“If we must give our own lives in pursuit of the freedom of our Cuba that it be what God wants.” (September 24, 2011)
Ten years ago today, Cuban opposition leader and human rights defender
Laura Pollán died under circumstances that Cuban dissident and medical
doctor Oscar Elias Biscet described as "death by purposeful medical neglect."
Laura Inés Pollán Toledo, a courageous woman spoke truth to power and
protested in the streets of Cuba demanding an amnesty for Cuban
political prisoners. She had been a school teacher,
before her husband was jailed for his independent journalism in 2003
along with more than 75 other civil society members. Laura was greatly admired both inside and outside of the island.
Today, the current leader of the Ladies in White, Berta Soler, paid homage to her predecessor over FaceBook while calling out and holding responsible the Castro regime for Laura's death.
Tenth anniversary of the physical loss of Laura Pollan Toledo.The Fidel Castro regime murdered Laura Pollan, they thought to silence her, but they did not succeed, she remains high in our esteem and is among us present at every step of the Ladies in White, following her legacy.
Example of a woman, loving, brave, intelligent, audacious, teacher, warrior, for that and much more we say:LAURA POLLAN LIVESLaura is in our heartsLadies in White we pay tribute and homage to: Laura Pollan Toledo.
Let us remember that Laura put into action over eight years in Cuba nonviolent resistance to tyranny.
"They tried to silence 75 voices, but now there are more than 75 voices shouting to the world the injustices the government has committed." (2004)
"We fight for the freedom of our husbands, the union of our families. We love our men." (2005)
"They can either kill us, put us in jail or release them. We will never stop marching no matter what happens." (2010)
"We are going to continue. We are fighting for freedom and human rights.” (September 24, 2011)
"As long as this government is around there will be prisoners because while they've let some go, they've put others in jail. It is a never-ending story." (2011)
“If we must give our own lives in pursuit of the freedom of our Cuba that it be what God wants.” (September 24, 2011)
"We are not going to stop. If you have imprisoned our sisters thinking that we would give up, they are mistaken. We are very united (...) all the women's movements are very close." (October 2, 2011)
"My life has changed a lot, now I have learned to love the country much more, the prisoners, the humanity. That's how I have so much work, that I don't have much time to think about myself, what really satisfies me, in short, I owe myself to other more important tasks. Now I understand much more, before I could not understand these things, you have to live and feel them to be able to dedicate soul heart and life to this beautiful cause." (2011)
Reconciliation necessitates both truth and justice.
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 Coast Guard 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.
Fact 1: In the early morning hours of July
13, 1994, four boats belonging to the Cuban State and equipped with
water hoses attacked an old tugboat that was fleeing Cuba with 72
people on board.The
incident occurred seven miles off the Cuban coast, opposite the port
of Havana.The complaint
also indicates that the Cuban State boats attacked the runaway tug
with their prows with the intention of sinking it, while at the same
time spraying everyone on the deck of the boat, including women and
children, with pressurized water.The pleas of the women and children to stop the attack were
in vain, and the old boat--named "13 de Marzo"--sank,
with a toll of 41 deaths, including ten minors.Thirty-one people survived the events of July 13, 1994.
Fact 2: According
to eyewitnesses who survived the disaster, no sooner had the tug
"13 de Marzo" set off from the Cuban port than two
boats from the same state enterprise began pursuing it.About 45 minutes into the trip, when the tug was seven miles
away from the Cuban coast--in a place known as "La Poceta"--two
other boats belonging to said enterprise appeared, equipped with tanks
and water hoses, proceeded to attack the old tug."Polargo 2," one of the boats belonging to the Cuban
state enterprise, blocked the old tug "13 de Marzo" in the
front, while the other, "Polargo 5," attacked from behind,
splitting the stern.The
two other government boats positioned themselves on either side and
sprayed everyone on deck with pressurized water, using their hoses. Source: IACHR REPORT Nº 47/96 CASE 11.436 VICTIMS OF THE TUGBOAT "13 DE MARZO" vs. CUBA October 16, 1996 http://www.cidh.org/annualrep/96eng/Cuba11436.htm
Fact 3:The
pleas of the women and children on the deck of the tug "13 de
Marzo" did nothing to stop the attack.The boat sank, with a toll of 41 dead.Many people perished because the jets of water directed at
everyone on deck forced them to seek refuge in the engine room.The survivors also affirmed that the crews of the four Cuban
government boats were dressed in civilian clothes and that they did
not help them when they were sinking.
Fact 4:
In the days immediately following the tragedy, the authorities
attempted to prevent any protest or public demonstration of
grief. A mass for the victims had to be cancelled and people
wearing black armbands as a sign of mourning were also
reportedly detained briefly. Relatives of the victims were also
reportedly prevented from throwing flowers into the sea on the
grounds that that is only usually done for “martyrs of the Revolution”.
On 23 July 1994 Aida Rosa Jiménezof the Movimiento de Madres
Cubanas Por la Solidaridad, Movement of Cuban Mothers for
Solidarity, which had called on Cuba women to wear black or purple
ribbons for three days as a sign of mourning, was arrested at her home
and taken to State Security headquarters at Villa Marista. She was
reportedly told by officials that it was because of her efforts to
encourage people to attend a mass in commemoration of the victims of the
tugboat sinking.
Source:
Amnesty International "Human Rights Defenders and Activists Cuba: The
sinking of the "13 de Marzo" Tugboat on 13 July 1994" 30 June 1997,
Index number: AMR 25/013/1997 https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/amr25/013/1997/en/
Fact 5:
In 1996, in his report to the 52nd Session of the UN
Commission on Human Rights7, the Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial,
Summary or Arbitrary Executions stated that he had transmitted
allegations concerning the case to the Cuban Government in June 1995
and expressed deep concern that he had not received a reply.
He urged that the allegations be properly investigated, the
perpetrators brought to justice and the victims’ families
compensated. The UN Special Rapporteur on Cuba, in his interim report
to the UN General Assembly dated 7 October 1996, also expressed serious
concern “about the fact that an event of this magnitude, in which 37
people died, has not been investigated”.
Source: Amnesty International "Human Rights
Defenders and Activists Cuba: The sinking of the "13 de Marzo" Tugboat
on 13 July 1994" 30 June 1997, Index number: AMR 25/013/1997 https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/amr25/013/1997/en/ Fact 6:
Despite consistent testimonies that four Transportation Ministry boats
fired water cannons onto the decks of the tugboat and later rammed and
sank it, President Castro denied a government role in the sinking.131
Although President Castro asserted that Cuba had fully investigated the
incident, the commission noted that Cuba never recovered the bodies lost
in the tugboat, nor the boat itself, and concluded that "there was no
judicial investigation and the political organs directed by the Cuban
Chief of State rushed to absolve of all responsibility the officials who
went to meet the 13 de Marzo tugboat."132 Source: Human Rights Watch,Cuba's Repressive Machineryhttps://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/cuba/Cuba996-11.htm (1999) Fact 7:
The victims who died in the incident of July 13, 1994 are: Leonardo
Notario Góngora (27), Marta Tacoronte Vega (36), Caridad Leyva Tacoronte
(36), Yausel Eugenio Pérez Tacoronte (11), Mayulis Méndez Tacoronte
(17), Odalys Muñoz García (21), Pilar Almanza Romero (30), Yaser Perodín
Almanza (11), Manuel Sánchez Callol (58), Juliana Enriquez Carrasana
(23), Helen Martínez Enríquez (6 months), Reynaldo Marrero (45), Joel
García Suárez (24), Juan Mario Gutiérrez García (10), Ernesto Alfonso
Joureiro (25), Amado Gonzáles Raices (50), Lázaro Borges Priel (34),
Liset Alvarez Guerra (24), Yisel Borges Alvarez (4), Guillermo Cruz
Martínez (46), Fidelio Ramel Prieto-Hernández (51), Rosa María Alcalde
Preig (47), Yaltamira Anaya Carrasco (22), José Carlos Nicole Anaya (3),
María Carrasco Anaya (44), Julia Caridad Ruiz Blanco (35), Angel René
Abreu Ruiz (3), Jorge Arquímides Lebrijio Flores (28), Eduardo Suárez
Esquivel (39), Elicer Suárez Plascencia, Omar Rodríguez Suárez (33),
Miralis Fernández Rodríguez (28), Cindy Rodríguez Fernández (2), José
Gregorio Balmaceda Castillo (24), Rigoberto Feut Gonzáles (31), Midalis
Sanabria Cabrera (19).
Fact 8:
Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas, who was murdered on July 22, 2012 by state
security agents, addressed the significance of this crime. "Behind the
Christ of Havana, about seven miles from the coast, "volunteers" of the
Communist regime committed one of the most heinous crimes in the history
of our city and of Cuba." ... "Let the silenced bells toll. But let
them toll for all the victims of terror that in reality is only one sole
victim: the Cuban people that without distinctions, suffers the loss of
each one of their children." Source: Human Rights Watch,Cuba's Repressive Machineryhttps://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/cuba/Cuba996-11.htm (1999)
Fact 9:One year after the massacre on July 13, 1995, Cuban exiles gathered
together and set out in a flotilla that peacefully invaded Cuban
national territory to travel to the spot where the "13 de Marzo" tugboat
sank and where the human remains of the 37 victims still reside never returned to their families to this day
to hold religious services for them. Ramón Saúl Sánchez organized and
led the flotilla aboard the boat christened "Democracia". Upon entering
Cuban waters the Castro regime sent their patrol boats, helicopters, and
MiGs to surround and intimidate the flotilla, but it continued until
the lead boat's hull was crushed by two patrol boats, and people onboard
were hurt.
Fact 10:Responding to the attack on the flotilla on July 13, 1995, Brothers to the Rescue planes
overflew Havana dropping leaflets that read "Comrades No. Brothers" in
Spanish. It was on that day that the Democracy Movement came into
existence. It was also on that day that the Castro regime began planning its reprisal
against Brothers to the Rescue, enlisting members of the WASP spy
network to provide intelligence that led to the deaths of four innocents on February 24, 1996 in an act of state terrorism.
Remember the Ghosts of June 4th and demand justice
What happened?
Thirty two years ago today the Communistleadership of China opened fire on the Chinese people. The Pro-Democracy Movement that had taken to the streets
in April of 1989 was violently crushed by the Chinese communist
dictatorship beginning on the evening of June 3, 1989.
How many were killed?
By dawn on June
4, 1989 scores of demonstrators had been shot and killed
or run over and crushed by tanks of the so-called People's Liberation
Army. and the blood of students and workers splattered and flowed in the
streets of Beijing.
The Chinese Red Cross had initially counted 2,600 dead when they were pressured to stop by Chinese officials and silenced
on this matter. Following the massacre an additional 1,000 were
sentenced to death and executed. Scores of Chinese who participated in
the Tiananmen protests would spend years and decades in prison.
A 2017 declassified British diplomatic cable revealed that
"at least 10,000 people were killed in the Chinese army's crackdown on
pro-democracy protesters in Beijing's Tiananmen Square in June 1989."
How Henry Kissinger's downplayed the Beijing Massacre in the United States Former
Secretary of State Henry Kissinger persuaded the Bush Administration in
the immediate aftermath to downplay the human rights considerations
surrounding the Beijing Massacre and to focus on the economic and
strategic relationship. Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) published a October 1, 1989 article
revealing Kissinger's direct business ties to Communist China and his
defense of the regime and justification of the massacre. FAIR reported
how on August 1, 1989 this business consultant who also heads "China
Ventures" [that engages China's state bank in joint ventures]wrote a column that appeared in a Washington Post/L.A. Times ("The Caricature of Deng as a Tyrant Is Unfair", 8/1/89). In it Kissinger argued against sanctions:
"China remains too important for
America's national security to risk the relationship on the emotions of
the moment." He asserted: "No government in the world would have
tolerated having the main square of its capital occupied for eight weeks
by tens of thousands of demonstrators."
Kissinger's reputation according to Umair Khan who reviewed his 2011 book, On China, describes him as a
man whose "reputation is based on his career as a diplomat turned
business consultant." This business relationship was not mentioned back
in 1989 by those publishing the former Secretary of State's case against
sanctions on China.
Kissinger proved wrong by events in Eastern Europe
Incidentally over the course of six weeks
in 1989 beginning on November 17, the one-party government of the
Communist Party of Czechoslovakia although engaging in acts of
repression did not commit a huge massacre against tens of thousands of
demonstrators in the main square of its capital. The demonstrations grew
to Tiananmen Square levels of 200,000 and 500,000 demonstrators in
Prague. The end result was the Velvet Revolution and 25 years of peace
and prosperity. Kissinger's argument did not hold up under the light of
events. Consequences of looking the other way
Unfortunately, the downplaying of the human rights situation in China
has had consequences over the long term. Martin Luther King Jr.'s dictum
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere" has special
resonance.In 2011 Muammar Gaddafi believed that he could get away with mass murder
because the world looked the other way in June of 1989 in Beijing and
said it plainly:
"The unity of China was more important than those
people on Tiananmen Square."
Its not the first time impunity in one
bloody deed has encouraged another. Between 1915 and 1917 the Ottoman
Turks murdered more than 1.5 million Armenians and like the Chinese
communists in 1989 got away with it. This inspired Adolph Hitler to carry out his own holocaust stating in 1939:
"Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?"
Holocaust survivor and writer Elie Wiesel has denounced indifference and silence before injustice stating that: "There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest."
For
the next 24 hours will be sharing information over social media
provided by Chinese pro-democracy activists on the events that took
place 32 years ago in Beijing.
The Free Cuba Foundation since its founding recognized that being
"victims of totalitarianism we share a bond with other captive peoples
past and present who are our brothers and sisters in this struggle for
freedom."
Please share videos of documentaries on the Tiananmen Square
protests, the crackdown and massacre, and the aftermath. For example, Tiananmen Mothers, a group of family members of those killed during the violent crackdown on the 1989 Democracy Movement produced a short documentary:
"Portraits of Loss and the Quest for Justice"in which the stories of
six victims are told by their family members, and two survivors provide
their own testimony. It can be viewed online here. We also ask all people of good will to light a candle tonight at 8pm and share the stories of the unforgotten.
Message from Human Rights in China requesting solidarity:
In mainland China, the Chinese
authorities have never allowed public commemorations of the victims of
the June Fourth crackdown of the 1989 Democracy Movement. Up until 2020,
the people of Hong Kong had been able to hold annual candlelight
vigils—for large-scale public remembrance and to press for official
accountability. In 2021, for the 2nd year in a row, the Hong Kong
authorities are banning the vigil. HRIC urges the international
community to stand up against enforced amnesia of June Fourth: by
lighting a candle at 8 p.m. on June 4 wherever you are, reading the
stories of the UNFORGOTTEN
(https://truth30.hrichina.org/unforgotten.html), and sending solidarity
messages to the Tiananmen Mothers
(https://truth30.hrichina.org/what_you_can_do.html).
Do Black Lives Matter in Cuba? Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara on sixth day of hunger and thirst strike protesting harassment, destruction of artwork, and home invasions by police is about to die if you do not help.
Dear Friend of the Cuban government,
This is addressed to you, who travel to Cuba on official tours, received by officials, and are sympathetic to the existing system. You have influence, leverage with those in power who desire your continued friendship.
Revolutionary National Police in Cuba are killing black men, and they are about to claim another life through their constant harassment, home invasions, and destruction and theft of art work. These patterns of constant and escalating repression have led Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara to initiate on April 25, 2021 a hunger and thirst strike that is now on its sixth day, and it is feared that he will not last much longer. Please reach out to Cuban officials and explain to them why continuing down this path that will lead to his untimely death, will harm regime interests internationally.
Others have died on hunger strike in Cuba, in recent years, two of them black men: Orlando Zapata Tamayo in 2010 and Yosvany Arostegui Armenteros in 2020. Unarmed black men shot in the back by Revolutionary National Police, a recent high profile case is that Hansel E. Hernández.
"Cuban poets no longer dream (not even at night)." - Heberto Padilla
Heberto Padilla
Heberto Padilla, a Cuban poet, who like many had been an enthusiastic supporter
of Fidel Castro ousting Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista, became
disillusioned when the Castro regime's dictatorial nature became clear,
and reflected it in his writings.
INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO ENTER A NEW SOCIETY
One: be an optimist. Two:be discreet, correct, obedient. (Do well at sports - all of them.) And, most of all, move like all the other members: one step forward, and one (or two) steps back: but never stop cheering.
In 1968, however, Cuban judges in the national
poetry contest awarded their "Julian del Casal" poetry prize to Padilla's
collection, Fuera del Juego (Out of the Game), which contained critical lines such as:
"The poet! Kick him out! He has no business here. He doesn't play the game. He never gets excited Or speaks out clearly. He never even sees the miracles ..."
The
book was published but an addendum was added that criticized the work
as counterrevolutionary, and Heberto Padilla was placed under house
arrest. On March 20, 1971 he was arrested together with his wife,Belkiz Cuza Malé, after armed state security agents burst into their home. She was released a short time later. He was interrogated for over a month, then released, and on April 27,
1971 forced to confess before the National Union of Writers and Artists
of Cuba (Unión Nacional de Escritores y Artistas de Cuba, UNEAC).
The New York Times on May 26, 1971 described what had gone on and printed an excerpt of the confession in an editorial. Padilla's wife Belkis has also written about their arrest in March 1971 and the knock on the door, and the search of their home by the secret police.
Half a century later on Tuesday, April 27, 2021, a choral reading of Heberto Padilla’s confession will be streamed via social media over 24 hours.
Heberto Padilla would suffer ostracism, and harassment until 1979
when he went into exile, and continued his criticism of the Castro
regime, and in 1984 appeared in the film "Improper Conduct"
where his case was highlighted, and he discussed Raul's Castro visit to
Bulgaria and saw that the streets were very clean, without anti-social
elements, especially the homosexuals, and was told by the Bulgarian communists that they had been placed in
camps. Raul Castro returned to Cuba and instituted the practice with his
brother, Fidel's approval in the 1960s. Below is a clip, but FCF members will be viewing the full film online tonight at 8:00pm EST here.
Havana, Cuba in the late 1950's, a Cuban family is caught in the
violent transition from the oppressive authoritarian regime of Batista
to the oppressive Marxist regime of Fidel Castro.
Ten years ago, Magnolia pictures gave approval for the Free Cuba Foundation to show "The Lost City,"
Andy Garcia's 2005 exploration of Cuba in the turbulent 1950s.
The screening took place on July 6, 2011 at 8:00pm at Florida International
University at Graham Center 283A at what was then called the University Park campus . We co-hosted the event with FIU
Students for a Free Tibet, and we thank them for their solidarity.
The film stars Andy Garcia, Dustin Hoffman, Bill Murray, Millie Perkins and Ines Sastre. Millie Perkins starred as Anne Frank in the original film adaptation of The Diary of Anne Frank in 1959.
Helen Castro and Mitsu Vastey at 2011 screening
Now a decade later the movie is available online, and in this time of COVID-19 we are inviting FCF members past, and present and all interested parties to join us in a virtual viewing of this important film directed by Andy Garcia on March 29 at 8pm.
Our community is experiencing the new film Plantados, on the plight of Cuban political prisoners in the first years of the Communist Revolution, and The Lost City is the film that provides the back story to the Cuba that existed before 1959, and how Castro and his revolutionaries destroyed it.
In memory of our advisor Martin L. Tracey PhD who passed away on February 23, 2021.
Members of the Free Cuba Foundation since 1996 have carried out or participated in a silent vigil for justice at Florida International University (FIU) every year for the past 25 years. Today we once again took part in a silent vigil at the school. The vigil began at 3:21pm, the time the first plane was shot down, and concluding the vigil at the end of 3:27pm, the time the second plane was destroyed.
Why do we do this? Because this was an act of state terrorism carried out by the Castro dictatorship on the orders of Fidel and Raul Castro through the entire chain of command down to the pilots who executed the illegal order. We are demanding justice and the full truth of what happened, and with this annual action preserving the memory of the men killed, and the need for justice.
Silent vigil at FIU on February 24, 2021
Mario de la Peña, age 24; Carlos Costa, Pablo Morales, both 30, and Armando Alejandre Jr., 45 were all blown out of international airspace on February 24, 1996. They were members of the humanitarian organization Brothers to the Rescue.
They were killed while engaged in a search and rescue for Cuban rafters in the Florida Straits. They were hunted down and intercepted by a Cuban MiG-29UB Fulcrum and a MiG-23ML Fishbed over the Florida Straits.
These jets — a two-man MiG-29 UB and a MiG-23 ML —were armed with heat-seeking air-to-air missiles and machine guns.
The MiG-29UB, piloted by Lorenzo Alberto Peréz Peréz, shot down N2456S and N5485S, carrying Mario, Carlos, Pablo, and Armando while N2506 escaped. They were killed on Fidel and Raul Castro's orders, and with the assistance of Cuban spies in Miami providing flight times and other pertinent information to Havana.
Aboard N2506 were Sylvia Iriondo, Andrés Iriondo, Jose Basulto, and Arnaldo Iglesias. They lived to set the record straight on what happened.
The belief is that the three planes set out a little later than expected based on the data provided by the spies, and the MiGs hunting for them ran low on fuel after destroying the two civilian planes with air-to-air missiles. The time it took to get assets back in the air to hunt for the third plane gave them crucial time to escape.
Normally we would encourage students and members of the
community to join us in this gathering around the main fountain at FIU,
with family members and friends of Mario, Carlos, Pablo, and Armando, but due to COVID-19 we recommended people of good will carry out a virtual vigil.
This would involve taking a picture, describing what happened, and sharing a link to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights report on the shoot down.
"To forget the victims means to kill them a second time. So I couldn't prevent the first death. I surely must be capable of saving them from a second death." - Elie Wiesel#TruthJusticeMemory#ArmandoCarlosMarioPabloViven
