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Political prisoners hunger for justice - How long could you live in a cage?***Meanwhile, I've heard from José Daniel Ferrer, who is at the Pinar del Rio prison known as Kilometer 5 ½. He tells me about the prisoners' suffering and constant hunger. His brother Luis Enrique -- who challenged the judges to sign the Varela Project and thus was handed the longest sentence, 28 years -- is now in a punishment cell. When normal conditions are torture, imagine what a punishment cell must be like.

What's remarkable, what history will record as the truth, is the love of Cuba's political prisoners for their people and for freedom. It's the kind of unlimited courage that confuses their jailers. It's the fortitude of their spirit while at total disadvantage, their inner peace in the face of those who have only power, tyrannical power, and compensate for the strength of the powerless ones by inflicting pain upon them.

The prisoners of the Cuba spring and all other political prisoners in Cuba are sustained by their faith and the prayers and solidarity of all sensitive people inside and outside our island. But this should not be a spectacle for Cubans. Every drop in the torrent of pain that flows from these prisoners and their relatives is shed by every Cuban -- every elderly person and poor child, every disheartened youth who plunges into the sea, every family that suffers anguish and oppression and even by those who talk and only talk, complain or dwell on the subject but give no support.

Each drop of that suffering is shed by you. Don't pity the prisoners, because if they suffer hunger and thirst, they are blessed because they hunger and thirst for justice. There are no blessings, however, for those who show no solidarity because they don't want to get in trouble.***

Bolivia may be latest Castro/Chavez victory*** After weeks of often deadly protests led primarily by leftist-organized indigenous Indians, Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada was recently forced to resign as president of Bolivia. He was replaced by his Vice President Carlos Mesa, former television journalist with no political experience. No one knows how long Mesa will be able to remain in office. The country is bordering on chaos.

While some see this as simply another populist revolt against an elected “neo-liberal” reformer in Latin America, some -- more accurately -- see it as one more defeat for the United States as well as for democracy and free markets in the region.

It is also a victory for Cuban dictator Fidel Castro and Venezuela’s dictator-in-waiting, Hugo Chavez.

..........Many see the decrepit Castro (who still has a huge, loyal following in Latin America developed and cultivated over the past four decades) as the brains behind this effort, with his alter ego Chavez (using Venezuela’s large territory and vast oil revenues) as the logistical and financial support for this new subversion campaign. Some of the coordination may also be conducted through the Sao Paolo Forum, the Castro-inspired anti-American movement founded in Brazil by Lula da Silva in 1990. ***