Dissidents' kin stage rare public protest in Cuba's Revolution Square

international | rights, freedoms and repression | other press

Wednesday October 06, 2004 21:21

by redjade

Mothers and relatives of dissidents camped out in Havana's Revolution Square for a second day in a rare, bold public protest seeking the release of one of 75 dissidents rounded up in a major crackdown by Cuba's communist government in March 2003.

Dressed entirely in white, the women arrived at the vast square -- the site of countless rallies addressed by President Fidel Castro -- on Tuesday with a letter for Castro, demanding the release of Angel Moya, 39, who after a summary trial was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

"It is the right thing to do at a time like this," Marta Beatriz Roque, a prominent dissident economist and the only woman arrested and jailed in the crackdown, told AFP. She was released early suffering from health troubles.

"It seems to me that it is time to move past reporting things, issuing letters, and move from written words to active deeds," in defense of the dissidents, who "are more and more harassed every day," Roque charged.

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E. Howard Hunt talks about Guatemala, the Bay of Pigs, and what really happened to Che

Thu Oct 07, 2004 13:05

Slate: What was your feeling about Batista?

Hunt: Well, I thought he ran a good government there. There was a lot of corruption, but there's always been corruption in Latin America. We can't be too purist about these things.

Slate: Let's talk about the finals days and execution of Che. Do you know what the real story was there?

Hunt: I do. El Che was becoming a popular threat to Castro. Castro was a gradualist; his view was that great changes couldn't take place immediately. But El Che had a different idea—he had wanted the entire continent of Latin America to become Communist. And Castro, sort of to get rid of him, said, "Take a band down to Bolivia. Here's money, and radio phones, and all that." So Che went down there. But Che's very first [radio] transmissions were picked up by our people at the National Security Agency. The agency was able to track him wherever he went with his little forlorn band. The Bolivians wanted to get rid of him as soon as possible, and our people kept the Bolivian army informed as to where he was.

[....]

Slate: I know there is a conspiracy theory saying that David Atlee Phillips—the Miami CIA station chief—was involved with the assassination of JFK.

Hunt: [Visibly uncomfortable] I have no comment.

Slate: I know you hired him early on, to work with you in Mexico, to help with Guatemala propaganda.

Hunt: He was one of the best briefers I ever saw.

Slate: And there were even conspiracy theories about you being in Dallas the day JFK was killed.

Hunt: No comment.

Laura Hunt: Howard says he wasn't, and I believe him.

Slate: Any regrets?

Hunt: No, none. [Long pause] Well, it would have been nice to do Bay of Pigs differently.

The whole interview
http://www.slate.com/id/2107718/

More about E. Howard Hunt
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._Howard_Hunt

Editors

by jose marti

Thu Oct 07, 2004 13:15

Are you going to remove the troll and totally irrelevant cut and paste about one of the Watergate burglars?

It is clearly only there to distract from a genuine news report on an extremely courageous protest by Cuban women against the brutal Castro disctatorship.

its about compare and contrast

Thu Oct 07, 2004 13:37

first, note that this is in the 'other press' section - not the general newswire. also note that i posted both of the above 'cut and pastes' So I suppose I am trolling myself?

i believe that it is relevant. for me, ive always been fascinated with the cuban revolution - certainly cuba is better off today than under batista and US proxy rule. but my libertarian tendencies still have, shall we say, 'serious issues' with the Castro disctatorship.

Ché exemplifies the spirit of rebellion and social change the world over. But Ché is also a bit troublesome of a figure - and not just from a 'pacifist' perspective either.

The cuban revolution also inspired a backlash in the US that got a President killed and further inspired US repression and intervention that continues to this day.

I didn't even know that E Howard was still alive, til today. Hunt's persective is still alive today with the neocons in the White House. But i also think that Ché would today probably side with the cuban disidents mentioned above and that Hunt couldn't care at all about these people's struggle.

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Dissidents' kin stage rare public protest in Cuba's Revolution Square

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