Castro's crackdown: while U.S. forces battled Saddam's regime, a brave band of brothers stood against the terror and oppression of a brutal tyrant 90 miles from our shore. (Cuba).The fall of Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein (born April 28, 1937, Tikrit, Iraq—died Dec. 30, 2006, Baghdad) President of Iraq (1979–2003). He joined the Ba'th Party in 1957. Following participation in a failed attempt to assassinate Iraqi Pres. and his East German-trained secret police apparatus was the one clearly good thing to come out of the war on Iraq. But while jubilant Iraqis celebrated the end of Saddam's tyranny half a world away, Fidel Castro Noun 1. Fidel Castro - Cuban socialist leader who overthrew a dictator in 1959 and established a Marxist socialist state in Cuba (born in 1927) Castro, Fidel Castro Ruz was conducting a ruthless crackdown on internal dissent, untroubled by the possibility that his regime might go the way of Saddam's. With U.S. and world attention focused on Iraq, Fidel Castro figured it was the opportune time to take action against his most nettlesome foes. On March 18th, Castro's secret police launched a series of sweeps across Cuba, arresting physicians, journalists, poets, authors, teachers, photographers, and human rights activists who had dared to speak out against the dictator's murderous regime and to advocate freedom for all Cubans The All Cubans were a team of Cuban professional baseball players that toured the United States during 1899 and 1902-05, playing against white semiprofessional and Negro league teams. The team was the first Latin American professional baseball team to tour the United States. . In an April 1st op-ed in the Boston Globe, Susannah Sirkin, deputy director of the Boston-based Physicians for Human Rights, described Castro's Gestapo assault on an independent medical clinic in the town of Pedro Betancourt, 150 kilometers east of Havana: Over 150 officers and paramilitaries searched and ransacked ran·sack tr.v. ran·sacked, ran·sack·ing, ran·sacks 1. To search or examine thoroughly. 2. To search carefully for plunder; pillage. the private home of Miguel Sigler Amaya and his wife Josefa Lopez Pena, where the clinic was housed, confiscating 90 pounds of medicines: antibiotics, pain killers and vitamins. Police also seized a metered dose inhaler inhaler /in·hal·er/ (in-hal´er) 1. an apparatus for administering vapor or volatilized medications by inhalation. 2. ventilator (2). in·hal·er n. , an oxygen delivery system, a glucometer, some physiotherapy equipment, parental infusion appliances and topical applications. The family's own medications were confiscated con·fis·cate tr.v. con·fis·cat·ed, con·fis·cat·ing, con·fis·cates 1. To seize (private property) for the public treasury. 2. To seize by or as if by authority. See Synonyms at appropriate. adj. too. The operation was carried out in front of small children and their 71 year old grandmother, Gloria Amaya, who was later hospitalized with a heart attack. Her two other sons (also dissidents) were detained as well. Around 80 opposition leaders and peaceful activists, including 27 independent journalists, were arrested in the roundup, Castro's most brazen crackdown in decades. In closed trials, the arrested "criminals" were charged under Article 91 of the Penal Code for acting against "the independence or the territorial integrity of the State." Some of the accused were also charged with violating Law 88, which carries the penalty of 20 years in prison for anyone convicted of supporting, or collaborating with, the U.S. economic embargo on Cuba. According to the Communist regime, the embargo is "aimed at ruining internal order, destabilizing the country and liquidating the socialist state and Cuba's independence." During the first two weeks in April, the arrested freedom advocates were given Cuba's typical Stalinist trials, without the benefit of independent counsel or the scrutiny of the international press. Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque roque: see croquet. defended the decision to exclude foreign reporters from the court proceedings, claiming there was not enough room for the reporters in the courtrooms. "If they need information on the trials, they can come to the foreign ministry," Perez Roque said. U.S. Interests Section Chief James Cason, the top U.S. diplomat in Havana, was also denied access to the trials. Many of the accused were given sentences of 20 years or more for merely speaking against the suffocating suf·fo·cate v. suf·fo·cat·ed, suf·fo·cat·ing, suf·fo·cates v.tr. 1. To kill or destroy by preventing access of air or oxygen. 2. To impair the respiration of; asphyxiate. 3. repression of Castro's regime (see the list below). Cuba's most famous prisoner of conscience Prisoner of conscience (POC) is a term coined by the human rights pressure group Amnesty International in the early 1960s. It can refer to anyone imprisoned because of their race, religion, color, language, sexual orientation, or belief, so long as they have not used or advocated , Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet Gonzalez, a physician and president of the Lawton Foundation for Human Rights, was also tried in tandem with those recently arrested, even though he had already been in custody for months. Dr. Biscet served a three-year sentence in one of Cuba's notorious maximum security prisons for the "crime" of hanging the Cuban flag upside down to demonstrate the country's state of distress under Castro's brutal heel. (See "Christian Convict in Cuba" in our September 25, 2000 issue.) Released from prison on October 31, 2002. he was re-arrested 36 days later, on December 6th, as he was about to meet with other human rights workers. On April 4th, Dr. Biscet's wife, Elsa Morejon Hernandez, issued an urgent appeal from Cuba by telephone to friends in America. She requested that religious, political, and civic leaders, together with the international press and human rights organizations, demand the release of her husband and the others recently arrested. Her husband, she noted, is "a man wno promotes and carries out peaceful, public and open activities in defense of all human rights, particularly the right to life. His ideals are the only weapons he uses to implement his desire that civil and political rights are respected in Cuba." But peaceful dissent is not tolerated in Castro's Communist paradise. Mrs. Biscet describes her husband's ordeal: He has been subjected to the physical and psychological mistreatment mis·treat tr.v. mis·treat·ed, mis·treat·ing, mis·treats To treat roughly or wrongly. See Synonyms at abuse. mis·treat suffered by all those who oppose the present Cuban regime such as beatings, threats, humiliations, blackmail, intimidating interrogations and incarceration Confinement in a jail or prison; imprisonment. Police officers and other law enforcement officers are authorized by federal, state, and local lawmakers to arrest and confine persons suspected of crimes. The judicial system is authorized to confine persons convicted of crimes. in cells deprived of light, alongside criminally insane individuals and common criminals. On several occasions, State Security has tried to subject him to psychiatric examinations, has pressured him to leave Cuba and has prohibited him from practicing medicine. On April 10th, Dr. Biscet was sentenced to 25 years in prison. In the midst Adv. 1. in the midst - the middle or central part or point; "in the midst of the forest"; "could he walk out in the midst of his piece?" midmost of these outrageous kangaroo court kangaroo court moblike tribunal, usually disregarding principles of justice. [Pop. Culture: Misc.] See : Injustice proceedings, the Cuban regime decided to go further and summarily execute three "terrorist" hijackers. From the information available, it appears that the men may have simply been making a desperate bid for freedom, with no intent to cause any harm. Reportedly wielding a pistol and knives, the men seized a ferryboat and ordered the captain to take them and the craft's 50 passengers to Florida. Thirty miles into the Florida Straits the boat ran out of fuel, and the Cuban Coast Guard captured and towed them back to Cuba. Although no one was injured in the episode, the three men were summarily tried on Tuesday, April 8th and executed by firing squad on Friday, April 11th. Castro's crackdown may prove counterproductive. Although it has taken many leaders of the freedom movement out of circulation, it has also elevated them to "martyr" status and brought harsh condemnation on the Havana regime from a broad spectrum of sources. Liberal-left groups like Amnesty International Amnesty International (AI,) human-rights organization founded in 1961 by Englishman Peter Benenson; it campaigns internationally against the detention of prisoners of conscience, for the fair trial of political prisoners, to abolish the death penalty and torture of and Human Rights Watch joined with the Committee to Protect Journalists  The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) , Reporters Without Borders, the American Society of Newspaper Editors, Germany, Canada, the European Union European Union (EU), name given since the ratification (Nov., 1993) of the Treaty of European Union, or Maastricht Treaty, to the European Community , and even the French Communist Party French Communist Party French branch of the international communist movement. It was founded in 1920 by the left wing of the French Socialist Party but did not gain significant influence until it affliliated with Leon Blum's Popular Front coalition government in 1936. to condemn Castro's recent indefensible actions. "Never before has Castro received such widespread condemnation internationally," Ariel Remos told THE NEW AMERICAN. Remos, a senior writer for the Cuban-American newspaper Diario Las Americas in Miami, added: "It has been a complete public relations public relations, activities and policies used to create public interest in a person, idea, product, institution, or business establishment. By its nature, public relations is devoted to serving particular interests by presenting them to the public in the most negative for Castro, the biggest he has ever suffered. It shows that he is very desperate about maintaining his power, containing the growing opposition and suppressing the Cuban peoples' yearning for fr eedom." But the Bush administration and its interventionist supporters in Congress and the media who are so hawkish on using U.S. military power to depose To make a deposition; to give evidence in the shape of a deposition; to make statements that are written down and sworn to; to give testimony that is reduced to writing by a duly qualified officer and sworn to by the deponent. dictators in Iraq, Syria, Iran, Lebanon, and other countries thousands of miles from home become suddenly dovish and isolationist i·so·la·tion·ism n. A national policy of abstaining from political or economic relations with other countries. i when it comes to the terrorist chief 90 miles from our shores. Asked by Tim Russert on NBC's Meet the Press, on Sunday, April 13th, if in view of Castro's recent despotic action, the U.S. might consider targeting his regime, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld offered an odd response. He conceded that the plight of the Cuban people under Castro is "sad" and "unfortunate." "But the American people, for the most part," he opined, "are people who want to go about their business, and we recognize we can't try to make everyone in the world be like we are." According to Rumsfeld, "we recognize in a complicated world that there are countries that live differently. And so it isn't a matter for the United States to try to have everyone else be like us." RELATED ARTICLE: Heroes Behind Bars The following journalists and dissidents have been imprisoned im·pris·on tr.v. im·pris·oned, im·pris·on·ing, im·pris·ons To put in or as if in prison; confine. [Middle English emprisonen, from Old French emprisoner : en- by Castro Independent Journalists * Victor Rolando Arroyo: 26 years * Pedro Arguelles Moran: 20 years * Majail Barzaga Lugo: 15 years * Carmelo Diaz Fernandez: 15 years * Oscar Espinosa Chepe Oscar Manuel Espinosa Chepe (born November 29, 1940) is a Cuban independent economist and dissident. He was one of approximately 75 dissidents arrested, tried and convicted as part of what has been widely described as a massive crackdown by the Cuban government. : 20 years * Adolfo Fernandez Sainz: 15 years * Miguel Galvan Gutierrez: 26 years * Julio Cesar Galvez: 15 years * Edel Jose Garcia: 15 years * Roberto Garcia Cabrejas * Jorge Luis Garcia Paneque: 24 years * Ricardo Gonzalez Alfonso: 20 years * Luis Gonbzalez Penton: 20 years * Alejandro Gonzalez Raga * Normando Hernandez: 25 years * Juan Carlos Herrera Acosta: 20 years * Jose Ubaldo Izquierdo: 16 years * Hector Maseda: 20 years * Mario Enrique Mayo: 20 years * Jorge Olivera: 18 years * Pablo Pacheco Avila: 20 years * Fabio Prieto Liorente: 20 years * Jose Gabriel Ramon Castillo * Raul Rivero Castaneda: 20 years * Omar Rodriguez Saludes: 27 years * Omar Ruiz Hernandez: 18 years * Manuel Vazquez Portal: 18 years Peaceful Opponents * Osvaldo Alfonso: 18 years * Nelson Aguilar: 13 years * Pedro Pablo Alvarez Ramos: 25 years * Rafael Ernesto Avila Perez * Margarito Broche Espinosa: 25 years * Marcelo Cano: 18 years * Eduardo Diaz Fleites: 21 years * Antonio Diaz Sanchez: 20 years * Alfredo Dominguez Batista * Efren Fernandez: 12 years * Jose Daniel Ferrer Castillo * Luis Enrique Ferrer Garcia: 28 years * Orlando Fundora * Alfredo Felipe Fuentes: 26 years * Prospero Gainza: 25 years * Javier Garcia Perez * Diosdado Gonzalez Marrero * Lester Gonzalez Penton: 20 years * Jorge Luis Gonzalez Jorge Luis Gonzalez (b. October 19, 1964) (DOB disputed) is a former heavyweight boxer born in Havana, Cuba, who won the gold medal at the 1983 Pan American Games and the 1987 Pan American Games. Amateur Gonzalez compiled an Amateur Record of 220-13. Tanquero: 20 years * Leonel Grave de Peralta * Ivan Hernandez Carrillo * Regis Iglesias: 18 years * Rolando Jimenez Posada po·sa·da n. A Christmas festival originating in Latin America that dramatizes the search of Joseph and Mary for lodging. [American Spanish, from Spanish, lodging, from posar, * Reynaldo Labrada Pena: 6 years * Librado Linares: 20 years * Marcelo Lopez Banobre: 15 years * Jose Miguel Martinez Hernandez * Rafael Mollet * Luis Milan Fernandez * Roberto de Miranda: 20 years * Nelson Molinet: 20 years * Angel Moya Acosta * Jesus Mustafa Felipe * Felix Navarro * Hector Palacios Ruiz: 25 years * Arturo Perez de Alejo: 20 years * Omar Pernet Hernandez 25 years * Horacio Julio Pina Borrego: 20 years * Alfredo Pulido: 14 years * Arnaldo Ramos Laubiriquet * Alexis Rodriguez Fernandez * Blas G. Rodriguez Reyes: 25 years * Martha Beatriz Roque Martha Beatriz Roque (born 1946) is a Cuban economist and human rights campaigner. She was jailed by Cuban authorities in 2003 with 74 other campaigners but was freed a year later on health grounds. Cabello: 20 years * Claro Sanchez Altarriba * Ariel Sigler Amaya * Guido Sigler Amaya * Miguel Sigler Amaya * Ricardo Silva Gual * Fidel Suarez Cruz: 20 years * Manuel Ubals Gonzalez * Julio Antonio Valdes Guerra: 20 years * Miguel Valdes Tamayo * Hector Raul Valle Hernandez: 12 years * Antonio A. Villarreal Acosta: 15 years * Orlando Zapata Tamayo |
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