FCF Archives - Brothers in Thought: Oscar Elías Biscet and Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas

Twelve years ago at Florida International University, the coordinator of the Free Cuba Foundation, Neri Martinez published an essay reflecting on the nonviolent activism of two Cubans. At the time Dr. Oscar Elías Biscet was in prison serving a 25 year prison sentence and Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas was free, although most of the leaders in his movement were in prison, alongside Oscar Elías. The Notes from the Cuban Exile Quarter blog yesterday published an account of Biscet's activism making reference to the Free Cuba Foundation. Looking back at this essay in 2004 one is haunted by Neri's warning that Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas could still be imprisoned or suffer an "accident." On July 22, 2012 he was murdered along with MCL youth leader Harold Cepero in an "accident" engineered by Castro's clandestine intelligence service.

Oscar Elías Biscet and Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas nonviolence practitioners

Brothers in Thought: Oscar Elías Biscet and Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas

By Neri Martinez

Oscar Elías Biscet and Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas are two examples of great activists arising from a national civic movement that seeks a democratic Cuba where human rights are respected. They both share a common framework of values grounded in Christianity, strategic non-violent struggle, and the power of speaking truth to power. Oscar is currently serving a 25-year prison sentence in a dank and dark underground cell far from his home and family. Oswaldo has had his home assaulted and death threats painted onto the walls and door of his home. The regime at various points underestimated these men and the power of non-violent resistance. A partial history of their actions speak for themselves.

Migdalia Rosado and Dr. Oscar Elías Biscet (1999)

Dr. Oscar Elías Biscet

• In 1999 Dr. Oscar Elías Biscet led dozens of members of the opposition on a 40-day prayer fast -- one day for each of Castro's 40 years in power at the time opening and ending each day with a prayer and the reading of a psalm. This 40-day prayer fast was duplicated throughout Cuba and led to the participation of thousands of Cubans throughout all of Cuba.
• Dr. Biscet organized teach ins on non-violent resistance, civil disobedience, and the writings and thoughts of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. Creating new activists, educating them in the philosophy and practices of nonviolent resistance, and leading them by example in challenging the regime.
• Biscet was arrested Nov. 3, 1999, after holding a news conference to announce the activities for human rights day, displaying three upside down flags, an international sign of distress, just as 20 foreign leaders gathered in Havana for the Ibero-American summit. Fidel Castro had denounced Biscet as a ''little crazy man'' but instead of ignoring him Castro had Biscet arrested to prevent him from leading a demonstration Biscet had organized for December 10 to mark the anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and protest the death penalty in Cuba. Despite his arrest the only scheduled street protests known to have taken place in Havana on December 10, 1999 had been organized by Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet.
• Upon his release from a maximum security prison in Holguín province on October 31, 2002 he organized a press conference to denounce prison conditions demanding that the International Red Cross be allowed access to Cuba's prisons (something that the United States has given to Al Qaeda prisoners in Guantanamo but Castro still denies all Cuban prisoners.)
• On December 6, 2002 Oscar Elias Biscet was re-detained with 16 other dissidents after they attempted to meet at a home in Havana to discuss human rights. When police prevented them from entering the home, Oscar Elias Biscet and the others sat down in the street in protest chanting "long live human rights" and "freedom for political prisoners." The group was arrested, though most of them were released shortly afterwards, but Biscet remained in custody.
• Despite the fact that he was already in detention during the crackdown, Oscar Elías Biscet was tried together with a number of dissidents who were arrested in March 2003. He was sentenced under article 91 of the Penal Code to 25 years in prison.

Oswaldo Payá, Regis Iglesias, Tony Díaz Sánchez (2002)

 Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas

•  In 1988 Oswaldo founds the Christian Liberation Movement ("MCL") In 1990 State Security detained, interrogated and threatened Payá with prison if he continues his civil defiance.
• Payá calls for a national dialogue and collects signatures to make this call for dialogue legal under Cuban law. On June 11, 1991 a mob, organized by the dictatorship, attacks his home ending the signature gathering process. The front of his home is vandalized with messages such as: "Payá, CIA Agent", "worm", "long live Fidel", and "down with Payá." He had to move his family to his in-laws.
• In 1995, Payá is one of five organizers of the Cuban Council (Concilio Cubano). State Security detains him and orders him to discourage the meeting. Concilio had requested permission (as is
  required by law) to be able to meet. The regime's response was a massive nationwide crackdown and the shoot down of two Brothers to the Rescue planes in international airspace.
•  In 1999, along with other opposition leaders, Oswaldo drafts the manifesto titled All Together ("Todos Unidos").   In March of 2001, "Todos Unidos" summons dozens of opposition groups to collect the 10,000 signatures necessary to make the Varela Project a Bill of Law.
• In May of 2002 representatives of  "Todos Unidos," headed by Oswaldo Payá, deliver 11,020 signatures of voters to the office of the National Assembly of Popular Power making the Varela Project a bill of law under the Cuban Constitution.
• In December of 2002 Payá wins the European Union's Sakharov Award, and the day before he is granted an exit visa by Castro to receive his award his house is trashed and death threats are left on the door of his home by State Security. He travels the world addressing the European Parliament, meeting with Vaclav Havel, Pope John Paul II, Vicente Fox, and others before returning to Cuba in early 2003.
• On March 18, 2003 the regime engages in a massive nationwide crackdown leading to long term prison sentences ranging from eight years to 28 years in prison totaling over 1,400 years when added up together for 75 activists. Over 40 of the 75 are activists who have worked on Project Varela.
• In October of 2003 Payá and members of Todos Unidos deliver more than 14,000 new signatures supporting the Varela Project.

Comparing and contrasting nonviolent tactics
The history of Biscet's actions is one of training new activists and protesting not just in private homes but also on the streets of Havana. In addition he has succeeded in organizing activities that have had a nationwide network of activists supporting and duplicating his projects. The network he formed with the forty day fast started at Tamarindo 34 made possible other initiatives such as the Varela Project. Payá on the other hand has used aspects of Cuba's socialist legality to expose the lawlessness of a regime that does not even respect its own rules. He could still be imprisoned or suffer an "accident" but it will expose the regime's hypocrisy, and its failure to follow its own laws.

Both Payá and Biscet have been influenced by Gandhi and more so by the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.  Payá in his address to the European Parliament upon receiving the Sakharov Award declared, "The first victory we can claim is that our hearts are free of hatred. Hence we say to those who persecute us and who try to dominate us: ‘You are my brother. I do not hate you, but you are not going to dominate me by fear. I do not wish to impose my truth, nor do I wish you to impose yours on me. We are going to seek the truth together'."

Oscar Elias Biscet in a letter smuggled from inside a Cuban prison on June 1, 2003 writes: "I feel kidnapped only for defending the right to life and the right of all Cubans to live in freedom. Remember I will never betray a just cause: that of defending human rights. ... What inspires me is alive: God and the great teachers of nonviolence, present today more than ever. As Martin Luther King said: "If a nation is capable of finding amongst its ranks of people 5% willing to go voluntarily to prison for a cause they consider just, then no obstacle will stand in their way." Their actions and words demonstrate that Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream is deeply shared by not just Americans but by Cubans as well.

The Free Cuba Foundation celebrate the courage and example set by both Oscar Elias Biscet and Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas because we share their principles:  speaking the truth in order to empower defenders of human rights in challenging an unjust system using non-violent means. We invite you on January 28, 2004 to join us in remembering the values of the great teachers and activists of non-violence: Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. and how they are being pursued today in Cuba.

Neri Ann Martinez,
Coordinator
Free Cuba Foundation
January 28, 2004

Did you know that your tourist dollars in Cuba help to directly finance the Cuban military?

What travel agencies don't mention about Cuban tourism

 Tourism funds Cuban military 

A large chunk of the Cuban economy is run by the company Gaviota that deals with tourism and is controlled by the MINFAR (the military)  and Castro’s Ministry of the Interior (MININT) that runs a hotel chain, an airline, taxi company, marinas, shops, restaurants and museums and is under the control of another general. The tourist group Cubanacán was founded at the beginning of the 1980s and is also under military control. This means that tourist dollars go directly to strengthening the Castro regime's repressive apparatus.

The first American ship to cruise from the United States to Cuba in over half a century is partnering with Havanatur that is heavily penetrated by Cuban spies from the Ministry of Intelligence (MININT).Christopher P. Baker in his travel guide Havana explains the nature of the staff that tourists will be encountering.

"The Cuban government looks with suspicion  on U.S. travelers entering on religious or humanitarian licenses, and U.S. "people to people" programs are handled exclusively by Celimar, a division of Havanatur that is said to report to MININT and is heavily laden with ex-MININT staffers."

Secondly, since Cuba is a totalitarian communist dictatorship that is the tenth most censored country on Earth according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, information of interest to traveler is often unavailable or misrepresented.

Can purposeful travel outweigh supporting Castro's repressive apparatus?

If you are going to travel to Cuba and put hard currency into dying communist institutions that prolongs the life of the dictatorship then you have to ask yourself what would serve as a counterbalance to that? What does purposeful travel to Cuba look like? One could argue that it looks like this: members of the Miami-based non-governmental organization, the Cuban Democratic Directorate, traveled to Cuba in 2002 and took humanitarian assistance to Cuban dissidents and signed the Varela Project in the living room of Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas.

Courageous human rights activists from Europe and Latin America have risked all to assist Cuban human rights defenders. Is this something that you'd be willing to do? Would you be ready to assume the consequences?

Orwellian Press Coverage on Carnival Cruise to Cuba

Memory hole - A system of pipes, similar to pneumatic tubes, which were used to destroy documents. A document stuffed in the memory hole would be conveniently whisked away to the furnaces below - quickly & easily wiped from history. - The Newspeak Dictionary

When one asks why the news media is dying perhaps because all too often it is no longer news but propaganda that assists the powerful in advancing their agenda rather than informing U.S. citizens.

Multiple news outlets were reporting that "the first cruise from America to Cuba in more 50 years"  was underway but the fact of the matter is that on May 16, 1977 a cruise from America to Cuba that departed from New Orleans with Raul Castro's sister Juanita leading hundreds of protesters in a march through the port who blasted the trip at the time arguing that economic boycott by the United States should be maintained.Why is there no mention of this historic first in the press coverage underway?

Or the fact that Cuban-Americans on that voyage, who had left Cuba prior to the Castro regime, were discriminated against and not allowed to disembark with the other passengers when they arrived in Cuba. So far, Patrick Oppman of CNN has made the correction in a tweet.

Correction! There was at least one US-Cuba cruise in 1977 and then, as now, Cubans faced restrictions. pic.twitter.com/eq4IR0QoaZ

— Patrick Oppmann CNN (@CNN_Oppmann) May 1, 2016

 CBS national got the story right today with details that explain why perhaps this chapter many who advocate normalized relations would rather forget:

After Carter dropped limits on Cuba travel, 400 passengers, including musical legend Dizzy Gillespie sailed from New Orleans to Cuba on a 1977 "Jazz Cruise" aboard the MS Daphne. [...] The following year, however, Daphne made a several cruises from New Orleans to Cuba and other destinations in the Caribbean. Cuba cut back on all cruise tourism in 2005, ending a joint venture with Italian terminal management company Silares Terminales del Caribe and Fidel Castro blasted cruise ships during a 4 ½ hour speech on state television. "Floating hotels come, floating restaurants, floating theaters, floating diversions visit countries to leave their trash, their empty cans and papers for a few miserable cents," Castro said.

Cruises to Cuba were shut down after the Cuban dictator in 2005 made a long speech and decided he didn't like them (probably because Chavez made it financially unnecessary at the time). Times are tough now and the cruises are viewed positively by the dictatorship for now.

The big difference today is that Cuban exiles united on the issue of discrimination against Cubans who had wanted to book a trip on the Carnival cruise and using nonviolent resistance managed to change both Carnival's and the Castro regime's position. Unlike 1977 passengers who are of Cuban origin will be able to disembark along with the rest. The circumstances that led to this outcome need to be further studied.

However the  CBS local affiliate continues to report the erroneous story that this is something new and historic. Why? Is it just sloppy reporting or something more sinister? Either way it is not good for journalism or U.S. democracy.

Cuba Tourism: Seeing the Real Cuba or the Potemkin Village?

How to become a totalitarian regime's agent of influence

American tourists pass by the Ministry of the Interior in Cuba

Traveling to Cuba under the Castro regime should be a subject for serious reflection and not to be taken lightly for a number of reasons that are not immediately evident. First and foremost the tourism industry in Cuba is run by the military and intelligence services.

These reflections would also be useful for visits to other totalitarian regimes because they use many of the same tactics. Visitors are often kept in areas geared to tourists providing them a Potemkin village experience. However that does not mean that information on health and security will be accurate and it can still place tourists at risk.

In the case of both Cuba and North Korea, businessmen who have engaged the regime in business ventures are rotting in prison. There is no independent judiciary and all is subject to the objectives of the dictatorship. One can become a pawn of the regime to advance the dictatorship's agenda as was the case with Alan Gross who spent five years in a Cuban prison and as is now the case of University of Virginia student Otto Frederick Warmbier sentenced to 15 years hard labor in March of 2016 in North Korea for supposedly removing a political banner from a hotel. 

How tourism can unwittingly turn one into an agent of influence
Two important questions that arise are how useful are trips to places like Cuba in ascertaining the reality on the ground? What has happened in the past when tourists visiting a totalitarian regime take the lead in public diplomacy?
 
Visitors to totalitarian states become targets of both the state security service and the propaganda ministries. These regimes will pull out all the stops to show themselves in the best light possible and make sure that high profile visitors have a great time but within a reality fabricated by them. It has paid back with big dividends in the past with a partial list including: Lincoln Joseph Steffens, Charles Lindbergh, Jane Fonda, Linda Ronstadt, and Dennis Rodman that wittingly or unwittingly became agents of influence after visiting totalitarians.

Singer Linda Ronstadt visited Cuba and got the Potemkin Village tour

 Linda Ronstadt presents a textbook example of this phenomenon in a August 18, 2014 AZCentral interview where she gives talking points on the Cuban Adjustment Act and reveals that she had traveled to Cuba to further legitimize her claims:

"We allow Cubans to come in and say that they're refugees. Well, in Cuba — I've been there, you know — people are fed, people are housed, people are clothed. There isn't violence in the streets. 

Ronstadt had spoken more extensively about her impressions of Cuba in a 2003 interview in City Pulse:

It’s an amazing country. I’ve been all over Latin America. And it’s the only Latin American country I’ve been in that didn’t have armed troops on the street, there weren’t homeless people everywhere, and kids had school uniforms and had schoolbooks paid for and had their health paid for. There’s things going on in Cuba that we don’t know about, and that’s mainly because of the Miami Cubans, they just absolutely won’t – they are absolutely closed-minded. They hate Fidel Castro, they won’t even hear about some of the good things he’s done, and they don’t want anyone else to know about it, either. It’s a total propaganda device and they’ve blanketed this country with propaganda about Cuba, huge amounts of which are untrue.

The reality that Cubans know on and off the island is far different, but also there are respected international human rights bodies and organizations that would dispute everything in the above statement. Sadly, the Cuban government successfully manipulated this talented and legendary singer who had The Eagles as a backup band into an agent of influence for their regime.

This is has been going on for a long time and the techniques of hospitality are so refined that one need not be an ideological fellow traveler to be converted.  These totalitarian tactics are ideologically neutral and the language used by those taken in by it remarkably similar.

Charles Lindbergh in Nazi Germany with Hermann Göring

Charles Lindbergh, visited Germany five times between 1936 and 1939. Lindbergh was taken on tours of airfields and factories, lavishly entertained by Air Marshal Hermann Göring, and awarded one of the Third Reich’s highest civilian honors. Lindbergh wrote to the banker Harry Davison, “With all the things we criticize, he [Hitler] is undoubtedly a great man, and I believe has done much for the German people.  Following the 1936 Olympics in Berlin that further legitimized the Nazis, Lindbergh's wife offered the following perspective on Hitler to her mother in a August 5, 1936 letter:     

"Hitler, I am beginning to feel, is a very great man, like an inspired religious leader -- and as such rather fanatical -- but not scheming, not selfish, not greedy for power, but a mystic, a visionary who really wants the best for his country and, on the whole, has a rather broad view."

When Germans failed to achieve the Thousand Year Reich Hitler had wanted the German dictator issued the Nero Decree on March 19, 1945 ordering the infrastructure of the country to be destroyed effectively sentencing the German people to death by destroying water supplies and shelter. Not only did Nazi Germany order the extermination of the Jewish people at the Wannsee Conference on January 20, 1942 but three years later Hitler wanted to do away with the German people when they did not achieve his goals.

Did the Lindbergh's travel provide them with an advantage over Winston Churchill, for example who did not visit Nazi Germany, on the real nature of the German government? Remember that the Lindbergh's were not Nazis but had been manipulated during their five visits to Germany but had as did many others the "advantage" of saying that they had special knowledge because of those visits. Churchill's counsel in the 1930s to take a hard line against Nazi Germany went unheeded and the consequences were catastrophic. In 1945 in a speech to the Belgian Senate and Chamber, Winston Churchill described how one day Franklin Roosevelt asked him what should we call this war? To which the British Prime Minister responded the Unnecessary War because it easily could have been prevented.

Totalitarians whether Nazi or Communist have a track record of effectively using tourism, athletic events, and academic exchanges to present their regimes in a way that historically legitimized them and covered up their hostile objectives often with disastrous results not only for their own countries but the international community as a whole. An excellent accounting of these practices and their impacts on national and international politics is found in Paul Hollander's book Political Pilgrims that should be required reading for anyone traveling to Cuba, China, North Korea, Venezuela, or Vietnam.

http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2016/04/why-travel-to-cuba-is-no-carnival-ride.html

Why travel to Cuba is no carnival ride: Discrimination against Cubans continues

Why we protest

Cubans and the children of Cubans born abroad discriminated against even if they are U.S. citizens
 
The Castro regime does not recognize the U.S. citizenship of  Cuban-borns and their children born in the United States charging them hundreds of dollars more than their U.S. born counterparts to enter Cuba. Worse yet the United States government accepts the differential treatment of their citizens because of their national origin providing a warning on their US Embassy in Cuba website.

The Government of Cuba does not recognize the U.S. nationality of U.S. citizens who are Cuban-born or are the children of Cuban parents.  These individuals will be treated solely as Cuban citizens and may be subject to a range of restrictions and obligations, including military service.  

This is why on Sunday, the Democracy Movement will sail on May 1, 2016 to protest that Cubans should have the right “to freely enter and leave the national territory without there being a discriminatory visa process.” 

Democracy Movement plan out itinerary and purpose of today's demonstration

 Below was taken from the Democracy Movement Facebook page and translated to English

DEMOCRACY MOVEMENT 
ITINERARY AND PURPOSE OF MAY 1ST FLOTILLAMARITIME ACTIVITY WITH DEMOCRACY BOAT THIS SUNDAY MAY 1st DURING ADONIA  CRUISE TO CUBA DEPARTURE

 OBJECTIVESWE WANT AN OPENING BUT WITH RIGHTS FOR CUBANS ALSO
 1. To welcome the progress made in relation to the recognition of the right of Cubans to enter and leave their own country by sea and that Cubans on the Island be able to work on cruise ships and merchant ships as a big step in the right direction. 
2. To welcome the fact that Carnival rectified its initial policy of not selling tickets to the Cubans and prepared to not travel to the island until the government changed its discriminatory policy of its own citizens. 
3. We recognize and encourage the efforts made by Carnival to persuade the government of Cuba to change the policy that prevented Cubans to leave or enter the country by sea. This dynamic should be emulated by other companies as well.
4. Continue campaign demanding that the Cuban government to leave without effect the discriminatory policy of demanding that Cuban citizens have to ask for a visa to enter their own country by sea or air as if they were foreigners.
5. Demanding an end to the SOCIAL INJUSTICE that those workers who are employed by foreign companies have to collect their salaries, not from the companies, but from the government, which pays workers a fraction of their salary and pockets most of that salary. This is a stark and unacceptable EXPLOITATION OF MAN BY THE STATE in the times in which we live. 
6. We call on dock workers and other port workers in Florida to join in showing their solidarity with the claim of the Campaign Against Cuban Worker Exploitation by the State at the departure or arrival of those ships to these ports.

ITINERARY 

12:00 PM - Boat Insignia Democracy docked briefly in Marti Park to pick up passengers. The Marti Park is located at 4th Street and 4th Avenue SW.

1:00 PM -  Democracy Boat will arrive in front of the boat ramp of Watson Island, to wait for those vessels that may join us. The ramp is located next to the East side of Parrot Park. Watson Island is located in the northern part of the McArthur Causeway.

3:00 PM - The Boat Insignia Democracy and other boats depart for the "Democracy Point Miami" designated by the Coast Guard for our exercise of freedom of expression in the Bay of Biscayne. Here we will await the Adonia cruise's departure. This point of maritime protest  is located between the Coast Guard station at the entrance of Miami Beach and the Government Cut channel that is out to sea from the Bay of Miami. 

4:30 PM - Adonia cruise sets sail for Cuba and the Democracy Movement demonstrate in the area indicated expressing peacefully and orderly our objectives for the exercise of Freedom of Expression 

BASIC RULES

Although we do not expect many ships since the "Campaign Against Apartheid which discriminates against Cubans By virtue of Their Nationality" achieved its great step forward, we stopped actively mobilizing for this Flotilla which would have been only to protest if nothing had changed in the Cuba and Carnival policy in reciprocity for the change achieved TOGETHER. However, the struggle continues. It begs to all the following: 

1. Strictly follow all safety rules for ships to prevent accidents
 2. Obey the instructions of the Coast Guard and other authorities that from time to time can interact with the Flotilla to maintain the safety of participants and other vessels and fulfill their obligations to protect the cruise according to the law. 
3. Keep away from cruise ship at all times as provided by law and instructions of the Coast Guard and Marine Patrol. Recall that the authorities have to enforce the laws that arose due to the terrorist attacks and are not arbitrary. 
4. Signs that are displayed should be secured and not interfere with the proper functioning of the vessel in all their capacities.
5. The Flotilla will maintain communication by Marine Radio on Channel 68. Please only use the frequency for important or urgent situations. Do not trivially communicate on channel 16 with flotilla topics. This is the emergency channel. 
6. All vessels that can participate should be kept behind the boat with Democracy Insignia  when the Democracy Flotilla is moving and always on the Democracy band farthest from the cruise ship.
7. Please do not suddenly accelerate the boats to prevent accidents and to avoid alarming the authorities that are kindly cooperating so that we can exercise our right to free expression safely.
 
CLARIFICATION: WE ENTREAT THAT MESSAGES BE RESPECTFUL AND IN GOOD TASTE AND IN LINE WITH THE OBJECTIVES DESCRIBED FOR THE FLOTILLA. The Flotilla will be operating under a permit that we have solicited the Coast Guard for this purpose. This allows us to exclude the same provocateurs or persons attempting to divert the purpose of the activity with purposes to give a bad image or deviate it from the Objectives. 

Please contribute to achieving some progress in the fight for the rights of Cubans by helping us to maintain order, good performance, security and the good message of the Flotilla.

For more information tourism to Cuba visit here. 

 

Remembering Harry Wu's visit to Florida International University in 2002

In memoriam: Harry Wu (1937 - 2016)

Chinese Human Rights Defender Harry Wu

On December 10th, 2002 we co-hosted with the Cuban Committee for Human Rights led by Dr. Ricardo Bofill the visit of Chinese dissident, Harry Wu of the Laogai Research Foundation and Daisy Tong of the Vietnamese American Federation.

During the time we spent with him during his visit to South Florida what we saw was a man of great humility who spoke in concrete and first hand terms about the human rights in China but at the same time had a wonderful sense of humor.
Harry was widely known as the time to be one the most prominent political prisoners of Communist China, who had been imprisoned for 19 years, having also made headlines with his courageous act of filming the conditions of Chinese prisons after his release, earning him another 15 year prison sentence in the gulags, but thanks to international pressure was deported to the United States.

He was also the founder of the Laogai Museum in Washington DC, the first museum of its kind, highlighting the history of Chinese human rights atrocities. This was the first time that Harry Wu came to Miami, to address members of the Cuban exile community and it was not without controversy.

Unbeknownst to us, the university was in the midst of talks with the Chinese government on the construction of a new hospitality suite in mainland China. The FIU bureaucracy did everything it could to shutdown the event, but through the enormous effort of FCF members and members of the Cuban Committee for Human Rights the event went on as planned. Needless to say, this was not one of Havana's or Beijing’s happiest days in Miami.

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, he said. Harry then signed a petition for the indictment of Fidel and Raul Castro for their roles in the February 24, 1996 Brothers to the Rescue shoot down.

Harry Wu was considered a troublemaker to those who only cared about doing business with communist China and were indifferent to the human rights of the Chinese people. On International Human Rights Day 2002 at Florida International University he also became viewed as a troublemaker to those who only care about doing business with communist Cuba and are not interested in the human rights or freedom of the Cuban people.

We mourn the passing of Harry Wu and offer prayers for him and his family along with our continued solidarity with the Chinese people and their struggle for freedom and human rights. We will also carry on being troublemakers for human rights and freedom.

Requiescat in pace Harry Wu