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Human Nature

Human nature has been around forever. Promise. Leftist governments, and not to mention rightist ones, Christianity, and others who would preach that human nature is a beast that needs to be tamed and chained, should understand that fighting human nature is like attempting to beat mother nature at her game.  I for one would rather see government attempting to harness the power of a hurricane and ultimately diffuse it’s damaging capabilities than trying to change our human nature.

Greed, sex, did I say greed? Why bother trying t change them?

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El Mea Culpa de Miguel Ángel Quevedo, antes de suicidarse

http://www.aguadadepasajeros.bravepages.com/cubahistoria/bohemia_carta_miguel_quevedo.htm

CIRCUITO SUR
LA HISTORIA DE CUBA DESDE 1959

El Mea Culpa de Miguel Ángel Quevedo, antes de suicidarse

Propietario y Director de la revista Bohemia de Cuba, la cual fue robada por los comunistas.

Sr. Ernesto Montaner
Miami, Florida
12 de agosto de 1969
Querido Ernesto:
Cuando recibas esta carta ya te habrás enterado por la radio de la noticia de mi muerte. Ya me habré suicidado ¡al fin! sin que nadie pudiera impedírmelo, como me lo impidieron tú y Agustín Alles el 21 de enero de 1965.
Sé que después de muerto llevarán sobre mi tumba montañas de inculpaciones. Que querrán presentarme como “el único culpable” de la desgracia de Cuba. Y no niego mis errores ni mi culpabilidad; lo que sí niego es que fuera “el único culpable”. Culpables fuimos todos, en mayor o menor grado de responsabilidad.
Culpables fuimos todos. Los periodistas que llenaban mi mesa de artículos demoledores, arremetiendo contra todos los gobernantes. Buscadores de aplausos que, por satisfacer el morbo infecundo y brutal de la multitud, por sentirse halagados por la aprobación de la plebe. vestían el odioso uniforme que no se quitaban nunca.
No importa quien fuera el presidente. Ni las cosas buenas que estuviese realizando a favor de Cuba. Había que atacarlos, y había que destruirlos. El mismo pueblo que los elegía, pedía a gritos sus cabezas en la plaza pública.
El pueblo también fue culpable. El pueblo que quería a Guiteras. El pueblo que quería a Chibás. El pueblo que aplaudía a Pardo Llada. El pueblo que compraba Bohemia, porque era vocero de ese pueblo. El pueblo que acompañó a Fidel desde Oriente hasta el campamento de Columbia.
Fidel no es más que el resultado del estallido de la demagogia y de la insensatez. Todos contribuimos a crearlo. Y todos, por resentidos, por demagogos, por estúpidos o por malvados, somos culpables de que llegara al poder. Los periodistas que conociendo la hoja de Fidel, su participación en el Bogotazo Comunista, el asesinato de Manolo Castro y su conducta gansteril en la Universidad de la Habana, pedíamos una amnistía para él y sus cómplices en el asalto al Cuartel Moncada, cuando se encontraba en prisión.
Fue culpable el Congreso que aprobó la Ley de Amnistía. Los comentaristas de radio y televisión que la colmaron de elogios. Y la chusma que la aplaudió delirantemente en las graderías del Congreso de la República.
Bohemia no era más que un eco de la calle. Aquella calle contaminada por el odio que aplaudió a Bohemia cuando inventó “los veinte mil muertos”. Invención diabólica del dipsómano Enriquito de la Osa, que sabía que Bohemia era un eco de la calle, pero que también la calle se hacía eco de lo que publicaba Bohemia.
Fueron culpables los millonarios que llenaron de dinero a Fidel para que derribara al régimen. Los miles de traidores que se vendieron al barbudo criminal. Y los que se ocuparon más del contrabando y del robo que de las acciones de la Sierra Maestra. Fueron culpables los curas de sotanas rojas que mandaban a los jóvenes para la Sierra a servir a Castro y sus guerrilleros. Y el clero, oficialmente, que respaldaba a la revolución comunista con aquellas pastorales encendidas, conminando al Gobierno a entregar el poder.
Fue culpable Estados Unidos de América, que incautó las armas destinadas a las fuerzas armadas de Cuba en su lucha contra los guerrilleros.
Y fue culpable el State Department, que respaldó la conjura internacional dirigida por los comunistas para adueñarse de Cuba.
Fueron culpables el Gobierno y su oposición, cuando el diálogo cívico, por no ceder y llegar a un acuerdo decoroso, pacífico y patriótico. Los infiltrados por Fidel en aquella gestión para sabotearla y hacerla fracasar como lo hicieron.
Fueron culpables los políticos abstencionistas, que cerraron las puertas a todos los cambios electoralistas. Y los periódicos que como Bohemia, le hicieron el juego a los abstencionistas, negándose a publicar nada relacionado con aquellas elecciones.
Todos fuimos culpables. Todos. Por acción u omisión. Viejos y jóvenes. Ricos y pobres. Blancos y negros. Honrados y ladrones. Virtuosos y pecadores. Claro, que nos faltaba por aprender la lección increíble y amarga: que los más “virtuosos” y los más “honrados” eran los pobres.
Muero asqueado. Solo. Proscrito. Desterrado. Y traicionado y abandonado por amigos a quienes brindé generosamente mi apoyo moral y económico en días muy difíciles. Como Rómulo Betancourt, Figueres, Muñoz Marín.. Los titanes de esa “Izquierda Democrática” que tan poco tiene de “democrática” y tanto de “izquierda”.
Todos deshumanizados y fríos me abandonaron en la caída. Cuando se convencieron de que yo era anticomunista, me demostraron que ellos eran antiquevedistas. Son los presuntos fundadores del Tercer Mundo. El mundo de Mao Tse Tung.
Ojalá mi muerte sea fecunda. Y obligue a la meditación. Para que los que pueden aprendan la lección. Y los periódicos y los periodistas no vuelvan a decir jamás lo que las turbas incultas y desenfrenadas quieran que ellos digan. Para que la prensa no sea más un eco de la calle, sino un faro de orientación para esa propia calle. Para que los millonarios no den más sus dineros a quienes después los despojan de todo. Para que los anunciantes no llenen de poderío con sus anuncios a publicaciones tendenciosas, sembradoras de dio y de infamia, capaces de destruir hasta la integridad física y moral de una nación, o de un destierro. Y para que el pueblo recapacite y repudie esos voceros de odio, cuyas frutas hemos visto que no podían ser más amargas.
Fuimos un pueblo cegado por el odio. Y todos éramos víctimas de esa ceguera.
Nuestros pecados pesaron más que nuestras virtudes. Nos olvidamos de Nuñez de Arce cuando dijo: “Cuando un pueblo olvida sus virtudes, lleva en sus propios vicios su tirano”.
Adiós. Éste es mi último adiós. Y dile a todos mis compatriotas que yo perdono con los brazos en cruz sobre mi pecho, para que me perdonen todo el mal que he hecho.
Miguel Ángel Quevedo
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Something New

Guanma, Cuba
Image by Tony Gálvez via Flickr

Been to Cuba lately? Have any pictures? Post them here for everyone to see. We would love to see them.

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Health care in the US, should it be free?

May_30_Health_Care_Rally_NP (478)

Image by seiuhealthcare775nw via Flickr

Huge discussions and debates going on about health care in the US. But in all the discussions, I have not read a single line where the dangers of socialism creeping into a free society like the US are as real as the sun showing up in the morning.

Free societies, and I mean real free societies, have a very distinct need to offer their poor a chance to live a better life. In case anyone missed it, it was the overwhelming number of poor in Venezuela who voted Chavez in, and it remains the overwhelming number of poor who keep him in power.  Though time is running out for anything but a bullet to stop his hold on power, allowing the poor sector to grow into a position of power is about the most dangerous thing a country can do to kill its own freedom.

Castro knew this, and it is a formula that works and has worked for the past 100 years or so. Most poor are easily convinced, if they have not been already, that it is the rich who are responsible for their financial oppression. How could they not be? They are watching the rich live off the poor and when a tragedy or crisis happens, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. They lose their jobs, factories close.  The employees go home to worry about their next meal and the rich owners go to their yachts for a relaxing vacation.

Are they right to think this way? In my opinion, no. Without these rich people, they have no way of making a comeback. Look at Cuba. The revolution triumphed, and they sent the rich packing. What happened? They then had nobody to run their businesses, nobody to manage their economy. Which quickly took a turn south. Without these entrepreneurs to reinvigorate the economy, countries have nothing. Why do you think that countries with less barriers to opening corporations are more successful than those with more? Encouraging entrepreneurship is as crucial as taking care of your poor.

Detail of Uninsured Taxpayers
Image via Wikipedia

Welfare systems are not a drain on the economy. They are a necessary investment to maintain the freedoms some countries have fought so hard to earn. This may sound wrong and politically incorrect, but keeping the poor happy and fed, and with enough opportunities to live a decent life, prevents them from going and voting in a left leaning, dictator hungry politician who knows that the way to a presidential palace now a days rests on the number of votes he can swing into his corner. Why do you think South America has taken a sharp turn to the left? The rich have ignored them for too long. It happened in Cuba, it happened in Venezuela. Could it be the US is on its way to a left turn into hell? Consider yourselves warned.

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About Juanes in Habana…

So you have a few, and I mean an embarrassingly small number of Cubans in Miami joining a protest where they burned down a black shirt (for Juanes‘ hit “Tengo la camisa negra“). One of the old geezers took a hammer to a bunch of Juanes’ Cd’s. Others shouted anti-communist slogans while yet others sat in beach chairs for their 5 minutes of newspaper glory. Otherwise, apart from the usual circus in Miami, things are pretty quiet.

Willy Chirino, one of my favorite Miami Cuban artists, issued a press release which frankly, we really could have done without. The intent to please everyone including Juanes could be cut with a knife. In the first paragraph, agreeing with him going to Cuba and doing his concert, in the next paragraph accusing Juanes of being in cahoots with the castro clan.

Versailles Cuban Restaurant
Image by Brisan via Flickr

Folks, let’s be honest here. Castro has been in power for fifty years, other people are tired of waiting on your thickheaded plans of starving him to

death to go to Cuba and enjoy themselves. The rest of the world is tired of waiting around for you to take him down, do away with him, bring him to justice, or whatever it is you feel you are going to accomplish by being just about as bad as he is. In short, he’s already won, you lost. The famous and historic exile you used to be is now a tired old loser. Oh fidel didn’t really win in the game of competency, but he surely kicked your ass from here to kingdom come. And no, that policy where you wait on a distance shore to claim victory when your enemy dies of old age is not a solid policy of war.

Actually, it makes you look like idiots. I know, I know, you’re going to accuse me of being a castro supporter and a communist. And I am going to yawn and change the channel cause this Juanes thing is just another rerun of a lost episode of the cuban stupidity channel. Blind bats leading even blinder idiots.

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Juanes in Habana a travesty?

LAS VEGAS - MAY 02:  Singer/songwriter Juanes ...
Image by Getty Images via Daylife

I remember reading about Juanes walking through the old part of Habana back in June. Twas said he was just visiting. Twas hard for me to believe. Juanes just visiting Cuba? Why would he be interested in visiting Cuba of all places? Certainly there are better places for a star of his caliber to visit!

Today, I check the news and find that he will be giving a concert in Habana sometime in September. My initial reaction? He must have sucked some harsh ass in Cuba to be able to pull that off. No way is he getting paid for it, no way. Then I start to think that maybe it’s not a bad idea to have a concert in Habana from Juanes and the other artists that have already been signing up. Maybe it’s not a crazy idea at all.

Juanes should have his opportunity to make his statements however he sees fit in Cuba and anywhere. If we really want democracy, then we really should begin to act democratically towards Cuba. Who knows, I am thinking same results from Juanes’ visit as the pope had in Poland? Well, I can hope no?

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Ten Steps to Perpetual Power (for presidents)

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If you, or anyone you know has ever wanted to lead a country forever, or at least until you die, and you need some pointers on how exactly you can extend your years as el presidente, then this post is a must read. I can almost guarantee you longevity if you can manage to pull off every single one of these steps and then keep them in place.

Step One:  Get your self an enemy. And I am not talking about your next door neighbor. I am talking about a powerful one, like the US. Or, well, the US is about the only one that will give you the clout. You see, having an enemy like the US will make you look like a victim. Here you are, trying to bring peace and happiness to your country by feeding the poor and helping them out, and the US is dead set against this.

Step Two: Once you let everyone know that the US is your enemy, you must make up ruses about the US wanting to kill you. Throw in the boogie that they are planning an invasion as well, this will get the rest of the world on our side. Nothing is known to bring a people together like the imminent threat of war from a neighboring country. Even if it’s bullshit, tell it enough times and you’ll begin to be believed. Which brings me to the third Step.

Step Three: Immediately, and I mean as soon as you can, take control of the media. You must control the information that gets out to your countrymen or you’re in deep shit. Kill the internet, I mean kill it dead. No internet. Take over the press, accuse them of trying to make you look bad, accuse them of writing on behalf of your enemy. Anything that will allow you to intervene in their daily affairs and force them into writing what you want and nothing else.

Step Four: Intervene all businesses. You must not let free enterprise survive, if it does, you are doomed. (This action always helps with Step One). Taking over all the business you can will allow you to control the supply chain to the country. Being able to manipulate the supply chain is not only a powerful tool, but a funny one too, if you like that sort of thing. This sets you up for;

Step Five: Encourage a black market. Create scarcity of products. No, not several at once, keep the people guessing which one will be missing tomorrow. This is crucial. You may not believe this, but it is. A black market is the one tool you will not survive without. Intervening all businesses is the lead in for this. A black market exists to supply all the needs of the people. In order for a black market to exist, you must provide scarcity. Make products scarce. This will allow you to arrest anyone at will, assuming you don’t like them, or they are too outspoken against you, for stealing, or for being a part of the black market. This will not only strengthen your position as an honest leader, it will make your opposition look like a bunch of delinquents. And nobody can claim you actually arrested them for their opposition. Hey, you caught them stealing!

Step Six: Tighten your grip on your immigration services. Nothing or no one enters or leaves the country without you knowing about it. If its a large enough country, just have everyone in you customs and immigrations service write everything down. This will give you untold amounts of

SauSingGung-figurine of Longevity
Image via Wikipedia

information about everyone. You can always go back and find some dirt on anyone you want in jail or deported. If you must stick a foreigner in jail, you must frame him or her with some despicable criminal act. Working for the US (your enemy) usually works well.

Step Seven: De-valuate your Currency. The currency your people use must be worth shit. It has to be worthless. Outlawing other foreign currencies is always a good way to achieve this. If your people carry worthless currency, they are at your will. You pay them with shit currency you can print for nothing, and then sell their services to other countries for real currencies. Adding a second currency later allows you to double up on the currency scam and let’s you make money in or out.

Step Eight: Encourage all those who oppose you to leave. Invite them to leave during your weekly televised speeches on the television channels you now own. Make the newspapers, which you should now own as well, write long articles about how the opposition should just leave. Oh! but make illegal emigration illegal as well. See the trick? Yes, throw more people in jail for trying to leave illegally! Brilliant!

Step Nine: You gotta keep an eye on everyone, so start by organizing neighborhood crime watches. Every neighborhood must have a crime watch office and a crime watch boss. Of course, this group will be changing their name to defenders of your government shortly. But the ruse of controlling crime will allow you to ellicit support for the creation of your snitch groups much faster. Increasing police presence and making sure they, the police do not make enough money to survive ensures that even the police have to break the law just to feed their children. More possible criminals for you to arrest whenever you have the urge to “get rid” of someone.

Ok, now that you have your first nine steps to perpetual power. You have to realize that repetition is the key word here. Repeat the 9 steps until you are either dead or too fucked up to give a shit. This will guarantee you power.

Oh! I almost forgot!

Step Ten: Enjoy your power! Bask in the knowledge that you were able to pull this off. Enjoy everything that genuine power gives you!

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Raul Castro clamps down on illegalities

Cuban president Raul Castro.
Image via Wikipedia

Raul Castro has decreed that there will be no more illegalities in Cuba because these illegal activities harm the revolution. Cleaning house, getting rid of all the trash. Dumping the crooks. Making everyone go straight.

Problem with this; everyone will also go hungry. here’s how it used to work, fidel used to brag about the revolution. Tell everyone to play nice, don’t steal from the revolution, and be honest in your hard work and yaddah, yaddy, yaddah. But at the same time he would overlook the theft going on in order that people could get by even as he tightened the reins and the wallets. This attitude of if I don’t see you nothing happens, certainly can be attributed to fidel’s wish to remain in power for as long as he lived. It sorta worked like, as long as you don’t embarass me or the government, as long as you show up to the meetings I call, and as long as you look like a revolutionary when the lights shine on you; go ahead, steal, I know you can’t make it on the pittance I pay you. Keep your nose clean and we’ll all be fine.

But Raul is taking this way to seriously for someone who claims to want to make things better. There really is no way that this system can survive without a black market. Impossible. You cannot starve the people for too long and then force them into not stealing. you can’t remove their ability to make due “resolver“. If you do that, you lose.

If you take a close hard look at history, communism, or whatever name you choose to replace the old worn out name of communism, begins to take hold of a country when the government creates scarcity of goods and mostly food items. Thus forcing an underground black market to begin to fill the needs of the people who cannot find enough goods or food in the stores.  This black market theory is born out of a need to compromise everyone and convert them all into criminals who steal from the government. Thus the government is able to pick and choose, politically, who will go to jail and who gets to stay free. If you don’t support the government, and it shows, they have no need to put you in jail for not supporting the government, they can put you in jail for a dozen infractions you must commit on a daily basis in order to survive. Of course, those who learn to act as if they support the government, and don’t get in anyone’s way, and play along, get to survive by stealing and using or supplying the black market.

Cuban farmers, 1989
Image via Wikipedia

What Raul is doing is eliminating the side of the equation that made the system semi-bearable at any time. This may not look to many like a short term problem, and it very well may not be. But the long term consequences this may have for Raul cannot be considered good by anyone.Farmers can no longer peddle their goods on the street or anywhere for that matter, so they have merchandise that is going to waste. Not to mention a lot less income because of the crack down. This is not good.

One of two things happened here, either Raul forgot his history lessons, or he has just placed all his money on one number on the political roulette wheel. If he doesn’t have a plan for a quick resolution or replacement to this part of the equation, something is going to break. His only real chance of releasing any pressure comes from the US‘ ability to control another exodus. Again, history shows that whenever fidel felt to much pressure mounting, he would figure out a way to let a large number of people leave the country. This always released pressure.

And yes, the US does have the ability to thwart these actions. First, by removing the “wet foot/dry foot law”. Then, they should also, while they are at it, remove the automatic parole issuance when Cubans arrive on their shores. La “Ley de Ajuste Cubano”. Yes, yes, I know, fidel has been clamoring for the removal of this law for 50 years. The brilliant part about all this is that one of the last things he wants is this law removed. Why that would just about eliminate his relief valve, how would he ever get rid of the pressure then?

Bottom line, unless Raul has a very good plan in his head as to how to replace the black market, I sure hope he has a very good plan on how he plans to leave the island. Things will not be looking pretty if this continues very long. Oh, there’s always that relief valve. Sigh, another 50 years. Thanks US!

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CUBA: THE TUGBOAT MASSACRE OF JULY 13, 1994

A Tug Boat in New York Harbor
Image via Wikipedia

By Maria C. Werlau,
March 2007

In 1994, popular dissatisfaction with the Castro regime had deepened as Cuba endured a severe economic crisis amidst continued repression. Although the country‟s laws forbid citizens from leaving without government authorization and punishes violations with years of prison,1 attempts to escape by any means had been growing exponentially.
On July 13, 1994, at around three in the morning under the cover of darkness, around seventy2 men, women, and children boarded the recently renovated tugboat “13 de Marzo.3” They planned to escape the island by making the ninety-mile journey across the Straits of Florida, hoping to reach freedom in the United States. Many also sought the means to send help back to the family they were leaving behind. Eduardo Suárez Esquivel (Eddy), a computer engineer who had attempted unsuccessfully to flee on several occasions, came up with the idea. Obsessed with the idea of finding a way out of Cuba, he convinced his brother in law, Fidencio Ramel Prieto, to take the tugboat and serve as skipper. Ramel, who was in charge of operations at the Port of Havana, served as one of its Communist Party secretaries and had twenty-five years of commendable service at the port. This gave him access to the tugboat, which belonged to the state enterprise Empresa de Servicios Marítimos. With all vessels in Cuba under government ownership and tightly controlled to prevent escapes, this access was no small feat. Raúl Muñoz, a friend and fellow port worker who had been harbor pilot of the “13 de Marzo” and was now the pilot for another tugboat, was recruited to pilot the tugboat for the escape. Several more men joined in to develop the plot. The plan included numerous family members and close friends. Only Ramel had the entire list of the approximately fifty two passengers who were to go on the journey. The organizers were divided into groups and each had a leader. Each leader was in charge of getting his respective group to the pier on the designated day. To keep maximum secrecy, the children were told they were going on an excursion. On three previous occasions, a date had been chosen, but the escape had been aborted when insiders working at the port announced unexpected security measures deemed unfavorable. Unbeknownst to them, government authorities had been receiving information of the plan, in all probability by infiltrators. The spies are suspected to have been part of the actual planning group -in fact two did not show up for the departure. But, the information may have leaked out to spies through relatives who knew of the plot.
On the designated date, the group quietly boarded the tugboat in the middle of the night and the motors were started. Unexpectedly, people who were not on the list showed up, a few others who were to come did not. It was 3:15 A.M. when they began to make their way out of Havana‟s harbor. Immediately, a tugboat belonging to the same state enterprise initiated a chase. The pursuing vessel first tried to drive the “13 de Marzo” into a dock. When that proved unsuccessful, it rammed it, attempting to push it towards the reefs by the mouth of the harbor near the Morro Castle.4 As its crew maneuvered skillfully, the “13 de Marzo” avoided the attacks and kept sailing forward.

More… <– This link will download a PDF file with the story. Or you can visit the site and find your way through it by clicking on the link below.

Visit site where article was found

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CUBA: THE JULY 6, 1980 CANIMAR RIVER MASSACRE

Street in Matanzas, Cuba
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At least 56 killed for attempting to flee Cuba

The Canimar is a scenic Cuban river that flows into Matanzas Bay, near Varadero beach. In 1980, a tourist excursion service was inaugurated using the “XX Aniversario,” a large boat with two decks of chairs and capacity for one hundred passengers. It was to navigate for around five miles inland along the Canimar river.

On 6 July, 1980, the excursion boat was hijacked by three youngsters seeking to flee Cuba for the United States –Ramón Calbeiro León (15) and the brothers Silvio Aguila Yanes (18) and Sergio Aguila Yanes (19). Sergio was in the Cuban Armed Forces doing his obligatory military service and had taken several firearms for the hijacking. Upon taking control of the vessel, the youngsters shouted: “To Miami!” amid screams of approval on the part of the surprised passengers. A security guard resisted and shot at the youngsters, who wounded him with the firearms they had brought on board. Concerned for his health, they placed him on a small boat, together with a passenger who wanted to leave, sending them back to shore. Upon arriving, they alerted authorities. Meanwhile, the “XX Aniversario” had turned around and heading out to open seas.

Julián Rizo Alvarez, Secretary of the Communist party in Matanzas Province, commanded a chase. He dispatched two high-speed Cuban Navy patrol boats with orders to prevent the escape and sink the vessel if necessary. They opened fire on the boat and the youngsters fired back. Because the vessel was built with cement fiber, it proved difficult to sink and the patrol boat withdrew. Several dead and wounded passengers lay on deck. A Cuban Air Force plane then flew over. Parents held children up in the air, hoping this would prevent an attack, but it came back and opened fire, leaving more dead and wounded. A huge boat used for heavy industrial work was brought in to ram the “XX Aniversario.” It was very close to international waters when it was finally sunk. The surviving passengers, now in the water, were fired at and soon also had to contend with sharks attracted by all the blood. Silvio Aguila Yanes dove into the water and saved several survivors from drowning. Ten survivors were reportedly taken ashore.

Sergio Aguila Yanes is said to have committed suicide when the boat sank. There are reports, however, that he was taken from the water by the crew of the Cuban Navy patrol boats, perhaps still alive. Silvio Aguila Yanes and Ramón Calbeiro León were sentenced to thirty years in prison. They served long sentences at “Combinado del Este” prison in Havana, where witnesses reported they had been subjected to psychiatric torture with psychotropic drugs. Reportedly, both were released and live in exile. Three other youngsters who knew about the plot or helped in the planning were sentenced to two to three years of prison. All five youngsters were subjected to court-mandated confiscation of all of their belongings. The Cuban government claims that the boat was accidentally sunk when the larger vessel collided with it by the force of waves.

The only victim who had a funeral was one of the guards, who had actually been killed by the attackers. Recovered bodies, if any, were not handed to the families for funerals or burials. Survivors were ordered to keep silent and to never gather in groups with more than two of them present. They were threatened with trials as accomplices to the hijackings if they talked. For years, government agents monitored their activities while they and victims’ relatives were offered gifts of televisions and appliances usually reserved for high government officials.

The toll of this disaster was at least 56 victims. The actual number was kept secret. Among the children assassinated were

Lilian González López, age 3,

Marisol Martínez Aragonés, age 17,

Osmanly Rosales Valdés, age 9,

and Marisel San Juan Aragonés, age 11.

Haydée Santamaría Hart, veteran of the 1953 attack on the Moncada Army barracks, Director of the “Casa de Las Americas,” and wife of the then Cuban Minister of Education, may have been a final indirect victim of this tragedy. Immediately after the tragedy, she is reported to have visited survivors at hospitals in the city of Matanzas. Less than a month later, on July 25, 1980. Haydee, already in despair because of the “Mariel” boat exodus, committed suicide.

Sources: Interview with Eduardo Lolo (author and professor living in New York city who lived in Matanzas at the time of the massacre and knew survivors), May 27, 2007. Testimony of Maria Julia Hernandez, niece of victim Vicente Fleites Cabrera. Official record of the Provincial Court of Matanzas, published in Dr. Alberto Fibla, Barbarie: Hundi-miento del Remolcador 13 de Marzo. Miami: Rodes Printing, 1996. “Cuba reportedly sank hijacked excursion boat in 1980,” Associated Press, Washington D.C., 8 December, 1985. Joseph B. Treaster, ”Radio Martí Says Cuba Sank High Jacked Boat in ’80,” The New York Times, 8 September 1985. José Pérez-Marat, La Masacre del Canimar, Miami, undated report. Tim Bower, Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, Endowment for Cuban American National Foundation, Miami, 1993. Norberto Fuentes, ed. Modesto Arocha, Children of the Enemy, The International Republican Institute, October 1996, /www.sigloxxi.org/Archivo/children.htm. Armando M. Lago, “Cuba: The Human Cost of Social Revolution,” Unpublished manuscript. Cuba Archive www.CubaArchive.org an initiative of Free Society Project, Inc. P.O. Box 529 / Summit, NJ 07902 ©All rights reserved. Free Society Project, Inc., 2007. Distribution and reproduction of this material is authorized as long as its source is credited.

http://cubaarchive.org/home/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=45&Itemid=96

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