Defying the Castro Brothers Under Cuban Skies

Under cover of international distraction with the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, Cuban authorities violated their own Constitution by arresting and charging 75 prominent dissidents with being agents of "Yankee Imperialism."

Many were associated with the Varela Project, a peaceful human rights initiative developed by Oswaldo Paya to encourage the Cuban government to open up and respect human rights. Before they were arrested, convicted and sentenced to terms ranging from 15 to 25 years in prison, many Varela Project participants circulated a petition signed by more than 11,000 Cuban citizens across the nation, all imploring their government to grant them basic human rights.

Of these 75 dissidents, between 35 and 40 had collected signatures for the Varela Project, while others were independent journalists, librarians, and labor activists. All were simply engaged in peaceful opposition to the Castro regime. All were sentenced to prison in a short, terrifying period now known as the Black Spring of 2003.

Since the Black Spring, a few of the original 75 have been paroled for health reasons. All the others remain incarcerated for simply exercising their Cuban Constitutional rights to organize, circulate petitions, and then literally petition the government to grant basic human rights.

Initially ignored by the international community, many of the wives of Varela Project participants, now called The Group of 75, organized themselves into Las Damas de Blanco: The Ladies in White.

Now internationally respected as powerful human rights activists with impact far beyond the Cuban borders, every Sunday Las Damas have been walking across the Quinta Avenida in Miramar, Havana to the church of Santa Rita. After they attend church services, they walk through the streets of Havana, despite the constant surveillance and intimidation of the Cuban secret police.

After two years of faithfully, peacefully walking in white, the Ladies in White garnered international attention. First, they were awarded the prestigious 2005 Sakharov Prize, which is annually bestowed by the European Parliament. In the wake of that award, a movement has gathered to nominate them for a Nobel Peace Prize.

While the Ladies in White continue their walk from Miramar, Havana to the global stage, several paroled members of the Group of 75 were recently featured in a July 2009 independent documentary, Under Cuban Skies: Workers and Their Rights. Filmed in Cuba between March and May 2009, the film details "...the systematic violation of human and labor rights committed by Fidel and Raul Castro since they took power fifty years ago."

"In Havana, on Monday August, 3, 2009, human rights and labor activists Maria Elena Mir Marrero, Justo J. Sanchez, Hanoi Oliva and Daniel Sabatier, who were featured in Under Cuban Skies, were summoned and threatened," said Cuba Study Group executive director Tomas Bilbao. Labor leader Maria Elena Mir explains:

"We were told to report at a police station at 10:00 a.m. Tuesday, August 4. We reported as we were told. There, they interrogated, scolded, and warned us not to stage a demonstration on August 5: the anniversary of the Maleconazo, a major protest which took place on August 5, 1994 and that was repressed by government thugs."

Maria Elena refers to Cuba's Rapid Action Brigade as thugs -- all highly trained government agents that would transform peaceful assembly into terror and violence by wading into the peaceful group wearing civilian clothes, but armed with truncheons and other weapons and carrying official orders to disrupt, intimidate and terrify people into abandoning their peaceful human rights demonstrations.

Maria Elena continued:

"Those of us who appeared in Under Cuban Skies had our fingernails cut for DNA sampling, were fingerprinted and told to hold a cloth we were given on our private parts for about 15 minutes. We were told that it was to register our body odor. It frightened and humiliated us."

Via telephone, she went on to share that State Security Agents overseeing their interrogation at the police station said the film, "...attacks the CTC (Central de Trabajadores de Cuba). We now understand that four teams had been sent to Cuba to film Under Cuban Skies. We are now on guard and will not allow that to happen in the future."

In spite of all they endured, Maria Elena Mir said that the dissidents deeply appreciate that the film has been completed and is now being presented well beyond the streets of Havana:

"We are grateful to you for allowing us to tell the world, in our own words, what is going on -- the violations of human and labor rights -- here in Cuba."

Luis Carlos Montalván was a consultant on the film, "Under Cuban Skies - Workers and Their Rights.

Comments

[XNavyChic]

Bottom-line, Cuba has a notorious reputation for their human rights abuses and violations and is on record around the world for its policies and their egregious crimes against humanity. At the end of 2008, there were over 200 documented political prisoners and detainees on record. Over 5,000 Cuban nationals were in prison serving time for unspecified charges or crimes. The right to due process is non-existent. Citizens are imprisoned on arbitrary charges. Prisoners are beaten and tortured. Cuba’s record on human trafficking is among the worst in the world.

The Cuban people have a right to be angry, petition their government and protest against the conditions that have systematically repressed them for years, whether it be speaking out on labor violations, crimes against humanity, or peacefully organizing to protest against the totalitarian government the western world recognizes Cuba for.

[XNavyChic]

Just an observation, but one could ascertain that Castro’s propaganda spin doctors have expanded their watch zone to news media in the US.

If a government calls on the people to express themselves and when they do they are arrested, as the dissidents involved with the Varela Project were, that makes them political prisoners. Citizens of Cuba are allowed to express themselves and exercise freedom of speech and freedom of the press, in so far as it "conform to the aims of socialist society," a nice little condition that essentially nullifies the original premise.

In the 50 years under Castro’s reign, there have been no popular elections. Political parties are forbidden to nominate, or campaign for candidates. Second candidates are non-existent. How can you call that a democracy, or claim citizens have the freedom to elect a candidate of their choosing? Saying that 8 million voters went to the polls and pledged their allegiance to the Socialist Constitution of Cuba, is like saying that electoral fraud didn’t occur in Iran to reelect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Too bad Cubans don't have access to unrestricted “real” world news, or they would see the millions of Iranian citizens attempting to peacefully protesting against their own repressive regime.

Furthermore, it is inaccurate that the group, Las Damas de Blanco, has not had any incidents related to their protests. Palm Sunday, 2005, pro-Castro supporters attempted to disrupt the vigil and on other occasions pro-Castro mobs have assisted police in rounding them up.

[HeavyDuty]

If the members of the Varela Project were incarcerated for their activities, how come they were allowed to turn in their petitions to the Cuban government? Furthermore, the response of the Cuban government to the Project to change the Constitution of Cuba was not to put the people involved in jail but instead to call for the people to express themselves on the Varela Project.
In the year 2002, more than 8 million voters, an overwhelming majority of the Cuban electorate, voted to reaffirm their commitment to the Socialist Constitution of Cuba. Those 75 activists Mr Montalvan is referring to were jailed for illegal activities financed and directed by the US Interest Section in Havana.
It is a well documented fact that Mr. Osvaldo Paya Sardinas, the creator of the Varela Project, is on record as supporting the coup D'Etat staged against the legitimate elected government of Venezuela. One of the first actions of Mr Cardona, the coup leader, was to nullify all civil and political rights in the Venezuelan Constitution. It was the people of Cuba and Venezuela who did away with the wishes of Mr Cardona, the US government and Mr. Paya.
The so-called "Ladies in White" certainly have staged their vigils on a regular basis and, so far, there have been no incidents related to those vigils.