Fausta's Blog

American and Latin American Politics, Society, and Culture

December 19, 2016 By Fausta

Cuba: El Sexto’s lawyer expelled

She was first arrested and interrogated by the oppressive Communist dictatorship, along with dissident punk rock artist Gorki Águila and democracy activist Luis Alberto Mariño from the civil society group Cuba Decide.

Human Rights Foundation has the details:
Cuba: El Sexto’s International Lawyer Expelled from Cuba After False Detention and Interrogation

Human Rights Foundation (HRF) strongly condemns the arbitrary arrest, harassing interrogations, and forcible deportation of American attorney Kimberley Motley from Havana, Cuba. Motley was in Cuba for three days as the international attorney for political prisoner Danilo “El Sexto” Maldonado, a celebrated Cuban artist imprisoned since Castro’s death more than twenty-one days ago.

Read the full press release here.

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Filed Under: Communism, Cuba Tagged With: El Sexto, Fausta's blog, Gorki Águila, Kimberly Motley, Luis Alberto Mariño

December 6, 2016 By Fausta

France: Royal lays an egg while in Cuba

Former  presidential candidate, mother of four of president François Hollande‘s children, and current Minister of Ecology Ségolène Royal went to Fidel Castro’s funeral to lay an egg:

On Saturday, the former socialist presidential candidate called Castro a “monument of history” while rejecting accusations of human rights violations against him.

Her comments had attracted criticism in France.

She said that we must deviate from any systematic condemnation and that it was up to historians to take stock of this history. “I did not come here to take stock of the Fidel Castro period, but no one can deny that there is a negative and a positive,” she said.

Hollande’s ex also had to be reminded that Cuba is not a democracy:

French government spokesman Stéphane Le Foll stressed that “Cuba is not a democracy and there have been problems related to various freedoms for a long time.”

Royal really did this,

During the tribute to Castro, Royal said that in Cuba “when the international community requests a list of political prisoners, there are none.”

Amnesty International offered to send her updated lists of current political prisoners (link in French).

While we wait for Hollande to condemn the statements of his administration’s 3rd highest official, Danilo Maldonado “El Sexto” is doing hard time (h/t Babalu) without being charged,

Danilo Maldonado, known as “El Sexto,” was taken by Cuban security agents the day after the death of former leader Fidel Castro. Maldonado, 33, still has not been charged, but those familiar with the graffiti artist’s actions that morning say that he posted a Facebook message seemingly gloating over Castro’s death and urging people to “come out to the streets…and ask for liberty.”

Too bad Ségolène couldn’t drop by and try to visit him.

Over at the Vatican, Pope Francis expressed sorrow on the death of “His Excellency Mister Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz.”

Not exactly what I would call the dead S.O.B.

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Filed Under: Communism, Cuba, France Tagged With: El Sexto, Fausta's blog, Ségolène Royal

November 28, 2016 By Fausta

Cuba: Increased repression following Fidel’s death

For the first time in 13 years, the Ladies in White did not march on a Sunday

The Ladies in White say the decision is to avoid tensions.

They have reason to worry,

Group leader Berta Soler told the Agence France-Presse news agency that they didn’t expect much to change in Cuban politics in the near future, as Castro’s brother Raul continues to lead the country. He took over when Fidel Castro fell ill in 2006.

“It will be the same Cuba with one dictator instead of two. The dictator Fidel Castro died and the dictator Raul Castro remains,” said Soler.
Dissidents also laid low in Santiago de Cuba, the eastern city where Castro’s ashes will be laid to rest next Sunday.

“We won’t conduct any actions against the regime in the streets in the next days, especially out of concern for the repression we could face,” said former prisoner Jose Daniel Ferrer.

Cuban Artist and Activist El Sexto Abducted and Detained in Cuba Following Fidel Castro’s Death (emphasis added)

According to Maldonado’s mother, Maria Victoria Machado Gonzalez, he was beaten and dragged across the floor as he was brought to a police unit in San Agustin on 51st Avenue and 240th Street. But there have been no official charges released, and there is no record of Maldonado’s detention.
. . .
Maldonado’s abduction came hours after the official news that Cuban dictator Fidel Castro died at the age of 90. Other known activists such as the Ladies in White have stated they will not be out on the street for their weekly human rights protest on Sunday mornings. Civic activists with the group Hugo Damian Prieto Blanco and Jose Diaz Silva have also been taken into custody. Their locations are not known.

Mary O’Grady:
For Cubans, the Long Wait Is Over

The moment has arrived. Yet the prospects for their liberation are still not great.

They are now ruled by the dead red’s 85-year-old brother Raúl, and behind him are the next generation of Castros and the military. This ruthless band of criminals owns everything on the island and has no incentive to change. President Obama’s normalization of relations and de facto lifting of the U.S. travel ban has funneled fresh resources to them, strengthening their power.

Ted Cruz was on This Week,

UPDATE
Joel Hirst: The Untold Story of Cuba

Forget the gulags and the concentration camps and the firing squads. Those are the stories that made the papers at least – stories that were told. No – the most important part of this tragedy is not what happened, but what didn’t happen. The novels that were not written, stories of beach and mountain and freedom and loss; the beautiful paintings that did not come to be, which in turn did not inspire abounding love – the love of storybooks. The cuisine that was not refined; the businesses that did not provide for families; inventions that do not help humanity; diseases that were not cured.

The life that was not lived.

This – for me – is the greatest tragedy of all. We have this life at our fingertips, those of us from America. To a greater measure than others; but even those from Panama, or Chile, or Paraguay can see that which they wish to attain. They can uncork the $1000 bottle of wine and dream of the day they will sit in front of the sheer white tablecloth and drink deeply. They can read the novel, and imagine how they would make the stories unfold, improving them. They can look at the girl across their own malecon and imagine how they will win their fortune and then come for her.

None of these things have been imagined – for six generations – in Cuba.

A Monster and his Suck-Ups

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Filed Under: Communism, Cuba Tagged With: Berta Soler, El Sexto, Fausta's blog, Hugo Damián Prieto Blanco, José Díaz Silva, Ladies in White

October 26, 2015 By Fausta

The Argentinian election Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

Argentinians voted yesterday. There will be a runoff, Scioli vs Macri (more on that later today).

New Scrutiny on Vote Buying as Argentine Elections Near. The practice, which is not illegal, was called a scourge last month in local voting, but raises questions about the frailty of the nation’s democracy.

Is it the end of Kirchnerismo and the start of saner economic policies? There are No Easy Economic Options for Argentina’s Next President.Winner of Sunday’s election will be forced to make unpopular moves to keep inflation-ridden economy ticking

Argentina Election Won’t Make Investors Rush In. International community won’t be wooed easily amid recent retreat from emerging market debt

ARGENTINA
In time for the election, Nisman is being accused of being a spy:
Alberto Nisman: Was prosecutor killed while investigating 1994 bombing of Jewish centre in Buenos Aires moonlighting for the FBI?Exclusive: A new book claims US security services abandoned Mr Nisman as he was about to reveal President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner’s alleged attempts to cover up Iran’s involvement in the atrocity

Alberto Nisman ‘was working for the FBI’Argentina gripped by a new book which claims that Alberto Nisman, the terrorism prosecutor found dead in January, was working for the Americans

America ‘refused to hand over emails sent by Argentine prosecutor Alberto Nisman’ before his death. A new book claims the prosecutor, who was found dead earlier this year, was secretly a contact for the FBI. Money quote:

Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, the president, has laughed at suggestions that she orchestrated his death and instead argues that he was murdered by rogue spies who used him to discredit her, and then killed him.

As they said forty-one years ago, Silence is health.

BOLIVIA
Bolivian Court OKs Vote on Allowing Presidents to Serve 3 Terms

El exembajador chavista que se convirtió en alto ejecutivo ferroviario en Bolivia. No era una imagen que sorprendía a nadie. Sentado junto a Evo Morales en un sinfín de actos públicos aparecía Julio Montes, el delegado de Hugo Chávez en Bolivia. Chavista former ambassador became high-placed railroad executive in Bolivia.

BRAZIL
Brazil Begins Major Security Operation on Northwestern Border

Operation Agata 10 is targeting environmental crimes, illegal trafficking of timber, drug smuggling and illegal fishing along the 10,000 kilometers (6,215 miles) of Brazil’s border with Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Suriname and Guyana, the ministry said in a statement.

CHILE
Damage control in Chile. Michelle Bachelet’s reluctant retreat towards the centre

Chile grants same-sex couples civil partnership licenses. New law took effect on Thursday following more than a decade of congressional debate over gay marriage

COLOMBIA
Colombia Forces Kill 9 ELN Guerrillas

“Peace without justice benefits only the terrorist leaders, otherwise it’s unstable and engenders more violence. Let’s support the Centro Democrático.”

Paz sin justicia solo beneficia a cabecillas terroristas, de resto es inestable y genera más violencia. Apoyemos al Centro Democrático

— Álvaro Uribe Vélez (@AlvaroUribeVel) October 24, 2015

COSTA RICA
New ferry to connect Costa Rica-El Salvador starting in January

CUBA
Castro Pocketed WHO Funds Destined for Ebola Health Workers

This also violates international labor and human trafficking covenants.

And yet, some still advocate for “dictator-down-economics.”

Apartheid-loving tourists have their fun spoiled by an unruly drunk

Cuba frees ‘prisoner of conscience’. Graffiti artist “El Sexto” was jailed for 10 months after he painted “Fidel” and “Raúl” on pigs to satirize Cuba’s leaders.

CUBAN TROOPS IN SYRIA: ANOTHER FOREIGN POLICY CRISIS

It's not in vain that Ricardo Cabrisas came to Moscow today. Russia's coming back to Cuba with its industry (cont) https://t.co/QjrwYTyulK

— Dmitry Rogozin (@DRogozin) October 22, 2015

ECUADOR
Ecuador’s president literally wants to fight a politician who criticized him, but it came to naught.

FALKLAND ISLANDS
Promises, promises: Argentina’s presidential hopeful promises better relations with Britain over the Falklands. Exclusive: Mauricio Macri will not appoint a ‘Falklands Minister’ if elected and will work to defrost Argentina’s relations with Britain, his foreign policy chief tells The Telegraph

GUATEMALA
Guatemala’s Presidential Hopefuls Exit the Final Debate as They Went In.Lack of Confrontation, New Plans Leaves Sandra Torres in Catch-Up Mode

MEXICO
Mexico Outdoes the United States for Deporting Central Americans. Southern Border Plan Ushers in 25% More Arrests, 200% More Checks

Patricia, Strongest Landfalling Pacific Hurricane on Record, Downgraded to Tropical Depression

Mexican police uncover secret drug tunnel used by ‘El Chapo’s’ cartel. The 800-meter-long passageway runs under the US-Mexican border from Tijuana

PANAMA
Panama reaffirms open date for widening. All signs point to April startup for expansion of the Panama Canal, agency says. (subscription)

PARAGUAY
Investigation into Paraguay Ex-President Reflects Regional Trend

PERU
Prosecutor: Peru army officer got $10K per cocaine planeload

PUERTO RICO
Puerto Rico: The Progressive Utopia is Here Now | Scott Ott Thought

URUGUAY
Uruguay’s Mujica to Step Away from Senate, but Not from Public Life

VENEZUELA
Franklin Nieves, the prosecutor in Leopoldo Lopez’s trial, has fled the country, and, a day late and a dollar short (emphasis added),

In a video sent Friday to the Venezuelan news website La Patilla, Nieves said he fled Venezuela with his family to escape pressure from the executive branch and his superiors to stand by while “false evidence” is used to keep an innocent Lopez in jail during the appeals process. He said he would soon present evidence to demonstrate that Lopez’s trial was a premediated “farce.”

Speaking of dollars, Venezuela Central Bank sues US-based DolarToday website

It accuses the website of cyberterrorism and says its managers are sowing economic chaos in Venezuela.

The central bank requested both an injunction and damages, accusing the site’s managers of fanning inflation in the country.

It’s always somebody else’s fault, Organized crime:At least half of the homicides that occur in Venezuela are tied to the organized crime but individuals fail to perceive that, a study found



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Filed Under: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Carnival of Latin America, Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala, Latin America, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Rafael Correa, Uruguay, Venezuela Tagged With: Alberto Nisman, Andrés Páez, El Sexto, Falkland Islands, Fausta's blog, Jose Mujica, Julio Montes, Leopoldo López, Pepe Mujica

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