Obama in Cuba

21 Mar, 2016 by Dave Blount

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Obama is currently cementing his validation of the communist dictatorship that has enslaved Cuba by bringing his extended family there for an extravagant vacation. The Castro Regime prepared by arresting more dissidents:

Just hours before President Obama landed Sunday in Cuba for his historic visit to the communist island, Cuban authorities arrested more than 50 dissidents who were marching to demand improved human rights.

The dissidents are members of Ladies in White. Founding member Berta Soler thought they might be able to protest without getting arrested because of Obama’s visit. However, the USA has thrown away its leverage in that regard.

“For us, it’s very important that we do this so President Obama knows that there are women here fighting for the liberty of political prisoners,” Soler said before being arrested. “And he needs to know that we are here being repressed simply for exercising our right to express ourselves and manifest in a non-violent way.”

Oh, he knows. He just doesn’t care. The Castro Bros. know he doesn’t care, thus the arrests.

ESPN, which apparently exists mainly to infuse sports with far left ideology, doesn’t care either:

Sure, he was a murdering dictator who imprisoned any and all who opposed him and suppressed any dissent through brutal repression. But man, could he appreciate a great curve ball.

That’s basically the theme of this ESPN video segment on Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, which the four-letter network just happened to release, coinciding nicely President Obama’s travel to the four-letter nation this [past] weekend.

Take a look (Click on image for video. Video will open in new window):

Ted Cruz, whose father fled Castro’s dictatorship, took a different point of view:

Communist Havana has always been a magnet for the radical chic of the left, drawn like moths to the flame of this western outpost of totalitarian Communism. Back in the 1960s, the visitors included Angela Davis and Stokely Carmichael, while Che Guevara himself received Jean-Paul Sartre.

Now this scene will include a president of the United States. On Sunday, President Barack Obama, a retinue of celebrities in tow, is expected to arrive in the Cuban capital to hang out with Raul Castro and his henchmen, all of which will be breathlessly documented by the media mavens along for the ride.

Meanwhile, political prisoners languishing in dungeons across the island will hear this message: Nobody has your back. You’re alone with your tormentors. The world has forgotten about you.

They will not be on TV, rubbing elbows with the Obamas or left-wing politicians like Nancy Pelosi. There will be no mojitos at the U.S. Embassy for them. Raul Castro denies their very existence.

News reports say there are more than 100 long-term prisoners of conscience in Cuba. Nobody knows for sure, as the Castro regime does not grant international organizations access to its prisons. But we know they are there and that hundreds are held for shorter periods, and beaten in prison regularly.

Until Obama, siding with the oppressed had always been America’s aspiration. We have done so not just out of an abiding sense of justice, but also for hard-nosed reasons of national interest. In Cuba the Castros have been the implacable enemies of the United States for more than half a century. It is in our interests to make common cause with the brave souls who oppose them.

Obama had said that he would only travel to Cuba if it made progress toward acknowledging human rights. It hasn’t.

The independent Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation says that 1,141 Cubans were detained for political reasons last month alone, following the 1,447 that were detained in January.

Cubans continue to go to great lengths to escape from this formerly prosperous country, despite the communist regime’s immense popularity with American leftists.

Donald Trump has also weighed in on Obama’s trip. He isn’t big on the liberty stuff, and is hardly the one to complain about dissidents being tortured in light of his open advocacy of torture as US policy, but he did object to Raul Castro not meeting Obama on the tarmac. The contrast with Cruz’s reaction is striking.

On tips from Varla, Bodhisattva, Torcer, and Thomas C. Cross-posted at Moonbattery.