Saying “I told you so” is so frustrating, especially when one has no option but to say it over and over and over, ad nauseam….
Arrests. Threats. Physical abuse. Intimidation. Repression.
These are the Christmas gifts that “smart diplomacy” and “visionary” policy changes on the part of the U.S. have brought to the Cuban people.
More New Political Arrests in Cuba
Instead of releasing 53 political prisoners (which remains a mystery in itself) — as Raul Castro “promised” President Obama — this past week we’ve seen the arrest (and re-arrest) of democracy activists and political prisoners.
On Christmas Day, Cuban artist Danilo Maldonado (known as “El Sexto”) was arrested for scheduling a visual arts performance, in which he was going to release two pigs onto the streets with the names “Fidel” and “Raul” painted on them. He remains arbitrarily imprisoned and faces charges of “disobedience.”
On the day after Christmas, it re-arrested former political prisoner, Marcelino Abreu Bonora, who had just been released on October 24th. He was arrested for carrying a white sheet with the word “Cambio” (“Change”) written on it. He remains arbitrarily imprisoned, was savagely beaten and his family denied information of his whereabouts.
On the following day, Luis Quintana Rodriguez, an activist with Oswaldo Paya’s Christian Liberation Movement, was arrested, threatened and interrogated by the Castro regime about his opposition activities.
And today, all eyes are on the #YoTambienExijo performance in Havana’s Revolutionary Square at 3 p.m., where a microphone will be placed for the Cuban people to demand their rights. The organizer, artist Tania Bruguera, has already been threatened with “legal and personal consequences.”
As of noon, Cuban democracy leader Eliecer Avila and Yoani Sanchez’s husband, Reinaldo Escobar, have been arrested.
Meanwhile, silence from the Obama Administration.
