Cubans and Cuban Americans hold vigil for July's martyrs at the Embassy of Cuba in Washington DC

 For truth and justice.

July 13, 2020 at the Embassy of Cuba in Washington, DC.

On July 13th at 12 noon we were in front of the Cuban embassy in a silent protest for 13 minutes for the 37 victims of the July 13, 1994 "13 de Marzo" tugboat massacre and said a prayer for these victims of communism, their loved ones, and for justice. We maintained social distance, and all participants wore masks through out the event. Activists inside the island held their own actions in remembrance of these victims.

 
Over the past 26 years Cubans have mourned the 37 men, women, and children who were extrajudicially executed by agents of the Cuban government on July 13, 1994 "13 de Marzo" tugboat was attacked and sunk.

Tragically, Chinese are mourning Chinese Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and human rights defender Liu Xiaobo who died three years ago on July 13, 2017 at the First Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, China after being unjustly imprisoned from December 8, 2008 until his untimely death. It is likely that he died of a cancer made terminal by politically motivated neglect. July 13th will mark three years since his passing. 

July 13, 2020 at the Embassy of Cuba in Washington, DC.

Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas, founding leader of the Christian Liberation Movement and a youth leader of the same movement, Harold Cepero Escalante were both extrajudicially executed eight years ago on July 22, 2012 in a crash engineered by the Cuban dictatorship's agents.

July 13, 2020 at the Embassy of Cuba in Washington, DC.

 The demand for justice remains unfulfilled in all these cases, but we must not despair.

We continue to bear witness embracing truth and memory in defiance of the attempt to whitewash and forget. Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel explained the importance of doing this in his 1986 Nobel Lecture on why it is important to remember: 

"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." ... "There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest."

There was media coverage in both Spanish and English and videos of the event. Please share them with others. 

July 13, 2020 at the Embassy of Cuba in Washington, DC.

We will continue to remember and demand truth and justice.  There names will not be forgotten.


July 13, 2017
Liu Xiaobo, Age: 61

July 22, 2012
Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas, Age: 60
Harold Cepero Escalante, Age: 32

July 13, 1994
Hellen Martínez Enriquez. Age: 5 Months
Xicdy Rodríguez Fernández. Age: 2
Angel René Abreu Ruíz. Age: 3
José Carlos Niclas Anaya. Age: 3
Giselle Borges Alvarez. Age: 4
Caridad Leyva Tacoronte. Age: 5
Juan Mario Gutiérrez García. Age: 10
Yousell Eugenio Pérez Tacoronte. Age: 11
Yasser Perodín Almanza. Age: 11
Eliécer Suárez Plasencia. Age: 12
Mayulis Méndez Tacoronte. Age: 17
Miladys Sanabria Leal. Age: 19
Joel García Suárez. Age: 20
Odalys Muñoz García. Age: 21
Yalta Mila Anaya Carrasco. Age: 22
Luliana Enríquez Carrazana. Age: 22
Jorge Gregorio Balmaseda Castillo. Age: 24
Lissett María Alvarez Guerra. Age: 24
Ernesto Alfonso Loureiro. Age: 25
María Miralis Fernández Rodríguez. Age: 27
Leonardo Notario Góngora. Age: 28
Jorge Arquímedes Levrígido Flores. Age: 28
Pilar Almanza Romero. Age: 31
Rigoberto Feu González. Age: 31
Omar Rodríguez Suárez. Age: 33
Lázaro Enrique Borges Briel. Age: 34
Julia Caridad Ruíz Blanco. Age: 35
Martha Caridad Tacoronte Vega. Age: 35
Eduardo Suárez Esquivel. Age: 38
Martha Mirella Carrasco Sanabria. Age: 45
Augusto Guillermo Guerra Martínez. Age: 45
Rosa María Alcalde Puig. Age: 47
Estrella Suárez Esquivel. Age: 48
Reynaldo Joaquín Marrero Alamo. Age: 48
Amado González Raices. Age: 50
Fidencio Ramel Prieto Hernández. Age: 51
Manuel Cayol. Age: 56 

30th Anniversary of June 4th: Never forget. Never give up

 “This is for the lost souls of June 4th.” - Liu Xiaobo, 2010 Nobel Peace Prize Lecture

Remember the Ghosts of June 4th and demand justice

What happened?
Thirty years ago today the Communist leadership of China opened fire on the Chinese people. The Pro-Democracy Movement that had taken to the streets in April of 1989 was violently crushed by the Chinese communist dictatorship beginning on the evening of June 3, 1989.


How many were killed?
By dawn on June 4, 1989 scores of demonstrators had been shot and killed or run over and crushed by tanks of the so-called People's Liberation Army. and the blood of students and workers splattered and flowed in the streets of Beijing.

The Chinese Red Cross had initially counted 2,600 dead when they were pressured to stop by Chinese officials and silenced on this matter. Following the massacre an additional 1,000 were sentenced to death and executed. Scores of Chinese who participated in the Tiananmen protests would spend years and decades in prison.

A 2017 declassified British diplomatic cable revealed that "at least 10,000 people were killed in the Chinese army's crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Beijing's Tiananmen Square in June 1989."

Imprisoned Nobel laureate's connection to Tiananmen
Liu Xiaobo, the Nobel Peace laureate, who is also a prisoner of conscience currently imprisoned for his continued non-violent activism had already served a prison sentence for his participation in the Tiananmen student protest in 1989. He was again jailed in 2008 for his human rights activism and sentenced to 11 years in prison on December 25, 2009 and died in custody on July 13, 2017.


How Henry Kissinger's downplayed the Beijing Massacre in the United States
Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger persuaded the Bush Administration in the immediate aftermath to downplay the human rights considerations surrounding the Beijing Massacre and to focus on the economic and strategic relationship.  Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) published a October 1, 1989 article revealing Kissinger's direct business ties to Communist China and his defense of the regime and justification of the massacre. FAIR reported how on August 1, 1989 this business consultant who also heads "China Ventures" [that engages China's state bank in joint ventures] wrote a column that appeared in a Washington Post/L.A. Times ("The Caricature of Deng as a Tyrant Is Unfair", 8/1/89). In it Kissinger argued against sanctions:

"China remains too important for America's national security to risk the relationship on the emotions of the moment." He asserted: "No government in the world would have tolerated having the main square of its capital occupied for eight weeks by tens of thousands of demonstrators."  

Kissinger's reputation according to Umair Khan who reviewed his 2011 book, On China, describes him as a man whose "reputation is based on his career as a diplomat turned business consultant." This business relationship was not mentioned back in 1989 by those publishing the former Secretary of State's case against sanctions on China.


 
Kissinger proved wrong by events in Eastern Europe
 Incidentally over the course of six weeks in 1989 beginning on November 17, the one-party government of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia although engaging in acts of repression did not commit a huge massacre against tens of thousands of demonstrators in the main square of its capital. The demonstrations grew to Tiananmen Square levels of 200,000 and 500,000 demonstrators in Prague.  The end result was the Velvet Revolution and 25 years of peace and prosperity. Kissinger's argument did not hold up under the light of events.

Consequences of looking the other way
 Unfortunately, the downplaying of the human rights situation in China has had consequences over the long term. Martin Luther King Jr.'s dictum "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere" has special resonance. In 2011 Muammar Gaddafi believed that he could get away with mass murder because the world looked the other way in June of 1989 in Beijing and said it plainly: 

"The unity of China was more important than those people on Tiananmen Square."

Its not the first time impunity in one bloody deed has encouraged another. Between 1915 and 1917 the Ottoman Turks murdered more than 1.5 million Armenians and like the Chinese communists in 1989 got away with it. This inspired Adolph Hitler to carry out his own holocaust stating in 1939: 

"Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?"

Holocaust survivor and writer Elie Wiesel has denounced indifference and silence before injustice stating that: "There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest."

For the next 24 hours will be sharing information over social media provided by Chinese pro-democracy activists on the events that took place 30 years ago in Beijing.

The Free Cuba Foundation since its founding recognized that being "victims of totalitarianism we share a bond with other captive peoples past and present who are our brothers and sisters in this struggle for freedom."

Please share videos of documentaries on the  Tiananmen Square protests, the crackdown and massacre, and the aftermath. For example, Tiananmen Mothers, a group of family members of those killed during the violent crackdown on the 1989 Democracy Movement produced a short documentary: "Portraits of Loss and the Quest for Justice"in which the stories of six victims are told by their family members, and two survivors provide their own testimony. It can be viewed online here.

26th Anniversary of June 4th: Never forget. Never give up

Candlelight vigil for the 26th anniversary of June 4 starts at 5:00am EST today

Remember the Ghosts of June 4th and demand justice

What happened?
Twenty six years ago today the Communist leadership of China opened fire on the Chinese people. The Pro-Democracy Movement that had taken to the streets in April of 1989 was violently crushed by the Chinese communist dictatorship beginning on the evening of June 3, 1989.


How many were killed?
By dawn on June 4, 1989 scores of demonstrators had been shot and killed or run over and crushed by tanks of the so-called People's Liberation Army. and the blood of students and workers splattered and flowed in the streets of Beijing.

The Chinese Red Cross had initially counted 2,600 dead when they were pressured to stop by Chinese officials and silenced on this matter. Following the massacre an additional 1,000 were sentenced to death and executed. Scores of Chinese who participated in the Tiananmen protests would spend years and decades in prison.

Imprisoned Nobel laureate's connection to Tiananmen
Liu Xiaobo, the Nobel Peace laureate, who is also a prisoner of conscience currently imprisoned for his continued non-violent activism had already served a prison sentence for his participation in the Tiananmen student protest in 1989. He was again jailed in 2008 for his human rights activism and sentenced to 11 years in prison on December 25, 2009.


How Henry Kissinger's downplayed the Beijing Massacre in the United States
Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger persuaded the Bush Administration in the immediate aftermath to downplay the human rights considerations surrounding the Beijing Massacre and to focus on the economic and strategic relationship.  Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) published a October 1, 1989 article revealing Kissinger's direct business ties to Communist China and his defense of the regime and justification of the massacre. FAIR reported how on August 1, 1989 this business consultant who also heads "China Ventures" [that engages China's state bank in joint ventures] wrote a column that appeared in a Washington Post/L.A. Times ("The Caricature of Deng as a Tyrant Is Unfair", 8/1/89). In it Kissinger argued against sanctions:

"China remains too important for America's national security to risk the relationship on the emotions of the moment." He asserted: "No government in the world would have tolerated having the main square of its capital occupied for eight weeks by tens of thousands of demonstrators."  

Kissinger's reputation according to Umair Khan who reviewed his 2011 book, On China, describes him as a man whose "reputation is based on his career as a diplomat turned business consultant." This business relationship was not mentioned back in 1989 by those publishing the former Secretary of State's case against sanctions on China.


Kissinger proved wrong by events in Eastern Europe
 Incidentally over the course of six weeks in 1989 beginning on November 17, the one-party government of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia although engaging in acts of repression did not commit a huge massacre against tens of thousands of demonstrators in the main square of its capital. The demonstrations grew to Tiananmen Square levels of 200,000 and 500,000 demonstrators in Prague.  The end result was the Velvet Revolution and 25 years of peace and prosperity. Kissinger's argument did not hold up under the light of events.


Consequences of looking the other way
 Unfortunately, the downplaying of the human rights situation in China has had consequences over the long term. Martin Luther King Jr.'s dictum "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere" has special resonance. In 2011 Muammar Gaddafi believed that he could get away with mass murder because the world looked the other way in June of 1989 in Beijing and said it plainly: 

"The unity of China was more important than those people on Tiananmen Square."

Its not the first time impunity in one bloody deed has encouraged another. Between 1915 and 1917 the Ottoman Turks murdered more than 1.5 million Armenians and like the Chinese communists in 1989 got away with it. This inspired Adolph Hitler to carry out his own holocaust stating in 1939: 

"Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?"

Holocaust survivor and writer Elie Wiesel has denounced indifference and silence before injustice stating that: "There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest."

For the next 24 hours will be sharing information over social media provided by Chinese pro-democracy activists on the events that took place 26 years ago in Beijing.

The Free Cuba Foundation since its founding recognized that being "victims of totalitarianism we share a bond with other captive peoples past and present who are our brothers and sisters in this struggle for freedom."

Please share videos of documentaries on the  Tiananmen Square protests, the crackdown and massacre, and the aftermath. For example, Tiananmen Mothers, a group of family members of those killed during the violent crackdown on the 1989 Democracy Movement produced a short documentary: "Portraits of Loss and the Quest for Justice"in which the stories of six victims are told by their family members, and two survivors provide their own testimony. It can be viewed online here.

A Call to Action on 25th Anniversary of Tiananmen Square and the Beijing Massacre

 “This is for the lost souls of June 4th.” - Liu Xiaobo, 2010 Nobel Peace Prize Lecture

Intellectuals, incl. Liu Xiaobo, started hunger strike in Tiananmen Sq.

 Dear Friends in Freedom,

As the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Crackdown and the Beijing Massacre on June 3-4, 1989 the Free Cuba Foundation reaffirms its solidarity with the Chinese Pro-Democracy Movement.

We call on friends of freedom everywhere to do three things over the next three days:

1. Denounce arrest of Chinese activists and human rights defenders in ongoing crackdown to silence voices on 25th anniversary and at the same time ask about the plight of remaining political prisoners imprisoned during the 1989 student protests over social media and via petitions.

2. Join in a global prayer action for China and post photos, videos, audios, and writings about what you did. Initiatives for China, an independent non-governmental organization, has proclaimed June 4, 2014 as a Global Prayer Day for China obtaining the support of Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Former Taiwanese President Lee Tenghui. A suggested prayer is available online here.

3. Share videos of documentaries on the  Tiananmen Square protests, the crackdown and massacre, and the aftermath. For example, Tiananmen Mothers, a group of family members of those killed during the violent crackdown on the 1989 Democracy Movement produced a short documentary: "Portraits of Loss and the Quest for Justice"in which the stories of six victims are told by their family members, and two survivors provide their own testimony. It can be viewed online here.

 The Free Cuba Foundation since its founding recognized that being "victims of totalitarianism we share a bond with other captive peoples past and present who are our brothers and sisters in this struggle for freedom."

On the tenth anniversary of  Tiananmen Square Crackdown and Beijing Massacre in 1999 we released the following statement:

We, FlU members of the Free Cuba Foundation, honor the victims, primarily students, who sacrificed their lives for freedom, democracy, and reform ten years ago in China.
As students we feel a connection to those thousands of Chinese students who exercised their fundamental rights to associate and speak freely. They paid the highest price for freedom with their very lives.
On June 4, 1989 the Chinese military murdered thousands of unarmed students as they violently crushed the non-violent student gathering. We will never forget this heinous crime.
We repudiate the brutal actions of the government of communist China and call on the civilized world to hold all those responsible for this atrocity, and to call for justice for the students and Chinese people slaughtered ten years ago in the streets of Tiananmen square. 

On International Human Rights Day in 2003 the Free Cuba Foundation co-hosted along with the Cuban Committee for Human Rights the visit of Chinese human rights activist Harry Wu to Florida International University. During the visit Harry Wu announced his support for the Cuban embargo , while denouncing the lack of such a policy toward China. According to Wu, the majority of the profits have been funneled directly to "dying Communist institutions," thus prolonging their lives."

On the twentieth anniversary of Tiananmen on June 3, 2009 we co-hosted along with FIU Students for a Free Tibet, and UM CAUSA: Students United for a Free Cuba, Falun Gong, and Miami Friends of Tibet a presentation of the documentary "Tank Man" holding a discussion ending in a candlelight vigil reading off a partial list of victims, signed a formal statement and a moment of silence that ended at 10:31pm. A minute after the tanks entered the square and shooting began.

If you live in the Washington, DC area then Please join the Laogai Research Foundation in remembering the victims of the June 4th, 1989 turmoil

When: Today, June 2nd through June 4, 2014 from 4-6:30pm

Where: 1734 20th St., Washington D.C., 20009

Event starts at 4pm every afternoon

Tiananmen Square Massacre Photos will be exhibited

Film screening of the PBS Frontline Documentary The Tank Man from 5pm to 6:30pm

Refreshments will be served.

Please send an email with the subject “RSVP” to museum@laogai.org to RSVP.

Today we issue this call to action, prayer and reflection on behalf of our Chinese brothers and sisters who struggled and continue to struggle for freedom in China. We remember the thousands killed on the night of June 3rd and early morning of June 4th 1989 and the estimated one thousand issued death sentences and executed in the aftermath. We also remember those imprisoned for exercising their internationally recognized human rights.

June 5, 1989: man blocks a column of tanks following June 3-4 massacre

 Below are links to sites related to Tiananmen Square and the June 1989 Beijing Massacre:

A Brief Chronology of the 1989 Democracy Movement and Crackdown in Beijing
http://www.hrichina.org/en/content/3720

Restrictions, Detentions, and Disappearances before June 4, 2014
http://www.hrichina.org/en/restrictions-detentions-and-disappearances-june-4-2014

Congressional Hearing: Survivors of Tiananmen Sq. Massacre Testify on 25th Anniversary
http://www.initiativesforchina.org/?p=1727

Criminal Detentions Ahead of Tiananmen Anniversary Highlight Broader Trends
http://laogai.org/news/criminal-detentions-ahead-tiananmen-anniversary-highlight-broader-trends

Tiananmen Initiative Project
http://www.june4commemoration.org/resources3616428304/category/tiananmen-initiative-project

In pictures: Beijing's Tiananmen Square protests
http://www.bbc.com/news/in-pictures-27410482

Stand off At Tiananmen
http://www.standoffattiananmen.com/

Virtual Museum of China '89
http://www.cnd.org/June4th/
http://museums.cnd.org/China89/

Non-Governmental Organizations
Initiatives for China                http://www.initiativesforchina.org/
Laogai Research Foundation  http://www.laogai.org/
Human Rights in China          http://www.hrichina.org/en

Documentaries

Tank Man (2006)
Website for documentary: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tankman/
Youtube Video: http://youtu.be/HNtA8RZ1FAA

Gate of Heavenly Peace (1995)
Website for documentary: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/gate/
Part 1: http://youtu.be/3raWkRVpehk
Part 2: http://youtu.be/UpaRHMW8xjM