U.N. human rights panel censures Cuba, N. Korea

[Freddie Stubbs]

Associated Press

GENEVA--The top United Nations human rights watchdog passed resolutions Thursday criticizing conditions in Cuba and North Korea, but Russia and China avoided censure.

The 53-nation U.N. Human Rights Commission voted 22-21 for a Honduras-proposed resolution that "deplored" Cuba's jailing 75 dissidents arrested March 18, 2003.

Moments later, a member of the Cuban delegation attacked an anti-Castro activist outside the meeting, knocking him to the ground after he approached a group of Cubans.

"All of a sudden I passed out," Frank Calzon said in a telephone interview with the Associated Press.

more: http://www.charleston.net/stories/041604/wor_16rights.shtml

[the Kelly Gang]

1. 75 "dissidents"s..working with the CIA ,jailed..meanwhile untold

Iraqis die horrible deaths .
Why wasn't The US/UK/Australian/Spanish etc coalition censured ?

[qb]

2. Does the Cuba censure include Guantanamo Bay?

[Vladimir]

3. Bugger that

so they jailed some dissidents - big deal. The Iraq death toll is 10,000+ civilians and counting. Until these organizations eliminate their double standards, they should keep their mouth shut.

V

[Just Me]

4. Ummm,...the USA jails dissidents all the time,...

,...it's called civil disobedience.

[Freddie Stubbs]

5. But those people are usually out in a matter of hours

If Bush treated his political opponents like Castro did, most of us would be in jail right now.

[BayCityProgressive]

6. the UN is a complete joke

run by the worlds main imperialist powers. Cuba jailed a bunch of people working with the USA. GOOD! We would do the same thing to others...spies from other countries. Why is it that Cuba has to live up to such high standards of perfection yet the USA, Britian ect get away with far worse? Because Cuba is anti-capitalist and doesn't give the world powers the slvae labor and cheap goods it wants. Too bad!

[Mika]

12. You are making shit up.

Oswaldo Paya of the Christian Democratic Party of Cuba won a Nobel prize. He's not in jail.

[Judi Lynn]

14. Hi, Mika. Isn't it odd?

As long as no one who really knows better comes along, statements like this simply dangle there, unchallenged.

Fortunately most Democrats know better than to believe anything without thinking about it, applying some common sense, and doing a little research if there's a question.

Damned strange.

[Mika]

15. It is odd

Especially considering that citizens of the country running the torture camp at Gitmo have the unmitigated nerve to be pointing blood soaked fingers at Cuba.


Check the Miami Herald today for the story on the Cuban medical teams who operated in Haiti (and still are) throughout the most viscous period there. Truly heroic healers.

[Judi Lynn]

16. It's worth pondering that they worked themselves ragged there

and now the _Bush admin. has put its own people in, they are hostile to the Cuban doctors. I guess we should expect this.

Posted on Sat, Apr. 17, 2004




CRISIS IN HAITI


During unrest, Cuban doctors treated Haiti's many wounds

About 525 Cuban doctors and nurses were in Haiti during the February revolt against President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The new government will review its relationship with Cuba.

BY MICHAEL A.W. OTTEY

[e-mail]


PORT-AU-PRINCE -- In a dusty courtyard with dying shade trees, clumps of brown grass and piles of half-burned trash, a team of Cuban doctors and nurses faced the unimaginable when Haiti's political crisis spiraled into massive bloodshed.

On that day, the Cubans -- part of the country's 525-member medical mission here -- treated more than 400 Haitians who had sustained deep gashes from machete attacks, bullet wounds or burns from being doused with gasoline and set on fire.
(snip)

About 150 of the patients treated had gunshot wounds, some life-threatening, he said, and the doctors had to improvise to stabilize the wounded. The International Committee of the Red Cross responded with gauze and other supplies, he added.
(snip)

''The gratitude they give us is a form of payment,'' said Torres, who has been in Haiti for 30 months. ``It's been significant for me because a lot of the diseases in Haiti you only see in textbooks. They are diseases that have been eradicated in other parts of the world.''
(snip)


News
www.miamiherald.com

The Miami Herald has a new system in place, since they started doing registration only for online readers. If anyone leaves a direct link to an article, the URL reflects the poster's name and e-mail address.

I can only leave the section, easy to locate, and the link to the Herald, or risk giving my personal e-mail to everyone!

[Mika]

17. Thanks for posting that

The Miami Herald has a new system in place, since they started doing registration only for online readers. If anyone leaves a direct link to an article, the URL reflects the poster's name and e-mail address.
I can only leave the section, easy to locate, and the link to the Herald, or risk giving my personal e-mail to everyone!


Same here

Ever since the M-H started the registration requirement their story hits have dropped over 70%. Unless they change the new system the Miami.com site will not last long, I'm pretty sure. The print edition is begging for readers to register.

[Judi Lynn]

18. That's a radical step the Herald took

People who share links on message boards DON'T WANT their e-mail addresses going out with their posts.

I'll bet most people are simply going to start going to www.sun-sentinel.com for Florida news online!

Thanks for the info. on the Herald. I'm glad to hear you confirm it, as it was startling to discover. I wasn't sure if it was happening to ALL Herald readers or not. It's a stupid idea, and Alberto Ibarguen is wrong in implementing it.

By the way, have you used http://www.1stheadlines.com/florida2.htm as a resource for Florida news? It's a "Top Florida Headline" site I learned about a couple of years ago at the old CNN message boards.

[Freddie Stubbs]

20. What about the 75 Cuban dissidents that are currently in jail?

How many Americans are sitting in jail for thier political beliefs?

[Mika]

22. What about the so called "dissidents"?

"How many Americans are sitting in jail for thier political beliefs?"



Which political beliefs? Marijuana politics? Polygamy politics? Public nudity politics? Sex with minors politics?

Depends which yardstick one uses.


Tell us about those 75 "innocents" (who, btw, were on the USAID NED and Cubanet payroll) who were working for the foreign entity (a publicly avowed enemy, the US government) that has vowed to, as well as funded, the opposition - who's goal is to end the government of Cuba.

Is foreign government funding of political "opposition" legal in the USA?

Do you not think that (for example) Al Queda supported "dissidents" would be arrested in the USA?

[robcon]

26. Mika, you're making it up again

Mika wtote: "Tell us about those 75 "innocents" (who, btw, were on the USAID NED and Cubanet payroll)"

As is often the case, Mika, you just make shit up to defend the dictatorship. Most of those 75 were journalist whose only mistake was the unpardonable one of signing the Varela Project.

[Just Me]

28. Would you kindly share your wherewithall about such matters,...

,...and stop imposing your "superiority" upon others. I have observed that, when people post here,...they are rarely ever just "making shit up".

It is totally unfair for you to do your thingy,...when Mika and Judilyn and several others have freakin' flooded this board with pictures and information and news backing their positions and perspectives.

Why you insist upon suppressing such voices,...is beyond me.

[Judi Lynn]

31. You've noticed the difference in Battistianos and others!

Thank you for pointing it out.

You'll notice anti-embargo American posters DO encourage others to get in there and read for all they're worth, and read Cuban-American history going all the way back to the 1800's up to the present.

The Battistianos would prefer if you took their word for it!

I didn't know a thing about Cuba until Elián Gonzalez arrived, and I learned by following the events that his drunken great-uncle, Lázaro Gonzalez had gone to Cuba and stayed at Elián Gonzalez's father's house, slept in his bed, while the father, Juan Miguel slept in his car to make room for him, and he had spent his days and evenings fishing and hanging out in the hotel lounges. Hey, great guest!

It finally dawned on me that I was hearing something I'd never heard before: the same people who claim they come screaming across the water for haven in Florida ALSO turn around and go right back on vacation, and to visit relatives. That told me I had been a victem of a real package of lies, so I started reading.

For some people there IS a moment of awakening. For others, obviously, screw it!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Havana. April, 15 2004



Cuban anti-cancer medicines awaiting Treasury Department license
• 400-plus businesspeople and political figures from 30 states in first Cuba-U.S. trade round of 2004 • Conference today on business opportunities in oil prospecting

BY RAISA PAGES —Granma International staff writer—
A group of cancer treatment products such as monoclonal antibodies and therapeutic vaccines manufactured in the Cuban Molecular Immunology Center are awaiting a Treasury Department license to be utilized in the United States by a Californian company.

This information emerged during a lecture by Carlos Borroto, deputy director of the Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology Research Center (CIGB), in the first round of the Cuba-U.S. business negotiations 2004, underway since Tuesday in Havana’s International Conference center.

Pedro Alvarez, president of the Cuban Alimport company, informed Granma International that a contract worth $10 million had been signed with a California company to acquire rice, powdered milk and other food products, in their majority aimed at covering the need for foodstuffs sold by the state on the subsidized ration system.

Alvarez noted that on this occasion more than 400 businesspeople from 172 companies in 30 U.S. states have arrived for the session.
(snip)

http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2004/abril/jue15/17negoc-i.html

[Mika]

29. I'm a journalist too

.. and a doctor.

Except that I'm not on the NED/USAID/CANF/Cubanet/James Cason payroll, nor anyone's except my own.

I'm just reporting on my many personal experiences IN Cuba and not from US government sources. I have many friends in Cuba with whom I communicate regularly.

I do not defend any dictatorship, and there isn't one in Cuba. I have seen an entire election season there.

How many times and when was the last time were you in Cuba, to see the place for yourself?

[Mika]

30. ((Pssstt)) Projecto Varela is foreign financed and sponsored

It comes from the darkest recesses of Miami's exile diaspora (and the Vatican).



Covering and Not Covering Cuba
http://www.canadiandimension.mb.ca/v37/v37_4lh.htm

Cubaˆs objection, according to Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque, was that the EUˆs move was ¯hypocritical and opportunist,˜ meant to further smooth the ruffled feathers of the American hawks in Washington and in Iraq. The same assessment could be made of External Affairs Minister Bill Grahamˆs introduction of a similar motion at a recent meeting of the Organization of States.

Roque held an open press conference in Havana shortly after the much condemned trial of the ¯dissidents and independent journalists˜ in early April. A respectable number of the 157 foreign correspondents operating freely in Cuba were there, but few found the testimony of one Nestor Sanchez Galarraga Baguer of any interest.

Sr. Baguer was Chairman of the Cuban Independent Press Association, an organization home to several dissident journalists revered by Canadian media.

It turns out that Sr. Baguer was recruited by the US Interests Section of Havana (the compound that houses American foreign service personnel) to create and/or distort information to feed to American sponsored counter-revolutionary Radio Marti, and to several other journalistic fronts as necessary.

A special open pass gave him 24 hour access to the US facilities including an Internet room where a couple of dozen other phoney ¯independents˜ worked. Sr. Baguer explained that they were told what to write about and paid generously in cash with money smuggled in through couriers. Among his assorted colleagues in disinformation was the alleged exiled poet Raul Rivero, also ¯connected˜ as a writer for the ultra-conservative newspaper, the Miami Herald.

Fortunately for the US Interests Section, Nestor Baguer was a real journalist who knew how to make phoney stories look good. Unfortunately, he was also a double agent for Cuban intelligence(codename Octavio) whoˆd been operating undercover successfully since 1960. Should have been a helluva story, but for all the attention he got, Sr. Baguer could have saved his breath. Not only are North American media not interested in the truth about Cuba; when we find it, we kill it.

[Judi Lynn]

32. Great article, Mika! People who read a lot recognize the pattern

It's called "destabilization" and it happens in every country with an interest in nationalism as opposed to getting corrupted and broken by the right-wing extremists in our own government, in order to serve their interests.

That element in our society has been trying to control Cuba since the 1800's, as in this vicious statement from the Undersecretary of War, John C. Breckenridge, in 1897:

We must impose a harsh blockade so that hunger and its constant companion, disease, undermine the peaceful population and decimate the Cuban army.

http://www.historyofcuba.com/history/bmemo.htm
Look how far we've come! Cool, huh?

An important point made in your article is the fact that the author was a journalist who actually lost his job when he questioned the North American attempt to push a "cooked" picture of Cuba to the public. Very interesting.

It's been pointed out that our pro-embargo public pontificators state there is no journalistic freedom in Cuba surrounding the U.S.-funded "independent journalists" (something which would NOT be allowed here if American journalists accepted their salaries from foreign governments to write anti-American pieces!) while fighting like wildmen to make sure Americans NEVER get the chance to find out the truth about Cuba themselves. That twisted morality could make a maggot gag.

[Mika]

37. Its easy. Anything USA = good - Anything Cuba = bad

"It's been pointed out that our pro-embargo public pontificators state there is no journalistic freedom in Cuba surrounding the U.S.-funded "independent journalists""


They aren't journalists. They are political activists in support of and in the employ of an avowed enemy foreign entity (the USA) who's stated goal is to overthrow the government of Cuba.


-


I think you'll like this article from counterpunch.org


Surfacing the Empire's Dirty Secrets
Subvertng Brazil and Cuba
http://www.counterpunch.org/landau04162004.html

[Just Me]

23. Far, FAR more than corrupt corporatists,...

,...who screwed any and every one in pursuit of their black-hole greed. But, hey,...who cares?

[Sinistrous]

7. Honduras:

Over $1B military and economic aid from the US, 1997-2003.

http://www.ciponline.org/facts/ho.htm

"Friends" helping "friends".

[bobthedrummer]

8. In Colombia union workers and supporters are "terrorists" to SOA

trained fascists-with help from OUR taxes! Another policy of George W. Bush aka The War President:grr:
http://www.populist.com/02.7.Hirsch.html

[eablair3]

9. a client state doing what it's told

Honduras is a client state doing what it is told to do by the U.S.

Seems like many countries in the U.N. can be bribed and bought. I shouldn't say "countries", but rather leaders in those countries.

[Freddie Stubbs]

10. Yet Honduras has free elections

and Cuba does not.

[Mika]

11. Cuba does not?

Please explain the Cuban system as you understand it.

Thanks.


I was in Cuba during the 1997-98 elections. They were run more openly and fairly than anything in Florida. I watched as the ballots were counted in public in Santiago De Cuba, as they are in EVERY district in Cuba.




CANF founder and Clinton fundraiser Jorge Mas Canosa & Bill Clinton

[Freddie Stubbs]

19. Elections aren't very free

when only one party is allowed to participate.

[Mika]

21. You need to check your "facts"

I mentioned in a prior post just one of the political parties in Cuba (The Christian Democratic Party of Cuba), of which there are many.


The communist party only holds about 15% of the seats in the National Assembly (the Cuban Parliament).

Here are some of the major parties in Cuba. The union parties hold the majority of seats in the Assembly.

http://www.gksoft.com/govt/en/cu.html

* Partido Comunista de Cuba (PCC) {Communist Party of Cuba}
* Partido Demócrata Cristiano de Cuba (PDC) {Christian Democratic Party of Cuba} - Oswaldo Paya's Catholic party
* Partido Solidaridad Democrática (PSD) {Democratic Solidarity Party}
* Partido Social Revolucionario Democrático Cubano {Cuban Social Revolutionary Democratic Party}
* Coordinadora Social Demócrata de Cuba (CSDC) {Social Democratic Coordination of Cuba}
* Unión Liberal Cubana {Cuban Liberal Union}

Plenty of info on this long thread,
http://www.democraticunderground.com/cgi-bin/duforum/duboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=6300&forum=DCForumID70


Maybe do a little homework before throwing around inane misrepresentations of the facts, as they are in Cuba NOW.

[Just Me]

24. Geez,...I wish we had that many "parties" in the USA.

If we had that many parties,...we may actually get a gist of real democracy.

[Mika]

25. Oh, and the Cuban people really do get involved in politics

http://www.poptel.org.uk/cuba-solidarity/democracy.htm

This system in Cuba is based upon universal adult suffrage for all those aged 16 and over. Nobody is excluded from voting, except convicted criminals or those who have left the country. Voter turnouts have usually been in the region of 95% of those eligible .

There are direct elections to municipal, provincial and national assemblies, the latter represent Cuba's parliament.

Electoral candidates are not chosen by small committees of political parties. No political party, including the Communist Party, is permitted to nominate or campaign for any given candidates.

I have attended several nomination meetings and accountability meetings. It is an amazing sight to see! Cubans of all trades and professions, shoulder to shoulder, none more powerful than another, discussing in great detail all of the various platforms and ideas of those who seek nomination for a seat. 75% to 85% of the electorate participates in these meetings and nomination elections. It is amazing.

[Just Me]

27. Gee, golly, Mika,...please stop making the USA look so bad,...

,...we just cannot handle that!!!! We believe that we have the patent, trademark and copyright on "democracy" (even though we actually have NO "democracy" whatsoever).

You are killing me,...please stop pointing out reality to me. I just cannot take it,...'cause, I am big and you are small, I am American and you are not, I am right and you are wrong.

*weep*

Of course, you know that I am not a part of that manufactured mindset.

I am sad for all those who are so vulnerable as to be "manufactured".

[0rganism]

33. Like Honduras has been such a freaking bastion of human rights

What bullshit. If ever there was a case of pots bitching about kettles...

[Judi Lynn]

34. Here's a well concealed story I just discovered

on a quick run to google to look for Reagan Honduras aid. This story discusses a clandestine weapons purchase from China of weapons Reagan was moving into Nicaragua to crush the Contras, which had to go through Guatemala and Honduras before arriving at its destination:

“When they were delivered to Honduras, it was, as I remember, right on the heels of a vote in which the Congress had voted down again the president’s request for aid, and the Honduran government seized” the shipment, North testified at his trial.

“I wrote a memo to the national security adviser and asked him to have the president call the president of Honduras … and ask him to release that supply of weapons because the resistance desperately needed it,” North said.

Reagan agreed, but his personal intervention prompted a subtle demand from Honduran president Roberto Suazo for a quid pro quo arrangement in which Honduras would receive increased U.S. aid in exchange. The diplomatic minuet dancing around this sensitive quid pro quo issue apparently drew in Vice President Bush during a visit to Honduras as Reagan’s personal intermediary.

Eventually, Honduran authorities agreed to deliver the Chinese missiles to the contras. In the following months, the Reagan-Bush administration increased aid levels to Honduras.
(snip)

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2000/091800a.html

Why do we never hear these stories unless we learn of them accidently?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This quick grab from google illustrates how little we are being allowed to know, unless we simply start looking for the answers by reading more:

Hidden Truths in Honduras:
U.S. Delays Declassification

Just as the Kennedy administration obsessed with covert war against Cuban communism, President Ronald Reagan enthusiastically authorized secret measures to halt leftist "subversion" in Central American countries during the 1980s. In Honduras, as in other countries, Reagan's policies took a terrible toll on democracy.

At least 184 Hondurans disappeared to secret prisons and hidden graves, many of them abducted by a brutal "counterintelligence" unit called Battalion 316. This force, which was established and run with help from the CIA, functioned as a death squad. Now the man who is responsible for documenting the fate of the victims is pleading with the United States to release records that may hold the painful answers.

Leo Valladares is his name. He is the National Commissioner for Human Rights in Honduras, and for years he has been on the case. Throughout his investigation, according to human rights groups, Valladares has been subtly stonewalled by U.S. foreign policy agencies. Though piles of official records have been released, many of the documents provide nothing more that "a few words amidst page after page of black ink," as Valladares puts it. The truth remains censored behind the expansive excisions in the documents.

The secrecy about U.S.-linked atrocities must cease, Valladares argues. "National security must never be a rationale for violating human rights, nor an excuse for concealing evidence of such violations," he said as he released a new report on January 21. Titled In Search of Hidden Truths, Valladares' report reviews his struggle to unearth the unpleasant facts about the CIA's involvement in Honduras.
(snip/...)

http://www.parascope.com/ds/papertrail/papertrail0298b.htm#honduras

Isn't it funny that "human rights violations" in cases like this, result in massive deaths, tortures, etc., while "human rights violations" as the U.S. right-wing accuses Cuba concern pitching people covertly on the U.S. payroll into the slammer?

[Mika]

35. Let's see how many countries..

Let's see how many countries sign on to a UN condemnation of the US torture kamp at Gitmo.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3633769.stm
Hundreds of suspects are being held at Guantanamo Bay
At the UN Human Rights Commission meeting in Geneva, the Cuban delegation has tabled a resolution on arbitrary detentions in Guantanamo Bay.

The resolution is currently scheduled for consideration by the Human Rights Commission on Wednesday or Thursday next week.

-

It also includes a reminder that a number of states with citizens in Guantanamo Bay have expressed their most serious concerns about the situation, effectively challenging countries like France and Britain to stand by their positions and support the Cuban resolution.

If it passes, the resolution would mandate the UN's special rapporteurs on torture and judicial independence and its working group on arbitrary detention to consider the situation in Guantanamo Bay.

It would request the responsible government - that is, the United States - to provide all necessary information on the living conditions of the prisoners and their legal status.

[Judi Lynn]

36. That should be remarkable.

Just a reminder of the next vote against the U.S. embargo of Cuba coming in November, 2004:

Last Updated: Tuesday, 4 November, 2003, 21:49 GMT



UN votes against US Cuba embargo


The embargo has been in place for more than 40 years
The United Nations General Assembly has voted overwhelmingly for an end to the United States' 40-year-old economic embargo against Cuba.
The vote marks the 12th consecutive year that the assembly has called for an end to the blockade.

Only three nations voted against the motion - the US, Israel and the Marshall Islands. Two others abstained.

The US embargo was imposed on Cuba after Fidel Castro defeated a 1961 CIA-backed assault at the Bay of Pigs.
(snip)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3242077.stm

Interesting to remember that of the TWO ONLY countries voting WITH _Bush's government, Israel actually does business with Cuba! Talk about irony!

[Mika]

38. Two votes w/ the US. Both bought.

Israel and The Marshall Islands. LOL


"Israel actually does business with Cuba! Talk about irony!"



Yep. Even more ironic is that a majority of Americans want to end the trade and travel sanctions on Cuba and Americans - and the fact that Cuba's business dealings with & purchases from US corporations has increased exponentially over the last few years (all of which has been approved by the US government). Ironic? How about hypocritical.

-

Check the Miami Herald for the story today on Joe lieberman coming to Miami to "help" Kerry campaign for the Miamicuban vote. :puke: Plus a story on the Miamicuban expectations of the candidates in the upcoming _selections.

---

... because our Bonesman is better than their Bonesman

[Judi Lynn]

39. Can't tell which way Kerry is going, ultimately, on Cuba

On Meet the Press today, he said he would favor lifting the travel ban, and that Cuban "exiles" definitely should be able to send remittances back to Cuba.

It almost sounded as if he would entertain the thought of lifting the embargo. Tim Russert kept trying to press him on it, but he said a lot has changed in the "exile" community in Miami, and that nothing should be done concerning Cuba without having in depth discussions with them.

I disagree. "They are not the boss of us." They should NOT be allowed to call our shots in foreign policy.

Went to the Herald, and looked at the article. Sounds as if certain sectors in the Miami Cuban "exile" community are making independent moves to check out Kerry for the next election, or at least going through the motions:

''Cuban Americans are hungry for bold and dramatic new messages,'' said Republican State Rep. David Rivera, a critic of Bush's Cuba policy who says Cuban Americans are frustrated with hollow anti-Castro rhetoric. ``President Bush should use this as an opportunity to begin to galvanize and motivate Cuban-American voters for the upcoming election.''

Cuban-American Democrats also have high expectations. Miami-Dade Mayor and Senate candidate Alex Penelas said he planned to meet with Kerry this week. Penelas said it's important for Kerry to talk about Cuba.
(snip)

www.miamiherald.com

(Click news,then click "breaking news." Registration required to read the article.)

[Mika]

40. WTF did he mean by "I won't lift the embargo for nothing"?

I am pissed that he would endorse placing demands on Cuba's sovereign rights and abuse Cuba of defending itself from the well funded US overt attempts to overthrow the government of Cuba. Why the hell does Cuba have to do to anything appease US imperialism? Did China? Did Vietnam? Why then do we deal with commies like them and S Africa?

Does Kerry even know that Bush increased remittances TEN FOLD last year?

On Cuba and Venezuela, Kerry is a dipshit.
-

Re: the Herald article - David Rivera and Alex Penelas are reps of the hard right wingnut Miamicuban exiles (remember that S Florida Dems are simply repukes with a D beside their name). They are hungry for bold new measures to bring Cuba's sovereign government to its knees - they are hungry for another hard liner like Clinton was. That's why Joe Lieberman is coming to town to "help" Kerry win them over. Kerry's mentioning of the more reasonable Miamicuban factions is just pandering for the non Cuban vote, I'm afraid. Meanwhile he'll be talkin gittin tough on Castro here in Miami, along with Joementum.

[Judi Lynn]

42. As a Democrat, Alex Pinelas did as much damage to Al Gore

as the most fiendish Republican. He was a catastrophe whose time surely came. Had he only been neutral, he could have helped far more.

He did real DAMAGE. Screw that guy.

Here's an article which tells us BOTH Kerry and Bush will be working South Florida this week:

Bush, Kerry to stump in Florida, county

By Brian Crowley, Palm Beach Post Political Editor
Sunday, April 18, 2004


LAKE WORTH -- Floridians will get visits from both President Bush and John Kerry this week, with Kerry arriving today in Miami and then traveling to Palm Beach County where he will make three campaign stops.

Only one of the stops here will be open to the public: a "town hall" meeting Monday at Palm Beach Community College's suburban Lake Worth campus. Those who want to attend should be at Pruitt Plaza by 9 a.m. The event begins at 10:30.

This evening, Kerry will attend a private dinner at the Palm Beach home of Howard Kessler to raise money for the Democratic National Committee. Breakfast Monday will be at the Juno Beach home of attorney Joseph Reiter.
(snip)

Republican U.S. Senate candidates Mel Martinez and Bill McCollum will be in Palm Beach County Monday, and both campaigns are planning responses to Kerry's visit.
(snip/...)

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/auto/epaper/editions/sunday/local_news_04183f5fa56e51b60040.html

[Mika]

43. Local TV had clips of Kerry saying he won't lift the embargo

He's saying what he thinks he needs to in Miami.
Joementum was meeting with the CANF, spouting more lunacy than one could tolerate :puke:

[dArKeR]

13. UN's rights body attacks Cuba; PRC thumbs nose at US

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2004/04/17/2003137017

[Judi Lynn]

41. Found some info. some DU'ers might find interesting

This article reviews a book about a female soldier during Cuba's last revolution, in the 1950's.

There are a few information bits here which a lot of people have not heard yet, if they haven't read Cuban history, which are certainly worth mulling over:

Cuba’s fighting women

REVIEW BY KIM BULLIMORE


Marianas in Combat: Tet‚ Puebla and the Mariana Grajales Women's Platoon in the Cuban revolutionary war, 1956-1958
Edited by Mary-Alice Walker
Pathfinder Press, 2003
97 pages, $22.

(snip)
Marianas in Combat tells the story and significance of the women's platoon through the eyes of one of its leading combatants, Tet‚ Puebla who served as the platoon's second in command. A compilation of two interviews with Puebla conducted by editor Mary-Alice Walker in 2000 and 2002, the book not only gives an invaluable insight into struggle against the Bastista regime, but also the struggle of Cuban women to overcome discrimination, sexism and oppression.

Puebla, who has since become a Brigadier in Cuba's Revolutionary Armed Forces (RAF), first joined the July 26 Movement as a 15-year-old school student. Like many other young men and women of her generation, Puebla was from a poor peasant family and was horrified by the savageness of the Batista regime.

In my village, she tells Waters, the infamous Masferrer's Tigers death squad would “tie victims up and put them in a sack .... pour gasoline on them and set them on fire”. Puebla also recalls, how many of the young women in the village, including a relative, were gang raped by 50 or more of Batista's soldiers from the nearby Manzanillo barracks. It was this brutality which propelled Puebla, her two brothers and her uncles to join the Rebel Army.

During her first year in the July 26 Movement (J26M), Puebla helped transport weapons, raised money by selling bonds and assisted in the underground network by helping fellow revolutionaries to reach the Sierra Maestra. It was only when the identity of a number of J26M members, including hers, were revealed by a fellow member who had been captured and tortured, that she was forced to flee to the Sierra Maestra.
(snip/...)

http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2004/579/579p21.htm

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For anyone who's interested, Rolando MasFerrer was the publisher of a newspaper, and also in the Cuban Senate, and he also ran death squads which beat, tortured, and murdered young Cubans they suspected of having "leftist" leanings.

When it was assured the people of Cuba were chasing people like him out, he ran to Florida, where he was eventually blown up in a car bombing, after years of annoying nastiness. Here's one link to info. on him:

http://cuban-exile.com/menu2/2rolando.html