| WHILE THE WORLD WASN'T LOOKING |
| Written by Maria Elena Salinas |
| Thursday, April 10 2003 |
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| While the world's attention is focused on Saddam Hussein, a different dictator is up to his old tricks again. Cuba's Fidel Castro is taking advantage of the fact that the United States is mired in a bloody war in Iraq to crack down on opponents to his repressive regime. In all, 80 people-among them human rights activists, union leaders, journalists, librarians, even an economist-were rounded up and thrown in jail. In what amounted to nothing less than a kangaroo court, the dissidents were put on trial and in most cases sentenced to lengthy prison terms.
Ricardo Gonzalez is one of those now behind bars. A former Cuban government journalist, Gonzalez operated an independent library in Havana's Playa neighborhood. The library, which consisted of several homemade bookcases, carried such innocuous titles as "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone." There were also biographies of Woody Allen, Frank Sinatra and Tom Cruise. Gonzalez also wrote articles for the independent news service Cuba Press. For this, a government prosecutor sought life in prison for Gonzalez. His sentence was 20 years in a Cuban jail.
The most well known defendant is Oscar Elias Biscet, a physician who has already served three years in prison for displaying the Cuban flag upside down as an act of civil disobedience. Journalist Raul Rivero was sentenced to 20 years in prison for writing articles critical of the government. Dissident economist Marta Beatriz Roque received a 20 years sentence for criticizing Cuba's economic policies.
I have traveled to Cuba on several occasions and have interviewed many Cuban dissidents and independent journalists. I always wondered how they were able to work with so much scrutiny from the government. It is a crime for example for a journalist to have a typewriter, note pads, pens and other writing materials. An unauthorized gathering of more than three people that are not members of the same family is considered a conspiracy against the government.
Why then, were they able to operate even clandestinely? The best theory I've heard comes from a State Department official who says Castro wants the world to believe that he allows dissent on the island so he permits a handful of dissidents to speak out from time to time by meeting with foreign dignitaries visiting Cuba and give interviews to foreign journalists.
Every now and then Castro even lets one of them leave the country. Such was the case with Oswaldo Paya, organizer of the Varela Project, a petition drive seeking free elections in Cuba and other democratic reforms, following procedures allowed in the Cuban Constitution. Paya was allowed to travel to Europe and the United States. But even though he and his small group of followers collected the required number of signatures, the Varela Project was ignored by the Cuban government. Now, many of those who spearheaded that project are facing long prison terms.
James Cason, the top U.S. diplomat in Havana said the Castro regime "has shown that it is willing to risk even the ire of the international community to maintain its central role." Cason, incidentally, has been accused by the Cuban government of collaborating with dissidents to undermine the socialist state. It was precisely a meeting between Cason and some of the dissidents that triggered the arrests.
Its obvious that Castro is cracking down and cracking heads at a time the U.S.-Cuba's principal critic in the international community-is far too busy to do much about it. Also, the U.S. may be in no position to point fingers at human rights violators at a time when it is being criticized around the world for dropping bombs on a country and curbing civil rights in the name of Homeland Security.
I for one feel the international community should speak up. The same protesters who are railing against the U.S. for the war in Iraq should also denounced Castro's shameful war on peaceful dissent just 90 miles from our shores. |
