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CUBA: The uniqueness that can't be bought
30.06.2003 16:33
In 2002, 1060 people were executed in China. In the United States around 400 have been executed since 1990, an average of 35 a year or three a month. Hundreds more executions have taken place in other countries, and that's without counting the unofficial executions and state-sponsored massacres which in Africa are just part of the landscape.
In general, the issue passes without comment. Apart from detailed reports and the condemnations by human rights organisations like Amnesty International, the execution of human beings rarely makes it onto the news pages, saturated though they are in blood and death.
In contrast to this general trend of silence and indifference, the execution of the three hijackers of a passenger boat in Cuba unleashed a political and media storm — with its epicentre in the United States. In Spain it produced a demonstration in front of the Cuban embassy in Madrid, in which, unusually, government ministers and leaders of the two main parties took part.
meer:
 Website: http://www.greenleft.org.au/current/544p16.htm
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| | | | Cuba vermoordt anarchisten | x - 01.07.2003 15:16
De volgende Nederlandse vertaling van een Spaans artikel verscheen zo’n tien jaar geleden in het blad NN. De berichten dateren echter al van het eind van de jaren tachtig/ begin jaren negentig. Sindsdien is er niets meer vernomen van of over de vermelde vijf ter dood veroordeelde anarchisten. Vermoedelijk zijn zij allen inmiddels vermoord door het regime van Castro.
Het artikel moge dus gedateerd lijken, maar mijns inziens verjaart moord nooit! Het verhaal illustreert de gruwelijkheid van de dictatuur op Cuba. De sympatisanten van Castro kunnen nu weer aankomen met alle verhalen over de misdaden van Amerika en Bush, in hun poging om de Cubaanse misdaden weg te wassen met bizarre rekensommetjes, waarbij je de ene misdaad zou moeten wegstrepen tegen de andere.
X
ANARCHISTEN VERMIST OP CUBA
In één van de gevangenissen met een zo’n droeve vermaardheid op Cuba zit een anarcho-syndicalist gevangen. Het gaat om Angel Donato Martínez, die is overgebleven van de groep “Zapata”, een kern van boeren die begin jaren tachtig werd gevormd om de stalinistische praktijken van het Cubaanse bewind ter discussie te stellen.
In de loop van de tijd heeft de groep veel tot stand gebracht wat betreft acties en het vormen van vakbonden; daarbij beriep zij zich op de tradities van grote Mexicaanse revolutionairen, zoals Emiliano Zapata en Ricardo Flores Magón. Maar jammer genoeg zijn op Cuba onafhankelijke vakbonden niet toegestaan, zodat de groepsleden gedwongen waren ondergronds te gaan.
In 1982 is er op Cuba een paar keer flink gestaakt; de autoriteiten besloten dit de kop in te drukken en tijdens een grootscheepse operatie lukte het de politie twintig leden van de groep “Zapata” te omsingelen en te arresteren. Ze werden beschuldigd van poging tot vakbondsvorming en industriële sabotage.
Van de twintig mensen zijn er vijf ter dood veroordeeld. Een vrouw, Claridad Pavón, is in de gevangenis overleden, doordat zij niet bestand was tegen de martelingen in Villa Marista, een sinister oord dat door de Staatsveiligheidsdienst is ingericht voor het afnemen van verhoren. Haar geheimzinnige dood is door de Cubaanse autoriteiten omschreven als “zelfmoord”.
Ondertussen is de anarchistische beweging begonnen aan een internationale campagne om de vijf vrijheidslievende militanten van een gewisse dood te redden. Momenteel is alleen de verblijfplaats bekend van Angel Donato Martínez; de overige vier zitten nog gevangen óf zijn al dood.
In de afgelopen jaren heeft het Cubaanse bewind maar op één manier gereageerd op de acties van boeren, die land en vrijheid eisen: onderdrukking en razzia’s! Dit alles is slechts een momentopname van de strijd die anarchisten op Cuba voortdurend moeten leveren. Deze strijd wordt gestreden zonder dat iemand erover praat. Het is hoog tijd dat hieraan nu internationaal bekendheid wordt gegeven.
(Samenvatting uit Alter, libertair tijdschrift uit Montevideo, Uruguay. Bron: UPA, Madrid)
| | spookverhalen | 01.07.2003 16:53
Zijn griezelig he?! Als er geen politieke gevangen op Cuba zijn, verzin je ze gewoon. Als er geen mensen verdwijnen verzin je ze gewoon. Als er op Cuba niet gemarteld wordt, verzin je gewoon een martelcentrum. Zelfs amnesty International heeft nog nooit het woord martelen in de mond genomen mbt Cuba.
Maar X, die ook ooit beweerde dat Castro aan zelfvereiking doet, die door amerika gefinancieerde "vrije pers" politieke gevangenen noemt is natuurlijk wel degelijk een iemand die volledig aan de band van het amerikaans fascisme loopt.
| | bah | walgerster - 01.07.2003 17:12
braak, braak
Jongens (en/of meisjes), hou toch 'ns op met dat welles-nietesgezeik over Cuba. Aanvullingen=bedoeld voor nieuws, niet om kleine kindertjes bezig te houden.
| | Interview met Cubaanse anarchist | x - 01.07.2003 19:44
(The interview originally appeared in FREEDOM and ATN)
AN INTERVIEW WITH A CUBAN ANARCHIST
Frank Fernandez is a long-time Cuban anarchist
militant and member of the Movimiento Libertario Cubano
(MLC) - the Cuban anarchist movement in exile. He was
a member of the collective of GUANGARA LIBERTARIA
and is the author of "Cuba - The Anarchists and Liberty"
and "La Sangre De Santa Agueda", a book about the early
years of Cuban anarchism. A longer work on the Cuban
Revolution is in progress, to be published in Spain and by
See Sharp Press in Tucson AZ. Frank Fernandez is
interviewed by Larry Gambone. To contact Cuban
anarchists write to MLC, Box 1525, Jose Marti Station,
Miami FL. 33125-1525
LG. Given the fact that at any one time during the past 25
years there have been at least several thousand people
calling themselves anarchists in North America, have we
done enough to educate people about Cuban anarchism.
FF. No, of course not, the information about Castro's
dictatorship is most of the time one-sided. There are
several reasons for this, the efficient Cuban propaganda
machine among intellectuals, the apathetic attitude of
most anarchist media and general ignorance of the nature
of the regime. In some way we have to accept
responsibility for failing to communicate with our N.
American comrades, due to problems with the English
language.
LG. What would you like anarchists to do to help your
movement?
FF. First, and most important is international solidarity with our cause, the cause of freedom. Second, direct
communication with the Cuban people. At this point, I
think we should avoid becoming sectarian. There is a
unique opportunity to gain some social space inside
Cuba. A sympathizer is the first step to becoming a
militant. Any act of solidarity with the oppressed, no
matter what his political or social persuasion, will benefit
our ideals, since this aid represents the anarchist
movement outside Cuba. For us (MLC) this task is almost
impossible, due to the fact that we cannot have direct
communication with anyone in Cuba.
LG. Should we boycott Cuba, since in Canada, Cuba is a
major vacation spot?
FF. Yes, we have been doing this for the last 35 years and
ask that our comrades in the anarchist world to do the
same. Tourism represents the main source of income of
the Castro regime, superior even to the sugar cane
industry. It is important to explain to travellers and tourists,the exploitation and discrimination of Cuban workers in hotels, resorts, restaurants, beaches, etc., and to remind them of what kind of government the Cuban people have suffered under for the last 40 years.
LG. What is your opinion of the US trade embargo?
FF. In the past, nobody asked the Cuban anarchists what
was our opinion about this matter. I realize the embargo
gives Castro an excuse to create worse social conditions
in Cuba and that the people at the bottom will suffer as he
makes them pay the bill of the American policy. However,
if the excuse of the embargo is lifted, Castro will find an
other and the oppression will continue. I don't think the
embargo will overthrow the government, nor does it
represent a "criminal enterprise". Nobody thinks about the
blockade Castro imposes upon the Cuban people, nor
how Cuban exiles send $800, million every year, breaking
the embargo. It is hard to take a position pro or con,
because nobody can give you an honest answer. Any way
you try to answer this question, you are going to sound
either like the Potomac's parrot or a Marxist-Leninist or
worse. The question makes you take either the
humanitarian side, asking for the abolition of the
blockade, thereby helping Castro's propaganda machine,
or a more political opnion taking the side of te Miami
Cubans and the Washingtonm Reactionaries. In both
cases you lose. It is a difficult and Kafka-like matter.
LG. Both your pamphlet and Sam Dolgoff's book indicate
that the Cuban anarchist movement was large and
influential. It would be a nice idea to get a rough idea of
just how large the movement was.
FF. The anarcho-syndicalist movement in Cuba was not
only the largest and most influential organization in Cuba
since 1880, but also the fore-runner of social progress
among the proletariat until 1927. Government persecution,
deportation, incarceration and even murder, for two
decades, plus the back-stabbing from the Communist
Party, ended that era. Numerically, you must make a
distinction between an anarchist militant and a
sympathizer. Any union could be organized and
influenced by a minority of anarchists. This does not mean
all the workers in a particular union are anarchists.
However, if the workers respond to the anarchist's
agenda, then you can consider the union or federation
anarchist. The first Cuban Confederation of Labor was
founded in 1925, and was composed of all kinds of trade
unions, reformist, communist etc. The anarchists were not
in a majority, but the organization, ideas, projects and
manifestos, were from an anarcho-syndicalist point of
view. Before the government persecution and communist
treason, from 80,000 to 100,000 workers followed the
anarcho-syndicalist agenda. In the first and second
decades of the 1940's, the Cuban Libertarian Association
was reduced in numbers to several hundreds. Before
Castro became a dictator, the same Association reported
more than 2000 miltants. Most of them worked and had a
decisive influence among several important unions like
Transportation, Electrical Plants, Gastronomy,
Construction, etc.
LG. Have any younger Cubans in the US taken an interest
in anarchism or the Cuban movement?
FF. No, I don't think this new generation of Cubans (so-
called Cuban-Americans) have taken any interest in
anarchist ideals. There are several reasons: the
indifference for social problems, Americanization, Cuban
cultural and historical characteristics etc., This is, however,nothing new in the country, which happens to be very
nationalistic and with a powerful "kultur" capable of
changing to the American Way of Life different immigrants
and exiles from stronger cultures than what Cubans have,
like Germans, Jews, Italians etc.,
LG Are there, in your opinion any anarchists surviving in
Cuba? Are there anarchist prisoners in Castro's gulags?
FF. As far as I can tell, I don't think so. Old comrades die
or disperse, so we don't really know if there are any
survivors, but I like to think that ideas do not die like
humans do, and Cuba is not different in this matter to
other parts of the world where anarchist ideals were an
important part of working class society. I don't know of
any anarchist political prisoners at the moment, however
there is always the possibility that some in jail without our knowledge.
LG. I note that some Cuban anarchists were former CNT-
FAI. Did they flee Franco only to end up in Castro's
prisons or firing squads?
FF. At the beginning of the Revolution, 1959-60, some
were detained and let go. Augustin Souchy was in Havana
in those days and in a conversation with Abelardo
Iglesias, Manuel de la Mata and Salvador Garcia, all
members of the CNT-FAI during the Spanish Revolution,
told his comrades of the recent visit to Cuba by "old
friends" from the Spanish and Italian Communist Party,
Enrique Lister and the infamous Vittorio Vidale, invited by
the Castro regime. Souchy warned them of the inevitable
persecution from the new secret police in which Lister and
Vidale were involved. The CNT comrades were involved in
certain "counter-revolutionary" activities and with the
experience of Spain behind them, they knew how to
escape on time - with the protection of a Latin American
embassy.
LG. The Canadian and European media are very soft on
Castro and Cuba generally. (Our former Prime Minister
Trudeau even considers Castro "a friend") Why is this the
case? This friendliness existed long before the Cuba-as-
capitalist-investment paradise phase of Castroism. Might
this not show that the dispute between corporate
capitalism and state capitalist "socialism" to be somewhat
of a game?
FF. The friendship among thieves, authoritarians,
"socialists" and neo-liberals is not a contradiction. Au
contraire, this is typical political cynicism. History teaches the anarchist that in the past there was never a difference between Ford, Hitler, Stalin, Rockerfeller or Franco. They all have a common desire, that of having the power of exploitation. Criminals, politicians or parasites, they all followed the same path; rule or dominate. The methods were different, but the purpose was constant oppression.
Today is the same. Corporations, Castro, Clinton, the
Pope or Blair, represent the same hunger for power and
control and domination by fear or State terror. Therefore,
I think they represent the eternal enemies of anarchism.
The media respond in favor of the interests of government
and capital since they pay the bills. The relation between
globalization and Castroism or even "friendship before" is
not a "game" but is a serious and dangerous partnership
of those who exploit and discriminate against a large
portion of the Cuban people. In reality, I never saw any
difference between dictators or presidents, popes or
prime ministers, from "right" or "left", for me they all
represent the same. There could be different tactics
against the state or corporate capitalism, depending upon
objective or subjective conditions in regard to the
government or economic situations, but in the final
analysis, they are all our most distinctly and deadly
enemies.
| | Cuba martelt wel degelijk | X - 01.07.2003 19:58
Okee, de laatste. Om nog even duidelijk te maken dat Cuba wel degelijk martelt....
A blind Cuban dissident bears witness
Report from Cuba, 4-19-01
...I want to let the world know that, contrary to the Cuban government's manifestations to the contrary, torture is practiced in Cuba.
Ciego de Ávila, April 16 (Juan Carlos González Leyva, FCDH) — My name is Juan Carlos González Leyva, and I am the president of the Cuban Foundation for Human Rights (FCDH) and a national delegate of the Independent Cuban Brotherhood of the Blind (FRACIC). Both institutions operate out of my residence, at Honorato del Castillo #154, between República and Cuba Streets, Ciego de Ávila. I am blind.
On Friday, April 13, Marcelo Tier Piñeiro, the provincial delegate of the Democratic Solidarity Party in Sancti Spíritus, and I visited several dissidents in Jatibonico for the purpose of collecting signatures for the Varela Project.
While there, several residents told us that we were being followed by two Soviet-built Lada automobiles carrying Department of State Security agents.
At 3:00 p.m., a red Lada (as I was told later) almost ran us down and its four occupants attacked us, hitting and kicking. My dark glasses flew off my face, and they took my cane, my papers and my other belongings.
Later they dragged us toward the car and shoved us into it.
"Go quick," the agents told the driver.
As the car drove away I could hear some residents yelling: "Killers, Scum, Kidnappers!"
As we drove, one of the officers kept hitting Marcelo while two others held his hands and feet and kept him immovilized on the floor at the rear of the car.
In protest, I yelled "Enough abuse," but I couldn't say any more, because I was punched in the mouth, kicked in the face by a bare foot and punched in the ribcage. Later, I almost couldn't feel anything as they kept punching me for some minutes.
Afterwards, I perceived that they threw Marcelo out of the car, as I later learned, at an embankment about two kilometers from the Central Highway, near the border between Ciego de Ávila and Sancti Spíritus provinces.
They took me to the area of Río Grande, at the border of the municipalities of Majagua and Florencia. During the trip, they accused me of being a CIA agent, a mercenary for Yankee Imperialism, a homosexual, and a thief, among other lies.
They stopped the car, dragged me out onto a cane field and left me there face up. They left me helpless, without my cane.
"Leave him there, let him rot," said one of the policemen.
I was there for approximately one hour and, I don't know why, I thought of Christ's suffering on the Cross.
After that time, I sensed a truck approaching and a voice that said, "He's there, he's still alive, he's breathing."
"If he's alive, then let's put him on the truck," said another voice.
They took me to the medical post in the town of Marroquí, in the municipality of Florencia, in Ciego de Ávila.
Once there, the sector chief of the National Revolutionary Police interrogated me, but they didn't give me the medical certificate I asked for.
Marcelo Tier Piñeiro has several fractured ribs and concussions all over his body from the beating he received.
Among the things that State Security agents took from me are my cane —the third one they have taken from me— my dark glasses, the Book of Job in Braille, my papers, two directories in Braille, an Italian language text in Braille, a drinking cup, a spoon, 10 dollars, all the documents about the Varela Project, and more than 40 petition forms.
| | Indymedia spreekbuis voor CIA-campagne | y - 01.07.2003 20:42
De Irakezen die Babies uit de couveuzes haalden en ze op de grond gooiden om te sterven, het concentratiekamp in Servie, de heroische bevrijdin van een amerikaanse vrouwelijke militair in de nadagen van de oorlog in Irak. Iedereen weet dat dit leugens waren, verspreid door de amerikaanse fascisten om de publieke opnie naar hun hand te zetten om de steun voor het fascistische, imperialistische praktijken te winnen.
Zo ook het verhaal over de (maar liefts) 10 vermoorde anarchisten in Cuba. Amnesty Inertantional weet van niets. De bron is het belachelijke A-Info's, hun bron is weer "een relatie in Honduras oid. A.I weet niets volgens hun website op amnesty.org.
X. geloofd natuurlijk alles, als het maar past in het Anti-Cuba verhaal.
Vervolgens komt hij ook nog met een interview van "Cubaanse" anrachisten, die plijten voor de economische Boycit van Cuba, zoals die door alle landen in de VN, met uitzondering van Israel en de VS, zijn veroordeeld.
Dan plaatst hij een verhaal dat moet bewijzen dat er in Cuba gemarteld wordt. Ik wette niet hoelang hij heeft moeten zoeken want Human Rights watch en Amnesty International hebben nog nooit martelingen in Cuba goemd. Vervolgens haalt hij een dissident aan, "die toen hij gemarteld werd dacht ana het lijden van Jezus Christus toen hij aan het kruis hing.
Dit alles op het moment dat de amerikaanen serieus overwegen om Cuba binnen te vallen en ene regime-verandering te bewerksrtelligen, zoals ze dat zo mooi kunnen zeggen.
Iedereen kan zien op Guantanamo Bay, wa voor toekomst de amerikanen voor haar tegenstanders in gedachten heeft.
Het is al eerder gezegd, maar Cuba is dus zo ongeveer het enige land in de regio, inclusief de VS waar niet wordt gemarteld, waar het onderwijs en d emedische zorg gratis is (die zorg is natuurlijk beperkt door de economische boycot) en waar ondanks de boycot van de amerikanase fascisten, de levensverwachting hoger is dan enig ander land in de regio, weer inclusief de VS.
Een serieus voorstel voor veranderingen in uba waarbij de amerikanen buiten de deur worden gehouden, warabij Guantanamo Bay wordt gesloten kan/wil X niet produceren. Dat intereseert hem ook niet, als de revolutie in Cuba maar wordt gebroken.
De gefabriceerde verhaaltjes horen in ieder geval niet op een website die zichzelf progesssief en journalistiek noemt. Het zijn allemaal broodje apa verhalen rechtsreeks uit de koker van de nieuwe gestapo, de CIA.
Zijn verhaaltjes zijn gene "nieuws" maar fabrikages en botte leugens.
| | AI bericht wel over martelingen op Cuba | x - 01.07.2003 21:08
AI REPORT 1998:
CUBA
(This report covers the period January-December 1997)
Hundreds of political prisoners detained in previous years and convicted after unfair trials remained imprisoned. Many were prisoners of conscience. Scores of dissidents suffered short-term detention and harassment and several were forced into exile. There were frequent reports of ill-treatment, in some cases amounting to torture, resulting in at least one death. Prison conditions sometimes constituted cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. At least five unarmed civilians were shot dead by law enforcement officials in disputed circumstances. No executions were reported but several men remained under sentence of death.
(etcetera....)
| | No Passeran! | Y - 01.07.2003 22:23
Ik denk dat we maar het beste een einde kunnen maken aan deze "diskussie". Een gesprek met jouw is uberhaupt nutteloos. Jij bent blij als een kind als je denkt aan te kunnen tonen dat er in Cuba wordt gemarteld en denkt daarmee de agressie van de VS, haar destabilisatie campagne, haar economische boycot en haar "kopen van opositie" te legitimeren. Je noemt door amerika betaalde agenten "vrije pers" en negeert systematisch het lot wat de Cubaanse bevolking te wachten staat na de eventuele amerikaanse overwinning.
Voor de record, Cuba is nog steeds het land waar de menserechten het beste zijn gegarandeerd van alle landen in de
regio, inclusief de VS die jij graag ondersteunt in haar imperialistische kruistocht tegen Cuba.
In Cuba heb je geen geheime rechtbanken, geheime gevangissen, geheime rechtsspraak etc, dat is weggelegd voor het Cubaanse volk als jij je zin krijgt. Het raport wat jij citeerd schilder Cuba af als lievelijk als je het vergelijkt met de VS en wat er in Cuba gaat gebeuren na de door jouw zo vurig gewenste overwinning van het amerikaanse fascisme op het Cubaanse volk. Je kunt, in amerika gesitueerde "anarchisten" citeren zoveel als je wilt, maar het Cubaanse Volk haat de yanken.
Zoals al eerder gezegd: heb jij geen enkel idee voor een eventuele verandering op Cuba zonder dat de amerikanen er het er voor het zeggen krijgen, je wenst daar waarschijnlijk ook niet over na te denken, dat intereseert je niet. Als een volkomen gleich geschaltete us-fascist, intereseert je dat ook niet. Het volk van Cuba noem je alleen maar om je amerikaanse belangen te verdedigen. Je doel is Cuba: een groot Guantanamo Bay.
Tot ziens op de barrikaden!
Website: http://www.granma.cu/ingles/
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