Writing
"Cuba’s Pro-Freedom ‘Resistance’ Movement Is Growing"
The Daily Signal, formerly The Foundry (Heritage Foundation)
"Testimony from longtime activists and new video footage making its way out of the island confirm that something new is happening: more and more, ordinary Cubans are overcoming the climate of fear created by systematic surveillance and repression, firing squad executions, political imprisonment and torture to support Resistance members who proclaim a pro-freedom message on Cuban streets. This is happening in a situation which finds Cubans at a disadvantage in comparison to conditions in some “Arab Spring” countries: Cuba is a single-party Communist state with centralized control over the economy and people’s livelihoods, the regime denies Internet access to all but a chosen elite, mobile phone penetration is very low, telephony is monitored, and all independent media is illegal.Case in point: a daring protest in Havana on Tuesday, August 23, 2011, first reported by the Assembly of the Cuban Resistance, a coalition of pro-democracy groups in Cuba and abroad, and video of which quickly made its way online thanks to independent Havana-based news agency Hablemos Press."
"Opinion: What Jimmy Carter Should Have Said in Cuba"
Fox News Latino
"President Carter could have leveraged the prestige of the office he once occupied, the status enjoyed by his Center, and the international media spotlight he brought with him to Havana to offer Cuba's nonviolent freedom movement a boost that would have registered in the world's newsrooms, among policymakers, and in real world and online forums. But he did not.""Freedom for Cuba Campaign: Cuba's Political Prisoners and the Struggle for Liberty"
IYDU- International Young Democrat Union
"Orlando Zapata’s death placed the ongoing plight of Cuban political prisoners and the Regime’s human rights record in the international spotlight . In Cuba, activists spread the news of Tamayo’s death vowing to continue his struggle for freedom and democracy. Demonstrations in the provinces (most prominent among them the marches in Havana by the Ladies in White, relatives of political prisoners locked up during the 2003 crackdown) called for the release of all Cuban political prisoners, drawing greater press coverage than ever before. The Castro regime responded with brutal repression for several weeks, which provoked further outcry.
Strong and consistent nonviolent activism on the Island, coupled with international pressure and solidarity with the Cuban resistance, has forced the regime to embark on a face-saving strategy of sending political prisoners into exile in Spain and elsewhere, while claiming that it is generously liberating them, without ever committing itself to systematic reforms on human rights or democracy."
The total number of political prisoners held in Cuba cannot be known for certain, but well over a hundred internationally recognized political prisoners remain behind bars, and none of the political prisoners released so far have been legally rehabilitated or had his charges revoked, meaning they remain guilty of crimes in the eyes of the Communist state wherever they may be. Thousands of Cuban citizens continue to be held on charges such as “Pre-Criminal Social Dangerousness,” or under the many provisions criminalizing free expression and association, such as Law 88.
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The Cuban resistance will continue to persevere in its struggle for freedom, even though the risk of political imprisonment will persist as long as these unjust laws, the repressive machinery that enforces them, and the political actors who maintain totalitarian rule in Cuba remain.'
"No More Youth Political Prisoners in Cuba: Cuba's Political Prisoners and the Struggle for Liberty"
World Youth Movement for Democracy
'The released prisoners themselves emphasize that the struggle for freedom continues, and that the Cuban regime is an obstacle to the democratic change the Cuban people need. Normando Hernandez Gonzalez, an independent journalist who developed chronic ailments due to mistreatment and medical negligence during his political imprisonment stated flatly that recent moves involving political prisoners did not change the fact that “Cuba is not opening up to democracy." They called upon the European Union to maintain its Common Position toward Cuba in place, which seeks improvements in human rights and democracy on the Island.The total number of political prisoners held in Cuba cannot be known for certain, but well over a hundred internationally recognized political prisoners remain behind bars, and none of the political prisoners released so far have been legally rehabilitated or had his charges revoked, meaning they remain guilty of crimes in the eyes of the Communist state wherever they may be. Thousands of Cuban citizens continue to be held on charges such as “Pre-Criminal Social Dangerousness,” or under the many provisions criminalizing free expression and association, such as Law 88.
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The Cuban resistance will continue to persevere in its struggle for freedom, even though the risk of political imprisonment will persist as long as these unjust laws, the repressive machinery that enforces them, and the political actors who maintain totalitarian rule in Cuba remain.'