Pedro Ross FCF Chairman 2006-2008 looks back over his tenure

Pedro Ross center with two other FCF members in 2006

It's only been a few short years ago when I was the chairman of the Free Cuba Foundation (FCF), but it was one of the high points of my time at Florida International University (FIU), and my life as well. I essentially moved away from that position so I could focus on Grad school and also to allow some younger people to take up responsibility within the group. At this point, I'm working in Palm Beach county with my company and the real estate investments that I have made.

I originally became a casual audience member of the group. I would show up at various events, and I met various activists of the diaspora community that were deeply involved in spreading awareness. Some of the other people I met were former members of FCF that were still involved in its activities.


The next statement that I'm about to make is one you might be expecting me to make. When I met these former members, and various current members, I was impressed by their compassion and their conviction they had for FCF and the plight of Cuban humanity and Cuban dignity. Very frequently, among a whole range of various writings, you see the same format repeated again and again. But, sometimes what else can you do except finding yourself describing certain experiences in a similar voice that other people have used. So let me say this, when I met the various people that were involved with FCF and the various others that were involved in the extended networks, all of this created a lasting strong impression on me due to the compassion and the conviction of these people.

Event in remembrance of "13 de Marzo" tugboat victims

 This compassion was one of the major forces that drove me forward when I became an active member and later the Chairman. There were times when my patience was tested, I know that it is not the nicest thing to state. But, we are all adults, and I think that is something we can be comfortable in saying. Many times, I had to aggressively think in ways on how I could balance out being a college student and being an officer in FCF. There was often a conflict in responsibilities. Many times these responsibilities occurred when academic deadlines were constantly at hand. But, that is okay, I can say these things with a smile and these experiences are all part of who I am today.

It is important for me to say that the essential goal of the Free Cuba Foundation is to spread awareness of the human crisis in Cuba. Part of the goal is not just to remind the Cuban community of Miami, it is remind the larger world community of what is going on. Sometimes, I felt that the orientation of FCF should change. If you take a larger perspective on the issue then one can see that the crisis of humanity in Cuba is a symptom of the larger problem. The larger problem is that society is not working. The Castristas have been trying to force a governmental and economic model to work that can't work and has no chance of succeeding. The dictatorship is what the Castristas have used to maintain this agenda and the Cuban people are the victims of all of this. However, if you try to deal with the issue by dealing more with the governmental and economic system then you become more of a think tank and less of a humanitarian awareness group.

June 4, 2009 vigil for Chinese Democracy Activists

 Humanity is the key of the Free Cuba Foundation, its goal is to identify the human element. The goal dictates the methods. The methods of the FCF are to the point. Lots of surface level preconditions that you see with other groups are washed away and the cause is what is packaged and delivered when you deal with FCF. The objective of FCF's operating model is to state the problem, present the problem, reflect on the problem, and what we want is for you to come away from the event with a clear notion of the issue we are putting in front of you. That kind of style of bluntly getting to the point is what partially attracted me to all of this.

So many of FCF methods reminded me of the methods that garage rock bands had in the late 1980s to the mid 90s. Crude simple xerox copy flyers, made by hook or by crook, with blunt imaginary, and to the point messages posted at every random spot that people could put things. Almost any random venue that could be found or fandangled was used to make an event. The important thing was for us to get in there and let the message carry the whole event. It was real activist kind of stuff, working by the seat of paints in terms of your budget and by what FIU allowed you to use. Actually, one of my many hopes I had was to hopefully attract some more young people that knew how to create different methods. Hopefully, these new young people had a inside tract into the minds, and into the ways that other young people perceived or understood the world that way we could have presented ourselves in way that could identify with this younger crowd. Maybe, we did get that accomplished at some levels.

However, we did what we could do. Working with the Free Cuba Foundation was a great experience, it opened new knowledge and experiences to me. My times with the group created the opportunities that led to many interesting arguments and conversations with people and contributed to a lot of the character I have today.

Cuba Libre my friends!!!!!! We will succeed!!!!!!

Pedro Ross
FCF Chairman 2006 - 2008
August 11, 2013

Xavier Utset FCF Chairman 1997-1998 looks back over his tenure

Xavier Utset meeting with Russian human rights defender in Moscow

 As I look back to my Free Cuba Foundation (FCF) years (almost twenty years ago!) I think those were some of the most exciting times I have lived. Some of the memories from those days are indelible and I will keep forever.

As we celebrate the 20th anniversary of FCF the first thing we must do is pay homage and recognize the person who has made it possible: John Suarez. John has been the heart and soul of the organization and a true inspiration through the years. FCF would have long disappeared without John’s unremitting efforts and optimism. He has been a mentor, a friend, and a courageous partner in our efforts to see a better future for Cuba.

It was actually through John that I first learned of FCF. His passion recruiting members on campus was inspiring and I decided that I wanted to be part of it.

My most vivid memory of the FCF experience is the Armando Alonso campaign. Armando was a prisoner of conscience, a member of Ricardo Bofill’s Cuban Committee for Human Rights who had been imprisoned for "enemy propaganda." We decided to conduct a campaign for his liberation that lasted over a year. I happened to go on a semester abroad to Russia that year, so we expanded the campaign to include the support of democratic figures there. We also conducted campaigning in Italy that winter and made great efforts through the media as well as e-mail and the Internet, which were budding resources at the time. Armando was freed months later during Pope John Paul’s visit to Cuba in early 1998. I recall our first meeting with Armando in Miami, after his release. It was a priceless moment of humble but deep satisfaction.

October 3, 1997 with Ricardo Bofill of the Cuban Committee for Human Rights

That same year I finished my degree in international relations and entered the professional realm. I blame FCF for the exciting professional experiences I encountered since then. After FIU I spent the best part of the following fifteen years working in Cuba democracy programs with organizations in Miami and in Washington, DC. I have been blessed by being able to work on what I care deeply about. I have had the opportunity to meet, in Cuba, extraordinary individuals such as Oswaldo Paya, Laura Pollan, and Dagoberto Valdes, and so many other courageous activists who are such inspirational figures for all of us.

But the work for the likes of FCF is, unfortunately, far from over. It is sometimes heartbreaking to realize that after all our collective efforts, after so many years, Cuba has yet to accomplish its destiny as a free country. However we cannot afford to fall into despair; we cannot forget and disengage, passively, as if the future of Cuba was not our concern. It remains so, more than ever. As long as there are courageous Cubans on the island willing to risk their lives for a future of freedom and democracy, we must endure. And FCF will be there to contribute its part.

Xavier Utset

FCF Chairman 1997-1998

August 2, 2013

Cognitive dissonance and UNESCO

If you are content with the old world, try to preserve it, it is very sick and cannot hold out much longer. But if you cannot bear to live in everlasting dissonance between your beliefs and your life, thinking one thing and doing another, get out of the medieval whited sepulchers, and face your fears. I know very well it is not easy.  - Leo Tolstoy

Kendra Cherry describes cognitive dissonance as something that "can occur in many areas of life, but it is particularly evident in situations where an individual's behavior conflicts with beliefs that are integral to his or her self-identity."

The same holds true for international organizations such as the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) that was created in 1945, according to its online introduction, "in order to respond to the firm belief of nations, forged by two world wars in less than a generation, that political and economic agreements are not enough to build a lasting peace. Peace must be established on the basis of humanity’s moral and intellectual solidarity." 

This is the fundamental belief and mission statement of UNESCO that is contradicted by its celebration and preservation of the works of a man who advocated war without limits that led to a generation plunged into dirty wars and bloodshed.

The man whose life and works UNESCO is now safeguarding and no doubt seeking to impart to others is the man who advocated killing without mercy.

"Hatred as an element of the struggle; a relentless hatred of the enemy, impelling us over and beyond the natural limitations that man is heir to and transforming him into an effective, violent, selective and cold killing machine. Our soldiers must be thus; a people without hatred cannot vanquish a brutal enemy." - Ernesto "Che" Guevara Havana, Message to the Tricontinental April 16, 1967.

 This is the Ernesto "Che" Guevara who stood in the podium of the United Nations on December 11, 1964 and bragged of the firing squads were underway in Cuba: 

We must say here something that is a well-known truth and that we have always asserted before the whole world: executions? Yes, we have executed people; we are executing people and shall continue to execute people as long as it is necessary.

 Che Guevara was an admirer of Mao Zedong and his formulation of guerilla warfare is adapted from the Chinese leader. Che published influential manuals Guerrilla Warfare (1961) and Guerrilla Warfare: A Method (1963), which were based on his own experiences and partly chairman Mao Zedong's writings. Guevara stated that revolution in Latin America must come through insurgent forces developed in rural areas with peasant support. His international legacy of glorifying violence through an erroneous analysis of guerilla warfare, based on his experiences with the Batista army, which was too incompetent and corrupt to fight, and applying Zedong’s writings on the subject led to bloodbaths in Argentina, Chile, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Chiapas, Congo, Angola and decades of military dictatorship and political violence. 

Meanwhile, a man of peace, Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas who died on July 22, 2012 under suspicious circumstances that point to Cuban government involvement whose writings are ignored by UNESCO. Until the present date the request by the Payá family to the United Nations Human Rights Council to investigate the killings of Oswaldo and Harold Cepero have not been responded to. Perhaps, the inaction is another example of cognitive dissonance at the United Nations.

UNESCO claims to want to defend peace and sustainable development and offers as part of its mission concrete parameters to build and enable networks of solidarity between and among nations by:

• Mobilizing for education: so that every child, boy or girl, has access to quality education as a fundamental human right and as a prerequisite for human development.
• Building intercultural understanding: through protection of heritage and support for cultural diversity. UNESCO created the idea of World Heritage to protect sites of outstanding universal value.
• Pursuing scientific cooperation: such as early warning systems for tsunamis or trans-boundary water management agreements, to strengthen ties between nations and societies.
• Protecting freedom of expression: an essential condition for democracy, development and human dignity.

 Ernesto "Che" Guevara and his allies that took power in Cuba did away with freedom of expression and created a totalitarian dictatorship that has prevented the return of democracy to Cuba for over 54 years. Even today Amnesty International describes the climate of fear that exists in Cuba imposed by restrictions on freedom of expression.

Instead of the shameful celebration of Guevara perhaps UNESCO should look to preserving and protecting the works and legacy of  Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas who on December 17, 2002 said the following at the European Parliament and lived it until his dying day:

 “ 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.”

This would be an act in accordance with the mission and values that UNESCO claims to uphold and would starkly contrast with the shameful action of June 18, 2013 that is in contradiction to the very values this organization claims to uphold.

Juan Carlos Sanchez Jr., FCF Co-Chair 2009-2010 looks back over his tenure

 

20th Tiananmen Square anniversary panel on June 4, 2009 at University of Miami

 August 24th of this year marks the 20th anniversary of the founding of Free Cuba Foundation (FCF). Serving as President co-chair along with Julio Menache (2009-2010) proved to be a rewarding experience full of activities, networking, and productive meetings in order to advance a democratic transition in Cuba. Among the highlights of our tenure include a vigil for the Tiananmen Square anniversary, Tugboat massacre discussion forum, and we had as a guest speaker Félix Ismael Rodríguez, the CIA agent responsible for capturing Ernesto "Che" Guevara". Other remarkable events include the participation in the multi-organizational "Asamblea de la Resistencia" conference to collaborate among distinguished organizations like the Cuban Democratic Directorate and MAR Por Cuba. Perhaps the most influential activity was the privilege to meet and interview Hubert Matos, the Cuban revolutionary commander imprisoned for over 20 years for dissenting with Fidel Castro and his "Revolutionary" ideas.   

Serving FCF helped me to appreciate the liberties we enjoy in the United States. The adventure allowed me to grow as an individual and become a productive member of society. In continuing this trend, this upcoming Fall semester I will start my graduate studies as a Doctor in Clinical Psychology (Psy. D) at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology. Despite my relocation to the "Windy City", I will never forget the important work that the men and women inside and out of the island do every day to one day achieve a free and democratic Cuba. Most notably, the lives of dissidents like Orlando Zapata Tamayo, Laura Pollan, Oswaldo Paya, and Harold Cepero will forever serve as a reminder of the costly price of freedom.

Juan Carlos Sanchez Jr.

President Co-chair (2009-2010)

Oswaldo Payá and Harold Cepero: One year later

One Year Without Answers, Without Oswaldo, Without Harold...

“Already many Cubans have discovered and soon all of them will discover that this oppression, that this imposed lie, can be overcome recognizing ourselves as brothers to conquer our rights peacefully. So there is hope.”
~ Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas,  Somos Liberación Havana, Cuba, July  2012.

"Christians and non-Christians who have the courage and the freedom to consider the peaceful political option for their lives, know they are exposing themselves to slightly less than absolute solitude, to work exclusion, to persecution, to prison or death. "
- Harold Cepero, Havana 2012



We remember Oswaldo and Harold and their sacrifices for a Free Cuba.

On Friday night we sat with and listened to Ofelia, Rosa Maria, and Tony talk about their friends and loved ones and their legacy.

Over twitter today we are remembering them and tonight at 8:00pm we will be praying for them at a Mass at La Ermita de la Caridad.


 
As a student movement that started in August of 1993 we embraced and raised awareness about Oswaldo's projects early on and over the years and translated some of his earlier statements. For example in 1997 when bombs went off in Havana we translated a document the Christian Liberation Movement had prepared which in part stated:

No one can justify terrorist violence and attacks on defenseless human beings with any kind of reasoning, and much less by pretending to defend freedom and justice. Anyone who hides cynically to make attempts against human life violates the dignity of the human being and conspires against freedom and justice.
 The end does not justify the means. Lies and terror lead to death and fear. Truth and love produce freedom and life.
FREEDOM AND LIFE, a phrase first pronounced by the Christian Liberation Movement in its Proclamation Document, continues to be the essence of the path and the goal that we are determined to follow.

The document was signed by four courageous men, the leading signer was Oswaldo Paya Sardiñas followed by Antonio Ramón Díaz Sánchez, Ramón Antunez Gonzalez and Miguel Saludes García

One would also remember that the current dictatorship in Cuba engaged in acts of terror in the name of freedom in the struggle against Batista and the world later saw how that ended with a dictatorship that did not last seven years replaced by one that has gone on for more than 50. 

We translated other documents from Spanish to English and from a distance followed his remarkable life as an activist. Including his efforts to get on the ballot to run for public office that placed the dictatorship on the defensive and awards that he won.

We saw his efforts to unite the opposition in an All United coalition that then went about collecting signatures for the Varela Project.

Neri Martinez, president of the Free Cuba Foundation, when Oswaldo Payá visited Miami in 2003 was able to see and meet him.

Years later five members of the Free Cuba Foundation backed Oswaldo's call for a National Dialogue in 2009:

Jenny Grau, F.C.F., EUA 
Susana Navajas, F.C.F., EUA 
Yosvani Oliva, F.C.F., EUA
Pedro M. Ross, F.C.F., EUA
John Suárez, F.C.F., EUA

Without knowing it when Juanes decided to hold a peace without borders concert in Cuba our views coincided with Oswaldo's that the Columbian singer had the right to go to Cuba and to sing. Furthermore that it was not fair to question human rights defenders about Juanes's concert. Oswaldo pointed out that the press should question Juanes about the integrity of not speaking up about human rights defenders and peace activists imprisoned in Cuba while holding a peace without borders concert.



We did precisely the same thing in a statement that we released prior to the 2009 concert. We defended the musicians right to play in Cuba but then said: 

...speaking up for human rights and the immediate release of all prisoners of conscienceis essential. Only then will this concert truly live up to its name of “Peace Without Borders”, otherwise it risks being remembered as the “Censored Within Boundaries” concert. This is the concern raised by many Cuban artists both on the island and in exile, who insist the concert live up to its name. 

 We mourn the loss of a great friend of Cuba and offer our condolences to his family and friends and join them in prayers for Oswaldo and Harold. Today we pray and remember and tomorrow we continue in the struggle for a Free Cuba.


 

Oswaldo Payá and Harold Cepero: Celebrating their Memory

 

Accompany us in the Commemoration of the First Anniversary of the Death of 

Oswaldo Payá and Harold Cepero

Friday, 19 of July 2013

Time: 8:00 PM

La Sagrada Famlia Salon at the Inmaculada Church 

4497 West 1st Avenue, Hialeah, Florida 33012 Members of the Christian Liberation Movement invite the community to a Colloquium about the legacy of Oswaldo Payá  

Monday, July 22, 2013

Time: 8:00 PM

Ermita de la Caridad.

3609 South Miami Ave Miami, Fl. 33133 

 The Payá  family and the Christian Liberation Movement invite you to accompany us in the celebration for a Eucharistic Celebration in the memory of Oswaldo Payá and Harold Cepero that will be presided by the Rector of  Our Lady of Charity Father Juan Rumin Dominguez

 

 

One time were remaining silent speaks volumes

Remembering the Victims of the July 13, 1994 "13 de Marzo" Tugboat Massacre at FIU today

One time when remaining silent speaks volumes. 19 minutes of silence, one minute for each year that has passed without justice for the victims of the July 13, 1994  "13 de Marzo" tugboat massacre.

In the days leading up to today's protest the Free Cuba Foundation disseminated information through the social media and called for hashtags to be used to remind others of what happened on that terrible day: #RememberJuly13 a #Justiceforthe37  #13deMarzotugboat #Remolcador13deMarzo

Free Cuba Foundation members and friends of the organization gathered in silence to recall a crime and to continue the demand for justice today, July 13, 2013, at 12 noon at Florida International University(FIU) as we have done over the past nineteen years.



For nineteen minutes we listened in silence to rushing water from the Main Fountain at FIU and thought back to July 13, 1994 when 37 men, women, and children were extrajudicially executed by Cuban government agents.

The sounds of the rushing water from the main fountain led participants to imagine what the Cubans blasted by water cannons went through while that heinous crime was being committed.

Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas described it as " one of the most heinous crimes in the history of our city and of Cuba." The city of Havana was founded in 1519. 


 Unless the individuals responsible for this crime are brought to justice over the next 12 months then, if physically possible, we will be back here once again at 12 noon next year and holding a silent 20 minute protest for justice.

Justice maybe delayed but it will not be denied.

Justice for the victims of the "13 de Marzo" Tugboat Massacre