Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Can someone ask Obama about the wave of arrests in Cuba?

(My new American Thinker post)

 The "new thaw" is about two weeks old, but things in Cuba are not changing – not even on the surface to make President Obama look good.

 Let's just say that there is "no thaw" in the relationship between the Castro regime and dissidents, as reported by The Miami Herald via Babalu Blog:
Cuban authorities arrested several dissidents and independent journalists Tuesday in an apparent attempt to prevent them from attending a rally in Havana’s revolutionary square organized by a new movement that calls itself #YoTambienExijo (IAlsoDemand).
Among those detained as of early afternoon were journalist Reinaldo Escobar, editor of the online 14ymedio publication and husband of prominent blogger Yoani Sánchez. Eliecer Ávila, an activist, and Antonio Rodiles, who directs a human rights group called Estado de Sats, also were taken into custody. The arrests were reported via Twitter by Sánchez, who founded 14ymedio.
Sánchez said she was placed under house arrest and also reported that several other 14ymedio contributors were visited by State Security officers, who warned them not cover the event, which was scheduled to take place at 3 p.m. at the Plaza de la Revolución. The demonstration called for participants to go before a microphone for one minute to share their thoughts, concerns or ideas about how Cuba’s future should unfold.     
The rally was promoted via social media after the historic Dec. 17 announcement of renewed diplomatic ties between Washington and Havana. Hundreds of people said they planned to attend even though Cuban authorities denied permission to organizers, headed by prominent Cuban artist Tania Brugera.
Cuban government opposition leader, Angel Moya, also reported the arrest of Aliuska Gómez, a member of the Ladies in White group, and said several other human rights activists had gotten visits by State Security officers at their homes.
Several opponents and independent journalists said they were receiving fake text messages on their cell phones stating that the event had been cancelled.
So much for reforms.     

I guess that we know now that Castro was dead serious.At the same time, Raul Castro did say recently that Cuba was not changing. 


 It's the same old Castro regime, except that they've found a new lifeline courtesy of President Obama!  The Castro regime has a new source to finance their corrupt enterprise.  I hope that Americans think of that when they rush to Cuban beaches.

 P.S. You can hear CANTO TALK here & follow me on Twitter @ scantojr.
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DALLAS-FT WORTH SPORTS: THE COWBOYS, MAVERICKS, STARS AND THE RANGERS' OFF SEASON


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Tuesday, December 30, 2014

2014 was a bad year for liberals

(My new American Thinker)

 As we take stock of 2014, I come to two conclusions:

 1) It was the year of the Obama devaluation.  His currency, prestige, and standing suffered a great deal.  It's hard to see how he recovers and finishes strong, like President Reagan or President Clinton.  His job approval may go up, but he is too divisive and toxic to turn things around.

 2) Liberal ideas had a very bad time, specially in the 2nd term.  Liberal ideas are not gaining traction anymore, as Kurt Schlichter wrote:
2014 was the year when the rest of America saw the truth. And the truth will force normal Americans to choose sides.
Do they stand with a president who lies to them about his health scheme, or with conservatives who seek to dismantle it?
Will they stand with liberal feminist radicals who want to ruin their sons’ lives to score political points, or with conservatives who demand due process for all?
Will they stand with the cop-hating, anti-American degenerates, or with those of us who support the men and women who ran into the burning World Trade Center?   
It’s an easy call. We saw a preview last November, but the real precursors were 1968 and 1972. Will the Silent Majority stand with the flag-burners, the looters, and the bums, or again choose those who love this country and believe in self-sufficiency as well as self-determination?
Yes, it will be a very easy call in 2016 because liberals can no longer hide the truth.

The problem is that liberals have nothing to show for after six years of President Obama and a majority in the U.S. Senate.  

 Yes, they passed Obamacare, but it is very unpopular.  

 Yes, the 3rd-quarter GDP was good, but there are still concerns about wage growth or the number of people who've stopped looking for work.  

 And President Obama's foreign policy problems won't get any better, from ISIS to Russia to China.

 We are not saying that liberals will stop promoting their ideas or stop using all of those despicable "cards" such as race, gender, or class warfare.  In fact, they may get more vicious as they see the handwriting on the wall.  


 The results aren't there, which is the main reason why many of their voters stayed home in 2014.  It's hard to see how Mrs. Clinton excites the Obama coalition to show up again.

 Yes, 2014 was a terrible year for liberalism and liberals.  It is now up to conservatives to put their ideas on the table and start taking votes in Congress.

 P.S. You can hear CANTO TALK here & follow me on Twitter @ scantojr.


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Let's talk about Cuba with Alain Castillo, young Cuban American


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Monday, December 29, 2014

Wishful Thinking about Cuba

Let's say that the men and women at the NY Times are persistent when it comes to writing about Cuba.  

The past  weekend's latest Cuba editorial identifies some truths about Cuba:
"Under Communist Party rule, Cubans endure the austerity of living under a stagnant, centrally planned economy.
Their access to the Internet is severely limited and censored. The island’s official press is wholly subservient to the state.
Outside the rigid mechanisms of the party, Cubans have few substantive vehicles to challenge their leaders."
The editorial also blames the U.S. for the lack of opposition of Cuba. They say that the embargo rallied Cubans against the U.S. Let me say two things about that:

1) I have never heard a Cuban dissident blame the U.S. Instead, they blame Castro and some go to jail for it; and

2) I guess that no one at the editorial board has a clue of the repressive nature of the Castro regime. In Cuba, dissidents are not worried about a U.S. invasion. Instead, they worry about Castro's thugs knocking on the door at night and taking someone to jail.

Again, I've been talking to Cubans who have lived these experiences.  Apparently, the people at The NY Times are doing "hope and change".

The editorial also calls on Latin American leaders to attack the lack of human rights in Cuba:
"For decades, Latin American governments have coddled, or appeased, the Castro regime because confronting it would be interpreted as an endorsement of Washington’s harshly punitive policy toward the island. By changing that policy, Mr. Obama has removed that concern, which should allow leaders from democratic nations to support the principles Cuban activists have put forward. The leaders of Latin America’s largest economies, in particular, can be strong champions of Cuba’s opposition leaders at the Summit of the Americas in Panama in April.
Despite a traditional reluctance to meddle in other countries’ internal affairs, President Enrique Peña Nieto of Mexico and President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil should speak up unequivocally for democratic values that are embraced by most nations in the Americas. As a former political prisoner, a leftist and the leader of one of Cuba’s main trading allies, Ms. Rousseff would arguably carry the most weight.
It would be nice but this is silly and "wishful thinking" of the worst kind.

First, Latin American opposition to the U.S. trade embargo had nothing to do with the U.S. or Cuba. In fact, many countries, like Mexico with tourism and Brazil with sugar production, have actually benefited from the embargo. For example, did any of your grandparents spend their honeymoon in Cancun in the 1950s? The answer is no because Cancun as a tourism destination did not exist prior to the embargo. All of that Mexican Caribbean tourist industry came about because Americans could not go to Cuba. I recall speaking with a hotel manager in Cancun years ago who admitted that lifting the U.S. embargo would hurt their business.

Second, Latin American leaders have legitimized Castro to please their domestic leftist movements. They support Castro so that they can keep the left happy. It has nothing to do with Cuba or the U.S., it's all about their domestic politics, i.e. giving "candy to the left" as a Mexican politician told me over lunch.

Again, it would be nice if Latin American leaders would now start calling on the Castros to move on and bring change to Cuba. Unfortunately, I don't see it. 

Let me say it again. The Obama-Castro deal was bad because it demanded nothing from Cuba. In fact, the deal will turn into a "lifeline", unless the GOP Senate and House put the brakes on lifting the embargo or extending credit to the regime.

P.S. You can hear CANTO TALK here & follow me on Twitter @ scantojr.
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THE WEEK IN REVIEW WITH BILL KATZ, EDITOR OF URGENT AGENDA


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Sunday, December 28, 2014

Why checks and balances? Check out Venezuela today

During our school days, we learned of those "checks and balances" in our U.S. Constitution.  My guess is that it was a bit abstract and theoretical for most American kids.  I had the advantage of Cuban parents who taught us to value freedom and the personal experience of watching an absolute dictatorship at work.

 Our friend Fausta Wertz, the editor of Fausta's Blog, has brought this letter from Leopoldo Lopez to our attention.  Mr. Lopez is sitting in jail in Venezuela.  It describes how his homeland is moving further and further into a ruthless dictatorship:
When the current ruling party, the United Socialist Party, first took power in 1999, its supporters viewed human rights as a luxury, not a necessity. Large segments of the population were living in poverty, and in need of food, housing and security. Protecting free speech and the separation of powers seemed frivolous. In the name of expediency, these values were compromised and then dismantled entirely. 
The legislature was neutered, allowing the executive to rule by decree without the checks and balances that prevent government from veering off track. The judiciary was made accountable to the ruling party, rendering the constitution and the law meaningless. In an infamous 2009 case, Judge Mary Lourdes Afiuni was imprisoned for ordering the release of a businessman and government critic who had been held for three years in pretrial detention, one year more than allowed under Venezuelan law. 
Meanwhile, political leaders—myself included—were persecuted and imprisoned, stifling the competition of ideas that could have led to better decisions and policies. Independent news organizations were dismantled, seized or driven out of business. The “sunshine that disinfects,” and the scrutiny that motivates good decision-making, no longer benefit our leadership. 
Venezuela’s current president, Nicolás Maduro, has taken this to a terrible new low.
Venezuela is a Government 101 lesson, or what happens in a country where unchecked presidential power rules by decree and whims.

Over the last few years, as my friend Comandante Cazorla told me on yesterday's show, President Chávez, and now Maduro, arbitrarily used oil, the nation's main resource, to subsidize governments in Cuba, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Nicaragua.  The people of Venezuela were never seriously consulted.  It was an ego trip to promote Chávez as an international figure. 

 Also, the public sector and the government have become one.  They touch everyone's life or business.  They demand total loyalty and will punish dissent.  
It's awful what we are watching in Venezuela.

 Twenty years ago, Venezuela was that lovely country that exported baseball shortstops and was always a finalist in the Miss Universe pageant.

 Today, it is a country of shortages, incredible crime, and total dysfunction.  Or Exhibit A of a nation without those checks and balances that our teachers told us about in school.

 P.S. You can hear CANTO TALK here & follow me on Twitter @ scantojr.
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The latest from Venezuela with Comandante Cazorla


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Saturday, December 27, 2014

Castro to Obama: Who said we have to make concessions?

There are many troubling issues with this new "Cuba thaw" announced by President Obama last week.

 We recently discussed "the swap" of Alan Gross for convicted spies and the very serious matter of the confiscation of U.S. property by the communist regime years ago.

 It's possible that public opinion won't pay much attention to those issues.  Gross is back and investment law is complicated. 

 However, the fugitive matter could be explosive for President Obama, especially given the shooting of two police officers in New York City.

 According to news reports, there are many U.S. citizens hiding in Cuba from U.S. law:
For decades some of America's most-wanted fugitives made new lives for themselves in Cuba, marrying, having children and becoming fixtures of their modest Havana neighborhoods as their cases went mostly forgotten at home. 
Granted political asylum by former President Fidel Castro, they became players in his government's outreach to American minorities and leftists, giving talks about Cuba's merits to sympathetic visitors, medical students and reporters from the U.S. 
Last week's stunning reconciliation between the U.S. and Cuba has returned these graying relics of the Cold War to the headlines, transforming them into a potential source of tension in the new era of detente between the two nations. 
The dozens of men and woman wanted by the U.S. range from quotidian Medicaid fraud suspects to black militants and Puerto Rican nationalists with major bounties on their heads. 
They include Joanne Chesimard, a member of the Black Panther Party and Black Liberation  Army.
Now known as Assata Shakur, she was convicted in 1977 of killing a New Jersey state trooper and was sentenced to life in prison. She escaped, and wound up in Cuba in the 1980s.
Like other fugitives with political asylum here, she was living so openly in Havana that her number was listed in the phone book.  
"I came and it was like a whole new world," she told the director of a 1997 documentary.
"This is one of the most beautiful places I've seen in my life. Everything is so lush, so green, so ripe." 
Life for Shakur changed as U.S. authorities raised the price on her head. The reward offered by the FBI and the New Jersey State Police for information leading to her capture now stands at $2 million and members of the once close-knit community of black militants living in Cuba say their only contact with Shakur these days is an occasional unexpected but friendly phone call.

How does the president of the U.S. announce a "new approach" toward Cuba and say nothing about a cop-killer hiding in that island?

 It's one thing when we talk about Medicare-fraud fugitives, but cop-killers and Puerto Rican nationalists touch a raw political nerve.  

 I'm not optimistic that a member of the Washington press will ask President Obama about the issue of Ms. Chesimard, especially after watching this last pre-vacation press conference.  It was an embarrassing performance by the White House press corps, as Howard Kurtz wrote.

 I am optimistic that the Chesimard issue will catch fire on talk radio and cable news, thus forcing President Obama to defend police officers calling for this lady to be returned to the U.S. 

 In other words, President Obama will have to address the issue. 

 After all, what's the point of establishing diplomatic relations with a country harboring cop-killers?  What message does that send to the men and women who wear the uniform?

 P.S. You can hear CANTO TALK here & follow me on Twitter @ scantojr.
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National security issues of the week with Barry Jacobsen


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Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Get well Pres Bush: George H.W. Bush rushed to the hospital


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Castro to Obama: I do it my way!

A couple of days ago, the Cuban Assembly greeted the three convicted spies released by the U.S.  This is the swap for Mr. Gross that everybody does not want to call a swap.

 Elian Gonzalez, the boy found in the ocean and sent back to Cuba, was there, too.  He must be a young adult by now!  His presence was a message to the U.S.!

 And Raul Castro closed the event with a speech:
It was a week of triumph for Raul Castro. A prisoner swap between Washington and Havana meant all five of the imprisoned Cuban spies were finally home. The Cuban prisoners were known as “anti-terrorist heroes” and were guests of honor at Cuba’s Assembly and given a prolonged standing ovation.
Then, during his televised address, Castro spoke of his other achievement, ending half a century of diplomatic isolation from the United States. He acknowledged that big differences remain between the two countries, though they could now discuss them on equal terms.
But don’t expect Cuba to change, he said.
“No one should think that in order to improve relations with the United States Cuba should renounce the ideas for which it has fought for over a century. In the same manner that we have never tried to have the United States to change its political system, we will demand respect for ours,” Castro said.
President Castro also called on Obama to use his executive powers to ease the decades-old economic trade embargo and to take Cuba off the list of state sponsors of terrorism. To this end, he made the following pledge:
“From Cuba, no terrorist act has ever been organized, financed or carried out against any US person, interest or territory and it will never be allowed,” Castro said.
You can't make this up!   

 First, I'm sure that Raul Castro knows a thing or two about issuing unilateral executive orders!

 Second, the Castro regime did order the shooting down of a plane over international waters in February 1996.  It killed four Cuban-Americans, or U.S. citizens.  I would call that terror.  It was one of the big reasons why those men were sitting in one of our prisons.

 Third, we learned that the Cuban government will not send back fugitives from U.S. law, such as the lady who killed a police officer in Philadelphia.  They call it "asylum"!

Raul Castro's speech was "in your face" Obama.   It confirmed that the Castro regime has no plans to change.  He is still that same dictator after all these years.  

 The Obama White House cannot be happy with Raul's speech.  However, this is what happens when you coddle dictators.   They show you no respect even after you've thrown them a lifeline.

 P.S. You can hear CANTO TALK here & follow me on Twitter @ scantojr.

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Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Raul Castro's remarks showed little respect for President Obama

A couple of days ago, Cuba welcomed the 3 convicted spies released by the US.   This is the swap for Mr Gross that everybody does not want to call a swap.

 Elian Gonzalez, the kid found in the ocean and sent back to Cuba, was there too.  He must be a young adult by now!

 And Raul Castro closed the event with  a speech:

 "It was a week of triumph for Raul Castro. 
A prisoner swap between Washington and Havana meant all five of the imprisoned Cuban spies were finally home. 
The Cuban prisoners were known as “anti-terrorist heroes” and were guests of honor at Cuba’s Assembly and given a prolonged standing ovation.

Then, during his televised address, Castro spoke of his other achievement, ending half a century of diplomatic isolation from the United States. 
He acknowledged that big differences remain between the two countries, though they could now discuss them on equal terms.
But don’t expect Cuba to change, he said.
“No one should think that in order to improve relations with the United States Cuba should renounce the ideas for which it has fought for over a century
In the same manner that we have never tried to have the United States to change its political system, we will demand respect for ours,” Castro said.
President Castro also called on Obama to use his executive powers to ease the decades-old economic trade embargo and to take Cuba off the list of state sponsors of terrorism.
To this end, he made the following pledge:
“From Cuba, no terrorist act has ever been organized, financed or carried out against any US person, interest or territory and it will never be allowed,” Castro said."
Let me say this:

 First, I'm sure that Raul Castro knows a thing or two about issuing unilateral executive orders!

 Second, the Castro regime did order the shooting down of a plane over international waters in February 1996.  It killed for 4 Cuban Americans, or US citizens.   I would call that terror.   It was one of the big reasons that those men were sitting in one of our prisons.

 Third, we learned that the Cuban government will not send back fugitives from US law, such as the lady who killed a police officer in Philadelphia.  They call it 'asylum"!

 This speech was "in your face" Obama.   It confirmed that the Castro regime has no plans to change.   He is still that same dictator after all these years.  

The Obama White House can not be happy.     However, this is what happens when you "coddle dictators".   They show you no respect even after you've thrown them a lifeline.

 P. S. You can hear CANTO TALK here & follow me on Twitter @ scantojr.

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Monday, December 22, 2014

What does this Cuba Deal do to Compensate U.S. Investors?

My late uncle used to work for a U.S. citizen who had a small manufacturing company in Central Cuba. It employed about 20 Cubans and was typical of many Americans who lived and had companies in the island. 

In other words, not every dollar confiscated by the communists was that of large hotel holdings or infrastructure companies.  On the contrary, there were many American small and medium-sized businesses that employed and trained Cubans. These Americans brought their talents and money to Cuba.

My uncle's employer saw his business closed and confiscated. He was never compensated by the Cuban government.

Who is going to look after all of those Americans now that we plan to lift the embargo?  Maybe someone should ask President Obama the next time he takes questions from the press.

Last year, Leon Neyfakh called on us to remember the issue:
"What’s often forgotten, though, is that the embargo was actually triggered by something concrete: an enormous pile of American assets that Castro seized in the process of nationalizing the Cuban economy.
Some of these assets were the vacation homes and bank accounts of wealthy individuals.
But the bulk of the confiscated property -- originally valued at $1.8 billion, which at 6 percent simple interest translates to nearly $7 billion today -- was sugar factories, mines, oil refineries and other business operations belonging to American corporations, among them the Coca-Cola Co., Exxon and the First National Bank of Boston.
A 2009 article in the Inter-American Law Review described Castro’s nationalization of U.S. assets as the “largest uncompensated taking of American property by a foreign government in history.”"
It's amazing to me that President Obama did not demand a solution to this pending issue prior to agreeing to any normalization.

Who is going to protect American investors?  It does not look like the Obama administration will do so!

P. S. You can hear CANTO TALK here & follow me on Twitter @ scantojr.


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The week in review with Bill Katz of Urgent Agenda


We discussed the shooting of two police officers in New York plus Cuba and the North Korea/Sony story. 

 Click below for the show:
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Sunday, December 21, 2014

Rubio will win the Cuba debate with Paul

The so-called new Cuba policy has put Senator Rubio on front stage.  He has become the face of the opposition to President Obama's decision to change our approach to Cuba.

 On the other side, there is Senator Paul, who supports President Obama's decision.   

 Phillip Rucker of The Washington Post sees it as an early sign of 2016 GOP divisions:
The feud is the loudest public dispute so far between potential GOP 2016 candidates and lays bare the divergent world views of traditional hawks — including Rubio and past Republican presidents and nominees — and the emerging, younger libertarian wing represented by Paul.
For decades, Rubio’s position has been the GOP’s natural default. But Paul is testing that convention.  
“Are we still cold warriors or are we entering a brave new world in diplomacy?” Republican strategist John Feehery said. “Rubio’s perspective is we have Cuba, we have North Korea, we need a bold, internationalist, America-led world that fights the bad guys. Rand Paul is taking his father’s position to a new level, which is constructive engagement, but America isn’t really the policeman of the world.”
What's wrong with that picture?  A lot, especially when we are talking about GOP primary voters.

 Senator Paul does not understand what Senator Rubio is talking about.  

 First, Senator Rubio is talking about promoting freedom rather than being the world's policeman.  There is a huge difference.  

 Second, Senator Paul does not understand that his father's foreign policy was largely mocked and ignored in previous primaries.  Like many GOP voters, I threw a pillow at the TV every time Congressman Ron Paul went off on his isolationist rants.   

 Senator Paul is wrong on this one.  He is not going to be the party's nominee with such views of the world. 

 P.S. You can hear CANTO TALK here & follow me on Twitter @ scantojr.
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Saturday, December 20, 2014

Leading dissidents in Cuba not happy with President Obama

(My new American Thinker post)

 Did someone tell President Obama that flooding Cuba with U.S. tourists would bring freedom and prosperity to the island?

 Don't say that to many of Cuba's leading dissidents.  They understand the Castro regime better than we do.  They know that Castro Inc. will not be sharing the wealth with all of those Cuban workers who will now be catering to U.S. tourists.  The dissidents know that the so-called "thaw" is nothing but a lifeline to the island's regime.

 Our friends at Babalu Blog (via Capitol Hill Cubans) shared some reactions from Cuba.  It sounds a lot of what we've been hearing from Miami:
Cuban dissident leaders react to President Obama's announcement to normalize relations with Castro's dictatorship:
"Sadly, President Obama made the wrong decision. The freedom and democracy of the Cuban people will not be achieved through these benefits that he's giving -- not to the Cuban people -- but to the Cuban government. The Cuban government will only take advantage to strengthen its repressive machinery, to repress civil society, its people and remain in power."
-- Berta Soler, leader of The Ladies in White.
"[Alan Gross] was not arrested for what he did, but for what could be gained from his arrest. He was simply bait and they were aware of it from the beginning... Castroism has won, though the positive result is that Alan Gross has left alive the prison that threatened to become his tomb."
-- Yoani Sanchez, Cuban blogger and independent journalist, 14ymedio.
"The Cuban people are being ignored in this secret conversation, in this secret agreement that we learned today. The reality of my country is there is just one party with all the control and with the state security controlling the whole society. If this doesn’t change, there’s no real change in Cuba. Not even with access to Internet. Not even when Cuban people can travel more than two years ago. Not even that is a sign of the end of the totalitarianism in my country."
--Rosa Maria Paya, daughter of murdered Christian Liberation Movement leader, Oswaldo Paya.
"[Obama's announcement] is horrible and disregarding the opinion of [Cuban] civil society sends a bad message. The acceptance of neo-Castroism in Cuba will mean greater support for authoritarianism in the region and, as a consequence, human rights will be relegated to a secondary role."
-- Antonio Rodiles, head of Estado de Sats.
"Alan Gross was used as a tool by the Castro regime to coerce the United States. Obama was not considerate of Cuban citizens and of the civil society that is facing this tyrannical regime. In Miami, Obama promised that he would consult Cuba measures with civil society and the non-violent opposition. Obviously, this didn't happen. That is a fact, a reality. He didn't consider Cuba's democrats. The betrayal of Cuba's democrats has been consummated."
-- Guillermo Fariñas, former Sakharov Prize recipient.
"The Obama Administration has ceded before Castro's dictatorship. Nothing has changed. The jails remain filled, the government represents only one family, repression continues, civil society is not recognized and we have no right to assemble or protest... The measures that the government of the United States has implemented today, to ease the embargo and establish diplomatic relations with Cuba, will in no way benefit the Cuban people. The steps taken will strengthen the Castro regime's repression against human rights activists and increase its resources, so the security forces can keep harassing and repressing civil society."
--Angel Moya, former political prisoner of the Black Spring (2003).
"We are in total disagreement with what has transpired today. It's a betrayal of those who within Cuba have opposed the regime in order to achieve definitive change for the good of all Cubans."
-- Felix Navarro, former political prisoner and co-head of the Cuban Patriotic Union (UNPACU).
"It's discomforting that the accounts of the Castro regime can grow, as the first step will be more effective repression and a rise in the level of corruption."
-- Jose Daniel Ferrer, former political prisoner and co-head of the Cuban Patriotic Union (UNPACU)
"This is a betrayal that leaves the democratic opposition defenseless. Obama has allied himself with the oppressors and murderers of our people."
-- Jorge Luis Garcia Perez "Antunez," former political prisoner and head of the National Resistance Front.
"I feel as though I have been abandoned on the battlefield."
-- Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet, former Cuban political prisoner and U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient.

These are the people who are risking their lives every day, facing repression that most of us could not imagine.

 They are the warriors and the ones who often end up in prison when the foreign reporters go home.

 And they don't like it!   

 P.S. You can hear CANTO TALK here & follow me on Twitter @ scantojr.
Check Out Politics Podcasts at Blog Talk Radio with Silvio Canto Jr on BlogTalkRadio


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