René González and Ricardo Alarcon in a Democracy Now Exclusive

The daily independent global news hour Democracy Now (today's program) presented today an exclusive with Rene Gonzalez (video), former Cuban intelligence agent and freed member of the Cuban Five and Ricardo Alarcon (video), former foreign minister of Cuba and past president of the Cuban National Assembly.

TRANSCRIPT

Democracy Now presented today an exclusive with René González, former Cuban intelligence agent and freed member of the Cuban Five:

I'm Amy Goodman, with a Democracy Now! exclusive. We turn now to René González, the only freed member of the Cuban Five. He was released in October of 2011. He returned to Cuba in April of this year after being jailed in the United States for 13 years. I recently spoke to him from Havana via Democracy Now! video stream. I began by asking him why he came to the United States to investigate militant Cuban exile groups.

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Today marks 15 years since the 'Cuban Five' arrest, another US injustice

Cuban 5

In August 1962, I was an ordinary Cuban child who had just turned eight years old. I can still remember the commotion all over Havana after someone sailed a boat to within a mile of the city's coastline and fired a cannon at a hotel. They then turned north and headed for safe haven in Miami.

That experience repeated itself for me and for my four comrades, who are still in US prisons, as I was until recently. The five of us grew up in Cuba, witnessing the kidnapping and assassination of Cuban fishermen, and the culprits would then return to their safe haven in Miami. A gunboat crew attacked and killed the crew of a Spanish freighter off the coast of Cuba and then returned to their safe haven in Miami. In 1976, two terrorists of Cuban origin, after having organized the bombing of a Cubana airliner which killed 73 people, found safe haven back in Miami. Twenty years later, one orchestrated a bombing campaign against Cuban hotels, which cost the life of an Italian citizen.

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Rally: Free the Cuban 5! Street rally with open mic

Saturday 14 September, 12 to 3pm
Outside Angel tube Station (northern line)

Cuban 5 demo

The Cuban Five, Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando González and René González, are five Cuban men who are unjustly imprisoned in the United States after being arrested by the FBI on 12 September 1998 and convicted in US federal court in Miami in 2001, in a political prosecution by the US government.

This September marks 15 years since their arrest.
The Five were falsely accused by the US government of committing espionage and conspiracy against the United States, and other related charges.

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Candlelight Vigil for the Miami Five - London

cuban 5 csc

Free the Miami Five, Justice Now!
US Embassy, Grosvenor Square, London, W1 (Bond St tube)
Tuesday 17 September
6-7.30pm

Please join us and special guests from Cuba to mark the 15th anniversary of the arrest of the Miami Five.

with special guests from Cuba
Yamil Eduardo Martinez and Yudith Camps Alejo
young trade unionists and solidarity activists

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Let's Join René González's call to the Cuban People, that September 12 Cuba and the World be Filled with Yellow Ribbons

free the cuba 5 copy

On the 15th anniversary of the arrest of the Cuban Five, the Hero of the Republic of Cuba Rene Gonzalez, has asked his people to saturate the island with yellow ribbons. "My desire is that on September 12 yellow ribbons will appear in trees, on balconies, on people's arms, on their pets or however they want to display it. That way this expression will make it impossible for visitors and the foreign media to ignore the fact that the Cuban people are still waiting for four of their sons who are imprisoned in the United States."


Tie a yellow ribbon round the old oak tree

As we approach 15 years of the incarceration of the Five, it is important for us to reflect once again that these were men who's only mission in coming to the US was to defend their people. We must remember that they have been suffering for 15 years the most elemental violation of human rights including separation from their loved ones, but yet hold no hate or rancor towards the American people who have been denied the truth and even the existence of the Cuban 5.

From the International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban 5, we call on all people and committees in solidarity with the Cuban 5 to join Rene, the families of the Five and the Cuban people to bring yellow ribbons to all the activities taking place from September 5 to October 6, especially on September 12.

Bringing yellow ribbons to all the marches, rallies, and vigils that will be taking place in the United States and in front of US embassies around the world will be a strong visual expression against an injustice that has gone on way too long.

(National Committee to Free the Cuban Five)

How US taxpayers' money is wasted on not helping Cuba

Campana anti-cubana

Yet more proof,  if any were needed, to confirm just how much of US taxpayer's money is wasted by groups purporting to help bring Democracy to Cuba has been posted by Tracey Eaton on his blog Along the Malecon. He provides this link to the USAID website that details how much and to which organisations the millions of dollars are distributed each year. Some websearching provides illuminating reading.

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Fidel at 87

Fidel Castro

By Nelson P Valdés - Cuba-L Analysis

On August 13th, Fidel Castro became 87 years old. He has been out of power since he got very ill in 2006 and retired in 2008. Seven years have gone by. We were told by the world mass media that Raúl Castro did not have the wherewithal to rule. And yet, there has been no political or social challenge to the successful transition. Indeed, Cuba has been more stable than many countries in Europe. Moreover, the influence and expansion of ties with the world have increased. And Raul Castro might even have more legitimacy than expected.

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A look at Cuba’s model of wellbeing

Dr. Patricia Arés Muzio

ON many occasions, I have asked my students what might be the principal reasons to support for saying that it’s good to live in Cuba. The majority of the responses refer to universal health care, education, social security. These are precisely the pillars of our socialist model, but they constitute, for many young people, common realities of our daily lives, thus becoming altogether customary, frozen in the popular discourse, practically irrelevant as a result of constant repetition.

I would go so far as to say that there is a Cuban model of wellbeing that has been incorporated with such uncritical familiarity that it has become invisible to us, paradoxically more often noted by those who are no longer here, after having lost it, or by visitors who live in other realities in their countries of origin. In daily life in Cuba, most conversation is generally about the difficulties, above all those of an economic nature. Very rarely is there talk of our assets or strengths.

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London to host historic Cuban celebration

M-26-7

Cubans are well known to enjoy a good party and this July sees special festivities across the island. On 26 July Cubans will celebrate the 60th anniversary of the ill-fated military uprising, led by the young lawyer Fidel Castro which, despite ending in disaster, marked the beginning of the end of the Batista dictatorship. A group of Cuban musicians, artists and photographers living in Britain are bringing the party to London on Saturday 20 July.

In March 1952, Fulgencio Batista carried out a coup, one month before elections were due to be held, to seize control of Cuba for the second time. Fidel Castro, who was among the frustrated electoral candidates, saw the democratic path to change closed and set up a clandestine network of activists to carry out a military uprising. On 26 July 1953, 135 rebels attacked the Moncada Barracks in Santiago de Cuba while another 40 hit at the Carlos Manuel de Céspedes Barracks in Bayamo. Their plan was to take control of the military installations and distribute armaments to the Cuban people to spark a revolution.

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A Letter to Barack Obama - Cuba (New Mexico) Applies to USAID

Obama Cuba

by Nelson P. Valdes (CounterPunch)

“U.S. government hypocrisy has grown so pervasive over the last decades that it provokes yawns and glazed looks.”

- Saul Landau

Dear President Obama,

I want to send you this letter for two reasons.

First, because here in Cuba, New Mexico me and my family voted for you. We all are in favor of a change we can believe in. And we need it!

Second, because me, my family and neighbors were happy, impressed and a little surprised to learn that despite all the school closings in Chicago and the over 50,000 homeless people living in the streets of New York you thought of us, Cuba residents and American citizens.

We were amazed when we learned that you said, “Cuba’s future must be freely determined by the Cuban people. Sadly, that has not been the case for decades, and it is not the case today. The people of Cuba deserve the same rights, freedoms and opportunities as anyone else. And so the United States is going to continue supporting the basic rights of the Cuban people.”  And we say AMEN!

We could not have said it any better. You cannot believe how many times our political/voting rights have been violated and our ballots lost. Imagine we are asked to vote only on where the speed traps that finance our small towns us should be! Yes, we want our rights, freedom  and opportunities.

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Nación y Emigración