Posted on 08/27/2007 3:47:38 PM PDT by STARWISE
Cuban independent journalist Armando Betancourt Reina, in jail since May 2006 when he was arrested while covering a story, was released from prison Monday, presumably because he had completed his 15-month sentence for being a "public disorder."
Committee to Protect Journalists has the story:
New York, August 21, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes Monday’s release of independent Cuban journalist Armando Betancourt Reina, who had been imprisoned at the Cerámica Roja Prison in the central city of Camagüey since May 2006.
Betancourt Reina, a reporter for the independent news agency Nueva Prensa Cubana, left prison Monday morning, reported the U.S.-based Radio Martí. Shortly after his release, Betancourt Reina told the Miami-based group Directorio Democrático Cubano that during his 15 months in jail he observed firsthand human rights violations in Cerámica Roja Prison. The journalist said that although he was not attacked, he witnessed guards and common criminals beating political prisoners.
“We are relieved that Armando Betancourt Reina has been freed,” said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon. “However, we reiterate our calls for Cuban authorities to immediately release the other 24 journalists unjustly imprisoned today in Cuba for expressing their views.”
(Editor's note: By Uncommon Sense's count, there are 29 journalists currently in Cuban jails.)
Betancourt Reina was detained on May 23, 2006, while covering the eviction of poor families from their homes, according to CPJ research. Local police told the family that the journalist was arrested for participating in a protest against the eviction, although sources in Camagüey told CPJ that the claim was untrue.
According to Mercedes Boudet Silva, the journalist’s wife, authorities told her lawyer in November that Betancourt Reina would be charged with public disorder, but no charges were filed until July 2007.
On July 3, after a four-hour trial, a Camagüey court sentenced Betancourt Reina to 15 months in prison on charges of public disorder, according to press reports.
With 24 independent journalists in prison, Cuba continues to be one of the world’s leading jailers of journalists, second only to China. Twenty-two of these journalists were jailed in a March 2003 crackdown.
For his part, Betancourt has no regrets about his imprisonment, telling the Cuban Democratic Directorate:
“This 15 month imprisonment has been an important experience. Although it might not have caused me psychological damage because it was a short time, it was a time where I was able to experience firsthand the situation and living conditions of Cuba’s prisoners."
Betancourt is at least the third Cuban dissident to be released from prison in recent weeks, but before we get too excited, remember that each of them — Betancourt, Francisco Chaviano and Lazaro González — had completed their prison sentences.
If the dictatorship really wants to impress, it should immediately release all political prisoners — including 29 other journalists — from its jails.
Posted by Marc R. Masferrer on Wednesday, August 22, 2007
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Aug. 27, 2007
Dead or alive....
It doesn't make a difference anymore. The dictator has become totally irrelevant when the country is slipping towards the release 2.0 of the tyranny.
He's as good as dead, even if he is not clinically dead yet.
The enormous ego of fidel castro is the only thing preventing him from dying phisically.
The cult of personality -at times denied- was so huge that killing the myth has proven to be a daunting task for raul, but we have to say that the relief of the effigy of fidel on the podium where raul spoke on July 26th, was a good signal for all of us to understand that the days of fidel are a thing of the past. It's over.
We got information this morning that as per yesterday castro was still alive but in bad shape, cannot be killed yet, though.
There are a few things to be squared off before the plug is pulled for once and all.
The recognition of the American government is the most important one.
The recognition of the American candidates in the presidential race, actually, because they know that it's unlikely that Bush will openly cooperate with them, even though they have had a great ally in him regarding the dry foot wet foot and the limbo in Guantanamo Base.
Another one is the economic model to be adopted. For that they need a few helping pushes, and some agreements, but almost everything is in place.
Then is the maintaining of "estability" in Cuba. We already know that there's a compromise of no-intervention by the part of the American military, unless things get really ugly and out of control. That's the part the Cuban military and the Cuban secret police are taking care of.
Raul's working in establishing "good will" gestures, albeit false. The Cuban people is not reacting well, they are highly suspicious of those "opening gambits" by the raul regime, and they are just going by the old Spanish saying: "vale mas malo conocido que bueno por conocer" (meaning, they know all the tricks in the old tyrant's bag, they are weary of the new and unknown tricks in the new tyrant's bag)
We have said many times that the process of succession has been established according to the Soviet liturgy and that it's apparently going on without any major glitch.
The measures against a popular uprising -very unlikely at this point- has a counterpart in the United States with all the measures designed to prevent Cuban Americans from having a participation on whatever happens in Cuba in the days following the announcement, thus all those emergency plans of the military, the Navy and the Coast Guard in South Florida: for the first time in history the USA is blocking it's own maritime borders to its own citizens so they can go to another country freely. That's the stabilization part needed to be accomplished by the USA.
This Friday's rumors didn't launch a people to the sea in go-fast boats in Miami. They were maybe waiting for the Cuban government announcement of the death of Castro.
Strangely, nobody took the sea and decided to wait on the announcement at a short reach of the Cuban shores. It gave a good glimpse on the pulse of the community to the authorities, if you know what I mean.
It also gave the Cuban government another piece of intelligence:
"Don't launch a rumor before the announcement"
We stand on what our sources have conveyed to us, the announcement will come as a surprise, during a weekday.
It will catch everybody moved, both in Cuba and in the United States.
We also have information that the United States government will be privvy to the information simultaneously, and that it will be not be conveyed through the American Interest Section.
They will know, though, that something's coming when the dissidents get corraled. But still we should not underestimate the enemy.... maybe they won't resource to a massive bagging of dissidents so there won't be a give away.
Dead or alive, who cares. It would have made a big difference if raul had died before.....
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Aug. 26, 2007
Big fix o'news
Got a big fix o'news at five am.
They tell me that maybe something is happening among the higher ups, that they are all in survival mode, because they are all terrified to see who keeps the head on top of the shoulders.
There was a meeting on Thursday (curiously, a mere 24 hours before those rumors were sent off by (obviously) a castro agent in Miami) in which raul told everyone that no dissention is going to be tolerated and that he would leave all treason in the hands of the military courts.
Which is known to be equal to being taken to the shooting squad and placed against the wall in a snap.
They have been effective in keeping the calm in Cuba. We know how:
terror... they have even told the dissidents that they will be thrown in jail or place under custody at home at any given moment (meaning, when they announce the whole damn thing)
People know that Raul is bloodthirsty, ruthless, and that he's even worse than kasstro. So they are not moving because they do not want to risk their lives.
There are rumors of the promised recognition by the USA to the new regime, which doesn't surprise us.
Castro is on an off a ventilator to breathe -and a tracheotomy was practiced on him. He's still alive, but in real bad shape.
He's also got a septic infection, and there are all kind of rumors about his health, but doctors are talking about a collapsed lung (old man's neumonia) and faltering kidneys. We know that he's got liver problems because those marks in his skin are tell tale signs.
Sure thing, the guy was alive yesterday. What nobody knows for real: how badly is he doing.
He's doing bad, but we do not have enough intelligence to make an educated guess about how much time is left, but anyways, that's not important any longer.
As they say in Cuba, buy the Granma early everyday, and keep the TV and radio reloj on to know when he's dead!
Also the feeling is that any celebration wold unknowningly and unwillingly be a celebration of the ascension of raul to full fledged power and the continuation of the system, they have nothing to celebrate, untill the system as a whole is gone.
http://www.killcastro.com/blog/
Good morning...
How about some mail to start the day/week?
Please don’t have your readers on your blog be so naive...
Real simple...HE IS DEAD.....ESTA MUERTO!.....Please don’t have your readers on your blog be so naive!.....
Seriously think about it, you know and I know..... if he is NOT then let the Cuban Government prove it to the world. It won’t because they are preparing for the worst when they announce his death....and they want to slowly let it out to make that transition.
On another point you know why they won’t right now, because Cuban Military and US Military have been in secret talks for months now....anyone can read the news internationally...
Raul has started to make cautious changes in Cuba which is a sign of plans for political and economic reform.
Since he took over, dozens of dissidents have been released. The Cuban Military has been extending there talks out to Washington and there is talk of easing communist controls on property and agricultural production.
Read the news....three political prisoners have been freed, the latest being Armando Betancourt Reina, a journalist jailed for 15 months after reporting on the eviction of a family in Camagüey.
As I do my research online....analysts say Raul was experimenting with stealth reforms to improve living conditions and morale without eroding government control.
Raul wants to make life more bearable. He made his points in his speech on July 26th 2007, besides he has been in the dark for years behind Fidel and now he wants to do it a little different.
Castro is DEAD.
It never ceases to amaze me how ordinarily smart people sometimes fail to put two and two together.
To wit: how anyone can think fidel castro is not dead. See, at this point, the onus is not upon us to prove he’s dead, the onus is upon the Cuban government to prove he’s alive.
And I can tell you right here and now, some little “editorial” supposedly written by fidel castro in a communist rag in Cuba aint gonna cut it.
CNN is in Cuba. CBS, the AP and who know how many other members of the esteemed heads up their butts when it comes to fidel castro MSM.
If fidel castro were alive, and the Cuban government had any inclination to prove same, they would allow any one of these news sources access to the dictator, if even for a photo op.
fidel castro is dead. Worm food. Sleeping with the fishes. Playing pattycake with Satan.
Deader by the day, isn’t he...
I’m starting to think he might be really...
The fact that those boxers were not thrown into jail after returning to Cuba after their defection...says volumes...and says Fidel is dead.
Thanks for the interesting articles, STARWISE.
The deathwatch continues...
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