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March 18, 2004
Cuba's Prisoners of Conscience
Imagine a world where access to the Internet was prohibited. A place where you weren’t allowed to learn what was happening in the world around you. No access to newspapers and other print media, no access to cable news, to world news or otherwise. You live in a place where you are told what is happening, where the word of your government must be taken as gospel. In this world there is no room for independent thought, and your opinion must remain just that, yours. To opine to others means to risk what little you have. Today marks the one year benchmark of the plight of 75 independent journalists rounded up by Fidel Castro’s regime and sentenced – through mock trials – to as much as 20 years in prison. These people weren’t fomenting revolution, they weren’t running clandestine operations to topple the government. No. They were doing what each and every one of us that is reading this does on a daily basis – learning and reporting. Reporting the news, speaking out on events, disseminating information about the world they live in. Information is the enemy of any oppressive regime. And Castro, ever the stalwart dictator, knows this all too well. As I write this there are prisoners of conscience stranded in their jail cells, their bodies failing and their thoughts decaying. Alone and imprisoned for their convictions and their courage to express them. March 18th is the date these 75 dissidents had their voices muted. One year ago today they were forcibly removed from the world they knew, the world they tried to show us, and were discarded as human excrement by their government. The rest of the world sits idly by. Next time you log on to the Internet or your blog or some media website, remember there are those who lack that opportunity. There are people who aren’t allowed to learn or express or, even, to think for themselves. And without freedom of thought, there can be no freedom at all. Only oppression should fear the full exercise of freedom. – Jose Marti By Val Prieto Posted By Val Prieto at March 18, 2004 10:58 AM | TrackBackComments
Yes but Cuba has universal healthcare. Making it superior to the US in every way. Posted by: Mark Buehner at March 18, 2004 11:43 AM Very Good Comment, Mark!
Posted by: leaddog2 at March 18, 2004 12:55 PM In the 70's, I went to school with a boy whose father was an editor in Cuba and was told to shut up but did not and he was shot in the head. So these recent journalists knew what they were getting into, they were testing the system, and they are lucky they were not killed. They are probably counting on the death of Fidel and warming relations to lead to their release, perhaps they are hoping the US will make them an assylum deal. I hear Cuban prisons suck. Posted by: Jim Bosso at March 20, 2004 03:31 PM Post a comment
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