LET'S FIGHT BACK
GOD BLESS AMERICA
Thursday, November 30, 2023
Wednesday, November 29, 2023
Tuesday, November 28, 2023
Free Cuba Now!
To promote a peaceful transition to a Cuba that respects human rights
and political and economic freedoms
Today, people across the world are giving to help make a difference. #GivingTuesday began in 2012 as a simple idea, to dedicate one day of the year to live more generously. It sparked a global movement that unites people by the millions with the principle of radical generosity, "the idea that the suffering of others should be as intolerable to us as our own suffering."
There are currently over 1,067 political prisoners and prisoners of conscience jailed in Cuba.
Among them, 34 are children, 30 boys and 4 girls, with 28 serving sentences and the other 8 awaiting sentencing.
The Center for a Free Cuba (CFC) was founded in 1997 to reject the normalization of the suffering of Cubans in the island by a decades old dictatorship by supporting the inalienable right of Cubans to their own rights, urging persons of goodwill to amplify the voices of the Cuban people, and mobilizing democratic governments around the world to institute policies that encourage genuine change in Cuba.
Thanks to the support of people like you it was possible for CFC in 2023 to send medicines to families of jailed dissidents; provide needed smartphones, and laptops; and provide internet access to keep information flowing in and out of the island.
A friend of the Center has pledged a matching gift challenge of up to $10,000. Any donation received by December 31, 2023, will be matched dollar for dollar. That means that your $100 contribution will be worth $200, and a $1,000 contribution will be matched for a contribution of $2000. The more you can give, the more your gift will benefit the Center.
CFC with your help was also able to denounce the Castro dictatorship's weaponization of migration in The Hill; called on the Biden Administration to hold accountable Cuban terrorists that killed four U.S.human rights activists in the Miami Herald; served as a bridge so that filmmakers and relatives of political prisoners both in Cuba could denounce systematic and gross human rights violations the premiere of the documentary"Freedom Within"; held a press conference during the UN General Assembly in New York where independent journalist Orelvys Cabrera, who was a victim and witness of police brutality, spoke, and a petition signed by over two thousand Cuban and international personalities calling for Cuba's expulsion from the UN Human Rights Council was made available; CFC’s president exposed Havana’s connections to Islamic terrorism in his article "Jihad: Cuba's Role" published by the Jewish Policy Center;.and CFC submitted a report for Cuba’s quinquennial Universal Periodic Review, and co-hosted a side event in Geneva exposing the dictatorship’s crimes.
On this #GivingTuesday, we hope you will support CFC's ongoing mission and goal of facilitating a nonviolent transition to a Cuba that respects human rights and political and economic freedoms.
You can also support the Center for a Free Cuba by sharing this email with your friends and asking them to consider donating to the Center for a Free Cuba today, on #GivingTuesday.
Please donate via Paypal on our website, or send a check in the name of the Center for a Free Cuba to: Center for a Free Cuba, 417 West Broad St., Suite 204, Falls Church, VA 22046.
Thank you for your generosity and support.
John Suarez
Executive Director
Center for a Free Cuba
417 West Broad St. Suite 204
Falls Church, VA 22046
http://www.cubacenter.org/
Free Cuba Now!
To promote a nonviolent transition to a Cuba that respects human rights, political and economic freedoms, and the rule of law.
On this day three years ago, hundreds of artists and academics openly challenged the Ministry of Culture, and officials agreed to talk but later reneged.
Despite the Castro regime's best efforts to shut down and demolish the San Isidro protest, the dictatorship ended up with a much larger problem than 14 protesters in a humble home in Havana's San Isidro neighborhood.
Young people, mostly artists and academics, began assembling in front of the Ministry of Culture throughout the day on November 27, 2020, and their numbers continued to swell into the evening, asking that the Minister meet with the demonstrators to negotiate terms for a dialogue.
On a more positive note, a solidarity rally would be conducted on December 3, 2020, at the Cuban Embassy in Washington, DC, with poetry read in tribute to activists on the island. On a more positive note, Maykel Castillo, the last of the hunger strikers, would conclude his strike on November 30, 2020.
Thirty representatives elected by the hundreds present walked in and talked with the officials, emerging with a pledge to dialogue and consideration of the protesters' views. Meanwhile, the dictatorship dispatched truckloads of plainclothes security to surround and intimidate the demonstrators. They then blocked access to the Ministry of Culture and began using tear gas and physical force to prevent others from joining the demonstrators. Instead of engaging in dialogue to resolve the differences that sparked the protests, the regime launched a media offensive against the San Isidro Movement and the protestors. Havana's autocrats have reason to be concerned. The protests and the protesters' demands have received international attention.
Consider that on November 26, 2020, at 8 p.m., the Castro regime shut down internet and cell phone traffic, just before raiding the San Isidro Movement headquarters, and network data from the NetBlocks Internet Observatory confirmed a wider and sustained "partial disruption to social media and streaming platforms in Cuba between Friday 27 November 2020 and Monday 30 November 2020." The difficulties are likely to hinder the flow of information from Cuba that has been independently verified. The event occurred after three days of limited service and coincides with protests in Havana by an organization advocating for cultural rights." Twitter and WhatsApp were impacted.
Young Cubans gathered outside the Ministry of Culture on November 27, 2020
On November 27, 2020, the independent journal Diario de Cuba merged together various recordings from the day before's raid on the San Isidro headquarters and posted it on Youtube. Regime officials stated that the raid was carried out because of COVID-19 concerns, although the persons masquerading as doctors did not behave like doctors, and the mob that assembled outside to shout revolutionary slogans without mask coverings did not comply with pandemic regulations. Nor did releasing the majority of the San Isidro activists within hours of their arrest at their respective homes.
Monday, November 27, 2023
Free Cuba Now!
To promote a nonviolent transition to a Cuba that respects human rights, political and economic freedoms, and the rule of law.
Castro regime coerces Cuban workers and students to march for Hamas. Havana's six decade campaign against Israel.
Cuban students marched with posters with the face of Hamas spokesperson Abu Obaida through the streets of Havana on November 23rd in a forced march organized by the dictatorship.
International media reports that 100,000 people "participated" in this pro-Hamas rally in Cuba. "Free Palestine" as shown in posters mass produced by the Cuban dictatorship means the state of Israel replaced by the state of Palestine.
Upon reviewing press accounts, found that no one mentioned how a totalitarian dictatorship obtained such a large turnout by using coercive means against the population. Cuban workers and students were forced to attend or suffer the consequences. A audio of what sounds to be a university lecturer explaining to her pupils why they must attend the march has gone viral on social media. It's a master class in intimidation and deception.
"I hope you are well. As you see there are changes. Regarding tomorrow's activity, go to LÃnea y F (bus stop) at one in the afternoon. Everyone must attend. The students know that this is their grade, that is, it is important because it will have an impact on their grade for the national security class but also on the comprehensive evaluation." ... "Those who are still out of context and do not realize that they are at the Enrique Jose Varona University of Pedagogical Sciences, which responds to the Ministry of Higher Education of Cuba, should go and inform themselves, search, clarify, review accordingly. Try to do the things that correspond to you as students. If you do not agree, then simply leave, informing them that they are not going to do it because of this, or this and that. And then you will have your consequences. This is not a threat. This is not extortion. This is not a negative thing to make you feel bad. Or that this is done in a bad way because I'm tired too. I just came out of a diploma defense exhibition, a professional defense exercises and I would also have preferred to be resting at home. But I have to do it because it is what is appropriate and what is indicated. OK? They evaluate me as a professor, they pay me as a professor, and they evaluate you as students. OK? So let's all think and position ourselves with tranquility, peace, and harmony so that things go well."
Attending state-mandated demonstrations and marches is a required action that is factored into the evaluation of an employee at their work place or as a student at their educational institution. The dictatorship's engagement in the present conflict between Israel and Hamas, however, extends beyond pro-Hamas marches and anti-Israel propaganda.
Ambassador Otto J. Reich's article published on November 16, 2023 in the Jewish Policy Center on November 16, 2023 titled "Jihad: Cuba’s Role" briefly explored the current relationship between Havana and Middle Eastern terrorist groups and states.
For more than one year, Iran secretly provided the weapons and training that Hamas needed for planning the October 7th attack against Israel. In the meantime, senior representatives of Iran and Hamas fostered an international diplomatic offensive with their allies. Communist Cuba, another US-designated State Sponsor of Terrorism, was a key Iran-Hamas ally in this effort. Some planning meetings took place this year with senior Cuban officials, both in the Middle East and in Cuba. In one, Iran’s Foreign minister, Hossein Amirabdollahian, visited Cuba and met with President Miguel Diaz-Canel on Feb. 5th. They discussed “issues of mutual interest and international topics,” according to a statement from the Islamic Republic’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Then, on Feb. 25th, a Hamas delegation publicly visited Jorge León Cruz, the Cuban Ambassador in Lebanon. In that meeting, Ambassador León Cruz recognized “the legitimate right of the Palestinians to defend their land,” adding that the Palestinians “are fighting for a just cause.” Raising the Iranian profile, a few months later, on June 15th, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisipublicly met with his Cuban counterpart, Miguel Diaz-Canel, in Havana. Those three high-level meetings showed the close relations that exists between Hamas, its chief patron, Iran, and Cuba’s communist regime. Cuba’s dictatorship has a long history of both antisemitism and support of extremist terrorist organizations in the Middle East, where it has operated terrorist training camps in secret locations, as well as on the Caribbean island. Moreover, Cuba has allowed the terrorist organization Hezbollah, also backed by Iran, to establish “an operational base in Cuba, designed to support terrorist attack throughout Latin America,” according to emails leaked from then US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2016. According to US reports, Cuba has provided key intelligence to Iran, Syria, Hamas, and Hezbollah, to conduct terrorist attacks.
This hostility towards Israel by the Castro regime began in the early 1960s with Havana providing training and support to Middle East terrorist groups, and the dictatorship in Havana echoing the Soviet active-measures campaign Operation SIG designed to sow worldwide disapproval for the U.S. and Israel.
SIG is the Russian acronym for Sionistskiye Gosudarstva, or “Jewish (or Zionist) Government.” This involved Soviet propaganda and military support on behalf of terrorist groups declaring Israel their enemy.
This included increasing anti-Israel sentiment by disseminating anti-Zionist propaganda and using anti-Semitic tropes from Western culture. CFC executive director John Suarez's article "Cuba’s dictatorship has a serious problem with Jews" published in The Hill on October 25, 2023 reviews part of this history.
From 1959 through 1973, Havana maintained diplomatic relations with Israel while supporting terrorism against Israelis. Castro hailed the establishment of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) in 1965 and established ties with the Palestinian Fatah in Algiers and Damascus. Castro introduced PLO members at the Tri-Continental Conference in Havana in January 1966. This conference backed revolutionary and terrorist organizations across Europe, the Americas, and Asia with the objective of changing the world order in an authoritarian direction.
In 1973, Havana escalated its anti-Israel campaign, sending thousands of troops to the Middle East in an attempt to eliminate the world's sole Jewish state.
"Castro severed diplomatic ties with Israel on September 10, 1973, just days before the Yom Kippur War began. During that war, 3,000 Cuban soldiers participated in the attack on Israel, alongside forces from Egypt and Syria, and expeditionary forces from Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Jordan, Iraq, Libya, Kuwait, Tunisia, Morocco, and North Korea. The publication Noticias de Israel provided an in-depth description of the role played by Cuba in this war. Havana conducted a secret operation to send military support to Syria. A tank brigade, helicopter pilots, communications agents, and intelligence and counterintelligence officers took part. The brigade was under General Leopoldo Cintra FrÃas’s command. Soldiers left Cuba bound for Syria, dressed in civilian clothes, with forged passports identifying them as university students. Soviet military equipment, including T-62 tanks and SAM rocket artillery, were provided to them. In all, 3,000 Cubans took part in the war. Cuban tank crews fought alongside Syrian troops in their war of aggression. According to Foreign Report, 180 Cubans were killed and 250 were injured in that conflict. The surprise factor resulted in significant losses for Israel, both in lives and military equipment. Civilian areas were also hit, with 2,800 Israelis killed and 8,800 wounded."
The tactics utilized by Havana in 1973, of dressing soldiers in civilian clothing and using fraudulent passports to pass them off as civilians, appear to be duplicated today in Ukraine with Moscow's vast recruitmentof "Cuban mercenaries" to fight in their illegal war.
