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To promote a nonviolent transition to a Cuba that respects human rights,                  political and economic freedoms, and the rule of law.   Russian FM thanks Havana for "full understanding" on Ukraine invasion. OAS hosted event on Cuban human rights crisis. Canadian-Cuban woman denied entry to Cuba. Cuban dictator Raul Castro and his handpicked president Miguel Diaz-Canel meet Putin's foreign minister Overview of how Castro regime is backing Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine Agence France-Presse reported that Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov on April 20, 2023 thanked the Castro regime for its 'full understanding' over the war in Ukraine as he started his visit to the island nation during a tour of Latin American allies backing the illegal war. "We appreciate that from the start of the special military operation, our Cuban friends... have clearly shown their position and expressed their full understanding in their evaluations of the reasons that led to the current situation," said Lavrov during a meeting with his Cuban counterpart Bruno Rodriguez, according to the Russian foreign ministry's Telegram account. What was the Russian foreign minister referring to when he said that "our Cuban friends" had " clearly shown their position"? Below is a partial accounting of the actions taken by Havana in support of Moscow's illegal war. ·        On February 23, 2023 Cuba abstained from voting on a non-binding resolution at the United Nations that called on Russia to leave Ukraine. ·        On November 22, 2022, Cuban president Miguel Diaz-Canel stated in Moscow that "Russia is not responsible" for the current conflict in Ukraine, and praised Vladimir Putin's “vigorous historical analysis” used to justify the Russian invasion, "and annexation of sovereign Ukrainian territory." ·        On October 12, 2022 at the UN General Assembly Cuba was one of the 35 countries that abstained, and its ally Nicaragua was one of the 5 that voted against a resolution condemning the Russian Federation’s annexation of four Eastern Ukraine regions. . ·        On September 16, 2022 Cuba was one of seven countriesvoting "no" at the UN General Assembly together with Belarus, Eritrea, Nicaragua, North Korea, Syria, and Russia. This "no" vote was to silence Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky from delivering a pre-recorded address at the UN General Assembly. ·        On September 15, 2022 "Russian top propagandist Vladimir Solovyov urged for the establishment of an international coalition with countries" that included Cuba, Iran, Nicaragua, North Korea, Syria, Serbia, and Venezuela for its war against Ukraine. ·        On April 7, 2022 Cuba, Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, Syria, and Vietnam, were among those who voted against suspending Russia from the UN Human Rights Council ( 93 voted to suspend, 24 against, and 58 abstentions.) ·        On March 2, 2022 Cuba and Nicaragua abstained from the vote condemning the Russian invasion at the United Nations General Assembly. ( 141 votes to condemn the invasion, 5 against and 35 abstentions). ·        Euronews reported on February 24, 2022 that "only Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Syria supported the Russian recognition of independence for the occupied regions in Luhansk and Donetsk." ·        The Cuban government is spreading Russian propagandaboth domestically and internationally defending Putin's invasion, and repeating Moscow's talking points. ·        Cubans dissenting from this official line on the island have been arrested. ·        Cuba has taken part in Russia’s International Military Exercises that in 2022 were held in Venezuela and Iran. OAS hosts event highlighting human rights crisis in Cuba     Photo by John Suarez On April 18, 2023 at the Organization of American States (OAS) hosted an event with several Cuban dissidents, activists, journalists, artists, and diplomats as well as OAS officials that documented how "the human-rights situation in Cuba has deteriorated dramatically, with the country holding more than a thousand political prisoners amid a crackdown on freedom of expression and association that poses a unique challenge in the Americas," reported El Nuevo Herald. Edgar Stuardo Ralón Orellana, who is charged with reporting on the rights of persons deprived of liberty in the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), which is part of the OAS said that “the Cuban case is different from other countries because the violations of freedom of expression and association are of systematic and widespread origin, part of the mechanisms through which the regime maintains power, and it is a state policy to deny citizens basic freedoms.”  He specifically mentioned that the IACHR "had received several complaints and documented several strategies the Cuban government deploys to deny freedom of expression and censor critics, among them arbitrary detentions, interrogations, internet censorship, travel bans and threats to family members." The full event in the original languages is available on Youtube. Canadian Cuban woman denied entry to Cuba due to critical social media posts Another example of how the Castro regime continues to deny Cubans their right to enter and exit their homeland as a tool to silence dissent and criticism both inside and outside of Cuba was reported in the Canadian press two days later.. Glenda Corella Cespedes refused entry to Cuba due to critical social media posts. It is a perverse irony that although "1.3 million Canadians visit Cuba in an average year",  Canadian citizens born in Cuba are still treated as second class citizens by their native homeland. CBC news reported on the most recent, and egregious example against Glenda Corella Cespedes. "Cuban-born Toronto resident Glenda Corella Cespedes told CBC News she was travelling with her non-Cuban friend Mary Guaragna to attend her brother's wedding. She said she was carrying suitcases filled with medications and supplies for her mother, who recently underwent chemotherapy for lung cancer, and for a sick family friend. Corella Cespedes said she had her Canadian passport with her but knew that, as a Cuban citizen, she was required to enter Cuba on a Cuban passport. Cuba charges its citizens $360 for the passport and another $160 every two years. Corella Cespedes said she had paid her fees recently and had her documents in order." ... "And then I saw five immigration officers come on the plane and they said everyone could get off except Glenda Corella Cespedes." Her friend Mary Guaragna told CBC that "at that point, we both sort of looked at each other and became quite concerned. I mean, I was as white as a ghost and Glenda more so than myself. "Canadians that were exiting the plane were just kind of looking at us as though, you know, we could have been terrorists. We felt awful." The women said one of the officers took Corella Cespedes's passport and left them on the plane for about 20 minutes as cleaners boarded and worked around them. A man who appeared to be a more senior immigration officer then boarded, Guaragna said, and "presented Glenda with a piece of paper saying 'denial.' With no explanation at all. "And I said to this man, who spoke English quite well, 'What seems to be the problem?' In my mind, as a Canadian, [I was] thinking we could debark, go somewhere, speak to them, perhaps even pay a fine and allow my friend to continue on with her vacation. "And he just said, 'She knows what she did, she knows what she did.' And at that point I kind of looked over at Glenda and Glenda sort of gave me a signal to not say anything further." ... "Corella Cespedes said her problems began when she liked a Facebook comment that criticized a well-connected Communist Party supporter in Gibara who works as a doctor in the local hospital where Corella Cespedes once worked as a nurse.The doctor is part of a three-woman musical group who performed for Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero when he visited earlier this year. After posting video of the performance, the doctor was criticized on social media for serenading Marrero rather than pressing him on the hospital's state of neglect and a lack of medicines and food for patients. A number of critical comments came from former residents of Gibara now living outside of Cuba. The original video has since been deleted. Corella Cespedes said her parents soon began to receive warnings from local Communist Party members to tell their daughter to stop commenting and posting." The Castro regime blocks Cubans from delivering aid to family members in order to impose its ideological litmus test.  This is another example of the expansive internal blockade imposed by the Castro regime that exists in Cuba.

 

 

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