[Sandokan]

Obama hails ‘courageous’ late Cuban dissidenthttp://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/world/10474006/obama-hails-courageous-late-cuban-dissident/

AFP October 16, 2011, 2:57 am

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President Barack Obama on Saturday paid tribute to the late founder of Cuba's Ladies in White dissident group, saying Laura Pollan courageously put voice to people's desire to "live in liberty."

Pollan died Friday at a hospital in Havana, one week after being admitted with breathing difficulties that eventually led to respiratory failure.

"The president's thoughts and prayers are with the family, friends, and colleagues of Laura Pollan, the founder of Las Damas de Blanco," the White House said in a statement.

The 63-year-old founded the group -- wives and mothers of political prisoners who have emerged as influential dissidents in their own right -- in 2003, after the arrest and imprisonment of 75 dissidents, including her husband.

"Pollan and the quiet dignity of the Ladies in White have courageously voiced the core desire of the Cuban people and of people everywhere to live in liberty," the White House said.

Blonde with a pale complexion, the diminutive Pollan had spent her career as a high school Spanish and literature professor, with a quiet tone but famously fierce convictions.

Activists from the group march peacefully in Havana every Sunday clad in white -- to symbolize peace -- and often carrying gladiolus flowers.

"Through their brave actions, the Ladies in White draw attention to the plight of those who are unjustly held in Cuba's prisons and pushed Cuban authorities to release those political prisoners wrongly jailed in the Spring of 2003."

Washington and Havana have been adversaries for more than half a century. A crippling US trade embargo has been in place for decades, and the two sides regularly clash on issues such as human rights.

"Since the beginning of the (Obama) administration we have worked to reach out to the Cuban people in support of their desire to freely determine their future and Cuba's future," the White House added. "We will continue that work in Pollan's memory."

The Cuban government accuses the Ladies in White, winners of the European Parliament's 2005 Sakharov Prize, of provoking disturbances to highlight an alleged increase in repression, although Havana freed about 130 political prisoners between July 2010 and March 2011.

The group has asked the local Roman Catholic Church to mediate with the Americas' only one-party communist regime, which refuses to allow political openness.

An estimated 50 political prisoners remain behind bars in the Caribbean country of 11 million.

The doctors confirmed last Thursday the infection of dengue type 4 in Laura Pollán. Laura, leader of the Ladies in White, fought tirelessly for the democracy and freedom of the Cuban people. Rest in peace dear Laura. My prayers and deepest condolences go out to her family.

[Social_Critic]

Very nice, but Obama should remove the embargo and get on with life. I'm sick and tired of having to deal with the bureaucracy to send money to my family in Cuba, and all the embargo does is give the Castroites an excuse for being miserable failures. Once the embargo ends, they will have to earn their keep, and I know they won't. They are the dumbest mofos to ever walk the earth, and the people will drag them through the streets. You know, the devil won't have to warm up Fidel when he gets to hell. To make Fidel suffer all they'll have to do is making watch TV to show him what becomes of his "communist revolution".

[Igor Antunov]

Cuba is a bright example of a peoples resistance to imperialism. Despite the economic squeeze from without, the cuban state has managed to educate and take care of the vast majority of it's populace, I bet the healthcare-education statistics in florida are inferior and the class divide far greater, despite florida having 100x the resources to work with.

[USB]

Social critic, the US embargo only proves that US is not an imperialist country who depend on their exports to survive. They have pride still left on them. USA too would not sacrifice the moral and legal principles their heroes died for just to financially be at advantage by the lifting of embargo to promote their exports. All arguments put forth by the ex-Chairmen of CPP-NPA that only through imperialism can the US sustain itself is invalidated because the "crisis of overproduction' which allegedly make them do under the table deals with "bureaucrat capitalists' of the Philippine government to fix their tariff rates to give leeway to these imports do not exist. Why the sudden turn, social critic? I was pairing with you with a trusted pro-democrat, pro-capitalist Ukrainian! You put me to shame!

[Sandokan]

Although Laura died of a heart attack, there is no doubt that this was caused by the dengue hemorrhagic an infection link to high mortality rate, the diagnosis of which was “delay” in being established, and therefore to proceed with the appropriate treatment.

Blaming Dengue? which should be long gone for "helping" a major Castro opponent to leave this world.

The following article published in late 2006, makes a brief historical account about the dengue, and criticizes the hypocritical attitude of the Castro tyranny trying to hide the facts. From 2006 until today, the dengue has continued causing deaths in Cuba.

According to Castro the dengue was eradicated in Cuba, declaring victory in the military style campaign carried out for its eradication. That was a Pyrrhic victory of the Castroit regime. The Tyrant-Pinocchio nose keeps growing.

THE DENGUE EPIDEMIC IN CUBA
http://www.lanuevacuba.com/archivo/humb ... o-1eng.htm

[Donna]

Sandokan is an Israeli spy.

[Sandokan]

Sandokan is an Israeli spy.

Shalon aleichem (Peace be upon you)

This photo form EFE shows the physical violence against the Ladies in White when they were trying to live the house. Here you can see a Laura Pollan been attack September 24 at the hands of a "rapid response" brigade, directed by agents of the state security forces.

The AFP journalist reported that “An Interior Ministry bus then showed up to clear the area” What is this telling us? After the harassment of more than three hours, preventing the Ladies in White to go to church, the bus show up and took the mob of the Union of Communist Youth away. The regime brought them to do its dirty work, an after several hours came back to carry them away

[Sandokan]

The Lady and the Murderous Grip
http://babalublog.com/2011/10/the-lady- ... /#comments

October 16, 2011

The sad and unexpected death of Laura Pollan, the leader of the Ladies in White, has brought up a suspicion that this could have been an assassination disguised as a sudden and fatal illness. Also, much has been talked about the strange virus that did not infect anyone else in her family or the neighborhood, and of a possible intravenous injection carried out by those most interested in the charismatic dissident's disappearance from the scene: the tyrants that misgovern Cuba.

Reviewing the photographs from the last mob of repudiation that Ms. Pollan had to suffer at the hands of the Castro repression machine, you can see a person forcefully burying their fingernails into Laura Pollan's right arm...
Unfortunately, although the photograph taken from inside the home by independent journalist Hector Julio Cedeño Negrin...


and also the photograph taken from outside by EFE...


shows the moment of aggression perfectly - although from different angles - in none of the two photos the face attached to the hand can be seen. You cannot even see if it is a woman or a man because it comes from behind the first line of attackers and the hand is twisted in order to dig into Laura's flesh.

Could this be the moment where the light of her life began to be extinguished?

Update: Courtesy of http://twitter.com/#!/eljoe80: Moments after being forced by the mobs to go back inside her home, the Lady in White shows that her right arm has been pricked or pinched.

Let assume they didn’t inoculate her with a virus or other disease, just that she got sick. Because her longstanding and constant stress of being the regime's target and victim of frequent abuse of all sorts she got sick, and needed hospitalization. All the hospitals in the island are under the control of the regime. Now she is totally vulnerable, they can do or not do anything with regard to her treatment. Under that regime nobody can sue for medical malpractice or negligence. As can be infer this is a perfect opportunity to get rid of the leader of the Ladies in White and make it look natural.

[Sandokan]

Grief and shame
http://www.penultimosdias.com/2011/10/1 ... and-shame/

By Ernesto Hernandez Busto
October 17, 2011

The Cuban situation is increasingly veering away from politics. The prevailing sentiment among people who closely follow the news from the island tends to be shame: decent Cubans, in Cuba and in exile, are ashamed of the direction the country has taken, the cynicism of repression, the complete lack of moral perspective that remains following the political failure of the Castro regime. The discussion is no longer political, it is moral.

Laura Pollán’s death in Havana’s Calixto Garcia Hospital, after a week in intensive care, raises serious questions not only about the virtues of the Cuban health care system, but also about the capacity to translate this moral indignation into visible politics.

Of course, there are always suspicions that the death of an indisputable leader of the peaceful opposition could have been caused, or accelerated, by methods that only the nightmares of totalitarian systems can conceive of. We have already seen worse; the Cuban chronicle of horror could easily admit another stain. But even if we have no proof of medical negligence, or worse, even if we cannot directly blame the forces of repression or expound on the details of her death, we have abundant proof of what the Cuban government did, in life, to Laura Pollán Toledo and to the courageous Ladies in White. Abundant proof of how they wanted to debilitate this woman, over and over; of how they tried to break her by every means possible.

I wonder, and I believe I am not the only one, what they are thinking now, all those people who behaved like rabid dogs at each of the many repudiation rallies that Laura suffered; what will she do now, for example, the woman whose insolence stands out even among the mob incited by State Security. Or another one, who personally took charge of mistreating Laura last month. Their faces are unforgettable, but they also trigger our embarrassment, a shame provoked by seeing such lamentable events, such despicable actors. Isaac Bachevis Singer’s story, The Destruction of Kreshev, offers a good summary of the morality of the pogram and its consequences; there, he says it all.

Laura Pollán was, without a doubt, a moral example—as recorded today in a good editorial. Her dignity and her Catholic faith favored a comportment that lifted her far above her detractors. She knew how to win a cause, the release of the 75, but she paid the highest price for embodying the choice of peaceful struggle and nonviolence. Her example moved even the most iconic figures of the official culture, like Pablo Milanés, whose shame in the face of the programmed bullying of defenseless women burst forth in some controversial declarations that honor the man, and that remind us, by contrast, of the shameless cowardice of those who today remain silent or continue to defame her.

Now, Laura Pollán is no longer among the living, and the Cuban opposition is in mourning. With regards to the wake, the testimonies I have received agree that State Security imposed its rhythm from beginning to end; her family and other opponents offered not the least resistance to their directions. Drowning in grief, they were paralyzed by an event that transcended them, perhaps unable to grasp the tremendous significance of her death. Grief mixed with shame, and this mixture resulted in inaction, the temptation to avert one’s face and to become defenseless against the onslaught.

I read that there will be masses in Miami, in Santiago de Chile, and in Madrid. But the mass and homage that this woman deserves remains pending; it will be remembered the day her people wake up and decide to follow her example: a humble teacher who defied a government and so managed to prove its true nature.

Dengue has an incubation of 8 to 12 days. On September 24th Laura was pinched in the right arm as can be seeing in the photo. This incubation period coincide with the 8 days after the attack when she came down with chills and vomits. On October 4th she went to the hospital and after being examined, was told she was ok and released. On October 7th she developed a respiratory illness and was hospitalized. It wasn’t until the 12th that the infection of dengue type 4 was confirmed, and she died in the 14th. How many days were the doctors running tests to find out it was dengue? Since 1977 the dengue has become endemic in the island. How is possible that the doctors couldn’t recognize the dengue symptoms? Isn’t Cuba a “medical power” according to the regime propaganda machine? All the evidence points to murder disguised as a fatal illness.

Laura Pollan is not the first and unfortunately will not be the last either.
http://cubaarchive.org/home/images/stor ... ictims.pdf

[Sandokan]

The legacy of Laura Pollan, Cuba’s Lady in White
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ ... story.html

By Yoani Sanchez, Published: October 16

Eight years ago, Laura Pollan was a schoolteacher living with her husband, Hector Maseda, the leader of the outlawed Cuban Liberal Party. Despite the vicissitudes of living in a country where association is penalized, the family tried to live a normal life in their small house on Neptune Street in Havana.

But early one morning, a pounding on the door irrevocably changed their lives. After an exhaustive search and a summary trial, Maseda was imprisoned and sentenced to 20 years in jail, accused of acting against national security. His crime: imagining a different Cuba, politically opposing the authorities and putting those opinions in writing.

Seventy-five opposition figures were arrested and condemned during that sad March of 2003, a time that will remain forever known in Cuba’s history as the Black Spring. The Cuban government expected this blow to the opposition to persuade other restless citizens to abandon the ranks of the protesters. Officials also believed that the wives, mothers and daughters of the political prisoners would remain silent, so as not to cause more problems for their loved ones. They never anticipated that these women would band together to publicly denounce the arrests and imprisonments. But every political calculation made from the arrogance of power turned out badly.

Thus was born the Ladies in White, a group of women who, through peaceful struggle, demanded and achieved the release of all the prisoners of conscience. At first it seemed a tiny, disjointed movement, given the long miles separating one woman from another. But the ladies’ indignation functioned as a unifying element, and their marches through the streets of Havana, each woman dressed in white and carrying a gladiolus, followed Sunday after Sunday for more than seven years. One voice stood out among them, that of a diminutive blue-eyed woman who taught Spanish and literature to teenagers.

Laura Pollan was emerging as the spokeswoman and leader of the Ladies in White, which focused on human rights and the release of their relatives. In a country that has always been moved by the polarization of its ideological discourse, the Ladies in White were different from their inception. Instead of party platforms, the women displayed only the desire to embrace their loved ones. They did not choose to organize themselves around a doctrine but rather around the unassailable position of family affection. Thus they won a great deal of sympathy among the population of the island, and so, of course, provoked the authorities into a campaign of defamation and insults against them.

If one group has been denigrated to a fault in the Cuban media, it is the Ladies in White. The regime has launched a kind of media war against the women, backed by experiments in intimidation. “Repudiation rallies” — busloads of “spontaneous” protesters called in to scream insults at and even beat their targets — made Pollan’s front door their highest altar. Official journalists called them “The Ladies in Green,” an allusion to the economic support they received from Cubans in exile in order to take food to their imprisoned husbands. Meanwhile, the Cuban government didn’t hesitate to dip into its national coffers for every kind of political attack; part of this money — which could have gone to feed Cubans — was spent ferreting out every cent that reached the hands of these women in need.

The national press continued to denigrate Pollan even on Oct. 7, when she was admitted into the intensive care unit of a Havana hospital with aching bones, shortness of breath and extreme weakness.

Given the seriousness of her condition, government officials asked her family if the patient could be transferred to a luxury clinic designed for the military. But Pollan herself said, before losing consciousness in an induced coma, “I want to stay in the hospital of the people.” And there she died on Oct. 14, after a five-day delay in diagnosing dengue fever, in a country that has been experiencing an intense outbreak of the disease for months now.

While newspapers around the world reported on the death of Laura Pollan, Granma, the official paper of the Communist Party, and all the papers of Cuba’s provinces remained silent. This reaction is a given, considering the pettiness of a government that cannot feel sympathy at the death of an opponent. The Castro regime has never been able to pause in its belligerence, never been able to offer condolences.

But this silence also stems from its fear of this little teacher of Spanish, the fear that sticks, even now, in officials’ throats. The leader of the Ladies in White is dead, and no one in Cuba will ever carry a gladiolus in his or her hands without thinking of Laura Pollan.

Yoani Sanchez is a writer in Cuba. Her awards include the 2010 World Press Freedom Hero award. She blogs at http://www.desdecuba.com/ generationy and is the author of “Havana Real: One Woman Fights to Tell the Truth About Cuba Today.” This column was translated from Spanish by M.J. Porter.

We cannot forget the thousands of Cubans executed without due process, imprisoned, perishing trying to escape in make shift rafts, forced into exile, since the reign of terror of the Castro brothers started 52 years ago.

[Sandokan]

Cuban independent journalist who wrote about the possible intravenous bacterial infection of Laura Pollan arrested
http://babalublog.com/2011/10/cuban-ind ... /#comments

October 18, 2011

Hablemos Press journalist who wrote about the possible intravenous bacterial infection of Laura Pollan arrested

Havana, October 17, 2011- Six agents from Cuban State Security arrested independent journalist Carlos Rios Otero at his home at 5:30 pm on Friday the 14th.

Rios Otero, who is a member of Independent Press Agency Hablemos Press, had published an article the day before detailing the critical condition of Lady in White Laura Pollan and other cases of Ladies in White who became ill after being injected during acts of repression.

According to the journalist, the agents took him to the Aguilera police station in Lawton, Havana, where he was constantly threatened until after midnight.

His arrest took place two hours before the announcement of Laura Pollan's death, at the same time when it became evident that many of the cell phones of peaceful opposition members had been cut off.

At the home of the journalist at Correa #163, Santos Suarez, a patrol car appeared with two uniformed police officers and two plainclothes agents of State Security. Another two agents in civilian clothes arrived on motorcycles. One said to Rios: "Carlos, we need to talk."

In his articles for Hablemos Press, one on September 12th "IPK Denounces Medical Power," and on October 28th, "Lethal Vaccinations against the Cuban Dissidence," Rios explored the possible relationship between the grave illness of Laura Pollan and the puncture inflicted on her at the last attack she suffered.

He cited previous instances, such as the other Ladies in White who had been injected and then suffered dizzy spells, blurry vision, fever, loss of equilibrium, diarrhea, nausea, cramps, irregular menstrual cycles with heavy bleeding, and other symptoms attributable to bacterial infection or reactions to toxic substances.

Rios said: "They placed me in the back seat between two plainclothes agents and with the two motorcycles leading a caravan that appeared to me as if I were the president of the republic. In the Aguilera station at a section they call "The Pit," they interrogated me and the four agents threatened me regarding signs that had appeared in the streets with the word "NO." I belong to the "NO" campaign. They threatened me with prison for the signs, calling it a "crime of propaganda for the enemy," but I refused to sign an "admission." They interrogated me about my friends and about a repair done on my house - remember that Dr. Darsi Ferrer was imprisoned on the pretext of the materials used in the repair of his house. They avoided talking about my articles dealing with the health of Laura Pollan and the puncture she suffered on her forearm during the last act of repression carried out by them and their paramilitary "Rapid Response Brigades." After releasing me around midnight, one said, 'Laura has died.'"

Carlos Rios believes that the sudden interest in him has nothing to do with the signs on the streets, but with the death of Laura Pollan while he writes of how the government's "battle of ideas" includes suspicious injections.

According to family members, Lady in White and photo journalist for Hablemos Press, Sandra Guerra, was "sequestered by State Security agents on Saturday morning when she was traveling to Havana to attend the funeral for Pollan."

On October 17 Roberto Rodriguez Tejera in his radio program interviewe¬d the Cuban independen¬t journalist of Hablemos Press¬ Rios Otero, and several Ladies in White. They denounce three other cases of toxic injections applied on Ladies in White by the regime mobs on their Sunday walk to mass. One of them is Ana Betancourt, a healthy 40 years old woman, hospitalize with high blood pressure and fever, general inflammation and uncontroll¬ed menstruati¬on. The other two are Montes de Oca and Sara Marta Fonseca, who after being injected during their Sunday walk, had similar symptoms to that of Laura Pollan and Betancourt. Rios Otero denounced that he was detained and interrogat¬ed during several hours in the Villa Marista, headquarter of the Political Police. They told him that he will be prosecuted on a number of charges if he does not leave aside his investigat¬ion about the toxic injections¬. They are afraid he will find the smoking gun if he continues with his investigations.

[USB]

Sandokan, what can you say about the torture and disappearances in Nicaragua under Somoza whom your American masters gave support? If I were you, I wouldn't invoke those mysterious deaths in Cuba aggravated by lack of evidence. The white lady leader was fat, can't you see her? She was prone to hypertension and heart attack. The lady was a no-show to Fidel. Besides, Fidel wouldn't dare pick a fight with the opposite sex. He is a macho man! and a gentleman! Just an objective assessment of all the facts gathered.

[Sandokan]

Lauras skin and hair samples will be sent abroad to determined the cause of death
http://www.netforcuba.org/apps/blog/sho ... -su-muerte

October 19, 2011

The Reverend Ricardo Medina Salavarria was able to collect hair and skin samples from Laura Pollan's body before her cremation. The intent is to send the specimens to a laboratory outside of Cuba in the hopes of determining her true cause of death. “At that moment I took advantage of the opportunity to collect samples of her hair and skin so that a friendly hand can take them to a laboratory outside the island with the hopes of determining, through genetic analysis, the true cause of Laura Pollan's death. The medical certificate did not mention DENGUE as the cause of death at all, instead, it cited "diabetes mellitus type 2, bronchial pneumonia, Cincinnati virus."

The test of those samples could proportionate conclusive evidence, the famous smoking gun, that she was assassinated, a classic case of murder by the Castros’ regime.

[Sandokan]

Five Cuban rafters die at sea in attempt to leave countryhttp://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2011-12/10/c_131298548.htm

HAVANA, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) -- Five Cubans died at sea during an illegal attempt to leave the island in a home-made raft, while another 18 were rescued by the army and oil workers, the Interior Ministry announced Friday.

The boat capsized in the turbulent sea, killing four crew members Thursday morning. Another rafter died when he jumped into the sea shortly before the boat arrived at the coast, according to the ministry's report.

The report said coast guards aided the other shipwreck survivors, 14 men and four women, when their ship landed on the northern Cuban coast. The survivors received quick medical care and were then sent to hospitals in Havana and Matanzas.
The group of at least 23 rafters left from a place in the northern province of Artemisa in the last days of November, the report said.

A joint group of the Revolutionary Armed Forces and the Interior Forces are currently undertaking an intense aerial search along the northern coast for possible survivors or bodies..

Again the backdrop of the Castros tyranny “reforms” greeted by the mainstream media, Cubans continue to risk their lives to escape from workers paradise. Five more victims of the Castro brothers, the cause of this tragedy

[Magis]

What people do to escape dictatorship.....

[KurtFF8]

It migration issues and deaths that result from it count against a system, we should be condemning capitalism much more then: considering more people die trying to cross the border into the US from Mexico than into the US from Cuba.

[Soulflytribe]

It migration issues and deaths that result from it count against a system, we should be condemning capitalism much more then: considering more people die trying to cross the border into the US from Mexico than into the US from Cuba.

Why do people try to scape from Cuba and North Korea?
Yeah, I know you consider Mexico and other latin american countries as 100% economic free, although the World Bank disagrees: http://www.doingbusiness.org/rankings
But tell me, why do people try to scape from North Korea or Cuba? Are they just stupid?

[KurtFF8]

Why do people try to escape Mexico? (aka, why are you avoiding that issue).

It is a capitalist nation that has implemented free trade reforms (NAFTA) and has long been a part of the capitalist economic order. Neoliberal reforms started coming as early there as in the 1980s I believe.

It seems that if the US applies its desired reforms on a country, that the people of that country will flee, so what makes people think it would be different in Cuba?

[Soulflytribe]

Why do people try to escape Mexico? (aka, why are you avoiding that issue).

It is a capitalist nation that has implemented free trade reforms (NAFTA) and has long been a part of the capitalist economic order. Neoliberal reforms started coming as early there as in the 1980s I believe.

It seems that if the US applies its desired reforms on a country, that the people of that country will flee, so what makes people think it would be different in Cuba?

I agreed that people leave Mexico because of "capitalism", although their capitalism is not so free, as you can see in the link I've provided.
http://www.doingbusiness.org/rankings

What about North Korea? Why people leave from North Korea to South Korea?
And why people leave from the US to Mexico? It's because the US has too much capitalism and "suffocates" people?

[KurtFF8]

I'm not sure how that link proves that Mexico isn't capitalist.

The economic structure is based on the private ownership of the means of production and the vast existence of wage labor. The Mexican economy has engaged in Neoliberal reforms since the 1980s and has moved even further towards the "free market" than it already was (granted, it wasn't socialist).

And the US helped create the current conditions in Mexico (NATA once again). Not that it was just the US's fault: the ruling class of Mexico of course sought to benefit from those reforms as well.

I just find it funny when people point to out-migration from Cuba as a major condemnation of socialism while the outmigration from Mexico is much greater (in raw numbers as well as per capita), but that can't be based on their social structure!

So it's only an indictment of a social structure when it's a socialist system, but when it's a capitalist system: well they just haven't done it right yet.