Twenty years ago a scar that divided a people for decades finally began to heal as the Berlin Wall came tumbling down and the German people were finally reunited. Today they celebrated and the world with them. Here is why and how.
Somber documentary explains why the world is celebrating the end of the Berlin Wall
Monday, November 9, 2009
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Free Cuba Foundation Statement Regarding Paz Sin Fronteras Concert in Cuba
Free Cuba Foundation Statement Regarding Paz Sin Fronteras Cuba Concert
“True peace is not merely the absence of tension, it is the presence of justice” Martin Luther King, Jr.
Colombian singer/songwriter Juanes is organizing a concert in Cuba as part of his Paz Sin Fronteras (Peace Without Borders) concert tour. He has repeatedly said he is performing for the Cuban people, not the government, bringing a message of hope, love, and peace. Yet, he has also said that he will not speak out about Cuba’s poor human rights record, nor meet with members of Cuba’s opposition movement, in order to keep the event from becoming “political.” While the Free Cuba Foundation (FCF) recognizes that Juanes has the right to invite whomever he pleases to sing with him, having both Amaury Perez and Silvio Rodriguez sends a mixed message. Both are staunch supporters of the Cuban Communist government and signed a petition justifying the regime’s imprisonment of 75 nonviolent dissidents and the execution of three young Afro-Cubans who tried to flee to the United States back in the spring of 2003. Although no one denies their artistic talent, poet Ezra Pound and singer Paul Robeson had their reputation tainted for endorsing Hitler and Stalin respectively. Whatever the quality of their art, it is immoral for artists to support injustice.
FCF is not concerned that this concert will grant legitimacy to Cuba’s totalitarian regime, because no unelected dictatorship could ever gain it from a pop concert.
FCF calls for respect for freedom of expression everywhere, and denounces any violence that stifles that freedom. Censorship imposed through violence and intimidation is routine in places such as Cuba. However, it should never be tolerated here in Miami, where many of the victims of this regime reside. That is why we are denouncing the threats made against Juanes. We respect nonviolent protests, but the destruction of Juanes CDs, conjure up images of book burnings in communist and fascist dictatorships. These acts send a false message not only to the rest of the world, but more importantly to Cubans on the island. These acts serve to feed the Cuban government’s propaganda machinery which aims to smear the exile community with the aim of generating divisions between ordinary Cubans living here and on the island.
Our organization believes that all individuals, including Cubans, have the right to take part in the arts and in cultural events, as enshrined in Article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
If one is serious about peace then one should speak out against injustice and the absence of freedom. In Cuba, musicians who are independent or critical of the regime are censored, and there are many prisoners of conscience behind bars for exercising their human rights. These are not political issues. These are human rights issues and issues of human dignity. A concert like this could help foster freedom of expression in the arts the same way the late Pope John Paul II made gains in the area of freedom of religion, as he celebrated Mass before thousands of Cubans, and called upon them to not be afraid and to “do all that you can to build a future of ever greater dignity and freedom.”
Therefore FCF’s Message to Juanes is:
If you want to bring a message of peace, reconciliation, and impacting change to Cuba, then including artists that oppose the dictatorship is a logical necessity, and 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.
FREE CUBA FOUNDATION EXECUTIVE BOARD
Denounce Death Threats Against Juanes
http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/denounce-death-threats-against-juanes.html
Statement has been reproduced in part on the following sites:
http://www.telegrafo.com.ec/cultura/noticia/archive/cultura/2009/09/19/Exiliados-condenan-a-_1C20_Paz-sin-fronteras_1D20_.aspx
http://noticias.terra.com/articulos/act1951597/Concierto_Juanes_deberia_incluir_voces_contra_dictadura_segun_organizacion/
http://www.terra.com/ocio/articulo/html/oci702894.htm
http://los40.com.co/nota.aspx?id=881021
http://www2.esmas.com/ritmoson/noticias/098146/recomiendan-juanes-incluya-voces-oposicion-concierto
http://www.primerahora.com/diario/noticia/musica/espectaculosasi/concierto_juanes_deberia_incluir_voces_contra_dictadura,_segun_organizacion/331908
http://www.eltelegrafo.com.ec/cultura/noticia/archive/cultura/2009/09/19/Concierto-_1C20_Paz-sin-fronteras_1D20_-se-afina-.aspx
http://www.mercurioantofagasta.cl/prontus4_noticias/site/artic/20090918/pags/20090918170748.html
Grupos del exilio cubano conmemoran hundimiento del remolcador "13 de marzo"
Grupos del exilio cubano conmemoran hundimiento del remolcador "13 de marzo"
13 de julio de 2009
Miami (EE.UU.), 13 jul (EFE).- Varios grupos del exilio cubano denunciaron hoy que se mantiene la impunidad quince años después en el caso del hundimiento del remolcador "13 de marzo", en el que fallecieron 37 personas intentando dejar la isla caribeña rumbo a Estados Unidos.
La diáspora cubana calificó el hecho de "masacre" y acusó al régimen castrista de autorizar a la tripulación de algunos de sus barcos a perpetrar el hecho en el que murieron niños.
Las autoridades cubanas sostienen que se trató de un accidente.
La tragedia ocurrió el 13 de julio de 1994 cuando el remolcador, de propiedad estatal, sustraído por 68 personas que querían huir de Cuba, fue embestido y hundido por cuatro barcos del Gobierno cubano, en la bahía de La Habana, según testimonios de los sobrevivientes.
"Queremos decirle al mundo que esto fue un crimen contra personas que solo querían salir de Cuba para tener libertad. Consideramos que este delito no debe quedar impune", dijo a Efe Julio Menache, co-presidente de la Fundación Cuba Libre (FCF) de la Universidad Internacional de Florida (UFI).
La FCF conmemora el hecho con una vigilia y la proyección de un documental sobre los testimonios de las personas que perdieron a sus familiares en el hundimiento del remolcar.
En el evento estará presente Jorge García quien perdió a 14 miembros de su familia, entre ellos a su hijo Joel de 20 años de edad, y a su nieto Juan Mario, de 10 años.
La hija de García, María Victoria García Suárez, sobreviviente y madre de Juan Mario, fue la primera en denunciar "la masacre del remolcador" dos días después del suceso.
El Directorio Democrático Cubano, Madres y Mujeres Anti-Represión por CUBA (M.A.R) y Plantados, que integran la Asamblea de la Resistencia, dijeron en un comunicado que se unían "al dolor de los familiares, sobrevivientes y de todos los cubanos por las víctimas del Remolcador 13 de Marzo".
"Hasta el día de hoy este crimen del régimen de La Habana contra los indefensos pasajeros del Remolcador 13 de Marzo continúa impune", denunciaron.
Los tres grupos efectuarán una reunión en la noche de hoy para recordar a las víctimas.
En Canadá, varios cubanos planeaban construir una balsa frente al parlamento federal de Otawa en conmemoración del 15 aniversario de la "masacre" del remolcador "13 de Marzo", por los miles de balseros "muertos y desaparecidos, por el desgarramiento de la familia cubana y también por las fraternales relaciones comerciales que mantiene Canadá con el régimen de La Habana".
También se exigirá que el Gobierno y el Parlamento canadiense habiliten una sesión especial para presentar testimonios del drama cubano, informó Cuba Independiente en su sitio de Internet.
En una resolución de la Organización de Estados Americanos (OEA), emitida en 1996, se exigió al Gobierno cubano extraer del fondo del mar los restos de la embarcación para recobrar los cadáveres que podrían estar atrapados en el cuarto de máquinas de la embarcación.
También se pidió a las autoridades de La Habana conducir una pesquisa y castigar a los culpables. EFE
Free Cuba Foundation Statement Remembers Maleconazo 15 Years Later
Official Statement regarding today's events commemorating 'El Maleconazo"
On August 5, 1994, thousands of Cubans took to the streets of Old Havana to deliver a message to Fidel Castro. This message had long been bottled up inside the individual consciousness of the Cuban people for almost 40 years.
Nonviolent theorists write of a "paradox of repression" where the "use of violent repression can contribute to the instability of the regime that sponsors it." On July 13, 1994 the Cuban dictatorship carried out a massacre in which 37 men, women, and children were extrajudicially executed. But unlike on other occasions this time there were survivors, who spoke out and denounced the atrocity. This violent repression was a powerful contributing factor to the instability that led to a social explosion.
The powder-keg that was set off resulted in what we today call, ‘El Maleconazo”. Thousands of Cubans marched down the streets, demanding their "libertad" - freedom. Yet 15 years later, the Cuban people still long for freedom, as hundreds languish in Cuban prisons for merely speaking their mind and protesting a dictatorship that has continually denied the Cuban people their basic human rights.
The Free Cuba Foundation supports the brave efforts of these men, women, and children, who risked their lives to denounce years of Communist repression, as well as the non-violent activists who continue to fight for freedom. We hope that the protests of August 5, 1994 will not die in vain, and that the Cuban people can one day rightfully reclaim their "libertad".
Nonviolent theorists write of a "paradox of repression" where the "use of violent repression can contribute to the instability of the regime that sponsors it." On July 13, 1994 the Cuban dictatorship carried out a massacre in which 37 men, women, and children were extrajudicially executed. But unlike on other occasions this time there were survivors, who spoke out and denounced the atrocity. This violent repression was a powerful contributing factor to the instability that led to a social explosion.
The powder-keg that was set off resulted in what we today call, ‘El Maleconazo”. Thousands of Cubans marched down the streets, demanding their "libertad" - freedom. Yet 15 years later, the Cuban people still long for freedom, as hundreds languish in Cuban prisons for merely speaking their mind and protesting a dictatorship that has continually denied the Cuban people their basic human rights.
The Free Cuba Foundation supports the brave efforts of these men, women, and children, who risked their lives to denounce years of Communist repression, as well as the non-violent activists who continue to fight for freedom. We hope that the protests of August 5, 1994 will not die in vain, and that the Cuban people can one day rightfully reclaim their "libertad".
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
STATEMENT ON 20th ANNIVERSARY OF TIANANMEN SQUARE CRACKDOWN
STATEMENT ON 20th ANNIVERSARY OF TIANANMEN SQUARE CRACKDOWN
June 3, 2009
We honor the victims, many of them students, who sacrificed their lives for freedom, democracy, and reform twenty years ago in China.
We join with our Cuban brothers and sisters who one year ago paid tribute to the victims of the Tiananmen Square massacre at the monument to the Chinese fallen in the Cuban War of Independence in Havana on June 4, 2008.
Like our counterparts on the island as students we feel a connection to those Chinese students who exercised their fundamental rights to associate and speak freely in defense of democracy and human rights. Many paid the highest price for freedom with their very lives.
On June 3-4, 1989 the Chinese military extrajudicially executed thousands of unarmed students and workers violently crushing the non-violent student initiated mass demonstrations. We will never forget this heinous crime.
Twenty years later China remains one of the most repressive regimes on the planet. Christians, Tibetans, Falun Gong practitioners and people of other faiths are systematically persecuted. Freedom of expression and association are systematically denied and censorship is ever present.
We repudiate the brutal actions of the government of communist China and call on the civilized world to hold accountable all those responsible for this atrocity, that a full investigation with the participation of international human rights organizations be carried out, and that justice be provided for the Chinese people slaughtered twenty years ago inside and outside of Tiananmen Square and their families.
We call on the democracies of the world to stand with the Chinese people in their desire to be free and have their human rights respected recognizing that the advancement of Chinese relations with the democracies of the world depends on the advancement of human rights in China.
Finally, we call for the immediate release of all Chinese prisoners of conscience and in particular those still imprisoned for taking part in the 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstrations that remain imprisoned twenty years later such as Li Yujun, Zhu Gengsheng, Shi Xuezhi, Li Zhixin, Chang Jingqiang, Wu Chunqi, Yang Pu and Miao Deshun.
Miami, Florida June 3, 2009
1. Julio A. Menache, Free Cuba Foundation, Florida International University 2011
2. Juan Carlos Sanchez, Free Cuba Foundation, Florida International University 2011
3. Pedro Ross, Free Cuba Foundation, Florida International University 2009
4. Susana Navajas, Free Cuba Foundation, Florida International University 2010
5. Jennifer Grau, Free Cuba Foundation, Florida International University 2009
6. John Suarez, Free Cuba Foundation, Florida International University 1996
7. Neri Ann Martinez, Free Cuba Foundation, Florida International University 2005
8. Rebecca Martinez-Arguello, Free Cuba Foundation, Florida International University 2007
9. Isaac Martinez, Free Cuba Foundation, Florida International University 2006
10. CAUSA: Students United for a Free Cuba, University of Miami
11. Silvia Sarasua, Miami Friends of Tibet
12. Jian Hu, Falun Dafa Practitioners Association of Florida
13. Sherwood Liu, Falun Dafa Practitioners Association of Florida
14. Linda Li, Falun Dafa Practitioners Association of Florida
15. Nancy Xia, Falun Dafa Practitioners Association of Florida
16. Victoria Wu, Falun Dafa Practitioners Association of Florida
17. Yanling Zhang , Falun Dafa Practitioners Association of Florida
18. Edie Bassen, Falun Dafa Practitioners Association of Florida
19. Regina Finnegan, PhD, Falun Dafa Practitioners Association of Florida
20. Marcus Green, Falun Dafa Practitioners Association of Florida
21. Kay Harmon, Falun Dafa Practitioners Association of Florida
22. Diana Crouch, Falun Dafa Practitioners Association of Florida
23. Kent McKinney, Falun Dafa Practitioners Association of Florida
24. David W. Lee, Falun Dafa Practitioners Association of Florida
25. Paulene Jasurek, Falun Dafa Practitioners Association of Florida
26. Sebastian Arcos, Cuban Committee for Human Rights, Florida
International University 99, 08
27. Prof. Antonio Romero Piriz Red Uruguaya por Democracia para Cuba
28. Aramis L. Perez, Young Cubans in Action
29. Belkis Landa-Gonzalez, Ed.D, OTR/L Miami, FL
30. Tina Giamei-Valera Florida Tech University
https://www.facebook.com/groups/76054782073/posts/10150593168187074/
Thursday, June 1, 2000
The continuing relevance of the Elian case
"In Dr. Fleming's rush to expose the shortcomings of American domestic and foreign policy, he has committed the error of whitewashing the last Stalinist dictatorship in the Western hemisphere."
On Elian
JUNE 01, 2000Thomas Fleming is wrong when he writes (Cultural Revolutions, April) that, by Cuban law, Elian Gonzalez belongs to his next-of-kin, his father. According to Cuban law (specifically the Codigo de Familia Ley, No. 1289), parental authority is subordinated to "inculcating" the "internationalist spirit and socialist morality." According to Article 95, section three, of this so-called family code, government tribunals can "deprive both parents, or one of them, parental authority," when both parents fail to indoctrinate their children in communist morality. Under Cuban law, Elian has one "father" who ultimately decides what value system he will be raised in, and his name is Fidel Castro.
Secondly, Dr. Fleming is guilty of an Orwellian use of the English language. He stated that Elian's mother "died in an illegal attempt to enter the United States." One may agree or disagree with current U.S. immigration policy, but one cannot dispute that, under Lyndon Johnson's 1966 Cuban Adjustment Act, Elian's mother is given automatic residency upon reaching U.S. soil. How can her attempt to enter the United States be illegal if, upon entering, she would be granted residency a year and a day later? The Clinton administration's 1995 circumvention of the spirit of this law, without repealing it, in a migration agreement with the Castro regime is just another example of the lawlessness of the Clinton administration, not of Elian's mother. The claim that "by American law, the boy is simply an illegal alien who can either be returned to Cuba or stuck in a concentration camp" is just wrong. Under U.S. law, the child was granted humanitarian parole and was on his way to receiving residency a year and a day later before Castro's tantrum led to the INS reversing its decision.
Dr. Fleming cites the American abortion rate, declaring "it is hard to believe [Cuba] begins to approach the American level." Pax Christi sent a delegation to Cuba back in 1998 and was profoundly disturbed to report that, according to the Cuban minister of health, there is one abortion to every birth in Cuba. Pax Christi claimed that, at a "rather large nearby hospital, that we visit often, approximately thirty abortions take place daily. It is not unusual for women to be forced to have abortions. To rebel against the practice is futile."
Dr. Fleming's observation that "recent visitors to Cuba have not returned with stories of massive oppression and executions" should be placed in a larger historical context. I'd recommend that he obtain a transcript of Daniel Wolfs BBC2 documentaries. Tourists of the Revolution. It's amazing how visitors to some of the most brutal and murderous tyrannies of this century failed to mention mass murder and wholesale oppression. George Bernard Shaw visited the Soviet Union in 1931 and returned with stories of "an atmosphere of hope and security as has never before been seen in a civilized country on earth." Another visitor to the "worker's paradise" built by that wonderful humanitarian Stalin, Barbara Castle, then a journalist, reported "no atmosphere of repression" in pre-war Moscow, only glorious opportunities for women. Meanwhile, millions were being starved, massacred, and banished to gulags in Siberia.
There is a paradox at work in Cuba. The more foreign investment in joint partnerships with the regime, the greater the shrinkage in the Cuban private sector. Reuters reported in 1998 that "current and former members of the private sector blame the falloff on excessive state controls and taxes imposed after the introduction of some market-oriented features in 1993." This clampdown on the private sector coincided with the arrival of hard currency from European and Canadian investors. This hard currency has been used to sustain the Cuban police state. Dropping sanctions and providing U.S. credits and hard currency to prop up the regime will only earn the enmity of the Cuban people.
Reports of massive repression in Cuba have appeared in the Economist, in which Pedro Betancur reported on the brutal January 22 beating of human-rights activists by a government mob. Sixty-eight-year-old Gloria Gonzalez described the attack: "They hit one of my sons on the head with a stick, cutting him badly. They broke another's rib. They kicked me hard and knocked me over." Seven of the victims of the beating were arrested. According to the independent Human Rights and National Reconciliation Commission in Havana, almost 600 people have been temporarily detained since November, and the commission has documented 350 political prisoners. They call it the worst crackdown in a decade.
Dr. Oscar Elias Bisect, a medical doctor, was fired from his job after protesting late-term abortions at a government hospital where he worked and continued to enrage the dictatorship by carrying protest signs charging the regime with being "child murderers." Dr. Biscet was sentenced to a three-year prison term for his activism. This culture of death was manifested on July 13, 1994, when agents of the regime massacred 41 men, women, and children whose sole crime was trying to flee the island. Whole families were murdered. Agents of the Castro regime destroyed the parental rights of the fathers and mothers along with their lives, and the lives of their children, without mercy. In Dr. Fleming's rush to expose the shortcomings of American domestic and foreign policy, he has committed the error of whitewashing the last Stalinist dictatorship in the Western hemisphere.
- John J. Suarez
Coordinator Free Cuba Foundation
Miami, FL
Coordinator Free Cuba Foundation
Miami, FL
Tuesday, April 25, 2000
Elian Strike Closes Little Havana ( FCF organized 30 block march on Miami Beach)
Elian Strike Closes Little Havana
By Martha Irvine
Associated Press Writer
Tuesday, April 25, 2000; 9:34 p.m. EDT
 A group of demonstrators dressed in black marched through Miami Beach to express their pain. |
The protest over the Elian Gonzalez case brought honking cars and Cuban flags to the same streets where fires and violence broke out Saturday after armed federal agents grabbed the 6-year-old Cuban boy in a pre-dawn raid.
Except for a few coffee stands, the neighborhood's vibrant business community shut down on a hot, sunny day, while hundreds of protesters gathered on street corners or drove their cars in long, honking caravans through the streets.
"We are in mourning," said Angelo Gutierrez, 70. "I will buy nothing today."
The rest of the Miami metropolitan area went on with its day. Scattered businesses closed their doors and the morning traffic in the city was lighter than usual. The airport and Port of Miami suffered no difficulties, officials said.
Only two airport porters didn't show for work Tuesday, said supervisor Ileana Casasola. "I'm Cuban," she said. "I'd love to go support my people, but the problem is the airport is a busy place."
Many tourists didn't know of the strike. "They're causing more problems than they're solving," said Cleveland tourist Jackie Miller, breakfasting on South Beach. "Frankly, I'm a little tired of hearing about it."
Police said protests stayed peaceful, though two people were arrested for disorderly conduct. "We're hoping that ... this indeed is a day of reflection and contemplation and mourning as the Cuban exiles have called for," said Lt. Bill Schwartz.
Big businesses like American Airlines, which has 9,000 Miami-based employees, reported no staff shortages. At The Miami Herald, no reporters took the day off, though several support staff took vacation days at the paper and its Spanish-language daily, El Nuevo Herald, said Robin Reiter, vice president of human resources.
Larger corporations closed some operations – seven Publix supermarkets shut their doors, and a McDonald's in Little Havana closed, leaving its flag at half-staff.
Sony canceled its "Evening of Showcases," which featured singer Gloria Estefan, who supported Elian's Miami relatives, and other Latin music stars. The event was part of the festivities surrounding the Billboard Latin Music Conference and Awards that kicked off Tuesday in Miami.
Baseball players and coaches around the major leagues skipped games Tuesday night in protest. Tampa Bay's Jose Canseco was the most prominent player to sit out, joining six Florida Marlins, two San Francisco Giants and New York Mets shortstop Rey Ordonez. Several coaches joined them.
Florida third baseman Mike Lowell, pitchers Alex Fernandez and Vladimir Nunez – all of Cuban descent – decided to sit out. Dominican teammates Antonio Alfonseca, Jesus Sanchez and Danny Bautista joined them in a show of support.
Scattered effects of the strike could be felt throughout the county. The predominantly Hispanic city of Sweetwater kept going on a skeleton staff of mostly department heads, said Mayor Jose "Pepe" Diaz.
"We have to keep the city open for the public, but I do believe in the cause and I do stand with them," Diaz said.
In Hialeah, a city with a big Cuban population, the shopping district bustled.
However, one impromptu street protest protest several miles southwest of Little Havana grew to 300 by midday. A caravan of cars numbered at least 100. Spanish-language radio announced the names of businesses that closed and those that stayed open.
By early evening, about 130 protesters gathered outside the Freedom Tower, a former Customs building in downtown Miami where many Cubans entered the United States in the 1960s. They waved flags and signs and chanted "Libertad" as basketball fans streamed into the American Airlines Arena for a Miami Heat playoff game.
Across Biscayne Bay in Miami Beach, tourists lined up with cameras as about a thousand people – many of them wearing black clothing and electrical tape over their mouths – quietly walked 30 blocks from the trendy South Beach area to the city's Holocaust museum and back.
"We want international tourists to see what we are feeling," said John Suarez, a Florida International University student who helped organize the procession.
School officials said they had no information on attendance by students of teachers. But bank teller Dora Irizarry, whose bank shut down, took her two boys out of school, and they said many other students did the same.
She brought them to the home of Elian's Miami relatives for the first time. The Cuban-American community held months of protests outside the house in hopes of keeping the boy here.
"This is horrible, horrible. I don't have words," she said. "It's important for them to see this. It's important for them to know what freedom is about."
Down the street at the closed Zagami's Market, a Cuban flag hung over the store sign. Below hung a handwritten sign that read: "Clinton a traitor. Shame on you."
–––
On the Net: Miami-Dade County: http://www.co.miami-dade.fl.us
Free Cuba Foundation: http://www.fiu.edu/~fcf/
© Copyright 2000 The Associated Press
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