Havana. Photo: MJ Porter, Translator
We Cubans occupy our beds, the stairs of our houses, the piece of the table before us, the chair in front of the television, the empty refrigerator, the half open shutters we peer out of. All this and more, before taking to the streets and public squares. We talk about sex like someone shouting at a demonstration, we submerge ourselves in the black market as a cry of protest and we climb on a raft to cross the Florida Straits as our most daring gesture. We complain within, whisper our dissent for fear the keen ears of the political police might hear us. Instead of obstructing the sidewalks and the asphalt, we daily launch the cobblestones of theft and inefficiency at the State, although we call the theft "diversion of resources." We do not practice passionate slogans to chant at a rally; rather we are experts at apathy, in the wearing of masks. Our most rebellious action is limited to practicing the double standard, and evading the excessive ideological propaganda.
The ground we occupy is not visible; it is not outside a bank, nor in front of a stock exchange where the numbers enrich some and drag others into misery. No. We have occupied only the territory that lies between our skin and our bones; the tiny esplanade that conforms to our fears and the empty park where all the paranoia and distrust we've been infected with since childhood hangs out. For this irritation to break out and materialize in a crowd, demanding a corner, to manage that, the occupant hidden under our skin must free itself first from the cop with whom we share our body.
Follow Yoani Sanchez on Twitter: www.twitter.com/yoanifromcuba
There, Huffpost. Fixed the headline for you.
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL: RESTRICTIONS ON FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION IN CUBA- Amnesty International Publications 2010
CONTROL OF INTERNET ACCESS
In Cuba, access to the internet remains under state control. It is regulated by the Law of Security of Information, which prohibits access to internet services from private homes. Therefore, the internet in Cuba has a social vocation and remains accessible at education centres, work-places and other public institutions. Internet can also be accessed in hotels but at a high cost. In October 2009, the government adopted a new law allowing the Cuban Postal Services to establish cyber-cafés in its premises and offer internet access to the public. However, home connections are not yet allowed for the vast majority of Cubans and only those favoured by the government are able to access the internet from their own homes.
However, many blogs are not accessible from within Cuba because the Cuban authorities have put in place filters restricting access. The blogs affected are mainly those that openly criticize the Cuban government and its restrictions on freedom of expression, association, peaceful assembly and movement.
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/AMR25/005/2010/en/62b9caf8-8407-4a08-90bb-b5e8339634fe/amr250052010en.pdf
SECTOR EXTERNO / EXTERNAL SECTOR - 8.4 - Intercambio comercial de mercancías por países seleccionados y áreas geográficas (Conclusión) Trade in goods in selected countries and geographical areas (Conclusion)
Estados Unidos de América (USA)
2004 = $443,900,000
2005 = $476,311,000
2006 = $483,591,000
2007 = $581,657,000
2008 = $962,767,000
2009 = $675,420,000
http://www.one.cu/aec2009/esp/08_tabla_cuadro.htm
FOREIGN POLICY MAGAZINE: The Castro family playground- Blake Hounshell Friday, May 2, 2008
During the past few years family members of both Fidel and Raúl Castro have come to occupy important positions in Cuba's government. This Castro clan represents in addition to the military, the security apparatus and the Communist Party, a significant force in Cuba's political and economic structures.
Fidel Castro Diaz-Balart- Relationship: Fidel Castro's son
Position: Advisor, Ministry of Basic Industry
Col. Alejandro Raúl Castro Espin - Position: Raúl Castro's sonPosition: Chief, Intelligence Information Services, Ministry of the Interior; Coordinator, Intelligence Exchange with China
CLICK LINK FOR ENTIRE FAMILY LIST WITH THEIR JOBS!
http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2008/05/02/the_castro_family_playground
The Cuban Adjustment Act guarantees any Cuban who arrives on US soil, by any means, legal or not, guaranteed permission to remain. No other citizen of any other country on the planet receives such privileges. This is one of the reasons why Cuba chooses which of its citizens can travel abroad and which cannot. US citizens in the overwhelming majority of cases are forbidden to leave the US without obtaining permission from the federal government if their chosen destination is Cuba. This is known as the United States travel ban.
Most residents of the US cannot call a travel agent and book a flight to Cuba except under very limited circumstances prescribed by law.
Yoani Sanchez has never been charged with any criminal offense. She claimed she was physically hurt. Miraculously, no photograph has ever been produced, even by her smart phone.
Wikepedia shows that there's no proof of her having been injured:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoani_S%C3%A1nchez
In this article I analyze the arguments of lifting the Cuba embargo, which are more rhetorical than real, answering each one of the specific considerations of those that support the end of it.
EFFECT OF THE EMBARGO
The United States Government has always exempted from the embargo medicine and humanitarian supplies to the Cuban people, as long as such aid is distributed by independent non-governmental organizations (NGO) such as the Catholic Church and international organizations such as Pastors for Peace.
Since 1992, the U.S. has approved 36 of 38 license requests for commercial sales of medicines and medical equipment to Cuba. During the period from 1993 to 1996, the U.S. has licensed over $150 million in humanitarian assistance, more than the total worldwide foreign aid received by Cuba in those years. This total does not include the millions of dollars in medicine and food sent to Cuba in the form of "care packages" from relatives living in the U.S. [1]
CLICK LINK FOR ENTIRE ACADEMIC PAPER WITH FOOTNOTES & EVERYTHING!
http://www.cubanet.org/CNews/y09/abril09/09_O_3.html
The embargo has been relaxed and 2008 the US was Cuba's 5th largest trading partner and its largest food supplier (30% of the 80% of food Cuba needs to import).
The Cuban regime lacks the money to pay for food and medicines or lacks the will to use the money available for that purpose.
Medicines and medical equipment:
"The U.S. says it approved $142 million in commercial and donated medical exports to the communist island in 2008. So why did less than 1percent of it get there?"
"It's not the embargo," said John Kavulich, a senior policy adviser at the New York-based U.S.-Cuba Economic Trade Council, which provides nonpartisan commercial and economic information about Cuba. "These are economic and political decisions not to buy." Cuba often waits for allies to donate what it needs, Kavulich said. "They'd rather get things for free than
pay for them."
"It's unclear why U.S. medical exports aren't reaching Cuba", Dallas Morning News, 5 December 2009.
Food:
"Cash-strapped Cuba has continued to slash agricultural purchases from the United States even as a key bill that would ease Washington's Cuban travel ban and make it easier to sell more food to the island works its way through Congress, according to a report released today."
Cuba cuts US food imports 28 per cent, AP, Thursday, August 12, 2010
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Cuba-cuts-US-food-imports-28-per-cent
All transactions between the United States and Cuba are one-way only. Cuba is permitted to buy from the US for cash only. Imagine going into a bar and asking for a drink, and the bartender, before pouring into your glass, demands payment before pulling the cork or unscrewing the cap, and you have an idea of how this system "works".
Sorry, but there is no trade between the US and Cuba.
http://babalublog.com/2009/11/breaking-news-yoani-sanchez-arrested-in-cuba/
THE TIMES OF LONDON: Official Chinese guide tells how to beat suspects and leave no marks -April 23, 2009
Extracts from a government manual on how to beat troublemakers without leaving physical evidence have emerged in China. Details from the official publication were posted on the internet by a civil servant and published in one of the country’s most daring newspapers. One of the most controversial passages reads: “In dealing with the subject, take care to leave no blood on the face, no wounds on the body, and no witnesses in the vicinity.”
CLICK LINK FOR ENTIRE ARTICLE!
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6150377.ece
How could a supposed average Cuban live that way? Just ask her sponsors...
www.cia.gov
And yet she's never been imprisoned as an American spy or traitor...some "persecution."
Sánchez launched her blog, Generation Y, on April 9, 2007. The national baseball playoffs were underway, and the first post used the baseball fever to compare what Cubans are allowed to shout, and display on homemade posters, “Santiago, Go Santiago!” and what they are not: “Internet for all!”[22] The blog was hosted in Germany on an Internet domain by Cronon AG,[23] and was designed by Sánchez. Later, the blog was transferred to WordPress, and was eventually upgraded to allow comments by readers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoani_S%C3%A1nchez
Yoani Sanchez never got on a raft to leave the country. She went with permission. She returned to live in Cuba with permission, knowing full-well what the rules of the political game in Cuba were and are.
She's very well-paid for her denunciations of everything about Cuban life. These payments come in the form of "awards" for her "journalism" as we see here. She lives rent free, pays nothing for health care, and complains bitterly about everything in Cuba. If Cuba's system is so bad, under which she receives free rent and free health care and free education for her child, why doesn't she complain about that, too?
Yoani Sanchez, miraculously, has never been arrested in Cuba for anything. As far as anyone knows, she's never even gotten a jaywalking ticket.
Such a terrible life!
Walter Lippmann
Los Angeles, California
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/
What are "the rules of the political game in Cuba"? Where are they written down?
How do you know that she's well-paid? Her book is ranked @ 54,000 on Amazon, so she's not living on royalties. Her description of the deprivations of ordinary life - scarcity of consumer goods, rationing, the dual-currency system, etc. - seem based on personal experience. Is she as well-paid as those who denounce her in the Cuban media?
Never arrested? She's posted audiotape of one incident in which intelligence officers dragged her from a car to be interrogated and beaten. And is it your point that Cuba should be applauded because it can identify a dissident that it hasn't arrested? Heck - even China doesn't arrest all of them.
IMO, Sanchez doesn’t acknowledge sufficiently the revolution’s achievements, or how much better the average Cuban lives, compared to the average Honduran, e.g. But that doesn't make her criticisms incorrect. There's a reasonably good chance that six months after the last Castro dies, American collectors will own all those beautiful cars and KFC signs will replace all the Che posters. It won't be because of her but because after 50-plus years, those holding absolute power failed to create a system that could survive their passing.
Sanchez IS well-paid. Just look up the amount of money she receives in award money for the Ortega y Gasset prize from Spain, and her other "prize" money.
Yoani Sanchez may have been detained briefly, but she wasn't charged and has never been convicted of anything. How can anyone see a beating on an AUDIOTAPE???
HAVANA TIMES : The (Non) Right of Cubans to Travel -Haroldo Dilla Alfonso-February 1, 2010-
Above all, travel for Cubans is not a right, but a legal privilege. It is a condition that can be granted or rescinded. It is a revocable concession by an unappealable power and is without a defined judicial framework.
In all cases, the departures of these people imply considerable fees that can end up in well excess of US $500, an immense sum for a population with exceedingly depressed wages that average $20 a month. In short, to leave, each person must be able to pay for a letter of invitation, a passport and an exit permit.
There are no laws or clearly written regulations covering these processes; rather, there are arbitrary and discretionary practices that mix starkly fascist reins of political control with mercurial motivations of the worst kind. In this way, the Cuban government denies a right that it alternately sells to those who can afford it.
CLICK LINK FOR ENTIRE ARTICLE!
http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=18972
The regime is getting so worried about her that they use the official press to attack her.
The wouldn't if nobody on the island had heard about her or cared about her.
As so often the actions of the Cuban regime expose the lies of its apologists.
Some examples:
http://lapolillacubana.blogcip.cu/2012/04/18/yoani-sanchez-muchas-mentiras-y-mucho-dinero/
http://www.giron.co.cu/Articulo.aspx?Idn=14309&lang=es