Cuban police crack down on meeting
This story will probably get a lot less coverage than Cubans being able to buy cell phones and computers, even though it’s much more indicative of the real life in Cuba than the sudden granting of permission to buy microwave ovens (AP/Miami Herald link);
Cuban police violently broke up a dissidents’ meeting, leaving at least two people in need of medical treatment, opposition sources said Monday.
At least 30 people were detained briefly after a weekend raid on the home of well-known dissident Jorge Luis “Atunez” Garcia Perez in the central city of Placetas, opposition leader Martha Beatriz Roque said in a communique sent to journalists by fax.
Veteran dissident Elizardo Sanchez said he independently confirmed the details of the raid and that all who were detained were later released.
At least two people needed medical care, including one man who required a head X-ray, and were later sent home, said Sanchez, head of the Cuban Commission on Human Rights and National Reconciliation.
“This is the most violent police action we have seen in many months,” he said.
In other Cuba news, Fidel Castro claims that Obama’s plan to maintain the 50-year-old embargo against the Cuban government will hurt Cubans (AP/Miami Herald link);
Former President Fidel Castro says Sen. Barack Obama’s plan to maintain Washington’s trade embargo against Cuba will cause hunger and suffering on the island.
I think Castro’s got it a bit wrong. The Cuban government causes hunger and suffering on the island. They can trade with the other 160 nations in the world, not being able to trade JUST ONE shouldn’t make a difference – especially since communism is the answer to all of Man’s problems.
The AP/Miami Herald article doesn’t mention Castro’s endorsement of Obama, probably so they don’t damage his run at the White House in Florida, but the Telegraph does;
The former Cuban president gave a qualified endorsement to Mr Obama whom he described as “the most-advanced candidate” in the race for the White House.
Last week Cuba announced that they needed about a half-million houses to ease a housing shortage – how could that happen with the perfect planning of the communist government? So their plan is to build 14,000 Barbie houses every year (do your math – to get to a half-million homes at that rate, it’d take nearly 40 years) (Reuters link);
Set to begin in September, the program will use polyvinyl chloride from a petrochemical facility to be built with Venezuelan aid at a refinery in Cienfuegos, Prensa Latina said.
“Cuba will produce more than 14,000 houses annually with polyvinyl chloride, thanks to a bi-national project with Venezuela,” project director Julian Alonso told the news agency.
Cuba is said to need about half a million homes to provide sufficient housing for its people.
The Ladies in White, a Cuban dissident organization and a support group for the wives of imprisoned political prisoners, has written to Obama in the mistaken belief that Obama will help get the 55 political prisoners they represent released. (yet another AP/Miami Herald link)
‘We have great hope that you can contribute to the immediate, unconditional liberation of the 55 who are still in horrible prison conditions, with serious health problems,” the group wrote to Obama.
One of the founders of the Ladies in White, Miriam Leiva, said Sunday that representatives of the group living outside Cuba traveled to Miami to deliver the letter, and spoke with Obama for a few minutes.
”This has nothing to do with the presidential race or support for one candidate or another,” she said. “We are not political. The only thing we hope for is the liberation of our prisoners and improved well-being for the Cuban people.”
Obama has said that he’ll talk directly to Raul Castro and lift travel and remittance restrictions for Cuban-Americans, which only seems like a good idea, but will only prolong the communist government’s grip on the island. Val Prieto at Babalu Blog disputes Obama’s plan.
Guantanamo detainees are more free than most Cubans.
Category: Foreign Policy, Politics
