Obama and Cuba

January 3, 2015

Obama and Cuba
By Eileen F. Toplansky

As a direct result of Obama's intervention in Cuba, "a large group of
prominent Havana dissidents -- activists, civil society advocates and
independent journalists -- were arrested as they headed for a pro-free
speech... event."

Among the arrested were writer Yoani Sanchez and her husband Reinaldo
Escobar. In 2012 Sanchez was arrested when she and other dissidents
demanded information about blogger Yaremis Flores accused of making
anti-Castro comments. In Sanchez's recent post of December 17, 2014, she
speaks of "exhausted hopes" and the need to "redouble [their] guard
against the enemy." She speaks of the "deceits of politics" as the
United States under Barack Hussein Obama worked in concert with the
communist Cuban government.

There was no "evidence of any agreement or compromise from the Cuban
side" and no "public timeline ... which commits the Cuban government to
a series of gestures in support of democratization and respect for
differences." So instead of "the release of all political prisoners and
prisoners of conscience; the end of political repression; the
ratification of the United Nations covenants on Civil, Political,
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights... in essence the beginning of the
"dismantling of totalitarianism," the Cuban dictatorship has clamped
down on the hopes and aspirations of the Cuban people -- thanks, in
part, to the actions of the communist-in-chief, Obama.

Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo, Cuban dissident in exile, writes about the
words that "have remained buried by the string of tyrants [.]" He
highlights the "historic malapropisms" that have resulted in the weapons
and armies that "in short, impose violence for life on [Cuban] society."
He accuses the AP and the New York Times for being "useful idiots."
According to Lazo, "...campaigns of the AP, in symbiosis with the Cuban
government to demonize fundraising in support of pro-human rights
projects on the Island" have hurt the Cuban people since "it is not
common for... Cubans to do public fundraisers, as occurs in any
democratic country of the world." Consequently, "Cuba's solvency was
always handicapped by Castrosim. Only a poverty-stricken people is
vulnerable to enslavement. At the beginning, it was accomplished through
ideological class hatred." Therefore, Lazo maintains that "[d]espite the
pathetic AP and the NYT, Cuban redemption still goes by this watchword:
'within the dictatorship, nothing; against the dictatorship, everything.'"

But this redemption is still a dream now that Obama has given his
blessing to the tyrant to the south. In fact, "[e]veryone from the Pope
to the American president decided what life should be for the Cubans.
That is, ["e]veryone except the Cubans, decided on behalf of Cubans."

With restrained anger and sadness, Pardo asks that "[t]he American
President and His Holiness, and the General of the Army and all
authorities of good faith in the world are invited not to decide but
instead to accompany Cubans in this decision, in a historic meeting
where the transit from totalitarianism towards an open society or
another controlling regimen is defined."

In an open letter to Obama, Rosa Maria Paya Acevedo, a member of the
Cuban Christian Liberation Movement, writes "that there is nothing new
in treating as 'normal' the illegitimate government in Havana, which has
never been elected by its citizens and has been practicing state murder
with impunity. That strategy already has been done by all the other
governments without positive consequences for democracy in [her] country."

It is only through the "guarantee of freedom of expression and
association, the release of political prisoners and the right to own
private enterprises, and free and plural elections" that real progress
can be made. She exhorts Obama to "support the implementation of a
plebiscite for free and pluralistic elections in Cuba; and support
citizen participation in the democratic process [as it is] the only
thing that will guarantee the end of totalitarianism in Cuba."

Ms. Acevedo and her family are now at risk for making these simple demands.

Thus, President Obama has undermined the true spirit of freedom as
evidenced by these courageous souls, has made a mockery of what America
is supposed to represent, and has endangered the lives of these
dissidents. The "Human Cost of Raul Castro's Rule" will continue to
increase, aided and abetted by this president's actions.

But given the communist and Marxist bent of the 44th President and his
continual exaltation of dictatorship around the world, I, for one, am
not surprised, just deeply saddened and ashamed that the leader of the
free world continues to empower dictatorial regimes. At home, Obama
erodes our constitutional protections and tramples American rights while
he continues to "enthrone communism" a system that only leads to misery
for all peoples The Cubans will remember and weep and the people of
goodwill in America will remember and hold their heads in shame.

Eileen can be reached at middlemarch18@gmail.com

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