Mulberry Tree’s Demise, Vaccine Tourism/Skepticism, Dream, Virus, Congressional Testimony, Shropshire, Cuba & Haiti Again (Still), Also Nicaragua

It’s finally happened, the mulberry tree outside my house that had served as a ladder for a family of raccoons was cut down yesterday and taken away. 

No longer will the raccoons, who used to push up against 3^rd floor windows, be able to access my house. They had moved on after the mulberries were gone, sighted lately running across the street and ending up about a block away. Now, if they come back to my place, they will find the tree they’d climbed up and where they liked sit completely gone.

Well-off Hondurans with visas are traveling to Miami to get Covid vaccinations not readily available at home. I know several such families. Yet many here in the US deride masks and flout non-vaccination as a badge of courage. Meanwhile, vaccine sceptics are spreading the virus and also dying.  Business Insider, A California man in his early 30s who derided vaccines on Twitter and Instagram died of COVID-19

Israelis apparently went crazy when Ben & Jerry’s ended sales in the occupied territories, resulting in the smashing of ice cream cones as if Israel were being attacked. Then Human Rights Watch called out Israel for serious human rights abuses in the West Bank. After that, I had strange dream that Israel was preventing me from obtaining wheelchairs for Honduras; that Israel had hoarded all available wheelchairs and wasn’t letting them go, showing how current events may influence our unconscious mind.

A San Diego Zoo snow leopard was coughing. A test showed         he had covid-19

AP, Bhutan fully vaccinates 90% of eligible adults within a week. So my friends in Bhutan have been vaccinated, thanks to a donation from the US. Bhutan has a small population, only a little more than that of Washington, DC. I sent them a congratulatory email.

On Tues. July 27, I listened to some of the very emotional congressional testimony from some of the officers defending the capitol on Jan. 6. On that day, I was a witness to the gatherings and commotion visible and audible from a safe distance on East Capitol St., a block from my house. Trump supporters may be a minority, but encouraged by Mr. Trump himself, they have been a very vocal and dangerous minority.

Business Insider, Trump threatened to primary GOP lawmakers who favor the bipartisan infrastructure plan. 17 Republicans just voted to advance it, including Mitch McConnell.

Unfortunately, it’s still true, as Sen. Lindsey Graham says, that if Donald Trump wants to be the 2024 Republican presidential candidate, no one can challenge him. Right now, just the possibility that he might run again has pushed aside all other candidates. The Republican Party remains in Trump’s grasp because enough voters still embrace him.

And if Joe Biden runs again in 2024, Trump will surely make an issue of his age—only a few years older than Trump himself. I don’t think Harris can win against Trump or even another Republican. What a nightmare if Trump is elected once again! And if he gets another term, being even older and with vengeance on his mind, he will be even worse than the first time around.

FACT SHEET: The Biden Administration Blueprint for a Fair, Orderly and Humane Immigration System | The White House https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/07/27/fact-sheet-the-biden-administration-blueprint-for-a-fair-orderly-and-humane-immigration-system/

Recalling the days when my home mortgage carried an interest rate of over 8% (and rates went even higher later), I’m blown away now by current mortgage interest rates between 2 and 3%. Today’s home buyers should consider themselves lucky.

AP, US churches reckon with traumatic legacy of Native schools [Being raised in institutions not organized to promote family life often has left native people without the experience and skills needed to raise their own children, hence the high rates of alcoholism and familial abuse among some native people.] 

Last time, I failed to identify the town where my friend spent part of her childhood. Here’s that photo again plus another in the same vicinity. Years ago, I traveled around Britain, Wales, and Scotland but don’t remember ever being in Shropshire. My friend says, Photo of the church is in Shrewsbury, the capital city of Shropshire. The River Severn runs through the county which eventually flow into Wales. One bridge is the English Bridge and the other side of town is the Welsh Bridge. 

            

Things have been happening so fast in both Haiti and Cuba, it’s hard to keep up. Just scrolling through the headlines gives a summary of what has been happening in two places close to my own experience.

 

   Berta Soler, of the Ladies in White, was arrested in Cuba after the            July 11 nationwide protest march there. Last time, I’d posted herphoto         on this blog before even I knew of her arrest. Daniel Ferrer, [above]         another Cuban activist whom I know, was also arrested after the                 march. 

But more important is the fact that ordinary folks, not known dissidents like both of them, participated in the marches that took place all over the country. That’s what’s scaring the leadership. And the internet, even in its limited form, has been a mobilizing factor.

Miami Herald, ‘Communism is a failed system.’ In Florida, Democrats promote Biden’s stance on Cuba.

I checked Western Union just now and found that money may be sent to Cuba, within certain limits, to be distributed there in local currency.

​ Cuba: Release all peaceful protestors | Amnesty International

Havana Syndrome https://thehill.com/policy/technology/564428-cia-director-triples-size-of-medical-team-probing-cases-of-havana

 

AP, WH announces new sanctions on Cuba officials

 

https://www.demdigest.org/is-cubas-communist-party-finally-losing-its-grip/

 

Politico, ‘There’s No Turning Back’: A Cuban Dissident on What’s Really Happening in Cuba  Tania Bruguera [now under home detention] “The world has to stop seeing the Cuban government as a victim. The Cuban government is the aggressor.”

NBC News, Historic protests undoubtedly left a mark on Cuba. What experts say may happen next.

From NED, “The Cuban Communist Party’s days of unquestioned hegemony are over”, a normally sympathetic commentator suggests...

“What these protests show is that people are able to overcome their fear, and that’s why the government has refused to reestablish the Internet service,” said Guillermo “El Coco” Fariñas, a prominent Cuban dissident. “They’re the ones who fear that people will take to the streets again after being able to connect, inspire one another and lose their fear over social media. [A photo I took of Fariñas appears near the end of my Confessions book.]

Tampa Bay Times, St. Petersburg man to lead Washington march over plight of people in Cuba

Miami Herald, Don’t fall for Republicans’ partisan bluster, Miami. Biden takes wise action on Cuba | Opinion [Fabiola Santiago]

 

Miami Herald, Decades ago, Fidel Castro promised all a better way of life: He lied to Cubans like my parents | Opinion [Jeanette Nuñez, Republican Lt. Gov. of Florida] In January 1959, Fidel Castro spoke in Havana and said: “We have a free country. We do not have censorship and the people can meet freely. We will never use force and the day the people do not want me, I will leave.”

Raleigh News & Observer, I was an American in Cuba. Lift the embargo and let freedom ring [The writer, who formerly worked for Habitat for Humanity and stayed with ordinary Cuban families, as I did there myself, says let’s lift the embargo and remove that excuse from the Cuban regime. Cuba might not pay its bills to the US if offered credit, but would that be worth the cost? The US would still be blamed.

The Hill, US joins other nations in condemning arrests of protesters in Cuba The U.S. along with a coalition of about 20 other countries issued a statement on Monday condemning the arrest of protesters in Cuba. The statement called on Cuba "to respect the universal rights and freedoms of the Cuban people, including the free flow of information to all Cubans." The statement was signed by Austria, Brazil, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Ecuador, Estonia, Guatemala, Greece, Honduras, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, South Korea and Ukraine.CBS News, U.S. imposes sanctions on Cuban regime following violent crackdown

https://nypost.com/2021/07/27/gop-seeks-meeting-with-biden-on-responding-to-cuba-crackdown/

 

Is Cuba’s Communist Party Finally Losing Its Hold on the Country? Historic protests across the island cast doubt on the regime’s staying power. By Jon Lee Anderson https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/is-cubas-communist-party-finally-losing-its-hold-on-the-country?utm_source=onsite-share&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=onsite-share&utm_brand=the-new-yorker

I would agree with Anderson that July 11 been a turning point and that it will be hard for Canel, who is not a Castro, to keep control, especially as there is now inevitable internet "leakage."

 

Miami Herald, Coast Guard returns 27 people to Cuba after migration attempts off the Keys

 

BBC, Miguel Díaz-Canel: The man succeeding the Castros

 

I'd like to think that our campaign at Amnesty International on behalf of artist Luis Manuel Otero, released from prison recently, and of the San Isidro Movement played a role. Before these events now in Haiti and Cuba, I'd asked to cut back on my Amnesty Int'l volunteer leadership duties, as I am cyber challenged and the work is infinite, really. Also, one of my helpers, for the DR, is resigning. I'd still like to pull back, though Amnesty has quite a long bureaucratic process for choosing volunteers who are, after all, public spokespersons. But ideally, I'd like to maintain some future tie and influence after 40 years, maybe in a sort of emeritus role. 

 

Miami Herald, Listen to the people. Their protests are about Cuba’s repression, not the U.S. embargo |Opinion

AP, WH announces new sanctions on Cuba officials

 

        NEWSWeek, Protesters Clash in Front of White House Over Cuba         Crisis, Demand Biden Increase Pressure 

FYI, I was in that building (Cuban Embassy) years ago regarding Cuban political prisoners in my volunteer position with Amnesty Int'l.

https://nypost.com/2021/07/27/gop-seeks-meeting-with-biden-on-responding-to-cuba-crackdown/

Reuters, Hundreds supporting Cuba's government rally in Madrid [Inevitably, supporters of the Cuban regime would emerge. I have a few friends locally who still consider Fidel a hero and a great humanitarian. I also know some supporters of Donald Trump.]

 

New York Post, Five high-ranking Cuban generals dead in 10 days [All were in their 70s or 80s, so was it the shock of the national anti-government march or Covid, perhaps?]

 

Miami Herald, Mexico president says declare Cuba a World Heritage Site. No, declare it a disaster area, instead | Opinion

 

Reuters, Cuba says Iran to start producing one of its COVID-19 vaccines

 

Miami Herald, Coast Guard returns 27 people to Cuba after migration attempts off the Keys

 

‘Terror’: Crackdown After Protests in Cuba Sends a Chilling Message https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/28/world/americas/cuba-protests-crackdown-arrests.html?referringSource=articleShare

 

https://www.vice.com/en/article/7kvdny/ex-cop-jimmy-barbecue-is-the-gangster-king-of-haitis-chaos

 

AP, Haiti arrests top security official in slain president probe

https://apnews.com/article/caribbean-haiti-fc38bec3b47f38c8e14d7ff3e5953e87

The Guardian, Haiti minister says ‘big fish’ behind president’s killing still at large

 

Wall St. Journal, Assassinated Haitian President Jovenel Moïse Clashed With Some Business Magnates

 

NY Times, A New Day in Haiti? Many Haitians Have Doubts.

 

Miami Herald, Shots, tear gas, burning tires mar Moïse funeral in Haiti. U.S., U.N. delegations leave [they left the funeral, not Haiti]

 

Here is Amnesty Int’ls recent statement on Haiti Haiti: Investigation urged into killing of Haitian President and grave human rights violations under his watch

 

AP, Haiti's new PM pledges to hold elections soon after slaying

 

Miami Herald, Feds serve Florida search warrants related to assassination of Haiti’s President Moïse

 

[I was an election observer back in Nicaragua in 1990 when Ortega was defeated, but never expected Nicaraguans to let him get his foot in the door again. Do they have to wait now for his demise? Even some former allies have abandoned him.] AP, Police in Nicaragua arrest another opposition leader July 27, 2021,

MANAGUA, Nicaragua— Police in Nicaragua arrested on Tuesday academic José Antonio Peraza, the leader of the opposition alliance White and Blue National Unity. Peraza, a political science professor, was the 22nd opposition leader arrested, in addition to seven potential presidential candidates detained in a crackdown that started two months ago. Almost all were detained under broad accusations of treason.

On Saturday, opposition leader Noel Vidaurre was placed under police custody at his home, as was political commentator Jaime Arellano. Almost all of those who could have challenged President Daniel Ortega in the Nov. 7 elections have now been detained. Hours before his arrest, Peraza said Nicaragua faces “the worst possible scenario for elections we could have imagined.”

Ortega alleges the country’s April 2018 street protests were part of an organized coup attempt with foreign backing. Ortega, 75, is seeking a fourth consecutive term in Nov. 7 elections. Most of those arrested in a crackdown that began in late May are being held incommunicado, at undisclosed locations and with no access to lawyers or family visits.

AP, Nicaragua arrests 7th presidential contender in Nov. 7 vote

 

AP, With turmoil at home, more Nicaraguans flee to the U.S.

 

On the last post, I mentioned celebrating the independence of South Sudan—here I am in 2011 at the outdoor celebration we held behind the White House.

USA Today, U.S. abortion policy shouldn't emulate China or North Korea. We should be more like Europe.

This fall, the Supreme Court will take up Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, involving a Mississippi statute adopted with the legislature’s bipartisan support in 2018 that limits abortion on demand after 15 weeks.

A comparative analysis between Mississippi and European abortion law finds an overwhelming majority of European countries limit elective abortion prior to 15 weeks, and more often at 12 weeks. Data revealed no European country allows elective abortion through all nine months of pregnancy as is permitted in the United States, where Supreme Court precedent only allows states to regulate after viability.

My readers already know that I consider the morning-after pill or any other abortifacient that can be used by a woman at home to already be a done deal. Most abortions are probably undertaken at that early stage and there is no point trying to stop them because they will go forward anyway. However, like most other Americans, I don’t support abortion throughout a pregnancy for any and all reasons and would advocate that it be done humanely (for the fetus) if considered necessary at later stages. So, if the Supreme Court ends up placing limits on abortion after the first few weeks, I would not consider that a grave affront to women’s rights. At the same time, it has to be acknowledged that not all women, or men either, are adequate parents and that raising a child is no easy task. I say that as a single mother of 4 kids and a foster son and as someone who may be considered ultimately to have failed as a parent by losing both my older son and foster son as adults.  If I had died first, that would have been another story. I always thought it was fortunate that Jackie Kennedy had died before her son was killed in a suspected plane crash.  

It’s spooky that gmail not only corrects my spelling in English, but also in Spanish and inserts accent marks, tildes, and upsidedown exclamation points and question marks. Here’s an ad that just came in via Yahoo, showing a reversed exclamation point.

¡Cámbiate a Xfinity Mobile y ahorra!

Family Visit, Goodbye Raccoons, Income Guarantee, Meaningful Activity, Native Boarding Schools, Haiti, Cuba

    A lot follows this time, partly because of my long involvement with both Haiti and     Cuba, but starting out with a surprise visit from Florida by my granddaughter     and her 13-year-old son, here for a funeral. And now the capitol fence has finally come down!

   

Raccoons that had been bumping up against our 3^rd-floor windows, scratching to get inside, and seen fighting out on the next-door neighbor’s roof, now with berries all gone from the mulberry tree, have moved on. They’ve been seen lately running across the street, perhaps seeking more a more fruitful habitat.

Bravo to President Biden for championing a guaranteed income for families with children, even temporarily, which will not only will help prevent hunger and poverty, but, I suspect, also reduce child abuse and neglect. I say that as a former social worker and juvenile probation officer. Parents raising children, the workers of tomorrow, deserve support. Biden seems to be trying to provide more equal income distribution without calling it that and encouraging families to have more children, since the population is getting older. Life expectancy has also dropped as the result of the pandemic.

AP, US life expectancy in 2020 saw biggest drop since WWII

 

It’s been pretty exciting to journey, virtually, with billionaires Branson and Bezos into space in real time, then come back safely to earth again with them. 

        As mentioned before, I worked for 16 years at the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA). Though I am not an OT, I found occupational therapy very compatible with my social work experience, especially the idea of promoting meaningful (individually and subjectively defined) activity. A former colleague at AOTA sent me this photo of kids engaged in what for them is meaningful activity. And it’s fun!

Washington Post, Boredom's link to mental illnesses, brain injuries and dysfunctional behaviors

[This article shows how lack of meaningful activity in both humans and animals has demonstrable negative effects.]

My friend who grew up in this town and has fond memories, sent me this photo.

It’s quite understandable that an American blind-deaf Paralympian swimmer could not be expected to navigate Japan, a foreign and unfamiliar country, all by herself without an assistant, as is now being mandated by US Paralympic authorities and so has withdrawn. I was involved with issues for blind-deaf people when I worked at AOTA, just mentioned, and I’ve also met some blind-deaf folks through their association with my late former husband, Tom Joe, who was blind though with normal hearing. Special communication was required with blind-deaf people, who were always were accompanied by a sighted, hearing person.

Nor would my late husband have done well alone in a foreign country, though he often traveled in the US alone for his work. Once on an overnight business trip from DC to Chicago, my parents, who lived in Chicago, begged my husband to bring along our 22-month-old daughter, Stephanie, then under 2, who could fly for free sitting on his lap. My parents met them at the other end. Even before that, back in 1972, when I was 7 months pregnant, we traveled around Europe for my husband’s federal government work, all over Western and Eastern Europe, also with 2 preschoolers in tow, quite a logistical feat. Somehow the plight of the blind-deaf Paralympian, has revied these memories for me.

There is a tendency now to downplay gender differences in behavior, attributing much of any differences, such as in male violence and incarceration rates, to cultural factors. Certainly culture has a huge impact on behavior, but so does biology. Among primates and other mammals in the wild, not subject to human culture, males are not only on average bigger and stronger than females, but also more aggressive, especially with other males.   

 

Buzz Feed News, The US Is Now Investigating Its Deadly Indian Boarding School System, And Native Americans Are In Dire Need Of Mental Health Support

This article argues that children raised in boarding schools who survived grew up never knowing how to become adequate parents themselves, hinting that the high rate of child and spousal abuse, alcoholism, and suicide among native people on both sides of the border stems partly from their boarding school experience. 

NBC News, Investigation of Native American boarding schools faces missing records, legal questions

 

NYTimes, Lost Lives: Lost Culture, the Forgotten Story of Indigenous Boarding Schools

Why are red state governors banning vaccine mandates in schools and colleges, by employers, and on cruises (where so many people are together for a time)? Is it just a matter of “individual freedom” to get sick and die and to pass on the virus to others? In neighboring Maryland in June, all Covid deaths were in unvaccinated people. I would certainly hope that a vaccinated person would not die of Covid, though a few have gotten a positive virus test, usually only asymptomatically. And why do so many Republicans oppose mask wearing and vaccinations for Covid? Is it simply to be contrarian, just to champion “individual rights” over concern for others even if it kills Republicans?

And why are Republicans opposed to staffing up the IRS? Do they want to give extra high earners a pass and to starve the federal government of funds to make the Biden administration look bad? Their motivations are a mystery.

We have been experiencing a hot and humid summer here in DC, though not as severe as in the northwestern US and western Canada. Around the globe, there have been recent unexpected heat waves, including in Scandinavia and even Siberia.

MarketWatch, The birthrate in the U.S. fell 4% in 2020 and immigration may be the solution, say economists

And why would the Texas AG be so downright mean as to try to deny young “Dreamers” the ability to work legally after they turn 18? Is the anti-immigrant stance of Republicans due to their effort to keep those with white Anglo Saxon ancestry in the national majority, to prevent more future Democrats from entering the electorate, or what? Majority white people like myself are getting older on average, so we do need young workers like the Dreamers to help support us in our old age.

Now Donald Trump, partly because of merciful bans by Twitter and Facebook and partly because most of his false and bizarre messages have simply gotten tiresome, seems to be losing ground. But his faithful hard core remains dug-in, making many Republican lawmakers and candidates reluctant to ditch him altogether. When asked if they still support his claim of a “stolen” election, they go to great lengths to avoid answering the question.

Mr. Trump is reputed to be planning to run for president again in 2024, bad luck for the Republican Party, which needs to emerge from his grasp. Trump is not young, not in great physical shape with obvious signs of a lack of mental acuity, but Biden is older still and would be 86 if he won and served out a second term. At the same time, for many reasons, including her gender, Harris would probably not be an acceptable alternative to Biden if he didn’t run again. Without Trump at the top of the ticket, Republicans would have a good chance of winning the presidency.

AP, Dutch crime reporter De Vries dies after Amsterdam shooting

 

Business Insider, Leaked Kremlin documents reportedly show Putin wanted to sow chaos in the US by supporting Trump. He succeeded.

 

LA Times, News Analysis: U.S. expands fight against Central American corruption. Will it stem immigration?

 

My special interest in developments now in Haiti and Cuba derives from my personal involvement in both countries, as chronicled in my Confessions book. I must admit at the outset that I have long disagreed with Senator Bernie Sanders and Rep. Maxine Waters on their Cuba stance, especially their lauding of the late Fidel Castro, whose grip is still felt in Cuba today, long after his death. In my book, I mention visiting Waters’ office prior to her own planned visit to Cuba to meet with Fidel, urging her to ask him for the release after 17 years of an Afro-Cuban political prisoner, Antunez (Jorge Luis Garcia Perez), one of our own Amnesty Int’l prisoners of conscience. But she’d brushed me aside, saying she didn’t want to hear anything about political prisoners. The late Georgia Congressman John Lewis was the rare Democrat who agreed to meet with Antunez on a US visit after his release, so I sent him a copy of my book in gratitude and he sent me a nice thank-you note. 

Congressman Lewis in his office meeting with Antunez.

Berta Soler, Afro-Cuban member of the Ladies in White, makes the "L" sign for Libertad (liberty), also used by recent Cuban protesters. 

I’d planned recently to cut back on my volunteer Caribbean responsibilities for Amnesty Int’l (AI) USA, which I’ve carried out for more than 40 years now. But that doesn’t look likely to happen soon given the recent turmoil in both Haiti and Cuba and the lengthy process of recruiting and training new volunteers. Although unpaid, volunteering with Amnesty has been almost like a job for me. Indeed, human rights work has an ability to occupy almost all the hours in the day.

I’ve actually been to many Caribbean countries, to some like Haiti, Cuba, the DR, Jamaica, Bahamas, British and US Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico, more than once, even numerous times. Will I ever be able to go back to Cuba in my lifetime? (I certainly could not go back there otherwise.)

Between 2015 and 2017, I wrote series of articles about Cuba for the Huffington Post, always fact-checked by the Post before publication. At the end of 2017, the Post stopped accepting outside submissions. However, my first article, Peace Corps in Cuba? You Heard It Here First, came out on April 1, 2015. Now, I wonder if that may be a real possibility?

I also went to Haiti several times in the 1990s, mostly for election monitoring and related work. Haiti once attracted tourists and its factories made shoes and clothes for export. Much tourism and manufacturing went downhill after the cholera outbreak in 2010, brought to Haiti by Nepalese UN Peacekeepers deployed after the earthquake, one calamity after another.

Peace Corps in Haiti was suspended in 2005. Then after the massive earthquake there in 2010, Peace Corps Response volunteers (those with prior experience) went back to Haiti to help out. A series of smaller quakes occurred there in late 2020. Now, if life in Haiti can regain some semblance of normality, maybe the Peace Corps can return to help rebuild the country.

Daily Mail [UK], Nikole Hannah-Jones said Cuba is among 'most equal' countries because of socialism

Hannah-Jones [1619 Project writer, said...] she believed the most "equal" and "multiracial" country in the Western hemisphere is Cuba, which she attributed to socialism. [Hannah-Jones reputation has certainly plunged in my estimation if she considers Cuba an “equal” country.]

Washington Post ‘A powder keg about to explode’: Long marginalized Afro Cubans at forefront of island’s unrest

TIME, What the Protests in Cuba Mean for the Future of Communism and U.S. Relations

 

Reuters, Cuba, gripped by unrest, battles highest COVID caseload in the Americas

Reuters, Cuban government holds mass rally in Havana

A show of solidarity by Cuban leadership on Saturday, as thousands attended a government-organised rally in the capital Havana, including President Miguel Diaz-Canel and former President Raul Castro. Many government supporters say they were there to defend the Cuban revolution.

That comes in the wake of unprecedented protests last week, as Cubans in towns across the country marched against power outages, widespread shortages of basic goods and the one-party system. But while the communist-run government admitted to some shortcomings, it mostly blamed those protests on U.S.-backed 'counter-revolutionaries', which it says spread information against the government on social media - and is exploiting economic hardship caused by U.S. sanctions.

Diaz-Canel called on the U.S. to lift its trade embargo on the island nation, denouncing the blockade and what he calls U.S. aggression and terror...With a state monopoly on telecommunications, information regarding the recent protests including the number of those detained has been spotty. Exiled rights group Cubalex says as many as 450 have been detained, although some have reportedly already been released.

Our campaign at Amnesty International on behalf of the San Isidro movement and for the release of former Prisoner of Conscience Luis Manuel Otero may well have contributed to the willingness of Cubans to take to the streets. He and his fellow artists have promoted a song and a saying now popular on the island, Patria y Vida (Homeland and Life), to replace Fidel’s slogan, Patria o Muerte (Homeland or Death). The fact that a Castro is no longer in charge also gives the government less authority,

Reuters, Cuba protests spark demonstrations in Latin America From Miami to Mexico City, protests have erupted across Latin American communities this week in solidarity with demonstrators in Cuba. On Tuesday, protesters in Mexico City gathered outside the Cuban embassy, banging pots and pans, chanting "Free Cuba."

NBC News, Rights advocates blast Mayorkas for saying U.S. will turn away fleeing Haitians, Cubans “It is disappointing to see Secretary Mayorkas, himself the son of Cuban refugees, attempting to foreclose that right for Cuban and Haitian nationals when they most need it,” said Efrèn Olivares, deputy legal director for immigrant justice at the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Under international and U.S. law, asylum-seekers are allowed to make claims no matter how they enter the country.

Engadget, Cuba blocks access to Facebook and Telegram in response to protests

As protests continue in Cuba over the country’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic and the surrounding economic fallout, the Cuban government has moved to restrict access to social media and messaging platforms. According to NetBlocks, an organization that tracks internet access, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Telegram have all been at least partially blocked on the Caribbean island. 

Axios, "No more lies": What drove Cubans to protest

NBC News, Rights advocates blast Mayorkas for saying U.S. will turn away fleeing Haitians, Cubans “It is disappointing to see Secretary Mayorkas, himself the son of Cuban refugees, attempting to foreclose that right for Cuban and Haitian nationals when they most need it,” said Efrèn Olivares, deputy legal director for immigrant justice at the Southern Poverty Law Center

Under international and U.S. law, asylum-seekers are allowed to make claims no matter how they enter the country.

[Part of article repeated here.]

Tourism, mostly from Canada and Europe, dried up along with the hard currency it provided.

·        Mismanagement of the island’s state-run economy, already under a U.S. embargo since 1962, sent Cuba’s GDP crashing by 11% last year, its worst showing since the former Soviet Union stopped subsidies in the early 1990s.

·        Chronic power cuts and shortages of food and medicines have been more acute, while the nearly quarter-million people who have had coronavirus have had to seek treatment from a healthcare system on the verge of collapse.

·        Vaccinations have been scarce since the government decided not to participate in the COVAX sharing program for developing nations and to develop its own shots.

Between the lines: Pockets of overt dissidence had been growing even before Raúl Castro, Fidel Castro’s younger brother and his deputy during the revolution, stepped down in June as head of the Communist Party.

·        Movimiento San Isidro, a young coalition of artists, journalists and academics formed in 2019, urged more Cubans to make their dissatisfaction public.

·        Musicians and San Isidro members, Maykel Osorbo and El Funky, were joined by Yotuel, Gente De Zona, and Descemer Bueno to release the song “Patria y Vida” (Homeland and Life), which became an anthem for this week’s protesters.

·        Its lyrics demand “no more lies” and “no more doctrine,” telling those who cling to the revolution that their time is past.

The growing availability of the internet, though also controlled by a state-run company, has allowed like-minded Cubans to share their frustrations more easily, like they did on Sunday.

·        The protests erupted days after #SOSCuba began to trend on social media, with Cubans demanding humanitarian assistance to address the island’s many crises.

Where it stands: At least one person — 36-year-old Diubis Laurencio Tejeda, who was from an especially impoverished part of Havana — has died during the protests, according to local reports.

·        The government shutdown the internet and phone lines after the first protest on Sunday.

·        Reliable information regarding arrests is hard to come by with estimates ranging between 200 and 5,000 people.

In Washington, the Biden administration has said the protests are “remarkable,” but has not yet indicated whether further policy changes were coming.

In Havana, meanwhile, President Miguel Díaz-Canel has pointed to the U.S. embargo as the cause of his country’s economic woes and accused U.S. authorities of financing and promoting “non-conventional warfare.”

·        On Wednesday, the Cuban government announced that tariffs on the private import of food, medicine and personal care products would be lifted at least until December.

By the numbers: 3.5% of all Latinos in the U.S. are of Cuban ancestry or Cuban immigrants, the fifth largest Latino or Hispanic cultural group.

·        Most live in Florida. The state’s weight in the Electoral College means Cuban Americans have outsized political influence.

Business Insider, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wants US firms to beam the internet to Cubans via satellite during historic protests

Business Insider, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wants US firms to beam the internet to Cubans via satellite during historic protests

 

I made several trips to Cuba in the 1990s as a tourist and stayed with Cuban families, traveling from one end of the island to the other, as per my Confessions book. While as a matter of principle, Amnesty Int’l opposes embargos, the US embargo against Cuba is not quite as drastic as it sounds, because Cuba imports most of its food (last time I looked, even more than it produces) from the US and also many of its medicines. Because Cuba has been notorious about not paying its debts, the US requires payment on delivery. So that is perhaps the main practical effect of the embargo. Greatly reduced tourism is probably having a bigger economic impact right now than the embargo.

Regarding my previous statements about the US Cuba embargo, I don’t mean to belittle embargos, which Amnesty In’tl opposes as a matter of principle. They do have a psychological as well as a practical impact. But the Cuba embargo is hardly a “blockade.” Nor is the US the only country failing to extend credit to Cuba. However, most goods imported into Cuba, especially food, because of geographic proximity, do come from the US. And the market price paid by Cuba for those goods is more than offset by largescale remittances sent into Cuba from the United States, $3.5 billion in 2018. I’ve sent money to Cuba myself via Western Union (as well as to Honduras and Nicaragua.) And I don’t recall Amnesty protesting the embargo against South Africa.  But it’s true that the Trump administration suspended Western Union remittances to Cuba in 2020, although there are other ways to send money to Cuba, provided the internet is not shut down. But Western Union to Cuba needs to be restored.

NY Times, The New Generation of Cubans Who Won’t Be Silenced, July 19, 2021, OPINION, Yoani Sanchez

One of several Cuban original artworks I brought back.

 

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Washington Post, Haiti’s acting prime minister to step down amid power struggle

Acting prime minister Claude Joseph told The Post that he will hand over power to Ariel Henry, who has been backed by the international community, in a move that is aimed at defusing a roiling crisis following the president’s assassination.

BBC News, Haiti: Wife of assassinated President Jovenel Moïse returns after surviving attack, [Excerpt] Correspondents say that as a witness to the attack, Ms Moïse could help investigators understand who carried out the assassination and why.

Haitian police say a group of mainly foreign mercenaries - 26 Colombians and two Haitian Americans - made up the group that carried out the killing. At least 20 have been detained, while three were killed by police and five are still on the run.

Haitian police have also arrested a Florida-based Haitian doctor, Christian Emmanuel Sanon, whom they described as a "key suspect" in the assassination.

AP, Hundreds greet Aristide on return to troubled Haiti

Miami Herald, France pulled off one of the greatest heists ever. It left Haiti perpetually impoverished | Opinion

Haitians are imaginative artists, as shown by this tapestry of a local supernatural figure, a metal goddess, and a carving of boat people leaving Haiti's shores. 

 

(I end every blog with a notice or ad that I get in Spanish via the all-knowing internet.)

 

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