(2003-07-01) Cuban Dissidents

Marc Cooper on (Apr'03) Fidel Castro's repression of Cubans. No one knows, because the "trials" of these unfortunate folks were also sealed and secret. And conducted on greased rails. Within a few weeks of their arrests, all six dozen had been given prison sentences of six to 28 years. Among those condemned are self-styled independent journalists and librarians. I know some of these people, and some are rather pathetic. Others are quite courageous. Hector Palacios, who got a 25-year term, was a leader of the Varela Project - a completely public campaign calling for free elections that was signed on to by thousands of Cubans... But when police arrested these dissidents they found no grenades, dynamite or guns. But rather, in a scene right out of Fahrenheit 451, the uniformed defenders of the Cuban Revolution confiscated fax machines, typewriters and computers. Here's a posting that includes a letter of protest being signed by many liberals. The only conclusion that we can draw from this brute repression is that Cuban government does not trust the Cuban people to distinguish truth from falsehood, fact from disinformation. A government of the left must have the support of the people: it must guarantee Human Rights and champion the widest possible Democracy, including the right to dissent, as well as promote social justice. By its actions, the Cuban state declares that it is not a government of the left, despite its claims of social progress in education and health care, but just one more dictatorship, concerned with maintaining its monopoly of power above all else.