Fausta's Blog

American and Latin American Politics, Society, and Culture

September 6, 2016 By Fausta

Cuba: Guillermo Fariñas is dying.

Cuban dissident Guillermo Fariñas demands the right to publicly oppose the government without being repressed; he is putting his life on the line in what may very likely be his last hunger strike. He is now on the 49th day of a hunger strike.

The outlook for both Fariñas and human rights in Cuba is dismal.

I must clarify: This is a most distressful post to write. All the same, the Obama administration’s insistence on doing business with the military regime is enabling the continuing repression of the Cuban people.

Cuban blogs are covering the Fariñas story. Most major media are ignoring it.

Here are a few links:
A Hunger Strike in Cuba That Should Matter to All of Us

Photos of the day: Fariñas visited by Antúnez

Obama Adds Insult to the Injury of His Cuba Policy

Rather Than Demand to End State Violence, Advocates Demand End to Cuba’s Dissident’s Hunger Strike – International community calls on Guillermo Fariñas to end hunger strike

Cross-posted at WoW! Magazine.



Share

Filed Under: Communism, Cuba Tagged With: Fausta's blog, Guillermo Fariñas

August 8, 2016 By Fausta

The Rio Olympics Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

With a lame Marxist opening ceremony, complete with video that included the flooding of South Florida and other areas, the Olympics officially started on Friday.

I would have rather watched this year’s Carnival winning samba school perform their show as prelude to the athletes’ parade, and do without the GW preaching. Not that anyone asked.

Here’s a reporter from India:

And, no matter what, it was a great moment for the great Michael Phelps, the winningest Olympian of all time,

A few links:

The Rio Olympics Is Brazil’s Reward for Trusting in Socialism

Rio 2016: Controlled explosion carried out near Olympic road race finish line by anti-bomb squad. Anti-bomb squad detonate controlled explosion during the Olympic men’s road race

Reports claim Olympic kayaker capsized after hitting underwater sofa

Australian swimming team raises infection fears over Olympic pool. The Australian coach described the Olympic warm-up pool as ‘soupy’ and ‘cloudy’
How perfect: Teen shooter Ginny Thrasher wins USA’s first gold medal of Rio Olympics.

At Drudge:

RIO OLYMPICS ROCKED BY NEW DOPING SCANDAL…

U.S. men's basketball team 'accidentally' visits brothel: 'We thought it was spa'...
Huge lines and angry fans mar start...
Opening Ceremony: Cash Crunch on Display...
NBC RATINGS WIPEOUT: Viewership Hits 12-Yr Low...
Gymnast breaks leg on vault...
Lebanese Olympians 'refuse to ride in bus with Israelis'...
PHELPS EAGER TO GET STARTED...
ARGENTINA

Hebe De Bonafini Refuses To Be Taken To Court To Testify, Insults Everyone. Hebe de Bonafini, the head of Mothers of Plaza de Mayo Association, today refused to testify regarding her involvement in the so-called Sueños Compartidos Case.

The de #Bonafini affair tweets storified here https://t.co/GLG0pj1DcO

— Éamann Mac Donnchada (@EamonnMacDonagh) August 5, 2016

BRAZIL
When it comes to politics, No Olympic Truce in Brazil

COLOMBIA
Colombia has finally ended a 52-year war, but the price of peace will be high

CUBA
Coco Fariñas: Cuban dissident briefly hospitalized, hunger strike in third week

MEXICO
Where Will a New Leader Take Mexico’s PRI?

PANAMA
Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz withdraws from Panama inquiry over intransparency

VENEZUELA
A Socialist Les Miserables in Venezuela



Share

Filed Under: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Fausta's blog, Mexico, Olympics, Panama, Venezuela Tagged With: Guillermo Fariñas, Hebe de Bonafini, Joseph Stiglitz, Michael Phelps, Rio Olympics, Sueños Compartidos

March 17, 2014 By Fausta

Venezuela: #SOSVenezuela and the war against the Chuckys

A week ago,

In one of his more bizarre televised speeches, Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro compared the opposition to movie villain Chucky from the 1980’s ‘Child’s Play’ slasher series

“The Chuckys of fascism,” according to him.

At least he stayed away from zombies.

He’s gone on to say that “behind ever Chucky there’s a Chuckylina,” an outsider who’s pulling the strings.

During a speech last Saturday where he warned that President Obama “has given orders to assassinate President Maduro” while

he was surrounded by men wearing olive uniforms, Maduro warned the “Chuckys”–he has rechristened the protesters after the bloodthirsty doll from the 1990s–that they had “a few hours” to leave Altamira Plaza in Caracas or they would face the full force of the Venezuelan military. Maduro warned that he was ready “to finish liberating the places still hijacked by the scammers and violent people who have taken them… I will go liberate those spaces with the public forces.”
Maduro also boasted that Venezuelan police had “captured almost 60 Chuckys in Plaza Altamira” and that he would “respect all the human rights,” above all the “right to work and right to health.” He then called opposition leader Henrique Capriles Radonski, who ran against Maduro in the country’s last election cycle, a “fascist.”

Daniel Duquenal asks, Is Capriles going to negotiate our surrender?

But back to the demonstrators, during yesterday’s “Cubans go home” protest,
Daniel found

not a flag from any political party. None, I have seen none!!!! In the two hours that I walked along, and back home. This is not about politics, about who should represent the opposition. This is about millions of Venezuelans that have had enough of chavismo, that want to reclaim their future.

They have their work cut out for them:

Maduro has been employing the services of armed paramilitary groups on motorcycles commonly known as “motorizados” or “colectivos,” who have wreaked havoc in both the capital of Caracas and outside rebel states like Táchira. Maduro has also employed the Bolivarian National Guard (GNB), the domestic wing of the military, against protesters, many of whom are said to be Cuban nationals and trained in torture and violent repression of political speech.

These groups have engaged in an active torture campaign, disfiguring the faces of protesters, and shot many in the face to prevent an open casket funeral featuring a young protester. They have also flooded apartment buildings known to house college students with teargas at night in an attempt to intimidate the protesters into not coming out the next morning. The current death toll is at 28, all unarmed student protesters.

It’s worth pointing out that the Bolivarian militia, an armed civilian force, is similar to Cuba’s Territorial Militia.

Cuban intelligence runs the Venezuelan state security apparatus, in exchange for 100,000 barrels of oil per day, as John Hinderaker points out. John links to that “Chuckylina” of the vast right wing conspiracy, the NY Times:

For Cuba, a military advisory role abroad is nothing new, even if its activities here differ from the combat brigades sent to Angola and Ethiopia in the 1970s or the advisers in Nicaragua in the 1980s. Cuba’s assistance in Venezuela is much broader, including areas like telecommunications and national identification card systems. The emergence of Cuba as Venezuela’s top ally has led to criticism that the Cubans are helping Mr. Chávez tighten his grip on an array of institutions.

Oscar Montealegre was in Caracas on February 12:

It was not the protesters that we had to worry about; it is more so the thugs that are commissioned by the government. I witnessed many of these thugs standing in the flatbeds of pick-up trucks; one truck had two men with no apparent government uniform with machine guns on their backs. Seeing that reinforced the intimidation tactics used by the government.

The students released this video on Saturday,

Among they protest also against Russia building a military base in Venezuela (3:10 in the video). John Hinderaker, again,

What happens in energy-rich Venezuela is important. Is it too much to hope that the final collapse of socialism in that country will extinguish the appeal of socialism across Latin America? Yes. Even here in the U.S., socialism–the stupidest idea that has ever occurred to a human being–keeps making comebacks. But in the medium term, the collapse of the Russia-Cuba-Venezuela-Nicaragua axis will be of great benefit.

It looks like Maduro called Cuba for reinforcements: Reports claim that Cuba prepares for Venezuela disruptions

two Cuban dissidents who have provided good information in the past said they have received reports that military reservists in six municipalities around the country were contacted this month to be ready for trouble in Venezuela.

Guillermo Fariñas, who served with a commando unit in Angola and underwent military training in the Soviet Union until he suffered a training accident, said three supporters told him about call-ups in his home province of Villa Clara.

The Military Committees in the municipalities of Santa Clara, Ranchuelo, Sagua La Grande and Manicaragua have asked several reservists with combat experience in Africa and Nicaragua and under 50 years of age if they would be willing to deploy to Venezuela.

So far, Maduro has not employed the official armed forces against protesters. Whether he’ll be able to control the military to the point that the Venezuelan military will fire on their fellow citizens remains to be seen.

Related: Busting the myth of freedom of speech in Venezuela

UPDATE:

Huge rally Sunday in #Caracas; described as a march against Cuban interference in #Venezuela. pic.twitter.com/vZ5ZYacLIN via @mirtha556657

— Jim Roberts (@nycjim) March 16, 2014

Share

Filed Under: Communism, Cuba, Cubazuela, news, Russia, Venezuela Tagged With: #SOSVenezuela, Fausta's blog, Guillermo Fariñas, Nicolas Maduro

November 9, 2013 By Fausta

Obama makes campaign stop, meets Coco & Berta

after a $32,000/plate dinner, With Charlie Crist as guest, President Obama raises cash in Miami, chats with Cuban dissidents Guillermo “Coco” Fariñas and Berta Soler.

Florida’s newest high-profile Democrat, former Gov. Charlie Crist, was spotted at the Segovia Tower in Coral Gables at a $32,000-a-head fundraiser hosted by personal injury attorney Ralph G. Patino.

Obama moved next to a fundraiser hosted by Jorge Mas Santos, a Cuban American National Foundation leader and CEO of MasTec. There, the president thanked Mas Santos, who stood next to him, and singled out Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., and Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo.

Obama told two of Cuba’s leading dissidents in South Florida that he admires their sacrifices, a rare White House recognition of the peaceful opposition on the communist-ruled island.

“The most important thing here was the recognition by the president of the United States, the most powerful democracy in the world,” dissident Guillermo Farinas said minutes after the meeting.

The other dissident is Berta Soler, of the Ladies in White.

Speaking by the pool of Mas Santos’ house, Obama said his policy of supporting civil society in Cuba is beginning to show results, but that Washington must continue to be “creative and thoughtful” in its policies.

Results, you say? Cuban human rights monitor reports 763 political arrests in October.

Just last week Fariñas was beaten up by a mob in his hometown of Santa Clara, Cuba.

If you like your policy of supporting civil society in Cuba, you can keep it. Period.


Share

Filed Under: Barack Obama, Communism, Cuba, Democrats, Florida Tagged With: Berta Soler, Charlie Crist, Damas de Blanco, Fausta's blog, Guillermo Fariñas, Jorge Mas Santos, Ladies in White

May 24, 2013 By Fausta

Cuba: Dissidents meet exiles in Miami

Article sent by three friends on how the dissidents that the Communist regime has allowed to travel have been met by their Miami compatriots:
Dissidents Find ‘Cuba Outside Cuba’ in Miami

When Cuban hunger striker Guillermo Farinas arrived in Miami, he said he was prepared to face rejection from radical members of the Cuban-American community who do not believe in pacific opposition.

The reaction has been far different. When he went to the Versailles restaurant, a traditional gathering spot for older exiles in the city’s Little Havana neighborhood, he was embraced. During an event at Miami’s iconic Freedom Tower, he was applauded.

“The love the exiles in Miami have shown us makes us discard what the government, over 54 years, has planted in our minds,” he said.

Read the whole thing.

While you’re at it, if you understand spoken Spanish, listen to Jaime Bayly’s interview with Berta Soler,

Part 1,

Parts 2, 3 with Laura Maria Labrada and Belkis Cantillo (also in the photo above), and 4.


Share

Filed Under: Communism, Cuba, politics Tagged With: Belkis Cantillo, Fausta's blog, Guillermo Fariñas, Jaime Bayly, Laura Maria Labrada

May 15, 2013 By Fausta

En español: Bayly entrevista a Guillermo Fariñas

Lloré escuchándolo.

1a parte:

2a parte:

3a parte:

4a parte:

Share

Filed Under: Communism, Cuba Tagged With: Fausta's blog, Guillermo Fariñas, human rights

May 13, 2013 By Fausta

4 items on Cuba: Mariela, Fariñas, Pittsburgh, and Barbara

1. Last weekend Mariela Castro was in Philadelphia, where she received an award for her gay rights advocacy. Cashing in on the occasion, over in La Habana, the Communist regime allowed a calculated, state-sponsored rally to coincide with Mariela’s award.

2. Guillermo Fariñas is now traveling through the US and Europe to talk about human rights abuses in Cuba.

3. Six-day event in Pittsburgh targets discrimination in Cuba
Fidel Castro declared it nonexistent, but racism is still pervasive in a country known more for its rich culture

A group of Cubans attending AfricAmericas, a six-day event being held here through today, told stories that most U.S. blacks would find familiar, “but it is not like here,” said Manuel Cuesta Morua, who has been a tour guide, history teacher and a museum director whose political activism cost him his job. “In Cuba, we are all equal, but [blacks] can’t be in the media. We have the same education, but we can’t have that job.

“Here there are civic tools” and a justice system that can work, he said. “We have no political or symbolic representation, no access to the emerging economy” and no avenues to leadership positions.

4. Barbara Walters is retiring. Back in 1977 she spent 10 days in Cuba as Fidel Castro’s guest.

She came back with an interview that aired on TV, and a very persistent rumor that she boinked the dictator. Then she went back 25 years later, asked the same questions and got the same BS answers, like “we [Cuban Communists] don’t have the same notion of freedom as you”,

Since Fidel’s not available for interviews, but the regime needs money, expect more dissidents being allowed to travel abroad and that Mariela will get more awards.

The real test comes when the dissidents return to the island-prison. So far, it does not bode well.

Share

Filed Under: Caribbean, Communism, Cuba Tagged With: Fausta's blog, Guillermo Fariñas

July 9, 2010 By Fausta

Cuba to expel 52 political prisoners: 15 Minutes on Latin America

Following up on yesterday’s post, I’ll talk about this news in this morning’s podcast at 11AM Eastern.

Related:
Church Brokers Deal to Free 52 Cuban Dissidents

WaPo editorial, Cuba’s marginal gesture

Hillary Clinton Welcomes Planned Release of Cuban Political Prisoners

Guillermo Fariñas ends his 134-day hunger strike

Babalu is all over this story. Make sure to check them for updates.

And in other Cuba news,
Venezuela to Extradite Salvadoran Terror Suspect to Cuba

21519
Share

Filed Under: Catholic Church, Communism, Cuba, news Tagged With: Fausta's blog, Guillermo Fariñas, human rights, Ladies in White

  • 1
  • 2
  • Next Page »
Tweets by @Fausta
retirees_raise-2015_300x250

Pages

  • About
  • Email

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Previous Posts

  • Mrs. Maisel goes full Alinsky on Mrs. Schlafly
  • Venezuela: Did the Minister of Defense back out at the last minute?
  • You need to unfriend me
  • Go ahead and Kiss the Girl, if you dare
  • Ashamed

Recent Comments

  • John on Mrs. Maisel goes full Alinsky on Mrs. Schlafly
  • Today’s hot topics: Democrats’ collusion shift, tax-return rift, Venezuela drift, and more! – PoliticalWitchDoctor.com on Venezuela: Did the Minister of Defense back out at the last minute?
  • Today’s hot topics: Democrats’ collusion shift, tax-return rift, Venezuela drift, and more! - AmericanTruthToday on Venezuela: Did the Minister of Defense back out at the last minute?
  • Did Venezuela’s Minister of Defense Back Out At The Last Minute? on Venezuela: Did the Minister of Defense back out at the last minute?
  • Roseanne Not Back, Khan not Invited, Operaman’s back, Jobs back, Fausta’s back (but not here yet) Thoughts under the fedora – Da Tech Guy Blog on Venezuela: Did the Minister of Defense back out at the last minute?

Archives

  • 2019
    • December 2019
    • May 2019
    • January 2019
  • 2018
    • December 2018
    • October 2018
    • July 2018
    • June 2018
    • April 2018
    • March 2018
    • February 2018
    • January 2018
  • 2017
    • December 2017
    • November 2017
    • October 2017
    • September 2017
    • August 2017
    • July 2017
    • June 2017
    • May 2017
    • April 2017
    • March 2017
    • February 2017
    • January 2017
  • 2016
    • December 2016
    • November 2016
    • October 2016
    • September 2016
    • August 2016
    • July 2016
    • June 2016
    • May 2016
    • April 2016
    • March 2016
    • February 2016
    • January 2016
  • 2015
    • December 2015
    • November 2015
    • October 2015
    • September 2015
    • August 2015
    • July 2015
    • June 2015
    • May 2015
    • April 2015
    • March 2015
    • February 2015
    • January 2015
  • 2014
    • December 2014
    • November 2014
    • October 2014
    • September 2014
    • August 2014
    • July 2014
    • June 2014
    • May 2014
    • April 2014
    • March 2014
    • February 2014
    • January 2014
  • 2013
    • December 2013
    • November 2013
    • October 2013
    • September 2013
    • August 2013
    • July 2013
    • June 2013
    • May 2013
    • April 2013
    • March 2013
    • February 2013
    • January 2013
  • 2012
    • December 2012
    • November 2012
    • October 2012
    • September 2012
    • August 2012
    • July 2012
    • June 2012
    • May 2012
    • April 2012
    • March 2012
    • February 2012
    • January 2012
  • 2011
    • December 2011
    • November 2011
    • October 2011
    • September 2011
    • August 2011
    • July 2011
    • June 2011
    • May 2011
    • April 2011
    • March 2011
    • February 2011
    • January 2011
  • 2010
    • December 2010
    • November 2010
    • October 2010
    • September 2010
    • August 2010
    • July 2010
    • June 2010
    • May 2010
    • April 2010
    • March 2010
    • February 2010
    • January 2010
  • 2009
    • December 2009
    • November 2009
    • October 2009
    • September 2009
    • August 2009
    • July 2009
    • June 2009
    • May 2009
    • April 2009
    • March 2009
    • February 2009
    • January 2009
  • 2008
    • December 2008
    • November 2008
    • October 2008
    • September 2008
    • August 2008
    • July 2008
    • June 2008
    • May 2008
    • April 2008
    • March 2008
    • February 2008
    • January 2008
  • 2007
    • December 2007
    • November 2007
    • October 2007
    • September 2007
    • August 2007
    • July 2007
    • June 2007
    • May 2007
    • April 2007
    • March 2007
    • February 2007
    • January 2007
  • 2006
    • December 2006
    • November 2006
    • October 2006
    • September 2006
    • August 2006
    • July 2006
    • June 2006
    • May 2006
    • April 2006
    • March 2006
    • February 2006
    • January 2006
  • 2005
    • December 2005
    • November 2005
    • October 2005
    • September 2005
    • August 2005
    • July 2005
    • June 2005
    • May 2005
    • April 2005
    • March 2005
    • February 2005
    • January 2005
  • 2004
    • December 2004
    • November 2004
    • October 2004
    • September 2004
    • August 2004
    • July 2004
    • June 2004
    • May 2004
    • April 2004
    • March 2004
Content Copyright Fausta's Blog

Site Developed and Managed by 300m.com