by the mistreatments that our
Cuban brothers are suffering in the hands of the Bahamian authorities
and as a response the "International Front For the Freedom of
Cuba" has thrown a call of boycott in order that the Bahamas are
not visited, an action that we fully support. Alpha 66.
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¡Do not visit the Bahamas!
All Cubans that arrive there by boat have been jailed by the corrupt government. The Cuban political prisoners are physically treated bad, they are in
hell. The government of the Bahamas are a good friend of the Castro brothers and it's gangsters. Do not go to the Bahamas, have dignity and shame.
Dr. Carlos D. Carbonell
Organizing and Press Secretary and Delegate
"Alpha 66" Delegate in San Antonio, Texas
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City of New York, December 10, 2004
Today, on the anniversary of Human Rights Day, a group of Cubans representing several organizations and who plead for this cause, gathered at the International Headquarters of the United Nations to deliver the following declaration directed at the Secretary - General of the UN and Heads of State, for its execution and dissemination. The same declaration was delivered to corresponding civil employees at the Department of Human Rights of this institution.
The delegation also made pertinent transactions before this organization to direct an urgent sentence against the Government of Bahamas for the brutal acts committed recently in Nassau, against our Cuban brothers.
City of New York
December 10, 2004
(International Day of Human Rights)
Distinguished Mr. Kofi Annan
Secretary General of the UN,
Distinguished Heads of State,
Distinguished Representatives of Humanitarian Organizations:
On the 10th day of December 2004, a group of Cuban Freedom fighters, gathered at the Palace of the United Nations, City of New York, and proclaimed the following:
Today it is a very important day for those who love freedom and the right to life: today we commemorate a new anniversary of the restoration of the Universal Day of Human Rights.
The Universal Declaration of the Human Rights, established by the United Nations (the UN) on the 10 of December 1945, gathers in its articles what can be considered the fundamental, or divine, rights that each human being should enjoy without limitations.
Lamentably, there are governments that although signatory nations to this declaration, ignore the moral commitment that this implies. And in their eagerness to maintain their politics of hatred and absolute control, systematically promote violence, by applying cruel and degrading measures, in abominable acts of revenge and repression against the defenseless population. That is the case in Cuba, our dear mother country, where for more than forty-five years an infamous regime, that does not respect its citizens and violates their essential rights, has remained in power by force.
It's no secret to anyone that the government of Cuba maintains hundreds of political prisoners in jails and concentration camps. They are jailed and freed at the regime's will and at the convenience of the dictatorship, without any legal, just and respectable procedures. Similarly, the severity and prison treatment are set according to the interests of the regime. It is well known that there's no limit to the mistreatment and torture, nor there exists established sanctions to determine the period of time that a person condemned for political discrepancies has to spend behind bars. Everything is subject to the capricious will of the tyrant who enslaves our nation.
In the international context, on several occasions the government of Cuba has been condemned by the UN's Commission on Human Rights, as well as by the Organization of American States (O.A.S.). Many are governments, humanitarian institutions and non-governmental organizations that have also shown their disgust as energetic condemnation to the communist dictatorship of Cuba.
To consider that the United Nations symbolizes the yearnings of justice, freedom and prosperity, framed its fundamental function within genuinely representative systems of government, selected by multi-party elections, such as Cubans aspire, we trust its statutes and its democratic projection. At the same time we reiterate our unshakeable will to continue fighting relentlessly for the freedom of Cuba and because for each Cuban, independently of their political philosophy, religious vocation, race or any other personal condition, we respect their physical integrity and their human dignity.
Along with the admiration that today's date inspires, we want to remind each head of the democratic countries that make up the UN, as well as our Secretary General, that in the case of Cuba the inspection visits by the Human Rights Special Inspector approved by majority voting in several meetings of the Commission on Human Rights, celebrated at the UN headquarters in Geneva, are still pending. Considering the reasons previously mentioned, we exhort you, honorable Mr. Kofi Annan, as well as each representative country of the UN, to take appropriate measures within this organization, in order to prevent continued violations of the condemning Human Rights resolutions, as is the case with Cuba, that systematically has refused to allow visits by the Human Rights Inspector.
We take the opportunity of this occasion to also remind you, finally, that our country continues to arrest and to arbitrarily apply sanctions; that Cuban political prisoners remain under a regiment of inhumane imprisonment, degrading and cruel, which constitute a flagrant violation of the historical concept contained within the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Respectfully,
César L. Alarcón
President Cuban Movementh
For a Unified Democracy |
Angel L. Arguelles
Ex-Polítical Prisoner
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Ernesto Díaz Rodríguez
Secretary General Alpha 66 and Director Plantados
Until Freedom and Democracy in Cuba |
Basilio Gúzman
Ex-Polítical Prisoner
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Eusebio Peñalver
President Unidad Cubana and Director Plantados
Until Freedom and Democracy in Cuba
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Roberto Perdomo Díaz
Ex-Polítical Prisoner
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August 2004
RONALD REAGAN: A HERO FOR THE AGES
By: Miguel L.Talleda
Recently we witness an extraordinary event, one that showed the love
of the American people for President Reagan. No one had to convene it.
There were no invitations. All that was needed was the itinerary
of his funeral for the people to attend and wait in long lines for the
opportunity to pass by his casket. It was an event as
extraordinary in Simi Valley, California as it was in the Capitol
Rotunda in Washington D.C. It was the recognition by his people
of a president that during his tenure had been constantly derided by
most prominent news organizations, including television stations.
His principles and ideals went against the leftist Communism that had
infiltrated all spheres of this great country.
Since the start of his political career in the 1960's we appreciated
the caliber and clarity of his thought. We appreciated this
public man that many people said was not important. This was a
time when hundreds of Cubans were arriving in the United States every
day. We were fleeing the Communism that was beginning to show
its claws of terror, hunger, and misery. But we found that a
large sector of the American people did not accept or want to
recognize the danger that Fidel Castro and his relations with the
Soviet Union posed to the security of this country. To the
contrary, some felt a great sympathy for this supposed revolutionary
and considered him a hero and a liberator. This simplistic thinking,
one that ignored our experience of having left EVERYTHING behind so we
would not have to live under a Communist regime dominated the
Democratic Party. This is why the majority of Cubans joined the
Republican Party.
Cubans began to search for the voices that would loudly state the
reality of what was happening in Cuba. We wanted Americans to
understand the betrayal of Fidel Castro and his surrender to
international Communism. This is when I started listening to
Ronald Reagan. He had a radio program only five minutes long
that was heard at five minutes to noon daily. I went home for
lunch everyday but was careful to be in my car at five minutes to noon
so I would not miss Reagan's forceful message against Communism.
He was firm, clear, and inspiring. This was something I needed
because as an exile, although always firm, I appreciated those who saw
the situation with the same clarity I did.
In my home we are not accustomed to drinking beer, but we have bought
it for especial occasions like parties or other gatherings. I
would always bring Coors beer to these functions. On one
occasion one of my children asked why always Coors. I responded
that it was because it was Coors that sponsored the five minutes of
Ronald Reagan that I so much enjoyed. I figured that if the
makers of Coors were smart enough to alert the American people by
sponsoring the messages of Ronald Reagan, they must make a fine beer.
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January 2004
THE TRUE
INDEPENDENCE
(Third and
final of three articles)
By Miguel L.
Talleda
In the two
previous articles on the issue of THE TRUE INDEPENDENCE, we have
clearly stated how we have been denied the right to fight for the
liberation of our country. We don’t think it’s necessary to give a
history of the complicity of the Castro government with
international terrorism. Anyone who is keeping a record of world
events has a file describing the activities of these international
evil-doers, who using our island as a launching pad, are plotting
the destruction of the United States and of freedom.
Hate is a
powerful arm and is easy to sow by perverse minds like Castro and
his evil cronies who use it incessantly against this country. They
have no limits such as the case described in the book, “Honor Bound”
by Stuart I. Rochester and Frederick Kiley when they write of a
group of Cuban agents sent to Vietnam “to show how to torture
American prisoners of war.” The regime’s machination to sow hate
was perfected as a destructive force during the Tri-Continental
Conference held in Havana in 1966 and it has never stopped. Today
the Castro government is reaping what it sowed. All those that were
indoctrinated in camps in Cuba are today working to destabilize
Latin American governments. After being responsible for much of the
bloodshed in this continent, many of them today hold high office in
many Latin American governments as is evidenced by the Montoneros in
Argentina.
So today we
see that Castro agents invade Venezuela to help Chavez in his quest
to subject the Venezuelan people to the same misery that now rules
Cuba. It is difficult to recognize this because it is such a
historical mistake, but while this is happening, the Cubans in exile
are denied the right to fight with arms in their hands to liberate
our country. In plain and simple words: Fidel Castro
and his Communist tyranny are today in fact enjoying the protection
of the American government.
We say this
because President George W. Bush has demonstrated in the war against
terrorism that he has what it takes to carry out his vision to bring
freedom to the oppressed people of the world and is capable of
taking the steps necessary to accomplish this mission.
This is not
the opinion of one group or the whim of Alpha 66. It is the hope of
an exile community that has suffered and that sees how some will
like us to believe that freedom can be obtained with Fidel Castro
and his accomplices under the current Communist constitution.
To fight with
arms in hand, in uniform, as did Vicente Mendez, Rodriquez Perez and
many others; to fight like the guerrillas fought in the Escambray or
like the brave men that landed at the Bay of Pigs is not only our
duty but an unavoidable necessity for us. Our immediate task is to
let this be known to all world governments starting with the
American government. Our right to fight must be a National Pro
Liberty struggle.
The Cuban
people should not be condemned any longer to live in their current
state of misery. The brave prisoners that protest from the dungeons
in the island should be freed immediately.
The
persecution that impedes our efforts should cease because as we said
before, it represents a shameful protection on the part of the
American government of the criminal system that today violates and
tramples on our people.
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January 2004
THE TRUE INDEPENDENCE
(Second of three articles)
By Miguel L.
Talleda
We
return again to the topic presented last week in the article of the
same title, "The True Independence". In revisiting the topic, we
should analyze a bit more the differences between the 1970s and now.
But before, let us pose these questions: Can the concept of an
independent Cuba be truly defended, if deep down we don't believe it's
possible? Is there deep in our souls a defeatist notion, the fruit of
a long period of exile we have had to endure?
Pertinent to this discussion are the words of the father of our
country, Carlos Manuel de Cespedes, who when appealing to all Cubans
to stand up against Spain, said (and I paraphrase): "If we doubt our
victory it's only because we have become accustomed to looking at the
empire from bended knees for more than 400 years."
It's true that more than thirty years have passed since Alpha 66
assessed its forces on the battlefield against the communist tyranny.
Yet, it's no less certain today that we find ourselves fighting
against an enemy who is on the throws of a slow death. However, it
must be aided by a final push, because it's not possible to justify
the conditions our people are forced to live in, particularly those
who, as a result of their dignity, are suffering the horrors of the
communist prisons.
Based on past experiences, we can say that if we had the opportunity
to send just one hundred men, as commando groups to land in three to
four places around the island (and Alpha 66 has already studied where
these landings could take place) we would lift the Cuban people's
rebellious spirits as they receive our directives on how to destroy the
terror apparatus that has kept them handcuffed.
Oh!, but if we're going to be persecuted by the U.S. Coast Guard, as
if we were the real enemies of this country, while Fidel Castro is
perceived as the innocent neighbor with great affection for the
institutions and success of the American system--then, we might as
well turn off the lights and call it a day.
There are additional questions that we Cubans should ask: Are we, the
free Cubans, less worthy than the Afghans fighting in the mountains
against the Taliban? Are we more inconsequential than the Kurdish
enemies of Saddam Hussein? All of them were given arms to combat
their dictators. If all we are asking is not to be persecuted in our
efforts to liberate our homeland, then why are we being denied this
right? Is there a difference between Osama Bin Laden, Saddam Hussein,
and Fidel Castro in their hatred toward Americans?
It's time for the exile community as a whole, not only Alpha 66, to
put this issue flat on the table. We aren't asking for anything except
the right to not be persecuted, because we want for our people the
freedom to which they are entitled. To act otherwise is to leave a
stain for future generations who are so proud of our patriotic past.
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January 2004
THE TRUE INDEPENDENCE
(First of three articles)
By Miguel L. Talleda
During the meeting
that Cuba’s tyrant convenes each year to celebrate his anniversary,
this being the 45th and held at the Karl Marx Theater, he
said, according to the Associated Press, “we believe in the right of
nations, especially their right to independence.”
This declaration is a
classic example of the shameless manner he lies and often twists the
truth. It must be said, however, that this time he broke the record
for shame. Is it not his government that has tried to subvert the
governments of the other Latin American countries? Where is the
independence he so praises when he made Cuba into a satellite of the
former Soviet Union and of international communism? Where is this
independence when he lowers himself and begs visiting American
Congressmen to lift the embargo so he can get American dollars in
order to sustain his own survival, the same dollars he has repeatedly
said he hates?
But this is Fidel
Castro. We must speak of another type of independence. The one that
we learned from José Martí. The one that Alpha 66 has always held to
so we could fight without interference.
Some will wonder what we
Alfistas are talking about. They will wonder if we don’t realize that
our strength through the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s is already behind
us. They will wonder if we are not aware that time | |
