tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18514671193300178982024-03-13T16:57:12.407-04:00TOTALITARIAN IMAGESEl Compañerohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02531510231829887298noreply@blogger.comBlogger41125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1851467119330017898.post-1813059621729278772012-07-08T03:14:00.004-04:002012-07-08T03:16:27.494-04:00FORMER ARGENTINE DICTATORS FOUND GUILTY OF BABY THEFTS<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qr-sKkQijZQ/T_kwUxOBGXI/AAAAAAAAAts/9V6JG6aWpBQ/s1600/Poster-Videla-Bignone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qr-sKkQijZQ/T_kwUxOBGXI/AAAAAAAAAts/9V6JG6aWpBQ/s1600/Poster-Videla-Bignone.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Reference: AFP <a href="http://www.alternet.org/rss/breaking_news/1019950/verdict_due_in_argentina%27s__%27stolen_babies%27_trial/">Poster referred from Alternet</a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Two former Argentine dictators were handed heavy prison sentences for
overseeing the systematic kidnapping of babies from leftist activists
killed during the 1976-1983 dictatorship.</span></h2>
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<span style="font-size: small; font-weight: normal;">A common tactic of sibling warfare is to tell your brother he's adopted.
It's funny and harmless because it is generally so far fetched, but for
hundreds of Argentines that suggestion is no joke</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></span></blockquote>
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From 1976 to 1983 an estimated 500 babies were stolen and secretly
integrated and adopted into families of right-wing military members and
their allies as part of a sweeping program that brutally targeted
left-wing militants and sympathizers during the military junta’s
seven-year rule.<br />
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Bringing, perhaps, a fragment of closure to that era, a former Argentine dictator, <a class="inform_link" href="http://www.csmonitor.com/tags/topic/Jorge+Rafael+Videla" target="_self">Jorge Videla</a>,
was convicted yesterday for his role in the program. Mr. Videla, who
headed the coup that brought the military to power in 1976, was
sentenced to 50 years in prison.<br />
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The conviction and official recognition of these crimes marks a historical moment for <a class="inform_link" href="http://www.csmonitor.com/tags/topic/Argentina" target="_self">Argentina</a>, whose public has long known of or suspected these practices and which continues to search for answers.</blockquote>
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<span style="font-size: small;">References: </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">The Christian Science Monitor, <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/Latin-America-Monitor/2012/0706/Former-Argentine-dictator-Jorge-Videla-convicted-of-systemic-theft-of-babies">"Former Argentine dictator Jorge Videla convicted of systemic theft of babies."</a></span><br />
AFP, <a href="http://www.alternet.org/rss/breaking_news/1019950/verdict_due_in_argentina%27s__%27stolen_babies%27_trial/">"Tough sentences in Argentina stolen babies case" </a><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>El Compañerohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02531510231829887298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1851467119330017898.post-50150311494978063612012-06-02T09:37:00.004-04:002012-06-02T10:14:58.697-04:00ONE LESS DICTATOR<div style="text-align: justify;">
Unfortunately, there are many times in history in which dictators and tyrants get away with their crimes and are never brought to a court of law for genocide and repression against their own people.</div>
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Hopefully, history does not necessarily repeat itself as there are other circumstances in which those from bellow rise and initiate a resistance movement that leads to the toppling of dictatorships. This is the case of Mubarak in Egypt. His dictatorship was overturned by the movement that became known as the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2011/mar/22/middle-east-protest-interactive-timeline">Arab Spring</a>. A wave or resistance that started on 19 December, 2010 and forced from power rulers in Tunisia, Egypt, Libyia and Yemen with other civil protests and uprisings (varying in their intensity) in Bahrain, Syria, Algeria, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Lebanon, Iraq, Mauritania, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Western Africa. </div>
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Although totalitarianism continues to be a trend in today's world, the case can also be made that at no other time in human history the common person has had at his/her disposal the technological and other means to start a challenge power. </div>
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<tr align="justify"><td><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lCKYws4Zu2A/T8oTWIKF2SI/AAAAAAAAAsg/BtHhR-ev534/s1600/Mubarak-life-prison.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lCKYws4Zu2A/T8oTWIKF2SI/AAAAAAAAAsg/BtHhR-ev534/s320/Mubarak-life-prison.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr align="justify"><td class="tr-caption" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Former Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak (now 84 years old) sentenced to life in prison. During the protests in Egypt that led to the fall of the Mubarak regime, about 840 people died and more than 6,000 others were injured in the 18-day uprising in 2011 according to Amnesty International.</span><span style="font-size: small;"> Read full Story in <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/02/world/africa/egypt-mubarak-trial/index.html?hpt=hp_t1">CNN</a>.</span></td><td class="tr-caption"></td><td class="tr-caption"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
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Reference:<br />
<a class="contributor" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/garry-blight" rel="author" style="color: black;">Garry Blight</a><span style="color: black;">, </span><a class="contributor" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/sheilapulham" rel="author" style="color: black;">
Sheila Pulham</a><span style="color: black;"> and </span><a class="contributor" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/paultorpey" rel="author" style="color: black;">
Paul Torpey</a>, "The Arab Spring: an interactive timeline of Middle East protests" <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2011/mar/22/middle-east-protest-interactive-timeline"><i>The Guardian</i></a> (January 5, 2012).<br />
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<strong>Ben Wedeman, </strong>"Egypt's Hosni Mubarak sentenced to life in prison for role in killing of protesters." <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/02/world/africa/egypt-mubarak-trial/index.html?hpt=hp_t1"><i>CNN</i></a> (June 2, 2012)<br />El Compañerohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02531510231829887298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1851467119330017898.post-55977758826482493082012-05-29T10:17:00.003-04:002012-05-29T10:48:24.636-04:00GRAFFITI: THE ART OF RESISTANCE IN CUBA<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/4mhViKrrV28?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Cuban graffiti artist (a.k.a., '<a href="http://delsexto.blogspot.ca/">El Sexto</a>) draws graffiti all over his passport in protest for the Castro regime's violation of the freedom of movement. </span>Cuba is only a among the few repressive nations worldwide in which a citizen needs a special permission from his own government to travel abroad. El Sexto has been detained and harassed for his graffiti by the National Revolutionary Police (PNR) of Cuba and the State Security Police. For more graffiti art, visit the Blog: <span style="font-size: small;">'<a href="http://delsexto.blogspot.ca/">El Sexto</a></span><br />
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<i>"I will keep drawing graffiti
until I find out why I keep doing it. </i></div>
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<i>I do so because I feel
the need - as I need to walk, dream.</i></div>
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<i>Never stop dreaming
because you can also change things. </i></div>
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<i>El Sexto is the Cuban
people. </i></div>
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<i>I am merely the one
who draws the graffiti.</i></div>
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<i>All the Cuban people
are heroes: from the child who wakes up in the morning and does not have breakfast
to eat until the worker who shows up for work despite his meager salary." </i></div>
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Blog: <span style="font-size: small;">'<a href="http://delsexto.blogspot.ca/">El Sexto</a></span> </blockquote>
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</div>El Compañerohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02531510231829887298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1851467119330017898.post-9559829056375812802012-05-23T13:43:00.004-04:002012-05-23T13:45:53.779-04:00CHINA'S CHENGGUANG'S PARA-POLICE<div style="text-align: justify;">
The <i><b>Chengguang </b></i>or City Urban Administrative Law Enforcement Bureau was established in Beijing in 1997. It is a para-police agency in charge of enforcing non criminal urban administrative regulations. However, for the the Chinese people they have gained a reputation for excessive force and brutality. For some they are gang members, thugs in uniform who have gained a reputation for arbitrary behaviour and abuse. They allegedly enforce administrative laws but in their operations they are known to make illegal detentions, forceful confiscation of property, serious injury and even death. </div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_U8hbpX_W5U/T70dvOnUzTI/AAAAAAAAAr4/E_tGVGEscJc/s1600/CHENGGUANG3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_U8hbpX_W5U/T70dvOnUzTI/AAAAAAAAAr4/E_tGVGEscJc/s400/CHENGGUANG3.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr align="justify"><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small;">Multiple versions circulate around this photo. Some say it shows Chengguang police violently arresting a prostitute. The official version is that they are arresting a woman who tried to commit suicide. The reasonable doubt remains and readers can make their own conclusions. Source: <a href="http://www.chinahush.com/tag/chengguan/">China Hush</a></span></td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cTVK_J3AVe0/T70dr5ddQ3I/AAAAAAAAArw/sf0urqiBkw0/s1600/CHENGGUANG2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="282" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cTVK_J3AVe0/T70dr5ddQ3I/AAAAAAAAArw/sf0urqiBkw0/s400/CHENGGUANG2.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">A photo of a what is seemingly suggested as a Chengguang squads attacking a police officer. Source: <a href="http://www.chinahush.com/tag/chengguan/">China Hush</a></span></td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Z3nvgprsRhs/T70dnMGsRpI/AAAAAAAAAro/8sYW8gA8sOc/s1600/ChengguangPolice.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="223" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Z3nvgprsRhs/T70dnMGsRpI/AAAAAAAAAro/8sYW8gA8sOc/s400/ChengguangPolice.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Chengguang members in a street fight.Source: <a href="http://www.chinahush.com/tag/chengguan/">China Hush</a></span></td></tr>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1e6EIDboAdo/T70hTc-h7gI/AAAAAAAAAsE/UioOcLwII_k/s1600/HRW.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1e6EIDboAdo/T70hTc-h7gI/AAAAAAAAAsE/UioOcLwII_k/s1600/HRW.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1e6EIDboAdo/T70hTc-h7gI/AAAAAAAAAsE/UioOcLwII_k/s320/HRW.jpg" width="249" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">For more information on the<i> Chengguang</i>, see a report by Human Rights
Watch titled:<a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_1940605296"> </a><a href="http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/china0512ForUpload_1.pdf">"Beat Him, Take Everything Away" Abuses by China's Chengguang's Para-Police."</a></span> </td></tr>
</tbody></table>El Compañerohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02531510231829887298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1851467119330017898.post-6211002979110949512012-05-16T10:13:00.001-04:002012-05-16T10:32:11.834-04:00MEXICAN WRITER CARLOS FUENTES DIES<div style="text-align: justify;">
Carlos Fuentes, one of the most prolific Latin American writers associated with the Latin American Boom, a literary movement made up of young authors critical of the status quo and established traditions died at age 83 in a Mexico City hospital.<br />
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Candidate for the Nobel Prize, winner of the Cervantes Prize in 1987 among many other distinguished literary awards, Fuentes' wrote a wealth of novels, plays and essays as well as regularly commenting on political events in the Spanish newspaper <i>El Pais.</i> His most famous works were "The Death of Artemio Cruz" and "The Old Gringo."</div>
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On this day I would like to pay tribute to this important writer as he <i><b>had the honesty and vision to compare populism in Latin America with Fascism</b></i>. In particular I would like to recall his now historic words when Fuentes compared Hugo Chavez (the president of Venezuela) with Benito Mussolini:</div>
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Fuentes warned on 2007 that the Latin American hemisphere risks the emergence of governments that are not only populist but also fascists. Fuentes said this is the case with president <i><b><span style="color: red;">"Chavez who rules a regime that in its organization, rhetoric, purposes, uniforms and balconies resembled a Venezuelan Benito Mussolini."</span></b></i></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-70XFgcp8jhM/T7O1Ubv1z-I/AAAAAAAAArM/COR98U8s9eU/s1600/chavezfascistatipico.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-70XFgcp8jhM/T7O1Ubv1z-I/AAAAAAAAArM/COR98U8s9eU/s640/chavezfascistatipico.jpg" width="408" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">With all the gestures and political theater similar in all populist political system (either fascistic or socialist) this photo arrangement shows the choreographic aspects that has distinguished populism throughout history. The pop photo shows Benito Mussolini saluting followers from a balcony. The lower photo shows Hugo Chavez with a closed fist symbolic of Chavismo saluting followers from the presidential balcony) Photo arrangement/selection by Blog<a href="http://hoteltalleyrand.wordpress.com/2007/11/13/todo-un-fascismo-tipico/"> Salon de Talleyrand</a></span></div>
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For more information about <b>'populism'</b> in the Latin American context I recommend <a href="http://totalitarianimages.blogspot.ca/2009/04/integralist-front-in-brazil.html">"The Integralist Movement in Brazil" </a><b> </b><br />
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<b>References:</b></div>
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"Mexican author Carlos Fuentes Dies at 83" <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-18081034"><i>BBC News</i></a> (May 16, 2012)</div>
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"Escritor Mexicano Carlos Fuentes muere a los 83 años por problemas cardiacos" <a href="http://www.ntn24.com/noticias/escritor-mexicano-carlos-fuent-048902"><i>NTN24/EFE</i></a> (15 de Mayo del 2012)
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"Como Fascista Tipico" <a href="http://hoteltalleyrand.wordpress.com/2007/11/13/todo-un-fascismo-tipico/">Salón del Señor Talleyrand </a></div>
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"Carlos Fuentes llama "perturbado" al presidente de Venezuela" <a href="http://www.amedi.org.mx/sitio_anterior/spip.php?article828"><i>Asociación Mexicana de Derecho a la Información </i></a>(13 de Noviembre del 2007)</div>
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<br />El Compañerohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02531510231829887298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1851467119330017898.post-68822525631592733902012-05-15T09:52:00.001-04:002012-05-15T09:55:16.195-04:00CUBA: A COUNTRY OF PLACARDS<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-oKN4QR9PQcM/T7JZfAHRm7I/AAAAAAAAAqo/WpbCIv9RQxM/s1600/RevolucionCambiar.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-oKN4QR9PQcM/T7JZfAHRm7I/AAAAAAAAAqo/WpbCIv9RQxM/s400/RevolucionCambiar.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Revolution is to Change Everything that Needs to Be Changed" </td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--3ZDbOZpYcM/T7JYhMBz8NI/AAAAAAAAAqg/vZ66WRSomsE/s1600/Imperialistas.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="261" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--3ZDbOZpYcM/T7JYhMBz8NI/AAAAAAAAAqg/vZ66WRSomsE/s400/Imperialistas.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Mister Imperialists: We have absolutely no fear of you" Reference: TuAventura</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RKS5jTc8OKU/T7JX41c2QYI/AAAAAAAAAqY/J1VgXeL2K5c/s1600/50Anniversary.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="263" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RKS5jTc8OKU/T7JX41c2QYI/AAAAAAAAAqY/J1VgXeL2K5c/s400/50Anniversary.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"50th Anniversary of the Revolution's Triumph" Reference: <a href="http://www.prensadefrente.org/pdfb2/index.php/fot/2009/02/15/p4439">Prensa de Frente</a></td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QZDZfOIfVWY/T7JXNBJjElI/AAAAAAAAAqQ/1kIrZoxAWLs/s1600/TrabajamosYTu.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="272" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QZDZfOIfVWY/T7JXNBJjElI/AAAAAAAAAqQ/1kIrZoxAWLs/s400/TrabajamosYTu.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"We Work: What about you? (Not working in Cuba carries a criminal conviction. Currently there is a large percentage of the population who refuse to work for the state with average salaries of $25 dollars a month). Reference: <a href="http://www.prensadefrente.org/pdfb2/index.php/fot/2009/02/15/p4439">Prensa de Frente</a></td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-p0_ULwGsyo8/T7JWqER5ReI/AAAAAAAAAqI/yWyunRq-t7Q/s1600/Che.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="267" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-p0_ULwGsyo8/T7JWqER5ReI/AAAAAAAAAqI/yWyunRq-t7Q/s400/Che.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"We want them to be like Che" (in reference to pioneers) Reference: <a href="http://www.tuaventura.org/node/659">TuAventura</a></td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ruxdmPc_jHc/T7JWNaz_xWI/AAAAAAAAAqA/Sj2Y2z0c5l4/s1600/PatriaMuerte.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="267" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ruxdmPc_jHc/T7JWNaz_xWI/AAAAAAAAAqA/Sj2Y2z0c5l4/s400/PatriaMuerte.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Fatherland or Death" Reference: <a href="http://www.tuaventura.org/node/659">TuAventura</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eaRQQWFZoJo/T7JVD_fgjwI/AAAAAAAAApo/E5Q10Y7vWxg/s1600/Conciencia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="267" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eaRQQWFZoJo/T7JVD_fgjwI/AAAAAAAAApo/E5Q10Y7vWxg/s400/Conciencia.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Our Weapons: Conscience and Ideas" Reference: <a href="http://www.tuaventura.org/node/656">TuAventura</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bolrncwMQt0/T7JVryki9bI/AAAAAAAAApw/PmDg0ux2VEA/s1600/Conciencia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-g44--Navmtg/T7JVv9NUG3I/AAAAAAAAAp4/vWBSI3OX5uE/s1600/Adelante.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="267" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-g44--Navmtg/T7JVv9NUG3I/AAAAAAAAAp4/vWBSI3OX5uE/s400/Adelante.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"We move forward victoriously" Reference: <a href="http://www.tuaventura.org/node/659">TuAventura</a></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--cSsKK6gsaw/T7JaKF_fM0I/AAAAAAAAAqw/24WLz_mm67Y/s1600/PlacardDownFidel.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="317" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--cSsKK6gsaw/T7JaKF_fM0I/AAAAAAAAAqw/24WLz_mm67Y/s400/PlacardDownFidel.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cuba
is a country of placards as long as they are pasted and sponsored by
the government for purposes of propaganda. Pro democracy signs are
immediately covered by the police and those responsible for their
content could face long prison sentences if they are caught. This
picture shows a police in Cuba covering a graffiti that reads "<b>Down with Fidel"</b> Reference: <span style="font-size: 85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Enrique de la Osa / EFE / </span><a href="http://www.elnuevoherald.com/2011/09/11/1023106/visitan-a-fieles-encerrados-en.html" style="font-style: italic;">El Nuevo Herald</a></span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i><b><span style="font-size: 85%;"><span style="font-size: small;">Who posts placards in Cuba?</span></span></b></i></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i><span style="font-size: 85%;"><span style="font-size: small;">The Propaganda branch of the Cuban Communist Party </span></span></i></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i><b><span style="font-size: 85%;"><span style="font-size: small;">What is their content? </span></span></b></i></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i><span style="font-size: 85%;"><span style="font-size: small;">As any form of propaganda, it is based on repetition of the same phrases. In this sense they make the Nazi precept that a repeated lie becomes true come to life. Usually placards praise Fidel and Raúl Castro. The most repeated slogans are "United We Will Triumph" "Victory After Victory" "Our Main Duty is to Perfect Socialism."</span></span></i></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i><span style="font-size: 85%;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>What is their purpose?</b></span></span></i></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i><span style="font-size: 85%;"><span style="font-size: small;">Physiological influence over the people. To present an image to foreign visitors that in Cuba everyone shares a common "revolutionary fervor."It is also an excuse for political organizations to look well with their superiors. </span></span></i></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 85%;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 85%;"><span style="font-size: small;">The above text is a translation taken from extracts of a larger article on placards in Cuba written by Eliecer Avila. For more information see Eliecer Avila, "<a href="http://www.diariodecuba.com/cuba/11092-el-pais-de-los-carteles">El País de los Carteles</a>" <i>Diario de Cuba</i> (15 de Mayo del 2012).</span></span></div>
</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"> <span style="font-style: italic;"> </span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>El Compañerohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02531510231829887298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1851467119330017898.post-45299472243553272292012-05-13T02:19:00.001-04:002012-05-13T02:30:22.548-04:00ERITREA, THE MOST REPRESSIVE NATION ON EARTH<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-byiZJSvsHDE/T69NVXOvR2I/AAAAAAAAApQ/M7KIvEDVM0Y/s1600/ERITREA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-byiZJSvsHDE/T69NVXOvR2I/AAAAAAAAApQ/M7KIvEDVM0Y/s320/ERITREA.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">According with Reporters Without Borders, Human Rights Watch and other organizations that monitor human rights and freedoms worldwide, Eritrea, an extremely poor nation of the African continent in the neighborhood of Sudan, Ethiopia and Somalia is considered to be the most repressive nation on earth. A tough and in my view a controversial selection considering competitors in the repressive category such as North Korea, Cuba, Iran, Belarus and other nations. Under the regime of president Isaias Afewerki, 25% of Eritrea's population has fled over the past 20 years. The Afewerki regime has turned the nation into a "giant prison" according with Human Rights Watch with over 314 detention centers. Some of the country's prisons are underground, buried 229 feet bellow sea level with temperatures reported to reach 140 degrees Fahrenheit. In those prisons there are thousands of journalists, religious leaders and dissidents imprisoned, detained indefinitely and subjected to medieval tortures that include their feet shackled, tied to a cross or hung upside down and other forms of cruelty. Image from <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/04/27/IN7P1O8BC1.DTL">Edmund Sanders / TPN</a></span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Vbo1vMF4TdA/T69RpgflAnI/AAAAAAAAApc/ACnymZ1g_DQ/s1600/Eritreat-JailedJouranlists.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="341" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Vbo1vMF4TdA/T69RpgflAnI/AAAAAAAAApc/ACnymZ1g_DQ/s400/Eritreat-JailedJouranlists.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr align="justify"><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small;">For a complete report on jailed journalists see: Justin D. Martin, "Which Countries Jail the Most Journalists Per Capita? Taking the CPJ Data One Step Further" <i><a href="http://www.cjr.org/behind_the_news/which_countries_jail_the_most.php">Columbia Journalism Review</a></i> (April 2, 2012)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">For more information on Eritrea see Joel Brinkley, "Eritrea, the most repressive nation on Earth" <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/04/27/IN7P1O8BC1.DTL"><i>SFGate</i></a> (April 29, 2012)</span></div>El Compañerohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02531510231829887298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1851467119330017898.post-73171805541930484242012-05-04T15:01:00.002-04:002012-05-04T15:02:27.810-04:00NORTH KOREA: TOTALITARIANS IN THE NUCLEAR CLUB<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5JssIzMtFvQ/T6QmV9QPQZI/AAAAAAAAAoI/8wZpD4lX25Q/s1600/NorthKorea.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="217" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5JssIzMtFvQ/T6QmV9QPQZI/AAAAAAAAAoI/8wZpD4lX25Q/s320/NorthKorea.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo from Ng Han Guan/Associated Press/<a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/northkorea/index.html">NYTimes</a></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i>North Korea is the last Stalinist state on earth, and in 2006 it became
the latest country to join the nuclear club. Over the past two decades,
it has swung between confrontation and inch-by-inch conciliation with <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/southkorea/index.html?8qa">South Korea</a>,
its neighbor, and the United States, in an oscillation that seems to be
driven both by its hard-to-fathom internal political strains and by an
apparent belief in <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/03/world/asia/03korea.html">brinksmanship as the most effective form of diplomacy</a>.</i></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
See complete article in the <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/northkorea/index.html">NYTimes. </a></div>
</blockquote>
See also <a href="http://totalitarianimages.blogspot.ca/search?q=north+of+totalitarianism">'NORTH OF TOTALITARIANISM' </a>with a compilation of photos from North KoreaEl Compañerohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02531510231829887298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1851467119330017898.post-77867609816799002062012-05-02T13:23:00.004-04:002012-05-03T06:30:47.083-04:00CUBA'S LARGEST PRISON<div style="text-align: left;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zW-cznh11EA/T6GS_Kyli9I/AAAAAAAAAnc/aLspLZcFsk0/s1600/LaShakira-Torture.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><u>Cuba's Population: </u></b>11.3 millions.</span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><u>Worldwide Ranking:</u></b> <b style="color: red;"><span style="color: red;">Cuba </span></b><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;">has the</span></span></span><b style="color: red;"><span style="color: red;"> </span>fifth largest inmate population in the world</b> with 531 prisoners for every 100,000 inhabitants. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><u>Latin American Ranking:</u></b> <b><span style="color: red;">Cuba</span></b> is ranked as the <b><span style="color: red;">second nation with the largest inmate population per inhabitants in Latin America and the Caribbean</span></b>. </span><br />
<br />
<br />
<b><u><span style="font-size: large;">Source Consulted:</span></u></b><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">For statistical information on the number of prisoners per inhabitants in Cuba and worldwide see Roy Walmsley,<i><u> </u></i><span style="line-height: normal;"><a href="http://www.prisonstudies.org/info/downloads/wppl-8th_41.pdf"><i><u>World Prison Population List</u></i></a>, Eighth Edition (King College, London, December, 2009), 1 & 3. </span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<tr align="center"><td><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/7556/3791/400/830882/LaIslaCarcel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="190" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/7556/3791/400/830882/LaIslaCarcel.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr align="center"><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><i>Cuba: The Prison Island</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Map of Cuba's Prisons. Legend from top to bottom:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">1. Maximum Security Prisons. (Yellow)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">2. Minimum Security Prisons. (Red)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">3. Correctional/Reform Prisons.(Blue)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>COMBINADO DEL ESTE PRISON</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Cuba's Largest Prison </b></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>Built in 1975. </i></b></span></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/4MKaaiQzo4U?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe><b><i> </i></b></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/KBRUigfuAX4?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<b><i>Hidden Camera inside El Combinado del Este Prison.<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBRUigfuAX4">"En las Entrañas del Combinado del Este"</a> by </i></b>Dalvinder Singh Jagpal (inmate) and Dania Virgen García (independent journalist/reporter).</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-l4k7YcMvgvg/T57L1hYtE0I/AAAAAAAAAmY/RUEbYcNVV2Y/s1600/Combinado2.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/7556/3791/320/324516/CombinadoEste.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/7556/3791/320/324516/CombinadoEste.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/7556/3791/320/414921/Satelite-CombinadoEste.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="264" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/7556/3791/320/414921/Satelite-CombinadoEste.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Aerial view of Combinado del Este</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/7556/3791/320/293864/Gavetas.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="278" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/7556/3791/320/293864/Gavetas.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr align="justify"><td class="tr-caption">This picture of a prison cell known as "La Gaveta/The Drawer" corresponds to the Prison of Manzanillo, but a similar one exists at Combinado del Este. As a form of torture prison officials confine up to 15 political and non political prisoners for prolonged periods of time. It has been reported that prisoners are kept here for 8-10 months. The small dimensions of the cell force prisoners to lie down all the time. Prisoners have to defecate and urinate in an extremely limited space and cannot stand up as the ceiling is very low. </td></tr>
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<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/7556/3791/320/706015/FotoAereaCombinadoEste.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="274" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/7556/3791/320/706015/FotoAereaCombinadoEste.jpg" width="400" /></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-l4k7YcMvgvg/T57L1hYtE0I/AAAAAAAAAmY/RUEbYcNVV2Y/s1600/Combinado2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="262" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-l4k7YcMvgvg/T57L1hYtE0I/AAAAAAAAAmY/RUEbYcNVV2Y/s400/Combinado2.jpg" width="400" /></a><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/7556/3791/320/990504/FotoAerea-CombinadoEste.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/7556/3791/320/990504/FotoAerea-CombinadoEste.jpg" width="280" /></a><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/7556/3791/320/990504/FotoAerea-CombinadoEste.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/7556/3791/400/58920/CeldaCastigoManzanilloPrision.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/7556/3791/400/58920/CeldaCastigoManzanilloPrision.jpg" width="280" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Punishment cell or 'La Gaveta' </td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-l4k7YcMvgvg/T57L1hYtE0I/AAAAAAAAAmY/RUEbYcNVV2Y/s1600/Combinado2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/7556/3791/400/723732/TapiadasCombinadoEste.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="282" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/7556/3791/400/723732/TapiadasCombinadoEste.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Isolation cells or 'Las Tapiadas/Blocked Cells in Combinado del Este Prison. </td></tr>
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<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/7556/3791/320/990504/FotoAerea-CombinadoEste.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/7556/3791/320/657307/CombinadoEste.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/7556/3791/320/657307/CombinadoEste.jpg" width="400" /> </a></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-l4k7YcMvgvg/T57L1hYtE0I/AAAAAAAAAmY/RUEbYcNVV2Y/s1600/Combinado2.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="260" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-l4k7YcMvgvg/T57L1hYtE0I/AAAAAAAAAmY/RUEbYcNVV2Y/s400/Combinado2.jpg" width="400" /></a><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/7556/3791/320/293864/Gavetas.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/7556/3791/320/925876/Guardia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="270" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/7556/3791/320/925876/Guardia.jpg" width="400" /> </a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tJ0SAyVGDcM/T6GL2zbMXzI/AAAAAAAAAm4/svvKHYtqxVM/s1600/Celda-Biscet.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tJ0SAyVGDcM/T6GL2zbMXzI/AAAAAAAAAm4/svvKHYtqxVM/s1600/Celda-Biscet.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Replica of the confinement cell "<i>Solitario</i>" where opposition leader Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet was imprisoned at the Combinado del Este Prison for nearly 8 years. Photo from<a href="http://oscareliasbiscet.blogspot.ca/"> Dr. Biscet's Blog</a></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_zff2b5FzP8/T6GTuMyZTBI/AAAAAAAAAn8/9HptWwPtX6U/s1600/shakira3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_zff2b5FzP8/T6GTuMyZTBI/AAAAAAAAAn8/9HptWwPtX6U/s1600/shakira3.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This torture is commonly known by prison guards in Cuba as 'La Shakira' A prisoner's hands and feet are tied down to his back. The prisoner is then thrown in a rodent infected cell and left there for 48 hours. The name of this torture uses the name of the Colombian singer as a form of mockery and denigration to the dignity of the prisoner who is forced to move his hips desperately in response to the painful position he is in.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Drawing of Dr. Biscet's cell at Combinado del Este. Photo from<a href="http://oscareliasbiscet.blogspot.ca/"> Dr. Biscet's Blog</a><br />
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<u><b><span style="font-size: large;">Whereabouts of the Combinado del Este Prison</span><span style="font-size: large;">:</span></b></u><b><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></b><span style="font-size: large;">Kilometro 13 y medio y Carretera Monumental. Ciudad Habana, Cuba </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><u>Prison Layout:</u> </b>3 Buildings known as 1, 2 and 3 with 4 floors (height) each.<b> </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><u>Political Prisoner</u></b>s: Political prisoners are confined within a section of 'Building 1'</span><span style="font-size: large;"><b><u> </u></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><u>Demographics:</u> </b>An estimate of 5,000 prisoners (Common and Political Prisoners). <u><b> </b></u></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><u>Food:</u> Unfit for human consumption: </b>30 grams of rice, 5 grams of a mixture from flour and soy ground beef, a watered/insipid pea soup. Every 15 days prisoners receive a small piece of chicken. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><u>Jail Cells:</u></b> 3 meters in width, 6 meters in length, 2 meters in height.</span><span style="font-size: large;"><b> </b>Usually in 1 cell there are 8 prisoners. 3 single-persons bed separated by 50 centimeters from each other. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><u>Hygiene:</u></b> Absence of the most basic hygiene is prevalent.<b> </b>Cells are infested with <b>roaches</b>, <b>rats and mosquitoes</b>. Roofs sealed with nylon on top to prevent bathroom residues from falling down. Water is scarce and not drinkable. Prison authorities do not provide disinfectants and prohibit prisoners' families from bringing them when they visit. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><u><b>Overall: </b></u></span> <span style="font-size: large;">Inhuman conditions as it has been reported and denounced by reports from political prisoners. </span><br />
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<u><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Sources consulted:</b></span></u><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Roy Walmsley,<i><u> </u></i><span style="line-height: normal;"><a href="http://www.prisonstudies.org/info/downloads/wppl-8th_41.pdf"><i><u>World Prison Population List</u></i></a>, Eighth Edition (King College, London, December, 2009)</span></span><u><span style="font-size: large;"><b> </b></span></u></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Reynol Vicente Sanchez<a href="http://www.cubademocraciayvida.org/web/article.asp?artID=11969"><b><i>, "Open Letter to Gerardo Hernandez Nordelo"</i></b></a></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Juan O. Tamayo, "Cuban Inmates Complain of Poor Conditions"<a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/03/14/2694164/havana-prison-inmates-complain.html"> El Nuevo Herald</a> </i>(<i>March 14, 2012)</i></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Photos from '<i>El Combinado del Este Prison'</i> extracted from section <a href="http://secretoscuba.cultureforum.net/f2-carceles-de-cuba">'Carceles de Cuba</a>' in forum <a href="http://secretoscuba.cultureforum.net/f2-carceles-de-cuba">Secretos de Cuba</a><b><i> </i></b><i>and Google Search</i> <b><i> </i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><u>Available Online Resources on Combinado del Este Prison:</u></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Dugald McConnell and Brian Todd, "Cuban Prisoners said to Make Videos Exposing Prison Conditions" <a href="http://articles.cnn.com/2012-03-16/americas/world_americas_cuban-prison-videos_1_combinado-del-este-political-prisoners-cuban-dissidents?_s=PM:AMERICAS"><i>CNN</i></a> (March 16, 2012)<i> </i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>CBS4, <a href="http://miami.cbslocal.com/2012/03/16/inside-cuban-prison-walls/">Inside Cuba's Prison Walls</a> </i>(March 16, 2012)</span><span style="font-size: large;">Reynol </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Oscar Elias Biscet, <a href="http://www.lawtonfoundation.com/letters/newsPressRelease/biscetengawardsept08.pdf"><i>To the New York Academy of Sciences </i></a>(September 11, 2008). At the time Dr. Biscet wrote this letter he was confined to cell 1232, Building 1, Hall 2S at Combinado del Este Prison where he was imprisoned for 8 years.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Vicente Sanchez<a href="http://www.cubademocraciayvida.org/web/article.asp?artID=11969"><b><i>, "Open Letter to Gerardo Hernandez Nordelo"</i></b></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Iván Garcia,<b><i> <a href="http://desdelahabanaivan.wordpress.com/2010/05/27/el-combinado-del-este-prison/">El Combinado del Este Prison </a></i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Yamil Dominguez<i>,</i><b><i> </i></b><a href="http://notoriousinjustice.wordpress.com/2010/03/07/combinado-del-este/"><i>Combinado del Este</i></a><b><i> </i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Yoanis Sanchez, "A Visit to Cuba's Largest Prison" <i><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/yoani-sanchez/a-visit-to-cubas-largest-_b_884930.html">The Huffington Post</a> (June 27, 2011</i>)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Hiram Abí Cobas Nuñez, <a href="http://books.google.ca/books?id=YPDLHAAACAAJ&dq=combinado+del+este&hl=en&sa=X&ei=lGuhT6TuCsTd6QHY0rj7CA&ved=0CDoQ6AEwAg">Combinado del Este: Una Carcel Pequeña Tras Otra Grande</a> </i>(Of Human Rights, 1991)</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Mireya Robles,<i> <a href="http://books.google.ca/books?id=AaGZ9o04OIkC&printsec=frontcover&dq=combinado+del+este&hl=en&sa=X&ei=lGuhT6TuCsTd6QHY0rj7CA&ved=0CC4Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=combinado%20del%20este&f=false">Combinado del Este: Me Reflejo en la Callada Respiración de la Yerba</a></i> (2010)</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Inter-American Commission of Human Rights, <a href="http://books.google.ca/books?id=NbhqJjMYmHUC&pg=PA379&dq=combinado+del+este&hl=en&sa=X&ei=lGuhT6TuCsTd6QHY0rj7CA&ved=0CD4Q6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=combinado%20del%20este&f=false"><i>Inter-American Yearbook on Human Rights, 1988</i></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Armando Valladares, <i><a href="http://books.google.ca/books?id=lWEjGOxjKEoC&q=combinado+del+este&dq=combinado+del+este&hl=en&sa=X&ei=lGuhT6TuCsTd6QHY0rj7CA&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAQ">Against All Hopes: the Prison Memoirs of Armando Valladares</a> </i>(Ballantine Books, 1987)</span></div>
</div>El Compañerohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02531510231829887298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1851467119330017898.post-70617176633862436912012-04-30T11:10:00.002-04:002012-04-30T11:57:21.826-04:00HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN TURKEY<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Turkish human rights activist, writer and publisher <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rag%C4%B1p_Zarakolu">Ragip Zarkolu</a> condemns serious freedom of speech violations in Turkey in this revealing letter that the he sent from the <i>Selimiye Prison</i> where he was held prisoner until last week:</span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: small;">"</span>A friend of mine, who worked at the same publishing house as I did, had
told me about the prison long before I was sent to it. Her husband had
spent almost ten years there. This kind of prison establishments are
called F. Tipi (Type F), in other words, they are prisons for criminals
suspected of terrorism. In Turkey the notion of terrorism is fairly
arbitrary; the existing political will and thus the state decides what
is meant by terrorism. Merely to have once met somebody involved in
so-called illegal political activity can be enough to make one suspect
of similar ‘terrorist’ activities.</i><i><span style="font-size: small;">"</span></i></blockquote>
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<span style="font-size: small;">For the complete letter please refer to the <b><a href="http://www.dissidentblog.org/en/articles/turkeys-freedom-speech-crumbling">The Dissident Blog</a>, </b><i>Turkey's freedom of speech is crumbling (</i>Raqip Zarakolu Translation from Swedish: Jan Henrik Swahn)</span></div>El Compañerohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02531510231829887298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1851467119330017898.post-11712249537478005432012-04-26T14:17:00.001-04:002012-04-30T11:11:26.113-04:00ESCAPE FROM CAMP 14<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/apr/13/escape-camp-14-korea-harden-review"><i>Escape from Camp 14</i></a> is a new book that provides an in-depth look at a North Korea, which in my view is the most totalitarian state of our times. It gives testimony of North Korea's harshest concentration
camps (the so called Camp 14) through the eyes of <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304724404577297601797135064.html">Shin Dong Hyuk</a>, a native of Kaetchon
and the only living survivor of those camps. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/HND8kt-aTZw?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">For further information on North Korea I refer you a photo gallery that I titled '<a href="http://totalitarianimages.blogspot.ca/2009/05/north-of-totalitarianism.html">North of Totalitarianism</a>'</span></div>El Compañerohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02531510231829887298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1851467119330017898.post-30768285645718611822012-04-24T11:20:00.002-04:002012-04-25T12:43:37.608-04:00PROFILE OF A COURAGEOUS MAN<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b><i>What is his name?</i></b> His name is Andrés Carrión Alvares. He is 38 years old, with a BA in Social Rehabilitation and a native of Santiago de Cuba. </span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-H6VEZyk8e48/T5bABBsVOhI/AAAAAAAAAj0/0F6UoPMlO94/s1600/AndresCarrionPapa.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-H6VEZyk8e48/T5bABBsVOhI/AAAAAAAAAj0/0F6UoPMlO94/s1600/AndresCarrionPapa.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>What did he do?</b> He dared to speak out and shouted<b> 'FREEDOM FOR CUBA,' </b><b>'DOWN WITH THE DICTATORSHIP</b>' <b>'DOWN WITH COMMUNISM'</b> during Pope's Benedict XVI mass at the Antonio Maceo Square in Santiago de Cuba on March 26, 2012.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Consequences?</b> He was detained and beaten by agents of the Cuban State Security. Up to this day Carrión is arrested in Santiago de Cuba pending trial. </span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FsjTFJWgET4/T5bGQvbcUhI/AAAAAAAAAko/IdwuDzd_6UY/s1600/tankman.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="223" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FsjTFJWgET4/T5bGQvbcUhI/AAAAAAAAAko/IdwuDzd_6UY/s320/tankman.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">With his act of bravery, Carrión reminds the world of those like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tank_Man">China's tankman</a>, the anonymous hero who captured the world's attention when he stood up in font of a column of tanks to prevent the Chinese army from massacring protesters during the Tianamen Rebellion on June 5, 1989. </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Note:</b> Andrés Carrión was released today (April 23, 2012). It is significant to note that the pressure exerted by blogs, social networks (Twitter, Facebook) and other media outlets worldwide led the Castro regime to take this decision. Carrión's release is conditional. He will be on a police watch list and will be detained every time a public demonstration takes place in Cuba.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>REFERENCES:</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Top 3 photos of Andrés Carrión referred via Twitter from <a href="http://desarraigos.blogspot.ca/">Aguaya Berlín</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Photo of China's Tankman taken from <a href="http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2009/06/behind-the-scenes-tank-man-of-tiananmen/">China Digital Times</a> </span></div>
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</div>El Compañerohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02531510231829887298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1851467119330017898.post-48618655738741835662011-11-09T15:05:00.000-04:002012-04-24T09:52:09.659-04:00DECREE 288: HOUSING LAW IN CUBA<div style="color: white; font-family: courier new; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black;"><br /><span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="font-family: courier new;">One of the earliest promises of the Cuban Revolution was an immediate solution to the housing crisis as stated in Fidel Castro's platform during the </span></span></span><span style="font-size: 130%;"><a href="http://www.marxists.org/history/cuba/archive/castro/1953/10/16.htm" style="color: black; font-family: courier new;">History Will Absolve Me</a><span style="color: black; font-family: courier new;"> speech. Indeed, </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: courier new; font-size: 130%;">forceful eviction of peasants or "desalojos" were presented in revolutionary propaganda as the quintessential image representative of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulgencio_Batista">Batista regime</a>. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: courier new; font-size: 130%;">More than half a century later, lack of housing remains as the main social conflict that more than a million ordinary Cubans or </span><span style="color: black; font-family: courier new; font-size: 130%; font-style: italic;">'Cubanos de a Pie.'</span><span style="font-size: 130%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%;"><br /></span><span style="color: black; font-family: courier new; font-size: 130%;">It is in this context and perhaps in response to a possible threat of a rebellion from bellow given the chronic lack of housing that affects Cubans that the government recently decreed a new <a href="http://www.desdecuba.com/generaciony/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/go_x_035_2011.pdf">‘Housing Law’.</a>This law has been praised in certain media outlets without proper analysis is mined with discrimination and an archaic definition of what constitutes property in Cuba. Under the new law, Cubans for the first time since the Castro regime conquered political power in January 1, 1959 will be allowed to buy and sell their houses. But as the saying goes “the devil is in the details.” </span><span style="color: black; font-family: courier new; font-size: 130%;">The law of course does not occur in a vacuum or due to a government interest in the welfare of the people. One needs to understand that lack of housing is the main social issue that impacts most Cubans today and as such it has the potential for a popular explosion against the regime. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="font-family: courier new;">For example, Cubans who abandon the country can sell their properties or bequeath them to relatives, but they cannot keep their houses while living permanently in another country without a government permit. The state on the other hand investigates the “legitimate” origin of those who buy a house as a condition for the sale to go through or be prohibited. With a totalitarian regime controlling the politics and the economy of an entire society it is very difficult to prove the “legitimacy” (according with government definition) of your money. Only government officials can be benefited by measures of this type. The rest of society would have to find ways (as usual) to trick the government bureaucracy, bribe a few people in the process, and get what they want. The most questionable part of DECREE 288 is Article 110 that entrusts the Council of Ministries and its President ( Raúl Castro) with ample powers to decide over properties located in certain areas of the country. In other words, this means that the properties located in the best neighbourhoods (Vedado, Nuevo Vedado, </span><span style="font-family: courier new;">Miramar</span><span style="font-family: courier new;">, Siboney, Tarará, Varadero, etc) are reserved for the government elite. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="color: black; font-family: courier new;">Article 110: The Executive Committee of the Council of Ministries or his President can decide in reference to households located in certain areas of the country …. Source: </span><a href="http://www.gacetaoficial.cu/edicante.php" style="color: black; font-family: courier new;">Decree 288</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="color: black;">There is of course the issue of ‘legitimacy’ in proving the origin of your money. In a totalitarian state where the government controls all political, cultural, social and economic activity how can anyone other than a limited number of state official of the highest rank, certain musicians and a bunch of professionals who travel and receive revenue in US dollars can prove that their money is legitimate? Certainly, this excludes the ordinary Cubans who receive remittances from relatives abroad but cannot prove the “authenticity” (according to state perceptions) of their money as the agency or networks they use is in most cases not connected with the Cuban government. The rest only leaves us with those that thrive under the ‘Illegal” economy and in </span><span style="color: black;">Cuba</span><span style="color: black;"> the state deems illegal most economic activities.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 130%;">Graphic Evidence that proofs how the Cuban government evicts people from their houses.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 130%;"><a href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_2b2HzIA4ZXg/R_aP0EJG_rI/AAAAAAAABdw/3kIurddy10s/s400/Des4.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_2b2HzIA4ZXg/R_aP0EJG_rI/AAAAAAAABdw/3kIurddy10s/s400/Des4.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 295px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%;"><a href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_2b2HzIA4ZXg/R_aPwkJG_qI/AAAAAAAABdo/0HmdhUroaT8/s400/Des3.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_2b2HzIA4ZXg/R_aPwkJG_qI/AAAAAAAABdo/0HmdhUroaT8/s400/Des3.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 298px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a></span><span style="font-size: 130%;"><a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_2b2HzIA4ZXg/R_aPsUJG_pI/AAAAAAAABdg/OBWTOULimWw/s400/Des2.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_2b2HzIA4ZXg/R_aPsUJG_pI/AAAAAAAABdg/OBWTOULimWw/s400/Des2.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 266px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a></span><span style="font-size: 130%;"><a href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_2b2HzIA4ZXg/R_aPnkJG_oI/AAAAAAAABdY/kQmnhezIosw/s400/Des-1.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_2b2HzIA4ZXg/R_aPnkJG_oI/AAAAAAAABdY/kQmnhezIosw/s400/Des-1.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 301px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a></span><span style="font-size: 130%;">A family with 4 children, a pregnant mother in the province of Holguin, Cuba living on the side of the highway as the government evicted from their house with the excuse that "their houses were illegally constructed." Pictures from <a href="http://www.therealcuba.com/">The Real Cuba</a> (April, 2008). History repeats once again. The forceful eviction or "desalojos" that were harshly condemned in revolutionary propaganda, is now recurrent image in present day Cuba.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%;"><a href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_2b2HzIA4ZXg/R46OZr60WbI/AAAAAAAABFc/ftWoNtOfZ1A/s400/OrdenDesalojo1.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_2b2HzIA4ZXg/R46OZr60WbI/AAAAAAAABFc/ftWoNtOfZ1A/s400/OrdenDesalojo1.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 319px;" /></a></span><span style="font-size: 130%;">Prior to the issuing of Decree 288, there were other similar laws that equally gave the Cuban government ample powers over houses and even small villages settled in places the regime "deemed of interest."</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%;">For example this document is a copy of 'Notification of Forceful Expropriation' handed to Enrique Dominguez Gutierrez of Las Morlas, Varadero, Cuba by the corporation ALMEST a subsidiary of Cuba's Armed Forces. The document orders Dominguez and his family to abandon the location as it is of "state interest." Source: <a href="http://www.therealcuba.com/">The Real Cuba</a> January 16, 2008.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%;"><a href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_2b2HzIA4ZXg/R46Ojb60WcI/AAAAAAAABFk/qJxpxd_5D_U/s400/Las+Morlas.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_2b2HzIA4ZXg/R46Ojb60WcI/AAAAAAAABFk/qJxpxd_5D_U/s400/Las+Morlas.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 300px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><span style="font-family: lucida grande;">The Village of Las Morlas, Varadero, Cuba. January, 2008</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%;"><a href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_2b2HzIA4ZXg/R46Orr60WdI/AAAAAAAABFs/-d-BGk5b50A/s400/Las+Morlas-2.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_2b2HzIA4ZXg/R46Orr60WdI/AAAAAAAABFs/-d-BGk5b50A/s400/Las+Morlas-2.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 279px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><a href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_2b2HzIA4ZXg/R46Ojb60WcI/AAAAAAAABFk/qJxpxd_5D_U/s400/Las+Morlas.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_2b2HzIA4ZXg/R46Ojb60WcI/AAAAAAAABFk/qJxpxd_5D_U/s400/Las+Morlas.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 300px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a></span><span style="font-size: 130%;"><a href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_2b2HzIA4ZXg/R46Orr60WdI/AAAAAAAABFs/-d-BGk5b50A/s400/Las+Morlas-2.jpg"> </a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="font-family: lucida grande;">A tractor demolishing Las Morlas</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%;"><a href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_2b2HzIA4ZXg/R46QSL60WeI/AAAAAAAABF0/BKrbWckP7eQ/s400/PuntoControlPolicial.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_2b2HzIA4ZXg/R46QSL60WeI/AAAAAAAABF0/BKrbWckP7eQ/s400/PuntoControlPolicial.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 300px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="font-family: lucida grande;">Police surveillance built in the entrance of this village to prevent former inhabitants of this location from entering again. Source <a href="http://www.therealcuba.com/">The Real Cuba</a>,<span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">January 16, 2008</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">REFERENCES:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%;"><span class="texto2">Castro Internet Archive, <a href="http://www.marxists.org/history/cuba/archive/castro/1953/10/16.htm">History Will Absolve Me</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%;"><span class="texto2"> Gaceta Oficial de Cuba, November 2, 2011: <a href="http://www.gacetaoficial.cu/edicante.php">CE Decreto-Ley No. 288; </a>BCC R. No. 85/11; INV RC. 01/11; Rs. Nos. 342, 343/11; MFP R. No. 351/11; MINJUS R. No. 270/11.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%;">The <a href="http://www.therealcuba.com/">Real Cuba</a></span><span style="font-size: 130%;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%;"><span class="texto2">Wikipedia, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulgencio_Batista">Fulgencio Batista</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%;"><span class="texto2">Yoanis Sanchez, <a href="http://www.desdecuba.com/generationy/?p=2735">The Starting Line, Generation Y</a></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 100%;"><br /> </span>El Compañerohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02531510231829887298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1851467119330017898.post-46752989666791968502011-11-03T13:04:00.000-04:002012-04-24T09:51:36.314-04:00FORBIDDEN MUSIC IN THE USSR<div style="color: black; font-family: lucida grande; font-family: lucida grande; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 130%;"><span style="color: #333333;"><br /><span style="color: black; font-family: arial; font-weight: bold;">Evidence shows that </span></span><a href="http://www.historyguide.org/europe/lecture10.html" style="color: black; font-family: arial; font-weight: bold;">totalitarian regimes</a><span style="color: black; font-family: arial; font-weight: bold;"> approach certain type of music as a threat to power and ideology. It turns out that oppressive governments fear the effect certain music creates on the people and how this impacts the relationship between subordinates and those in power. Those of us who grew up in Cuba understand the meaning of music censorship as the Cuban government adopted a similar anachronistic mentality when </span><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2009/02/04/us-beatles-odd-idUSTRE5133U620090204" style="color: black; font-family: arial; font-weight: bold;">censoring</a><span style="color: black; font-family: arial; font-weight: bold;"> music throughout the past decades, from the </span><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2009/02/04/us-beatles-odd-idUSTRE5133U620090204" style="color: black; font-family: arial; font-weight: bold;">Beatles</a><span style="color: black; font-family: arial; font-weight: bold;"> to </span><a href="http://www.pornopararicardo.org/" style="color: black; font-family: arial; font-weight: bold;">Porno para Ricardo</a><span style="color: black; font-family: arial; font-weight: bold;">. The author of this blog for example was reprimanded with a note on the </span><span style="color: black; font-family: arial; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">'Student File/Expediente Acumulativo'</span><span style="color: black; font-family: arial; font-weight: bold;"> that pointed to </span><span style="color: black; font-family: arial; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">'ideological deviation/diversionismo ideologico</span><span style="color: black; font-family: arial; font-weight: bold;"> for writing the name of rock bands in my class notebook.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: black; font-family: arial; font-weight: bold;">Browsing through the web in search of similar blogs on totalitarianism I came across this </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: arial; font-size: 130%; font-weight: bold;">interesting</span><span style="font-size: 130%; font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: black; font-family: arial;"> post from a Blog titled </span><a href="http://my-meaningless-thoughts.blogspot.com/" style="color: black; font-family: arial;">'The Weirdo's Dairy</a><span style="color: black; font-family: arial;">' by alias Fuzz (a.k.a Simona Jareckaite) from Birzai, Lithuania.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: black; font-family: arial;">The post reproduces a 1985 document extracted from the Soviet archives that shows important evidence about music censorship in the former Soviet Union. The document compiles a list of musicians and groups that government representatives in the </span><span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: black; font-family: arial;">Nikolayev regional of Ukraine considered "harmful" to Soviet ideology. Eventually these ideological bureaucrats ordered the Konsomol (Communist Youth in the Soviet Union) to prohibit reproduction of this music in discotheques.</span><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QaAsI3Ow2rI/TrLJ6ltPDQI/AAAAAAAAAiM/abVCNmeJCaY/s1600/MusicUSSR.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5670816889204313346" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QaAsI3Ow2rI/TrLJ6ltPDQI/AAAAAAAAAiM/abVCNmeJCaY/s400/MusicUSSR.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 287px;" /></a></span><span style="font-size: 130%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%;"> </span><span style="font-size: 130%;"><span lang="EN-US">Translation of the document by </span></span><span style="font-size: 130%;"><a href="http://my-meaningless-thoughts.blogspot.com/2011/06/forbidden-freedom-rock-music-in-ussr_11.html">Simona Jareckaite</a></span><span style="font-size: 130%;"><span lang="EN-US">“Group Name and Type of Propaganda” - Extracts<br />For a complete list see: </span></span><span style="font-size: 130%;"><a href="http://my-meaningless-thoughts.blogspot.com/2011/06/forbidden-freedom-rock-music-in-ussr_11.html"><span style="font-style: italic;">Forbidden freedom: Rock music in the USSR and Soviet Lithuania</span></a></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 130%;"><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: lucida grande; font-size: 130%; font-weight: bold;">6. Kiss - neofascism, punk, violence</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: lucida grande; font-size: 130%; font-weight: bold;">9. Iron Maiden - violence, religious obscurantism</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 130%;">10. Judas Priest - anticommunism, racism</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 130%;">11. AC/DC - neofascism, violence</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: lucida grande; font-size: 130%; font-weight: bold;">13. Black Sabbath - violence, religious obscurantism</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 130%;">14. Alice Cooper - violence, vandalism</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: lucida grande; font-size: 130%; font-weight: bold;">16. Scorpions - violence</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: lucida grande; font-size: 130%; font-weight: bold;">19. Pink Floyd - distortion of Soviet foreign policy ("Soviet aggression in Afghanistan")</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: lucida grande; font-size: 130%; font-weight: bold;">24. Donna Summer - eroticism</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 130%;">25. Tina Turner - sex</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 130%;">26. Junior English - sex</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: lucida grande; font-size: 130%; font-weight: bold;">29. Ramones - punk</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 130%;">30. Van Halen - anti-Soviet propaganda</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 130%;">31. Julio Iglesias - neofascism</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: lucida grande; font-size: 130%; font-weight: bold;">34. Village People - violence</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%;">For the complete 3 parts document please click this link to redirect your browser to the <a href="http://my-meaningless-thoughts.blogspot.com/2011/06/forbidden-freedom-rock-music-in-ussr_11.html">Weirdo's Dairy</a>, <a href="http://my-meaningless-thoughts.blogspot.com/2011/06/forbidden-freedom-rock-music-in-ussr_11.html"><span style="font-style: italic;">Forbidden freedom: Rock music in the USSR and Soviet Lithuania</span></a></span></div>El Compañerohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02531510231829887298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1851467119330017898.post-33516699444391810672011-10-29T14:59:00.000-04:002012-04-24T09:42:37.242-04:00FACES OF HATE<div style="color: black; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: lucida grande; font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;"><i><span lang="EN-US"><br /><span style="color: black; font-family: courier new; font-size: 130%;">Terror is an essential part of every totalitarian regime. Along with the Secret Police, organized snitching and other coercive methods used by repressive states, 'Hate Mobs' have played a fundamental role as disguised members of the spontaneous masses who allegedly repress dissidents on their own initiative. The term <a href="http://europeanhistory.about.com/od/thefrenchrevolution/a/hfr8_2.htm">'Mob'</a> has been widely used by historians to describe the events that led to the <a href="http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/French_Revolution.aspx">French Revolution</a> and the terror that followed. A form of organized collective violence, 'Hate Mobs' members are hand picked and organized by oppressive governments. Their existence is a calculated move by those in power to intimidate the citizenry and play with outside image and propaganda. By having a group of supposed "civilians" (rather than men and woman in uniform) repressing human rights activists, independent journalists, bloggers, dissidents, a government can later on claim not being responsible for the actions of these mobs. Note that whereas some of the examples shown here correspond to government use of mobs against political opponents, in other cases mob violence originates in the totalitarian spirit of certain groups in society due to political, racial, ethnic, nationalistic and religious intolerance. Besides the common government involvement in certain dictatorial/tyrannical regimes, the existence of mob violence occurs also as a result of anarchy, inability/unwillingness of the police to operate at a particular moment or due to the chaos that occurs in civil wars, popular revolts, revolutions, etc. </span></span></i></span><span style="color: black; font-family: courier new; font-size: 130%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 100%; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 180%;">CUBA: QUICK RESPONSE BRIGADES/BRIGADAS DE <span style="color: red;">RESPUESTA RAPIDA</span></span></span><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 100%;">Whereas the name </span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 100%; font-style: italic;">'Brigadas de Respuesta Rapida</span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 100%;"> or </span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 100%; font-style: italic;">'Quick Response Brigades'</span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 100%;"> is a name given to state organized mobs in Cuba since 1988-1989, the Castro regime has organized since 1960 mobs of this type against those the state considered their "enemies" - political dissidents, independent journalists, human rights activists, artists, intellectuals, homosexuals, prostitutes, religious people, those leaving the country, etc.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 100%;"><a href=""><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5668992188381403906" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-E6AjuG08NOQ/TqxOXBbwGwI/AAAAAAAAAdo/i6nHxI-RnrU/s400/Logo6.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 175px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: lucida grande;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://elarchivodelchiva.blogspot.com/">Hate Mobs</a> in Cuba, 1980-2011.</span> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 100%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: lucida grande;">A collage of pictures compiled by the author of this Blog as the Logo for '<a href="http://elarchivodelchiva.blogspot.com/">El Archivo del Chiva'</a> or '<a href="http://elarchivodelchiva.blogspot.com/">The Snitch Archive'</a>. These faces correspond to state organized hate mobs in Cuba. These mobs do not constitute in most cases the "spontaneous acts of the people" against those that dissent against the state as the Cuban government claims. They are hand picked members from Interior Ministry, Communist Youth, Federation of University Students, Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, the Blas Roca Brigades, and other ideological organizations. </span><span style="font-family: lucida grande;">Note that it takes a certain kind of evil human being to commit despicable acts of this type. The original photos were taken by foreign news correspondents in Cuba (AP, AFP, Reuters) as well as brave dissidents, bloggers, independent journalists and anonymous Cubans.</span></span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZT4Wl1TfazI/TrFPMMyRnuI/AAAAAAAAAhA/87rHXedXUw0/s1600/Armas.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5670400476845285090" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZT4Wl1TfazI/TrFPMMyRnuI/AAAAAAAAAhA/87rHXedXUw0/s400/Armas.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 300px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: lucida grande;">Weapons used by 'Quick Action Brigades/Brigadas de Respuesta Rapida' in Cuba to repress dissidents. Source: Photo sent from Cuba by political dissident Luis Felipe Rojas and published in his Blog </span><a href="http://cruzarlasalambradas.wordpress.com/2011/05/29/brigadas-para-matar-a-un-cubano/" style="font-family: lucida grande;">Cruzar las Alambradas</a></span> on May 29, 2011.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1D2ybxY9TtI/TrFPzIRiYYI/AAAAAAAAAhM/5eTs3UVNFqY/s1600/Orientaciones1.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5670401145649127810" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1D2ybxY9TtI/TrFPzIRiYYI/AAAAAAAAAhM/5eTs3UVNFqY/s400/Orientaciones1.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 311px;" /></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--zpKJcyxdug/TrFP51Z3SHI/AAAAAAAAAhY/Z1mIiGqgMEI/s1600/Orientaciones2.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5670401260842862706" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--zpKJcyxdug/TrFP51Z3SHI/AAAAAAAAAhY/Z1mIiGqgMEI/s400/Orientaciones2.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 323px;" /></a><span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: lucida grande;">This is a written evidence that proofs the Cuban government encourages and organizes Quick Action Brigades. This is a 2 page document extracted from a government board in the province of Holguin, Cuba. It delineates instructions given by the regime to his followers on how to create Brigades in government enterprises (Overwhelmingly most enterprises in Cuba belong to the government), the amount of members for each brigade, the type of "rustic" weaponry to be used by squadrons, the ideological leader, etc. Source: Document sent from Cuba by Luis Felipe Rojas and published in his Blog </span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/cruzarlasalambradas.wordpress.com/2011/05/29/brigadas-para-matar-a-un-cubano/" style="font-family: lucida grande;">Cruzar las Alambradas</a><span style="font-family: lucida grande;"> on May 29, 2011</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 100%;"><br /></span><a href="http://elarchivodelchiva.blogspot.com/2011/02/la-institucionalizacion-de-la.html"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_2T4U5FX3TCc/TVL1HkPrIpI/AAAAAAAAARs/7lfyxr4jzOo/s400/BrigadaRespuestaRapida.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 239px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><span style="font-family: lucida grande; font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Quick Response Brigades/Brigadas de Respuesta Rapida</span> en Cuba armed with maces to repress dissidents</span><span style="font-family: lucida grande; font-size: 100%;">. Placard in the back reads: "Socialism Here." Original source for this photo is unknown to the author of this Blog. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 100%;"><br /></span><a href="http://politicacubana.blogspot.com/2007/12/la-marcha-contra-el-apartheid-en-cuba-y.html"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_2b2HzIA4ZXg/R12-nzF-gsI/AAAAAAAAA48/ZjBoE7sSKvQ/s400/Marcha-1.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 246px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: lucida grande;">December 10, 2007.<span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> International Day for Human Rights</span>. A picture of Dr. Darsy Ferrer (blue jeans and jacket/with his wife) As every year on this day Dr. Darsy Ferrer leads a group of protesters in Havana to publicly condemn discrimination and human rights abuses in Cuba. </span>In response, the Cuban regime deployed the Quick Response Brigades and the State Security Police (visible and invisible with police dressed in uniform and civilian clothes) to end the protest by force. Photo from AP/El Nuevo Herald<br /><br />What follows compiles pictures of the Quick Response Brigades against Dr. Ferrer's protest on Dec 10, 2007. Approximately 100 government organized brigades were sent by the regime to the site of the protest.<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://politicacubana.blogspot.com/search?q=rostros+de+odio+"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_2b2HzIA4ZXg/R12-NjF-gnI/AAAAAAAAA4U/4-Japc5Kltg/s400/Marcha6.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 375px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a></span><span style="font-size: 100%;">Regime followers accused dissidents of being "mercenaries" "scum" and "traitors." Photo from AP/El Nuevo Herald.<br /><br /><a href="http://politicacubana.blogspot.com/search?q=rostros+de+odio+"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_2b2HzIA4ZXg/R12-IjF-gmI/AAAAAAAAA4M/63mD-9KpaIQ/s400/Marcha7.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 290px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a></span><span style="font-size: 100%;">Collective Hysteria and extremism is what every totalitarian regime encourages among his most devoted followers. </span><span style="font-size: 100%;">Photo from AP/El Nuevo Herald.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 100%;"><br /></span><a href="http://politicacubana.blogspot.com/search?q=rostros+de+odio+"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_2b2HzIA4ZXg/R12-DzF-glI/AAAAAAAAA4E/tuzXhN9DW7Y/s400/Marcha8.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 268px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><span style="font-size: 100%;">Cult of personality reflected in the 'Quick Response Brigades' shouts and hurrahs to their rulers: 'Long live Fidel' 'Long Live Raúl'. </span><span style="font-size: 100%;">Photo from AP/El Nuevo Herald.</span></div>
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<a href="http://politicacubana.blogspot.com/search?q=rostros+de+odio+"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_2b2HzIA4ZXg/R1282TF-gZI/AAAAAAAAA2k/7P8sLpPdHEs/s400/Marcha20.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 301px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://politicacubana.blogspot.com/search?q=rostros+de+odio+"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_2b2HzIA4ZXg/R129gjF-gfI/AAAAAAAAA3U/_Xdq5h2SfAw/s400/Marcha14.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 278px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><a href="http://politicacubana.blogspot.com/search?q=rostros+de+odio+"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_2b2HzIA4ZXg/R2Sqc760VVI/AAAAAAAAA8g/FnqBtnocUas/s400/Esbirro2006.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 223px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><a href="http://politicacubana.blogspot.com/search?q=rostros+de+odio+"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_2b2HzIA4ZXg/R2Sqir60VWI/AAAAAAAAA8o/srWhGmh8jBg/s400/Esbirro2007.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 312px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><span style="font-family: lucida grande; font-size: 100%;">A leading thug in the Quick Response Brigades. He participated in state repression against Dr. Darsy Ferrer in 2006 and 2007. The level of 'screaming' 'hate' and 'extremism' makes this a reenactment of 'The Two Minutes of Hate' in George Orwell's 1984 novel? </span><span style="font-size: 100%;">All previous photos from AP/El Nuevo Herald.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 100%;"><br />Another important target of government repression in Cuba is against <a href="http://www.damasdeblanco.com/">The Ladies in White/Damas de Blanco</a>, created soon after the '<a href="http://www.damasdeblanco.com/primavera/primavera2003.asp">Black Spring/Privamera Negra' del 2003</a> when the Cuban government arrested hundreds of human rights activists, independent journalists and dissidents. In response to the wave of repression launched by the Cuban regime, a group of women established the Ladies in White in the Spring of 2003. For the past decade, these brave women have led public protests through the streets of Havana, Santiago de Cuba and other provinces in demand for the liberation of all political prisoners in Cuba. 'Quick Response Brigades' have been sent by the government to repress Ladies in White since their inception as an organization. </span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kDFGq4ldSG4/TlCG0gk8KaI/AAAAAAAAFBw/IcKMrBL5M4Q/s400/damasviolencia.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kDFGq4ldSG4/TlCG0gk8KaI/AAAAAAAAFBw/IcKMrBL5M4Q/s400/damasviolencia.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 210px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 316px;" /></a><span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: lucida grande;">March, 2011. House of Laura Pollán in Havana surrounded by Quick Action Brigades. A Lady in White harassed by hate mobs. Government Brigades are attempting to block the march of the Ladies in White. Source: Rolando Pujol / EFE / </span><a href="http://www.elnuevoherald.com/2011/08/19/1007384/violento-ataque-a-damas-de-blanco.html" style="font-family: lucida grande;">El Nuevo Herald</a></span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_2T4U5FX3TCc/S9nGWZX1srI/AAAAAAAAAL0/HPr1WnSdf78/s400/chiva7.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_2T4U5FX3TCc/S9nGWZX1srI/AAAAAAAAAL0/HPr1WnSdf78/s400/chiva7.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 284px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2T4U5FX3TCc/S9nGqLXR4vI/AAAAAAAAAMc/2a2QFZp8_CA/s400/chiva3.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2T4U5FX3TCc/S9nGqLXR4vI/AAAAAAAAAMc/2a2QFZp8_CA/s400/chiva3.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 393px;" /></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2T4U5FX3TCc/S9nGkyG-9DI/AAAAAAAAAMU/O3iwTZc5xqo/s400/chiva4.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2T4U5FX3TCc/S9nGkyG-9DI/AAAAAAAAAMU/O3iwTZc5xqo/s400/chiva4.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 300px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 300px;" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_2T4U5FX3TCc/S9nGZ66UGcI/AAAAAAAAAL8/qVKrw2I066A/s400/chiva6.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_2T4U5FX3TCc/S9nGZ66UGcI/AAAAAAAAAL8/qVKrw2I066A/s400/chiva6.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 170px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 226px;" /></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_2T4U5FX3TCc/S9nGTcn-JxI/AAAAAAAAALs/i2a8FCs8lcA/s400/chiva8.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_2T4U5FX3TCc/S9nGTcn-JxI/AAAAAAAAALs/i2a8FCs8lcA/s400/chiva8.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 395px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><span style="font-family: lucida grande; font-size: 100%;">April, 2010. Quick Response Brigade members attempt to mocker the Ladies in White without understanding the effect of these photos as demonstrations of extremism and hatred by organized followers of the Castro regime towards dissidents and human rights activists. </span>Original sources for the previous 5 photos is unknown to the author of this Blog.</div>
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<a href="http://politicacubana.blogspot.com/search?q=rostros+de+odio+"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qJF-iYe2DLM/Tl5F4AtanLI/AAAAAAAAFCQ/7_psWFoRH6Q/s400/represion-contra-las-damas-de-blanco.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 285px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a>August, 2011. Violence against a member of the Ladies in White by Quick Response Brigades. This picture shows a female member of the Cuba's State Security applying a Judo choke technique to arrest this brave dissident and disable her capacity to speak. This is a common repressive method in Cuba aimed to prevent dissidents from shouting for freedom while been arrested. Photo from El Nuevo Herald.</div>
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<a href="http://politicacubana.blogspot.com/search?q=rostros+de+odio+"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2b2HzIA4ZXg/SyNrO7REAAI/AAAAAAAAEpM/ZeWykLy5EXQ/s400/Poyan.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 331px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 399px;" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://politicacubana.blogspot.com/search?q=rostros+de+odio+"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_2b2HzIA4ZXg/SyNrYVq80yI/AAAAAAAAEpU/FKUplRa_moY/s400/Poyan2.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 276px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a></div>
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December 10, 2009. Laura Pollán (1948-2011) (white T-shirt with the number 75 which is the number of political prisoners arrested in 2003 0 and a flower in her hand) founder/leader of the Ladies in White led a street demonstration during the International Day for Human Rights. In the picture she is surrounded by Quick Response Brigades who offend her and the Ladies in White. Photos from El Nuevo Herald.</div>
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<a href="http://politicacubana.blogspot.com/search?q=rostros+de+odio+"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_2b2HzIA4ZXg/SyNrHQZImkI/AAAAAAAAEpE/BqIS2l0TjuU/s400/HistericasLevantando.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 263px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><span style="font-size: 100%;">December 10, 2009. Note that this thug (yellow/brown blouse) is a common face in the Quick Response Brigades. Photo from El Nuevo Herald.<br /></span><a href="http://politicacubana.blogspot.com/search?q=rostros+de+odio+"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_2b2HzIA4ZXg/SyNrBYNlrHI/AAAAAAAAEo8/WgFFhKJjfo8/s400/GolpeandoDama.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 283px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 399px;" /></a><span style="font-size: 100%;">Carrying mazes camouflaged with folded newspapers, a Quick Brigade member prevents the mobility/pushes back Berta Soler (Co-founder of the Ladies in White) 10 Dec, 2009. Photo from El Nuevo Herald. </span></div>
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<a href="http://politicacubana.blogspot.com/search?q=rostros+de+odio+"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_2b2HzIA4ZXg/SyJfr8Hz6SI/AAAAAAAAEnE/hiDLzyuFQvY/s400/TurbaDamas2.gif" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 262px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 316px;" /></a><span style="font-size: 100%;">10 Dec, 2009. A hysterical member of the Quick Response Brigades shouting all sorts of insults against Ladies in White. Most likely this old lady is a leading member of the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR) in her neighborhood. Photo from El Nuevo Herald.<br /></span><a href="http://politicacubana.blogspot.com/search?q=rostros+de+odio+"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-49S-8EoWE9Y/TXM4LPTS-nI/AAAAAAAAAVY/Vk208WM3Gfs/s400/golpeandoopositoras.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 265px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><span style="font-size: 100%;">5 March, 2011. A member of the Ladies in White forcibly arrested and thrown to the floor by female members of the State Security. </span></div>
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<a href="http://politicacubana.blogspot.com/search?q=rostros+de+odio+"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5670038723774915170" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZTpEGvbZvVo/TrAGLZlQImI/AAAAAAAAAd0/a4euIO8bO0Y/s400/arrestoReinaTamayo.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 220px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 250px;" /></a><span style="font-family: lucida grande; font-size: 100%;">Arrest of <a href="http://marcmasferrer.typepad.com/uncommon_sense/2011/06/reina-luisa-tamayo-arrives-in-america-cuba.html">Reina Luisa Tamayo</a> mother of Orlando Zapata Tamayo who was murdered by the Cuban state as a result of police brutality while incarcerated. In this picture, a female member of the State Security arrested Reina Luisa Tamayo who led numerous protests in memory of her murdered son and for the freedom of Cuba. Photo from El Nuevo Herald. </span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_2b2HzIA4ZXg/SwggacEAC8I/AAAAAAAAEg8/x9FYQGrgD_s/s400/Rei2.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_2b2HzIA4ZXg/SwggacEAC8I/AAAAAAAAEg8/x9FYQGrgD_s/s400/Rei2.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 262px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_2b2HzIA4ZXg/SwggW3li_MI/AAAAAAAAEg0/Bgb4OtcW6oY/s400/Rei1.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_2b2HzIA4ZXg/SwggW3li_MI/AAAAAAAAEg0/Bgb4OtcW6oY/s400/Rei1.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 300px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2b2HzIA4ZXg/SzpXM67RI7I/AAAAAAAAEuM/TXBkne68bek/s400/REscobar.gif"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2b2HzIA4ZXg/SzpXM67RI7I/AAAAAAAAEuM/TXBkne68bek/s400/REscobar.gif" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 336px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 316px;" /></a><span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: lucida grande;">20 November, 2009. Photo of Reinaldo Escobar (middle) arrested by State Security Agents. When Cuban blogger and independent journalist Reinaldo Escobar publicly challenged a state security agent in charge of blogger/dissident surveillance (Agente Rodney) to a public debate, the government responded with force rather than reason. The regime sent the 'Quick Action Brigades' to the site where Escobar was and organized a Repudiation Act against him. State security agents kidnapped Escobar and transported took him to one of the most marginal towns in Havana where they released him late at night. Objective? To encourage that common delinquents assaulted and kill Escobar. Source: </span><span style="font-family: lucida grande; font-style: italic;">Batalla Contra las Ideas,</span><span style="font-family: lucida grande;"> </span><a href="http://politicacubana.blogspot.com/2009/11/batalla-contra-las-ideas.html" style="font-family: lucida grande;">Blog Del Compañero</a><span style="font-family: lucida grande;"> via </span><a href="http://fotoscubahoy.blogspot.com/2009/11/revuelta-en-la-habana-contra-bloguero.html" style="font-family: lucida grande;">Fotos desde Cuba Hoy</a><span style="font-family: lucida grande;"> (original links from Fotos desde Cuba/El Nuevo Herald no longer exist).</span></span></div>
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<a href="http://elarchivodelchiva.blogspot.com/2011/02/repudio-entre-cubanos.html"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5M9SEAhNuQg/TVQh9VzZ9hI/AAAAAAAAATk/FZQZDGQ6kUA/s400/violence1.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 180px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://elarchivodelchiva.blogspot.com/2011/02/repudio-entre-cubanos.html"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-69ndd8UGAfk/TVQh32ylYnI/AAAAAAAAATc/8WoBNtC-KXY/s400/violence2.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 180px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><a href="http://elarchivodelchiva.blogspot.com/2011/02/repudio-entre-cubanos.html"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aRvGoWijALk/TVQhxCa_NMI/AAAAAAAAATM/9EN5ew3CR58/s400/Mariel4.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 180px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><a href="http://elarchivodelchiva.blogspot.com/2011/02/repudio-entre-cubanos.html"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cY4fe6ks6uo/TVQh1HX_bHI/AAAAAAAAATU/oLu16FtOYzU/s400/Mariel3.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 180px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 100%;">April-May, 1980. Brutal beating in Cuba by state organized 'Hate Mobs' against former political prisoners lining up in the Official Interest Section in Havana the in April-May, 1980 during the period known as the<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariel_boatlift"> 'Mariel Exodus</a><a href="http://cuban-exile.com/doc_026-050/doc0033.html">.' </a>Picture from Cuban State Television. </span></div>
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<a href="http://elarchivodelchiva.blogspot.com/2011/02/repudio-entre-cubanos.html"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zivfND3tSF0/TVQj7NtP6xI/AAAAAAAAATs/Z7cRKe984-Q/s400/TurbasRepudio1.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 282px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><span style="font-size: 100%;">April-May, 1980. Hate mobs in Cuba with placards quoting words from a speech by Fidel Castro given on May 1, 1980. The pogroms were directed against Cubans who decided to exit the country: In the placards it says: "Cuba for Workers: Get out all those who live from the sweat of our work." "The scum has to leave the country"</span></div>
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<a href="http://elarchivodelchiva.blogspot.com/2011/02/repudio-entre-cubanos.html"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qvXmyxwF1fU/TVQk9_-xvZI/AAAAAAAAAT0/novGzFcVb9Y/s400/turbasrepudio2.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 221px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><span style="font-family: lucida grande; font-size: 100%;">April-May, 1980. Hate mobs in Cuba with placards that stated: "Out with the scums" "Out with anti socials."<br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: lucida grande; font-size: 180%; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;">PANAMA: </span>DIGNITY BATALLIONS - NORIEGA DICTATORSHIP</span><span style="font-family: lucida grande; font-size: 180%; font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6Gb_F4EyjSQ/TrAK-wmKSXI/AAAAAAAAAeY/3W60PardeaA/s1600/batallions3.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5670044004172581234" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6Gb_F4EyjSQ/TrAK-wmKSXI/AAAAAAAAAeY/3W60PardeaA/s400/batallions3.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 265px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><span style="font-size: 100%;">WorldPress photo. Arrest of Billy Ford by Dignity Batallions</span><br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wo2UWjs7yN0/TrAH82wfMbI/AAAAAAAAAeM/Q2OgZsAlHvY/s1600/batallones2.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5670040672931885490" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wo2UWjs7yN0/TrAH82wfMbI/AAAAAAAAAeM/Q2OgZsAlHvY/s400/batallones2.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 271px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: lucida grande; font-size: 100%;"><br /></span><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2jywKtyniRs/TrAHXtTkVUI/AAAAAAAAAeA/LrTELrzY4yc/s1600/batallones1.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5670040034739508546" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2jywKtyniRs/TrAHXtTkVUI/AAAAAAAAAeA/LrTELrzY4yc/s400/batallones1.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 285px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7KpGkRQwvfg/TrANrvVxjsI/AAAAAAAAAew/mMkAFo3dJxw/s1600/noriega-castro.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5670046975952785090" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7KpGkRQwvfg/TrANrvVxjsI/AAAAAAAAAew/mMkAFo3dJxw/s400/noriega-castro.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 364px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 345px;" /></a><span style="font-size: 100%;">Manuel Antonio Noriega and Fidel Castro.<br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 100%;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dignity_Battalions">Dignity Batallions</a> were created at the end of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_Noriega">Manuel Antonio Noriega's dictatorship</a>. Noriega was a corrupt dictator with links to drug trafficking, terrorist/drug groups such as the FARC and several drug Cartels from Colombia and the the Fidel Castro regime who inundated Panamá with spies and laundry money operations. Most likely Noriega imitated the idea of the Dignity Batallions from Castro. Batalloneros or Dignity Batallion members were followers of Noriega's dictatorship from the lower classes (farmer and peasants) trained to represspolitical opponents who complained about government fraud in the elections of 7 May 1989. Opponents were followers of the political candidate for president Guillermo Endara. The picture shows the arrest of Guillermo 'Billy' Ford the running mate of Endara for the vice presidency. Ford eventually became vide president under the Endara presidency after the US led invasion and subsequent return to democracy in Panamá. Photo appeared in 1989 in the cover of Time Magazine and Newsweek. Ford eventually became vice president after the overthrow of the Noriega dictatorship in December, 1989</span>. Photo also shown in <a href="http://www.myspace.com/danjanet507/photos/albums/album/2273800">Noriega's Panamá</a>.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6mOmYB0AmRo/TrALkEFPMTI/AAAAAAAAAek/UIvgRLls558/s1600/batallones4.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5670044645058359602" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6mOmYB0AmRo/TrALkEFPMTI/AAAAAAAAAek/UIvgRLls558/s400/batallones4.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 266px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a>Batalloneros or Dignity Batallion members in the Santa Fe Plaza in Panama City on 10 May, 1989. Source: <a href="http://www.myspace.com/danjanet507/photos/albums/album/2273800">Noriega's Panamá</a>.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 180%; font-weight: bold;">THAILAND: PRO GOVERNMENT MOBS - SUNDARAVEJ REGIME</span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-p34R1Tudu0A/TrAXfKuhChI/AAAAAAAAAe8/VnY3ktkyi-o/s1600/thai1.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5670057755082295826" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-p34R1Tudu0A/TrAXfKuhChI/AAAAAAAAAe8/VnY3ktkyi-o/s400/thai1.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><span style="font-family: lucida grande; font-size: 100%;">September 3, 2008. State of Emergency in Thailand. Pro-Government mobs in Bangkok, Thailand brandished weapons to break an opposition march. Opponents demanded that Prime Minister Amak Sundaravej quit from office. </span>Photograph: Wason Wanichakorn/AP/<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/03/thailand">The Guardian</a></div>
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<span style="font-family: lucida grande; font-size: 180%; font-weight: bold;">VENEZUELA: BOLIVARIAN CIRCLES - CHAVEZ REGIME</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 100%;">With 2.3 million members nation wide in Venezuela, The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolivarian_Circles">Bolivarian Circles</a>/<a href="http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%C3%ADrculos_bolivarianos">Circulos Bolivarianos</a> are rank and file organizations created by the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-10086210">Hugo Chavez</a> government to spread the ideas of the so called <a href="http://worldnews.about.com/od/venezuela/f/bolivarianrevolution.htm">Bolivarian Revolution</a> among the population at large, specially the lower classes. opposition members in Venezuela have criticized these "circles" as violent hordes used to repressed those that dissent against the Chavista regime.<br /></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-u32oRvxVIW4/TrAZ_A-AeDI/AAAAAAAAAfs/zVd_82lK_SY/s1600/Logo-Circulos.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5670060501241985074" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-u32oRvxVIW4/TrAZ_A-AeDI/AAAAAAAAAfs/zVd_82lK_SY/s400/Logo-Circulos.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 320px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 302px;" /></a></span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QYCAiY7cpO8/TrAZW1W432I/AAAAAAAAAfU/ht91Bef2Qb4/s1600/logo.jpg"><br /></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qk3Kps5hsxI/TrAZi0xoo5I/AAAAAAAAAfg/dmKIssuXFYo/s1600/circulosbolivarianosinfantiles.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5670060016932529042" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qk3Kps5hsxI/TrAZi0xoo5I/AAAAAAAAAfg/dmKIssuXFYo/s400/circulosbolivarianosinfantiles.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 247px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a></span><span style="font-size: 100%;">The 'children's division of the Bolivarian Circles/Circulos Bolivarianos. Source: <a href="http://www.reportero24.com/2010/10/luis-alfredo-rapozo-circulos-bolivarianos-infantiles-%C2%BB/">Reportero 24</a> The use of minors for political purposes, indoctrination and extremist tendencies is a major human rights violation</span><span style="font-size: 100%;">. Bolivarian Circles Logo - </span><span style="font-size: 100%;">Source: <a href="http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=hate+mobs+in+latin+america&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=1148l5230l0l5768l32l23l3l0l0l0l461l4121l2.14.4.0.2l24l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&biw=1280&bih=844&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi#um=1&hl=en&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=circulos+bolivarianos+&pbx=1&oq=circulos+bolivarianos+&aq=f&aqi=&aql=1&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=7949l12835l0l13411l32l29l4l12l12l0l221l1956l1.9.3l13l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=58d6abcf16e8fdb2&biw=1280&bih=815">Google Images</a><br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--7I_ruTw2KE/TrAZCkHQU6I/AAAAAAAAAfI/FqR51GCiYNc/s1600/circulos.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5670059462703993762" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--7I_ruTw2KE/TrAZCkHQU6I/AAAAAAAAAfI/FqR51GCiYNc/s400/circulos.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 300px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a></span><span style="font-size: 100%;">Armed members of the Bolivarian Circles in Venezuela. Source: <a href="http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=hate+mobs+in+latin+america&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=1148l5230l0l5768l32l23l3l0l0l0l461l4121l2.14.4.0.2l24l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&biw=1280&bih=844&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi#um=1&hl=en&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=circulos+bolivarianos+&pbx=1&oq=circulos+bolivarianos+&aq=f&aqi=&aql=1&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=7949l12835l0l13411l32l29l4l12l12l0l221l1956l1.9.3l13l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=58d6abcf16e8fdb2&biw=1280&bih=815">Google Images</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: lucida grande; font-size: 180%; font-weight: bold;">INDIA - HINDUTVA MOBS </span><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OrqEsGdhbMA/TrAjs1iTTmI/AAAAAAAAAf4/v9KGXrTvQK4/s1600/hindutva.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5670071184051621474" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OrqEsGdhbMA/TrAjs1iTTmI/AAAAAAAAAf4/v9KGXrTvQK4/s400/hindutva.JPG" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 271px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><span style="font-size: 100%;">An extreme form of ultra nationalism and alleged Hindu superiority is practiced by the <a href="http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/Article_62122.shtml">Hindutva </a>Mobs in India. Their doctrine is based on hate and violence against 'Non-Hindu' minorities. Source/Photo from<a href="http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/Article_62122.shtml"> Axis of Logic</a>: Shahid Siddiqi, <a href="http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/Article_62122.shtml"><span style="font-style: italic;">A Story of Hate & Terror</span></a><br /></span><span style="font-family: lucida grande; font-size: 180%; font-weight: bold;">UNITED STATES - ANGRY WHITE MOBS AND RACIAL SEGREGATION </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><br /></span><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DiDY8IoO8zg/TrCoA-7-thI/AAAAAAAAAgE/uDnN6r6rmd0/s1600/Little%2BRock%2BMobs%2B1957.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5670216665707492882" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DiDY8IoO8zg/TrCoA-7-thI/AAAAAAAAAgE/uDnN6r6rmd0/s400/Little%2BRock%2BMobs%2B1957.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 357px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: lucida grande;">Even at the heat of a free nation there are certain groups that preach totalitarianism. Behind every extremist attitude there is a totalitarian mentality in action. There is exception to this rule in the case of certain groups in the United States up to the 1950s and 1960s when certain groups persisted in maintaining racial segregation in the South. Actions resulting from this mentality resulted in angry white mobs physically attacking and repressing Afro Americans, specially those in the Civil Rights Movement. The picture shows the use of violence by white mobs against an Afro American in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957. Source: </span><a href="http://bilgrimage.blogspot.com/2009/08/town-hall-mobs-and-politics-of-racism.html" style="font-family: lucida grande;">Bilgrimage</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: lucida grande; font-size: 180%; font-weight: bold;">INDIA: FLASH MOBS, POLICE INACTION AND RELIGIOUS INTOLERANCE </span><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CWqc07N3mV4/TrCthnllrNI/AAAAAAAAAgQ/nb9KnD6BDvM/s1600/ViolenceagainstJW.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5670222723933383890" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CWqc07N3mV4/TrCthnllrNI/AAAAAAAAAgQ/nb9KnD6BDvM/s400/ViolenceagainstJW.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 208px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 300px;" /></a><span style="font-family: lucida grande; font-size: 100%;">September 7, 2011. Religious intolerance in the city of Karnataka in Southern India. A violent mob physically attacked to Jehovah Witnesses who were peacefully speaking about the Bible. Source: Press Review Online: JW News, <a href="http://www.tdgnews.it/en/?p=3468"><span style="font-style: italic;">Inaction of Police Emboldens Mob Violence in Southern India</span></a><br /></span><span style="font-family: lucida grande; font-size: 180%; font-weight: bold;">ANTI SEMITIC VIOLENCE </span><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rk7JOgX1SmI/TrCvsh8R2TI/AAAAAAAAAgc/x-CRcxse66I/s1600/antijew.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5670225110419757362" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rk7JOgX1SmI/TrCvsh8R2TI/AAAAAAAAAgc/x-CRcxse66I/s400/antijew.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 273px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><span style="font-size: 100%;">Mob Violence against Jews in 1881 during the rule of Tsar Alexander III in Russia. (Newspaper illustration)<br />"From Russian <i>погром</i> "a wreaking of havoc" Source: <a href="http://elegance4life.blogspot.com/2011/07/albert-einstein-zionism-humanitarian_31.html">Listen Vanessa</a></span><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-beWjMDTZjBw/TrCw0ftBFzI/AAAAAAAAAgo/JTtqCI3GgVY/s1600/DREYFUS.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5670226346769454898" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-beWjMDTZjBw/TrCw0ftBFzI/AAAAAAAAAgo/JTtqCI3GgVY/s400/DREYFUS.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 291px;" /></a><span style="font-size: 100%;">1896 - Switzerland. Anti-Semitic outpouring unleashed by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trial_and_conviction_of_Alfred_Dreyfus">Dreyfus trial.</a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">"Reporting on the trial for a Viennese newspaper, journalist Theodor Herzl notes the anti-Antisemitism rampant in the very cradle of Jewish emancipation. He concludes that full acceptance of Jews in Europe is impossible."</span><br />The newspaper reports mobs shouting: <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">"Death to the Jews! Death to the traitors!"</span><br />Source: <a href="http://elegance4life.blogspot.com/2011/07/albert-einstein-zionism-humanitarian_31.html">Listen Vanessa </a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: lucida grande; font-size: 180%; font-weight: bold;">JAMAICA: HOMOPHOBIC MOBS</span><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Xwqzeuz5sME/TrCzPBZOv_I/AAAAAAAAAg0/FsEEatiiqFo/s1600/Jamaica.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5670229001513123826" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Xwqzeuz5sME/TrCzPBZOv_I/AAAAAAAAAg0/FsEEatiiqFo/s400/Jamaica.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 208px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 350px;" /></a><span style="font-family: lucida grande; font-size: 100%;">February 15, 2007: An angry homophobic mob of 2,000 gathered around a pharmacy in St. Andrew, Jamaica because 3 men whom they had branded as homosexuals were hiding inside. The police was called to the scene to rescue the 3 "visibly terrified men." The police had to fire tear gas to the crowd to escort the men into their vehicles. Source: Towleroad, <a href="http://www.towleroad.com/2007/02/angry_homophobi.html"><span style="font-style: italic;">Angry Mob of 2,000 attacks, Stones Gays in Jamaica. </span></a></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: lucida grande;">These photos were initially taken from <span style="font-style: italic;">El Nuevo Herald/AP/AFP/Reuters</span> and other foreign correspondents in Cuba. They were also taken by courageous bloggers, independent journalists, dissidents in Cuba and sent abroad. Most of these pictures have widely circulated on the Internet and are also available in various websites on Cuba. In many cases the URL (original source) to the initial links where I obtained the pictures no longer exist as websites such as El Nuevo Herald newspaper leave only certain news available for a brief period of time to non-members and then the photos/links/news are removed from accessibility. This Blog in any way claims authorship for any of these photos. My intention is absolutely non profit. The objective of 'Totalitarian Images' is merely educational and condemnatory. I aim publish on this Blog information, analysis and historical facts on totalitarian regimes as well as make visible violence and human rights violations to those interested on the topic. In most cases the author of this Blog will refer to other websites that have also published these pictures. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: lucida grande;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: lucida grande; font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Interested on this topic? Here are some educational references:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: lucida grande;">Ann Coutler, </span><a href="http://saberpoint.blogspot.com/2011/10/lets-hear-it-for-mob.html" style="font-family: lucida grande;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Demonic</span></a><span style="font-family: lucida grande;"> (A book that describes the psychology of mobs) </span></span><span style="font-family: lucida grande; font-size: 100%;"><br />Gustave Le Bon, <b style="font-style: italic; font-weight: normal;">The crowd : a study of the popular mind</b><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: lucida grande; font-size: 100%;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: lucida grande; font-size: 100%;">Gustave Le Bon, <b style="font-style: italic; font-weight: normal;">The psychology of the people</b></span><span style="font-family: lucida grande; font-size: 100%;"><br />Williand D. Carrigan, ed., <span style="font-style: italic;">Lynching reconsidered: New perspective in the study of mob violence</span></span><span style="font-family: lucida grande; font-size: 100%;">Mobs during the French Revolution. <a href="http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=mobs+french+revolution&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=508l2790l0l3008l23l14l0l0l0l0l318l2080l2.11.0.1l14l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&biw=1280&bih=844&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi">Gallery of Images</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: lucida grande; font-size: 100%;">Mobs during the Russian Revolutions. <a href="http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=mobs+french+revolution&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=508l2790l0l3008l23l14l0l0l0l0l318l2080l2.11.0.1l14l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&biw=1280&bih=844&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi#um=1&hl=en&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=mobs+russian+revolution+&pbx=1&oq=mobs+russian+revolution+&aq=f&aqi=&aql=1&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=1106075l1109081l0l1109377l24l23l0l16l1l1l227l1112l1.5.1l7l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=58d6abcf16e8fdb2&biw=1280&bih=815">Gallery of Images</a></span></div>
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</div>El Compañerohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02531510231829887298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1851467119330017898.post-63740406858543576562011-10-26T09:12:00.000-04:002012-04-24T08:55:29.607-04:00WHERE THERE IS POWER, THERE IS RESISTANCE<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<span style="color: black; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="color: black;">This </span></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 130%; font-weight: bold;">photo</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 130%;"> shows a political opponent (opositor) in Cuba arrested in the province of Santa Clara by Cuba's Revolutionary National Police (PNR). Image from STR/AFP/Getty via El Nuevo Herald who published this picture on October 26, 2011 in a post titled "Denuncian Acoso de Opositores en Cuba."</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 130%;"> </span></span></span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5gcJeluJoQg/TqgHbIzSjII/AAAAAAAAAZA/TEoe5ThxL7I/s1600/PoliceStateCuba.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5667788293846240386" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5gcJeluJoQg/TqgHbIzSjII/AAAAAAAAAZA/TEoe5ThxL7I/s400/PoliceStateCuba.jpg" style="cursor: hand; display: block; height: 386px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 316px;" /></a><span style="font-family: lucida grande; font-size: 85%;"><a href="http://www.elnuevoherald.com/2011/10/25/1052767/denuncian-acoso-de-opositores.html"></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: lucida grande; font-size: 130%;">As the saying goes: Where there is power, there is resistance. This is the case in today’s </span><span style="font-family: lucida grande; font-size: 130%;">Cuba</span><span style="font-family: lucida grande; font-size: 130%;"> where political opposition has expanded throughout the island. In the past, the core of political opposition lived mostly in the capital city </span><span style="font-family: lucida grande; font-size: 130%;">Havana</span><span style="font-family: lucida grande; font-size: 130%;"> but in the past years the political spectrum in </span><span style="font-family: lucida grande; font-size: 130%;">Cuba</span><span style="font-family: lucida grande; font-size: 130%;"> has changed considerably, particularly after the creation of the Coalición Central Opositora or Oppossition’s Central Coalition. This group operates in the </span><span style="font-family: lucida grande; font-size: 130%;">province</span><span style="font-family: lucida grande; font-size: 130%;"> of </span><span style="font-family: lucida grande; font-size: 130%;">Villa Clara</span><span style="font-family: lucida grande; font-size: 130%;"> and throughout different towns in the central region of the island. The Cuban government finds this group particularly threatening for diverse reasons. Their members are mostly young with a heavy representation of Afro Cubans and women and their resistance is open and public through street demonstrations in rural areas that in the past did not know or saw open signs of political dissidence. The <i>'coalición'</i> is integrated by ordinary Cubans or cubanos de a pie across race, gender, class and generations. They call for “the end of impunity, the end of police aggression against opponents and the end of dictatorship in Cuba” They demand a thorough investigation on the death of one of their members Juan Wilfredo Soto who died of pancreatitis days after he was the target of a brutal police beating in a public park in his native city of Santa Clara. As with most things related to politics in </span><span style="font-family: lucida grande; font-size: 130%;">Cuba</span><span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="font-family: lucida grande;">, the Coalición takes inspiration from previous history and martyrs such as </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedro_Luis_Boitel" style="font-family: lucida grande;">Pedro Luis Boitel</a><span style="font-family: lucida grande;">, a university student leader sentenced to 10 years in prison for opposing the revolution’s disregards for personal liberties and its communist adoption. He was tortured, beaten and died in a hunger strike while incarcerated.</span><br /></span><span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="font-size: small; font-weight: bold;">For more information on Juan Wilfredo Soto and the Central Opposition Coalition, refer to these websites:</span><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 100%;">Cuban Democratic Directorate: <span style="font-style: italic;">"</span><a href="http://www.directorio.org/pressreleases/note.php?note_id=2995" style="font-style: italic;">Protest in </a></span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><a href="http://www.directorio.org/pressreleases/note.php?note_id=2995" style="font-style: italic;">Cuba to demand whereabouts of detained and beaten activists."</a></span><span style="font-size: 100%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 100%;">The </span><span style="font-size: 100%;">Miami</span><span style="font-size: 100%;"> Herald</span><span style="font-size: 100%;">: <a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/05/10/2210205_p2/cuba-denies-police-beating-of.html">"Cuba</a></span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/05/10/2210205_p2/cuba-denies-police-beating-of.html"> Police Says it did not beat dissident."</a></span> </div>
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<span style="font-size: 100%;">Along the Malecón: <a href="http://alongthemalecon.blogspot.com/2011/05/dissidents-death-sparks-alarm-in-cuba.html">"Dissident’s death sparks alarm in </a></span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><a href="http://alongthemalecon.blogspot.com/2011/05/dissidents-death-sparks-alarm-in-cuba.html">Cuba."</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 100%;">Babalu Blog</span><span style="font-size: 100%;">: <a href="http://babalublog.com/2011/07/cuban-opposition-members-in-santa-clara-under-siege/">"Cuban opposition members in </a></span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><a href="http://babalublog.com/2011/07/cuban-opposition-members-in-santa-clara-under-siege/">Santa Clara under siege."</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 100%;">Notes from the Cuban Exile Quarter: <a href="http://cubanexilequarter.blogspot.com/2011/09/is-this-bleak-cuban-autumn.html"><span style="font-style: italic;">"Is this the Start of a Bleak Cuban Autumn?"</span></a></span></div>El Compañerohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02531510231829887298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1851467119330017898.post-85022241598133427312011-10-18T13:47:00.000-04:002011-11-03T18:19:23.010-04:00LEADER OF CUBAN WOMEN'S DISSIDENT GROUP DEAD<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Rcb9GwPX3Qw/Tp2_7UHPSVI/AAAAAAAAAY0/FvJWQXuqHZc/s1600/pollanbrazoinye.jpeg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Rcb9GwPX3Qw/Tp2_7UHPSVI/AAAAAAAAAY0/FvJWQXuqHZc/s400/pollanbrazoinye.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5664894932034210130" border="0" /></a><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} </style> <![endif]--> <p style="text-align: justify; font-family: lucida grande; font-style: italic; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style=""><span style="font-weight: bold;">Photo</span> of Laura Pollán. Laura Pollan with a broken arm and a cast. Her injury was the result of a police beating in reprisal for her demand to liberate all political prisoners in Cuba. In the picture, taken days before her hospitalization, Pollán is leading a street demonstration while signalling the 'L' for 'libertad/freedom.' For the past 3 years, Pollán suffered almost constant harassment campaign of Hate Mobs, organized by the Cuban government. Picture also referred in news blog: <a href="http://www.hispanicallyspeakingnews.com/notitas-de-noticias/details/leader-of-cubas-ladies-in-white-in-intensive-care/10856/">'Notica de Noticias'</a></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;"> <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id="ieooui"></object> <style> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} </style> <![endif]--> </div><p style="text-align: justify; font-family: lucida grande;font-family:verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-CA">Last Friday night, Laura Pollán a dissident leader and founder of the group Ladies in White died of a “heart attack” in the Calixto Garcia hospital in </span><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-CA">Havana</span><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-CA">. The <a href="http://www.damasdeblanco.com/">Ladies in White</a><a href="http://www.damasdeblanco.com/"> </a>were founded in the <a href="http://www.damasdeblanco.com/primavera/primavera2003.asp">spring of 2003</a>. They <a href="http://politicacubana.blogspot.com/2008/04/quien-tiene-los-pantalones-bien-puestos.html">protest the incarceration of hundreds of Cubans </a>for political reasons during the so called <a href="http://www.damasdeblanco.com/primavera/primavera2003.asp">“Dark Spring” of 2003</a>. Over the past years, Pollán had been at the forefront of <a href="http://politicacubana.blogspot.com/2008/04/las-damas-de-la-valentia-las-damas-del.html">popular protests throughout the streets of </a></span><a href="http://politicacubana.blogspot.com/2008/04/las-damas-de-la-valentia-las-damas-del.html"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-CA">Havana</span></a><span style=""> pressuring the Raul Castro regimen to liberate all political prisoners as well ending the laws and institutions responsible for putting disaffected Cubans under bars. Pollán was hospitalized with a “rare” respiratory disease. In the process of her hospitalization she was diagnosed with Dengue and 8 days latter was report by Cuban authorities to have died of a “heart attack.” Her husband Hector Maceda (a political prisoner) declared his intention to investigate his wife’s death and any possible government involvement in it.<br /></span></span></p><div style="font-family: lucida grande; text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: lucida grande;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; font-family: lucida grande;font-family:verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-size:130%;" >Since late February, 2002, Orlando Zapata and Wilfredo Soto, two Cuban political opponents have died as a result of brutal police beatings.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: lucida grande;font-size:130%;" >S</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family: lucida grande;">ource: Miami Herald</span><a style="font-style: italic; font-family: lucida grande;" href="http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/10/14/2454687/pollan-founder-of-ladies-in-white.html">, Pollán, founder of the Ladies in White, dies of heart attack</a></span><br /></span></p>El Compañerohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02531510231829887298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1851467119330017898.post-22729299696048474302011-01-21T12:31:00.000-05:002011-11-03T18:01:27.970-04:00DUVALIER: SUPERSTITON, TERROR AND POWER<p style="text-align: justify;font-family:verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;"> </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;" face="verdana"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;"> </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;font-family:verdana;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; font-family: lucida grande;font-family:verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;">In recent days<span style=""> </span>the former dictator of Haiti Jean Claude Duvalier (AKA 'Baby Doc') from 1971 to 1986 returned to his country. He was greeted by a group of supporters and an inefficient legal system that barely laid mediocre charges (corruption) rather than holding him accountable for the thousands of killings during his regime.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify; font-family: lucida grande;font-family:verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;">Most likely the intentions of the former dictator are returning to power. Duvalier escaped Haiti in 1986 in the midst of a popular rebellion against his regime. Duvalier is rresponsible for the imprisonment, torture and killings of thousands of Haitians during his regime.A peculiarity of his dictatorship was the ‘voodoo’ witchcraft’ as a means to intimidate a nation predisposed towards superstitions and with the highest levels of illiteracy and poverty world wide.<br /></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: lucida grande;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; font-family: lucida grande;font-family:verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;"> </span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: lucida grande;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; font-family: lucida grande;font-family:verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;">What follows is a photo gallery with the most onerous aspects of the Duvalier dictatorship and what can </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;">Haiti</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;"> expect if this thug returns to power:</span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: lucida grande;"> </div><div style="font-family: lucida grande; text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hegUUbkQ2CU/TTnFy78ICGI/AAAAAAAAAXY/djoVOl3yn9A/s1600/Duva1.jpeg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 274px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hegUUbkQ2CU/TTnFy78ICGI/AAAAAAAAAXY/djoVOl3yn9A/s400/Duva1.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5564696293466966114" border="0" /><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} </style> <![endif]--></a></span><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} </style> <![endif]--> </div><p style="text-align: center;font-family:verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;">Photo taken from <a href="http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/tontons.htm">Latin American Studies</a></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;">The 'Tonton Macoutes' or Secret Police were the main force used by Jean Claude Duvalier to intimidate political opponents. This terror militia was created during the regime of Duvalier's father 'Papa Doc' Duvalier in 1959 and renamed 'MVSN' or Volunteer Militias of National Security. They were modelled on the Italian fascist 'Blackshirts' and in Haitian creole the term 'Tonton Macoute is the equivalent of 'bogeyman.'</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;font-family:verdana;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;">Tonton Macoute members wore dark glasses, wielded machetes, and left their victims hanging in<span style=""> </span>public places as a warning to others. They cultivated the image of being voodoo demons or zombies. They often had firearms but resorted to machetes and blades to inflict severe and grievous bodily harm to victims.</span></p><div face="verdana" style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;">In the international media the story circulated that Tonton Macoute kidnapped political dissidents and exposeed them to voodoo rituals in which a certain substances were given to prisoners to provoke brain damage. Popularly these was known as ‘turning people into zombies”</span></p><div face="verdana" style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></div><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hegUUbkQ2CU/TTn2eIMmWuI/AAAAAAAAAXg/b9vt8MG_Rjk/s1600/duv1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 372px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hegUUbkQ2CU/TTn2eIMmWuI/AAAAAAAAAXg/b9vt8MG_Rjk/s400/duv1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5564749812049795810" border="0" /></a></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:100%;">A Tonton Macoute brandishing his 'machete.'</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;">Photo taken from <a href="http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/tontons.htm">Latin American Studies</a></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hegUUbkQ2CU/TTn2--70J-I/AAAAAAAAAXo/i3BuOwqDwyw/s1600/duv2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hegUUbkQ2CU/TTn2--70J-I/AAAAAAAAAXo/i3BuOwqDwyw/s400/duv2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5564750376499161058" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-size:100%;">Photo taken from <a href="http://tented.blogspot.com/2011/01/tonton-macoute-baby-doc-duvalier.html">Boom 3</a><br /></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;"><br />The 'machete' became a weapon used by the Tonton Macoutes and pro Duvalier groups to terrorize the populace and slash political opponents into pieces in public.</span></div><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} </style> <![endif]--> </div><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hegUUbkQ2CU/TToGQKHuOkI/AAAAAAAAAXw/CapJ89NPs4E/s1600/duv3.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 306px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hegUUbkQ2CU/TToGQKHuOkI/AAAAAAAAAXw/CapJ89NPs4E/s400/duv3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5564767164234086978" border="0" /></a></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family:verdana;"> </div><p style="text-align: center;font-family:verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">Francois Duvalier and Jean Claude 'Baby Doc' Duvalier</span><span style="font-size:100%;">. Photo taken from <a href="http://webster.edu/%7Ecorbetre/haiti/leaders/duvalier-f.htm">Webster.edu</a></span></p><p style="text-align: center;font-family:verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br />- Dictator of Haiti from 1971 - 1986</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">- Became dictator at age 19 through dynastic succession as he inherited political power from his father, also dictator 'Francois Duvalier'</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">- Presided over a corrupted government and he personally accumulated a wealth of hundreds of millions of dollars by exerting a monopoly on the tobacco industry – the Régie du Tabac (Tobacco Administration) and later extended to other government enterprises.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">- Married Michèle Bennett, a mulatto divorcée in a wedding that had a cost of $3 million in one of the most impoverished nations on earth</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">- Brought to power a new ‘mulatto elite’ and alienated to old ‘black middle’ class that had supported his father Francois Duvalier.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">- A regimen characterized by high levels of inequalities which motivated popular protests nation wide.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">- The Duvalier regime responded to dissidence by closing independent radio stations, and repressing political opponents through the use of terror and his private militia the Tonton Macoutes.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></div><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-size:100%;"><br />Source: Quick reference on Jean Claude Duvalier from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Claude_Duvalier">Wikipedia</a></span><br /></span>El Compañerohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02531510231829887298noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1851467119330017898.post-7368036859904530212011-01-19T14:35:00.001-05:002011-10-27T15:29:37.290-04:00POGROMS IN CUBA BY HATE MOBS<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hegUUbkQ2CU/TTc9K51vzLI/AAAAAAAAAXQ/to0Qum4zM64/s1600/ActoRepudioDamadeBlanco.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 275px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hegUUbkQ2CU/TTc9K51vzLI/AAAAAAAAAXQ/to0Qum4zM64/s400/ActoRepudioDamadeBlanco.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5563983122173775026" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: lucida grande;">Two representatives of Cuba's Ladies in White (Damas de Blanco) rally on the streets of Havana demanding the freedom of all political prisoners and face extremist mobs organized by the Cuban government who insult and use all forms of repressions against this courageous women.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: lucida grande;">To the left (Belinda Bargaza (wearing glasses) and Berta Soler (with a white cap) face pro extremist pro government supporters most likely from Communist Youth Union (UJC) who shout insults and attempt to make public mockery of the Ladies in White. This is the type of extremists groups organized by the Cuban government against independent journalists, human right activists, bloggers , dissidents, political opponent and other supporters of democracy in the island.</span><br /></span><br /></span></div>El Compañerohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02531510231829887298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1851467119330017898.post-58644870004917870472011-01-18T13:08:00.000-05:002011-10-27T15:29:57.874-04:00POPULIST DEMOCRACY<div style="text-align: justify; font-family: lucida grande;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:100%;">This is the type of "thoughtful" and “credible” excuse that the authoritarian ruler of Venezuela Hugo Chavez Frias invokes when he wants to "justify" a state of emergency, censorship of the press, cancellation of individual liberties and accumulation of powers through the </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">so-called "Ley Habilitante</span>."</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><br />Presently Hugo Chavez has absolute legislative powers and oversteps the function of the National Assembly in which the people of Venezuela elected a significant representation of the oppositionist parties.</span><br /></span></div><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" style="font-family: lucida grande;" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hegUUbkQ2CU/TTXXP3Q7AFI/AAAAAAAAAXI/YZYrGctTVeE/s1600/ChavezStateofEmergency.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 298px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hegUUbkQ2CU/TTXXP3Q7AFI/AAAAAAAAAXI/YZYrGctTVeE/s400/ChavezStateofEmergency.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5563589582219051090" border="0" /></a></span>El Compañerohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02531510231829887298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1851467119330017898.post-77536617228637303632010-02-20T11:02:00.000-05:002011-10-29T14:16:28.533-04:00BROTHERLY LEADER<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hegUUbkQ2CU/S4AImO9R3eI/AAAAAAAAAWk/OWIKO72yQMo/s1600-h/gaddafi1.gif"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 251px; height: 331px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hegUUbkQ2CU/S4AImO9R3eI/AAAAAAAAAWk/OWIKO72yQMo/s400/gaddafi1.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5440357802806730210" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hegUUbkQ2CU/S4AIibq_s3I/AAAAAAAAAWc/2QFf8E2gJTc/s1600-h/gaddafi5.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hegUUbkQ2CU/S4AIibq_s3I/AAAAAAAAAWc/2QFf8E2gJTc/s400/gaddafi5.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5440357737500226418" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hegUUbkQ2CU/S4AIftReYOI/AAAAAAAAAWU/V1T34lCOokc/s1600-h/gaddafi7.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 270px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hegUUbkQ2CU/S4AIftReYOI/AAAAAAAAAWU/V1T34lCOokc/s400/gaddafi7.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5440357690685415650" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hegUUbkQ2CU/S4AIc5Np4eI/AAAAAAAAAWM/ORWIuInOkTk/s1600-h/gaddafi8.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 180px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hegUUbkQ2CU/S4AIc5Np4eI/AAAAAAAAAWM/ORWIuInOkTk/s400/gaddafi8.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5440357642351010274" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hegUUbkQ2CU/S4ATN09iZhI/AAAAAAAAAWs/asdS345CzII/s1600-h/un-cartoon.gif"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 270px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hegUUbkQ2CU/S4ATN09iZhI/AAAAAAAAAWs/asdS345CzII/s400/un-cartoon.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5440369478139536914" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: lucida grande;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" >Name:</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> Muammar Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi<br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" >Country:</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> Libya<br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" >Birthday:</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> 1942<br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" >Died:</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" >21 October, 2011, captured and allegedly killed by Libyan rebels </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" >Dates in Power:</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> 01 September 1969- current<br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" >How Leader Came into Power:</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> military coup<br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" >Classification:</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> military dictator<br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" >Nuclear Capability:</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> yes (probably)<br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" >Major Achievements:</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> infamous dictator known for supporting many terrorist groups- these days appears to have grown somewhat more moderate<br /><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" >GADDAFI`S DICTATORSHIP IN A NUTSHELL</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br />- Colonel Muammar Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi was born in 1942<br />- De facto leader of Lybia since 1969<br />- `Informal Dictator. Officially he holds no public office or title but is is referred to as "Guide of the First of September Great Revolution of the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya" or "</span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" >Brotherly Leader</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> and Guide of the Revolution" in government statements and the official press.<br />- Comes from a nomadic Bedouin peasant family in the desert region of Sirte.<br />- Gaddafi began his involvement in conspiratorial politics early during his years in preparatory school in Fezzan from 1956 to 1961.<br />- Inspired on Gamal Abdel Nasser then President of Egypt and his message for Arab unity, Gaddafi and a small group of friends established the core leadership of a militant revolutionary group that eventually seized power in Lybia.<br />- After graduation as a lawyer in the Law School at the University of Libya he entered the Military Academy in Benghazi in 1963 where he and he and a select circle of fellow militants organized a secretive group dedicated to overthrowing the pro-Western Libyan monarchy.<br />- After graduation in 1965 Gaddafi was sent to the Royal Military Academy in Sandhurst, Great Britain returning to Lybia in 1966 as a commissioned officer in the Signal Corps.<br />- On September 1, 1969, a small group of military officers led by Gaddafi staged a coup d'état against King Idris I, while he was in Turkey for medical treatment.<br />- Unlike other military dictators, Gaddafi did not promote himself to the rank of general upon seizing power, but rather accepted a ceremonial promotion from captain to colonel and has remained at this rank for the last thirty-seven years.<br />- His new regime was a blend of Arab nationalism, aspects of the welfare state and what Gaddafi termed "direct, popular democracy."<br />- He called this system "Islamic socialism" and while he permitted private control over small companies, the government controlled the larger ones. Welfare, "liberation" and education were emphasized.<br />- Based on his ``Green Book`` published in 1976 Gaddafi imposed aystem of Islamic morals, outlawing alcohol and gambling to reinforce the ideals of this socialist-Islamic state.<br />- </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" >Gaddafi`s form of government utilizes systematic terror as he has responded and responds to domestic and external opposition with violence.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" >- Thorough his `Revolutionary Committees` Gaddafi called for the assassination of Libyan dissidents living abroad in February 1980, with Libyan hit squads sent abroad to murder them.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br />- After Nasser`s death on September 28, 1970, Gaddafi attempted to take up the mantle of ideological leader of Arab nationalism by proclaiming the "Federation of Arab Republics" (Libya, Egypt and Syria) in 1972, hoping to create a pan-Arab state, but the three countries disagreed on the specific terms of the merger.<br />- In 1974 he signed n agreement with Tunisia's Habib Bourguiba on a merger between the two countries, but it failed.<br />- Gaddafi became a strong supporter of the Palestine Liberation Organization, which ultimately harmed Libya's relations with Egypt when in 1979 Egypt pursued a peace agreement with Israel.<br />- As Libya's relations with Egypt worsened, Gaddafi sought closer relations with the Soviet Union. Libya became the first country outside the Soviet bloc to receive the supersonic MiG-25 combat fighters, but Soviet-Libyan relations remained relatively distant.<br />- Notable in his open support for liberation movements, in most cases Muslim groups, by the 1970s Gaddafi`s regime won a reputation for ubversion and terrorist activities in both Arab and non-Arab countries.<br />- By the mid-1980s, he was widely regarded in the West as the principal financier of international terrorism.<br />- The west has accused Gaddafi as been the major financier of the "Black September Movement" which perpetrated the Munich massacre at the 1972 Summer Olympics, and was accused by the United States of being responsible for direct control of the 1986 Berlin discotheque bombing that killed three people and wounded more than 200, of which a substantial number were U.S. servicemen. He is also said to have paid "Carlos the Jackal" to kidnap and then release a number of the Saudi Arabian and Iranian oil ministers.<br />- Tensions between the United States and Lybia reached a peak during the Ronald Reagan administration, which tried to overthrow Gaddafi.<br />- he Reagan administration saw Libya as an unacceptable player on the international stage because of its uncompromising stance on Palestinian independence, its support for revolutionary Iran in its 1980-1988 war against Saddam Hussein's Iraq (see Iran-Iraq War), and its backing for "liberation movements" in the developing world. In March 1982 the U.S. declared a ban on the import of Libyan oil and the export to Libya of US oil industry technology; Europe did not follow suit.<br />- Libya's involvement with and support for terrorism were confirmed in late 1987 when a merchant vessel, the MV Eksund, was intercepted. Destined for the IRA, a large consignment of arms and explosives supplied by Libya was recovered from the Eksund.<br />- For most of the 1990s, Libya endured economic sanctions and diplomatic isolation as a result of Gaddafi's refusal to allow the extradition to the United States or Britain of two Libyans accused of planting a bomb on Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.<br />- In August 2003, two years after Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi's conviction, Libya formally accepted responsibility for the Lockerbie bombing. Gaddafi agreed to pay compensation of up to $2.7 billion – or up to $10 million each – to the families of the 270 victims.<br />- From the mid-1990s, Gaddafi managed to improve his connections among Middle Eastern nations and is today considered by some a more moderate and responsible leader in the Arab world than previously. Regarding the Palestinians, he has begun pushing the concept of a binational single-state solution – "Isratine" – a combination of the words Israel and Palestine.<br />- Simultaneously, Gaddafi has also emerged as a popular African leader. As one of the continent's longest-serving, post-colonial heads of state, the Libyan dictator enjoys a reputation among many Africans as an experienced and wise statesman who has been at the forefront of many struggles over the years.<br />- Gaddafi also appeared to be attempting to improve his image in the West. Two years prior to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Libya pledged its commitment to fighting Al-Qaeda and offered to open up its weapons program to international inspection.<br />-There are many explanations for the change of Gaddafi's politics. The most obvious is that the once very rich Libya became much less wealthy as oil prices dropped significantly during the 1990's. Since then, Gaddafi has tended to need other countries more than before and hasn't been able to dole out foreign aid as he once did.<br />-Following the overthrow of Saddam Hussein by US forces in 2003, Gaddafi announced that his nation had an active weapons of mass destruction program, but was willing to allow international inspectors into his country to observe and dismantle them. US President George W. Bush and other supporters of the Iraq War attempted to portray Gaddafi's announcement as a direct consequence of the Iraq War by claiming that Gaddafi acted out of fear for the future of his own regime if he continued to keep and conceal his weapons. I<br />- On May 15, 2006, the US State Department announced that it would restore full diplomatic relations with Libya, even after Gaddafi declared Libya's weapons of mass destruction programs.<br />- In October 1993, there was an unsuccessful assassination attempt on Gaddafi by elements of the Libyan army. Eight months later, Libyan troops were withdrawn from Chad thus ending a territorial dispute which dated back to 1973.<br /><br />- There are a number of </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" >political groups opposed to Gaddafi:</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br />* </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" >National Conference of the Libyan Opposition</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" >* National Front for the Salvation of Libya</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" >* Committee for Libyan National Action in Europe</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" >THE FAMILY OF A TYCOON DICTATOR</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br />- Gaddafi has eight children, seven of them sons.<br />- His oldest son, Muhammad Gaddafi runs the Libyan Olympic Committee.<br />- The next eldest Al-Saadi Gaddafi, runs the Libyan Football Federation, plays for Italian Serie A team Udinese Calcio, and produces films.<br />- The third eldest, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, a painter, runs a charity which has been involved in negotiating freedom for hostages taken by Islamic militants, especially in the Philippines.<br />- His only daughter is Ayesha Gaddafi, a lawyer who has joined the defense team of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.<br />- In January 2002, Gaddafi purchased a 7.5% share of Italian football club Juventus for USD 21 million, through Lafico ("Libyan Arab Foreign Investment Company").<br />- Though Gaddafi is an avid football fan, this more importantly continued a longstanding association with the late Gianni Agnelli, the primary investor in Fiat. Gaddafi has also become involved in chess: in March 2004, FIDE, the game's world governing body, announced that he would be providing prize money for the World Championship, held in June-July 2004 in Tripoli.<br />- In November 2002, he hosted the Miss Net World beauty pageant, a first for Libya and as far as is known, the world's first to be held on the internet.<br />- Gaddafi's personal bodyguard, the Amazonian guard, is composed of beautiful African women who are martial arts experts and highly-trained in the use of weapons. The Amazonian guard accompanied him on his 2004 visit to Brussels.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;" >TOTALITARIANISM FROM THE INSIDE: LYBIA</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br />- A repressive legal framework in place<br />- Ability of Government Security Forces to act with impunity against dissidents<br />- Many trials, particularly those before the State Security Court, still fail to meet international due process standards.<br />- Unjustified limits on free expression and association remain the norm, including penal code provisions that criminalize "insulting public officials" or "opposing the ideology of the Revolution."<br />- Freedom of expression remains severely restricted by the Libyan penal code.<br />- There is no freedom of association in Libya because the concept of an independent civil society goes directly against Gaddafi’s theory of governance by the masses.<br />- Law 71 still criminalizes political parties, and the penal code criminalizes the establishment of organizations that are “against the principles of the Libyan Jamahireya system.”<br />- Law 19, "On Associations," requires a political body to approve all nongovernmental organizations, does not allow appeals against negative decisions and provides for continuous governmental interference in the running of the organization.<br />- Libya has no independent nongovernmental organizations<br />- Attempting to set up a human rights organization is a risky venture with the potential for harassment by Libyan security and also criminal prosecution<br />- The Internal Security Agency retains full control over two prisons in Libya, Abu Salim and Ain Zara, which are notorious for the arbitrary detention of political prisoners.<br />- In late June 1996 an estimated 1200 prisoners were killed in Tripoli’s Abu Salim prison. For years the authorities denied this had taken place. Until late 2008, the vast majority of the families of the prisoners who were killed had received no information about them.<br />- Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, police and security forces arrested hundreds of Libyans who opposed, or who the authorities feared could oppose, the new system. Authorities labeled critics “stray dogs” and rounded up academics, lawyers, students, journalists, Trotskyists, communists, members of the Muslim Brotherhood and others considered “enemies of the revolution,” imprisoning or subjecting them to enforced disappearance.<br />- No form of dissent was tolerated and Libya openly espoused a policy of assassinating Libyan dissidents abroad<br />- The past five years have witnessed a gradual opening of a new, still vulnerable but nevertheless measurable, space for freedom of expression. The government retains control over most of the media in Libya and monitors and censors the new private media.<br />- These changes have occurred in spite of the continued repressive legal framework and take on more significance when viewed in that context because journalists take significant risks by writing critically of government policies and abuses. The 1969 Constitutional Proclamation on December which guaranteed some rights, such as the right to work, health care and education, provides for freedom of opinion only “within the limits of public interest and the principles of the Revolution.<br />- Article 178 of the Libyan penal code orders life imprisonment for the dissemination of information considered to “tarnish [the country’s] reputation or undermine confidence in it abroad.”<br />- Article 207 imposes the death penalty for “whoever spreads within the country, by whatever means, theories or principles aiming to change the basic principles of the Constitution or the fundamental structures of the social system or to overthrow the state’s political, social or economic structures or destroy any of the fundamental structures of the social system using violence, terrorism or any other unlawful means.” There are still political prisoners imprisoned under these provisions which criminalize free speech, such as the case of Abdelnasser al-Rabbasi discussed below in Section VII.<br /><br />Sources:<br /><a href="http://www.hrw.org/en/node/87096/section/6">Truth and Justice Can`t Wait: Report on Lybia by Human Rights Watch: December, 2009</a><br /><a href="http://www.dictatorofthemonth.com/Gaddafi/Nov2006GaddafiEN.htm">Dictator of the Month</a><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khadaffi">Wikipedia</a></span></div>El Compañerohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02531510231829887298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1851467119330017898.post-15611163168062131672010-02-06T15:08:00.000-05:002011-10-28T00:05:25.582-04:00CUBAN STUDENT EXPELLED FROM UNIVERISTY<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hegUUbkQ2CU/S23Mc_9jkdI/AAAAAAAAAV0/_CpEG41Rr9M/s1600-h/Dario.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 267px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hegUUbkQ2CU/S23Mc_9jkdI/AAAAAAAAAV0/_CpEG41Rr9M/s400/Dario.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5435225123884077522" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: lucida grande;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Evidence of how Cuban education is closely related to ideological conformity with the regime. </span><span style="font-size:100%;">Darío Alejandro Paulino Escobar, founder/administrator of the Grupo de la Facultad de Comunicación de la Universidad de La Habana at Facebook was suspended for two years from the Faculty of Journalism at the University of Havana for making public a meeting of Cuba's Communist Youth (UJC) on the web</span></div>El Compañerohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02531510231829887298noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1851467119330017898.post-64570491767735852682010-02-06T14:05:00.001-05:002011-10-27T15:48:20.080-04:00TORTURES IN CHAVEZ-VENEZUELA<div style="text-align: justify; font-family: lucida grande;"><span style="font-size:100%;">For over 11 years Venezuela has been ruled by the regime of Hugo Chavez Frias. Human rights violations, persecution of student dissidents and tortures perpetrated by that regime have been widely documented by independent sources such as Twitter, Facebook, blogs, forums, web sites as well as other avenues such as Human Rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">The following corresponds to recent protests by Venezuelan democratic students and the repression by the Chavez regime.<br /></span></div><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" style="font-family: lucida grande;" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hegUUbkQ2CU/S229hP-ZIeI/AAAAAAAAAVc/II0kptk18bA/s1600-h/tortureVenezuela.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hegUUbkQ2CU/S229hP-ZIeI/AAAAAAAAAVc/II0kptk18bA/s400/tortureVenezuela.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5435208704227615202" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: lucida grande;"><span style="font-size:100%;">The iron claw/la garra de hierro is a medieval instrument used by the 'Chavista' police in Venezuela to brutally grab students protesting on the streets<br /></span></div><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" style="font-family: lucida grande;" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hegUUbkQ2CU/S22-srh6UsI/AAAAAAAAAVk/HyK6MJ2tBjE/s1600-h/tor-Venez2-Student.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hegUUbkQ2CU/S22-srh6UsI/AAAAAAAAAVk/HyK6MJ2tBjE/s400/tor-Venez2-Student.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5435210000114537154" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: lucida grande;"><span style="font-size:100%;">A Venezuelan student protester impacted by 'bullets' from the regime<br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">Source:<br /></span></div><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" ><a style="font-family: lucida grande;" href="http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=351351&CategoryId=10717">Venezuela’s Chavez Denies Protesters Were Tortured</a></span>El Compañerohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02531510231829887298noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1851467119330017898.post-5190492463429508472010-02-06T13:26:00.000-05:002011-10-27T15:49:48.114-04:00TORTURES IN CUBA<div style="text-align: justify; font-family: lucida grande;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Drawings of tortures against political prisoner Hugo Damián Prieto Blanco at the Canaleta Prison in the Ciego de Avila Province in Cuba.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hegUUbkQ2CU/S221AaYT6xI/AAAAAAAAAUM/VS2GYN2UclU/s1600-h/TOR3.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 340px; height: 310px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hegUUbkQ2CU/S221AaYT6xI/AAAAAAAAAUM/VS2GYN2UclU/s400/TOR3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5435199343991974674" border="0" /></a><br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hegUUbkQ2CU/S2209R6uJmI/AAAAAAAAAUE/ESQijBvJg2s/s1600-h/TOR2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 340px; height: 256px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hegUUbkQ2CU/S2209R6uJmI/AAAAAAAAAUE/ESQijBvJg2s/s400/TOR2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5435199290180773474" border="0" /></a><br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hegUUbkQ2CU/S2206KTR5OI/AAAAAAAAAT8/DPjxk84v4YU/s1600-h/TOR1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 340px; height: 286px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hegUUbkQ2CU/S2206KTR5OI/AAAAAAAAAT8/DPjxk84v4YU/s400/TOR1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5435199236596688098" border="0" /></a><br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">This is a replica of the cell where political prisoner Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet is confined for 25 years at the Combinado del Este Prison in East Havana.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hegUUbkQ2CU/S224Napjl5I/AAAAAAAAAU0/2fWtpKL5XU0/s1600-h/TOR-BISCET.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 390px; height: 273px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hegUUbkQ2CU/S224Napjl5I/AAAAAAAAAU0/2fWtpKL5XU0/s400/TOR-BISCET.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5435202865937487762" border="0" /></a><br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">A typical cell from 'El Morro Castle Prison' where tens of thousdans of political prisoners were confined during the 1960s and 1970s.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hegUUbkQ2CU/S224BQJ8wNI/AAAAAAAAAUs/CYVMrw8Rahg/s1600-h/TOR-7CELL.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 378px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hegUUbkQ2CU/S224BQJ8wNI/AAAAAAAAAUs/CYVMrw8Rahg/s400/TOR-7CELL.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5435202656962134226" border="0" /></a><br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">"The infamous mud-wall cells (celdas tapiadas) at Combinado del Este Prison in East Havana, where hundreds of political prisoners are still being tortured and held in complete isolation."<br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hegUUbkQ2CU/S2232rWhY6I/AAAAAAAAAUk/Gs2GwVSdPAk/s1600-h/TOR-6.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 283px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hegUUbkQ2CU/S2232rWhY6I/AAAAAAAAAUk/Gs2GwVSdPAk/s400/TOR-6.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5435202475284063138" border="0" /></a><br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">This type of cell is known as 'La Gaveta'/The Drawer. Political prisoners are confined here for extended and brutal periods. The dimensions of the cell force them to lie down all the time. Prisoners cannot stand up as the ceiling is too low.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hegUUbkQ2CU/S222miZlMqI/AAAAAAAAAUU/OjOOziW7MT8/s1600-h/TOR4-LAGAVETA.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 279px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hegUUbkQ2CU/S222miZlMqI/AAAAAAAAAUU/OjOOziW7MT8/s400/TOR4-LAGAVETA.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5435201098491441826" border="0" /></a><br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">La Gaveta in the Manzanillo Prison. "Between 10 and 15 political prisoners were kept in cells like these for six or more months.The space between the small wall and the back of the cell was used by the prisoners to defecate and urinate since there were no toilet facilities in these cells."<br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hegUUbkQ2CU/S223bdReJZI/AAAAAAAAAUc/f4ooVRIyZjU/s1600-h/TOR-5.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 282px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hegUUbkQ2CU/S223bdReJZI/AAAAAAAAAUc/f4ooVRIyZjU/s400/TOR-5.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5435202007648314770" border="0" /></a><br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hegUUbkQ2CU/S224h8PH8gI/AAAAAAAAAU8/j5zLjNv8mQ0/s1600-h/VICT-2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 350px; height: 275px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hegUUbkQ2CU/S224h8PH8gI/AAAAAAAAAU8/j5zLjNv8mQ0/s400/VICT-2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5435203218550813186" border="0" /></a><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">Guillermo Fariñas, a Cuban independent journalist, brutally beaten by the Cuban state security police for demanding Cubans' free access to the Internet.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hegUUbkQ2CU/S224z8SgC2I/AAAAAAAAAVE/ctUltT5AUs4/s1600-h/VICT3.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hegUUbkQ2CU/S224z8SgC2I/AAAAAAAAAVE/ctUltT5AUs4/s400/VICT3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5435203527802620770" border="0" /></a><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">Yuri Martinez Sanchez had a tattoo that said 'USA' on his forehead. In retaliation Cuban authorities forcefully burned the tattoo in cold blood.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hegUUbkQ2CU/S225XgBqBiI/AAAAAAAAAVM/Y882cF5DqCQ/s1600-h/vict-4.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 297px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hegUUbkQ2CU/S225XgBqBiI/AAAAAAAAAVM/Y882cF5DqCQ/s400/vict-4.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5435204138691069474" border="0" /></a><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">Dr. Aldo Consuegra Martínez brutally beaten by Castro's organized paramilitary group just for expressing his desire to leave the country.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hegUUbkQ2CU/S225wVJEknI/AAAAAAAAAVU/1DhoOdLbkLY/s1600-h/golpiza1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 279px; height: 182px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hegUUbkQ2CU/S225wVJEknI/AAAAAAAAAVU/1DhoOdLbkLY/s400/golpiza1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5435204565266109042" border="0" /></a><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">Nancy González García brutally beaten by Castro's mobs for her membership in the organization of 'independent librarians'<br /><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-size:100%;" >Sources: </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><a href="http://www.therealcuba.com/Page7.htm">The Real Cuba</a><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><a href="http://www.cubaverdad.net/">Cubaverdad</a><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><a href="http://biscet.blogspot.com/">Biscet Blog</a></span></div>El Compañerohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02531510231829887298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1851467119330017898.post-35251795399290737342010-02-06T12:29:00.000-05:002011-10-28T00:06:35.453-04:00CONCENTRATION CAMPS IN CUBA: THE UMAP<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hegUUbkQ2CU/S22vijCBCLI/AAAAAAAAAT0/nl-t58xqv4s/s1600-h/UMAP-FichaDelictivaEmilioIzquierdo.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 348px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hegUUbkQ2CU/S22vijCBCLI/AAAAAAAAAT0/nl-t58xqv4s/s400/UMAP-FichaDelictivaEmilioIzquierdo.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5435193333360167090" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: lucida grande;"><span style="font-size:100%;">T</span><span style="font-size:100%;">his corresponds to a "criminal profile" of Emilio Izquierdo according to the cuban regime. It explains why Izquierdo was sent to the UMAP camps. profile literally reads:<br />"This individual is a catholic and thus he is negative to the revolutionary process. His father was in prison for a crime against the power of the state. He is currently under police investigation as he is a friend of "negative elements" from his social class that visit him frequently after work. This investigator believes that this individual can be called to the 'Plan UMAP SMO' since he cannot serve the regular military service.”<br />Source: La UMAP: El Gulag Castrista<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hegUUbkQ2CU/S22uHmxoV0I/AAAAAAAAATs/WOIoc0gpFek/s1600-h/UMAP--PastoresEvangelicos.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 289px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hegUUbkQ2CU/S22uHmxoV0I/AAAAAAAAATs/WOIoc0gpFek/s400/UMAP--PastoresEvangelicos.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5435191770997086018" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br />Forced to wear uniforms and work on the cane fields of the Camaguey province in Cuba for 12 hours day, Christian pastors of different denominations were sent to the UMAP camps as punishment for their beliefs. Picture of September 21, 1966. It shows Orlando Colás (Baptist), Joel Ajo (Methodist); Serafin (Pentecostal); Orlando (Methodist); Rigoberto Cervantes (Baptist); Orlando González (Baptist).<br />Source: La UMAP: El Gulag Castrista<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hegUUbkQ2CU/S22sgppc1zI/AAAAAAAAATk/gWvfJbN8s7o/s1600-h/UMAP-El-Mundo-BRB.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 273px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hegUUbkQ2CU/S22sgppc1zI/AAAAAAAAATk/gWvfJbN8s7o/s400/UMAP-El-Mundo-BRB.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5435190002241558322" border="0" /></a><br />One of the thugs leading the UMAP camps was Commander Casillas seen in this picture (right)<br />Source: El Mundo, 1966<br /><br /></span></div><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: lucida grande;font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" >THE UMAP: CASTRO'S CONCENTRATION CAMPS </span><span style="font-family: lucida grande;font-size:100%;" ><br /></span><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: lucida grande;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br />To eliminate and punish those deemed unfit for his revolution while using them for free labor, Fidel Castro presided over a closed-door meeting within the regime’s hierarchy. The resulting plan was to create a network of concentration camps to intern the thousands of "unfit." First it was named "Plan Fidel." But Castro, cunningly, wanted his name out of it. It was to be called UMAP (Military Units to Help Production).<br /><br />Castro ordered that his agents - at night - go house to house to apprehend at gun point all the males that fit the profile of what he called, "the scum of society," for example: gays, Catholics, Jehovah’s Witnesses and members of other Protestant religions.<br /><br />Castro's thugs went through every city, neighborhood and city block, arresting thousands of men (17 years old and up). The arrested were taken to police stations with the excuse of checking their personal ID cards – cards that all citizens of Castro's Cuba are required to carry.<br /><br />At the police station, they were thrown into overcrowded cells and later taken to secret police facilities, movie houses, stadiums, warehouses, etc. In those detention centers they were photographed, fingerprinted and forced to sign under duress a confession declaring themselves the "scum of society," in exchange for their release. The ones who signed were released until they were summoned to the dreaded concentration camps. Those who refused to sign remained in jail and endured physical and psychological torture until they did sign.<br /><br />The concentration camps were built in isolated areas of the province of Camagüey. They were like Hitler's camps, but without crematoriums. They have the electrified barbed wire fences, guards with machine guns and police dogs, etc. Something never seen before in Cuba's history.<br /><br />Beginning in November 1965, people already classified were summoned to the camps. They arrived by train, bus, truck and other police and military vehicles. And so began the humiliation, suffering, torture and hard labor for those thousands of unfortunate men and boys. Many committed suicide while others died as a result of hunger and disease - with no medical attention - torture and execution. Many suffered solitary confinement, beating, rape and mutilation. The traumatized survivors remember that in the UMAP, "they never received humane treatment."<br /><br />In July 1968 the name "UMAP" was erased from the camps. Castro's regime cosmetically transformed them into "Military Units." And all the paperwork associated with the UMAP was destroyed. New plans were created to continue confining young men discontent with Castro's communist revolution, selecting people for the same reasons as before. But this time they would receive a pitiful salary for their long and harsh working hours while living under very difficult and inhumane conditions – Castro’s lame attempt to satisfy international pressure.<br /><br />This network of concentration/hard labor camps continues today as a way to repress and intimidate people, and to obtain cheap labor. Castro’s gulag network of camps and prisons is estimated at over 200 - before 1959, Cuba had just 4 prisons.<br /><br />In a broadcast by the Cuban government’s Radio Progreso on March 6, 1997, sexology expert, Celestino Alvarez, officially recognized that the approximately 400,000 Cuban gays (according to Castro's regime) didn't have the same rights as heterosexual citizens. The broadcast did not go so far as to describe the government’s treatment of gays. A 1997 survey by the Communist Youth Organization in three Cuban provinces showed that gay discrimination was rampant.<br /><br />Contrary to what many believe, gay persecution never ceased in Castro's Cuba. In September 1997, famous Spanish film director Pedro Almodovar, Swedish actress Bibi Andersson, French designer Jean Paul Gaultier and 40 other foreigners reported a raid on gays which took place at El Periquiton discotheque in Havana. All were videotaped by Cuban police. They were shocked by their experience as well as by the harsh treatment of Cuban gays involved in the incident.<br /><br />The Castro regime’s flair for propaganda is very effective at giving a distorted view of reality to the gullible international community that flocks to his “paradise” with US dollars that keep him in power. For example, last year the regime held an international transvestite convention, while travel agencies in the US and elsewhere organize tours of Cuba, paradoxically, for gays.<br /><br />The international community ignores those who died or suffered torture, mutilation and are still bearing deep psychological traumas as victims of Castro’s genocide plans. They blindly adore Castro as he parades through the world with impunity.<br />Source: Agustín Blázquez with the collaboration of Jaums Sutton<br /><a href="http://www.amigospais-guaracabuya.org/oagaq003.php">REVISTA GUARACABUYA</a></span></div>El Compañerohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02531510231829887298noreply@blogger.com1