In Havana, four dozen members of The Ladies in White were arrested as they attended Sunday Mass. Also arrested were male supporters, including democracy leaders Antonio Rodiles, Angel Moya and independent journalist Juan Gonzalez Febles.
In Santiago, over 80 activists of the Cuban Patriotic Union (UNPACU) were beaten and arrested, including some who had been released under the Obama-Castro December 17th deal, namely Diango and Bianko Vargas Martin, and Ernesto Tamayo Guerra.
Dozens of others were arrested in the interior provinces, including Raul Borges, father of political prisoner Ernesto Borges, and youth activists from the Cuban Reflection Movement.
And renowned artist Tania Bruguera, who had her passport confiscated in December and is unable to leave the island, was arrested as she approached the Museum of Fine Arts to attend an exhibit for the Havana Art Biennial.
But sadly, no one seems to care.
Obama is too focused on what other concessions he can give to Raul Castro in exchange for an Embassy.
D.C. lobbyists are too busy lobbying for Castro’s “military-tourist” complex (as The Financial Times‘ John Paul Rathbone succinctly called the Cuban military’s monopolistic control over the island’s tourism industry).
And the media continues obsessing over the “old world charm” of Cuba’s totalitarian dictatorship.
Meanwhile, in Castro-controlled Venezuela, internationally renowned political prisoner and former Mayor, Daniel Ceballos, has been transferred from a military prison to one of the most violent civilian prisons in the world.
And Leopoldo Lopez, the famed opposition leader, began a hunger strike to demand the release of his colleagues, whose lives are in danger.
This, despite the fact that there’s no embargo and that the U.S. is Venezuela’s main trading partner.
Yet, the silence from the international community is deafening — debunking all of Obama’s theories about how his new Cuba policy would purportedly bring support for rights and democracy.
As for legislative elections in Venezuela this Fall — wishful thinking. “Elections, for what?” says Maduro. After all, Obama just embraced Cuba’s military dictatorship.
And where are the Congressional junkets to Caracas?
Impunity clearly reigns supreme in the region.
