Tweeting Under Castro: Blog Talk Radio with Yoani Sanchez

Tweeting Under Castro: From Havana, blogger Yoani Sanchez with hosts Mirta Ojito & Teresa Puente. 

Columbia Journalism School presents a revolutionary webcast our first ever webcast in Spanish with Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez (@YoaniSanchez) to discuss how social media breaks down the walls of censorship in Cuba and elsewhere.

She will be calling from Havana and talking with Prof. Mirta Ojito (@mirtaojito), author of "Finding Manana: A Memoir of a Cuban Exodus" and professor and blogger Teresa Puente (@tcpuente).

Tweeting desde Cuba: Acompañenos en una charla revolucionaria nuestro primer webcast en español  con la bloguera cubana Yoani Sanchez (@yoanisanchez), que nos contará cómo rompe las barreras de la censura con social media. Estará con nosotros las profesoras Mirta Ojito (@mirtaojito) y Teresa Puente (@tcpuente).

 

Are Obama's Policies Aiding Castro Murders?

Obama seems delusional Ignoring the fact that his naive Cuba outreach policy has not only emboldened but also enriched Castro's death squads who continue to kill Cubans and hold American hostages with Impunity. The latest atrocity Is the premeditated murder of  young courageous hunger striker Wilman Villar Mendoza.

Via  Marc Mas Ferrer of  Uncommon Sense

"President Obama’s thoughts and prayers are with the wife, family, and friends of Wilmar Villar, a young and courageous defender of human rights and fundamental freedoms in Cuba who launched a hunger strike to protest his incarceration and succumbed to pneumonia.

Villar’s senseless death highlights the ongoing repression of the Cuban people and the plight faced by brave individuals standing up for the universal rights of all Cubans. The United States will not waiver in our support for the liberty of the Cuban people. 

We will remain steadfast in our outreach to the Cuban people through unlimited Cuban American family visits and remittances, purposeful travel, and humanitarian assistance to dissidents and their families in support of their legitimate desire to freely determine Cuba’s future. -- White House statement on the death of Wilman Villar Mendoza

The White House did the right thing Friday in acknowledging the death of Wilman Villar Mendoza, and condemning the repression he died fighting.

But the White House also ignored how the policies it saw fit to promote as part of its statement, contributed, at the very least indirectly, to Villar's death.

Where's the connection? Just follow the money.

Out of every dollar sent to the island, whether as a remittance or in the pocket of a "people-to-people" traveler, a piece ends up in the coffers of the regime.

And from there, the dictatorship pays its secret policemen, its jailers, its informers and anyone else who keeps the machine of repression running Including those who followed their orders from the top and killed Wilman Villar Mendoza.

Obama's policies have delivered more cash to the Castro dictatorship, which coincidentally or not, has corresponded with a spike in repression.

The Cuban people cannot afford much more "outreach" like that"   More

Taxpayer Money Fueling Castro Tyranny

(WASHINGTON) – U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, made the following statement on the Smithsonian Institution’s, a taxpayer-funded entity, upcoming trips to Cuba under a so-called People-to-People Cultural Exchange Program:

“The Smithsonian’s 10-day trips to Cuba will amount to little more than a tropical vacation. Americans participating in these trips will not see the brutal reality of the Castro dictatorship.  They will not be visiting run down hospitals where sick Cubans have to bring their own bed sheets and medications, nor will they have the opportunity to sit in a court room where peaceful pro-democracy advocates are sentenced because due process and a real judicial system are non-existent.

“The nature of the Smithsonian’s upcoming trips to Cuba becomes clear merely by looking at the ad promoting it. The ad fails to mention that Cuba is a state-sponsor of terrorism or that Castro’s thugs repeatedly and routinely beat and harass the innocent Ladies in White while they peacefully march down a street.  It does not mention that an American citizen is being held hostage by the regime simply for seeking to lift the veil of censorship that the dictatorship imposes on the Cuban people. 

“Americans will not be able to interact with a typical Cuban family as they conduct their daily desperate search for food, stop by a dormant newspaper’s office that no longer operates because there is no freedom of the press, or visit the ever-growing prisons where countless political prisoners languish in their cells for exercising freedom of expression. These are the real cultural experiences in Cuba. Instead, these tourists will experience a false depiction of Cuba through a biased and censored ‘tour’ of the island.

“It is deeply disappointing that the Smithsonian Institute, primarily funded by American taxpayers, is facilitating access to U.S. dollars, which enables the Castro regime to make a hefty profit. The trips not only illustrate a blatant disregard for human rights conditions on the island by an entity that receives U.S. government funding, but provide the deplorable Havana tyranny a sense of legitimacy.”

"Obamatrons" Overlooking Cuba's Wave of Repression

"The Unwritten Story: How the Media and the Obama Administration Overlook Cuba's Wave of Repression"

From last week's presentation at The Heritage Foundation: Nov 22 2011

Thank you so much for the invitation to be here today

Cuba’s legal and institutional structures are under the direct control of the island’s totalitarian dictatorship.

The Castro regime’s 1976 Constitution prohibits private ownership of the media or any independent exercise of journalism. Moreover, it only allows for speech, so long as it “conforms to the aims of a socialist society.”

Its criminal code contains a host of arbitrary sanctions, such as “enemy propaganda” and the dissemination of “unauthorized news.” Insult laws carry penalties of three months to one year in prison. The sentences rise to three years if members of the regime’s Council of State or National Assembly are the objects of criticism.

The 1997 Law of National Dignity provides for jail sentences of three to ten years for “anyone who,in a direct or indirect form, collaborates with the enemy’s media.” This is aimed at independent news agencies that send their material abroad.

All of this is in contravention to Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states, “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

Needless to say -- those who “dare” practice independent journalism in Cuba are violently repressed.

Cuba ranks amongst the top jailers of journalists in the world, alongside China and Iran. At one point in 2009, there were just 7 more imprisoned journalists in China than in Cuba. Of course, China has a population of 1.4 billion, while Cuba’s population is 11.5 million. That makes Cuba not twice or thrice as repressive as China -- but nearly 92 times as repressive.

Yet, at great personal risk, many courageous Cubans still dare practice this key profession.

Theoretically, the repression of domestic journalists would make the presence of foreign journalists more important, as they could report on Cuba’s realities with less risk. Or perhaps, it would guide their conscience and professional solidarity. Sadly, that’s not typically the case.So let me focus on U.S. media outlets in Cuba, which was the topic assigned to me for this presentation.

The New York Times was the last U.S. media entity to leave (or be shown the door) by the newly established Castro dictatorship in the early 1960s. Apparently, that was Castro’s payback for all of the positive reporting it got from the newspaper throughout the 1950s. If you haven’t read the book, “Herbert Matthews: The Man Who Invented Fidel” by Anthony de Palma, I highly recommend it.

It wasn’t until after collapse of the Soviet bloc and years of negotiations with Fidel Castro himself that CNN was the first U.S. outlet to establish a Castro-era Havana news bureau in 1997, followed by the Associated Press in 1998.

In 2000, after ten years of lobbying the Castro regime, the Dallas Morning News and Tribune Co.(which operated both the Chicago Tribune and Sun Sentinel)also established Havana bureaus. However, both closed down in 2004 and 2009, respectively.Ironically, they operated in Havana for less time than it took them to convince Castro to let them in.

ABC, CBS and NBC have established formal bureaus in the last decade, but they have had some reporting presence there since before. For example, NBC producer Mary Murray has been in Havana since 1994. Of course, this raises other concerns, such as “clientitis.”

The fact is that the foreign media in Cuba has only one goal -- to cover one “big story” -- the death of Fidel Castro. Everything else is a balancing act of how to "report" on current events without offending the regime and preventing expulsion, so as not to miss the "big story." And how “big” is this story for them?

Put it this way -- Havana is the only news bureau in Latin America for CBS and NBC. ABC also has a Mexico City bureau. One would think there were other pressing issues in the region. Furthermore, Havana is not a strategic or efficient location to cover the rest of the hemisphere due to substantial logistical challenges, such as expensive linkage fees. The bottom line is that they are there to cover the “big story” and that’s it.

As Yoani Sanchez eloquently wrote in Foreign Policy recently: “The dilemma of foreign correspondents -- popularly called ‘foreign collaborators’ -- is whether to make concessions in reporting in order to stay in the country, or to narrate the reality and face expulsion. The major international media want to be here when the long-awaited ‘zero day’ arrives -- the day the Castro regime finally makes its exit from history”

The Castro regime’s controls on foreign journalists are wielded through its International Press Center (IPC), which not only issues the press accreditation required to report from Cuba, but also approves the necessary paperwork for these journalist to enjoy some basic comforts, such as air conditioners and refrigerators (both helpful in the tropics), or being able to import or purchase a car

The IPC also likes to remain a full-year behind in its process of renewing credentials for foreign journalists. It’s another “subtle” way of pressuring them on their stories -- like a report card hovering over their heads.

There are currently about 150 foreign media personnel (journalists and staff) accredited in Cuba by the IPC, mostly newspapers and television and radio stations from Europe, Latin America and Asia.

Accounts of the Castro regime’s methods to pressure foreign journalists against reporting on “non-approved” topics were highlighted in two recent books by Spanish journalists, who spent years as correspondents in Havana. The books -- La Casa de Cristal (The Glass House) by Isabel Garcia-Zarza of Reuters and Los Funerales de Castro (Castro's Funerals) by Vicente Botin of Spanish Television (TVE) -- are a must-read for anyone wanting to understand the reality of reporting from Cuba.

"Rare is the journalist who does not soften his reports, to avoid being expelled from the country," wrote Isabel García-Zarza of the Reuters news agency. "Self-censorship is a very common practice… No one on the island can write the truth of what happens there. Correspondents can only come close to reality," wrote Vicente Botín of Spanish television (TVE).

According to Botin, state security agents are widely believed to electronically monitor the correspondents' phones, cars and home and track their "political ideas, their preferences, their tendencies and above all their weaknesses like drugs, sex, alcohol."

Throughout the years, the Castro regime has expelled or refused to renew the accreditation of dozens of foreign correspondents -- always looking to set an “example” for other journalists. Some of the most recent include (in 2007) Gary Marx of the Chicago Tribune, Cesar Gonzalez Calero of Mexico’s El Universal, Stephen Gibbs of BBC, and just last month, Mauricio Vicent of Spain’s El Pais and Juan Castro Olivera from France’s AFP news agency.

Additionally, the Castro regime has no qualms about arresting foreign journalists. In 2005, it detained, and then expelled, at least seven foreign journalists -- one Swiss, two Italians and four Poles -- who traveled to Cuba to cover a gathering of pro-democracy activists. Now, to be fair -- foreign journalists do not always succumb to the Castro regime’s pressures. It's a balancing act for them.

For example,last year, the IPC warned correspondents to stay away from the funeral of Cuban political prisoner and hunger striker Orlando Zapata Tamayo. None covered the ceremony. But after Guillermo Fariñas launched his own hunger strike, three foreign journalists went to his home for first-hand accounts.

Both of these events were outside Havana. Increasingly,pro-democracy leaders have dramatically scaled up their activities in the provinces. Foreign correspondents are practically all based in Havana, even further limiting coverage

In a new phenomenon, the Castro regime has also adopted a strategy of “hit-and-run” repression. Since Raul Castro was promoted to dictator-in-chief, repression on the island has risen dramatically. However, the tactics have changed. In order to elude international scrutiny (despite a dramatic rise in repression), the regime will now beat up opposition activists, drag them to prison, beat them up some more and then release them in 2-3 days.

This has created a “cat-and-mouse” game with the foreign media: Journalists may write a story the first time, but by the time they get around to it, the activist will have been released. By the second and third time (etc.) the activist is arrested, they will simply not bother with a story altogether,anticipating the activist’s imminent release.There’s a silver lining though.

As Yoani Sanchez concluded in the Foreign Policy article I previously cited: “Opening the world's eyes to the real Cuba, after all, no longer requires a wire service dispatch; it can be done with a cell phone.

New media and technology have bolstered independent journalists and the entire spectrum of Cuba’s pro-democracy movement.

Bloggers like Yoani Sanchez, whose posts travel the cyber-world;  independent news agencies like Hablemos Press, which has filmed numerous recent protests (including one on the steps of the Capitol building) using cell phones;  independent journalists like Carlos Rios Otero, who was just re-arrested last week for investigating the cause of death of Ladies in White leader Laura Pollan;  tools like Twitter,which allow activists to denounce repression in real-time;  and websites like Hablalo Sin Miedo (“Speak Without Fear”) and Cuba Sin Censura (“Cuba Without Censorship”) , which turn cell phones into international microphones.

These last two (along with Twitter) have become essential tools for activists in the provinces, which are virtually ignored by foreign journalists This brings me to an important issue.

On December 3rd, 2009, the Cuban authorities arrested Alan P. Gross, an American development worker from Potomac, Md., who had gone to Havana to help provide Internet technology to Jewish groups, so they could communicate amongst each other and with the outside world.

The arrest of Gross, who is in ill health, has lost over 100 lbs and was sentenced to 15 years in prison (after a year with no charges filed), underlines the Castro regime’s determination to control information -- and punish those who would press for a free flow of information.

Once again,in contravention of Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which establishes “the right to receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

In conclusion, allow me to make just one factual observation regarding the Obama Administration’s policy towards Cuba,as it’s not my assigned topic per se.

There's an American hostage in Cuba and despite this, the Obama Administration conducted a new round of easing non-humanitarian sanctions in January 2011. Since then, political arrests have more than doubled and we’re seeing the largest spike in repression in decades –- all courtesy of an emboldened regime.

And that’s not the only thing that has doubled. Since the Obama Administration first lifted restrictions on travel and remittances in April 2009, the Castro regime’s hard currency deposits in foreign banks have doubled. That’s a troubling and indisputable fact.

Once again, thank you so much.

La Bayamesa Completa A Complete History of the Famous Song

New Audio Version of this article here

The historic evolution of the famous Cuban song "La Bayamesa" & the tragic fate of It's protagonists.

Translated & Revised from the original essay In Spanish from The magazine "El Bayames" by Enrique Martinez Fajardo

"La Bayamesa Tres Etapas de un Sublime Ideal de Libertad y El Excelso Holocausto de su Protagonistas"

Ano 33  No.92  Febrero 2010

La Bayamesa Is Insolubly mixed Into the Cuban soul & three transcendental moments place It at the very center of historic action and project It vigorously Into Immortality.

With an amorous accent at first, a bellicose Impetus second  &  an unbend-able firmness third, post the tragic days of the heroic Immolation.

In the first romantic stage It Is the emotive love song created by Cespedes, Fornaris and Castillo Moreno In 1851.

In the second phase It Is the bellicose march song composed by Perucho Figueredo In 1868.

And In the third stage, while wandering between mountains and underbrush & their city up In flames with all of It's riches and well being In It;  Bayameses nurture the notes of the original song, transforming It's verses newly Impregnated, with the purest & most ardent notes of Cuban patriotism.

The First Stage:

Marital disagreements had created a crisis In the decade old marriage between lawyer and musician Francisco del Castillo y Moreno and his wife Maria de la Luz Vazquez y Moreno.

They had three daughters at that point Lucila, Leonela and Atala and they all served to Inspire the romantic husband to reconcile and reconquer the love of his beautiful wife.

For this essential endeavor Francisco del Castillo y Moreno recruited his maternal nephew Carlos Manuel de Cespedes y del Castillo and poet, professor & lawyer Jose Fornaris y Luque paternal uncle of  Carlos Manuel.

Fornaris was the "Primo Hermano" of Carlos Manuel's father Jesus Maria Cespedes y Luque whom everyone lovingly called Don Chucho.

Fornaris, after recognizing relatively easily the essence of the conflict captured In verses the passionate aspirations of the gallant husband. Cespedes then conceived the sublime melody.

After soliciting the best tenor In Bayamo, Carlos Perez Tamayo to sing the words &  many rehearsals later, a firm date was set for It's debut on the 26th of March 1851.

On that fine evening the four family friends set out for the comfortable house on Cruz Verde street, whose remodeled structure now houses the Jose Joaquin Palma theater, and where In front of a beautiful window, adorned with wooden barrotes, they sang the enchanting tune to a beauty among beauties,who with her raven hair, pearl white teeth, Incomparable features & sun kissed complexion, along with her moral qualities, faithfully represents the Image of our Cuba; and on this night Maria de la Luz Is her.

"No recuerdas, gentil Bayamesa, que tu fuiste mi sol refulgente y risueno en tu languida frente blando beso imprimi con ardor?
No recuerdas que en un tiempo dichoso me extasie en tu pura belleza y en tu seno doble la cabeza moribundo de dicha y amor?
Ven asoma a tu reja sonriendo: ven y escucha, amorosa, mi canto: ven , no duermas, acude a mi llanto, pon alivio a mi negro dolor.
Recordando las glorias pasadas, disipemos, mi bien, la tristeza y doblemos los dos la cabeza moribundos de dicha y amor."

From that moment on the superb melody became master of It's people, who found In It's lyrics or melody something profound, a heartfelt protest against the  horrendous oppression suffered on the Island under the Spanish "Metropoli"

It became an Indispensable part of the repertoire for musicians and orchestras throughout the Island and the beautiful song dominated In popularity for the next two decades.

The Second Stage:

This stage starts from the moment the clarion calls an end to the battle for Bayamo Oct 20 1868 and It's people emerge forged out of the joys and horrors of war, but masters of their own domain.

And with an unbending firmness and conscientiousness that propelled them Into the struggle for full Independence & with Cespedes at the fore front Bayamo Is finally free.

Carlos Manuel de Cespedes would later be captured and killed by the Spanish at San Lorenzo February 1874.

Perucho Figueredo's battle hymn Is now played openly for the first time to a jubilant populace and empowers Itself with It's notes of combat triumph and liberty Into the hearts of  all Cubans delirious with freedom.

This Is the new Bayamesa which In the future would become the national hymn.

"Al combate corred Bayameses,                 
Que la patria os contempla orgullosa
No temais una muerte gloriosa
Que morir por la patria es vivir"

Hasten to battle, men of Bayamo!
The motherland looks proudly to you;
Do not fear a glorious death,
Because to die for the fatherland is to live.

En cadenas vivir es vivir
En afrenta y oprobio sumido,
Del clarín escuchad el sonido;
¡A las armas, valientes, corred!

 To live in chains is to live
In dishonor and ignominy,
Hear the clarion's call;
Hasten, brave ones, to battle!

But Incredible sacrifice awaits following the days of disaster In which Bayameses preferring the ashes to being newly enslaved by the Spaniards burn down their bountiful city second only to Havana In wealth.

And Into the mountains go fleeing It's 10,000 souls without homes, to suffer the deadly consequences of weather and nature.

The Third Stage:

The Intolerable enemy pursues without clemency, the wandering populace between mountains and bush. The most horrible vengeance drives the "Doldadesca", Impotent against the courage and civility offered up equally now by Bayamo as In ancient "Numancia".

No more Is there repentance; neither hunger or misery; nor cold or blazing sun, nor lightning or storm, nor cruel Illnesses, nor lead or bayonet can humble,  crush or bend El Bayames. Where there's an absence of civility there's firmness.

Here again re surges the Iconic melody of  the old  Bayamesa gushing up with surprising enthusiasm & accompanied now with new verses speaking of  faith and sacrifice In the epic struggle.

The revived song now reverberates throughout the mountains &  valleys of Cuba and along the country roads and lonely pathways of  the rebellious Island making more bearable the Immense journey In pursuit of  It's ultimate Independence.

"No recuerdas gentil Bayamesa, que Bayamo fue un sol refulgente donde impuso un cubano valiente con su mano el pendon tricolor?
No recuerdas que en tiempos pasados el tirano exploto tu riquezas, pero ya no levanta cabeza moribundo de rabia y temor?
Te quemaron tus hijos, no hay pena que mas vale morir con honor que servir a un tirano opresor que el derecho nos quiere usurpar.
Ya mi Cuba despierta sonriendo, mientras sufre y padece el tirano a quien quire el valiente cubano expulsar de sus playas de amor"

The Sublime Holocaust of It's Protagonists

Much research was conducted In various texts and archived documents to find more precisely the relationships between the protagonists of this legendary song, who gave their lives heroically for Cuban Liberty.

We'll start with the beautiful woman who served as  the Inspiration. Her complete Identity Is Maria de la Luz Vazquez-Valdez-Coronado y Moreno de Mendoza.

She was the twin sister of Isabel Antonia, who had a large family with her husband the lawyer and musician Pedro Felipe Figueredo y Cisneros "Perucho" the Immortal author of the bellicose Bayamesa, which became the national hymn at the commencement of the First Cuban Republic May 20th 1902.

Perucho was executed August 17 1870 In Santiago de Cuba alongside the father & son Rodrigo and Ignacio Tamayo by firing squad.

Luz Vazquez y Moreno and her cousin  Francisco de Castillo y Moreno were married  when she was just 15 and he just 21 years of age.

In 1943 they had their first daughter Lucila later came Leonela and Atala. After the debut of La  Bayamesa on the 26th of  March 1851 the following children were born in order Francisco, Adriana, Pompeyo and Heliodoro.

In the future Lucila del Castillo y Vazquez would marry Francisco Antonio Estrada. Leonela the poet Jose Joaquin Palma y Lasso de la Vega and Atala who emigrated to the US  and Key West married Don Carlos Costales.

Turning to Fornaris who was the only one who escaped the martyrdom suffered by the rest of the protagonists.

He traveled to Europe In 1871 visiting several countries till he settled In Paris France and worked their till the end of the Ten Years War 1868-1878.

He returned after the signing of the Pact of Zanjon.

He then lived In Havana where he taught History, Literature, Grammar, Latin and Greek In various schools until his death there on September 19 1890.

The popular Encyclopedia " Cuba en la Mano" says this about Fornaris: he was censured by contemporaries for his "Inactivity" In the decade spanning the "Ten Years War" 1868-1878, notwithstanding his previously being one of the first & most Intense revolutionaries In fomenting a nationalist spirit through his literary work.

In his native Bayamo his name lives on in perpetuity In one of the street names within the historic city center.

Now to the moving sacrifices made by the families of Luz  Vazquez, Figueredo and Cespedes the Bayames historian Jose Maceo Verdecia In his book "Bayamo" offers us this adequate portal with Impacting & florid language:

"There are families who come Into life touched by misfortune. chosen by destiny to propel the evolution of nations; like the martyr of  "Golgata"  has to endure the torment, In whose ending they find themselves obligated to exclaim the same terrible phrase " Our kingdom Is not of this world"

Bayamo was bountiful In these families. The martyrs and heroes who gave up their lives In the conflict of 1868 dragged along with them, all of their families, who In turn had to suffer the same misfortunes and hardships too.

Inscrutable plans of eternity! born between splendor and pomp; on the whims of fortune until only moments before the fire of Bayamo, from an Illustrious birth Into the arms of misfortune; her luxurious home destroyed, witness to the sinking, relative by relative, In the bosom of death, without patrimony other than misery no closer to life than the Implacable pain destroying her as rough and dismal as the oppressors of her motherland" 

Francisco del Castillo y Moreno died before the start of the war against Spain. Suffering with tuberculosis he traveled to Madrid  for treatment but died without a cure In 1867.

His widow Maria de la Luz and their children fulfilling a patriotic role with titanic Integrity Inscribed their surname, with the Indelible language of heroic sacrifice, Into the most amazing pages of Bayamo's history..

On Oct 17 1868 just a day before the first shots were fired In the city against the Spanish oppressors by Cespedes, Figueredo and Aguilera, the next to last son Pompeyo died at his home from the terrible ravages of tuberculosis.

With him there were his youngest brother Heliodoro and his  tormented mother Maria de la Luz and her other children

He was buried the next day at the cemetery In Bayamo San Juan Evagelista, amid the Incipient  battle for Bayamo.

48 hours later and victorious over the Spanish garrison there the glorious notes of Perucho's Bayamesa were Intoned for the first time Oct 20 1868.

After the fire of the city, Luz Vazquez along with an Incredible exodus, penetrated the forests of Guisa, evading the tenacious persecution of both the Spanish soldiers and their vile collaborators.

Francisco del Castillo y Vazquez the oldest of the brothers, barely past his adolescence, joined the liberating armies and became one the first to offer up his life In the fields of the heroic "manigua", fighting for the Independence of the fatherland.

But of all the Castillo y Vazquez family the one who most fervently embraced the revolutionary cause was Adriana barely 17 years old at the time.

During the conspiratorial stage, she served as an Infallible link, coordinating  reunions of  leaders; distributing propaganda, Transmitting opportune warnings and leading multiple episodes In which she displayed the valor, mettle and courage of the women of Bayamo.

In his book "Bayamo" the historian Jose Maceo Verdecia recounts an Illustrative episode.

"During a procession of three captured patriots, Rodrigo Tamayo, Eleusino Betancourt & Federico Sanchez  & among a multitude of curious witnesses, Adriana broke through the Spanish cordon.

Then evading the guards from stopping her placed a bouquet of flowers Into the tied hands of one of the men and took off hastily throwing kisses at them and shouting repeatedly "for the three of them"  "Para Los Tres" "Para Los Tres"

During the days of battle for the city Adriana Is credited with going into the homes of still neutral or Indecisive Bayameses and Inspiring them Into battle.

After the joyous but fleeting victory she led a band of girls Into the Parroquia de Dolores where they Intoned" El Te Duem" rendering thanks to the creator for the triumph of the revolutionaries.

She contributed to the heroic burning of Bayamo and after a year of evading capture and decimated by Typhus fell into the hands of  the Spanish.

Again author historian Jose Maceo Verdecia narrates:

"Adriana without strength to resist the deadly malady dragging her Into delirium refused the medical attention that a Spanish military doctor was offering and summoning her last physical reserves  pulled herself unto a nearby bed to die while Intoning the notes of the bellicose Bayamesa of Perucho Figueredo"

Finally to Maria de la Luz Vazquez y Moreno

Relates Verdecia:

"With Adriana now dead all the attention fell unto Lucila...  with the tuberculosis destroying her lungs The Spanish doctor a gentleman like few & true to his word, with condolences for all the disgraces falling without pity upon that family, tried with all his forces to revive the sick girl.

Under these circumstances however one night after a strong attack of "hemoptosis"  Lucila lost all consciousness.The doctor asked for more help but after one hour of trying to revive her was called away.

If after 2 more hours we don't get a reaction we'll have lost all hope he said to the grieving Luz Vazquez. Those were his last words before leaving for other military duties.

The mother after that Instant, crying and with deep consternation, gets down beside the bed on her knees.

In terrible suspense she waited. Hoping to see If  life would somehow reappear In her stricken daughter's body.

Time passes without her turning her anguished and prayerful gaze from her daughter's cadaverous face.

Horrible pleadings overcome her heart for all of the disgraces heaped upon her family! Her oldest son Francisco recently killed after a year enduring misery In the mountains, daughter Adriana also dead only a few days ago.

And now on her knees under the terrible anguish of waiting and with a mind weakened by fatality, the time given by the doctor runs out.

She falls beaten by an agony as great as her loneliness as deep as her misfortune & embraces her seemingly lifeless daughter and dies on the spot!"

An hour later under the luminous lights of the mortuary Lucila recovers consciousness.

And so passed away the beautiful woman who served as Inspiration for the creation of  the Original Bayamesa. New Audio Version of this article Here 

Footnotes:

On the audio version of this article we also play Sindo Garay y Garcia's lyrics of the song written In 1919  Originally called Mujer Bayamesa

Tiene en su alma La Bayamesa             
Tristse recuerdo de tradiciones
Quando contempla los verdes llanos
Lagrimas vierte por sus pasiones

Ella es sencilla, le brinda al hombre,
Virtudes todas y el corazon
Pero si siente
De la Patria el grito
Todo lo deja, todo lo quema,
Ese es su lema, su religion

From Castro's Gulag a Voice Denounces Laura Pollan's Premeditated Murder

Via Mambi En Accion Videos Hat Tip Zurama

Biscet analysis points to Dengue Fever and criminal medical neglect 

Update Who Killed Laura Pollan? 


Rough Translation of this startling accusation by Cuban political prisoner Ernesto Borges recorded from Inside Guanajay Prison East of Havana.Video follows below.

On the 13th of October 2011, one day before the death In Havana's deplorable hospital Calixto Garcia, of the leader of The Ladies In White Laura Pollan, the ex Captain of Cuban State Security and now political prisoner, Ernesto Borges, denounced the premeditated assassination of Laura Pollan.

Because of the national and International Impact that the ladies In White have attained, the open Invitation at her home for all Cuban women to participate as a civil & human rights organization helping free political prisoners, and for her promotion along with co founder Berta Soler of a new chapter of the Ladies In Santiago de Cuba, Borges believes that Laura Pollan, the leader was specifically targeted for destruction by the Castro Regime.

He accuses the Castro Ruz Brothers of personally singling out Pollan for elimination and that If anything sinister does happen, of her slow, cold blooded and scientifically calculated assassination.

Starting long ago with multiple violent arrests, beatings and other brutal abuse heaped upon her and other female members of The Ladies In White.And possibly culminating with the nefarious use of Cuban made biological agents to complicate her diabetic and other preexisting conditions, so as to gradually kill her.

These deadly poisons, viruses and bacteria, Unknown to most Cubans are guarded & handled by Cuban Military Medical Experts at the Institute for Tropical Medicine.

If she dies I believe It will be because she was Inoculated with some sort of Imperceptible biological agent or virus designed to Inexorably deteriorate her frail condition and ultimately kill her.

There must not be any excuse for this regime of leftist fascists. If Pollan perishes from previously known and fully treatable medical conditions at the hands of Castro "healthcare"

We must condemn her political assassination and let the world media know of her valiant actions. We must also console and help her family If she dies suddenly at the hands of this vile dictatorship that fears peaceful but Indomitable Cuban women.

I stand In complete and unwavering solidarity with Laura Pollan, Berta Soler and all the rest of these Incredibly brave Cuban women.

These Castro doctors will be responsible along with Fidel and Raul and the rest of the actual "government" If anything sinister were to occur suddenly to this exceptionally courageous and Inspirational woman that has meant so much to me & all other political prisoners.

I hope and pray daily for the health of Laura Pollan and unequivocally accuse the Castro Ruz brothers of premeditated murder If she dies.




El 13 de Octubre de 2011, un día antes del fallecimiento de la líder de Las Damas de Blanco, el ex-capitán de la Seguridad del Estado de Cuba y actual prisionero político, Ernesto Borges, denunciaba el asesinato premeditado de Laura Pollán.

Inpired by Cuba's Pro Democracy Leaders

Via Mauricio Carone In The Hill where Congress comes to blog

"What could be more pompous (and insulting) than the argument that American and foreign tourists can "inspire" the Cuban people to seek democracy? Not much.

Well, on second thought, maybe Republican Congressman Jeff Flake of Arizona and Democratic Congressman Charlie Rangel of New York calling their bill to sweep away all remaining restrictions on American travel to Cuba, the "Export Freedom to Cuba Act."

Or, the Obama Administration, which rejects American exceptionalism everywhere else in the world, arguing that American travelers (that have been carefully screened for entry by the Castro regime) are our best "Ambassadors of Freedom" to the Cuban people.

Their argument is that Cubans, upon seeing spring breakers and tourists enjoying luxury "people-to-people" tours and Cuban-American "mules" peddling flat-screen TV's, will suddenly realize what they're missing under the Castros' totalitarian dictatorship, as if Cubans don't already know what's missing, and life under a brutal regime was their voluntary choice.

The argument further holds that American travelers are different from the throngs of Canadian snowbirds and the European sex tourists visiting the island for the last two decades, frequently degrading the Cuban people while bankrolling the repressive regime.

American travelers, in other words, will be "truly inspirational."

Americans are undoubtedly the kindest, noblest and most charitable people in the world. But it's extraordinarily arrogant to argue that any foreign tourist is needed to inspire or empower the Cuban people, when some of the most courageous and inspirational people in this world are living in Cuba.

Meet Ivonne Mayeza Galano.

Last month, this amazing woman stood alone on the steps of the Capitol building in Havana. Knowing the brutality of the repression that awaited her, she nonetheless, peacefully held up a sign reading:

"Cambios en Cuba Sin Dictadura" ("Change in Cuba Without Dictatorship")

She was promptly arrested, stripped naked, searched and violently interrogated.

Two weeks later, four other women, Sara Marta Fonseca, Mercedes García Álvarez, Tania Maldonado Sánchez and Odalys Zurma González, continued her protest. Predictably, they too were arrested, but this time it took Castro's security forces 40-minutes to drag them away, as a gathering crowd of bystanders began to heckle the oppressors.

Or how about Iris Perez Aguilera?

This Afro-Cuban pro-democracy leader is the founder of the Rosa Parks Feminist Movement for Civil Rights. She undertakes weekly protests and sit-ins. As a result of these, Castro's secret police, on numerous occasions, has abused and brutally beaten her -- to the point of hospitalization.

Or how about Iris's husband, Jorge Luis Garcia Perez "Antunez?"

Antunez, often referred to as Cuba's Nelson Mandela, spent 17-years as a political prisoner for protesting in the public square of his hometown. Today, still a young 46-years old, he is the leader of Cuba's civil disobedience movement.

Or how about Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet?

A charismatic physician, he spent nearly 11-years in political prison for his democratic advocacy as head of the Lawton Foundation for Human Rights. At a recent concert, U2's Bono honored Dr. Biscet as a true inspiration.

Or Marcelino Abreu, who has spent over 100 days on a hunger strike, protesting his unjust four-year prison-sentence. His crime was refusing to show a police officer identification after walking nearby the Castro regime's tourist-only Hotel Nacional. Abreu still holds that Cubans should be free to walk on the public streets and enter the public buildings of their homeland. Cuban authorities disagree.

Or the young rappers and rockers that defy the Cuban dictatorship through their lyrics and whose concerts and music festivals are under constant siege by the "Ministry of Culture" backed by the regime's armed police.

Or the bloggers and social media activists who brave the Castros' censors to inform the world of the harsh brutality and injustices the Cuban people face.

How can foreign travelers —ignorant of life under tyranny and repression– represent democratic ideals better than these icons who have spent years in political prison, and brave daily violence and beatings, to express their democratic aspirations and promote change in Cuba?

Let those of us who live in the United States stop insulting courageous pro-democracy leaders in Cuba with talk of "inspiring" them. The Cuban people don't need to be "inspired" by people abroad. They need our unwavering support for their struggle and for tangible pressure against the dictatorship that represses them.

Laura Pollan Dies In Havana Hospital Was It Cuban Medical Negligence?

Via Jerry De Marco of  Hudson County  NJ'S  Cliffview Pilot

   
As word of Cuban dissident Laura Pollan’s death spreads today (Oct 15 2011), people will be heartbroken. But many will also be angry. So says Union City native John O'Donnell Rosales, who blamed “inadequate medical care because of her peaceful opposition to the terrorist regime of the Castro brothers.”

Every week for nearly eight years, Pollan and the group she founded, Las Damas de Blanco, held protest marches to press for the release of their husbands, who are being held as political prisoners. They always wore white, a symbol of the organization, and carried gladiolas.

The Cuban government has often tried to move them, but the power of the Internet brought the Ladies in White a worldwide audience.

Their popularity was growing as Laura Inés Pollán Toledo, 63, was hospitalized on Oct. 7 after suffering respiratory problems.

News reports last night said she had undergone a tracheotomy hours earlier to help her breathe, and that doctors blamed an aggressive respiratory virus (Dengue Fever) as the cause of the cardio respiratory arrest that killed her.

O' Donnell Rosales believes it could have been prevented.

“She was basically permitted to die by being denied proper medical care at the beginning of her illness, due to political beliefs against the Communist Regime,” said the producer, author and host of a blog radio show, Rosales' History of The South based in Mobile, Ala.

It was more than eight years ago that the Cuban government arrested more than six dozen activists, journalists and others opposed to their country’s policies and sentenced them to lengthy prison terms after accusing them of taking money from the U.S. and other foreign governments.

Pollan’s husband, Héctor Maseda Gutiérrez, and most of the others have since been freed. But that hasn’t deterred the Ladies from calling out the Castro regime for its ongoing human rights abuses. It also hasn’t prevented crowds of government supporters, accompanied by state security agents, from shouting insults and profanities. They Ladies have been detained at times – and even herded onto buses and driven back to their neighborhoods.

"We are going to continue. We are fighting for freedom and human rights," Pollan told The Associated Press. "As long as this government is around, there will be prisoners… while they've let some go, they've put others in jail. It is a never-ending story."

Last year, Miami-based Cuban singer-songwriter Gloria Estefan ignited a rally that drew 100,000 people to Little Havana. Nationwide protests swelled, thanks not only to online postings and messages but to the dignified, honorable presentation she staged – far from the usual political protest rallies seen worldwide.

“This is a big message to [the prisoners] that freedom is alive,” Estefan told the crowd, “and we care for them, and we love them. Viva Cuba Libre!”

Sign at Versailles Cuban restaurant In Little Havana Miami Florida says:

Thank you for you heroism Lara Pollan "To Die for your Homeland Is to Live" Eternal will be your memory.

Estefan has opened the floodgates for Cuban-American descendants who came to the United States, studied, worked hard and planted firm roots here. A great many have settled in Hudson County – particularly in our own “Little Cuba,” Union City. They have watched Pollan’s courageous group with great admiration.

“Our community here in New Jersey wants to show solidarity with the jailed dissidents and the Ladies in White,” Luis Israel Abreu, head of the Union City-based Union of Former Cuban Political Prisoners, said last year.

Pollan taught high school literature teacher before retiring in 2004.

A year earlier, her husband was among the dissidents known as the Group of 75 who were arrested in the Black Spring, a crackdown on opposition figures.

Pollan soon began showing up outside government facilities where her husband could have potentially been imprisoned. After running into wives of other political prisoners, she began holding meetings in her Havana home. Thus was born Las Damas de Blanco.

Soon after came marches through Miramar every Sunday after Mass at the Church of St. Rita (patron of impossible causes).

Pollan Is seen below at Havana's Church of Charity second row far left from an archived photo.

"We fight for the freedom of our husbands, the union of our families," Pollan said in 2005. "We love our men."

That was the year the European Union honored the group with its top human rights distinction, the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought. Of course, Castro wasn’t about to let her travel to Europe to receive the prestigious honor. By doing so, he only raised her profile.

"She was a teacher and a housewife, but she became a leader for civil rights," said fellow activist Elizardo Sanchez, head of the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation. "She has played a fundamental role, without a doubt even beyond winning freedom for her husband."

La Represion Castrista contra Mujeres Cubanas

 

Via Oswaldo Paya Sardinas

"Caminar solas, o en grupos partiendo desde sus casas o desde una iglesia, generalmente hacia otra iglesia o a un sitio abierto y público. Caminar o pararse en silencio, con una flor en la mano o con las manos vacía, vestidas de blanco de negro o de otra forma. Algunas veces sus marchas pueden transcurrir sin incidentes. Algunas han llegado y exhibido carteles, siempre en silencio con mensajes de libertad. Son vigiladas y seguidas por la Seguridad del Estado y la policía de cerca.

El pueblo las ve, la gente comenta, se admiran, algunos se atreven a dar alguna muestra de simpatía. Todos saben que se necesita mucho coraje para hacer eso. Porque todos reconocen el signo de ruptura con el miedo, que es en si mismo el mayor desafío a un poder que se sostiene por el miedo que sembró durante más medio siglo.

Caminar en La Habana, en Santiago de Cuba, en Palma Soriano, en Banes y en otros pueblos y ciudades. Pero también hay ocasiones que con turbas profesionales de estilo fascista comunista, ni siquiera las dejan salir de la casa.

El gobierno y su propaganda califican estas demostraciones presentándolas como una provocación. ¿Provocación por que? ¿ y a que? Provocación es que un esclavo le diga a su amo: “simplemente, quiero ser libre”. O mas osado: que se comporte como una persona libre Eso provoca ira, desconcierto y hasta represalias brutales de parte del esclavista.

Los que dicen que el andar y las demostraciones de estas mujeres son una provocación están al nivel de los esclavistas. Porque estas mujeres están ejerciendo derechos que son considerados universales para todos los seres humanos. Ellas ponen el valor y la voluntad de dar este signo pacífico al pueblo. Es el Gobierno quien, de manera calculada, pone la represión brutal y convierte el ejercicio de un derecho, en escándalo público.

Sara Martha Fonseca es una de estas mujeres que con sus acciones serenas, cívicas y pacíficas, hace pensar a muchos. Ella está detenida y según informaciones, que no hemos podido confirmar con su familia, está en huelga de hambre en protesta por esta injusta detención. Corre peligro de ser condenada. Nuestro llamado es a la solidaridad por la liberación de Sara Martha y por el respeto al derecho de todas las mujeres y de todos los cubanos a expresarse y manifestarse libre y pacíficamente. Mas

Full Sail Ahead with Cubanita Craft Brewer Irene Firmat

Irene Firmat founded the fabulous Full Sail Brewing of Hood River Oregon In 1987 and Is celebrating 24 yrs In business this month. So when I found out today on facebook she was Cuban descended while enjoying and researching her refreshing Session Black Lager I just had to smile and grab another cold one. Full Sail just became my favorite brewery.

The Lopez Comas Family of Bayamo Cuba Ties to The Laramendi Brothers

Via our famous cousin John O'Donnell Rosales aka Piqui, maternal grandson of Tio Leo.

The amazing story of the adventurous Laramendi brothers and their ties to the Lopez Comas family of Bayamo Cuba.

"I submitted a new article for my newspaper column "Rosales' History of the South" which is on the Laramendi brothers (one of which was the father of "Mamacita", who were Confederate Officers on the Blockade Runner "San Quintin" and goes back to our ancestor Maria "La Ciboney" and Guiseppi Battista.

The Laramendi brothers of Oriente Province, Cuba ran the Union blockade from Cuba into the ports of New Orleans, Mobile, and along the Mississippi Gulf Coast as well as in Florida at different times during the war.

They had a small sloop named the San Quintin. They were never captured and both are buried in Cuba. Their surname has also been found as Larramendi.

Jose Comas Laramendi (Father of  our beloved "Mamacita"  Rosa Comas Batista) was the Captain of the blockade runner San Quintin.

He married Paulina Rosa Batista ( Mamacita's Mother born 1865, died November 3, 1943). She is buried in Cauto, Oriente Province, Cuba.

She was the daughter of Guiseppi Battista, of Florence, Italy and Luz Barra or Barras, of Cuba, daughter of Maria “La Ciboney” Barra or Barras.

Luz Barra was one of the few remaining descendants of the Native Cuban Taino, Ciboney Indians.

Jose Comas Laramendi was the son of Jose Comas and Teresa Laramendi. He is said to be buried in Jabaco, Oriente Province, Cuba.

The family of Guiseppi Battista adopted the Spanish spelling of Batista, with one T..

Manuel "Manolito" Laramendi was the brother of Jose Comas Batistsa and served as his 1st Lt on the blockade runner San Quintin. He married Alta Gracia (no surname found).

He is buried in Oriente Province, Cuba.

Massive Medicare Fraud Funding Castro Spies

Medicare Fraudsters  fleeing Into Fidel's Fugitive Island with the stolen loot are protected - for payoffs to Castro's Cosa Nostra and become de facto untouchable from US  law. Incredibly 7 out of  the 10 most wanted US Medicare Fraudsters are now hiding In Cuba & funding the terrorist Isle.

Off  the Mojo Wire via Net for Cuba

"The Communist Cuban dictatorship is draining hundreds of millions of dollars from America’s already financially strapped Medicare program and using the money to finance its military and espionage services, according to one counterintelligence expert specializing in Cuban affairs.

Christopher Simmons not only ties in the Cuban dictatorship with the rampant Medicare fraud, but draws a stunning conclusion about the erosion of American sovereignty in south Florida.

“The Cuban government has been a criminal enterprise for 50 years, and has never been reluctant to engage in crime to make money,” Simmons declared. Havana has a 50 year history of involvement in breaking international law, from drug trafficking to selling U.S. secrets, Simmons said.

The money taken during Cuba’s Medicare fraud scheme has returned to south Florida in the person of well-financed intelligence personnel. Simmons stated that from 150 to 200 Cuban intelligence officers are active in south Florida, vastly outnumbering U.S. spy catchers.

As many as 70% of Cuba’s spies operate in south Florida, and the limited number of U.S. counterintelligence personnel available in the region spells potential disaster for the United States.

America’s resources available in the struggle against Cuban intelligence are so thin that Simmons regards south Florida as a “denied area,” an intelligence designation indicating a place where U.S. intelligence operations “are either difficult or impossible.”

Examples of other “denied areas” are North Korea and Iran, said Simmons". Read More

Castro's El Cobre Crackdown Shows No Mercy For Cachita

Fear and loathing on Cachita's feast day as Castro terror Is unleashed on peaceful opponents outside her Shrine @ El Cobre during Cuba's holiest day.

Update 9-9-11 both Ferrer and Moya have been arrested.

Off Facebook earlier today Sept 8TH 2011

In Santiago de Cuba  Jose Daniel Ferrer García, coordinator for the Cuban Patriotic Union Is reporting of  widespread  repression In this and neighboring provinces on peaceful groups of Cubans and On the feast day of Cuba's Patroness The Virgin of Charity.

The Unmerciful surveillance, beatings and detentions on the Castro brothers' apartheid Isle have only Increased dramatically year over year and continues to spike during these key moments.

Areas affected by the mass detentions Include The Virgin's Shrine at El Cobre where upon leaving a service there 22 Ladies In White were detained,dragged Into omnibuses and then beaten by Castro Interior ministry forces.Many other ordinary Cubans were also Detained In El Cobre.

In Palma Soriano dozens more were arrested and beaten by Castro 's political police In an attempt to halt and frustrate the start of a national march to the Shrine by the "Boitel Zapata Vive" convocation of regime opposers led by political prisoner Angel Moya .

In Guantanamo over 16 other peaceful regime opposers were also forcibly detained.More via Uncommon Sense

Speak without Fear


Fact vs Fantasy  Reasons of Cuba