Some News...

THE CREATION OF BISCET

Tomorrow, our three favorite members of Congress (Ileana, Lincoln and Mario) will be making an important presentation at Mario Diaz-Balart's Miami district office. Beginning around 10:30am, the three will officially inaugurate their Oscar Elias Biscet awareness campaign, recent winner of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Part of the campaign was reported by Pablo Bachelet for the Miami Herald on Monday:

"Miami Republican Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen said Monday, Biscet supporters will begin an awareness campaign on U.S. college campuses with T-shirts and other items, calling Biscet 'a new hero for a new Cuba.' Among the campuses: University of Miami, Miami Dade College and Florida International University."

The three members of Congress called in to Radio Mambi Wednesday evening (between 6-6:30pm) detailing some of the event, which will include a video about Biscet. On the show, Mario Diaz-Balart, still delighted by Pres. Bush's recent speech on Cuba, made sure to let listeners know that if you don't spend at least sometime EACH DAY being active for a Free Cuba, then you "don't deserve to be called Cuban."


THE IBERO-AMERICAN SUMMIT IN CHILE

The 17th Ibero-American Summit began yesterday, and so far most of its invited guests which include all Latin American nations, Spain, Portugal and Andorra, have made the trip to Chile. Cuba's Vice-President, Carlos Lage, was in attendance for the Summit and appeared on Chilean television saying that Fidel Castro was "reading, studying, analyzing, offering ideas, thoughts, giving us ideas for us to continue the battle for the ideals of justice and solidarity to which he has dedicated his entire life."

There are indications that members of the Summit have already "approved a special communiqué" that condemns the US embargo towards Cuba and supports the extradition of Luis Posada Carriles to Venezuela. These resolutions against US policy have been persistent at the Summit since 2005 and 2006.


MIAMI BOOK FAIR INTERNATIONAL

This Sunday, Ann Louise Bardach, author of several articles and books on Cuba (and famed interviewer of Luis Posada Carriles) will be present at the Miami Book Fair, among several other famed authors. Bardach has recently released The Prison Letters of Fidel Castro, and is scheduled to release a new book next year titled Without Fidel: The Death of Castro and Other Tales.

Bardach will be present with Patrick Symmes, long-time travel writer, and famed author of Chasing Che, the book which soon became the film The Motorcycle Diaries. Symmes is the recent author of The Boys from Dolores: Fidel Castro's Classmates from Revolution to Exile and, with Bardach, will present a discussion titled "Portrait of [Fidel] Castro as a Young Man" at 3pm [PDF of Sunday Schedule].

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The Prison Letters of Fidel Castro produces letters that began in 1953, after Fidel Castro was arrested for his attack on the Moncada Barracks. One of the persons that Fidel wrote to was Luis Conte Agüero, a former close friend, but today one of his fiercest opponents. Conte Agüero has his own show on a local Spanish station (TeleMiami) which runs weekdays from 11am to noon. He's a hard-liner who describes his intransigence in the memory of Jose Marti and Antonio Maceo, 19th Century heroes for Cuban independence.

But, before the conflict between Fidel Castro and Conte Agüero, he wrote with great praise of Fidel as the leader of the 1959 Revolution, and included in the prologue of the original release of 1959's The Prison Letters of Fidel Castro:

"This is Fidel Castro Ruz: Endurance, sacrifice, stoicism, study, brotherhood, foresight and destiny, beating heart, closed fist, will to make history; flower and firearm, bread and spirit, milk and spear, land and dream."

Today, Conte Agüero writes that Fidel "subverted and defiled the eternal values of liberty." But, its revealed that Fidel Castro was very clear in his letters to Conte Agüero of being a communist and opposed to freedom of speech. In a great article by Meg Laughlin for the St. Petersburg Times, Laughlin points out that Fidel laid out his plans "to take land and sugar profits from the wealthy and redistribute them to sharecroppers and workers." Furthermore, Fidel specifically wrote to Conte Agüero that "[t]he apparatus of propaganda and organization should be so powerful as to implacably destroy anyone trying to create fissures, cabals, and schisms or to rise against the movement." Conte Agüero seemed to not be bothered by these personal statements when he wrote his prologue in 1959.

Today, Laughlin gets a reply from Conte Agüero saying: "Communism did not occur to me at the time." And, concerning the use of propaganda to "implacably destroy" their opponents, Conte Agüero says: "In the very early days, it was necessary for consolidation."

There you have it. Power certainly corrupts.

Medal of Freedom to Oscar Elias Biscet

In news that has been censored by the Cuban government's official newspaper, Cuban political prisoner Oscar Elias Biscet has been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Biscet's son and daughter (Yan Valdez and Winnie) have received the award in his absence.

This morning, in the East Room of the White House, President George W. Bush told the world:

"To the Cuban dictatorship, Dr. [Oscar Elias] Biscet is a 'dangerous man.' He is dangerous in the same way that Martin Luther King, Jr. and Gandhi were dangerous. He is a man of peace, a man of truth, and a man of faith. In captivity for most of the last eight years, he has continued to embody courage and dignity. His example is a rebuke to the tyrants and secret police of a regime whose day is passing."

The Presidential Medal of Freedom is given annually to "those who have made outstanding contributions to the security or national interest of the United States or to world peace, or those who have made a significant public or private accomplishment." But, it should be noted that under these requirements, Oscar Elias Biscet barely merits such a distinction. Biscet's prominence as a Cuban dissident is hardly an "outstanding" contribution to US interests or world peace. Yet, the category of "significant public or private accomplishment" is loosely defined enough to award the latest winner of American Idol.

This doesn't mean that Oscar Elias Biscet is not a noble or courageous man. He is without question. I urge people to review his website and "Declaration of Principles" which highlight his vision of a free Cuba. We should admire this man, as much as we should admire all Cuban dissidents who bravely stare directly into the face of a totalitarian regime. But let's be honest, today's recognition of Oscar Elias Biscet is nothing but political grandstanding for President Bush, and an extension of last month's speech on Cuba policy. Furthermore, the nomination of Biscet for the medal has been the result of years of lobbying from the hard-line exile political leadership.

Also note that today's recognition of Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf with the Medal of Freedom was another political move. President Johnson Sirleaf has not made any "outstanding contributions" to US interests or world peace. But, she certainly has made significant accomplishments in Liberia, a country that has suffered tremendous devastation in the past. The only thing that could be considered a contribution to world peace is the fact that President Johnson Sirleaf "has pledged to work towards reconciliation by bringing her former opponents into a government of national unity." This noble position is the hallmark of Oswaldo Paya's Varela Project and the "Todos Cubanos" Program for a national dialogue, but a component that Oscar Elias Biscet does not include in his "Declaration of Principles," which instead supports "[t]he dissolution of all political, propagandistic, and repressive organizations created by the communist regime since January, 1959."

It is also ironic that Biscet was compared to Martin Luther King Jr. because both were secretly monitored by their respective governments as "dangerous" men. It is uncontroversial (and upsetting) today to acknowledge that the US Federal Bureau of Investigations had been spying on Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife for years, even after the assassination of the civil rights leader, for the same reasons that Oscar Elias Biscet now suffers in a Cuban prison.

For more on Oscar Elias Biscet, and the other faces of those Cuba political prisoners who should be at the forefront of any discussion on Cuba and US/Cuba relations, please go to Marc Masferrer's blog, Uncommon Sense. I think its reasonable to say that the Uncommon Sense blog is perhaps THE BEST blog on the subject of Cuba's political prisoners. Way to go Marc, I don't see why you don't deserve a Medal of Freedom yourself.