From the Socialist Paradise

Guillermo Fariñas pictured here was recently arrested and beaten by officers of the National Revolutionary Police in Santa Clara, Cuba for among other things attempting to connect to the internet without government approval.







Nevertheless, Tania de la Torre was able to file this report by telephone before being cut off by Cuban State Security:

State of emergency in Santiago de Cuba By Tania de la Torre

Urgent appeal from Tania de la Torre Montesino, director of the Independent Press Bureau

I want to inform the world about the current situation in Santiago de Cuba. There is a general state of alarm in the province because there is a shortage of milk for children. They have spent two months drinking tea, sugar water, and anything else that happens to come along.

There is not enough money, meat is nowhere to be found, and the situation is worsening because the dengue fever epidemic continues to spread. Additionally, the potable water situation is critical. There are neighborhoods that have spent six months without any. All this before the backdrop of Santiago’s broken streets and septic tanks that contaminate the environment.

We are calling upon the authorities, above all on State Security agents who are repressing and harassing opposition activists. We ask that they go over to the people’s side, because it is now Cuba’s time. It is the right moment to reflect and to help the Cuban people. To help the Cuban people is not to cooperate with the dictatorship and to do everything within one’s reach so that change may come about.

Note: At this point, State Security abruptly interrupted the telephone link between the independent journalist and the Cuban Democratic Directorate.

I wonder what the "Pastors for Peace," dear Congressman Rangel and his delightful colleague Ms. Waters, not to mention a slew of others (like the Congressional Black Caucus) would make of this. Actually, I don't wonder at all. They'd make the same of it as they have of the horrendous plight of Dr. Biscet, another extremely brave black man rotting in a hellhole of a Cuban jail for opposing the designs of the Plantation-Owner-in-Chief.
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asombra

Could Use Some Global Warming!

SAFE ASHORE: Lidia Estel Lugo, 34, huddles with her 9-year-old son, Jose Carlos Rodrigues Lugo, after wading ashore on Key Biscayne at dawn with a group of refugees from Cuba.




Soaked, shivering and disoriented,

two groups of migrants walked up to the Key Biscayne toll booth this morning, where they received coffee and blankets from strangers.

The first group of five arrived at 6:30 a.m. That group included men, women and children.

Workers at the toll booth separating Key Biscayne from the mainland kept them warm and gave them coffee until the U.S. Border Patrol arrived. One of the five walked away but the others stayed put.

Thirty minutes later, six other migrants showed up -- also wet, also shivering.

Four of the six in the latter group identified themselves as Lidia Lugo, 34; son Jose Carlos Rodrigues Lugo, 9; daughter Amanda Rodrigues Lugo, 15; and 13-year-old Mario Nuñez, who is not related.

An employee of Miami-Dade County let them huddle in his truck for warmth until the Border Patrol could return.

A Miami police sergeant showed up and summoned fire rescue. Fire rescue workers advised the group to take off their wet shoes and gave them blankets.

Lidia Lugo said they left Sunday from Cuba's Pinar del Rio. She declined to say how they made the voyage, only that they waded ashore.

She said she has a relative in Hialeah named Clara and the toll booth employee let her call Clara on a cell phone. The woman had the phone number memorized.

``Gracias a Dios,'' she said, shortly before the Border Patrol took her and the children away for processing.

hat tip: The Real Cuba

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