CUBA: Twenty five minutes of silence for twenty five years of impunity

Justice for the victims of the "13 de Marzo" tugboat massacre.

Human rights and civil society organizations are calling for a silent demonstration in remembrance of the victims of the "13 de Marzo"Tugboat, who were murdered by the Castro regime on July 13, 1994.

Human rights activists, members of international civil society and Cuban exiles will gather in front of the Embassy of Cuba located at 2630 16th St NW, Washington, DC 20009 to hold a 25 minute vigil  of silence for the 25 years that the crime has remained unpunished.

WHAT: Vigil to remember "13 de Marzo" Tugboat victims killed 25 years ago by the Castro regime.

WHEN: July 10, 2019 at 8 PM

WHO:   Human rights organizations and international civil society.

WHERE: Embassy of Cuba
                 2630 16th St NW, Washington, DC 20009

The facts:

On July 13, 1994, a group of 72 Cubans, including children and women, tried to escape from the Island of Cuba aboard an old tugboat. State Security Forces, and four Cuban State boats of the Havana regime intercepted the boat 7 miles off the coast of Cuba, with water jets from pressure hoses pulled people off the deck, tore the children from the arms of their mothers and sank the tugboat. 37 people were murdered, 11 of them children.

Despite the fact that the UN Commission on Human Rights, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and other international organizations issued reports documenting the crime, despite the fact that the survivors and relatives of the victims requested an independent investigation of the facts, and that the bodies of the deceased be recovered from the sea, nothing happened. Those who gave the order of the sinking and those who carried it out still remain without being held accountable. The crime remains unpunished.

July 13, 1994 "13 de Marzo" Tugboat Massacre Victims

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 

Miami Unites for Liberty in Venezuela at the Torch of Freedom

"There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest." - Elie Wiesel, Nobel Lecture 1986

This Saturday, August 5, 2017 at 11:00am at the Torch of Friendship located on 401 Biscayne Boulevard members of the Miami community will join together in support of freedom in Venezuela. The event is being organized through a Facebook campaign by Nicholas David, Jaime Figueras, Jessica Fernandez, and Armando Ibarra.

 Regime snipers shot young demonstrators in the head while regime agents raided the homes of opposition politicians in the dead of night to take them away to parts unknown. Maduro regime snipers were spotted this past Sunday, August 30th on roof tops shooting peaceful protesters in the head. At 4:29pm Blanco tweeted: "Adrián Rodríguez (13) was assassinated in Capacho, Táchira. Army sniper shot him in the head from the roof of a school."  At 8:18pm he tweeted: "Ender Peña died (18), shot by bullet during protest in Táchira. Transferred to a polyclinic, he didn't survive the operation." A few minutes later at 8:36pm Blanco tweeted: "Conflict escalation is very obvious. Weeks ago military fired tear gas into the chest, now firing with rifles to the head." 

Venezuela is on the brink of turning into a totalitarian communist regime. It has been a dictatorship since at least October 20, 2016 when the decision of Venezuelan voters to hold a recall referendum was illegally blocked by Nicolas Maduro. However the vote this past Sunday (manipulated to inflate the number of participants by the dictatorship) was to do away with the National Assembly and opposition parties. If implemented this would turn Venezuela into another Cuba. 

Two weeks earlier on July 16, 2017 over seven million Venezuelans voted in a non-binding plebiscite rejecting the Constituent Assembly of the Maduro regime. A general strike was successfully carried out and despite regime violence and a prohibition to protest Venezuelans still took to the streets in anti-Maduro demonstrations.

The response of the Maduro regime and their Cuban advisors has been to escalate the violence and target nonviolent protesters. Consider the plight of Wuilly Moisés Arteaga, a young man playing the national anthem with his violin at a protest, was told to shut up and was shot in the face last Saturday. From his hospital bed he said that he would return to protest in the streets, and he did. He was arrested on Thursday, July 29th beaten up and tortured for protesting against the Maduro regime to the degree that he has lost hearing in his right ear and remains jailed. This is reminiscent of Cuba not a democracy. 

For Cubans, August 5th is a special date when 23 years ago across Havana mass protests occurred calling for freedom and an end to the Castro regime. The response was a brutal crackdown and a mass exodus, but the desire to be free remains. 


 
Now is the time to stand up and protest for freedom in Venezuela and to demonstrate our solidarity with Venezuelans. The folks organizing the protest at the Torch of Freedom put it succinctly:

Dictator Nicholas Maduro stripped Venezuelan citizens of their freedoms, jailed and murdered innocent people, impoverished his whole nation, exiled hundreds of thousands, and extinguished democracy and rule of law. This is an atrocity.

We are ONE community of Venezuelan and Cuban exiles, Latinos, and Americans united in the fight for freedom and against socialism. We share the historical tragedy of losing a nation to despotism.

Please join us and thousands of friends united in solidarity with the Venezuelan people. We will be joined by elected officials, civic leaders, and opposition figures to show the world that we stand for freedom.

Saturday, August 5th, 2017
11am - 2pm
Bayfront Park - The Torch of Friendship
301 Biscayne Blvd., Miami, FL 33132 

For more information visit the Facebook event page.

In solidarity with Caracas and free Venezuelans

Our prayers & thoughts are with Venezuelans in their desire to be free. All eyes on Venezuela! #WithCaracas

Nuestras oraciones y pensamientos están con los venezolanos en su deseo de ser libres. Muy atento con Venezuela! #ConCaracas #RevocatorioYA

Anti-regime protests in Caracas on September 1, 2016

 This Saturday at 3pm show your solidarity with free Venezuelans here at the Freedom Tower in Miami, FL

 Remember why they protest.

A time for choosing for a free Cuba

Don't mourn, organize!

Time to mobilize and make ourselves heard

In ten days the President of the United States will be hosted by dictator Raul Castro when he visits Cuba. This will serve as "a capstone" for President Obama's Cuba policy that since 2009 has extended a hand of friendship to the Castro regime while simultaneously withdrawing it from the Cuban democratic opposition.

We have two options mourn this betrayal of American values or identify other young Cubans who agree with us and mobilize with public protests to demonstrate our displeasure while at the same time highlighting the plight of Cubans on the island and the need to support human rights and the democratic opposition there.

Free Cuba Foundation has taken the lead in protesting the Obama administration's policy and Hillary Clinton's vow to lift the embargo and continue down the same path.

Therefore, as a member organization in the Assembly of the Cuban Resistance coalition, we call on people of good will to join us on Sunday March 20, 2016 at 11:00am to show our solidarity with Cubans struggling for freedom in Cuba. 

What: March in Support of Cuban Civil Society

When: March 20, 2016 at 11:00am
Where: Intersection of SW 13th Avenue and SW 8th Street
Gathering at the Brigade 2506 Monument and walking to the Casa del Preso Político cubano

Activist shouts down Raul Castro's motorcade as it arrived at the Cuban Mission in NYC

"There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest." - Elie Wiesel, Nobel Lecture 1986

Rolando Pulido (Left) Augusto Monge (Center) Rosa Maria Payá (Right)

The reasons to protest the Castro regime are numerous and well documented. On September 28, 2015 Cuban exiles from around the country gathered in New York City in front of the United Nations and  in front of the Cuban Mission to the United Nations to protest against Raul Castro and his dictatorship. 

Towards the end of the day, when most of the protesters had left, FCF founder Augusto Monge on his way back from lunch happened upon Raul Castro and his motorcade returning to the Cuban Mission. In the video below, you can hear Augusto Monge denouncing Raul Castro, the dictatorship's delegation and calling for the freedom of jailed artist and prisoner of conscience Danilo Maldonado known as "El Sexto."
 

Stand up and be counted: Protest failed Cuba policy

Stand up for human rights and a free Cuba.

 Free Cubans Will Protest Failed Obama-Kerry Cuba Policy

The Free Cuba Foundation will protest the Obama administration’s failed Cuba policy on Friday, August 14, 2015 at 6:00pm on the sidewalk in front of La Carreta Restaurant located on 8650 Bird Rd and invites the South Florida community to join us.

We will be conducting a burma shave style protest using a series of signs to get out our message. Protest will end with a silent prayer vigil for victims of Castroism and for a free Cuba.

The Free Cuba Foundation is a student movement founded at Florida International University in 1993 that since 2009 has been a member of the Assembly of the Resistance, a coalition of more than 50 organizations inside and outside of Cuba.

When: August 14, 2015 at 6:00pm
Where: Sidewalk in from of La Carreta Restaurant (8650 SW 40th Street Miami, FL)
Why: To protest failed Obama-Kerry Cuba policy