Cuban spring ‘unavoidable’ amid repression
Cuban spring 'unavoidable' amid repressionby Laima Andrikiene08 February 2012
The international community must act against the undemocratic Cuban regime as it increases its repression of dissidents, argues a member of the European Parliament's human rights subcommittee
Who is responsible for the death of the Cuban political prisoner Wilman Villar Mendoza on January 19? Why, on February 3, was blogger Yoani Sanchez refused permission to travel abroad by Cuban authorities for the 19th time since May 2008? Why were opposition group Damas de Blanco – Sakharov prize laureates – not allowed to travel to the European Parliament in Strasbourg to collect that prestigious award for the freedom of thought?
There are so many questions and almost no answers from the Cuban regime. The situation of harassment and repression endangers the lives of Cuban people who defend human rights and civil liberties. We are aware that the regime is directly responsible for the death of four political prisoners – Orlando Zapata Tamayo, Juan Wilfredo Soto Garcia, Laura Pollan Toledo and Wilman Villar Mendoza – as well as thousands of arbitrary arrests and hundreds of beatings, assaults, and acts of repudiation.
The death of 31-year-old dissident Wilman Villar Mendoza on January 19 after a 50 day hunger strike highlights the continuing repression in Cuba. Villar Mendoza was detained in November 2011 after participating in a peaceful demonstration in Contramaestre calling for greater political freedom and respect for human rights. He was charged with 'contempt' and sentenced to four years in prison in a hearing that lasted less than an hour. He was not given the opportunity to speak in his defence, nor represented by a defence lawyer.
The Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation, a human rights monitoring group that the government does not recognise, classified Villar Mendoza as a political prisoner in December 2011. The Cuban regime denies holding political prisoners and said in a statement that Mr Villar "was not a dissident nor was he on a hunger strike". The authorities did not even bother to tell Wilman Villar's wife about the death of her husband, and she was informed by some human rights defenders.
Almost two years ago, political prisoner Orlando Zapata Tamayo died in similar circumstances, also on hunger strike, with the same demands. Activist Juan Wilfredo Soto Garcia died last year after receiving a brutal beating from the political police at Leoncio Vidal Park, in the city of Santa Clara, Villa Clara province. Less than three months ago, Laura Pollan Toledo, leader of the Damas de Blanco, died under mysterious circumstances that have still not been clarified. Numerous reports issued from within the island over the past three months have reported an increase in the regime's violence against opposition – including cases of activists who have suffered fractured skulls after machete blows, and members of the Damas de Blanco who have been pricked with needles containing unknown substances while participating in marches on the streets of Havana.
The regime in Havana and its prisons have a system devised to eliminate those political and common detainees who protest against the injustice and inhumanity of their captors by denying them water and medical care, and confining them in freezing cells. Catherine Ashton, the European Union's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, deplored the tragic death of Mr Villar and urged Cuba to continue working to make progress on respect of human rights and freedom of expression. "It's the second death in similar conditions in a very short time and it poses doubts concerning Cuban's judicial system and penitentiary," Ashton said.
According to human rights organisations, there is no way to know how many government opponents remain in jail, as independent investigators cannot visit prisons. In 2010, Raul Castro freed 52 prisoners who had been arrested during a 2003 crackdown, but human rights defenders from the island say that those releases have not changed the attitude by the regime towards dissidents and repression continues. Last year the regime decided to release 2,900 inmates, but following human rights defenders information, the dissidents were not released.
Political prisoners must be released immediately. The persecution of people for their legitimate demands for freedom of speech, thought and assembly is unjust. The lack of fundamental rights contradicts the principles of humanity and is a clear infringement of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, of which Cuba is a signatory.
One could get an impression that Cuban regime is making free-market reforms which aim at reviving Cuba's socialist economy by boosting private enterprise. But the reality is much darker. So-called free-market reforms will not change much in relations between the state and citizens: the regime will still control 99 per cent of the economy. Moreover, those reforms will not provide Cuban citizens with their fundamental rights, such as freedom of thought, freedom of speech and freedom of assembly. It is not a surprise that most Cubans desire economic opportunities and private property ownership, but at the same time they closely tie these economic changes to political changes in the form of free elections, free expression, access to information and the right to dissent.
It is clear that the reality in Cuba is far from the state propaganda of 'reforms' and 'changes'. The regime deserves strong condemnation for these crimes and persecutions of people. The international community should take the necessary steps to prevent the further escalation of the extrajudicial executions by the Castro regime. Any repressive and undemocratic regime is similar to a dead man walking. The Arab spring surprised the world in 2011 throwing away one dictator after another. Spring is unavoidable and inescapable, in Cuba also.
Dr Laima Andrikiene is an MEP in the European People's Party and a member of the European Parliament's subcommittee on human rights
http://www.publicserviceeurope.com/article/1472/cuban-spring-unavoidable-amid-repression
Cuban blogger appeals to Brazil’s president for help to leave Cuba
Cuban blogger appeals to Brazil's president for help to leave Cuba
Dissident blogger Yoani Sánchez has issued a video plea after being denied permission to leave the country since 2004
The dissident Cuban blogger Yoani Sánchez – famed for her outspoken online critiques of the country's communist regime – has issued an appeal to Brazil's president, Dilma Rousseff, to help her leave the Caribbean island.
Sánchez, a Havana-based writer who has been accused by Cuban authorities of conducting a "cyberwar" against the government, has not been able to leave the country since 2004 because of migration rules that require Cubans to receive government permission to travel.
She has now been invited to the Brazilian state of Bahia in February for the screening of a documentary about press freedom in Cuba and Honduras in which she features.
But speaking to the Brazilian television channel Record this week, Sánchez said she expected her latest request for an exit permit would again be declined without "high-level intervention".
Sánchez told Record she had "exhausted all of the options inside my country to get them to allow me to travel".
In the video appeal to Rousseff, posted on YouTube, Sánchez called on Brazil's first female president to intervene.
"Please help me," said the blogger, who says it is her 19th attempt to get travel permission from Cuban authorities. "Through this small video I want to send a very respectful [and] very humble message … to the president of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff."
"Unfortunately I am forbidden from leaving my own country – I have not committed any crime."
Referring to the time Rousseff spent in jail during Brazil's military dictatorship, Sánchez said: "I know very well that she has felt first hand … what excessive control and repression is."
"I have done everything that is within my reach but the wall of control, the wall of censorship, the wall which stops me travelling freely and returning to my island seems not to move," said Sánchez, whose supporters have also created an online petition calling on Rousseff to intervene.
Before Christmas, activists had hoped that Cuba's president, Raúl Castro, would announce major changes to the country's migration laws, particularly the rule that means Cubans require exit permits to travel abroad.
But while Castro, who officially took over from his brother as president in 2008, announced pardons for nearly 3,000 prisoners, those hoping for a loosening of travel rules were disappointed.
"The migration reforms … were not announced again," Sánchez says in her video appeal to Rousseff. "In the 21st century … we are forbidden from leaving and entering freely our country."
Sánchez has earned international plaudits for her blog, Generación Y, on which she publishes regular critiques of the Cuban authorities, often secretively posted from internet cafes.
In 2008, Time magazine named her one of the world's 100 most influential people. The magazine's profile, written by the American novelist Oscar Hijuelos, described her "feisty dedication to the truth".
"Under the nose of a regime that has never tolerated dissent, Sánchez has practiced what paper-bound journalists in her country cannot: freedom of speech," Hijuelos wrote.
But while the blogger's supporters view her as a standard-bearer for press freedom, Cuban authorities have accused her of conducting a Washington-backed "cyberwar" against the island's communist regime.
In a recent piece for Foreign Policy magazine, the Cuban blogger said that while many foreign correspondents in Havana feared expulsion if they offended authorities, social networks were helping independent journalists get the message out.
"Opening the world's eyes to the real Cuba … no longer requires a wire service dispatch; it can be done with a cell phone," she wrote.
Meanwhile, Cuban authorities have vented their anger at a Twitter user whom they accused of starting a wave of online rumours this week claiming that the former president, Fidel Castro, had died.
An article posted on the state-run Cubadebate website pointed the finger of blame at a tweeter called @Naroh.
In the story, entitled: "New lie against #FidelCastro fails on Twitter", the website claimed that after the rumours began "necrophiliac counterrevolutionaries, aided by some media, immediately started to party." Responding to the allegations that he had started the hoax, Naroh tweeted: "Cuba is blaming me for killing Fidel Castro on Twitter. Can I now consider myself a Twit-star?"
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/05/cuban-blogger-appeals-brazil-president
Cuba: Blogger and Scholar Ted Henken on New Media in Cuba
Cuba: Blogger and Scholar Ted Henken on New Media in Cuba
Posted By Ellery Roberts Biddle On 23 November 2011 @ 2:19 am In Citizen Media,Cuba,Digital Activism,English,Freedom of Speech,Human Rights,Latin America,Photos,Spanish,Technology & Internet,Weblog | 2 Comments
The first post [1] in this two-post series featured highlights from a discussion between bloggers in Cuba, the United States (US), and Spain focusing on the use of new media in Cuba, where Internet access and technological tools are extremely scarce [2].
For this post, I interviewed City University of New York (CUNY) Professor of Sociology, Ted Henken, a Cuba expert who is the author of El Yuma [3], a blog that explores social currents in contemporary Cuba and closely follows the Cuban blogosphere.
I discussed with Henken his recent appearance on Radio Martí where he helped facilitate a dialogue between several of the most prominent Cuban bloggers writing today and his students at Baruch College in New York City. This was a unique event for Radio Martí [4]. Funding and oversight of the station come from the Broadcasting Board of Governors [5], a US federal agency devoted to broadcasting radio and television into countries where media outlets independent of the state are either scarce or heavily censored.Ted Henken (on the right) with blogger Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo. Posted with permission of photographer. [6]
Much of Radio Martí programming is explicitly anti-Castro and supportive of US policy towards Cuba; the station is seen by many as a symbol of the political gridlock that has defined US-Cuba policy for decades. Henken shared his perspective on the political nature of Radio Martí:
You can describe their goals in different ways. You can say that it's intended as a way to overthrow the Cuban government, or as a way to get information to people.
Ted Henken is a unique contributor to the online conversation about Internet use and blogging in Cuba. He is both a scholar of, and active participant in, the Cuba-focused blogosphere. Henken also takes an objective approach to studying Cuban politics and culture; he does not come down firmly "for" or "against" the revolution.
In our conversation, he explained that while he had never wholly dismissed Radio and TV Martí, he has long been wary of the program. "In a perfect world, Radio Martí wouldn't exist," he told me. "But the world is not perfect."
Yoani Sánchez [7] and Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo [8] [es], two of Cuba's best-known "critical" bloggers were featured on the program. Both are members of the Voces Cubanas [9] [es] blogging collective, where most bloggers are explicitly critical of the government. While members of this group are often thought of as "dissident" bloggers, many of them, including Sánchez, reject this label. Henken commented on the distinction between "citizens" and "dissidents."
"Even though they have clear systemic criticisms of the government,their main thing is civic action, working [their voices] into the dominant discourse. To me that is what the story is."
People try to adopt them as political dissidents, and sometimes they're presented that way because of their criticisms. Yoani [says], people try to call me a dissident but I think of myself really as a citizen.
According to Henken, under the Obama administration, Radio Martí producers are making greater efforts to diversify political viewpoints in their programming. As part of this effort, they have solicited interviews with bloggers who have been classified as supporters of the Cuban revolution, including Global Voices contributor [10] and La Polémica Digital [11] [es] author Elaine Díaz, who declined the opportunity [12] [es].
Henken noted that many bloggers who are not explicitly against Cuban government policies "would not agree to do this, because of the repercussions it could have for them."
He acknowledged that Radio Martí, a broadcast station that fits cleanly into the "old media" model of "one-to-many" communication, provided an unusual setting for discussing the power and importance of independent, citizen-driven social media. He paraphrased a quote from Reinaldo Escobar [13] [es], husband of Yoani Sánchez, and an active blogger in Cuba, who acknowledges that Radio Martí is not the ideal venue for their message.
"The last thing we want to do is rely on the propaganda of a foreign government to get our voices out.We need to communicate with other Cubans. We use the Internet, and that's limited for all the reasons we know, and we listen to Radio Martí."
In the radio interview, Sánchez mentions that Cubans who want to speak out critically about their government have very limited options as far as different media are concerned. So, as Escobar says, they use any channel to which they can gain access.
"People like Yoani or Reinaldo will talk to anyone who wants to listen to them," Henken told me. "They're just responding to people who are interested in hearing what they have to say."
Though scarce, the availability of access to cell phones and the Internet has strengthened communications between people in Cuba and the rest of the world. These new technologies, along with the old, have created a unique collage of new and old media spaces in which Cubans are able to initiate critical conversations about government policy, human rights, and the direction in which Cuba is headed, without having to rely on government entities for support.
Of course these media remain politicized, but civic dialogue in a politically complex space is better than no civic dialogue at all. Henken believes that what Sánchez and others are trying to do is exercise "real rights."
[Yoani] tries to say what she really thinks. She tries to exercise real rights. This is in some way more radical. Luckily she's eloquent and responsible. I think she appeals to a group of people who are, if not middle of the road, at least responsible.
URL to article: http://globalvoicesonline.org/2011/11/23/cuba-blogger-and-scholar-ted-henken-on-new-media-in-cuba/
URLs in this post:
[1] The first post: http://globalvoicesonline.org../2011/11/04/cuba-bloggers-discuss-the-internet-offline-on-radio-marti/
[2] Internet access and technological tools are extremely scarce: http://www.policyinnovations.org/ideas/briefings/data/000195
[3] El Yuma: http://elyuma.blogspot.com/
[4] Radio Martí: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_y_Televisi%C3%B3n_Mart%C3%AD
[5] Broadcasting Board of Governors: http://www.bbg.gov/
[7] Yoani Sánchez: http://www.desdecuba.com/generaciony/
[8] Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo: http://vocescubanas.com/boringhomeutopics/
[9] Voces Cubanas: http://vocescubanas.com/
[10] Global Voices contributor: http://globalvoicesonline.org../author/elaine-diaz/
[11] La Polémica Digital: http://espaciodeelaine.wordpress.com/
[12] who declined the opportunity: http://espaciodeelaine.wordpress.com/2011/05/04/a-radio-marti-n-u-n-c-a/
[13] Reinaldo Escobar: http://www.desdecuba.com/reinaldoescobar/
International prize for Dutch diplomat
International prize for Dutch diplomat
Dutch diplomat Caecilia Wijgers has been honoured for her commitment to promoting democracy in Cuba.
The Dutch foreign ministry announced on Saturday that Ms Wijgers received the first Palmer Prize for Diplomats during a ministerial conference on democracy in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius.
The Palmer Prize was created to honour diplomats who under difficult circumstances continue to fight for democracy in the country where they have been stationed. Between 2005 and 2009, Ms Wijgers fought for freedom of speech and free access to information for civil society, journalists and human rights activists in Cuba. She was the then deputy ambassador to Cuba.
http://www.expatica.com/nl/news/local_news/international-prize-for-dutch-diplomat_160425.html
Otto Reich, Gutierrez-Boronat: Cuba Change Coming
Otto Reich, Gutierrez-Boronat: Cuba Change ComingSunday, 19 Jun 2011 07:28 PMBy Otto Reich and Orlando Gutierrez-Boronat
Winds of change are opening doors that have been closed in oppressed countries for half a century, not only in the near East but also in the Caribbean. In central Cuba, one recent day seemed like any other until those winds blew through the main entrance at government-run Radio Placetas.
The station is owned and operated Cuba, Fidel Castro, Raul Castroby the Castro regime, as are all radio stations in Cuba. Consequently, the station transmits only programming approved by Cuba’s ruling Communist Party, broadcasting a predictable and monotonous replication of life under a totalitarian regime.
The fresh winds this time took the human form of three young black Cuban women, who opened the doors and demanded to be heard: Yaimara Reyes Mesa, Yris Tamara Perez Aguilera and Donaida Perez Paseiro. Miriam, the station director, rushed to confront them. It is rare for citizens to demand air time in Castroite Cuba. In a calm and respectful voice, the three women insisted that the station air an opinion different from the government’s official line about the recent death of dissident Juan Wilfredo Soto Garcia, who perished at the hands of police in the nearby city of Santa Clara a few days before.
“We are Cuban citizens, we live in this city. Don’t we have a right to be heard?” said Yris. “This station only transmits the policies of the Party and the government,” replied Miriam, the director, shocked that anyone would dare try to access the microphones of a “public” radio station for any unapproved message. “Then we will remain here until we are heard,” countered the dissident Donaida.
Whipped into a fury by the station’s ever-present Communist Party delegate, employees surrounded the three protesters with hostile shouts of “Whatever you tell us to do, Fidel, we will do…” (Pa’ lo que sea, Fidel, pa’ lo que sea). The unlikely heroines were unmoved; “We will not leave until the public knows that Juan Wilfredo Soto Garcia was beaten to death by police.” And remain they did, until police arrested them.
Yaimara, 29, Yris, 35, and Donaida, 39, are members of the Rosa Parks Feminist Movement, a nonviolent protest organization that advocates for the re-establishment of civil rights for all Cubans. They were protesting the death of Juan Wilfredo Soto Garcia, a 46-year old activist and former political prisoner who died after being beaten by police in a park in the provincial capital of Santa Clara on May 8 of this year. The beating took place after dictator Raul Castro sternly warned the illegal but increasingly active opposition groups during the April closing of the Cuban Communist Party Congress: “…it is necessary for us to clarify that we will never deny the people the right todefend their Revolution, since the defense of independence, of the conquests of socialism and of our plazas and streets will continue to be the first duty of all Cuban citizens.”
This was Castro’s order, in Orwellian doublespeak, to police and paramilitary forces to attack freedom activists anywhere and anytime they saw fit.
After long imprisonments of peaceful dissidents led to international condemnation of the bankrupt, half-century-old Castro dictatorship, and failed to stem the rising tide ofpublic defiance, brutal street violence seems to be the regime’s principal recourse to stem a rising tide of popular resistance. The regime has reason to fear: Yris, Donaida and Yaimara are said to be the tip of an iceberg of grassroots opposition to the dictatorship. Young, black and from impoverished provinces, they are representative of the 93.1 percent of young Cubans who, according to a recent public opinion poll commissioned by the International Republican Institute,would vote in favor of changing Cuba from “the current political system to a democratic system with multi-party elections, freedom of speech and freedom of expression.”
Shortly after being released from her arrest for the Radio Placetas sit-in, Yris joined other civic activists in a public march in her city. Violently intercepted by Regime police, Yris was thrown to the ground and beaten unconscious. After her release, before the pain of her injuries had begun to fade, she cried: “I will not renounce the struggle for Cuban freedom.” The march concluded a twelve-day cycle of protests organized across Cuba by the National Civic Resistance Front (FNRC).
Street protests like those by the FNRC were unheard of in a country where fear has ruled for decades. Their newfound frequency indicates that discontent against the Castro regime is overtaking fear, and motivating veteran activists to find freedom through nonviolent resistance. As distracted journalists and academics focus on Raul Castro and his purported plans of pseudo-reform, they would do well not to ignore Cuba’s growing Resistance and its will to bring about democratic change. At this time of year the winds in the tropics can be unpredictable and strong. And after 52 years of abuse, old and weak doors may not stand for long.
Otto J. Reich, a Washington, D.C.-based consultant, is a former U.S. assistant secretary of state and ambassador to Venezuela. Orlando Gutierrez-Boronat is national secretary of the Directorio Democratico Cubano in Miami.
http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/Cuba-FidelCastro-RaulCastro/2011/06/19/id/400579
Cuba Sacrifices the Future Generation / Laritza Diversent,Laritza Diversent, Translator: Unstated
Cuba Sacrifices the Future Generation / Laritza DiversentLaritza Diversent, Translator: Unstated
Roberto supports the legislative reforms that the government announced, but considers more important the adaptation of the Republic of Cuba Constitution, the new conditions of the development of humanity.
Roberto Esquivel slowly rocks in a chair, while he reads the news in the Daily Granma, about the government's intentions to modify legislation, after the Communist Congress, scheduled to be held in the second half of April.
"This update policy and legislative perfection in the country in line with the new national reality and the objectives proposed," said Granma, quoting the Minister for Justice, Maria Esther Reus.
"The future of Cuba is gradually fleeing, thousands of young people migrating to developed countries, that is our reality," says Esquivel, a retired lawyer. Roberto regrets that his eldest son, a computer professional, was abroad in search of better career opportunities.
"Don't think I judge him" he says, "… with my 78 years I do not know how to navigate the internet which is not unusual, but my granddaughter, 12, has never been able to use Google to do her homework, it's an absurdity, in Cuba there is no technological generation, because they don't have the means," he said.
Today in the 21st Century, the right to be informed, freedom of thought, expression of ideas and opinions, and above all the right to an education, is not conceivable without the developed technological instrument of the Internet.
Roberto depends, to communicate, quickly and cheaply with his family in Spain, on email which his other daughter has at work. "What we say via this means is monitored and controlled by the business," he says.
"Cuban laws, as the highest expression of government strategies clearly show delayed development of new technologies for citizens, at the same time they develop an infrastructure to control the flow of information," opines Esquivel.
According to Robert the restrictions begin in the Constitution which recognizes "freedom of speech and press in accordance with the aims of socialist society" and continues with nearly 50 laws, which limit the use of technological equipment and Internet access, to make it compatible with the defense and security of the Cuban state.
According to the maximum State Law, within the island the freedom of expression is enjoyed by the mere fact that the mass media "are owned by the State" which "ensures the exclusive use of the service for working people and interests society."
"This is the only national newspaper, it is the official organ of the Communist Party, meaning that only I have the opportunity to know the version of what they consider fair. That is not freedom of information and expression, it is imposing a view," argues Robert, while showing the print edition of the newspaper Granma.
The Cuban Constitution only refers to the traditional media, "… the press, radio, television, film and other mass media," when the flow of information has undergone a profound change in the past 20 years thanks to the information revolution.
According to Roberto, Cuba remained frozen in time with respect to these technological advances of mankind, not only for economic reasons but also for purely political decisions. "The cost is very large, they are sacrificing the future generation," he concludes.
April 22 2011
Carter coming back to Cuba, raising expectations
Carter coming back to Cuba, raising expectationsBy Shasta Darlington, CNNMarch 27, 2011
STORY HIGHLIGHTS Trip is officially to strengthen bilateral ties However, ex-president may try to lobby for American prisoner U.S. contractor recently sentenced to 15 years
Havana, Cuba (CNN) — When Jimmy Carter arrived on his last visit to Cuba in 2002, Fidel Castro himself was on the tarmac to greet the former U.S. president.
He became the only American leader — in or out of office — to visit this island since Castro's 1959 revolution.
On Monday, Carter will be back on a private mission at the invitation of the Cuban government. He will meet with the new president, Raul Castro, and other officials to talk about bilateral ties.
The trip has sparked speculation that Carter could try to secure the early release of American contractor Alan Gross, who was recently sentenced to 15 years in a Cuban prison for "subversive" work providing illegal internet access to Cuban groups.
Carter's three-day trip is "to learn about new economic policies and the upcoming Party Congress, and to discuss ways to improve U.S.-Cuba relations," according to a press release from the Carter Center.
In some ways, the time is ripe.
Raul Castro has introduced sweeping changes to the Soviet-style economy, laying off state workers and expanding the private sector.
And just this week, Cuba freed the last of 75 dissidents jailed in a 2003 crackdown on the opposition that prompted worldwide condemnation.
Oscar Elias Biscet was one of those recently freed. He was originally sentenced to 25 years in prison for counter-revolutionary activities.
"I want to continue my work in the defense of human rights," he told CNN. "We want a democratic and free society."
Raul Castro agreed to release the prisoners last year as part of a deal brokered by the Catholic Church and Spain. Initially, only those who agreed to go into exile in Spain were freed.
But over the last couple of months, dissidents who demanded to stay in Cuba were also let go, removing one of the major obstacles to improved relations with the United States.
But Washington's response has been muted.
"The release of political prisoners is a step in the right direction," said U.S. State Department Deputy spokesman Mark Toner. "However, human rights conditions in Cuba remain poor. The Cuban government continues to limit fundamental freedoms, including freedom of speech, the press and peaceful assembly."
U.S. President Barack Obama singled out Cuba for criticism during a speech on regional policy in Chile earlier this week. He said it was time for Cuba to reciprocate on positive steps he had taken.
"Cuban authorities must take meaningful actions to respect the basic rights of the Cuban people — not because the United States insists on it, but because the people of Cuba deserve it," he said.
Part of the reason for the impasse between the nations is Gross. The USAID contractor was arrested in Havana in 2009.
The United States said he was helping the Jewish community connect to the internet, but Cuba says he was part of a broad plot to use illegal internet connections to destabilize the government.
Despite the hefty 15-year-sentence, foreign diplomats in Havana have speculated that Gross could be released early as a humanitarian gesture, given that his mother and daughter are battling cancer.
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/americas/03/26/cuba.carter.visit/?hpt=T2
US hails Cuba releases, but rights still ‘poor’
US hails Cuba releases, but rights still 'poor'(AFP)
WASHINGTON — The United States said Friday that human rights conditions under Cuba's communist regime remain "poor" despite Havana's recent release of the last members of a group of dissidents detained eight years ago.
"We welcome the release of the last of the 75 peaceful Cuban activists who were unjustly arrested for exercising their universal rights and fundamental freedoms during the 2003 'Black Spring' crackdown," Mark Toner, a State Department spokesman, said in a statement.
The release marked "a step in the right direction," he said.
"However, human rights conditions in Cuba remain poor. The Cuban government continues to limit fundamental freedoms, including freedom of speech, the press, and peaceful assembly," said Toner, adding that Washington urges Havana to "release all remaining political prisoners."
He also pressed Cuba to allow the United Nations and Red Cross access to the country's jails, "so that a fuller accounting of remaining political prisoners can be possible."
On Wednesday the government released Felix Navarro and Jose Ferrer, the last from the 2003 group.
But Cuba's opposition movement stresses that the prisons are not empty of dissidents, with one activist noting on Wednesday that there are some 60 people currently held on political charges.
Last July, the Catholic Church struck a deal with the state to have the 2003 group's remaining 52 imprisoned dissidents freed and allowed to go into exile in Spain, in the biggest prisoner release since President Raul Castro formally took power in 2008.
But only 40 agreed to leave Cuba, and the remaining dozen insisted on staying, leading in some cases to months-long delays in their release.
Toner said US President Barack Obama has focused "on increased engagement with the Cuban people in an effort to promote democratic ideals and improve human rights conditions on the island."
On Monday in a speech in Chile, Obama urged Cuban authorities to "take meaningful actions" to improve the rights of Cubans.
Ties between Washington and Havana, which have had no formal relations for more than 50 years, thawed slightly when Obama took office.
But Washington was incensed when in December 2009 Cuba arrested an American contractor, Alan Gross, for delivering communications equipment on the island.
On March 12 he was sentenced to 15 years in prison for "acts against the independence or territorial integrity" of Cuba.
Tag: human rights
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