Two Black Fridays ago – on November 25, 2016 – Cuban dictator Fidel Castro finally died. Two years later, the pro-democracy activists at the forefront of the fight for freedom lament that little in Cuba has changed for them, and what has changed has worsened.
Cuban rapper “Pupito en Sy” announced a hunger strike in solidarity with fellow hip-hop artist Maykel Castillo “El Osorbo,” who last week sewed his mouth shut while in prison to protest Cuba’s impending ban on “unauthorized” music.
Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro and Cuba’s ceremonial “president” Miguel Díaz-Canel took the time Sunday to celebrate the birthday of fellow leftist autocrat Daniel Ortega, who turned 73 years old and has ruled Nicaragua for about half of the years since the 1979 Sandinista revolution.
Cuba’s second-in-command, “President” Miguel Díaz-Canel agreed to participate in China’s “Belt and Road” Initiative during talks with Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping on Thursday.
Berta Soler, the head of Cuba’s pro-democracy Ladies in White group, denounced the communist regime there on Tuesday for refusing to renew her passport, telling her that she was being “regulated” generally and could not move freely.
Cuba’s Miguel Díaz-Canel, who holds the title of “president” but remains subordinate to dictator Raúl Castro, received a hero’s welcome in North Korea on Sunday and Monday, enjoying a theater performance and street parade with dictator Kim Jong-un.
Miguel Díaz-Canel, who holds the title of Cuban president but is subordinate to Communist Party leader Raúl Castro, departed Havana Wednesday for a tour of friendly countries, including, most prominently, Russia and China.
The Russian government plans to loan Cuba’s communist dictatorship $50 million to buy their military equipment, with the island’s new President Miguel Díaz-Canel scheduled to meet Vladimir Putin in Moscow later this week.
Cuban dissident groups confirmed on Tuesday that the communist regime had agreed to liberate Tomás Núñez Magdariaga, a member of the pro-democracy Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU), on Monday after 62 days on hunger strike.
The Cuban delegation to the United Nations interrupted a meeting on the island’s ongoing imprisonment of political dissidents on Tuesday by shouting insults over the speakers, calling the head of the Organization of American States (OAS) a “puppet” of the United States and refusing to let participants express themselves.
A monthly report tracking politically motivated arrests in Cuba published this week revealed that over half the victims of these arrests, most members of pro-democracy dissident groups, were women, an indication the communist regime is systematically targeting women for repression.
Cuban “President” Miguel Díaz-Canel, who is subordinate to dictator Raúl Castro, appeared on video salsa dancing and playing drums at an event to cap off his visit to the United Nations in New York last week.
Cuban dissidents published a video Sunday showing the head of Cuba’s pro-democracy Ladies in White group, Berta Soler, being assaulted and dragged away by state security for holding up a sign reading “Revolution is Repression.”
Actor Robert De Niro met with Cuban dictator Miguel Diaz-Canel in New York on Friday, where he called for closer ties between the United States and Cuba’s communist regime.
The Venezuelan and Cuban dictators Nicolás Maduro and Miguel Díaz-Canel gave a speech at a church in Harlem, New York on Wednesday, despite both being sanctioned by the United States and engaging of decades of anti-religious practice.
Miguel Díaz-Canel, the titular “president” sent to the United Nations to represent dictator Raúl Castro at the General Assembly this week, dedicated his address to defying U.S. President Donald Trump’s call for the world to reject socialism and warn the world it should “not harbor any illusions” that Cuba would change with his new title.
Tomás Núñez Magdariaga, a Cuban political prisoner imprisoned on false assault charges, entered day 42 of a hunger strike Tuesday. His case rises to prominence as Cuban puppet president Miguel Díaz-Canel makes the social rounds at the United Nations in New York.
Daniel Llorente, a Cuban dissident who spent a year in a psychiatric ward as punishment for flying an American flag in front of the 2017 Marxist May Day Parade, denounced communist authorities this week for threatening him to remove the flag from his business card.
North Korea sent its vice chairman of the Central Committee of the North’s Workers’ Party Choe Ryong-hae, considered second in power only to dictator Kim Jong-un, to Cuba this week to reinforce bilateral ties as denuclearization talks continue with the United States.
Cuba’s political police arrested prominent anti-communist dissident Jorge Luis García Pérez, known popularly as “Antúnez,” on Wednesday after summoning him to a state immigration office. His wife says police told her he was banned from leaving the country due to his association with members of the Cuban exile community, which the officer referred to as “terrorists.”
Contents: Cuba’s new constitution builds on ending of socialism in 2011; Private property ownership allowed under Cuba’s new constitution; Mario Díaz-Canel imposes harsh regulations on the private sector
The U.S. embassy in Cuba, operating only on essential staff since the State Department confirmed more than two dozen diplomats and their families suffered health attacks of unknown origin there, hosted some of the country’s most prominent anti-communist dissidents for a Fourth of July celebration Thursday.
The rightful owners of two of Cuba’s largest ports, stolen from their families by the communist Cuban revolution, launched a campaign this week in conjunction with human rights organizations to discourage American tourism in the island nation.
Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt met with Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, the successor to Raul Castro, on Monday to discuss Internet infrastructure on the communist island.
U.S. Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ) enjoyed a “friendly meeting” with Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel on Monday, praising his “fluent” understanding of internet issues as an engineer. The meeting was the first with an American government guest since taking office for Díaz-Canel, who remains subordinate to the country’s leader, dictator Raúl Castro.
Cuban authorities arrested Eliécer Llorente, the teenaged son of dissident Daniel Llorente, to prevent him from repeating the protest act that his father performed a year ago Tuesday: running ahead of the communist International Workers’ Day parade waving a U.S. flag in front of Raúl Castro.
Presidents Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin of China and Russia, respectively, reached out Thursday to the newly appointed head of Cuba’s National Assembly, Miguel Díaz-Canel, congratulating him on acquiring the title of “president.”
Contents: Cuba’s new president Miguel Díaz-Canel makes delusional promise to continue Socialist revolution; The Socialist delusion in Cuba; Cuba’s faltering economy and the dual currency problem
In his debut speech as the “President” of Cuba on Thursday, Miguel Díaz-Canel, billed as Raúl Castro’s hand-picked successor, made abundantly clear that Castro would continue to govern the country, telling the National Assembly that Castro “will preside over all major decisions for the present and future of the nation.”
International news outlets were abuzz Tuesday with the news that the Cuban General Assembly, the nation’s legislature, will vote a new president in to replace Raúl Castro, leaving the head of state running only the Communist Party.
