(07-21-2021 07:20 AM)TigerBlue4Ever Wrote:  

(07-18-2021 05:27 PM)Mr_XcentricK Wrote:  

(07-17-2021 12:28 PM)TigerBlue4Ever Wrote:  

(07-14-2021 08:45 AM)Niner National Wrote:  

(07-14-2021 06:05 AM)TigerBlue4Ever Wrote:  Never mind that a year ago Cubans by the thousands weren't risking their safety and lives to protest against an evil dictatorship. This could be a seminal moment for freedom for our southern neighbors. It may not happen today but the fires have been lit.

I’m cheering for the Cuban people, but if we are being honest they’ll just end up a poor democracy instead of a poor dictatorship. Life there will still suck for the masses. Guess it’s still better to be poor without the fear of your government executing you for critiquing them though.

Or maybe capitalism can lift them up as it does everywhere it's used.

As said earlier the people of Cuba have to be responsible for their own revolution. Yes we cant help them. But we have to be careful because Trump’s friend’s, Russia and China have already threatened us if we intervene.

How did free market capitalism work out in Russia?

Are you serious? You can't be serious.

Has to be trolling. Nothing else explains it.

Cubans Search Desperately For Missing Relatives, Government Says Protesters Will Be Prosecuted

Quote:In the wake of widespread anti-communism protests in Cuba, government officials are detaining and prosecuting citizens without due process.

Across the island, relatives are lining up at police stations to find missing relatives. Some are attempting to deliver clothing, food, and other amenities.

The Wall Street Journal reported:

Cuban police have arrested an estimated 500 demonstrators and activists who were among thousands who poured into the streets on July 11 to protest against deteriorating living conditions, the lack of freedoms, and scarcity of basic goods and services including Covid-19 vaccines under the Communist regime.

Most of those detained during and after the demonstrations are young people from the poorest corners of the country who have been held incommunicado, relatives say. Authorities have yet to disclose the charges on which they are being held.

Authorities have said demonstrators will face summary trials behind closed doors, which gives defendants and their attorneys little time to study charges or present evidence. Prisoner Defenders, a Madrid-based legal action advocacy group, said the Cuban procedure “flagrantly violates the guarantee of due process.”

“Some demonstrators have been released, but those who are seen as influential or more visible aren’t going anywhere,” remarked Danelis Iglesias, the wife of rapper Adrian “El Radikal” Zamora. Iglesias said that her husband — who produces music critical of the regime — was arrested moments after stepping out of the shower and carried away in shorts and flip flops.

As The Daily Wire reported, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) explained in a Tuesday speech that the release of political prisoners — along with the establishment of a free press and the advent of multiparty elections — will automatically end the embargo on Cuba, which is targeted at the regime rather than the Cuban people.

“They don’t want individual Cubans to have a paycheck that they earn for themselves,” Rubio said of the Cuban government. “They want what little you have to come from them — because if you don’t do what they tell you, they can take it from you. That’s what they want… They don’t want the people of Cuba to have liberty. This is all about control.”

“Anyone who stands up and says, ‘There’s an embargo, there’s a blockade by the United States, and it’s cruel, and it’s causing all of these problems’ is one of two things: They don’t know what they’re talking about and they’re just parroting some talking point, or they’re liars.”

DC Mayor Led ‘Exploratory Mission’ To Havana In 2016, Lauded ‘Quality’ Cuban Education And Healthcare Systems

Quote:Alongside other leaders from Washington, D.C., Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser led an “exploratory mission” to Cuba in 2016 — during which she lauded the island’s “strong” education system and “quality” healthcare.

The mission served “as a platform for the regional delegation to learn best practices” from communist officials.

According to a February 2016 press release:

Today Mayor Muriel Bowser toured the University of Havana, the oldest university in Cuba, to learn how the country’s literacy, graduation rates, and university and college retention rates remain consistently high.

Mayor Bowser was joined on the university visit by DC Public Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson, representatives from American and Howard University’s Business Schools, and other members of the exploratory mission delegation.

Other topics of discussion included commitments to share educational attainment and retention information and results. An invitation was also extended to Cuban officials to visit DC Public Schools in the near future.

“Washington, DC has seen great gains in our education system,” Bowser said in the press release. “Given Cuba’s emphasis on a strong education, I know there’s a lot we can learn from each other. The District will continue to draw on best practices from around the globe as we close the achievement gap and prepare the next generation for the jobs of tomorrow.”

Another statement issued on the same day offered a high view of Cuba’s healthcare system:

Mayor Muriel Bowser met with Cuban healthcare leaders, including Dr. Mariela Castro, Director of research institution CENESEX and daughter of Cuban President Raúl Castro. Cuba has consistently maintained high health standards, despite a scarcity of resources.

Dr. Castro led Mayor Bowser on a tour of CENESEX, a teaching and research institution in the area of ​​human sexuality, best known for advocating for tolerance of LGBTQ residents, and a leader in education concerning contraception and AIDS.

“A city is only as strong as the health and well-being of its residents,” remarked Bowser. “No matter your background or economic status, everyone has the right to quality health care — and it’s encouraging to see that Cuba has made that a top priority. The District will continue to identify opportunities — at home and abroad — that lead to expanded medical research, more affordable preventative care, and proven programs that protect the health of future generations.”

Earlier this week, activists in Washington painted “Cuba Libre” — “Free Cuba” — in front of the Cuban embassy located on 16th Street. Bowser ordered officials to remove the mural one day after it appeared — even though she ordered the painting of the phrase “Black Lives Matter” on another portion of 16th Street in June of last year.

RUBIO: Cuba Protests Are About Freedom, Not COVID

Quote:Cubans have a right to be free, and the American people should support them.

On Sunday, July 11 of this year, we saw something in Cuba that we have never seen — protests in over fifty-two cities.

It is important to remember that this all started as a Facebook Live broadcast from one city that then spread throughout the country. It was organic. It was leaderless. It was not part of an organized effort.

It was just people who are tired and couldn’t take it anymore.

But this had been brewing for some time in Cuba. It began with the opening of the internet and with Cubans having access to information — websites and social media from all over the world — and the ability to communicate with one another.

Communist, socialist, Marxist dictators always use the same tactic: they keep people divided. They keep people from speaking to one another; they keep people separated from one another and unable to compare notes. What you are hearing now is people who are tired of living in a country where you cannot have your own opinion, where you cannot express yourself, where the government wants to control everything — everything you do and everything you say. They control where you live, control where you work, control how you can travel, control what kind of work you can do — and they hold it all over your head. Cubans are tired of it.

These protests were not about COVID. These protests were not about food shortages — Cuba has been dealing with food shortages forever, and COVID is spreading throughout the world.

These protests were about what the protesters said they were about — libertad, which means liberty.

The Cuban people want to live like Cubans live in Miami, and Tampa, and Orlando, and all over the United States and the world. They want to live free. They want to be able to pick their own leaders. They want to be able to work with their own hands and provide for their family.

And they want to live in a country where thinking differently than the people who are in charge is not a crime — particularly when the people who are in charge are people who you cannot replace and have no role in putting there whatsoever.

Justice, liberty, and freedom are the most noble causes any of us could be a part of, and we are inspired by what the people in Cuba are doing. We should continue to amplify their voice and support them in their cause.

They have a right to be free, and we should support them.

Poll: Most Voters Blame Communism for Cuba’s Problems

Quote:While some leftists in the United States have slammed the U.S. economic embargo of Cuba following country-wide anti-government protests on the island, most Americans think communism is to blame for the Cuba’s problems, according to a Rasmussen poll released Wednesday.

The survey asked likely U.S. voters “which is more to blame for the current problems in Cuba, the policies of the communist government there or the U.S. economic embargo of Cuba?” Fifty-nine percent of voters said the communist government is at fault. Only 20 percent blamed the U.S. economic embargo of Cuba while 21 percent were not sure.

Thousands of Cubans took to the streets in more than 40 municipalities last week demanding the end of Fidel Castro’s 62-year communist regime. Protesters were caught on camera yelling slogans like “down with communism,” “they [the regime] must leave,” and “**** Díaz-Canel!” among other anti-government statements. Notably, protesters were seen cloaked in American flags, embracing the United States rather than condemning it for its alleged embargo.

“Voters who blame Communism for Cuba’s problems more than the U.S. economic embargo are most likely to have followed news about the protests in the Caribbean island nation,” according to the poll report.

Seventy-three percent of voters who blame communism for Cuba’s problems said they have followed news about the protests in Cuba very closely. Echoing the respondents paying close attention, Republicans were more likely to blame communism than Democrats were.

Sixty-seven percent of Republicans, 49 percent of Democrats, and 61 percent of voters not affiliated with either major party said the policies of the communist government in Cuba are responsible for the island’s ills.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) blamed the “absurdly cruel” U.S. embargo of Cuba last week for the nation’s turmoil, mirroring a statement from Black Lives Matter (BLM). BLM praised Cuba’s communist regime while also condemning U.S. government sanctions and asserting Cubans have chosen their own government.

When asked, “should refugees from Cuba be allowed into the United States?” 59 percent of Democrats said yes compared to 48 percent of Republicans and unaffiliated voters. Overall, 52 percent of voters said refugees from Cuba should be allowed into the United States, while just 28 percent said the U.S. shouldn’t admit Cuban refugees. Twenty percent 20 percent were not sure.

The Biden administration warned Cuban refugees that they will be turned away if they flee to the United States. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) also threatened to arrest, incarcerate, impose excessive fines, and even take the vessels of boaters who help U.S.-bound Cubans flee the repression and economic suffering at the hands of the island nation’s communist regime.

Meanwhile, the Biden administration relaxed security at the U.S.-Mexico border — “revoking most of his predecessor’s measures — which Republicans and other critics blame for the record surge of migrants reaching the United States from the south in recent months,” Breitbart News reported. Now, most Cubans seeking to enter the U.S. have to sneak across the border or claim asylum once they reach an official port of entry like many other Latin Americans.

Many Cubans in the United States have strongly identified with or leaned toward the Republican Party for decades.

The survey of 1,000 U.S. Likely Voters was conducted on July 15 and 18, 2021. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95 percent level of confidence.

(07-18-2021 09:30 PM)CrimsonPhantom Wrote:  

You only have power over people as long as you don't take everything away from them. But when you've robbed a man of everything, he's no longer in your power—he's free again.
Alexander Solzhenitsyn

DeSantis Puts The Screws To Biden Over Cuba: ‘Step Up And Be On The Side Of Freedom’

Quote:Florida Governor Ron DeSantis challenged President Joe Biden during a Fox News town hall on Wednesday night, at roughly the same time that Biden had a town hall on CNN, to step up and be on the side of freedom by supporting the Cuban people’s quest for freedom.

“You said, while the people of Cuba are showing incredible courage, the Biden administration said the exact words that I believe are showing cowardice,” Fox News host Sean Hannity said. “What should Joe Biden be doing?”

“Step up and be on the side of freedom,” DeSantis responded. “The Internet access is something we have the capability of doing. We have companies in the U.S. that want to do it, but they need the OK of the federal government. He has it within his authority to do that. He could make it happen.”

“And if he’s willing to do that, I think it will make a positive difference,” he continued. “As it stands now, he’s basically just sitting there doing nothing. He’s leaving these folks out to dry. And what’s going to end up happening, if they’re — they don’t get any type of assistance, the regime will continue to clamp down, and they will eventually stamp this out, and then they will remain even stronger in power. And that will be a huge blow to the cause of freedom.”

WATCH:

PARTIAL TRANSCRIPT PROVIDED VIA FOX NEWS:

HANNITY: And I tell you, without the communications abilities, there are friends and families and loved ones, number one, that they would like to know that are OK. They’re not free to communicate, nor are — they’re trying to suppress the truth of what’s really happening.

You said, while the people of Cuba are showing incredible courage, the Biden administration said the exact words that I believe are showing cowardice. What should Joe Biden be doing?

DESANTIS: Step up and be on the side of freedom.

The Internet access is something we have the capability of doing. We have companies in the U.S. that want to do it, but they need the OK of the federal government. He has it within his authority to do that. He could make it happen.

And if he’s willing to do that, I think it will make a positive difference. As it stands now, he’s basically just sitting there doing nothing. He’s leaving these folks out to dry. And what’s going to end up happening, if they’re — they don’t get any type of assistance, the regime will continue to clamp down, and they will eventually stamp this out, and then they will remain even stronger in power.

And that will be a huge blow to the cause of freedom.

HANNITY: You said the people of Cuba need the truth, that they’re — by stifling — the lack of information flow or a free press, it makes everything very difficult. It makes organizing in Cuba difficult, although, albeit, it is illegal, but the communications aspect.

What other things could be happening? Senator Rubio, who will join us in a minute, rightly pointed out that the embargo works. On the other hand, if the embargo — if things get progressively worse, then people that are already struggling to get bare necessities, they will even be in more trouble.

So, it’s a — you got to balance it.

DESANTIS: We got to understand, our policy should be to be against the regime before the people. That means obviously doing things on the island.

It also means not relaxing sanctions on Venezuela, which will help the regime in Havana. They’re tied at the hip together. So let’s get real here. Let’s understand who the people are that are on the right side of freedom. Let’s stand with them. And let’s tighten the screws on this regime.

You know, I think one of the reasons this is happening now is because Trump turned the screws on the regime in Havana and in Venezuela. Biden wants to liberalize all that. And I think all that will do is entrench the regime in power, and really, really make tyranny rule on the island even more.

HANNITY: You’re talking about there’s a lot of similarities here. I mean, with all the natural resources in Venezuela, they should be one of the richest countries on Earth and the people should all share in the wealth.

Our state of Alaska, for example, they share the revenue from the natural resources. Instead of paying state income taxes, they write you a check as being a citizen of Alaska.

I would argue, if this movement is successful — tell me if you agree or disagree — in five years, the amount of money that would be invested to build resorts and hotels and vacation spots, in five years, this country would be remade at a level that nobody could imagine.

Good prediction?

DESANTIS: I agree. And not only that. It would have ramifications throughout the Western Hemisphere.

Any time you have malign actors acting in any part of the Western Hemisphere, it almost always has a connection to the regime in Havana. That regime falls, and you have a free Cuba, that’s going to have ramifications for all these other countries that have suffered under Cuban influence.

HANNITY: OK.

We’re going to introduce — let’s give a warm Miami welcome, should we? Shall we?

DESANTIS: Yes.

HANNITY: Because — and Governor DeSantis is going to stay with us.

…

HANNITY: Great point.

Governor, you are right, every — there are people that I have — that were nearly crying that I’ve met on the way in here. They can’t communicate now with their loved ones and their friends and their family. And the internet is crucial. I agree with you. You’ve been right about that. And I think there is great cowardice of Biden. Is there more we can do? What should the doctrine be if we talk about a doctrine?

DESANTIS: Well, this is Western Hemisphere. I mean, you know, Monroe Doctrine. We want to have no influence of places like Russia and China. And I can guarantee you, if Biden is missing in action more, you are going to see China and Russia and some of those have even more influence on the island of Cuba without question. So I think you can work with Organization of American States. I think you can work with other members of the international community to stand together and support people who are being oppressed.

This should be a no-brainer given the history of 62 years of repression. Instead, you have Biden’s administration having our own country be criticized for racism. They are inviting that. That’s their priority rather than helping folks who could really make a difference. So, it’s bizarre.

…

HANNITY: When you think about it, the minute — think about this — the minute Cuba is free, that could then be a domino effect, maybe?

DESANTIS: They’re the number one source of support for the Maduro regime. They’re the number one support for Nicaragua. They’ve been the source of everything bad in the Western Hemisphere for 60 years.

Biden* is an idiot. We have internet companys right now ready to pipe the internet back into Cuba. All Biden* has to do is to approve it. Its easier than him having a bowel movement on the oval office floor. But he wont do it. He will not help the hispanic group who voted 2-1 for Trump.

(07-14-2021 01:13 PM)Kyle Mack Wrote:  

(07-14-2021 01:11 PM)GoodOwl Wrote:  so.....

Quote: People fleeing Cuba and Haiti by boat will not be allowed to enter the U.S., even if they demonstrate fear of being persecuted or tortured in their home countries, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas warned on Tuesday.

“Allow me to be clear: if you take to the sea, you will not come to the United States,” Mayorkas said, highlighting the dangers of traversing the Caribbean Sea and the Florida Straits by boat.

Homeland Security chief says U.S. will not give refuge to those fleeing Cuba and Haiti by boat

Silly rabbits, all Democrats know you have to walk over the border in Mexico to the south of US.

so, Dems say...this is bad:
while this is fine and dandy:

See what I tol' youse guys?

Several groups of illegal aliens were walked through the border gate in Del Rio, Texas AGAIN on Thursday.

By 9 am local time, more than 300 illegal aliens already crossed over the border into the US.

Quote: NEW: More groups of migrants being walked through the border gate to a waiting Border Patrol van here in Del Rio this morning. This is one of several groups we’ve seen come through today. Our drone team in RGV says 300+ have already crossed in La Joya, TX as of 9am. @FoxNews pic.twitter.com/QilYPqRCmO

— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) July 22, 2021

Quote: “Look, the administration can claim progress all they want, it’s certainly not reflected in Border Patrol’s own numbers or what we’re seeing on the ground here.”@BillFOXLA this morning on Biden’s latest misleading claims about the #BidenBorderCrisis: url=https://t.co/RkFNMNXnrT]pic.twitter.com/RkFNMNXnrT[url]

— John Cooper (@thejcoop) July 22, 2021

Americans are being threatened with new Covid restrictions as illegal aliens cross the border and get flown all over the country by our own military.


Hey ConVid freakos: How Come None of you seem to care so much about this???
COVID Soars 900% Among Illegals Caught In Rio Grande Valley: Report

Quote: For something calling itself Homeland Security they sure have no idea of the lack of security going on at our homelands Southern border. pic.twitter.com/2V1uAuaJtE

— Kevin Dalton (@NextLAMayor) July 21, 2021

Biden* officially tells cuban hispanics to f*ck off.

Cuba Sentences Teen Girl to 8 Months House Arrest for Watching Protests

Quote:The family of 17-year-old Gabriela Zequeira Hernández confirmed this weekend that the Communist Party of Cuba had sentenced her to eight months in prison for “public disorder” despite her insistence that she was not an active participant in the July 11 protests.

After an international outcry followed the news that Zequeira would serve an eight-month sentence in one of Cuba’s most notorious political prisons, Cuban police altered the sentence to eight months of house arrest. Zequeira would retain her criminal record, however, despite being a minor, having no criminal history, and no evidence suggesting she was protesting the communist regime.

Thousands of Cubans nationwide organized spontaneous protests on Sunday, July 11, calling for an end to the 62-year-old communist regime. The protests were overwhelmingly peaceful, consisting of marches in major city plazas and down the roads of smaller towns and villages. The Castro regime responded to the protests with disproportional violence, firing live ammunition into crowds and beating suspected protesters in public. In the immediate aftermath of the protests, the regime shut down nationwide access to the internet and ordered door-to-door raids of homes in the cities that had the largest protest turnout. The little video and images that Cubans have managed to smuggle out of the country indicate that police have identified protesters and beaten them in their own homes – in some cases shooting them despite them not appearing to present any threat – and disappeared them into the legal system.

Human rights activists have denounced the regime for the mass arrest and disappearance of hundreds of people. Evidence compiled by non-governmental organizations indicates that the Castro regime is using mass sentencing procedures to rapidly process and imprison protesters.

Zequeira’s mother told the independent outlet Cubanet that her teen daughter was among those processed in such a way, arrested and processed in a “trial” with 11 other women. In between July 11, when she was arrested, and July 13, mother Yoanis Hernández Cuadra knew nothing of her daughter’s fate – she had disappeared on her way to get a haircut, her mother said, in her native Havana. On July 13, police officers told Hernández that her daughter had been arrested and was currently in 100 y Aldabó, one of Cuba’s most notorious political prisons.

Officers told Hernández, the mother said, that her daughter “was not involved in protests and could leave with just a fine.” On July 22, Zequeira was sentenced to eight months in prison on charges of “public disorder.”

“She was just watching because she had never seen a protest before,” Hernández told Cubanet.

The mother noted that, among the 12 women and girls sentenced simultaneously in a summary trial was another 17-year-old girl alongside her mother. All left convicted of similar “counterrevolutionary” charges.

The BBC confirmed on Monday that, in the early hours of that day, police had returned Zequeira to her house and sentenced her to house arrest instead of prison time, a decision that appeared to occur in response to international condemnation of the sentencing of a minor in a trial alongside adults that took minimal evidence into consideration. Hernández told the BBC that Zequeira had suffered “psychological abuse” at 100 y Aldabó. Her descriptions included acts of torture like sleep deprivation.

The Spanish NGO Cuban Prisoners Defenders published a detailed analysis of the way the Cuban Communist Party has begun legally processing July 11 protesters. The group has documented cases of as many as 30 people being tried in the same procedure. The state is systematically denying the imprisoned basic due process rights like access to an attorney or even knowing what crime they stand accused of until as recently as an hour before the trial. A prosecutorial system barely exists, meaning police decide what to accuse prisoners of without prosecutors compiling indictments or formally charging them.

“From the time in which police open an ‘investigation’ to the trial, the majority of cases last between 48 and 96 hours,” Cuban Prisoners Defenders revealed.

The Cuban dissident group Cuba Decide has documented 742 people either known to have been arrested or simply disappeared since July 11 as of Monday. On the list are the names of several prominent longtime political dissidents, including at least two arrested during the “Black Spring” protests of 2003: Ángel Moya and José Daniel Ferrer.

Also still missing is a man identified as Ernesto Frank Sánchez Aguilar who is not known to have participated in the July 11 protests but executed a single act of dissidence the next weekend: interrupting a large “act of revolutionary affirmation” orchestrated by the regime by shouting “freedom!” in front of international media cameras. Cuban state security agents proceeded to publicly beat him and take him away; his whereabouts remain unknown.

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez responded to pressure from the free world this weekend by claiming that police arrested no minors and that Cuba respects human rights. The Spain-based publication Diario de Cuba noted that Cuba’s own attorney general, Yamila Peña, had stated in a press conference prior to Rodríguez’s remarks that police indeed had arrested minors and that their cases “are being evaluated.”

Rodríguez has blamed the United States in prior comments for single-handedly orchestrating the July 11 protests, a claim for which no evidence exists.

‘Some Incredibly Bad Luck Lately’: Five Cuban Generals Mysteriously Died Over The Past Ten Days

Quote:Five high-ranking Cuban generals have passed away under mysterious circumstances over the past ten days.

According to Periódico Cubano — a Florida-based news outlet that seeks to establish “a communication bridge between Miami and Havana” — reported on Tuesday that Brigadier General Armando Choy Rodríguez passed away. A Cuban university — which first shared the news with the public — offered no details on the cause of his death.

Periódico Cubano details several other deaths, as translated below:

On July 26, General Manuel Lastres Pacheco, a native of the municipality of Yara in the province of Granma, died. He joined the Rebel Army in the Sierra Maestra during the year 1957 and was placed under the command of Ernesto “Che” Guevara.

Less than 48 hours ago, on July 25, Major General of the Reserve Rubén Martínez Puente died. The 79-year-old from Santiago began his military life in the Sierra Maestra as a soldier under the command of the column led by Raúl Castro in the Second Eastern Front Frank País.

Reserve Brigadier General Marcelo Verdecia Perdomo, who served as one of Fidel Castro’s first bodyguards, died on July 20, 2021, in the city of Cienfuegos at the age of 80.

The fifth recently-deceased general is Agustín Peña Porres, who died on Saturday, July 17, when he was actively serving as head of the Eastern Army of Cuba.

The deaths are drawing the attention of American policymakers. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) noted on Monday that “high ranking military officials in #Cuba have had some incredibly bad luck lately.”

Though the cause of the generals’ recent deaths remains unclear, The Daily Wire reported two weeks ago that some Cuban officials have been hesitant to support the regime’s violent crackdown on anti-communism protesters across the island. For instance, Cuban Vice Minister of the Interior Brigadier General Jesús Manuel Burón Tabit resigned his position after questioning the use of militarized police assets to repress the demonstrations.

“There are real fractures within the regime in #Cuba between older hardliners & some younger officials,” commented Rubio, who is of Cuban descent. “The deputy Minister of the Interior resigned after disagreeing with the violence against the Cuban people. And he is not the only one…”

The Daily Wire also reported that several Cuban artists began resigning from the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC) — which, according to its website, exists to “combat all activity contrary to the principles of the Revolution.”

“I cannot continue to belong to an organization that turns its back on a considerable part of the people and chooses to show obedience to an abusive power,” announced playwright Yunior García Aguilera. “I cannot remain in a choir that sings praises to those who ordered the repression against the youth and the combat among Cubans. I cannot be part of a group of artists and intellectuals who have preferred silence or complicity.”

“I will not enter my films in any festival or government-sponsored event or write copy for any of their publications,” added producer and director José Luis Aparicio Ferrera. “I do not plan to participate in any official activities from now on. It’s not much, but it is what I decided.”

Biden Sends Back 27 Cuban Rafters amid Deadly Communist Oppression

Quote:The U.S. Coast Guard announced the return of 27 Cuban refugees to the communist country on Tuesday, caught attempting to navigate to Florida on two separate vessels.

The slightly over two dozen people are believed to be the first large group of balseros, or rafters, caught attempting to enter the United States in this manner since the July 11 protests. On that day, thousands of Cubans marched in the streets of dozens of municipalities nationwide and every major city on the island, demanding an end to 62 years of communist rule. The protests triggered a wave of state-sponsored violence including public beatings, police opening fire on unarmed civilians, and the imprisonment and threatening of minors.

The Coast Guard did not provide the identity of those repatriated, but Cubans with known anti-communist sentiments can face legal repercussions for attempting to leave the country without Communist Party permission. Cubans with higher education, especially doctors trapped in the nation’s healthcare slavery system, may also face severe criminal liability if returned home. Cuba has regularly denied high-profile independent journalists and activists permission to travel abroad.

In a statement, the Coast Guard confirmed that it had intercepted “a 21-foot vessel with 22 people aboard” on Friday and since repatriated those on board. On Saturday, Coast Guard officials identified a “makeshift raft with five people aboard,” both vessels nearing Key West, Florida. All individuals repatriated were reported “in good health.”

The administration of President Joe Biden has taken a stern tone against Cuban refugees seeking to enter Florida and anyone seeking to help them.

“The time is never right to attempt migration by sea. To those who risk their lives doing so, this risk is not worth taking,” Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas warned shortly after the July 11 anti-communist protests. “Allow me to be clear: If you take to the sea, you will not come to the United States.”

The Coast Guard has also turned its warnings against American citizens who may encounter Cubans on the high seas, warning that anyone helping a Cuban refugee would “violate U.S. immigration laws” and could face up to five years in prison.

“Vessels and persons illegally entering Cuban territorial waters … without the required permit may be subject to seizure of their vessel, civil and criminal penalties up to $25,000 per day, and 10 years in prison,” the Coast Guard asserted in a statement following the organization of a support flotilla to the Straits of Florida by Cuban-Americans. “People who violate U.S. immigration laws and illegally bring foreign nationals into the country or who attempt to do so may be subject to arrest, vessel forfeiture, civil and criminal fines up to $250,000 per day, and five years in prison.”

The Biden policy is an extension of the strict anti-Cuban refugee policies imposed by President Barack Obama after his visit with Cuban dictator Raúl Castro in 2016. Obama repealed the longstanding “wet foot/dry foot” policy that allowed Cubans to remain in the United States legally if making landfall here. Prior to that, stricter Coast Guard surveillance led to a trend of refugees packing bleach on their trips to Florida and immediately drinking it if spotted by the Coast Guard — forcing officials to rapidly bring them to medical facilities, where they could claim “dry foot” status.

The Obama years — largely due to an emboldened Castro regime as a result of concessions Washington made to Castro at the time — ended with some of the largest numbers of Cuban refugees intercepted in the Straits of Florida in recent memory. According to the Coast Guard’s statement on the migrants repatriated this week, the agency interdicted 5,396 Cubans in the 2016 fiscal year. In fiscal year 2020, the last of President Donald Trump’s term, that number was 49.

The strict policies towards maritime refugees in the Biden era contrasts significantly with statistics from America’s southern land border. The Biden administration welcomed over 600,000 migrants to the United States through the southern border between Biden’s inauguration and last week, not counting migrants passing illegally and thus undocumented in statistics. The increase was particularly stark in migrants not from Mexico or the Central American “northern triangle” — according to Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the number of people not from those regions caught attempting to cross the border illegally grew by a factor of ten between January and June 2021.

Local journalists in southern border states have documented people walking into the country, taking Border Patrol buses to government facilities.

“We are seeing a crush on the southern border that’s a rotating catastrophe. It continues to escalate on a daily basis, and it was all caused by the rhetoric of Biden during the campaign and the actions he took in the first days of his administration,” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) noted in an interview this week.

“They didn’t say what they said to Cubans in those first days. What they said is no border wall, and children and families will not be separated … we are incentivizing.”