A colorfully painted presidential plane landed at José Marti airport last Sunday, and by Monday afternoon was already taking off again, headed to Venezuela. Alexander Lukashenko's visit to Cuba, part of a brief tour of Latin America that included Ecuador, lasted just over 24 hours.
To commemorate 20 years of diplomatic relations between Havana and Minsk, Raúl Castro received the man who is considered "the last dictator in Europe" at the Palace of the Revolution. The laying of a wreath at the statue of our national hero, the exchange of hugs between host and guest, a triumphant photo at the foot of the stairs. In short, the protocol of official sympathy upheld in all its glory.
With this meeting an alliance was consolidated between two governments who have become especially close in the last five years. Both leaders are trying to survive increased social unrest within their borders, as well as increased international pressure challenging the legitimacy of their mandates. Hence, they consider their mutual relationship "strategic," especially at a time when they are suffering growing diplomatic isolation. Both are examples of the solitude that surrounds autocrats.
Trade between Cuba and Belarus now exceeds 50 million dollars, and includes technology, transport and agricultural machinery. This commerce received a new impetus during Lukashenko's stay on the Island, with the signing of two agreements and three memorandums of cooperation in agriculture, technology, science and health.
Many of the buses that travel the streets of Havana are successive purchases from this former Socialist Soviet Republic. After years of over-use and few repairs many of these vehicles urgently await spare parts. The newly initialed agreements could help in this direction, specifically to reduce the long lines that form at bus stops on the Island.
Also encouraging is the commitment of the Belarus delegation to modernize refineries and repair the national energy system, as well as their interest in our biotechnology research. But the economic bonanza is just a small part of the ties that bind what was once called "White Russia" with the largest of the Antilles.
There is speculation that this has been a visit characterized more by ideology than by economics. Raúl Castro's government has been supporting Lukashenko and has aligned itself with him on repeated occasions before the Human Rights Council at the United Nations. In 2010, elections in Belarus sparked heavy criticism among the opposition sector, victimized by strong electoral irregularities. The Cuba partisan press, however, reported the issue entirely from the point of view of its counterpart.
On the other hand, the discourse of both leaders is fraught with that anti-imperialist diatribe that tries so hard to hide the fundamental contradictions of their regimes: that between the government and the governed. They have shaken hands in Havana just as the reforms undertaken by the General President, beginning in 2008, have reached a point of stagnation, with people now waiting for other relaxations, most importantly in the area of travel and immigration restrictions.
The well-worn argument that "Raúl Castro wants to implement more changes but the bureaucrats won't let him," is less convincing to Cubans every day. Also lacking is any gesture to demonstrate that there are changes afoot in the political and diplomatic order. In this context, the open-arm welcome of Lukashenko seems to signal a direction completely contrary to that which people are hoping to see.
Another important variable in the relationship between Havana and Minsk is, undoubtedly, the presence of Hugo Chavez as the main guarantor of this particular friendship. For Belarus, Caracas stands as the gateway to Latin America, with more than 200 cooperation agreements including 25 recently signed in the areas of oil, gas, petrochemicals, industry and housing construction. Without the third leg represented by Miraflores, the bilateral stool would face too many difficulties to stand alone, and the relationship would likely be more distant.
An association marked by affinities, a pact based on the common character of two totalitarian regimes, are some of the motivations that lie behind this meeting full of smiles and pats on the back. Lukashenko has now ruled his nation with an iron fist for 18 years, and Raúl Castro inherited the presidential chair through blood-ties from his brother in 2006.
They both know they have a great deal to lose were they to allow certain freedoms of expression and association in their respective countries. They sense that their time is passing and that their people could react at any moment. Being together makes them believe they are strong, invincible.
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The elderly woman, Hernandez Moya, was on her way from her home in Central Havana to the headquarters of the Ladies in White- the home of the fallen leader of the group, Laura Pollan, located on Neptuno Street- when she was violently intercepted by state police.
“They attacked me”, said Moya, “they shoved me into a vehicle, and a female agent twisted my arm and hit me”.
After some minutes, the vehicle which the Lady in White was in parked and she was kicked out, being left abandoned by a dam near the desolate area known as Penalver, on the outskirts of Cotorro.
Hernández Moya explained that she suffers from diabetes and only had a bottle of water with her. She had to walk all the way back home under the scorching sun. “I thought I was going to die“, recounts the activist.
Only Bismark’s wife, Alina Fonseca Guevara, and a handful of relatives were able to assist the trial, said Ferrer Garcia, explaining that “more than 30 activists who were trying to show solidarity with Galan were arrested and taken to different police units throughout the province of Santiago- the majority to the Third Unit, and others to Micro 9 and a police unit in Mella“. The police operations began during the morning hours of that same Tuesday.
The government agent, Aquino Yera, explicitly told Damaris that he would rape her daughter and also ordered various common prisoners- who have committed violent crimes- to repeat the threat.
As soon as Damaris was released she took her daughter- Lazara Conteras- out of school and has not let her go back since, because she fears that she may really be raped or kidnapped. After two weeks of not assisting class, the school principal began a legal process against the dissident, alleging that she has deprived her child of weeks of education. However, Moya Portieles affirms that her small daughter will not return to school until they can assure her that nothing will happen to her, something that no school or government official has done to the date.
Her mother, and the vast majority of the internal Cuban opposition, have called on the international community to show solidarity with Damaris Moya Portieles and her family.
“Carrion is feeling very bad. It is the first hunger strike he carries out,” explains Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia, “he is currently carrying out his protest from bed, he feels very weak, with very strong pains. Relatives and members of UNPACU and other opposition groups are very worried about his health“.
Carrion Alvarez is carrying out his protest in the Vista Hermosa neighborhood, located on 5th Street, #6 in the city of Santiago de Cuba. According to Ferrer Garcia, this location is the “headquarters of the Wilman Villar Mendoza cell, which is an extension of UNPACU“.
According to how the dissident described the situation, the participants of the repudiation were “mostly head officials“, among them from the Communist Party, from the Popular Power, from the Municipal Vigilance, and also from the Committee for the Defense of the Revolution, all of which screamed phrases such as “we must eliminate the enemies of the revolution”.
“They stood in front of my house“, explained Caballero, and remained there for a lengthy period of time from 8 PM on. The act of repudiaiton seemed to be “a festival” for the participants, said the activist, because there was even music for them.
On the following day, Wednesday June 20th, various dissidents from Velasco, Holguin had plans to travel to the city of Holguin to visit Caballero Batista at her home in order to participate in the weekly meeting held there, where activists carry out a vigil and share news about the latest acitivties being carried out by the Resistance on the island. All those who tried to travel were arrested.
Caballero Batista added that in the same province of Holguin, on Saturday June 23rd, the Lady in White Adisnidia Cruz Segreo, who was visiting her children in prison, was arrested. Both of her sons are political prisoners- Marcos Maikel Cruz and Antonio Michel Lima Cruz. They were jailed for publicly listening to the rebellious and independent music of the rap-duo Los Aldeanos, and they have been considered prisoners of conscience. Adisnidia was detained upon leaving the prison and held behind bars until afternoon hours on Sunday, after Mass had concluded.
Despite this crackdown, Caballero highlights that “4 women were able to make it to mass in the city of Holguin“.
The mentioned agent- Martinez Leon- has been responsible for the majority of violent acts against Caridad Caballero, her family, and other Ladies in White from Holguin, ordering acts of repudiation, beatings and arrests of those mentioned activists in order to keep them from arriving to Church every Sunday to pray for the freedom of all political prisoners and for a democratic future on the island.
Caballero Batista explains that this Sunday, she awoke to find her home “completely surrounded by a police operation, which consisted of female police agents, numerous motorcycles, and other officers“. Because of this, the activist was not able to leave her home.
In what members of Cuba’s opposition are describing as a “kidnapping,” on Thursday, June 21st, in Contramaestre, Santiago de Cuba, the daughter of an imprisoned Lady in White was taken from the home of a family friend by functionaries of the Ministry of the Interior (MININT) and taken to an orphanage, according to the former political prisoner and national coordinator of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU), Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia.
The mother, Lady in White Mayelin Montero la O, has been detained for various weeks in the Women’s Prison of Mar Verde due to her peaceful and public activities against the Cuban regime. Her 9 year old daughter, Amanda Montalvo Montero, was living with a trusted family friend - Milagros Borel - ever since her mother was taken to a penitentiary.
Ferrer Garcia explains that upon knowing that she was going to be arrested for her activities as a Lady in White, Mayelin Montero "left a written document in which she left her daughter under the care of this lady, Milagros Borel."
"Considering that the young girl has been receiving lots of support from the Ladies in White, members of UNPACU, and activists of other dissident organizations," continues Ferrer Garcia, "the political police was very bothered by this and had been threatening to take the child to a center for children without families." And this was precisely what they did during the afternoon of June 21st.
Given who is calling Alexander Lukashenko 'the last dictator in Europe', we can safely assume he may well not be a dictator of anywhere. And where does the text inserted link take us? Why, that bastion of corporate neutrality, the New York Times, of course.
"Both leaders are trying to survive increased social unrest within their borders"
There may be social unrest in your head, Yoani, but that's all there is. Your recent CLICK event proved that more than sufficiently.
We can take seriously Sánchez's ramblings the day she condemns the activities of her US paymasters and their friends, like one of the worst human rights abusers on the planet, Saudi Arabia.
"Raúl Castro inherited the presidential chair through blood-ties from his brother in 2006."
No, Raúl Castro, like everyone else in the Cuban National Assembly, was selected and elected at every stage of the process. What nature will the slanders take, I wonder, when Raul steps down and the next President doesn't have the surname Castro.