Finally, spring has sprung. See photos from
around my house and neighborhood. That’s a magnolia tree that I planted 3 years
ago in my front yard. The cherry blossoms came in later than usual this year and
their duration was short. When in full bloom, they’re barely pink, only a
slight tinge. Other flowering trees have pinker blossoms
Lots of Cuba news, as would be expected. Ciro Alexis Casanova Pérez has been
declared a Cuban prisoner of conscience
(POC) by Amnesty International. His case was first brought to our attention in
Amnesty by Antunez, an Afro-Cuban
dissident mentioned previously in these pages and also in my Cuba book, a
towering figure for Cuban dissidents and a former Amnesty POC himself (17
years). In January, he was received in the office of Rep. John Lewis, a former
MLKing associate, breaking through the barrier of the Congressional Black
Caucus that had distanced itself from him out of loyalty to the Castro brothers.
Antunez was also a catalyst for my Cuba book, having been a major figure in the
argument with my former friend which led to the writing of that book. I feel
vindicated in supporting him and glad he is finally have some influence outside
Cuba, though within Cuba, he is still persona
non grata with the regime and little known.
We have been seeing that some
prisoners of conscience or dissidents have been put back in jail. Some other
dissidents have been harassed.
-- Marshelha Goncalves
Margerin,
Amnesty International advocacy
director, on repression in Cuba since Obama's December 17th deal with Raul
Castro, VOA, 4/7/15
, 4-7-2015
U.S. and Cuban officials have yet to agree on the terms for reopening embassies. But the Castro regime has nevertheless reaped some substantial gains. Raúl Castro will be welcomed to the Americas summit for the first time; Mr. Obama will shake his hand. In the coming days, Mr. Obama is likely to offer another big concession by removing Cuba from the State Department’s list of sponsors of terrorism, an act that would disregard Cuba’s continued support for Colombia’s terrorist groups, its illegal arms trading with North Korea and the sanctuary it provides American criminal JoAnne Chesimard.
As for other Latin American leaders, they are unlikely to pressure Mr. Castro on his human rights record, as White House officials predicted they would once the stigma of the U.S. diplomatic boycott was lifted. Instead, many may join in an ambush of Mr. Obama being orchestrated by Mr. Castro’s closest ally. Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro claims he will arrive in Panama with 10 million signatures of people protesting U.S. sanctions against his government; his ludicrous but loud propaganda campaign has won support even from supposed U.S. allies such as Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos.
In a poll conducted in Cuba (without the
authorization of the Cuban government), President Obama enjoyed an 80%
approval rating compared to half that for the Castro brothers, whose disapproval
ratings were somewhat higher than their approval ratings (even that rate of
approval for the Castro brothers seems high to me, based on my own anecdotal
experience). It should also be added that Mr. Obama has never come close to 80%
approval in the United States. The particulars of how the survey was conducted were
not revealed for security reasons, perhaps making the results somewhat suspect,
but at least, a survey was conducted
in a nation where that is prohibited. See full results: http://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/world/cuba-poll-2015/
EFE-4/4/2015--Havana – Many of Cuba's dissident
groups have come together to take a "message of unity" to the Summit of the Americas in Panama with
two specific proposals - a new electoral law and a law of association and
political parties.
"It's obvious that an energetic civil
society is only possible where the independence of citizens is acknowledged and
their rights and freedoms are respected," the dissidents told the press in
Havana Friday in a joint statement.Their purpose was to make the summit being
held April 10-11 a chance to win
recognition for "the legitimacy of an independent Cuban civil society on
the island and in exile as a valid representative of the Cuban people,"
opposition leader Manuel Cuesta Morua of the Arco Progresista group of Cuba
said Friday. Other dissident organizations involved are the Patriotic Union of
Cuba, or UNPACU, led by Jose Daniel
Ferrer, and the Anti-totalitarian Front of Guillermo Fariñas (both mentioned in my Cuba book).
However, even before the convening of the Summit
of the Americas, matters got off to a rocky start. Rosa
María Payá, daughter of activist Oswaldo Payá,
was briefly arrested at the Panama airport and warned not to create a
disturbance or she would be deported to Cuba. She has persisted in accusing the
Castro government of deliberately murdering her father. (I met him years ago,
met her more recently, and agree that most evidence indicates that the regime
did deliberately kill her father—see my Cuba book.) Already her arrest has
given her cause a higher profile internationally than would have otherwise
occurred. Another group of Cuban activists demonstrating in Panama were
reportedly beaten up by pro-Castro mobs, similar to those who routinely attack
them in Cuba. Among those attacked and arrested were some I know personally: Antúnez, his wife, Yris
Pérez, and blind lawyer Juan Carlos González
Leyva.
Predictions
were that President Obama would have a hard time at the summit because so many
Latin American leaders had lined up behind Venezuela’s Nicolás
Maduro in his crackdown against opposition figures, something Obama had
criticized. So, the gathering promised to be a contentious affair. Observers
were waiting to see how Obama would handle it. Maybe his outreach to Cuba and
everything sacrificed in that effort would fall short of expectations. In my
experience, the vociferous leadership of Latin America’s anti-US bloc does not actually
represent the preponderance of public opinion there, where leaders have become
increasingly authoritarian, even dictatorial, controlling media and dissidence.
Those leaders are moving in the direction of Cuba, taking lessons from the
Castro brothers about how to perpetuate themselves in power and, like Cuba,
blaming their own failings, corruption, and mismanagement—and any internal
opposition—on the United States. This does not bode well for the beleaguered and
struggling citizens of those countries nor for US-Latin American relations. Nor
will those countries have sufficient economic growth or democratic freedoms to
satisfy their own people, causing those leaders to continue to conveniently
blame the US as they tighten their grip even further.
President
Obama is taking a gamble, trying to soothe and disarm his critics by saying
that strong countries with genuine popular support have nothing to fear from
peaceful opponents, but, of course, dictatorial countries really don’t have so
much popular support and their leaders do fear losing control. Obama even met
with Cuban and Venezuelan dissidents in Panama, which certainly gave them a
morale boost. However, curbs on association and expression are likely to
continue in both their countries, just as they have in China and Vietnam for
decades, even though the US may no longer be specifically blamed. Remember back
to when Nixon-to-China took place and look now at China’s current president, Xi
Jinping, acting more repressive even than his recent predecessors. In Asia, American
diplomats regularly bring up human rights as policy issues and on behalf of named
imprisoned individuals, but, by invoking national sovereignty, leaders of
dictatorial Asian countries mostly pay no attention. Just saying that the US is
“turning the page” in its relationship with Latin America, as Obama said at the
summit, and photo ops of Obama and Castro shaking hands are not sufficient for
meaningful change, but do have symbolic value. Such gestures have caused confusion among leaders who
reflexively blame the US for their own failings and now aren’t quite sure now
how to respond. I’ve long contended that being the world’s top super power subjects
our nation to a lot of blame. In my experience, most citizens of other
countries, though they admire the US and exaggerate the desirability of our way
of life, are often too ready to blame our nation for everything that they are suffering
daily. A super
power is a handy universal target and is ascribed supernatural powers.
Regarding
the pending removal of Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism, there
has also been a deafening silence surrounding the recent capture by Colombian authorities of a Chinese-flagged
ship, the Da Dan Xia, seemingly headed for Cuba with a weapons
cache disguised as "grain products." This new discovery is a stark
reminder of another recent weapons cache headed from Cuba to North Korea, also mislabeled
“grain products.” It came at a delicate time, when President Obama and Raul
Castro would be meeting at the Summit of the Americas, with Obama facing hostile
authoritarian leaders, so, mostly, it has been ignored. Rapprochement with Cuba
carries a high price tag and is an issue that the administration entered into
voluntarily, when so much else was already on its plate. They could have had a prisoner
exchange to get Alan Gross released without reestablishing diplomatic
relations, but that’s hindsight, so forward movement is the only option now
Despite
evidence to the contrary, President Obama indicated
that he would lift Cuba’s designation as a state sponsor of terrorism even before
the Summit of the Americas to counteract the hostility building up against him
over sanctions against some Venezuelan officials. I doubted that this
announcement would prevent inevitable histrionics on the Venezuelan issue,
which have already won Cuba considerable concessions. Obama seemed to have been
put on the defensive regarding Cuba, even though Cuba needs the US more than
vice versa. I would advocate for having any such concessions to be exchanged
for something benefiting ordinary Cubans, especially since Cuba was again
involved recently in a questionable arms shipment disguised as grain. Does
Obama think that by taking Cuba off the terrorism list, it will reform? That’s
a gamble. While the lifting was not accomplished before the summit, Obama tried
to defuse hostility by talking about friendship and mutual respect among the
nations of the Americas without getting much into specifics. (Obama and
certainly his wife will be glad when his term is over.)
Reportedly, the over 200
Peace Corps volunteers in Panama were explicitly excluded from summit
events and from any meeting with President Obama.
Tania Bruguera
can't leave Cuba, so the Hammer will stage work in her honor, LA Times—April 8, 2015
The
open-mike that Cuban performance artist Tania Brugera had intended to bring to
Havana’s Revolution Square was halted by her arrest and the confiscation of her
passport in December, after she sought reactions to the announcement of the
US/Cuba accords. She has now been released, but is unable to leave Cuba because
her passport has not been returned. Nonetheless, a museum in LA decided to
stage her open-mike piece there: http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/miranda/la-et-cam-hammer-museum-to-stage-cuban-artist-tania-bruguera-work-20150408-column.html
Numerous
academic-type debates on Cuba are
understandably occurring now. Here’s another one: http://www.thechicagocouncil.org/event/cuba-hope-or-hype-havana
The Venezuelan leadership has
been routinely intimidating and harassing human rights defenders, and making
unsubstantiated allegations that independent organizations are seeking to
undermine Venezuelan democracy, this according to statement issued April 7 by 28
international and Latin American human rights organizations. These groups,
including Amnesty International, have
defended their legitimate functions of documenting abuses and representing
victims before international human rights tribunals despite Venezuelan
government accusations that they represent imperialist and US interests. While
I was in Honduras, I attended an
international forum organized by the Adenauer
Foundation which concluded that while many governments in Latin America have
anti-US and leftist leaders, civil society groups in those countries are
pushing back. That certainly seems to be the case in Venezuela. And, invariably,
the leaders blame the United States for any opposition.
Turning to another thorny international
issue, William Burns, former State Department official and now president of the
Carnegie Endowment, estimates that it will take a generational change—some 30 years—before Iran moves in a more democratic direction. Probably the same is
true of Cuba and perhaps of other authoritarian governments—assuming that they
even move in that direction, since counterforces are also at work.
At my local Amnesty International Group, we had a Nigerian speaker and
activist, Omololoa Adele-Oso, a
former architect who is now co-founder and executive director of Act-4-Accountability (www.act4accountability.com), an
organization dedicated to reducing corruption in the Nigerian government and
involved in the Bring-Back-Our-Girls campaign. She seemed to feel optimistic about
the recently elected president of Nigeria, but said that Boko Haram has
infiltrated the entire government and that there were more than new 400 abductions
just a month ago. She said 17 parents of the missing girls have died waiting,
some from health conditions caused or exacerbated by the stress of not finding
their daughters.
My Kenyan visitor has
been understandably upset about the massacre at the Kenyan college by Al
Shabaab militants, although
he believes that God will set matters right. Another Kenyan friend tells me
that now Kenyan churches have security checks for parishioners and armed guards
posted outside. Especially during Easter services, Christians were on edge.
The problem is that it's impossible everywhere in the world
to guard every conceivable target from vengeful attackers considering
themselves the only true Muslims. Who would have ever thought the Boston
marathon would be a target? Or a Kenyan shopping mall? Or a girls' boarding
school in Nigeria? Or this Kenyan college just now? Such violent and gruesome actions only
make life worse for the majority of peaceful Muslims and divide people. Life is
hard enough for most of the world’s inhabitants without confronting this
tragic, harmful, and completely counterproductive activity.
Chelsea Manning –On 4 March, the Army Court of Criminal Appeals
ordered the US military to stop using male pronouns when referring to Chelsea
Manning in all future legal papers filed. Manning also confirmed beginning prescribed
hormone therapy treatment to begin a gender transition.
U.S. population rose by less than 1% in 2014, roughly flat from previous years, the lowest growth rate in more than 70
years. There are a number of smaller cities that actually lost population and
whose median age is rising. The population loss and aging seen in much of
Europe and Japan have now arrived at our shores. Not only did the country have
fewer immigrants during 2014, but the domestic birth rate dropped to a
multi-decade low. Yet, some politicians are still talking of deporting
“illegals” and creating even more border security. Instead, we should welcome young,
healthy, working age people who want to come to the US. Letting those already
established here remain is also a win-win. (I told you so in my most recent
book.) Modest population growth, especially among younger ages, is optimal, not
only to increase the number of workers, but also demand, trade, and innovation.
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