On December of 2,014 president Obama asked the State Department to assess whether or not Cuba should remain on the list of states sponsoring terrorism. Four months after the president made his request to the State Department, it was concluded that the Cuban government has not been involved in international terrorist activities for the last six months. You read it correctly, only… “six months”.
Based on this assessment Barack Obama decided that it is time to remove Cuba from the list. Currently only four countries belong to the infamous terrorist list in the entire world: Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria. The president made this decision a few days after meeting with the communist dictator Raul Castro at the summit of the Americas in Panama. Following Obama’s decision, the U.S. congress will have 45 days to side with the president or to vote against his proposal.
As usual liberals and leftists across the country applauded the president’s decision, while right wing and conservatives criticized it. Of course, Raul Castro joined the celebration.
Let’s analyze a few important points.
The communist Cuban government has had a long history of supporting terrorism, both at home and abroad. Cuba entered the list of states sponsoring terrorism in 1,982 during the presidency of Ronald Reagan. At that time, Fidel Castro was on a mission to spread communism after the triumph of the revolution in 1,959. At the beginning of the 80s, the Cuban regime under the umbrella of the Soviet Union had already become one of the pillars of communism around the world.
After the Castro brothers took power in Cuba, the communist dictators established a reign of terror on the island. Although it is impossible to know the exact figures, it is estimated that at least 14,000 people have been executed on the wall. The total number of missing and detained citizens since 1,959 is a mystery, as the government neither provides such information nor allows international agencies to access the Cuban prisons.
As it happens in all dictatorial communist countries, liberties and civil rights in Cuba disappeared in 1,959. As expected Cubans began to flee and the United States became their number one destination. To date it is estimated that at least one and a half million Cubans have left their country. Of those, more than 80,000 have died in the ocean trying to reach the shores of Florida in the United States.
Violations of human rights and criminal prosecutions have remained unpunished in Cuba for over 50 years. The number of political prisoners who have died in the country’s prisons is another enigma. According to a report by Human Rights Watch published in 2,013 the government arbitrarily arrested 2,074 people in 2,010, 4,123 in 2,011 and 5,105 from January to September 2,012. The crime of political prisoners in Cuba is universal, predictable and well known: criticizing or protesting against the communist government of the Castro brothers.
The fate of political prisoners is also a mystery. Let’s keep in mind that Cuba does not have an established judicial system that guarantees fair trails under impartial tribunals. Convictions and punishments of political prisoners are dictated solely by the communist government.
Some prisoners simply disappear, others are imprisoned for life, and others like Orlando Zapata Tamayo rather die on hunger strikes. Zapata died after 85 days.
Another Cuban dissident shared the same fate. His name was Willman Villar Mendoza. According to Human Rights Watch Willman Villar was imprisoned naked and subjected to solitary confinement in a cold prison. He died 50 days later. Villar was 31. A similar case was that of dissident Guillermo Fariñas. On this occasion, thanks to the “Ladies in White” (Damas De Blanco in Spanish), the government released 75 prisoners including Fariñas. (I will talk more about it below).
Fariñas is currently a spokesman for the Patriotic Union of Cuba. He opposes the Obama administration’s approach toward the communist regime. In reference to the president, Fariñas said that he felt “betrayed” by Barack Obama. According to Fariñas, the president “sat down to negotiate with the perpetrators and turned his back to the victims.”
The terror implanted in Cuba by the communist regime establishes no differences between men and women or young and elderly. An organization constantly attacked is The “Damas De Blanco”, a group that defends human rights and oversees the release of political prisoners.
This organization was founded in 2,003 by Laura Pollan to protest the brutal treatment of the Cuban regime towards political prisoners, one of whom was her husband, Hector Mesada. Mesada was also one of the 75 Cuban dissidents jailed this year.
Laura Pollan challenged the regime and decided to march every Sunday in downtown Havana demanding the release of the prisoners. Thanks to Mrs. Pollan protests and the international pressure, the government released the 75 prisoners, including Hector Mesada.
For years, agents from the Communist regime have arrested many members of Damas De Blanco. Laura Pollan died in 2,011 after accomplishing her goal… Her husband’s freedom. Before dying Mrs. Pollan said: “As long as this government exists there will be political prisoners. Sometimes they are released, just to imprison others. It’s a story that never ends”.
The group became well known all over the world. In 2,005 the European Parliament recognized the struggle of Damas De Blanco and gave the organization the Sakharov prize for its “Freedom of Thought”.
The information shared in this article is only what can be written in a short period of time. The suffering and oppression of the Cuban people for more than 50 years in the hands of bloody Communist dictators can never be summarized.
On purpose I haven’t mentioned the role of Cuba and other communist countries exporting international terrorism to impose their Marxist Socialist agenda around the world. That could be the subject of another article.
Unfortunately, the priority of Barack Obama is neither the freedom of the Cuban people nor the return to democracy. Does the president really care about the terrorism imposed to Cubans by the Castro dictators for so many years? If so why haven’t these conditions been on the negotiating table? Even worse, they were not mentioned once by the alleged leader of the free world.
President Obama refuses to accept a historical reality. Every Communist country is a terrorist country. And terrorism in each one of these countries always begins at home.
