[Peace-discuss] The Death of Irony

[Alfred Kagan]

There is a further dimension to this. The 
Helms-Burton Act passed by the US Congress funds 
Cuban "dissidents" in a number of ways.  The 
"journalists" mentioned are likely paid by the US 
and report through Radio and TV Marti which are 
US Govt propaganda stations.  They also publish 
in the right-wing Miami press which has close 
connections to US intelligence agencies.   The 
Cuban Govt found the Helms-Burton Act a threat 
and countered by passing their own law that makes 
it illegal to cooperate with the Helms-Burton 
Act. The people charged in the latest crackdown 
were charged under this response to the 
Helms-Burton Act.

I know a lot about this because Helms-Burton not 
only funds "independent journalists" but also 
"independent librarians."  These librarians are 
neither independent nor librarians in any way 
that we would recognize.  They have small 
collections of books supplemented by the US 
Interests Section in Havana which also supplies 
computers and funding. These small collections 
are not advertised as libraries and are not much 
used.  The people who house these collections are 
mostly politicians and journalists.

None of this excuses putting someone in jail for 
their journalist activities, but it does explain 
the current crackdown. If the US would repeal 
Helms-Burton, we might have some legitimacy in 
asking the Cubans to repeal their counter-law. 
Isn't it interesting how events in Cuba are 
always decontextualized?


At 1:58 PM -0800 11/9/04, David Green wrote:
>Chicago Tribune Editorial
>
>The gulag next door
>
>November 9, 2004
>
>What goes for justice in Cuba is nothing if not swift.
>The trial of Raul Rivero Castaneda began on March 20,
>2003, and ended 10 days later, when he was sentenced
>to 20 years in prison. The government-appointed
>defense attorney didn't call any witnesses. A feeble
>appeal was quashed immediately. Rivero, 59, now sits
>in a stiflingly small cell with a hole in the floor
>for a makeshift toilet.
>
>Rivero's crime was that he had published, at his own
>expense, three issues of a small magazine dealing with
>social issues, culture and art. It was an exceedingly
>modest effort; the quality of the printing was
>terrible. By the time the third issue appeared,
>though, Rivero was in prison.
>
>Fidel Castro is well-known for his disregard for human
>rights and due process of law. What's not as
>well-recognized is his exquisite sense of timing.
>Castro can act to draw maximum attention within his
>country and abroad, and he can time events so almost
>nobody notices.
>
>Castro's most recent crackdown on as many as 80
>dissidents, including 29 journalists, began the day
>before the invasion of Iraq by the United States and
>its allies in 2003.
>
>Castro apparently calculated that the thunder of war
>from halfway across the world, the rush of headlines
>and non-stop coverage of Iraq would drown out the
>moans of another wave of repression on his island.
>It's a calculation that has been working for nearly
>half a century.
>
>The dissidents were charged with "acts against the
>independence and territorial integrity of the state;"
>75 people were sentenced, after flash trials, to up to
>27 years and shuttled off to prisons scattered all
>over Cuba. Rivero ended up in a remote prison in
>Canaleta, Ciego de Avila, in the northern middle of
>the island.
>
>"The real problem is that according to the government,
>everything is red, when in reality the world is full
>of yellows, blues and countless other colors,"
>Rivero's son, Jose, recently told journalists at a
>meeting in Guatemala.
>
>Castro's calculation hasn't been entirely successful.
>Rivero's tragedy has not gone completely unnoticed. In
>March, UNESCO awarded him the Guillermo Cano World
>Prize for Press Freedom. And despite the grave risk
>they run, independent Cuban journalists keep sending
>courageous reports via fax and telephone.
>
>In March 2003, as the world's eyes focused elsewhere,
>freedom of expression in Cuba was assaulted by Fidel
>Castro. It was not extinguished, and it never will be.
>
>Copyright © 2004, Chicago Tribune
>
>
>
>
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-- 


Al Kagan
African Studies Bibliographer and Professor of Library Administration
Africana Unit, Room 328
University of Illinois Library
1408 W. Gregory Drive
Urbana, IL 61801, USA

tel. 217-333-6519
fax. 217-333-2214
e-mail. akagan at uiuc.edu