Rand Paul and Obama support torture in Castro’s prison island.
ARMANDO VALLADARES
Painter, poet and writer, Valladares suffered 22 years in Castro’s dungeons as political prisoner of the Cuban Communist regime. Valladares received the Liberty Award from de Pen Club and adopted by Amnesty International as a prisoner of conscience. He was liberated thanks to the intervention in his favor by the President of France, Francois Mitterand.
Valladares served on the administrations of Ronald Reagan and George Bush Sr. President Reagan, after reading Valladares’ prison memories “Contra Toda Esperanza”, he appointed him as head of the U.S. Delegation to the United Nations Commission in Human Rights in Geneva.
Due to Valladares’ successful intervention, the Cuban regime was condemned for the first time by the Commission for its gross violation of human rights. Ronald Reagan awarded Valladares the second highest civil decoration of the United States, the Presidential Medal. He was also honored in receiving the Superior Award, which is the highest distinction given to diplomats by the Department of State.
The Valladares Foundation defends the children rights. He is the author of Alma del Poeta, Desde mi Silla de Ruedas, El Corazón Con Que Vivo y Cavernas del Silencio.
According to Valladares: “During those years, with the purpose of forcing us to abandon our religious beliefs and to demoralize us, the Cuban Communist indoctrinators repeatedly used the statements made by some representatives of the American Christian churches. Every time a pamphlet was published in U.S., every time a clergyman would write an article in support of Castro’s dictatorship, a translation would be given to us, and that was far worse for the Christian political prisoners than the beatings or the hunger. Incomprehensible to us, while we waited for the embrace of solidarity from our brothers in Christ, those who were embraced were our tormentors.”
Obama’s Latest Welfare Queens—the Castro Brothers
Townhall.com ^ | January 2, 2015 | Humberto Fontova
The vital codified sanctions prohibit outright tourism to Cuba by U.S. citizens and the purchases of Cuban products by U.S. entities. Obama’s relentless loop holing allows almost unlimited cash remittances from people in the U.S. to Cuba plus travel to Cuba for family visits, educational and cultural exchanges and a multitude of other specifically licensed activities under the rubric of “people to people” travel. This rubric’s rationale is to channel the interaction of Americans to the Cuban people, rather than to regime officials.
But amazingly, (except to everyone familiar with Castroism) under this arrangement every American visitor to Cuba is closely chaperoned and mentored by regime officials (tour guides.) These guides (as anyone half-way familiar with communism should know) are tasked by the Stalinist regime with relentlessly evangelizing on the “glories of Cuba’s healthcare, education and on the wickedness of the U.S. blockade blah…blah.” As if the visiting Americans don’t get enough of that from the U.S. media and their professors.
Bottom line: under Obama’s loop holing thus far the cash flow –from the U.S. to Cuba (remittances, travel expenses) is estimated at $4 billion annually—whereas during the 1970’s The Soviet cash-flow to Cuba was estimated at $3.8 billion annually. And last year well over half a million people visited Cuba from the U.S. —whereas during the 1950’s an average of 200,000 people visited Cuba annually from the U.S.
The further loop holing announced last week will license even more forms of “non-tourist,” “people-to-people” and “educational” (i.e. indoctrinating) travel from the U.S. to Cuba and further raise the cap on cash remittances from U.S. citizens and residents to Cuba. Much of the cash making up these remittances, by the way, comes on the U.S. taxpayers’ dime.
You see, the U.S. issues 20,000 visas to Cubans annually. And amazingly (except to everyone familiar with Castroism) the Castro regime is in charge of which Cubans get them. So Castro’s apparatchiks make sure to issue the exit permits to the type of “refugee” who will get to the U.S. via comfy commercial flight and immediately start sending a portion of his U.S. refugee welfare benefits back to his family Cuba, where the regime promptly skims off 20 percent in various “transaction fees.”
Then the “refugee’s” family spends the rest in regime- owned stores or deposits it in the regime’s Central Bank, between the “refugee’s” frequent visits back to Cuba on the HUGE Obama-opened “family-travel” loophole. On these frequent visits the “refugee” spends most of the rest of his U.S. welfare benefits.
In brief the U.S. is issuing refugee visas to Cubans who the Castro regime makes sure aren’t political refugees by any stretch of the term. Then the U.S. pays these de-facto regime-collaborators “refugee” welfare benefits which mostly benefit the Stalinist regime. The entire time these refugees” are automatically on the fast track to U.S. citizenship..
So has the mainstream media informed you that among the most notorious “Welfare Queens” under Obama’s almost universally –hailed (especially by “taxpayer champions” like Jeff Flake and Rand Paul)) are the Castro brothers? Didn’t think so.
The whole article
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3242967/posts