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Monday, January 29, 2018

Manual of the Perfect Cuban Transition

the AZEL

PERSPECTIVE

Commentary on Cuba's Future, U.S. Foreign Policy & Individual Freedoms - Issue 111
 

Manual of the Perfect Cuban Transition

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Gutenberg Martinez Ocamica, former President of Chile’s’ Chamber of Deputies and, until 2006, President of the Christian Democratic Organization of America, asserts in his “Manual de la perfecta transición latinoamericana” that nothing scares a dictator more than an opposition thinking about the future. He echoes Václac Havel’s’ exhortation to: think the future” and presents ten conditions for a successful transition in light of the Chilean experience. 
Sadly, most of the requirements in Martinez Ocamica’s’ formulation of the “perfect Latin-American transition” are absent in Cuba today. He postulates, for example, that to prepare and carry out a successful transition, a united opposition is required; an opposition that can project the image of being a powerful alternative to the existing government.

For Martinez Ocamica the opposition must in fact constitute and be perceived as a viable and likely governing alternative. He believes that the opposition will be a choice when Cuban colonels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) perceive that their opportunity to become generals will depend on the opposition governing in a democratic milieu. This presupposes accords built on gestures of flexibility; a consensus centered on freedom, and on improving the wellbeing of the citizenry. Yet, these gestures of political flexibility, accommodation, and concern with the wellbeing of the Cuban people are not forthcoming from the Castro government.

In other words, it is not enough for the opposition to fight against oppression, it is also necessary for it to be viewed as a viable alternative offering honest, capable, and judicious governance. He argues that an opposition that knows and articulates how it wants to govern facilitates a transition by removing uncertainty and reducing the level of anxiety and fear of the unknown in the population.

Similarly, an opposition perceived as a responsible governing alternative must offer a program with respect to the human rights abuses of the Castro regime. Every peaceful transition faces this thorny dilemma. Revanchist agendas do not promote a transition process, but justice is a necessary condition to build a law-based state and truth must prevail. This is a topic where the opposition must exercise wisdom, prudence, courage, and heroic tolerance to harmonize ethical values with what is possible and necessary for a national reconciliation.

 In my book, Mañana in Cuba, I argue that “what is past is prologue,” and Castroism will not end with the demise of the Castro brothers who will bequeath Cubans a decadent politico-economic system and an inheritance of a civil society unprepared for the demands of a liberal democracy and a competitive market economy.

 A most pernicious legacy of Cuban history, exacerbated by Castroism, is that Cuban civil society has not learned to appreciate the vicissitudes of democratic governance and holds on to a historical belief in violence as a legitimate means to achieve political objectives. In the Cuban political mindset, messianic leadership trumps democratic institutions every time.

These conditions present a very difficult challenge for transition planning. Yet, this is precisely the first point in Martinez Ocamica’s’ thesis; transitions must be configured beforehand along a peaceful and democratic path. It is not possible or helpful to conceive of the path from totalitarianism to democracy as made up of discrete, unrelated stages.

The Cuban opposition (both in and out of the island) is an opposition that does not come close to meeting Martinez Ocamica’s’ requirements of unity, and projected strength, and of being in a position to offer a cohesive politico-economic viable alternative to Castroism. How then does the Cuban opposition prepare a successful transition?

A required step is to acknowledge fully that a transition must be responsive to the interests and aspirations of the citizenry, and that in a system that denies basic freedoms, society is debilitated and corrupted by a miasma of fear. At the epicenter of these aspirations are the basic freedoms all humans desire, in particular: freedom from fear.

For five decades, fear has been an integral part of the everyday Cuban existence. The political apathy and paucity of civic values exhibited by today’s’ Cuban society may be viewed as a most sinister form of fear. It is a fear that, masquerading as common sense, condemns as foolish, reckless, or futile, the small daily acts of courage of Cuban dissidents. It is a fear that must be conquered if any national project of transition is to stand a chance of success.

Initiatives that leave fear in place and seek primarily to alter official policies and mechanisms to improve economic and material conditions have little chance of sustained success. Democracy is, at its core, a political system that proposes to empower individuals. Thus, freedom from fear is the first step for a genuine and successful Cuban transition; and because it is a necessary condition to reversing political apathy, it is both a means and an end.

The Cuban opposition today, furthermore, does not enjoy the national recognition and prestige that the Chilean opposition enjoyed, nor does it possess its organizational infrastructure. Cuba’s’ failed and bankrupted centrally planned economy is not the vibrant free-market Chilean economy at work when that country’s’ transition itinerary was established. All of this leads to a Cuban transition that may have to originate with the governing class or an unlikely massive social explosion. A genuine Cuban transition thus will have to wait until the Castro brothers are no longer at the podium; it will be one in which the opposition will have to improvise creatively to gain a measure of stature to play a role.

The perfect Cuban transition is one that proceeds lawfully and peacefully, from law to law. Staying within the realm of the possible, it is one in which the governing class itself decides to change the rules of the game and open the political process calling for free, fair, and competitive elections for a new parliament that will draft a new constitution along the lines of the Spanish transition. This is how the Cuban opposition must think Cuba’s’ future.

But a negotiated, top-down transition led by government officials begs the question: How does an unarticulated Cuban opposition persuade the post-Castro governing class to undertake reforms that may very well result in their loss of political power?

Modern principles of behavioral economics and choice architecture may be used to “nudge” the citizenry to embrace the civic values required for effective democratic governance. The same scientific principles may be creatively employed by the opposition to induce a reluctant post-Castro government to abandon its status quo bias and undertake rapid political reforms to dismantle the communist institutions. A new generation of Cuban leaders will eventually assume power. To be sure, they may be continuity minded, but unlike the Castros, they will be nudgable.”

Those military officials hoping to govern in the first post-Castro interregnum will inherit not only a bankrupt economy, but also paralyzed, dysfunctional institutions, a discredited ideology, a disenchanted society, myriad social problems, and more. They may be able to exert military control, but economically and socially, Cuba will be close to meeting the technical definition of a failed state. A failed state is, by definition, one that can no longer reproduce the conditions for its own existence.

These officials will become heirs to a dangerous, unstable situation which they are unlikely to be able to control. With questionable legitimacy and a repressive apparatus that may be in disarray (and charisma not at the level of Fidel Castro’s) they will have to confront significant internal and external opposition. Their fan of options to cool this hot, enclosed environment will be very limited.

Like Odysseus, these officials will encounter the inescapable threats of their own sea monsters – Scylla and Charybdis – as they look to navigate between opposite sides of the ideological strait; and like Odysseus, they will need to choose which monster to confront. They can stay the totalitarian course and face the Charybdis monster of catastrophic loss with the potential unfolding of uncontrollable events culminating in a Ceausescu-like outcome. Or, they can elect to become leaders of a democratic political opening and confront, on the other side, the more manageable political losses of Scylla. They are intimately familiar with the brutal purging methods of totalitarian regimes and will realize that, for them, long-lasting personal happiness and prosperity can best be attained in a democratic environment even if it means giving up some political power.

Preparing for a successful transition – that is, configuring beforehand a peaceful path to democratic governance – means discerning that the opportunity will arise only when the Castros are gone, and developing a choice architecture strategy to nudge those that will govern in the direction of democratic governance.

In practical terms this means the opposition needs to contest any initiative that may prolong the politico-economic life of the Castros regime. It must also position itself to orchestrate and facilitate an extraordinary package of international assistance to be made available, upon request, to a Cuban government prepared to undertake a genuine transition to democratic governance and free-market economic opportunities for all Cubans. Such a package means nothing to the Castros, but will be extremely popular with the Cuban people seeking to extricate themselves from six decades of totalitarian repression and hardships. In this way, the opposition can legitimately present itself to the Cuban people as a viable and powerful alternative to the Castro government. It is a way of meeting, by proxy, the conditions outlined by Martinez Ocamica.

It is important to highlight that this is not a typical “carrot and stick” formulation designed to induce a change in the leaderships’’ behavior. No change is sought and absolutely no carrots or inducements are offered to the Castros or to any successor regime interested in maintaining the status quo. U.S. initiatives to assist any continuity-minded regime may very well undermine the opportunity to nudge a successor regime honestly interested in democratic change. This formulation explicitly recognizes that the opportunity will arise only when the Castros perverse logic of intransigence is gone. There is no stick either, only a conscious and very public DNR order - Do Not Resuscitate.

Please let us know if you Like Issue 111 - Manual of the Perfect Cuban Transition on Facebook this article.
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Abrazos,
 
Lily & José
 
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This article was originally published in English in the Miami Herald and in Spanish in El Nuevo Herald.
 
José Azel, Ph.D.
José Azel left Cuba in 1961 as a 13 year-old political exile in what has been dubbed Operation Pedro Pan - the largest unaccompanied child refugee movement in the history of the Western Hemisphere.

He is currently dedicated to the in-depth analyses of Cuba's economic, social and political state, with a keen interest in post-Castro-Cuba strategies. Formerly, a Senior Scholar at the Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies (ICCAS) at the University of Miami, Jose Azel has published extensively on Cuba related topics.

In 2012 and 2015, Dr. Azel testified in the U.S. Congress on U.S.-Cuba Policy, and U.S. National Security.  He is a frequent speaker and commentator on these and related topics on local, national and international media.  He holds undergraduate and masters degrees in business administration and a Ph.D. in International Affairs from the University of Miami.

José along with his wife Lily are avid skiers and adventure travelers.  In recent years they have climbed Grand Teton in Wyoming, trekked Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania and Machu Pichu in Peru.  They have also hiked in Tibet and in the Himalayas to Mt. Everest Base Camp.

They cycled St. James Way (
El Camino de Santiago de Compostela) and cycled alongside the Danube from Germany to Hungary. They have scuba dived in the Bay Islands off the Honduran coast.

Their adventurers are normally dedicated to raise funds for causes that are dear to them. 
Watch Joe & Lily summit Kilimanjaro.

Books by Dr. José Azel
In Reflections on FreedomJosé Azel brings together a collection of his columns published in prestigious newspapers.  Each article reveals his heartfelt and personal awareness of the importance of freedom in our lives.  They are his reflections after nearly sixty years of living and learning as a Cuban outside Cuba. In what has become his stylistic trademark, Professor Azel brilliantly introduces complex topics in brief journalistic articles.
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En Reflexiones sobre la libertad José Azel reúne una colección de sus columnas publicadas en prestigiosos periódicos. Cada artículo revela su percepción sincera y personal de la importancia de la libertad en nuestras vidas. Son sus reflexiones después de casi sesenta años viviendo y aprendiendo como cubano fuera de Cuba.  En lo que ha resultado ser característica distintiva de sus artículos, el Profesor Azel introduce con brillantez complejos temas en  breves artículos de carácter periodístico.
Compre Aqui
Mañana in Cuba is a comprehensive analysis of contemporary Cuba with an incisive perspective of the Cuban frame of mind and its relevancy for Cuba's future.
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Pedazos y Vacíos is a collection of poems written in by Dr. Azel in his youth. Poems are in Spanish.
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GOD BLESS AMERICA

Saturday, January 27, 2018

VOICE OF THE COPTS


Newsletter January 26, 2018
Egyptian regime: Closes many churches, Builds one cathedral

By Dr. Ashraf Ramelah
Founder and President of Voice of the Copts
This Christmas Eve, January 6, Coptic Christians celebrated mass during the grand opening of the brand-new state-built Nativity of Christ Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in the state’s new administration district of Cairo. Those in attendance rejoiced the occasion while many rural villagers had no local church to attend. Cairo now has another (a third) cathedral, thanks to President Al-Sisi who is also responsible for the rise in church closings in 2017. This brings the total number of shut-downs for Christians to twenty-seven hundred. 
Roughly half of all Orthodox churches in the country are nonoperational. This did not happen overnight. It was a gradual process beginning with the Nasser regime that continued through the subsequent Islamization of Egypt. In 2017, Law 80-2016 was enforced by the Al-Sisi regime so that all premises used for worship by Christians, yet still without permits, would be grandfathered in and issued one.  When all clergy around the country responded to the state’s request for comprehensive lists of churches for this purpose, local police instead used the master list to legally close them down. The Al-Sisi government never responded.
Last year, Copts experienced an increase in violence. A common thread in most cases was that police, if at all present, stood down or were nowhere to be found in crucial moments. This fact reflects poorly on Al-Sisi who has vowed to protect Christians. The final two weeks of December alone demonstrates their vulnerability after four years with a president who claims favor with the Copts.
Year-end terror targeting Copts 
Approximately two thousand worshipers leaving a mosque ambushed a village church in the Giza governorate, north of Cairo, in order to stop the erection of a church bell (disallowed by law). It turned out to be a false accusation. Injuries to seven parishioners and damage to sacred property was a result of the weaponized use of wooden clubs, heavy rocks and steel bars. Satisfied, the attackers dispersed. Police patrols stood down and watched, then stepped in to board up the church. 
Seven days later two men with bombs strapped to their bodies fired rounds from machine-guns and killed a church guard (uniformed police officer) during a church service south of Cairo in Helwan. Parishioners heard the rapid fire from inside the church and ran to lock the doors while the gunmen proceeded to kill ten Christians on the church grounds. One perpetrator was shot and killed by the church guard before the guard was in turn killed. The other spent ten minutes more at-large while police patrolled the perimeters and surrounding streets doing nothing to step in. Finally, a pedestrian snatched up the gun of the dead guard and shot the second perpetrator, injuring him. He was captured by civilians and handed over to police who suddenly appeared.
On New Year’s Eve two Coptic Christian men with their children stopped to visit a store owner and friend in Omranya, the suburban town of Cairo, on their way back home from a church service. Two masked gunmen who yelled slurs and curses at Christians opened fire and killed the two brothers. Traumatized, the children survived the bloody scene begging for their fathers. 
Copts celebrating Al-Sisi in the new state cathedral
After a terrible year of violence and church closings, Copts who attended the Cairo cathedral’s Christmas Eve service paid homage to Egypt’s head-of-state. On what is normally a solemn religious occasion, congregants waved Egyptian flags and leapt over pews -- yelling praise at the president upon the dais. The strictly conservative clergy allowed this commotion, making an exception in order for parishioners to celebrate the visiting president. Coptic support for Al-Sisi is at an all-time high as he approaches his re-election campaign in March.
Orthodox clergy including the pope overwhelmingly support the president. Symbolically, two gold framed poster-sized portraits of the pope and the president hung prominently side-by-side on the interior side wall of Nativity Cathedral. This is completely out of character for the church as the sanctuary only ever carries pictures of saints and never insinuates politics. 
This violation of centuries-old Orthodox tradition represents the strong influence of the Islamic state and President Al-Sisi over the church and Pope Tawadros II. By all appearance, the pope is submitted to Islam and with him is the Orthodox body. He recently met with the Grand Imam and declared that while God protects Christians from heaven, “Muslims protect us in the earth.” His diplomacy apparently included the removal of his ever-present cross worn upon his chest so as not to offend Islam’s religious head. Is this the pope’s strategy to bring safety and peace to the Copts? If so, it’s not working.
The US Congress is aware of the bloodshed and so recently presented a bill to deal with the discrimination and oppression of the Egyptian Coptic minority. However, Pope Tawadros II condemned the American attempt to alleviate persecution of Christians by deeming it “interference” and not welcome. He is not the first pope to show his loyalty to the Islamic state and the regime, forsaking his people by appeasing their oppressors.
More and more Copts are beginning to openly criticize clergy statements and actions. In their observations and discussions of the pope resides a daring never before seen. Strong opposition and questioning can be heard within blogging circles. Although the discontented have both voice and sound reason, it is unlikely any sort of unified political voice will emerge in the near future for the Coptic community as long as the clergy fills this role. 
************************************************************************************************************
 
To schedule Ashraf Ramelah for an interview, please write to: 
info@voiceofthecopts.org
************************************************************************************************************
Biography of Dr. Ashraf Ramelah

Dr. Ashraf Ramelah is the founder and president of Voice of the Copts, a human rights nonprofit organization 501 (c) (3). The organization has offices in Italy and the United States. 
Dr. Ramelah is dedicated to the Coptic cause and believes that this life’s mission is to speak up for the oppressed Copts who cannot speak up for themselves, hence the name, Voice of the Copts.
When he is not meeting with political figures and policy makers, Dr. Ramelah spends his time travelling throughout the country giving talks about the Coptic issue and explaining to the West the oppression against the Copts in Egypt. Dr. Ramelah was invited to address the European Parliament (2010) and to be the keynote speaker in the Italian Parliament (2011) on the issue of Coptic persecution in Egypt. He has done various interviews with Italian newspapers and appears frequently in the Italian and Arab Media. Dr. Ramelah is a featured author at American Thinker.com, Family Security Matters.com, and Canada Free Press.com.

************************************************************************************************************
Who Are The Copts
Copts are by far the largest Christian community in the Middle East. Ninety-five percent of Copts in Egypt are Orthodox and the remaining population is divided between Catholic and Protestant denominations. Copts living in Egypt represent between 15-20% of the total population of Egypt today.
©VoiceOfTheCopts.org


This message was sent to rodriman49@yahoo.com from donotreply@voiceofthecopts.org

Ashraf Ramelah
Voice of the Copts Coop.
74 Via Stamira
Roma, Italy 00162, Italy

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CUBA ARCHIVE

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January 2018
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January: anniversary of the Cuban Revolution and of its many killings 

January 1st marked the 59th anniversary of the ascent to power of the Castro regime; its promise was to restore democracy and the rule of law after five and a half years of the Batista dictatorship. Instead, it marks the beginning of a regime of death and terror that persists almost six decades later.

Just the deaths and disappearances documented by Cuba Archive as having occurred in the anniversary month of the revolution total 685. The January sample includes executions, extrajudicial assassinations, forced disappearances, victims of terrorism sponsored by Cuba, death by hunger strike, suicides/alleged suicides, prisoners dying from lack of medical care, and deaths resulting from gross negligence. The victims are mostly Cubans, yet citizens of six countries are also part of this tragic toll. The last documented case for a January is from January 30, 2015, when Alexander Rosell Rodríguez, age 34, died a day after receiving a beating by prison guards at the Provincial prison of Quivicán for having demanded medical attention for a painful toothache. He had been imprisoned for 17 years since, when he was only 17, he had been convicted for planning to steal doves.

Following are highlights of some of the mass killings from the January anniversaries. (Find all individual records at www.database.CubaArchive.org.)

January 12, 1959: The San Juan Hill Massacre. 
71 men were executed by order of Raúl Castro, most were members of the constitutional armed forces and police.
Just 11 days after the triumph of the Revolution, 71 men from the Santiago de Cuba area considered Batista supporters were rounded up and subjected to a summary trial by an ad-hoc “revolutionary tribunal” without due process guarantees or evidence of their alleged crimes. Many were career officers well-respected in their communities whose only “crime” was having worn a uniform of the Armed Forces or police during the Batista regime. By order of Raúl Castro, they were sentenced to death and immediately sent to their execution. In the early morning hours of January 12th, they were lined up in pairs and shot by firing squad in front of ditches that had been dug up at a shooting practice field in San Juan Hill. The mass graves were then filled by a bulldozer. Witnesses report that some of the men were buried alive.

Benito Cortés Maldonado, age 39, was one of the victims of the San Juan Hill massacre. A policeman and pilot, he was a U.S. citizen born in Puerto whose parents had gone to Cuba to establish the family’s enterprises.  Benito loved the police force and when he came of age, decided to join. He married a Cuban woman, had five children, and lived and worked in Palma Soriano, near Santiago. After Batista’s coup d’etat, he continued to serve and, according to his family, never hurt anyone. On January 1, 1959, after Batista fled the country, Benito did not go into hiding, stating he had nothing to fear because he was well regarded, had always done his duty, and had never committed any crimes. But, on January 11th he was arrested, falsely accused of raping a woman and sentenced to death. 

January 11-12, 2010: Mass death at Mazorra.
26 to 56 patients died of hypothermia at Havana’s Psychiatric Hospital from criminal negligence.
Havana’s large psychiatric hospital, Mazorra, was missing many windows when the weather turned unseasonably cold. Around 2,500 severely malnourished patients were barely clothed and had no blankets. Dozens died of hypothermia and many others were hospitalized in critical condition. No information was provided to the public and workers were instructed to stay silent as a security operative was mounted outside the hospital. However, human rights’ defenders alerted public opinion and circulated on the internet pictures smuggled from the morgue of some of the emaciated bodies with evidence of physical abuse. People living near the hospital reported that workers customarily stole the facility’s food and supplies to sell in the black market and that it was common to see patients begging in nearby streets.  The Cuban government then reported 26 deaths and declared that those responsible would be held accountable. Other reports indicate the victims were many more. A year later, 15 hospital workers faced trial and were convicted to 6 to 15 years of prison  -the hospital director received the highest sentence.

Fidel Alvarez, age 49, is the only documented case of the incident in this Archive, as his name appeared in a news report of the trial filed by the BBC from Cuba. All other names and information on the victims are unknown. Some will be tragically remembered from the photos of their wasted, nameless, bodies populating the internet.
 

The totalitarian nature of the Cuban system precludes patient rights or actual accountability by government or health officials and the centralized economy fosters the illicit activities that led to this tragedy. After public attention was centered on the hospital, conditions improved markedly, patients were housed and fed properly, and the facilities refurbished. But, there is no recent information on conditions at Mazorra and, a 2014 report from Cuba by independent journalist Ernesto Pérez Chang indicated that measures implemented to avoid another scandal had apparently only worked in certain hospitals “in order to project an idea that has little to do with reality.” Outside these institutions, he reported, many men and women, mostly elderly, wander around without shelter and are part of the daily landscape of many cities. This news story had photographs of mentally ill individuals on the streets of the Havana neighborhood Reparto Eléctrico. The journalist reported that a police officer had prevented him from photographing a mentally ill man lying on the street.

January 15, 1962: The Barlovento Massacre. 
5 persons were killed when Cuban border guards opened fire on a yacht with 29 passengers as they tried to escape Cuba  
The 31 ft. yacht 'Pretexto' (used for rentals to foreign tourists) had left the Barlovento Marina (today, the Hemingway Marina), near the city of Havana, when a Cuban Navy patrol boat sprayed it with machine gun fire. The group of 29 had been infiltrated by a spy and authorities were waiting for the vessel to prevent their “illegal” exit from Cuba. 5 passengers were killed and 24 survivors were sentenced to 20 years in prison.  Several survivors and three of the victims were Cuban-Chinese.

January 19, 1985: The Cubana de Aviación disaster. 
All aboard, 40 to 42, died when a civilian commercial flight illegally loaded with armament went down shortly after takeoff from Havana.
The Cubana de Aviación Soviet manufactured Ilyushin Il-18D had left the José Martí International Airport in Havana for Managua, Nicaragua, when it went down in the outskirts of Havana, at San José de las Lajas, 5 minutes after takeoff at San José de las Lajas, Havana province.  All aboard, passengers and crew, were killed in a huge explosion. The exact toll is in question; it was reported by Cuba as 40, but at least two other passengers linked to Cuba’s intelligence services are reported to have perished. Aside from the Cubans, victims included two U.S. citizens (one was not reported and said to have traveled clandestinely), ten Nicaraguans (including three minors), one Guatemala, one Costa Rican, one Argentine and one from El Salvador. Cuba's official report of the accident, released after a long "investigation," was that the crash had been an accident caused by a fire in one of the engines. However, several former members of the Cuban military and intelligence services have reported that the plane had been improperly loaded by the Cuban government with boxes containing tons of AK rifles, grenades, mines, and munitions for Nicaragua’s Sandinistas. This practice is banned from civil aviation. When the plane made the first turn upon leaving Havana, the load (improperly secured) shifted and put undue pressure on the cables communicating the cockpit with the tail, provoking the accident. Fidel Castro ordered Special Troops under General Alejandro Ronda to cordon off 3 kilometers surrounding the area and to remove all debris and human remains, reported to be charred and in small pieces.
*Photos: U.S. Communist activist Sandy Pollack and stewardess Nancy Oliveras.

January 24, 1975: Terrorist attack at the Fraunces Tavern.
4 Americans were killed in a bombing by a Cuba-sponsored Puerto Rican terrorist group in Wall Street, New York City.
The nationalist FALN (Frente Armado de Liberación Nacional) took credit for the bombing that killed 4 U.S. citizens having lunch at the historic restaurant where George Washington had said farewell to his troops in 1783.  Testimony by expert witnesses to the U.S. Senate confirmed that the FALN was organized in 1974 by Cuba’s Intelligence Directorate (Dirección General de Inteligencia -DGI) in collaboration with Puerto Rican nationalist Filiberto Ojeda Ríos, who had a long history of political violence. FALN was responsible from 1974-83 for 72 bombings, 40 incendiary attacks, 8 attempted bombings and 10 bomb threats in New York, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Newark, and Miami that resulted in 5 deaths, 83 injuries, and over $3 million in property damage. Financial proceeds from their actions, including a $7 million armored car robbery in Hartford, Connecticut, were sent to Cuba.

Frank Connor, age 33, was a young banker who had been born to a humble immigrant Irish family in New York City. His father had been an elevator operator and his mother a cleaning lady at the bank Morgan Guaranty Trust. Frank had worked his way from clerk to assistant vice president at the same bank. He was having lunch with clients when the bomb went off. He left a wife and two sons ages 11 and 9.
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Enero: Aniversario de la Revolución cubana y de muchas de sus matanzas


El primero de enero marcó el 59 aniversario del ascenso al poder del régimen de los Castro; llegó con la promesa de restablecer la democracia y el estado de derecho después de cinco años y medio de dictadura de Batista. En cambio, la fecha marca el fatídico comienzo de un régimen de terror y muerte que persiste por casi seis décadas.

Las muertes y desapariciones documentadas por Archivo Cuba/Cuba Archive ocurridas en el mes aniversario de la revolución, enero, llegan a 685, lo que ilustra la prevalencia del parricidio sostenido por parte del régimen de Castro durante décadas. Esta muestra de enero incluye ejecuciones, asesinatos extrajudiciales, desapariciones forzadas, víctimas de terrorismo patrocinado por Cuba, muerte por huelga de hambre, suicidios/supuestos suicidios, prisioneros muertos por falta de atención médica y muertes por negligencia grave. Las víctimas son mayormente cubanos, pero también ciudadanos de seis otros países. El último caso documentado es del 30 de enero de 2015, cuando Alexander Rosell Rodríguez, de 34 años, murió al día siguiente de recibir una golpiza de los guardias de la prisión provincial de Quivicán por exigir atención médica para un dolor de muelas. Había estado preso durante 17 años desde que, a sus 17 años había sido condenado por planificar un robo de palomas.

A continuación, destacamos algunos de los asesinatos masivos que son parte de esta trágica cuenta. (Encuentre todos los registros individuales en www.database.CubaArchive.org).

12 de enero de 1959: La masacre de la Loma de San Juan.
71 hombres fueron ejecutados por orden de Raúl Castro, la mayoría eran miembros de las fuerzas armadas constitucionales y la policía.
Apenas 11 días después del triunfo de la Revolución, 71 hombres de la zona de Santiago de Cubaconsiderados seguidores de Batista fueron detenidos y sometidos a un juicio sumario por un "tribunal revolucionario" ad-hoc sin presentarse evidencia de sus presuntos crímenes y carente de garantías de debido proceso. Muchos eran oficiales de carrera muy respetados en su comunidad cuyo único "delito" era haber usado el uniforme de las Fuerzas Armadas o la policía durante el régimen de Batista. Por orden de Raúl Castro fueron condenados a muerte e inmediatamente llevados a su ejecución al campo de tiros en la Loma de San Juan. En la madrugada del 12 de enero los alinearon en pares frente a una zanja. Una vez el pelotón de fusilamiento había completado la matanza, trajeron una excavadora para echar tierra sobre la fosa común. Testigos informaron que algunos de los hombres fueron enterrados aún vivos.

Benito Cortés Maldonado, de 39 añosfue una de las víctimas de la masacre de la Loma de San Juan. Era ciudadano estadounidense nacido en Puerto Rico; sus padres habían ido a Cuba para establecer las empresas de la familia. Benito amaba la fuerza policial y cuando cumplió la mayoría de edad, decidió unirse. Se casó con una cubana, tuvo cinco hijos y vivía y trabajaba en Palma Soriano, cerca de Santiago de Cuba. Después del golpe de estado de Batista, continuó sirviendo, pero era respetado y su familia insiste que nunca lastimó a nadie. El 1ro de enero de 1959, cuando Batista huyó del país, Benito afirmó que no tenía nada que temer porque era respetado, siempre había cumplido con su deber y no había cometido delito alguno. Sin embargo, el 11 de enero fue arrestado, falsamente acusado de violar a una mujer y sentenciado a muerte. 

11 y 12 de enero de 2010: Muerte masiva en Mazorra.
De 26 a 56 pacientes murieron de hipotermia en el Hospital Psiquiátrico de La Habana por negligencia criminal.
Faltaban muchas ventanas en el gran hospital psiquiátrico de La Habana, Mazorra, y alrededor de 2,500 pacientes enfrentaron un frío inusual severamente desnutridos, apenas vestidos y sin tener mantas. Decenas murieron de hipotermia, muchos otros fueron hospitalizados en estado crítico. No se proporcionó información al público, los trabajadores recibieron instrucciones de permanecer en silencio y se montó un operativo de seguridad fuera del hospital. Sin embargo, defensores de los derechos humanos alertaron a la opinión pública y circularon en el internet imágenes contrabandeadas desde la morgue de algunos cuerpos demacrados y con evidencia de abuso físico. Vecinos del hospital informaron que los trabajadores solían robar los alimentos y los suministros de la instalación para venderlos en el mercado negro y que era común ver a los pacientes mendigando en las calles cercanas. El gobierno cubano se vio obligado a reportar el incidente e informó 26 muertes, declarando que los responsables serían enjuiciados. Otros informes indican que hubo muchas más víctimas. Un año después, 15 trabajadores del hospital fueron condenados a entre 6 y 15 años de prisión -la sentencia más alta fue para el director del hospital.

Fidel Álvarez, de 49 años, es el único caso documentado del incidente en este Archivo, por aparecer su nombre en un informe de noticias de la BBC de Cuba. Todos los demás nombres e información sobre las víctimas son desconocidos. Algunos serán trágicamente recordados por las fotos de sus cuerpos cadavéricos, cuyas identidades desconocemos, que pueblan el internet.

La naturaleza totalitaria del régimen cubano excluye los derechos del paciente y la responsabilidad del gobierno y los funcionarios de salud. El sistema económico centralizado fomenta las actividades ilícitas y el descuido extremo que llevaron a esta tragedia. Con la atención del público centrada en el hospital, las condiciones mejoraron marcadamente, los pacientes fueron alojados y alimentados adecuadamente, y las instalaciones restauradas. No hay información reciente si esta situación se ha mantenido en Mazorra. Sin embargo, en 2014 el periodista independiente Ernesto Pérez Chang presentó un informe desde Cuba que indicaba que las medidas que había tomado el gobierno para evitar otro escándalo aparentemente solo habían funcionado en ciertos hospitales "para proyectar una idea de orden que poco tiene que ver con la realidad." Fuera de estas instituciones, informó, muchos hombres y mujeres, en su mayoría ancianos, deambulan sin ningún tipo de refugio y son parte del paisaje cotidiano de muchas ciudades. El reportaje noticia contenía varias fotos de personas mentalmente enfermas en las calles de un barrio en las afueras de La Habana, Reparto Eléctrico. Un oficial de policía impidió que el periodista tomara fotografías de un individuo que yacía en la calle.

15 de enero de 1962: La Masacre de Barlovento.
5 personas murieron cuando guardias fronterizos cubanos ametrallaron el yate en el que 29 pasajeros intentaba escapar de Cuba 
El yate de 31 pies 'Pretexto' (usado para alquiler de turistas extranjeros) había dejado la Marina de Barlovento (hoy Marina Hemingway) cuando un barco patrullero de la Marina cubana lo roció con fuego de ametralladoras. El grupo de 29 había sido infiltrado por un espía y las autoridades los esperaban para evitar el intento de salida “ilegal” de Cuba. 5 pasajeros fueron asesinados y 24 sobrevivientes fueron sentenciados a 20 años de prisión. El incidente golpeó muy fuerte a la comunidad chino-cubana; varios sobrevivientes y tres de las víctimas eran chinos-cubanos.

19 de enero de 1985: Se estrella avión de Cubana de Aviación.
Todas las personas a bordo, 40 a 42, murieron cuando el avión comercial civil cargado ilegalmente con armamento se estrelló a las afueras de La Habana.
El vuelo comercial del avión de Cubana de Aviación (un Ilyushin Il-18D de fabricación soviética), había despegado del aeropuerto internacional José Martí en La Habana hacia Managua, Nicaragua, cuando cayó 5 minutos después en San José de las Lajas, a las afueras de La Habana. Todos a bordo perecieron en la gran explosión. El número de pasajeros está en cuestión; Cuba informó que eran 40, pero se ha informado que al menos otros dos pasajeros vinculados a los servicios de inteligencia de Cuba perecieron. Además de los cubanos, las víctimas incluyeron dos ciudadanos estadounidenses (uno no fue reportado por Cuba, ya que se dice había viajado clandestinamente), diez nicaragüenses (incluidos tres menores), un guatemalteco, un costarricense, un argentino y un salvadoreño. El informe oficial de Cuba sobre el accidente, publicado después de una larga "investigación", fue que el siniestro había sido un accidente causado por un incendio en uno de los motores. Sin embargo, varios ex miembros de los servicios militares y de inteligencia cubanos informaron que el avión había sido cargado por el gobierno cubano con cajas que contenían toneladas de fusiles AK, granadas, minas y municiones para los sandinistas de Nicaragua. Esta práctica está prohibida en la aviación civil. Cuando el avión dio la primera vuelta al salir de La Habana, la carga (mal asegurada) se movió y ejerció una presión indebida sobre los cables que comunicaban la cabina con la cola, lo que provocó el accidente. Fidel Castro ordenó a las Tropas Especiales bajo el mando del general Alejandro Ronda que acordonaran 3 kilómetros rodeando la zona y retiraran todos los vestigios del avión y los restos humanos, que según los informes estaban carbonizados y en pedazos pequeños.

24 de enero de 1975: Ataque terrorista en el Fraunces Tavern.
4 hombres de negocios murieron en un restaurante de Wall Street, ciudad de Nueva York, en la explosión de una bomba colocada por un grupo terrorista puertorriqueño patrocinado por Cuba.
El nacionalista FALN (Frente Armado de Liberación Nacional) se atribuyó el bombardeo que mató a 4 ciudadanos estadounidenses cuando almorzaban en el histórico restaurante donde George Washington se había despedido de sus tropas en 1783. Testimonios en el Senado estadounidense confirmaron que el FALN había sido organizado en 1974 por la Dirección General de Inteligencia de Cuba (DGI) en colaboración con el nacionalista puertorriqueño Filiberto Ojeda Ríos, que tenía una larga historia de violencia política. De 1974 a 1983 FALN fue responsable por 72 bombardeos, 40 ataques incendiarios, 8 intentos de bombardeo y 10 amenazas de bombas en Nueva York, Chicago, Washington, DC, Newark y Miami que resultaron en 5 muertes, 83 heridos y más de $3 millones en daño a la propiedad. Las ganancias financieras de sus acciones, que incluyeron un robo de $7 millones en Hartford, Connecticut, fueron enviadas a Cuba.

Frank Connor, de 33 años, era un joven banquero que había nacido en una humilde familia de inmigrantes irlandeses en Nueva York. Su padre había sido operador de ascensores y su madre personal de limpieza en el banco Morgan Guaranty Trust. Frank se había abierto camino en el mismo banco y había llegado a ser vicepresidente asistente. Estaba almorzando con clientes cuando explotó la bomba. Dejó una esposa y dos hijos de 11 y 9 años.
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Archivo Cuba Proyecto de Verdad y Memoria, una iniciativa de Free Society Project, documenta la pérdida en vidas y la explotación humana causadas por la revolución cubana y estudia temas de justicia transicional  —verdad, memoria y justicia.
 
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