No olviden las uvas

Panhandlers: Cuba’s evolving class

Culturally there is nothing more shameful to a Cuban than to publicly beg for a handout. Nevertheless, Cubans are doing just that to survive in the communist paradise.

The coin phrase:

in Cuba, it's far more lucrative to beg from tourists than to work full-time.

Of course, Cuba has 100% employment, and the government will deny that there are panhandlers living off of tourists and making more money than their government jobs or pensions. Just go ask the dying billionaire (who never begged for his money...but stold it), if there is poverty in Cuba.

London Mayor wants a party for castro

Forwarded for your reading wretching pleasure…

Ken plans Trafalgar Square street party to celebrate 50 years of Castro
28.12.06

Ken Livingstone is planning a "massive festival" across London to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Fidel Castro's Cuban revolution.

The event, to be staged in 2009, will involve street parties, sports venues and some of London's leading museums as well as the closure of Trafalgar Square.

Although the Mayor's office refused to provide budget estimates, it could cost up to £2 million.

The festival was agreed on the Mayor's controversial trip to Cuba last month. But Mr Livingstone's lavishing of public money to honour one of the last dictatorships in Latin America was condemned today.

"Forking out to celebrate a totalitarian regime is a choice that most Londoners will find bizarre," said Angie Bray, leader of the Conservative group on the London Assembly.

"The Mayor associates himself with some of the most odious people around and it's Londoners who are being asked to pay out. Sooner or later, there will be a reckoning."

Speaking at a recent public meeting at Central Hall, Westminster, Mr Livingstone said: "We've got the backing of the Cuban government for a massive festival to celebrate 50 years of justice in Cuba."

According to human rights organisations, Cuba is one of two countries in the Americas (the other being Haiti) where political freedom is completely curtailed. The British Government singles out Cuba as one of only two Latin American states which is of "major human rights concern".

There are 33 countries in the Americas. The bi-partisan US foundation, Freedom House, classifies 22 of them as "free", nine as "partly free", and two, Cuba and Haiti, as "not free.

Political parties, other than the Communist Party, are prohibited in Cuba, as are free trade unions. Freedom of expression is banned and, according toAmnesty International, there are 70 prisoners of conscience.

There is no press freedom and Cuban citizens are not allowed to travel freely - they are also affected by a US economic blockade.

Severe racism against Cuba's black minority is reported by human rights monitors.

Mr Livingstone said: "The Cuban revolution of 1959 was an extraordinary event not just for Cuba but for the region as a whole and I have never concealed my support for this fact.

"There is no reason why Cuba should be singled out for controversy except for people coming at international issues from a very Right-wing perspective."

The Mayor pointed to Cuba's "excellent healthcare", high literacy rate and "Cuban sporting prowess" as reasons to celebrate.

Mr Castro assumed power on 1 January 1959, after a three-year military conflict between his guerrillas and the army of the then Cuban dictator, Fulgencio Batista.

The doctor's opinion

"Hasta donde yo conozco, desmiento absolutamente que tenga cáncer. No tiene ningún tumor maligno. En un paciente de 80 años puede ocurrir cualquier cosa, pero su situación es estable", aseveró en varias ocasiones. "Tiene una actividad intelectual intacta, fantástica", dijo. El Pais

“As far as I know, (f)idel (c)astro does not have cancer.” This is a translation of the first part of the above sentence, uttered by Dr. José Luis García Sabrido, the communist doctor that was flown to Cuba from Spain by the Cuban authorities to examine the cancer that has governed Cuba for almost 48 years. In the doctor’s opinion, the cancer does not have cancer. Where are the facts? Where is the scientific data that show beyond a shadow of a doubt that there is no cancer? Of course, data can be fabricated, and perhaps the doctorcito is not willing to sacrifice it all for the old dying-saur.

Cuba gives the shaft to business partner

It is a good thing that the Venezuelan castro wannabe does not expect to be paid back for the 90,000+ barrels per day provided to Cuba. That equates to about $2 billion per year…ouch! However, this will serve as fair warning to those who wish to give the Cuban regime credit…

Cuba owes Canadian oil firms $69 million: Pebercan
27/12/06
CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - Cuba's state-run oil company is behind in $69 million of payments to its Canadian partners in a heavy-oil-producing block on the north side of the island, one of the partners said on Wednesday.

The rest of the story [here].

But since it is a Canadian company, I am 16% less concerned.

Bolivia arrests Cuban dissident

Freedom of speech is dead in Bolivia. Bolivian authorities have arrested and plan to deport Cuban Dr. Amauris Samartino, simply for openly speaking out against the Bolivian cocalero’s cozy attitude towards his “dying uncle” castro. Sending this man to Cuba is a definite prison sentence. Watch out for other Cuban bootlicking countries like Venezuela, Nicaragua, Ecuador, and yes-even Mexico to follow suit. Ziva is wise to advise all Cuban dissidents in these countries to get out now!

Others tracking the story:
The Real Cuba
Babalu

Click [here] for contact information to the Bolivian Embassy.

I guess she did say it!

The explanation was that the the video was doctored to show that she was in favor of assasinating the dictator, who is knocking at hell's door anyway. However, it looks like she was just saying what millions were thinking. How about a little Polonium 210, it seems very effective.

What do you want for Christmas?

From the WSJ. This Christmas remember the men and women of valor that are rotting in Cuban prisions, like Dr. Elias Biscet, not the cowards that strip men of their dignity and honor.

Che, Cuba and Christmas
By MARY ANASTASIA O'GRADY
December 22, 2006

Until yesterday Christmas shoppers at Target department stores could purchase a 24-CD carrying case decorated with the image of Che Guevara. When I heard about it, I wondered why the retailer would want to promote the memory of a mass murderer. What's next, I asked, when I spoke with a representative of the company on Wednesday, Pol Pot pajamas?

Late Wednesday evening Target sent me this statement: "It is never our intent to offend any of our guests through the merchandise we carry. We have made the decision to remove this item from our shelves and we sincerely apologize for any discomfort this situation may have caused our guests."

The fact that it took only a day for Target to make that admirable decision suggests that at least someone at the company knows who Guevara was and what Cuba is today thanks in part to him. The misstep, though, probably occurred because others at the company allowed Target to become a target itself of the Che myth.

Guevara is not just a dead white guy from a well-to-do family who terrorized a racially mixed nation and executed hundreds of innocents in the late 1950s and 1960s. He is also a symbol of the totalitarian regime that persists in Cuba, which still practices his ideology of intolerance, hatred and repression. It is not the torture and killing alone that make the tragedy. That only describes the methodology. Guevara's wider goal -- to forcibly strip a population of its soul and spirit -- is what is truly frightening and deplorable. Christians, who celebrate the birth of their Savior on Monday, have particularly suffered under Guevara's dream of revolution, which has lasted since 1959.

The fear under which Cubans have lived for 48 years was fathered by the merciless Che Guevara. The unhappy Argentine Marxist met Fidel Castro in Mexico in 1955 and later became a rebel commander. "The Black Book of Communism," published in 1999 by Harvard University Press, notes that early in his career Guevara earned a "reputation for ruthlessness; a child in his guerrilla unit who had stolen a little food was immediately shot without trial." In his will, the book says, "this graduate of the school of terror praised the 'extremely useful hatred that turns men into effective, violent, merciless and cold killing machines.'"

Peruvian-born Alvaro Vargas Llosa penned his own book this year titled "The Che Guevara Myth." Mr. Vargas Llosa documents a twisted life, such as when Che shot a comrade and made the following entry in his diary: "I ended the problem with a .32 caliber pistol, in the right side of his brain. . . . His belongings were now mine." After that, Mr. Vargas Llosa says, Guevara shot "a peasant who expressed the desire to leave whenever the rebels moved on." Guevara also liked to simulate executions, as a form of torture. "At every stage of his adult life, his megalomania manifested itself in the predatory urge to take over other people's lives and property, and to abolish their free will."

Guevara was an architect of Cuba's forced labor camps, which by 1965 were transformed into concentration camps for dissidents, homosexuals, people with AIDS, Catholics, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Cubans of other religious sects.

All independent thought that refused to worship the communist state was an affront to Guevara. Christians were an especially difficult lot. From the earliest days after Castro took power, Che sent hundreds of men to face firing squads at the Havana prison known as La Cabaña. His victims could be heard at dawn loudly crying "Long live Christ the King, down with communism," just before the rifle shots rang out.

Thousands of Cubans have perished in daring attempts to get off the island because they preferred the risks of flight to a life in which Christianity has been forbidden, children are the property of the state, thought is policed and spying on your neighbor is one of the few ways to earn a living. During the Mariel boat lift in 1980, witnesses told of families arriving at the pier together only to be separated by Cuban guards who enjoyed watching their misery. Weeping mothers faced the point of a gun while their distraught sons and daughters were forced to board ships. This Christmas thousands of Cuban-Americans will remember their loved ones who didn't make it out or died trying.

Defenders of Guevara can't even claim that his cruelty brought about equality. Today state policy makes it a crime for the raggedly dressed, malnourished and mostly black Cuban people to visit the beaches, museums and amply stocked stores of their own country, while well-fed tourists in fashionable cruise-wear go where they like. This amounts to de facto apartheid.

Amazingly, hope is still alive in Cuba. One reason is because although Guevara was able to kill a lot of Christians, neither he nor his successors succeeded in wiping out Christianity. The struggling Christian community, which takes seriously the religious teaching to reject fear in the face of evil, is playing a key role in the island's dissident movement.

An icon of the Christian resistance is Oscar Elias Biscet, a black physician who is serving a 25-year sentence for his peaceful activism against the regime. He has been arrested more than 26 times since he began to express his dissent; he has been beaten, tortured and locked in tiny windowless cells for days on end. Hundreds of other prisoners of conscience are in jail, under atrocious conditions; many are also devout Christians.

The Christian faith has survived Che and Fidel and decades of brainwashing. It is battered but has not been defeated. Raul Castro fears it -- which is why he takes Bibles away from his unbreakable prisoners. The moral of the story seems to be that even the all-powerful regime cannot stop Christmas from coming to Cuba.

NO Che CD case for Christmas

Target takes a positive step and removes from its shelves the Che (assassin) CD case. Some are astute enough to consider the facts and make the right decision...kudos to Target, but more so to those that pointed out their error.

via Babalú

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and feelings about the Che Guevara CD case. We have made the decision to remove this item from our shelves.

It is never our intent to offend any of our guests through the merchandise we carry and we sincerely apologize for any discomfort this situation may have caused our guests. We appreciate the time you’ve taken to write us and will pass your comments along to our buyers.

We always welcome your feedback, so if there’s ever any question you have about our products or service, please call our Target Guest Relations team at 800-440-0680. We also invite you to share your comments whenever you visit a Target store or on the Internet at www.Target.com.

I hope we’ll see you again soon at Target.

Sincerely,


Jennifer Hanson

Target Executive Office

Is Chavez learning from the mullahs?

Archbishop Hugo Chavez?

Thursday , December 21, 2006

By Father Jonathan Morris

Try to imagine Venezuelan president, Hugo Chavez, dressed up as a bishop — the head bishop — of his own state-sponsored church.

According to media reports coming out of Latin America, President Chavez is considering a proposal that would establish him as the high priest of his own form of evangelical Christianity, convert his cabinet members into bishops of a lower rank, and submit church activities to the civil and military power of his government.

It is still unclear who is behind the proposal. Publicly, it has taken the form of a petition by leaders of “Centro Cristiano de Salvación” (Christian Center of Salvation). The association claims to represent 17,000 evangelical churches and 5,000,000 Venezuelans. Their request is simple: make their denomination the country’s official religion, teach it in all public schools and pay the pastors from government coffers. In turn, they will make Chavez their head bishop and promise to submit absolutely to his authority.

Chavez’ political critics say the petition is anything but spontaneous and independent. Edgar Zambrano, a deputy of the Venezuelan National Assembly, told the Spanish newspaper “El Mundo” that he has no doubt that “President Chavez is the one behind the proposed law.” Human rights groups are crying unfair play, warning this may be a government-orchestrated ploy to wrest away power from yet another sector of Venezuelan society, while allowing Chavez to appear to be merely acquiescing to popular acclaim.

Some call the Venezuelan leader “El Loco,” but if these reports are true, President Chavez deserves more credit. He may be crazy, but he’s not dumb. He promised the world that his recent re-election would launch the second phase of his so-called “Bolivarian Socialist Revolution” and he is now keeping his promise.

When I went to Venezuela last February to do commentary for Fox News about a large religious procession sponsored by the Catholic Church, it was clear Mr. Chavez was uncomfortable with the strength of the country’s traditional piety and how that the piety links its people to a higher, spiritual power and an international organization. Organizers of that event pledged more than 1,000,000 people would process peacefully in the streets of Barquisimeto. The crowds easily surpassed the official estimation.

On that festive day I saw Venezuelans proud to be Venezuelans. For a moment they could put aside political and social uncertainty and unite around faith.

I also saw the shrewd attempts of President Chavez to link himself to the success of the procession and manipulate the religious message into a purely nationalistic one of which he was the lone star. Hours before the procession, he interrupted all television and radio programming so he could deliver without competition his media message. He sent military jets to fly over the crowds with an impressive air-show of military might. He paid thousands of “volunteers” to wear government shirts and pass out free water bottles and pro-Chavez literature.

While human rights groups have always expressed concern for the long-term viability of religious liberty under a Chavez administration, until now, a wide range of denominations has been free to worship and operate independently of government control.

There has even been room for debate, and a little bit of give and take.

The Catholic Church, representing more than 90% of the population, has been a thorn in the side of President Chavez. For many years, the local body of Catholic bishops has reminded the president publicly and in no uncertain terms, of a politician’s responsibility to defend human rights, reject corruption and seek the common good of all citizens. A retired Vatican official and Venezuelan Cardinal, Rosalio Castillo Lara, has been fiercely critical of Chavez.

Most recently, however, Catholic leaders have taken a more conciliatory tone and the new Cardinal Archbishop of Caracas, Jorge Urosa Savino, has succeeded in building a relationship of mutual tolerance, if not respect.

Just one month into his new term, President Hugo Chavez is emboldened to carry out his full agenda of the Bolivarian Socialist Revolution.” What remains to be seen is whether this second stage will include religious liberty.

If not, we may end up calling him, “Your Excellency, Archbishop Chavez.”

God bless, Father Jonathan

Another commie monument to tear down

I am going to take a shot in the dark, but I will wager that Tuxpan, Mexico is one of those dingy coastal Mexican towns where poverty abounds, clean running water is scarse, and sewage treatment is up to you. The mayor of Tuxpan, thinks that fidel castro is the cat's meow, you see, Tuxpan is where fidel and his band of thieves sailed from on the yatch Granma to reek havoc on the Cuban people. Now the comemierdas of Tuxpan want to build a replica of the Granma, and the people once more get screwed.

Is it me, or does that boat on the photo look like it is riding on the back of Cubans. It reminds me of the the movie "The Ten Commandments" where the great Egyptian cities were being built on the back of the enslaved Jewish nation, except that in this is case, it is the destruction of great Cuban cities and the enslavement of the people.

Construirán nueva réplica del yate Granma

México, 19 dic (RHC) Una nueva réplica del yate Granma en el que partieron 82 expedicionarios cubanos, encabezados por Fidel Castro, desde el puerto mexicano de Tuxpan para iniciar la lucha revolucionaria en Sierra Maestra, será construido con apoyo de la Intendencia de esa ciudad.

El alcalde de Tuxpan, Jerónimo Folgueras al referirse al líder y guía de la histórica travesía del yate Granma dijo que Fidel Castro está hoy más vivo que nunca y es el héroe que impulsó el liderazgo de uno de los proyectos sociales y culturales más importantes del mundo contemporáneo.

La nueva réplica, como la primera, construida en la década de los 80 será colocada en el poblado de Santiago de la Peña en las instalaciones del Museo de la Amistad México-Cuba, precisó Folgueras.

(f)idel is mojoneado with mural

Artists have worked feverishly over a 6-day period to present the “cancer free,” but still dying coma-andante with a mural. His little and more effeminate bro raúl was present for the unveiling. The mural depicts the yacht Granma and other Cuban allegorical revolutionary symbols, a memorial to the 47-year old dark plague that has affected Cuba. The mural has been named "Liberty's arc"- where murderers landed in two by twos.

I have no problems with murals, the more the better. One day the people will decide to bring them down, as they did in Russia with Lenin, and in Iraq with Hussein. It is better to spend the time together bringing down murals and statutes than fighting with your fellow countrymen.

Artistas plásticos presentan un mural regalado a Fidel Castro

Un grupo de artistas plásticos cubanos han presentado hoy en el Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes un mural regalado al líder de la revolución Fidel Castro por su 80 cumpleaños, con la presencia del presidente interino de la isla, Raúl Castro, y el escritor colombiano Gabriel García Márquez.

La idea de crear el mural 'Arca de la libertad', un óleo del yate 'Granma' con simbologías alegóricas a la Revolución cubana, fue del pintor y escultor Alexis Leyva Machado, más conocido como Kcho, con el apoyo de otros catorce artistas, según informó la televisión estatal de la isla.

'Pretendimos un homenaje a la Revolución y a Fidel Castro y para ello convoqué a relevantes artistas plásticos cubanos y en seis días creamos este mural denominado: 'El Arca de la Libertad', explicó Kcho.

U.S. legislators in fact-finding mission to Cuba

Goose stepping in Havana

Bad gene pool

While castro makes phone calls from hell’s antechamber, his little sister Juanita is not sure which one of his split personalities she likes best. Juanita here is news for you, the whole monster is foul, and needs to be thrown into the deepest fire hole of hell.

Reconoció que tiene una posición contrapuesta respecto a Fidel. “Para mí, Fidel es desde siempre dos personas distintas. Por una parte, el hermano mayor que amo, por quien sufro sabiendo que está enfermo y por la otra, el Castro político con quien no quiero tener nada que ver y que sería feliz si no hubiera subido jamás al poder”. [More]

Chavez: fidel does not have terminal cancer

He is simply affected by death, which will cause him to die. But he is recuperating, and soon will continue to miss more important functions.

CUBAN leader Fidel Castro does not have cancer, but is fighting a "great battle" against a "very serious" illness, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has said.

In the most extensive account of Castro's condition following weeks of rumors that he has cancer or is even dead, Mr Chavez said he remained optimistic and that his close ally had been in good spirits when they spoke by telephone on Thursday.

"Some comments have come out, that Fidel has a terminal cancer - Fidel does not have cancer," Mr Chavez told supporters in a celebration of his December 3 reelection.
[continued here]

Did she or did she not say it?

La Ros is vehemently denying that she did NOT say she welcomed the assassination of the dictator in the Adidas suit. Listening to a clip from her interview in “638 Ways to Kill Fidel Castro” produced by British TV, it seems that she did say it. The congresswoman’s people claim that the video was doctored.



Read more about the story [here].