Cuba Responds to Matanzas Fire with International Support

[Marcus IM]

Cuba Responds to Matanzas Fire with International Support

[Judi Lynn]

1. That fire is horrendous, so vicious-looking. They are so ill-equipped to combat it.

I don't blame them for feeling so limited, considering so much they need for daily life, including all the essential tools for emergency operations are simply beyond their means to attain due to the economic embargo which is the world's longest ongoing economic war on another country in history.

They are severely limited in any and all the material goods needed, and have been for decades.

The US fascists who demand to keep the embargo in place, while claiming on one hand that Cuba has ways of getting what it needs from other countries and isn't really being hurt, on the other hand insist anyone who maintains it must been removed immediately for humane reasons must be a "pinko, " or a "commie" or a "useful idiot" who wants to turn over the country to the "communists." They insist it doesn't hurt Cuba, yet they go berserk at the thought of removing it! Go figure.

So many ignorant a-holes shoving their hatred down the throats of the world's suffering people.

If anyone is curious about the "belly of the beast" reference, it was used so long ago by Cuba's freedom fighter, hero, poet José Martí.

Here's a quick reference to him:

José Martí was a renaissance man — journalist, poet and leading figure in the Cuban struggle for independence. Ollie Hopkins explains his relevance in today’s Cuba.

January 28 2018 marks the 165th anniversary of the birth of José Martí, the writer, journalist, poet and leading figure in the struggle for Cuban independence

Each year on the eve of birth anniversary, in over 160 municipalities across the island, Cuban youth lead the Marcha de las Antorchas (March of the Torches) in processions that pay tribute to their national hero.

. . .

For Cubans on the island, Martí is the leading theorist on the threat of US intervention in Cuba. He lived in New York in exile for much of his adult life and said: “I’ve lived inside the belly of the beast and I know it well.”

More:
https://mronline.org/2018/01/29/the-soul-of-the-revolution/

Thank you, Marcus IM.

[Marcus IM]

2. I read a post here that suggested that ...

... this would be a good opportunity for the Cuban "opposition" to revolt. Supporting insurrectionists in their efforts to overthrow the gov't.

[Judi Lynn]

3. Oh, really? Good grief! We have had troll drop-ins from time to time. Amazing!

That's a hot one.

Their "opposition" Cubans really showed everyone what's what when they ran to help the Cuban "exiles" so many years ago when they overthrew the revolution with the Bay of Pigs invasion, didn't they?

Oh, yeah... That's right. The Cubans who DIDN'T run to Miami threw their asses right off the island in no time at all! They traded many of the "exile" invaders they took as prisoners back to the US Gov't for an exchange in medical supplies, food, etc. which the island could use since the embargo was already strangling the economy.

Or maybe they are referring to the US-financially supported "opposition" who accept salaries passed along to them regularly while they attempt to create politically difficult situations they can exploit well enough to get into some "news" stories to run in US corporate "news" sources.

Those "opposition" people live very comfortably among the Cubans who are subjected to low wages, scarce supplies due to the US embargo. They bitch about being hated to their Miami relatives and friends, and try tz o peddle their propaganda pieces they hope will sell to the Miami crowd. People like Marta Beatriz Roque. A couple of other original "opposition" ones have died, probably of diseases of excess! If you recall, Marta and her friends were in the habit of traveling to other places, like Miami, to wail about their martyrdom. I think Marta has a sister there, but Marta enjoys her notoriety in Havana.


English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island

“The opposition has not matured,” Laments Martha Beatriz Roque / 14ymedio, Lilianne Ruiz



4ymedio, Lilianne Ruiz
Martha Beatriz Roque. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Lilianne Ruiz, Havana, 28 April 2016 — Martha Beatriz Roque has returned from Miami after receiving a permit from the Cuban government in late February, which authorized her to leave the country one time. The activist was one of the seven former prisoners of the Black Spring of 2003 who benefited from this permit. She returns with a certain pessimism and a critical impression of the state of the Cuban opposition.

Lilianne Ruiz. You returned from abroad after permission from the Cuban government, which allowed you to make only one trip. What impressions did you bring back from your stay outside the country?

Martha Beatriz Roque. I come back with a tremendous pain in my heart about what I have seen there. In Miami there is the historic exile, who love their country, their fatherland, who talk about democracy, who think about Cuba constantly and who have a great nostalgia for the island, but this historic exile, unfortunately, is getting old and some of its members have died.

However, many people who are coming to Miami through different countries, including now through Costa Rica, Ecuador and Panama, are turning their backs on Cuba, they even want to forget that they are Cubans. These are people who are a part of a social fabric here that is broken, who have no ethics, no formal education and they are contaminating Miami.

LR. What do you think has been the outcome of Barack Obama’s visit to Cuba?

MBR. Obama has his agenda and within it is defending the interests of American citizens, as is natural, because that is his country. He has made it clear that the problems of Cuba have to be solved by Cubans and that is important. The people had a great lesson with Obama’s visit: for the people it has meant hope, which the Communist Party Congress subsequently tried to annihilate.

LR. And the opposition?

MBR. In Cuba there are opponents, but an opposition, as such, does not exist. An opposition exists in Venezuela, because it has been capable of uniting despite its disagreements. We are not capable of something like that yet. Here the unity lasts seconds.

LR. Did the 7th Congress of the Communist Party frustrate you, or were you were expecting something like what happened?

MBR. The Party Congress was going to be postponed to another date but it was held to try to counter what Obama said to the Cuban people, and because of this they didn’t have any finished [guiding] document. Some said, after the Congress was over, “We were right, Obama has achieved nothing.” Others say that the Congress was a way of demonstrating the failure of what Obama is doing, but I would not say that. Much less do I think it is a failure, because there are things that have been accelerated with Obama’s visit.

More:
https://translatingcuba.com/the-opposition-has-not-matured-laments-martha-beatriz-roque-14ymedio-lilianne-ruiz/



Marta, pretending to be on a hunger strike.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5yd3VF63CCc/RvxHjCUSJnI/AAAAAAAAB2g/2zLCbEghU9g/s400/CUBA+OPPOSITION+ROQUE+.JPG

Marta during one of her events:

Thursday, September 27, 2007
Martha Beatriz Roque arrested

Martha Beatriz Roque , one of the main leaders of internal dissidence in Cuba, was arrested this Thursday in Havana in front of the headquarters of the Ministry of Justice, an illegal human rights commission informed Agence France Presse.
For her part, the Efe agency reported that Beatriz Roque and six other opponents who accompanied her in a protest in front of the Ministry of Justice in Havana were arrested hours after starting their peaceful protest, according to opposition sources.
Elizardo Sánchez, leader of the illegal Cuban Human Rights Commission, explained that a Ministry official asked the dissidents to return to their homes and, after Roque refused, the opponents were arrested.
"Now their whereabouts are unknown but they have been detained," said Sánchez, who hoped that the arrests of both Roque and his companions and the rest of the dissidents arrested today "are temporary."

More:
http://www.cuadernodecuba.net/2007/09/detienen-marta.html



Marta



Younger "dissident" Marta



Elizardo Sanchez, "dissident"

Cuban Dissidents: United, They Aren't

Author:
author image
Tracey Eaton
GRANTEE

Cuban dissidents are divided over the role the U.S. government ought to play in Cuba's transition to the post-Castro era. Vladimiro Roca's suggestion? "Ignore the Cuban government. That's the only thing that the Cuban government would not be able to stand."

Roca, a former fighter pilot and son of a leader of Cuba's Popular Socialist Party, believes that Cuban officials use America's economic embargo as a scapegoat for the country's problems. Hardline U.S. policies toward Cuba help the socialist government keep up "the game of David versus Goliath," he claimed. End the embargo and Cuban officials will have no one to blame for the country's ragged economy and other ills.

Héctor Palacios, a dissident leader and former political prisoner, agreed. "The Cuban government wouldn't be able to survive if the embargo were lifted. Lift the embargo and the revolution will collapse five days later."

Yet government supporters vehemently disagree with that view. Even some dissidents doubt that lifting the embargo and allowing Americans to travel freely to Cuba will trigger a Western-style democracy on the island. Oswaldo Payá, a dissident who leads a petition drive aimed at creating greater political and economic freedom on the island, argued that the American people are friends of Cuba. And the proximity of the U.S. ensures it will remain "part of the Cuban reality." Payá does not believe, however, that it is the duty of tourists, the U.S. government or American businesses to bring change to Cuba. Tourists drinking daiquiris in Havana aren't going to create change; it is incumbent upon Cubans, themselves, to solve their problems push for greater economic freedom.

Elizardo Sanchez, who leads a human rights organization in Havana, believes the U.S. ought to start acting as if it had normal relations with Cuba in order to ensure that it has some influence in the future. But he's not so sure that spending millions of dollars on pro-democracy programs will help. "You don't win the freedom of a people with money," he said. "The destiny of that money is a great mystery to me."

More:
https://pulitzercenter.org/stories/cuban-dissidents-united-they-arent





Well known "dissident" Oswaldo Paya, who was killed in a car crash



Oswaldo Paya went home to be with Jesus



Oswaldo's wife went to see Mike Pence

[Marcus IM]

4. Miami's exile oligarchy funding "opposition" is...

... just like Putin's oligarch pals funding MAGA opposition (aka; insurrectionists). A bit surprised to see such hypocritical support for insurrectionists.

Thanks for your informative post.

[Judi Lynn]

5. Just like that, by all means! Their "opposition" would return a dictator to power immediately.

The hard-core exiles don't have a democratic bone among them!

So glad to see your posts.