Regards, Ivan
Posted on 05/21/2005 4:28:02 AM PDT by MadIvan
Hundreds of Cuban dissidents chanted "freedom, freedom" and "down with Fidel Castro" at the start of a gathering of pro-democracy campaigners held near Havana.
But the opening of the convention, held in an orchard, was overshadowed by a wave of arrests and the expulsion of visiting European parliamentarians and journalists, as President Castro's secret police acted against the island's first multi-party democracy conference.
Five European legislators, with several journalists and human rights activists from the Czech Republic, Germany and Italy, were seized. At least six Poles were believed to be in Cuban jails.
Among those expelled was Karel Schwarzenberg, formerly an aide to the Czech president, Vaclav Havel. The central European aristocrat and parliamentarian described the arrests as "the typical behaviour of a totalitarian regime". The Cuban's exaggerated response was indicative of "the nervousness of a regime that is visibly unsure of itself", he said.
An attempt to hold a similar congress nine years ago was called off after the participants were arrested.
About 200 activists demanding the release of Cuba's political prisoners attended the meeting of the Assembly to Promote Civil Society. The organiser, Martha Beatriz Roque, told the gathering: "No state, no regime, no party has the right to control a whole nation. That is why we are here."
The organisers said the state had prevented many would-be delegates from attending the meeting.
Participants then heard a video-taped message from President George W Bush, who hailed their attempt to bring freedom to the island. Cuba's dissident community, which has been subjected to 46 years of harassment since the communist takeover, is far more sympathetic to the United States than to Europe, where they believe that there is a lingering romantic attachment to President Castro.
Regards, Ivan
Ping!
Castro once said the greatest danger to his revolution was not the US. Its was the possibility that some Cuban would own tools and do work for someone else to earn money.
I was excoriated for that comment because we in the USA where actually not free either, we just didn't know it yet because of the BFEE.
Go figure
There are people in Ireland who think he is a saint. B/S like "Cuba has a great health service", or "Castro is harmless", and when I tell them he is Sinn Fein/IRA's paymaster - they just love him even more. Idiots.
Ain't no secret in the Cuban goon and assasin squads.
Everyone there knows they are there and most know who they are.
If the regeim ever falls, these guys had better hit the road to say Venezuela or be turned on like rabid dogs.
And deservedly so.
Ping.
From the safety and freedom of the U.S.A....I say...DOWN WITH FIDEL CASTRO!....God Bless the U.S.A. for my right to say so!
Their correct name is "Committee for the Preservation of the Revolution."
Cuban dissidents don't have a long life expectancy.
My ultimate test of a person's ideological ethics is "What do you think of Castro?"
Yeah, that's Capitalist oppression!
Ah yes the pressure cooker. The Glorious leader gave the masses a pressure cooker.
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