Why we protest

"To forget the victims means to kill them a second time. So I couldn't prevent the first death. I surely must be capable of saving them from a second death." -  Elie Wiesel

 The Obama Administration's embrace of the Castro regime is nothing new nor are the negative consequences. The Clinton Administration in the 1990s opened cash and carry trade with the dictatorship and joint military exercises with the Cuban military that coincided with a new Cuban exodus, heightened repression, massacres, the murder of U.S. citizens while engaged in search and rescue of Cuban rafters over international airspace.

Ten years ago on July 12, 2006 the Free Cuba Foundation held a panel discussion hosted by Neri Martinez with Jose Basulto of Brothers to the Rescue and Ramon Saul Sanchez of the Democracy Movement reviewing two acts of state terrorism perpetrated by the Castro regime in the 1990s.

This is why on December 29, 2014 we declared our rejection of the Obama Administration's new Cuba policy understanding that it was a retread of the failed policies of the past beginning with the Carter Administration and continuing during the Clinton Administration.

Over the past 20 years we have nonviolently and silently protested the crimes of the Castro regime and refuse to be complicit therefore we now protest a U.S. policy that we view at best as counterproductive.

This is also why on July 31, 2015 we protested against Hillary Clinton at Florida International University because she has reaffirmed this failed Cuba policy and promises to continue it under her administration should she be elected president.

This is also why on July 13, 2016 at 12 noon we will gather in silent protest at the main fountain at Florida International University and demand justice for the victims of the "13 de Marzo" tugboat massacre that claimed 37 lives on July 13, 1994 and for new victims of the regime Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas and Harold Cepero Escalante killed on July 22, 2012.

Latin America 2014: Students Targeted in Mexico and Venezuela

Why are they murdering the youth of Latin America?

Mexican officials say that 43 students were murdered.

Martin Luther King Jr. once observed that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere and the situation today in Latin America underscores that statement and elevates it into a theorem. Twenty years ago the world ignored the massacre of 37 Cubans by government officials for the "crime" of fleeing the country in search of a better life. The majority of the victims were young people and the world for the most part remained silent.

37 murdered by Cuban government agents in 1994 of which 22 were under 30

Now in 2014 first in Venezuela in February and now in Mexico in September students have been targeted by government officials in coordination with their civilian thugs and murdered.

Youth murdered in Venezuela since February 2014 allegedly by government agents

 This leads to an obvious question. What can be done to stop this disturbing trend across Latin America?

There are at least three things that can and must be done to take action: 1) Demonstrate solidarity with the victims. 2) Denounce the crimes and call on the government authorities to hold the killers accountable and 3) Let others know what happened and what they can do. 

Join Amnesty International's campaign for the 43

Right now the situation in Mexico demands concrete attention and actions in the hopes that a resolution can quickly be reached such as:

• Over social media there are numerous opportunities to demonstrate one's solidarity using hash tags such as: #AyotzinapaSomosTodos #JusticeforAyotzinapa #AccionGlobalporAyotzinapa #WeAreAllAyotzinapa #JusticeForAyotzinapa and #GlobalActionForAyotzinapa. 
• In Miami on November 20, 2014 at the Mexican Consulate in downtown ( 1399 SW 1st Avenue Miami, FL 33130) join with Mexican activists in a nonviolent protest denouncing the crime while demanding justice and the return of the 43 missing students to their loved ones. Other protests are planned in Santa Ana, California; Dallas, Texas and elsewhere.
• Signing an online letter from Amnesty International calling on the Mexican government to bring all responsible to justice, acknowledge that this is not an isolated case, and for the government to uphold 2012 commitment to eradicate torture and ill treatment of all detainees.
• Writing opeds, letters to the editor, spreading the word over social media on the internet in order that others may take concrete action on behalf of these 43 students.

The human rights situation around the world has been deteriorating for the past decade and remaining passive before this reality is leading to an unacceptable body count and needs to be confronted. Time to take a stand now.

We stand in solidarity with people of Mexico demanding answers about the 43 "disappeared" students.