Cuba to try US contractor Alan Gross

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Deutsche Presse-Agentur

Cuba to try US contractor Alan Gross
Feb 24, 2011, 18:58 GMT


Havana - US contractor Alan Gross, who was arrested in Cuba in December 2009, is to be tried on March 4 by the provincial court in Havana, according to the government website Cubadebate.cu.

Gross, 62, an employee of a firm working for the US State Department, was arrested as he handed out satellite telecommunications equipment that is banned in the communist island.

Cuban authorities accused him of being a spy, but Washington has staunchly denied the accusation and insists that the equipment was intended for the use of Cuban Jewish groups.

The public prosecutor said earlier this month that they will request a 20-year jail sentence for Gross for 'actions against the independence or the territorial integrity of the state.'

Read more: http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/americas/news/article_1621843.php/Cuba-to-try-US-contractor-Alan-Gross

[Judi Lynn]

1. Cuba announces trial date for Alan Gross

February 24, 2011
Cuba announces trial date for Alan Gross
JTA

~snip~
Gross’ family and State Department officials say he was in the country on a U.S. Agency for International Development contract to help the country’s 1,500 Jews communicate with other Jewish communities through the Internet.

The main Jewish groups in Cuba have denied any contact with or knowledge of Gross or the program.

Gross reportedly is being held in a military hospital; he is suffering from health problems and is reported to have lost 90 pounds.

On Thursday, Gross’ wife, Judy, pleaded with the Cuban government to release her husband on humanitarian grounds. Gross’ daughter, 26, has breast cancer, and his mother has been diagnosed with lung cancer.

http://www.jewishjournal.com/world/article/cuba_announces_trial_date_for_alan_gross_20110224/

http://www.cbsnews.com.nyud.net:8090/i/tim//2010/06/18/gross_424_370x278.jpg http://cache.daylife.com.nyud.net:8090/imageserve/09kI5XXgh78QV/439x.jpg

Alan Gross

[dipsydoodle]

5. lost 90 pounds ?

That's only about $145 - no big deal.

There is no way he could not have known that it is illegal to import such equipment into Cuba. He took his chances and now he'll pay the price.

[social_critic]

28. I don't think you guys will get your trade

I know Castro's people are angling for a prisoner trade, want five of your fellows for this US citizen.

But I think the Obama administration will only do a one for one, like in the old Berlin wall trades at Check point charlie.

[fittosurvive]

2. "satellite telecommunications equipment that is banned in the communist island..."

That's all you need to know about the fascist nature of the Cuban regime.

[provis99]

3. fascist? Ok, teabagger boy.

Part of that communist-Islamo-fascist conspiracy, I guess.

[fittosurvive]

4. Is there really a difference...? A is A and totalitarianism is totalitarianism.

[dipsydoodle]

6. Next you'll be supporting the Ladies in White

or Shite as I usually refer to them.

Get a life.

[fittosurvive]

7. So, I take it that you support governments who deny their citizens the means to communicate freely.

I pray that someday the Cuban people will be allowed to "get a life."

[blm]

31. Gee, fit, hope you extend that wish to US' net neutrality...the net neutrality GOPs want to end.

.

[blm]

49. didn't think you'd reply to that one.....fascism is OK as long as it wears the MASK of 'freedom'.

.

[fittosurvive]

53. I didn’t reply because to compare open communications in Cuba to open communications in the US

is to make an absurd comparison. It's one of those things everybody has already figured out and as such, it requires no comment

[blm]

59. HAHAH...still no reply...not even a nice 'try'

.

[joshcryer]

65. There really is no comparison in any way.

[naaman fletcher]

8. Do you think that a ban on satellite phones is the sign

of a democratic, liberal, government?

[Peace Patriot]

9. Do you think the USAID giving our tax money to RW groups all over Latin America is the sign of...

...a democratic, liberal government? And, for that matter, giving our tax money by the multi-billions to war profiteers and banksters, while decimating our public school system and other public services, and threatening the last of the "New Deal"--Social Security and Medicare? Are those signs of a democratic, liberal government?

In Cuba, they have guaranteed housing, food, medical dare and education through graduate school. Hm, sounds liberal to me. What about democratic? Well, it may not be the kind of democracy we're used to, with billion dollar presidential campaigns, corporate-run 'TRADE SECRET' voting machines and an obviously unrepresentative Scumbag Congress (not to mention a number of state governors and legislators), but it's gotta be some kind of democracy, with those benefits for everybody.

Maybe we need to redefine democracy, from what it is here--the rich and the powerful get all the benefits--to something more like Cuba--everybody benefits. Hm?

As to what the USAID (CIA subcontractor) may have been trying to set up in Cuba--which Jewish groups in Cuba never heard of--I think I'll wait to hear what the Cubans have to say about it before I make a judgment about whether I think this trial is fair or not. The U.S. has been so brutally unfair to Cuba, and the U.S. corporate media have been such slimy, propagandistic liars about Cuba, that I can't trust any of their accounts of this situation and I think it is entirely possible that Mr. Gross was engaged in a plot to topple the government and overturn all those benefits, so the rich and the fascist can move back in, and rip off and kill the poor like the Batistas did. There is considerably more credibility behind that scenario than that Mr. Gross was innocently handing out satellite phones on our dime. We'll just have to see, won't we? Or would you suggest, um...invasion...what? Pop a few Cuban airlines out of the sky? Or just another hate session against Cuba, where all the RWers get together and vent?

[fittosurvive]

10. What is this, Cuban psyops or something?

Cuban democracy...

I don't know whether to :puke: or :rofl:

[Peace Patriot]

14. See below, my answer to "naaman fletcher" on democratic systems in Cuba.

And I have to disagree with you that "self-preservation is the first law of nature." Maternal love and self-sacrifice is the first law of nature. And I mean that phrase generally--"maternal love"--to include fathers and anyone who would sacrifice himself or herself for others, including soldiers who would sacrifice themselves for their immediate troop or for their country, emergency service workers who every day put themselves at risk to protect others, labor leaders, civil rights workers and others who have died for other people's rights, and all manner of altruistic behavior. Altruism (loyalty, self-sacrifice) and communal action are more natural to us than isolated "self-preservation." They come from our first contact on this earth with a loving mother or other care-giver extending from there to family and community.

It is only our corporate rulers and war profiteers and their rightwing echo chamber who believe that "self-preservation" is all.

And we know what "chicken-hawks," cowards, greedbags, self-serving egomaniacs and liars they can be. In truth, they need us all--our taxes, our roads, our bridges, our hospitals, our fire departments, our police officers, our agreement to obey laws, our civility, our water and electrical infrastructures, our labor, our parks and other preserved green areas, our air quality, our water quality, everything--all of our communal efforts to create a good and livable society--to exist at all. They are deeply flawed people who want to deny this basic communal aspect of our lives, some of whom think that, by "winning the lottery" or whatever, they can be self-sufficient, or others who have just gone off the deep end of greed and hatred of humanity. That "self-preservation is the first law of nature" is a lie they tell themselves and try to enforce as an idea on the rest of us. It is not true.

You ridicule Cuba but did you know that Cuba has one of the lower infant mortality rates in the world? And that's with free universal medical care, not with our lucrative profitable, high-end, expensive system? Infant mortality rates are one of the key indicators of the health and well-being of a population. So somebody there cares about people. It's not everything but it's one indicator. How do you account for this high "health and well-being" indicator if there is not something democratic about Cuba's system? (--democratic meaning people are getting at least one basic need fulfilled--something they both want and must have, in order to have any rights at all. If you're seriously ill and can't get medical care, you don't even have the right to live--let alone express yourself, or vote, etc.)

[fittosurvive]

20. Cuba is not a democracy; it is a fascist military oligarchy and has been since 1959.

In response to your other point, self-preservation does encompass maternal and paternal love in that a man (or woman) who sacrifices himself for his family does so in order preserve that which values more than himself. He may also sacrifice his financial future in order to pay for his children's education, etc.

The key point is that man's first duty is to himself and the things that he values, not the collective.

Cuba is supposed to have a low infant mortality rate, but who knows. The Cuban government is in charge of disseminating the stats, so I take everything coming out of that place with a grain of salt. The US may have a higher infant mortality rate, but we have a free society and have to deal with things like crack babies, which do not occur in totalitarian societies like Cuba.

As far as the rest of Cuban health care goes, where is it? What technological advancements has Cuba made that compare to US inventions like MRI Scanning Units, CAT scans, CT scans, etc? How many drugs has their pharmaceutical industry created? Do they even have a pharmaceutical industry?

People from all over the world come to the US when they need a difficult medical procedure. The do not go to Cuba.

[blm]

30. 'CRACK BABIES' ... yes, the carpet bombing of inner cities with tons of cheap IranContra cocaine in

the 80s as DIRECTED by Poppy Bush's circle of fascists. That DID lead to 'crack babies' epidemic. I'm sure you've read the National Security Archives and all the sworn testimony and documentation presented in various courts that the corporate media chose to ignore for the most part. Right?

[fittosurvive]

38. As discussed in another thread, many people believe things to be true that are in fact, false.

[blm]

41. HAHAHAH.....yes, you have NEVER accessed sworn testimony/documents that proved in COURT what

I stated in my post. Don't even pretend you have ever accessed NSA...I am quite certain you have an ideology that prevents you from processing actual government documents as you favor your pat responses and preferred narratives.

[fittosurvive]

42. Not really...I'm aware of Barry and the Boys...

But if you believe that the NSA/CIA is the primary source of cocaine being smuggled into this country, you believe something that is false.

[blm]

48. I didn't say that, but, at the ONSET of the crack cocaine epidemic it was clear where the TONS of

cheap cocaine came from and where it was being dumped for the most part...the inner cities. Barry Seal was just one actor. You mollify only yourself with your weasel words. BTW, NSA is National Security Archives which collects ALL documentation from government records to preserve it from the closed book syndrome popular with both sides the last few decades. You have your NSA references mixed up.

[fittosurvive]

54. Yes, but Medellín and the Sandanistas were smuggling coke anyway.

Unfortunately, that undercover drug investigation was commandeered by the CIA. But you already know that.

[roody]

62. People with money come here for medical care. Some go to Cuba also.

Poor people? No.

[Judi Lynn]

64. I learned about Cuba's significant medical tourism back in 2000 when Elian was held hostage in Miami

That's when I started learning about Cuba, doing research for the first time about Cuba, after a lifetime of ignorance.

From Wikipedia, a general comment about it:

CubaCuba has been a popular medical tourism destination for more than 40 years. Thousands of patients travel to Cuba, particularly from Latin America and Europe, attracted by the "fine reputation of Cuban doctors, the low prices and nearby beaches on which to recuperate."<59> In 2006, Cuba attracted nearly 20,000 medical tourists.<60>

Medical treatments included joint replacement, cancer treatment, eye surgery, cosmetic surgery and addictions rehabilitation. Costs are about 60 to 80 percent less than US costs.

Cuba has hospitals for Cuban residents and others that focus on serving foreigners and diplomats. In the 2007 American documentary film, Sicko, which criticizes the US healthcare system, producer Michael Moore leads a group of uninsured American patients to Cuba to obtain more affordable medical treatment. Sicko has greatly increased foreigners' interest in Cuban healthcare. A recent Miami Herald story focused on the high quality of health care that Canadian and American medical tourism patients receive in Cuba.<61>

The Cuban government has developed Cuban medical tourism to generate income for the country. Residents of Canada, the UK and most other countries can travel to Cuba without any difficulty, although a tourist visa is generally required. For Americans, however, because of the US trade policy towards Cuba, travelers must either obtain US government approval, or, more frequently, travel to Cuba from Canada, Mexico, the Bahamas, Jamaica or the Dominican Republic. Cuban immigration authorities do not stamp the passports of US visitors so that Americans can keep their travels a private matter.

To date no Cuban facility has achieved JCI Accreditation.<52>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_tourism#Cuba

Thanks for posting your answer.

[social_critic]

27. Sorry, but I don't think the Cuban people buy it

You see, there's an issue here you don't get because you are not Cuban. I am. And in the end, people would rather be free.

And being free doesn't exclude having a low child mortality rate. This is what we call the two things are not mutually exclusive. So the child mortality rate issue is bogus.

I think the Cuban people should be able to vote, to have a free press, and be able to march against the government, and so on and so forth. You know, it sure takes an effort to be polite around here.

[EFerrari]

15. Either would make more sense actually.

I myself don't favor sending intelligence contractors to fuck around in peaceful nations. It usually turns out badly for everyone.

[roody]

61. How about take a trip to Cuba and see for yourself?

[naaman fletcher]

11. No, I don't

Now will you answer the question I asked?

[Peace Patriot]

12. I said I CAN'T answer it. We've only heard one side of the story from sources that are...

...notoriously propagandistic about Cuba. Mere satellite phones for Jewish groups? Come on. We're talking the CIA here (Bay of Pigs, Cuban airline bombing, hotel bombings, exploding cigars...), all in the interest of U.S. corporate/war profiteer hatred of universal free medical care, universal free education through graduate school, and everybody getting housed and fed. (Not to mention the mafias that want back into Cuba.)

I am inclined NOT to believe that it was innocent--because the history of U.S./Cuba relations is so fraught with this kind of stuff--and I'm keeping an open mind about Cuba's case against him.

Let me ask you this: Why would Cuba falsely accuse him and put him on trial? They really, REALLY don't need more bad-mouthing by the U.S. and the Miami mafia and the corpo-fascist press, at this time. They really, REALLY don't need a U.S./Cuba diplomatic fracas, when the Obama administration is loosening travel restrictions. It doesn't make any sense as a "political show trial." So maybe it is simply real. They caught the CIA at yet another bit of skulduggery and plotting and, goddammit, they're going to prosecute the skulduggery/plotting foreign agent.

That is just as much a possibility, to my mind, as the possibility that Gross was just doing his innocent little satellite phone distribution in the wrong country.

Let me ask you one other thing: If a citizen of, say, Saudi Arabia or Yemen, with suspected connections to Al Qaeda, was here in the U.S. on a visa, and the FBI found that person to be distributing communications equipment to Islamic groups here, would this not raise alarms?

Gross was funded by the USAID, which is a known subsidiary of the CIA, which has committed many acts of atrocity against Cubans in addition to non-stop spying and plotting to overthrow their government--a government that is now recognized as legitimate by most other countries in the world.

The Saudi Arabian or Yemeni visitor might be innocent of violence himself, and may be innocent all around--is NOT connected to Al Q--and his import of communications equipment and distribution to Islamic groups may be an innocent educational project. Would you be content if the FBI just shrugged it all off, presumed that he was innocent and didn't investigate? Would you be content, if they investigated and found their suspicions to be true--that this operative was connected to Al Q and was aiding violent groups here--if the FBI just sent him back to his country--"no harm, no foul"? Would that not be malfeasance on the part of the FBI?

I think most of the U.S. "war on terror" is bullshit--a ruse to control us and the world. But one thing I do believe is that they ARE violent and extremist groups who want to do civilians harm. And one thing I approve of is police investigation and action to prevent that. So I can see Cuba's case. They have been assaulted by a "terrorist group" known as the CIA. The Cuban government has a right and a duty to protect Cubans from attack. And if they have found that Mr. Gross is a CIA operative, there to prepare an attack of some kind, they have a right and a duty to prosecute him.

As to Cuba's justice system, I don't know much about it. But I DO know that ours is corrupt almost beyond redemption. 70% of the people in our prisons are there for MINOR non-violent crimes (mostly related to drug use or sale), for which they are serving often draconian sentences, and are only there because they are POOR. This filthy system is run by and for the "prison-industrial complex" and is yet another rip-off of the public--like the "war on drugs," and the "war on terror," and the war on Iraq, and the war on Afghanistan--and is further absolutely poisonous to our society. And that's just what's happening at the bottom. The upper echelons of the justice system--the Supreme Court, the A.G.--are even worse, as to serving the rich and the corporate and covering up the blatant crimes of the powerful.

So I can't condemn Cuba's justice system without reference to our own--and without more knowledge of their system than I currently have. It's interesting what I've learned about their voting system, from knowledgeable DUers. Cuba has a BETTER--more transparent, more democratic--system than our own, at all levels below what I call Cuba's monarchs (the Castros). Their system kind of resembles England's except that the English monarch has less repute and less power. Fidel Castro, in particular, is genuinely revered as a sort of philosopher-king. He represents "the land," like a king does. Also, Cuba's monarchs are not true despots. They dictate on some things but not on others. And they are NOT corrupt--living in luxury, accumulating billions in secret bank accounts. They may like their power but they have NOT used it to inflict murder and mayhem on their people, or to enrich themselves. (No evidence of this that I know of.)

The murder and mayhem on the island of Cuba is at the other end of the island, at Guantanamo Bay--another example of the utter corruption of our own justice system.

I am not ready to make a judgement of Cuba's justice system (i.e., whether Gross can get a fair trial). But if it's like their election system, their educational system, their health care system, their foreign policy and other such indicators, I would guess that Gross has a far better chance at a fair trial in Cuba than the Saudi or Yemeni whom I've described above, who would probably find himself designated an "enemy combatant" with no rights at all, and stuck away in some U.S. torture dungeon somewhere, never to be heard from again.

[naaman fletcher]

13. That's not what was asked.

I am not asking you to comment on Cuba's justice system, nor am I asking you to comment on the prosecution of Gross.

The question is do you support a law that bans satellite phones?

[Peace Patriot]

16. I don't know the reason for the law, so I can't say.

But I think I know what you're getting at. So let's say the reason for the law is to restrict communications in the interest of national security.--for instance, they want to make a CIA-instigated "color" revolution more difficult in Cuba. Our rulers here have different ways of controlling subversion (of their corporate/war profiteer state)--harassing and arresting peace groups and protestors of various kinds, airport strip searches, secret "no-fly" lists, 'TRADE SECRET' voting machines to insure pro-corporate/pro-war profiteer public officials, domestic spying, requiring a billion dollars to run for president, total control of the press by 5 rightwing billionaires so that only one message gets out ("being robbed blind is good for you"), manufactured far rightwing groups (Tea Party/Koch brothers) and so on. Cuba doesn't have nearly the heft and resources, as our corporate/war profiteer rulers have, to control what happens within and to Cuba. So they restrict one way that this monster to the north can interfere with them.

Truly, it's hard to say what I think of it. I need to know THEIR reason for it.

It's interesting, though, that I don't expect to have anything to say about any laws here for the remainder of my lifetime. We, the people, used to have a say. We don't any more. For instance, we should have jettisoned the corrupt, murderous, failed, INSANE U.S. "war on drugs" long ago. Back in the late '20s/early '30s, people had more democracy than we do now, and were able to jettison that insane project--Prohibition--relatively quickly and easily. We can't--because it has become so profitable to the cocaine/heroine trade, and to those in power who are in their pay, and so profitable to the war profiteers who pretend that its object is to actually stop the flow of dangerous drugs, that it is virtually impossible to end an insane and immensely costly program. Politicians can't even advocate it, this "war on drugs" system is so corrupt. And if they did, the 'TRADE SECRET' voting machines and the corpo-fascist press would take care of them.

This is the case with numerous laws, systems and actions of our government. We had NO POWER to stop the War on Iraq, though almost 60% of Americans were opposed it, back in Feb '03 (just before the invasion). So what is our "freedom of speech" worth, hm? We are free to make our views known to a DEAF government.

I'm all for freedom of speech--and I have always been a Jeffersonian absolutist on it--no restrictions, at all. But I also hold with Jefferson that that right is dependent on moneyed interests NOT having a monopoly on information. He in fact advocated government subsidies to printers and publishers to ensure no business monopoly on news and opinion. And he would be appalled at our situation today, with all broadcast media and virtually all print media controlled by a few big corporations--the only exception being the internet. And if the corporations have their way, and end "net neutrality," that will be an end to that--and I will have nothing to say about nor will anybody else. The majority will be overruled.

So, as to the issue of freedom of speech in Cuba, there are many things to consider--including the freedom of the Cuban people to provide each other with free education through graduate school and free medical care to all. Those freedoms would quickly be taken away if Cuba were invaded by U.S. corporations. Are they worth restricting a minority's right to collude with the CIA on overthrowing the government? I would say no. I am not an absolutist on many things, but free speech has been one of them. However, I am not in Cuba. I have not experienced a half century of a giant military/corporate power trying to overthrow my free education and free health care. And the thing is, because of U.S. restrictions on the information that I receive about Cuba--NOT Cuban restrictions, the restrictions of our own government and its corporate-controlled media--I don't really know what the Cuban people, as a whole, feel about this satellite phone law or other restrictions.

So I can't judge it. It's the law there. They are a legitimate and in many ways beneficial government. They have a right to enforce their laws--just as our government has a right to arrest possessors of marijuana, in some circumstances. I sense that there is more "consent of the people" in Cuba, as to preserving their progressive social policies--and thus for measures aimed at preventing a corporate takeover--than there is, here, for putting marijuana smokers in jail or strip searching people at the airport. We are supposed to be a democracy but we have no say. They are supposed to be a tyranny but...um...have somehow achieved free education and free health care. Interesting, huh?

[naaman fletcher]

19. Ok

I appreciate the time and effort you put into your posts even though I don't always agree with you (but i do agree with you more than you might think).

[joshcryer]

23. The MINIT Cyber Video explains the reason for the law.

Free information flow is considered "subversive" and "counterrevolutionary."

[social_critic]

29. it's repression, baby

Plain old repression. They don't want people to communicate freely. In Cuba you can't publish a newspaper advocating the communists be thrown out of power. And so on.

[Bodhi BloodWave]

45. so exactly where does the fibre optic cable between ven and cuba come into the picture if they don't

want faster and better communication?

[joshcryer]

52. They do want faster and better communication.

They would consider "fire walled at the pipe" much better than "ad-hoc client-side firewalls that can be easily subverted." China has done quite well with their firewall.

[boppers]

55. The cable they've been laying, planning, and promising for years?

With no actual service or delivery?

"Oh, we'll make it better, real soon now!"

Yeah, after 3 years, it's another promise that keeps being "started".

[Judi Lynn]

57. You are completely aware because posters discussed articles on the installation

already, when you made your same claim, and were answered with photos of the ship laying the cable in the water near the Cuban shoreline, surrounded by other boats.

Yep. Don't know how it serves you to keep repeating the same empty remark so long. Odd.

Discussing a project for three years isn't unusual, is it? Of course not.

Here's a more recent article:

Undersea cable connects Jamaica to Cuba
Published: Wednesday | February 16, 2011
Carl Gilchrist, Gleaner Writer
OCHO RIOS, St Ann:



From left: Cuban Ambassador Yuri Gala Lopez, Venezuelan Ambassador Noel
Martinez, Senator Marlene Malahoo Forte, and Ricardo Mendez, Venezuelan minister
of science and technology, sign a float to signal the historic occasion of the arrival
of a 240-km undersea fibre-optic cable between Jamaica and Cuba. Several other
dignitaries also signed. - PHOTO BY CARL GILCHRIST

JAMAICA ACHIEVED another milestone in its telecommunications industry with the landing in St Ann on Monday of a 240-km undersea fibre-optic cable between the island and Cuba.

The occasion, which took place at Golden Sands in Ocho Rios, was part of a joint agreement between Jamaica, Cuba and Venezuela, with Lime serving as landing partner on the Cuba-Jamaica leg of a plan to link Cuba and Venezuela.

The first leg of the connection, a 1500 km cable from Venezuela to Cuba, was concluded last week. Because of an embargo, it marks the first time in decades that an international telecoms cable was being connected to Cuba.

Installation of the cable should be completed by June this year. The cable will provide direct connectivity between Venezuela, Cuba and Jamaica for voice and data traffic.

More:
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20110216/news/news1.html

~~~~~
Fiber optic undersea cable reaches Jamaica
CARACAS, Monday February 14, 2011

A fiber optic undersea cable to power telecommunications among Venezuela, Cuba and the rest of Latin America and the Caribbean arrived on Monday at the town of Ocho Rios, in Jamaica.

Last February 11, French ship Ile de Batz, manned by Captain Philipe Cabrera, set sail from Aguadores beach in the Dominican Republic to lay the submarine cable up to that sector in Jamaica, a press release reported.

The first laying goes from Venezuela to Cuba and then from the Cuban coast to Ocho Rios, in Jamaica.

A connection with Haiti and the Dominican Republic is foreseen in a second stage.

The cable is 1,630 kilometers in length and has a capacity of 640 gigabytes, AVN reported

http://english.eluniversal.com/2011/02/14/en_eco_art_fiber-optic-undersea_14A5162335.shtml
Opposition newspaper

[ronnie624]

60. "Because of an embargo,

it marks the first time in decades that an international telecoms cable was being connected to Cuba."

It's odd how such smothering trade restrictions are so easily forgotten by some (over and over again). I guess it's just part of the 'normal' worldview of U.S. Americans, where there is nothing improper about the U.S. government waging unprovoked economic warfare against small countries that it wishes to control. Suggestion to the contrary simply does not compute.

[Judi Lynn]

63. They've never bothered to learn about it. Doesn't prevent their having an opinion, does it?

The "bloqueo," as Cubans call it, is the longest embargo (economic warfare) in history, and acts as a block to trade with other countries who would otherwise do business with Cuba.

Damned sad people have so much to say about things they don't grasp whatsoever.

[ronnie624]

68. I think it's more (worse?) than simple ignorance.

I'm not an expert on anything, but I can certainly understand the difference between right and wrong. Respecting the sovereignty of other nations is not a difficult concept to grasp for a true progressive or a Democrat who genuinely embraces their party's platform.

[boppers]

66. "provide high-speed Internet access to Cuban citizens by 2010."

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-9994491-94.html

Oh wait, it also started *last* month....
http://www.caribbeanbusinesspr.com/news03.php?nt_id=53116&ct_id=1

It's been in the works since 2006 (according to leaked state department cables), and 5 years later, it's still not actually working... sure, there's been lots of pretty pictures, but pictures don't mean that there's a functional link.

I'm a bit skeptical about being told something will happen "real soon" now... for years and years. Lots of press releases, lots of fanfare, no working internet link.

[Judi Lynn]

67. So sue them. What a crime against humanity. Time to drop a few "daisy cutters" on Miraflores. n/t

[Name removed]

25. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[joshcryer]

22. Actually, because the candidates cannot be chosen by the voting population, it is not "democratic."

Candidates are chosen by "commissions" which pick through the "revolutionary acts" of individuals up for consideration.

90%+ of the voting population has no chance of even being considered for any form of office.

Read about the Varela Project. All the Varela Project does is amend the constitution to allow individuals to chose their candidates. It would not in any way affect the Candidate Commissions.

[joshcryer]

21. You don't support the Ladys in White?

[Name removed]

35. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[fittosurvive]

37. Actually, that relates to Aristotle's Law of Identity.

Aristotle highlights "the fact that a thing is itself" because the objective of his inquiry at that point in the Metaphysics concerns "substance" and to provide answers to the question "what kind of thing substance should be said to be", given that "substance is a principle and a cause" of being. He further argues that while it is true that the question, "why a thing is itself" is meaningless, "the fact that a thing is itself" has meaning because we can then restate the why question to inquire "why something is predictable of something" given that each something is itself unique. For Aristotle, "substance is actuality" and it is the actual "thing that is itself" something that proceeds another such something in time.

[EstimatedProphet]

40. Yeah, Ayn Rand claimed that it was from Aristotle.

It's still from Ayn Rand. It's still a misunderstanding of Aristotle's Law of Identity.

Beat it, randroid.

[fittosurvive]

46. Educate yourself...

In logic, the law of identity states that an object is the same as itself: A ≡ A. Any reflexive relation upholds the law of identity. When discussing equality, the fact that "A is A" is a tautology.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_identity

[Name removed]

24. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[boppers]

17. Ah, Cuba.

Where anonymous internet access is forbidden, and something as "revolutionary" as chatting on DU (without government oversight) is forbidden.

[Name removed]

26. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[robcon]

18. Satellite communications equipment is banned by the fascist Cuban state?

Surprised. Not.

[JVS]

32. It sounds like he was a spy.

[joshcryer]

33. It sounds like he was an idiot.

[Psephos]

34. This is the same Cuba that supports Gaddafi in Libya's crisis.

Probably because of the $$millions of dollars of Libyan peoples' money Gaddafi stole and gave to Castro to buy his friendship.

Which al$o explain$ why Ortega in Nicaragua has vowed to support Gaddafi until the bitter end, because "difficult moments put loyalty to the test."

http://blogs.aljazeera.net/americas/2011/02/25/latin-americas-sudden-silence-gaddafi

Chavez seems to have a fondness for the psychotic thug, too. In 2009, he awarded Gaddafi with a replica of the sword of South American independence hero Simon Bolivar. Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro has made clear that the government has not changed its mind regarding Gaddafi's Bolivarian credentials.

Gaddafi "helped consolidate vital organizations that fought for the economic independence of the peoples of the south, he has been vital for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, he has played a fundamental role in the consolidation of the Non-Aligned Movement and his participation was decisive for the construction of the Arab League," Maduro argued.

He added that Venezuela wants Libya to preserve "its national unity and for the civil war to stop."

http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/americas/news/article_1622060.php/Venezuela-maintains-support-for-Gaddafi

[EFerrari]

43. Castro does not express support for Gaddafi

Early last week he said first reports can be wrong AND he also said, anyone committing crimes must be held accountable.

[FLPanhandle]

36. He was crazy to do that especially in a controlling totalitarian place like Cuba

Although I wish the people of Cuba all the free communications they can get their hands on.

[social_critic]

39. I've been around, and some people do crazy things for money

I can't discuss details, because I'm living in Venezuela and I have relatives in Cuba, but let's just say I've seen people do some very very dangerous things to help others be free. Sometimes they did it for conviction, sometimes for the money. I think some did it because they were feeling bullet proof.

What do you think about the people who left their homes in Tripoli and went on and protested, even though they knew the government thugs would be using live ammunition? Crazy, greedy, desperate, brave, or bullet proof?

[EFerrari]

44. He wasn't crazy. He works for the State Department. n/t

[social_critic]

47. You got to be crazy to work for the State Dpt and go to Cuba

Let's face it, it all depends on how you define crazy. I think it's crazy to work for the State Dpt and go to Cuba to distribute phones to Cubans. If I were the US government, I would just fly a plane over Havana and other large cities dropping the phones from the air with small parachutes. Thousands and thousands of them. Then I would set up a series of repeater stations offshore, and give the Cuban people the ability to make free cell phone calls everywhere. That would bring Castro down in a jiffy, I think.

But you know how it is, the US government is kinda stupid. If they put somebody like me in charge, I'd nail these dictators in a hurry, and all without violence.

[joshcryer]

51. Doubtful, they'd pass an emergency law banning them again.

Then you'd have people turning them in for rewards etc.

[joshcryer]

50. That is the definition of crazy. "Hey, thanks for the USAID money, let me go commit illegal acts."

At the bare minimum it's unbelievably stupid.

[boppers]

56. "let me go commit illegal acts".... like sit in the front of a bus.

Or send an email.

Sure, it's not legal. But when laws are not fair, action is required.

[joshcryer]

58. Oh no doubt. Unjust laws should be corrected, and Cuba will have to adapt.

There's just so many people you can jail for logging on to subversive facebook.

[Ter]

69. I can't wait until the protests start in Cuba

n/t

[fittosurvive]

70. It's only a matter of time...

[EFerrari]

72. Another one for the Dire Prediction Round File.

lol

[Judi Lynn]

71. Lawyer for jailed American in Cuba also advocates case of Cuban spies jailed in the U.S.

Posted on Saturday, 02.26.11
Lawyer for jailed American in Cuba also advocates case of Cuban spies jailed in the U.S.
Attorney for American on trial in Cuba Friday has a connection to five spies jailed in the U.S.

By Frances Robles
[e-mail]

~snip~

Gross was a subcontractor for Maryland-based Development Alternatives Inc., which had a U.S. Agency for International Development contract to promote democracy and communications on the island. The U.S. government has said Gross had gone to Cuba to help bring the Internet to Jewish organizations.

He was allegedly caught with satellite phones, and Jewish community leaders in Havana told The Associated Press they never heard of him. Another leader told CBS News this week that he met Gross a few times, but already had web access and didn’t need his help.

Prosecutors recently announced they are seeking a 20-year sentence against Gross for crimes against the integrity of the state. His wife, Judy Gross, hired lawyers in both Washington and Havana.

“The intent has to be — and I don’t blame her — of trying to make some kind of swap,” said Cuba specialist Andy Gomez, a vice provost at the University of Miami. “It’s the only angle to explain why Alan Gross’ wife would want this.”

More:
http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/02/25/2086049/jailed-american-in-cuba-defended.html

[Judi Lynn]

73. Half-Century of Conflict Backdrop to Alan Gross Trial

Half-Century of Conflict Backdrop to Alan Gross Trial
By Dalia Acosta

HAVANA, Mar 4, 2011 (IPS) - More than 50 years of conflict between Cuba and the United States, and in particular Washington's consistent support for dissidents in this Caribbean island nation, will leave their mark on the trial of U.S. citizen Alan Gross that began this Friday.

Gross was arrested Dec. 3, 2009 when he was attempting to return to the U.S. after his fifth visit to Cuba in nine months. He is accused of acts against the independence and integrity of Cuba, punishable by up to 20 years imprisonment.

The 61-year-old U.S. citizen works for Development Alternatives Inc. (DAI), based in Bethesda, Maryland, near Washington DC, which carries out development work in other countries. At the time of his arrest he was a subcontractor for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

As well as alleged involvement in spying, Cuban sources have maintained for months that Gross illegally brought in satellite communications equipment to hand over to internal dissident groups, as part of a programme financed by USAID.

More:
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=54718