Cuban prisons torture, former inmates claim
Free Cuba Now
CUBA
Cuban prisons torture, former inmates claim
Two former prisoners say they were tortured while incarcerated, but
Cuban officials deny the allegations.
By JUAN O. TAMAYO
jta...@ElNuevoHerald.com
Inmates in a high-security prison in eastern Cuba are alleging that
guards punish infractions with beatings and handcuffings in
excruciatingly painful positions known as ``the rocker'' and
``Shakira.''
In the rocker, prisoners' hands are handcuffed behind their backs to
the opposite legs, and they are left on their stomachs or sides for
hours and even days, said Yordis Garcia, released Aug. 31 after
serving one year at the prison in Guantánamo.
The Shakira involves hand and leg shackles linked to waist chains that
are also applied for long periods and force prisoners to shuffle
somewhat like the Colombian pop singer, wrote Ernesto Durán, still
being held at the prison.
García and Durán's complaints were sent to the Miami-based Cuban
Democratic Directorate this fall as human rights activists in Cuba and
abroad prepared for a visit, now postponed, by a U.N. investigator on
torture.
A GOOD FACE
The Cuban government also has been preparing for the visit, reducing
the use of the rocker and Shakira in recent months and taking
``cosmetic measures'' such as painting some prisons and fixing
bathrooms, said Elizardo Sánchez Santa Cruz, head of the Cuban Human
Rights and National Reconciliation Commission in Havana.
Government inspectors made a rare visit to the Canaleta prison in
Ciego de Avila province in October after an inmate complained publicly
that a guard introduced a pencil into his rectum in search of
contraband drugs, El Nuevo Herald reported recently.
The Cuban government has steadfastly maintained it does not torture or
abuse inmates.
``In the last 50 years there has not been a single person disappeared,
a case of torture or extrajudicial execution,'' then-Foreign Minister
Felipe Pérez Roque declared in January.
`NOT THE POLICY'
``In Cuba it is not the policy, or the government's interest, to
disappear or torture anyone,'' said Alberto González, spokesman for
the Cuban diplomatic mission in Washington. ``And there are things
that happen in other prisons, including U.S. prisons, that are similar
or worse yet don't receive this type of analysis.''
Sánchez said the Cuban government has never explained why it has not
allowed the International Committee of the Red Cross to visit its
prisons since 1989, and added that many prisoners have reported
suffering the rocker and Shakira over the years. He called them part
of the ``cruel and inhuman punishments that are the rule in Cuban
prisons.''
The Shakira is ``less worrisome'' because those types of shackles are
used in prisons all over the world to transport inmates, Sánchez
added, ``although in Cuba it is used not to transport prisoners but to
punish them. But the rocker is a form of torture.''
Beatings with rubber-covered metal truncheons known as tonfas and
solitary confinements are the most common forms of prison abuse --
especially in the island's estimated 50 high-security facilities,
Sanchez added in a telephone interview from Havana.
CRIES AND SCREAMS
García and Durán said guards regularly used beatings and the rocker
and Shakira restraints against prisoners held in the special
punishment cells in the Guantánamo facility.
During the 20 days in October that he spent in one of the three
punishment cells, the guards used the two restraints against other
inmates ``daily, daily, daily,'' García said. ``I could hear their
cries and their screams. That was terrible.''
The restraints were used more against common criminals because guards
are careful with political activists, he added.
The punishment cells were three feet by six feet, with solid doors
instead of bars and holes on the floor for toilets that drew rats and
cockroaches.
García, 34, said he was never put in the rocker and experienced the
Shakira only when he was walked to the infirmary and other places.
``But they really tighten that chain around the waist, making it very
difficult to breathe,'' he said.
``To me, it is also torture.''
LETTER TO RAUL
An activist in the Cuban Youth for Democracy Movement, he served a one-
year sentence for ``resistance'' during a confrontation with police.
He denounced the restraints in a September letter to the Cuban
Democratic Directorate.
Durán complained about the Shakira in a July letter to Cuban ruler
Raúl Castro, and the Directorate received a copy in late October. He
was convicted in 1995 on charges of trying to leave the country
illegally, but was later convicted of staging a prison protest and
``disrespect'' for Fidel Castro. He's serving sentences totaling 22
years.
In January, Havana invited Manfred Nowak, the special raporteur on
torture for the U.N. Human Rights Council, to make his first-ever
visit to the island.
The visit is now expected no earlier than February.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/cuba/story/1392144.html
Dan Christensen
you will not find any reports of this kind of systematic torture in
Cuba from either Amnesty International or the UN.
And here is what HRW, as long ago as 1989, had to say about the
exaggerated US claims:
"...[T]he Commission's initial decision to review human rights in Cuba
was due in large part to exaggerated U.S. charges of ongoing political
executions, disappearances and torture... [T]he U.N. delegation to
Cuba found no evidence to support those allegations."
http://www.hrw.org/reports/1989/WR89/Cuba.htm
-----------------------------------
The Strange Case of "Dissident," Armando Valladares
To give just one example of the machinations of the US propaganda
machine, Noam Chomsky, in his book, Media Control (excerpts at
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Media/MediaControl_Chomsky.html),
writes about one of the most famous Cuban "dissident" exiles and US
media darlings, Armando Valladares and his equally famous prison
"memoirs." One of Batista's former henchman convicted of placing bombs
in a public place, he was portrayed by media and human rights groups
as some kind of romantic figure -- a prison poet -- confined to a
wheelchair as a result of abuse suffered in prison. He was
miraculously "cured" the day of his release from prison, and soon
afterwards, was appointed by Ronald Reagan as US representative to
the UN Human Rights Commission. There he quickly distinguished himself
as an apologist for human rights violations on a massive scale
perpetrated by US-backed regimes in Guatemala and El Salvador.
Chomsky contrasts Valladares' case with a true hero, Salvadoran,
Herbert Anaya and his prison memoirs of atrocities. Far from becoming
a media darling, it seems he and his memoirs conveniently dropped off
the radar screen of US mainstream media -- to the very limited extent
they were ever allowed to appear. Chomsky writes:
[Quote]
"In May 1986, the memoirs of the released Cuban prisoner, Armando
Valladares, came out. They quickly became a media sensation. I'll give
you a couple of quotes. The media described his revelations as "the
definitive account of the vast system of torture and prison by which
Castro punishes and obliterates political opposition." It was "an
inspiring and unforgettable account" of the "bestial prisons," inhuman
torture, [and] record of state violence [under] yet another of this
century's mass murderers, who we learn, at last, from this book "has
created a new despotism that has institutionalized torture as a
mechanism of social control" in "the hell that was the Cuba that
[Valladares] lived in. " That's the Washington Post and New York Times
in repeated reviews. Castro was described as "a dictatorial goon." His
atrocities were revealed in this book so conclusively that "only the
most light-headed and cold-blooded Western intellectual will come to
the tyrant's defense," said the Washington Post. Remember, this is the
account of what happened to one man. Let's say it's all true. Let's
raise no questions about what happened to the one man who says he was
tortured. At a White House ceremony marking Human Rights Day, he was
singled out by Ronald Reagan for his courage in enduring the horrors
and sadism of this bloody Cuban tyrant. He was then appointed the U.S.
representative at the U.N. Human Rights Commission, where he has been
able to perform signal services defending the Salvadoran and
Guatemalan governments against charges that they conduct atrocities so
massive that they make anything he suffered look pretty minor. That's
the way things stand.
"That was May 1986. It was interesting, and it tells you something
about the manufacture of consent. The same month, the surviving
members of the Human Rights Group of El Salvador - the leaders had
been killed - were arrested and tortured, including Herbert Anaya, who
was the director. They were sent to a prison - La Esperanza (hope)
Prison. While they were in prison they continued their human rights
work. They were lawyers, they continued taking affidavits. There were
432 prisoners in that prison. They got signed affidavits from 430 of
them in which they described, under oath, the torture that they had
received: electrical torture and other atrocities, including, in one
case, torture by a North American U.S. major in uniform, who is
described in some detail. This is an unusually explicit and
comprehensive testimony, probably unique in its detail about what's
going on in a torture chamber. This 160-page report of the prisoners'
sworn testimony was sneaked out of prison, along with a videotape
which was taken showing people testifying in prison about their
torture. It was distributed by the Marin County Interfaith Task Force.
The national press refused to cover it. The TV stations refused to run
it. There was an article in the local Marin County newspaper, the San
Francisco Examiner, and I think that's all. No one else would touch
it. This was a time when there was more than a few "light-headed and
cold-blooded Western intellectuals" who were singing the praises of
Jose Napoleon Duarte and of Ronald Reagan.
"Anaya was not the subject of any tributes. He didn't get on Human
Rights Day. He wasn't appointed to anything. He was released in a
prisoner exchange and then assassinated, apparently by the U.S.-backed
security forces."
[End quote]
On the perceived bias of Armando Valladares and "exaggerated US
charges," even Human Rights Watch has been compelled to report:
[Quote]
"Although the U.N. Human Rights Commission is an exceedingly political
body, the political mix that led to an effective suspension of
scrutiny of Cuban rights practices was in at least two respects a
product of the continuing ideological strains in U.S. human rights
policy toward Cuba. First, because the Commission's initial decision
to review human rights in Cuba was due in large part to exaggerated
U.S. charges of ongoing political executions, disappearances and
torture, it became difficult to sustain that scrutiny when the U.N.
delegation to Cuba found no evidence to support those allegations....
"Second, U.S. credibility before the Commission was hurt by the
perception that the administration's single-minded focus on Cuba was
to the exclusion of comparable violators who happened to be U.S.
friends. That perception was only reinforced by the Bush
administration's decision to retain Ambassador Armando Valladares as
the U.S. representative to the Commission. A former long-term
political prisoner in exile, Valladares's understandable deep,
personal antipathy for the Castro dictatorship appears to have left
him with little interest in pursuing other violators, particularly of
the non-Communist sort.
"Accused of such selective attention during a September 20 [1989]
hearing before the House Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere Affairs,
Ambassador Valladares pointed to his work against rights violations in
Afghanistan, Romania and South Africa to show that he had interests
outside Cuba. But none of the three demonstrated an even-handed
commitment to human rights -- Afghanistan and Romania because, like
Cuba, they were Communist states, and South Africa because
condemnation would be routine regardless of the U.S. position.
Notably, Valladares made no mention of abusive governments where a
strong U.S. stance against abuses would have made a difference before
the Commission -- such U.S. friends as Iraq and Guatemala."
[End quote]
As President of the Cuban National Assembly, Ricardo Alarcón, asked
wryly,
"Who transformed the terrorist and Batista henchman Armando Valladares
into a poet? Who invented the lie that he was paralyzed? Who begged
pardon from the Parisian authorities who awaited the athletic figure
with a wheelchair? Has anyone explained to avid readers awaiting the
first poem from the one US media claimed was an inspired and prolific
bard?"
Who, indeed?
Dan
Visit my CUBA: Issues & Answers website at http://tiny.cc/CubaFAQ
(Note new address. Please update your bookmarks and links.)
PL
> Not this bullshit again! Apart from the US Naval base in Guantanamo,
> you will not find any reports of this kind of systematic torture in
> Cuba from either Amnesty International or the UN.
Another lie from Canadian Stalinist and castro lobbyist Dan Christensen.
Human Rights Watch Reports:
The conditions in Cuba's prisons are inhuman, and political prisoners
suffer additional degrading treatment and torture.
http://hrw.org/doc/?t=americas_pub&document_limit=100,20
The punitive and intimidatory measures against political prisoners that
caused severe pain and suffering violated Cuba's obligations under the
Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment, which it ratified in 1995. Once again, in the
past year the
government forbade access to its prisons by international human rights
monitors and humanitarian groups, including the International Committee
of the Red Cross (ICRC).
http://www.hrw.org/worldreport/Americas-03.htm
Torture
This report shows that Cuba's treatment of political prisoners in some
cases rises to the level of torture, violating Cuba's obligations under
the Convention against Torture and under the Universal Declaration.7 The
convention bars torture and "acts of cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment or punishment" and the Universal Declaration states that "no
one shall be subjected to torture." 8 Cuba's imposition of prolonged
periods of incommunicado pretrial and post-conviction detention,
beatings, and
prosecutions of previously-tried political prisoners-where those
practices result in severe physical or psychological pain
orsuffering-constitute torture under the convention.9 Cuba also has
failed to comply with its obligations under the convention to "take
effective legislative, administrative, judicial or other measures to
prevent acts of torture in any territory under its jurisdiction" and to
"ensure that all acts of torture are offenses under its criminal law."10
http://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/cuba/Cuba996-02.htm
Detention Conditions
Cuba confines its sizable prison population in substandard and unhealthy
conditions, where prisoners face isolation and physical and sexual abuse.
Prison guards also commit abuses against prisoners that rise to the
level of torture. Cuba's practices fail to comply with numerous
provisions of the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners,
including the rules governing food, health care, internal prison
security, punitive measures, and prison work programs.12 Short-term
detainees usually are held in degrading and inhuman conditions in
policestations. Cuba's integration of political prisoners into its
prison labor programs violates a prohibition on forced labor performed
by detainees held for their political opinion. This practice is banned
under the International Labor Organization's Convention 105, regarding
the Abolition of Forced Labor, a treaty ratified by Cuba.
http://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/cuba/Cuba996-02.htm
Cuba's Repressive Machinery details how Cuba's laws deny basic rights
such as freedom of expression, association, and movement, and describes
the plight of dozens of individuals prosecuted under those laws. The
263-page report also details ill-treatment rising to the level of
torture in Cuban prisons.
http://hrw.org/english/docs/1999/07/23/cuba947.htm
United Nations
At its fifty-seventh session in April, the U.N. Commission on Human
Rights passed a resolution expressing concern about continuing human
rights violations in Cuba, the ninth such resolution passed since 1991,
and urged the government to invite the U.N. special rapporteurs on
torture and on freedom of expression to visit the country.
In the resolution, the Commission noted that Cuba had made "no
satisfactory improvements" in the area of human rights. It expressed
particular concern at the "continued repression of members of the
political opposition," as well as about the "detention of dissidents and
all other persons detained or imprisoned for peacefully expressing their
political, religious and social views and for exercising their right to
full and equal participation in public affairs." An early draft of the
resolution criticized the U.S. economic embargo on Cuba, but that
language was omitted from the final version.
The resolution, which was sponsored by the Czech Republic, passed by a
22-20 vote, with a number of abstentions.
http://hrw.org/wr2k2/americas5.html
Arziza prison Cienfuegos CubaArziza prison Cienfuegos Cuba
Cuba: Two years after crackdown, prisoners confined to tiny cells and beaten
Cuban prisoners of conscience, arrested in the crackdown two years ago
today (18 March) have been beaten by guards while handcuffed and kept in
tiny "punishment cells" infested with rats and cockroaches, according to
a new report launched by Amnesty International today in Madrid.
Prison guards reportedly stamped on the neck of Juan Carlos Herrera
Acosta, causing him to pass out during a beating last November while he
was handcuffed.
Another man, Luis Enrique Ferrer Garcia, was reportedly stripped and
beaten by guards during an assault at the Youth Prison of Santa Clara
last October. He is serving a sentence of 28 years.
The 71 men, aged 26 to 63, were arrested for ?offences? such as
publishing critical articles or communicating with human rights groups.
Amnesty International believes they were imprisoned for peacefully
expressing their beliefs and opinions and calls on the Cuban government
to immediately and unconditionally release all of them.
Amnesty International UK Campaigns Director Stephen Bowen said:
"Conditions for some of these prisoners are inhumane, confining them for
months to tiny, filthy cells with no water or natural light. Some are
not permitted to wear any clothes and are denied bedding.
"And yet all you have to do in Cuba to be imprisoned for months or even
years is to disagree with the authorities.
"The Cuban government must release these prisoners immediately and
unconditionally."
Normando Hernandez Gonzalez was held in a punishment cell for four
months as a punitive measure after ending a 17-day hunger strike to
protest against his transfer to Kilo 5 � Prison, where he was held with
common criminals. During 2004, at least nine prisoners were reportedly
held continuously in walled-in punishment cells.
Such cells are said to be very small (2 x 1 m) with no natural light and
no furniture. The prisoners are not allowed out, to receive visitors or
to exercise and sometimes are not permitted to wear any clothing nor
given any bedding.
The conditions under which the nine Cuban prisoners are reported to have
been held, amount to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.
Some prisoners of conscience and their relatives have also suffered the
suspension of visits, correspondence and telephone communications for an
undetermined period of time when prisoners? relatives have made
statements in the local or international press or to human rights
organizations regarding the treatment of their relative in detention.
During 2004 and early 2005 a total of 19 prisoners of conscience were
released, 14 of whom were granted ?conditional release? permitting them
to carry out the rest of their sentences outside prison for health
reasons, in the knowledge they could be detained again.
Amnesty International reiterates its calls on the Cuban government to:
* Order the immediate and unconditional release of all prisoners of
conscience
* Ensure that an independent and impartial inquiry is held into
allegations of ill-treatment by prison guards and, that the officials
implicated in these allegations are immediately suspended from duty and
those responsible brought to justice
* Suspend Law 88 and other similar legislation that facilitates the
imprisonment of Cuban citizens by unlawfully restricting the exercise of
their fundamental freedoms
* Comply with international human rights standards for the
treatment of prisoners
* Ratify both the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights.
Amnesty International believes that the unilateral US embargo against
Cuba contributes to the undermining of key civil and political rights in
the country.
On these grounds, Amnesty International calls for its immediate lifting.
The organisation also calls on the Cuban government to stop using the
embargo as a pretext to violate the human rights of the Cuban people.
Background
Most of the dissidents arrested during the 2003 crackdown were charged
with offences carrying higher penalties under Article 91 of the Penal
Code or Law 88.
Article 91 provides sentences of 10 to 20 years or death for anyone who
?in the interest of a foreign state, carries out an act which has the
objective of harming the independence of the Cuban state or its
territorial integrity?.
Law 88, provides lengthy prison terms for those found guilty of
supporting United States policy on Cuba aimed at "disrupting internal
order, destabilizing the country and destroying the Socialist State and
the independence of Cuba".
Source: http://www.amnesty.org.uk/news/press/15999.shtml
Cuba: Fear for safety / Fear of torture / Intimidation / Harassment
PUBLIC
AI Index: AMR 25/002/2006
http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR250022006?open&of=ENG-346
According to reports, days before Ahmed Rodr�guez Albacia's arrest, he,
his family and several dissidents who were gathered at his house were
subjected to so-called "acts of repudiation" ("acto de repudio"),
demonstrations of government supporters outside the homes of dissidents
and activists, which are
often orchestrated by the authorities. Amnesty International believes
that these "acts of repudiation" could amount to psychological torture.
Source: http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR250032006?open&of=ENG-316
The screams of tormented women
"Day and night, the screams of tormented women in panic and desperation
who cry for God's mercy fall upon the deaf ears of prison authorities.
They are confined to narrow cells with no sunlight called "drawers" that
have cement beds, a hole on the ground for their bodily needs, and are
infested with a multitude of rodents, roaches, and other insects.
These female prisoners lack all sort of necessary personal possessions
and almost always have no water, even for bathing, often drinking this
precious liquid full of insects. The food distributed to them is
terrible, smells rotten, and is stored in receptacles lacking in
hygiene. Even prison officials have complained of the small quantities
served.
In these "drawers" the women remain weeks and months. When they scream
in terror due to the darkness (blackouts are common) and the heat, they
are injected sedatives that keep them half-drugged."
Source: http://www.cubanet.org/CNews/y03/nov03/10e8.htm
Journalist suspended by his hair by prison guards.
Frankfurt/M. - 27 May 2004. In protest against the continuing torture of
the journalist Normando Hernandez Gonzalez, whose tortures included
being suspended by his hair by prison guards, three fellow prisoners and
Her�ndez himself went on a hunger strike. The prisoners are members of
the organisation "Christian Liberation Movement". Her�ndez has been
imprisoned in "Kilo 51/2" in Pinar del Rio since September 2003. Since
he went on a hunger strike in autumn 2003 to protest against the
inhumane prison conditions, Her�ndez has become victim of continuous
violent attacks.
Source: http://www.ishr.org/press/pr2004/may04/040527cuba.htm
They kept me in a punishment cell, naked, with several fractures on one leg.
Mr. Chairman, today I want to speak about torture, about what it means
for a human being to be tortured, to be humiliated, or what may be even
worse, to watch a friend, a companion, or a relative being tortured.
As many of you know, I spent twenty-two years in prison for political
reasons. Perhaps, I am the only delegate in this Commission who has
spent such a long time in prison, although there are several persons
here who have known in their own flesh the meaning of torture. I do not
care about their political ideology, and I offer to you my embrace of
solidarity, from tortured to tortured.
I had many friends in prison. One of them, Roberto L�pez Ch�vez, was
just a kid. He went on a hunger strike to protest the abuses. The guards
denied him water, Roberto lay on the floor of his punishment cell,
agonizing, deliriously asking for water. water? The soldiers came in and
asked him: "Do you want water?"? The they took out their members and
urinated in his mouth, on his face? He died the following day. We were
cellmates; when he died I felt something wither inside me.
I recall when they kept me in a punishment cell, naked, with several
fractures on one leg which never received medical care; today, those
bones remain jammed up together and displaced. One of the regular drills
among the guards was to stand on the steel mesh ceiling and throw at my
face buckets full of urine and excrement.
Mr. Chairman, I know the taste of the urine and the excrement of other
men? that practice does not leave marks; marks are left by beatings with
steel rods and by bayonet thrusts. My head is still covered with scars
and you can feel the cracks.
But, what can inflict more damage to human dignity, the urine and
excrements thrown all over your face or a bayonet's blow? Which is the
appropriate article for the discussion of this subject? Under which
technical point does it fall? Under what batch of papers, numbers, lines
and bars should we include this trampling of human dignity?
For me, and for innumerable other human beings around the world. The
violation of human rights was not a matter of reports, of negotiated
resolutions, of elegant and diplomatic rhetoric, for us was a daily
suffering.
For me (it meant) eight thousand days of hunger, of systematic beatings,
of hard labor, of solitary confinement, of cells with steel-planked
windows and doors, of solitude.
Source: http://capmag.com/articlePrint.asp?ID=625
Mental torture and disease
are to break Cuba's best-known civil rights activist
Dr. Biscet is terrorised in the high security prison "Kilo 8"
Havana/Frankfurt/M. - 14 January 2004. The International Society for
Human rights reports that Cuba's best-known political prisoner, the
civil rights activist Dr Oscar Elias Biscet, is systematically
terrorised in the high security prison "Kilo 8". Biscet was transferred
to the high security prison near Havana in mid-November. He had to live
through a three-week special punishment in a subterranean dark cell
under inhuman conditions.
Source: http://www.ishr.org/press/pr2004/jan04/040114cuba.htm
UNHCR Report 1997.
Concluding observations of the Committee against Torture : Cuba. 21/11/97.
A/53/44,paras.101-118. (Concluding Observations/Comments)
Recommendations
118. The Committee recommends that the following actions be taken by the
State Party:
(a) The criminalization of torture, as defined in the Convention, by the
creation of a specific crime or crimes giving effect to every aspect of it;
(b) The establishment of a transparent permanent procedure for receiving
complaints about torture and other inhuman and degrading treatment or
punishment, the prompt examination of such complaints and bringing to
justice those responsible;
(c) The incorporation into the law of the right of the suspect or
detainee to silence at all stages of investigation;
(d) The establishment of a system of recurrent review of prisons as
required by article 11 of the Convention with a view to improving
conditions in prisons;
(e) Revision of the rules to the organization of the judicial system in
accordance with international instruments on the subject, namely the
United Nations guidelines on the independence of the judiciary;
(f) The setting up of a comprehensive programme, which should be kept
under constant review, for educating and training law enforcement
personnel, medical personnel, public officials and all those involved in
the interrogation, custody or treatment of any person arrested, detained
or imprisoned;
(g) The establishment of a central register containing adequate
statistical data about complaints of torture and other inhuman or
degrading treatment or punishment, investigation of such complaints, the
time within which the investigation is conducted and any prosecution
mounted thereafter and its outcome;
(h) The establishment of a compensation fund for the compensation of the
victims of torture and other prohibited treatment;
(i) Allowing into the country human rights NGOs and cooperating with
them in the identification of cases of torture and other inhuman and
degrading treatment;
(j) Urgently addressing complaints about torture and other cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment raised in NGO reports and
the reports of the Special Rapporteurs; taking such action as the
obligations of the State party under the Convention warrant; and
reporting to the Committee the outcome of such investigations and any
action taken in the next periodic report.
Source:
http://www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/(Symbol)/A.53.44,paras.101-118.En?Opendocument
Torture in Cuba
http://www.cubaverdad.net/torture_in_cuba.htm
PL
PL
Havana, Cuba, Aug 26, 2009 / 03:30 pm (CNA).- The leader of the
Christian Liberation Movement in Cuba, Oswaldo Paya, criticized the
United Nations and the Organization of American States this week for
responding with silence to the open letter he sent denouncing the
torture that prisoners of conscience are being subjected to in Cuban jails.
"We have already denounced this situation [of torture] in a public
letter addressed to the president of the United Nations General
Assembly, Mr. Miguel Descoto, and the secretary general of the
Organization of American States, and the response we received was just
silence," Paya said.
In a statement, Paya referred to the cases of Antonio Diaz and Rolando
Jimenez, both being held in inhumane conditions, one at the Canaletas
Prison and the other at the Guayabo Prison, for their promotion of the
Varela Project. The project agitates for the rights of all Cubans in the
face of the Castro regime's oppression.
"This duel between the jailers, the State security and the government on
one side and the prisoners of conscience on the other is
disproportionate and abusive, since the former has all of the powerful
resources and cowardly metes out cruel treatment." "The prisoners are at
a total physical disadvantage in the face of such sadism," Paya said.
He called on "Amnesty International, Justice and Peace and the U.N.
Human Rights Commission, and on all people and institutions to urgently
defend the dignity and lives of Antonio Diaz and Rolando Jimenez and of
all prisoners of conscience in the jails of Cuba."
Paya called the Communist government's cruel treatment a sign of its
"powerlessness and cowardice" against those who, with great courage and
faith, refuse to give in, "because their cause is the defense of the
rights of Cubans."
Dissident slams U.N. and OAS for silence on torture in Cuba (26 August 2009)
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=16941
Cuba Verdad:
Dissident slams U.N. and OAS for silence on torture in Cuba
http://cubadata.blogspot.com/2009/08/dissident-slams-un-and-oas-for-silence.html
Dan Christensen
> Dan Christensen wrote:
> > Not this bullshit again! Apart from the US Naval base in Guantanamo,
> > you will not find any reports of this kind of systematic torture in
> > Cuba from either Amnesty International or the UN.
>
What PL snipped for all too obvious reasons without indicating:
-----------------------------------
[Quote]
[End quote]
[Quote]
[End quote]
Who, indeed?
> Another lie from Dan Christensen.
>
No lie, Mr. Lobbyist. As we see here, you have nothing from either AI
or the UN to support your outrageous claims. (They have plenty of
reports, however, on the systematic torture favoured by your political
masters and their allies.)
> Human Rights Watch Reports:
>
[snip]
The US-based Human Rights Watch??? Get real! As we saw recently in the
case of the lying blogger, HRW will believe absolutely any allegations
against Cuba -- no evidence is ever necessary. See for example:
"Blogger busted by own propaganda video"
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.cuba/msg/ec732adab1e214c6
They have even recently unveiled their own genocidal plan to bring the
Cuban people to their knees! They have effectively shattered any
credibility as an advocate for human rights that might have had.
> United Nations
> At its fifty-seventh session in April, the U.N. Commission on Human
> Rights passed a resolution expressing concern about continuing human
> rights violations in Cuba, the ninth such resolution passed since 1991,
> and urged the government to invite the U.N. special rapporteurs on
> torture and on freedom of expression to visit the country.
> In the resolution, the Commission noted that Cuba had made "no
> satisfactory improvements" in the area of human rights. It expressed
> particular concern at the "continued repression of members of the
> political opposition," as well as about the "detention of dissidents and
> all other persons detained or imprisoned for peacefully expressing their
> political, religious and social views and for exercising their right to
> full and equal participation in public affairs." An early draft of the
> resolution criticized the U.S. economic embargo on Cuba, but that
> language was omitted from the final version.
> The resolution, which was sponsored by the Czech Republic, passed by a
> 22-20 vote, with a number of abstentions.http://hrw.org/wr2k2/americas5.html
Nothing here to support your outrageous claims. And as we see in your
original posting, "In January, Havana invited Manfred Nowak, the
special raporteur on torture for the U.N. Human Rights Council, to
make his first-ever visit to the island."
>
Prisons are violent places at the best of times. Nothing here that
couldn't be the result to usual scuffles between prison staff and
unruly inmates. Sadly for you, no allegations of the systematic
torture favoured by your political masters and their allies, Mr.
Lobbyist.
> Cuba: Fear for safety / Fear of torture / Intimidation / Harassment
> PUBLIC
> AI Index: AMR 25/002/2006http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR250022006?open&of=ENG-346
>
> According to reports, days before Ahmed Rodríguez Albacia's arrest, he,
> his family and several dissidents who were gathered at his house were
> subjected to so-called "acts of repudiation" ("acto de repudio"),
> demonstrations of government supporters outside the homes of dissidents
> and activists, which are
> often orchestrated by the authorities. Amnesty International believes
> that these "acts of repudiation" could amount to psychological torture.
Already debunked here. See: "Ordinary Cubans confront di$$idents"
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.cuba/msg/d449e27b77e56904?hl=en
[snip]
Nothing here to support your outrageous claims in any case.
> Source:http://www.cubanet.org/CNews/y03/nov03/10e8.htm
>
CubaNet??? Get real! They are nothing more than a US government-funded
propaganda organ!
[snip]
>
> Source:http://www.ishr.org/press/pr2004/may04/040527cuba.htm
>
Who??? Some CIA front? Try searching their website for anything on
"Guantanamo" or "Abu Ghraib." Nothing.
Get real, Mr. Lobbyist!
> They kept me in a punishment cell, naked, with several fractures on one leg.
[snip]
Ah, the strange case of the "prison poet" Armando Valladares! Get
real. Already debunked in my previous posting -- in the part the you
snipped for obvious reasons.
> Source:http://www.ishr.org/press/pr2004/jan04/040114cuba.htm
>
As above, try searching their website for anything on "Guantanamo" or
"Abu Ghraib." Nothing. Are they some kind of CIA front?
> Source:http://www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/(Symbol)/A.53.44,paras.101-118.En?Op...
>
Nothing here to support your outrageous claims.
> Torture in Cubahttp://www.cubaverdad.net/torture_in_cuba.htm
>
Your lying website, Mr. Lobbyist??? Get real! But thanks for
confirming that you have nothing from either AI or the UN to support
your outrageous claims here.
Dan
Visit my CUBA: Issues & Answers website at http://tiny.cc/CubaFAQ
(Note new address. Please update your bookmarks and links.)
PS: As an antidote to PL's venomous personal attacks on me here, and
his lies and evasions on everything from his lobbying exploits to the
international condemnation of his beloved embargo, see: "PL's same
tired old lies and evasions EXPOSED" at
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.cuba/msg/36c96cf26743ccca?hl=en
Dan Christensen
> Dissident slams U.N. and OAS for silence on torture in Cuba
>
> Havana, Cuba, Aug 26, 2009 / 03:30 pm (CNA).- The leader of the
> Christian Liberation Movement in Cuba, Oswaldo Paya, criticized the
> United Nations and the Organization of American States this week for
> responding with silence to the open letter he sent denouncing the
> torture that prisoners of conscience are being subjected to in Cuban jails.
>
Thanks again for confirming that the UN (and the OAS) will not back
your outrageous claims here. No need to wonder why.
Dan Christensen
reports on the USA, and Mexico. Compare with their report on Cuba that
makes no mention of any allegations torture: http://www.amnesty.org/en/region/cuba/report-2009
USA:
*****
Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment
At a hearing in front of a Senate committee on 5 February, General
Michael Hayden, Director of the CIA, confirmed that among other
“enhanced” interrogation techniques, the CIA had used “waterboarding”
– simulated drowning – against three detainees held in secret custody
in 2002 and 2003. Amnesty International considers that this technique
constitutes torture. The three detainees – Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Abu
Zubaydah and Abd al-Nashiri – remained at Guantánamo at the end of the
year, in the classified conditions of Camp 7 with 13 other detainees
previously held in the secret detention programme. The government
continued to resist calls to release information about other
techniques or conditions used in the secret programme, or the location
of CIA detention facilities.
Conditions of detention, particularly the degree of isolation, in
Guantánamo’s Camp 5, 6 and 7, and their potential impact on the
physical and psychological health of detainees already distressed by
the indefinite nature of their detention, continued to cause serious
concern.
In December, the Senate Armed Services Committee published a summary
of its findings and conclusions on abuses against detainees in US
custody in the “war on terror”; the rest of the report remained
classified. The Committee found that in relation to the authorization
of interrogation techniques, senior US government officials had
“redefined the law to create the appearance of their legality”, and
had relied upon “deeply flawed interpretations of US and international
law”.
There were reports of ill-treatment by police and prison officers on
the US mainland, often involving cruel use of restraints, or electro-
shock weapons.
In October, former police officer John Burge was arrested and charged
with perjury in a civil case in which he had denied knowledge of the
abuse and torture of suspects. John Burge had been in charge of the
Area 2 police station in Chicago where scores of black suspects had
allegedly been tortured in the 1970s and 1980s. Although indisputable
evidence of torture came to light through a subsequent inquiry, no
officer had been prosecuted and John Burge was the first person to be
charged indirectly in connection with the abuse.
Thousands of prisoners continued to be confined in long-term isolation
in high security units where conditions sometimes amounted to cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment.
Source: http://www.amnesty.org/en/region/usa/report-2009#
Mexico:
********
Torture and other ill-treatment
Torture and other ill-treatment remained widespread. Despite various
initiatives, there was little improvement in the effective prosecution
of perpetrators. In August, the UN Subcommittee on Prevention of
Torture visited detention facilities in several states and received
information on numerous cases of torture. The findings of the
Subcommittee remained confidential.
* In February, Eliseo Silvano Espinoza and Eliseo Silvano Jiménez,
two Tzeltal Indigenous men, were detained in Chilón, Chiapas State, by
the State Highway Police. They were reportedly shot at, beaten, almost
suffocated, threatened and sprayed with tear gas to try to extract a
confession. The two men were subsequently released without charge. Two
police officers were in custody under investigation at the end of the
year.
* In October, teachers and community supporters held protests in
Morelos State. In the town of Xoxocotla federal police broke up
protests on a main highway. Many of those detained alleged they had
been arrested in their homes, beaten and some forced to walk barefoot
on hot cinders.
Freedom of expression – journalists
At least five media workers were killed and the whereabouts of at
least one other who was abducted remained unknown. Impunity for these
crimes and other attacks on journalists attributed to criminal gangs
persisted.
* In April, two Indigenous women, Felícitas Martínez and Teresa
Bautista, working with a community radio station in the Triqui region
of Oaxaca State, were killed when armed men fired on the car they were
travelling in. The authorities denied their murder was related to
their media work, but failed to conduct a full investigation.
Impunity
Impunity for past and recent human rights violations persisted. The
lack of effective institutions to investigate and prosecute human
rights violations at federal or state level seriously restricted
accountability and access to justice.
* On the 40th anniversary of the Tlatelolco Square massacre, when
government forces gunned down protesters in Mexico City in
circumstances that have never been clarified, those responsible were
no closer to being held to account. A federal court review of a
previous ruling that former President Echeverría should not stand
trial for genocide in connection with the Tlatelolco massacre was
pending at the end of the year.
There were no judicial advances or government commitments to hold to
account those responsible for hundreds of cases of extrajudicial
killings, enforced disappearances and torture committed during the
1960s, 1970s and 1980s.
* The case of Rosendo Radilla, who was forcibly disappeared by the
security forces in 1976 and whose whereabouts have never been
established, was presented to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights
in June.
Investigations into recent emblematic cases, such as torture and other
ill-treatment of scores of protesters in Guadalajara in 2004; the
torture, including rape, of at least 26 women detainees in San
Salvador Atenco in May 2006; and dozens of cases of torture, arbitrary
detention and unlawful killing, during the political crisis in Oaxaca
in 2006 and 2007, produced almost no positive results. The results of
National Supreme Court enquiries into abuses in San Salvador Atenco
and Oaxaca remained pending at the end of the year.
* The whereabouts of Edmundo Reyes Amaya and Gabriel Alberto Cruz
Sánchez, two members of the Popular Revolutionary Army (Ejército
Popular Revolucionario, EPR), who were feared to have been forcibly
disappeared in May 2007, remained unknown after the federal
investigation failed to make progress.
Source: http://www.amnesty.org/en/region/mexico/report-2009
PL
> Here are excerpts from Amnesty International's most recent annual
> reports on the USA
address the issues on Cuba instead of trying to divert attention
desperate propagandist.
Human Rights Watch Reports:
United Nations
At its fifty-seventh session in April, the U.N. Commission on Human
Rights passed a resolution expressing concern about continuing human
rights violations in Cuba, the ninth such resolution passed since 1991,
and urged the government to invite the U.N. special rapporteurs on
torture and on freedom of expression to visit the country.
In the resolution, the Commission noted that Cuba had made "no
satisfactory improvements" in the area of human rights. It expressed
particular concern at the "continued repression of members of the
political opposition," as well as about the "detention of dissidents and
all other persons detained or imprisoned for peacefully expressing their
political, religious and social views and for exercising their right to
full and equal participation in public affairs." An early draft of the
resolution criticized the U.S. economic embargo on Cuba, but that
language was omitted from the final version.
The resolution, which was sponsored by the Czech Republic, passed by a
22-20 vote, with a number of abstentions.
http://hrw.org/wr2k2/americas5.html
protest against his transfer to Kilo 5 � Prison, where he was held with
Background
Source: http://www.amnesty.org.uk/news/press/15999.shtml
Cuba: Fear for safety / Fear of torture / Intimidation / Harassment
PUBLIC
AI Index: AMR 25/002/2006
http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR250022006?open&of=ENG-346
According to reports, days before Ahmed Rodr�guez Albacia's arrest, he,
his family and several dissidents who were gathered at his house were
subjected to so-called "acts of repudiation" ("acto de repudio"),
demonstrations of government supporters outside the homes of dissidents
and activists, which are
often orchestrated by the authorities. Amnesty International believes
that these "acts of repudiation" could amount to psychological torture.
Source: http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR250032006?open&of=ENG-316
The screams of tormented women
"Day and night, the screams of tormented women in panic and desperation
who cry for God's mercy fall upon the deaf ears of prison authorities.
They are confined to narrow cells with no sunlight called "drawers" that
have cement beds, a hole on the ground for their bodily needs, and are
infested with a multitude of rodents, roaches, and other insects.
These female prisoners lack all sort of necessary personal possessions
and almost always have no water, even for bathing, often drinking this
precious liquid full of insects. The food distributed to them is
terrible, smells rotten, and is stored in receptacles lacking in
hygiene. Even prison officials have complained of the small quantities
served.
In these "drawers" the women remain weeks and months. When they scream
in terror due to the darkness (blackouts are common) and the heat, they
are injected sedatives that keep them half-drugged."
Source: http://www.cubanet.org/CNews/y03/nov03/10e8.htm
Journalist suspended by his hair by prison guards.
Frankfurt/M. - 27 May 2004. In protest against the continuing torture of
the journalist Normando Hernandez Gonzalez, whose tortures included
being suspended by his hair by prison guards, three fellow prisoners and
Her�ndez himself went on a hunger strike. The prisoners are members of
the organisation "Christian Liberation Movement". Her�ndez has been
imprisoned in "Kilo 51/2" in Pinar del Rio since September 2003. Since
he went on a hunger strike in autumn 2003 to protest against the
inhumane prison conditions, Her�ndez has become victim of continuous
violent attacks.
Source: http://www.ishr.org/press/pr2004/may04/040527cuba.htm
They kept me in a punishment cell, naked, with several fractures on one leg.
Mr. Chairman, today I want to speak about torture, about what it means
for a human being to be tortured, to be humiliated, or what may be even
worse, to watch a friend, a companion, or a relative being tortured.
As many of you know, I spent twenty-two years in prison for political
reasons. Perhaps, I am the only delegate in this Commission who has
spent such a long time in prison, although there are several persons
here who have known in their own flesh the meaning of torture. I do not
care about their political ideology, and I offer to you my embrace of
solidarity, from tortured to tortured.
I had many friends in prison. One of them, Roberto L�pez Ch�vez, was
Source: http://capmag.com/articlePrint.asp?ID=625
Source: http://www.ishr.org/press/pr2004/jan04/040114cuba.htm
UNHCR Report 1997.
Recommendations
(j) Urgently addressing complaints about torture and other cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment raised in NGO reports and
the reports of the Special Rapporteurs; taking such action as the
obligations of the State party under the Convention warrant; and
reporting to the Committee the outcome of such investigations and any
action taken in the next periodic report.
Source:
PL
> On Dec 22, 3:44 pm, PL <pl.nos...@pandora.be> wrote:
>> Dan Christensen wrote:
>>> Not this bullshit again! Apart from the US Naval base in Guantanamo,
>>> you will not find any reports of this kind of systematic torture in
>>> Cuba from either Amnesty International or the UN.
>
exposed as propaganda lies
>> Another lie from Dan Christensen.
>>
>
> No lie, (snip)
ye.
Lies as whon below.
>> Human Rights Watch Reports:
>>
> [snip]
>
> The US-based Human Rights Watch??? (snip)
a reputable human rights organization. Deal with it.
>> United Nations
>> At its fifty-seventh session in April, the U.N. Commission on Human
>> Rights passed a resolution expressing concern about continuing human
>> rights violations in Cuba, the ninth such resolution passed since 1991,
>> and urged the government to invite the U.N. special rapporteurs on
>> torture and on freedom of expression to visit the country.
>> In the resolution, the Commission noted that Cuba had made "no
>> satisfactory improvements" in the area of human rights. It expressed
>> particular concern at the "continued repression of members of the
>> political opposition," as well as about the "detention of dissidents and
>> all other persons detained or imprisoned for peacefully expressing their
>> political, religious and social views and for exercising their right to
>> full and equal participation in public affairs." An early draft of the
>> resolution criticized the U.S. economic embargo on Cuba, but that
>> language was omitted from the final version.
>> The resolution, which was sponsored by the Czech Republic, passed by a
>> 22-20 vote, with a number of abstentions.http://hrw.org/wr2k2/americas5.html
>
> Nothing here to support your outrageous claims.(snip)-
Just concerns about the violations you mean.
> Prisons are violent places at the best of times.(snip)
especially of the rgeime has it in for you.
thanks for confirming Amnesty reported torture.
>> Cuba: Fear for safety / Fear of torture / Intimidation / Harassment
>> PUBLIC
>> AI Index: AMR 25/002/2006http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR250022006?open&of=ENG-346
>>
>> According to reports, days before Ahmed Rodr�guez Albacia's arrest, he,
>> his family and several dissidents who were gathered at his house were
>> subjected to so-called "acts of repudiation" ("acto de repudio"),
>> demonstrations of government supporters outside the homes of dissidents
>> and activists, which are
>> often orchestrated by the authorities. Amnesty International believes
>> that these "acts of repudiation" could amount to psychological torture.
>
> Already debunked (snip)
Nope.
You just made a fool of yourself.
What Dan snipped.
The screams of tormented women
"Day and night, the screams of tormented women in panic and desperation
who cry for God's mercy fall upon the deaf ears of prison authorities.
They are confined to narrow cells with no sunlight called "drawers" that
have cement beds, a hole on the ground for their bodily needs, and are
infested with a multitude of rodents, roaches, and other insects.
These female prisoners lack all sort of necessary personal possessions
and almost always have no water, even for bathing, often drinking this
precious liquid full of insects. The food distributed to them is
terrible, smells rotten, and is stored in receptacles lacking in
hygiene. Even prison officials have complained of the small quantities
served.
In these "drawers" the women remain weeks and months. When they scream
in terror due to the darkness (blackouts are common) and the heat, they
are injected sedatives that keep them half-drugged."
Source: http://www.cubanet.org/CNews/y03/nov03/10e8.htm
>> Source:http://www.cubanet.org/CNews/y03/nov03/10e8.htm
>>
>
> CubaNet(snip)
reporting the same facts as HRW,, Amnesty, ...
>> Source:http://www.ishr.org/press/pr2004/may04/040527cuba.htm
>>
>
> Who???(sdnip)
What Dan Christensen snipped in despair:
Journalist suspended by his hair by prison guards.
Frankfurt/M. - 27 May 2004. In protest against the continuing torture of
the journalist Normando Hernandez Gonzalez, whose tortures included
being suspended by his hair by prison guards, three fellow prisoners and
Her�ndez himself went on a hunger strike. The prisoners are members of
the organisation "Christian Liberation Movement". Her�ndez has been
imprisoned in "Kilo 51/2" in Pinar del Rio since September 2003. Since
he went on a hunger strike in autumn 2003 to protest against the
inhumane prison conditions, Her�ndez has become victim of continuous
violent attacks.
Source: http://www.ishr.org/press/pr2004/may04/040527cuba.htm
>> They kept me in a punishment cell, naked, with several fractures on one leg.
>
> [snip]
>
> Ah, the strange case of the "prison poet" Armando Valladares! Get
> real. Already debunked(snip)
Nope.
Just sniped.
They kept me in a punishment cell, naked, with several fractures on one leg.
Mr. Chairman, today I want to speak about torture, about what it means
Source: http://capmag.com/articlePrint.asp?ID=625
>> Source:http://www.ishr.org/press/pr2004/jan04/040114cuba.htm
>>
>
> As above, (snip)
Yep.
As above.
You can't refute any of it.
Mental torture and disease
are to break Cuba's best-known civil rights activist
Dr. Biscet is terrorised in the high security prison "Kilo 8"
Havana/Frankfurt/M. - 14 January 2004. The International Society for
Human rights reports that Cuba's best-known political prisoner, the
civil rights activist Dr Oscar Elias Biscet, is systematically
terrorised in the high security prison "Kilo 8". Biscet was transferred
to the high security prison near Havana in mid-November. He had to live
through a three-week special punishment in a subterranean dark cell
under inhuman conditions.
Source: http://www.ishr.org/press/pr2004/jan04/040114cuba.htm
>> UNHCR Report 1997.
>>
>> Concluding observations of the Committee against Torture : Cuba. 21/11/97..
false.
demand to address the complaints on torture.
>> Torture in Cuba http://www.cubaverdad.net/torture_in_cuba.htm
>>
>
> Your lying website,
(snip)
Nope.
As shown a collection of links and direct unaltered quotes from HRW,
Amnesty, Press Organizations, the UN, ... that expose your lies.
You are the only one with a "lying website", Dan.
Parts of it were removed because of it. :-)))
THE STANDARD REPLY TO DAN'S LIES AND PERSONAL INSULTS.
again Dan Christensen shows what a hypocrite liar he is.
He is the one doing the "attacking" with his lies and slander.
As all can see I only post this piece that exposes his lies when he
has started his slanderous attacks.
That by the way is in general within a couple of exchanges on the
facts of the case involved as by then he is so stuck that he has to
resort to lies and insults.
Please note that lies combined with personal attacks only destroy
your credibility, Dan.
Dan Christensen knows I am not a lobbyist and that it is all just a
slander campaign.
As a good follower of Goebbels he keeps repeating his lies in the hope
that something will stick and that he maybe can mislead some people
that
don't know what he is all about.
Desperate Dan Is doing his bit in the slander campaign of the "rat
pack"
he is associated with. The contribution of his pals at the Centre
Ernesto Che Guevara in this group recently just shows what Dan and his
cronies are all about: lies, insults, slander and intimidation.
Actually: given your actions in the past Dan you fit the lobbyist
profile a lot closer.
You contact people in support of the Cuban regime and with the aim to
have them change the content of their website or change public
statements. You even pose as a "journalist" or "researcher" while
doing so.
The fact that you have been utterly unsuccessful at it and that only
your website suffered the removal of pages just shows what a bad
lobbyist you are.
Your Club Med, lobbying, CIA lies are exposed again
Links to the threads Dan produces his "lobbyist" misquotes from and
the exposure of his lies by others:
For those that want to see the full thread and the complete messages
in their context (which Dan Christensen desperately hopes nobody will
as it will expose his lies), here is a link to the threads concerned.
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.cuba/browse_thread/thread/5fb621a1396ecc6c/2602f5eb5bd1c2ed?hl=3D3Den=3DE0=3DA8=3DAAf5eb5bd1c2ed
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.cuba/browse_thread/thread/56e1a7b9ca6c61e3/9cfde811fd6c7414?#9cfde811fd6c7414
To Dan Christensen's great frustration his lies by now have been
exposed by various other people in other threads like:
http://groups.google.be/group/soc.culture.cuba/msg/ac34bd501ab58b97?dmode=3D3Dsource
http://groups.google.be/group/soc.culture.cuba/msg/848321c82da3bbda
Dan Christensen lied when he claimed I had stated that I had been at
Club Med in Varadero - a hotel he tried to depict as a sleazy sex
resort - to "lobby" people.
Just one example:
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.cuba/msg/4b7720708da65ee0?dmode=3D3Dsource
Dan Christensen even suggested the whole trip was paid for by the CIA
thereby accusing Belgian officials of not only sexual impropriety, but
also of active corruption.
You see: Dan Christensen just doesn't know when to stop lying and gets
caught up in his "cloak and dagger" childish fantasies.
His lies are so over the top that it all become a big joke that people
can easily see though.
Here is one example of how serial liar Dan Christensen was exposed.
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.cuba/msg/848321c82da3bbda?dmode=3D3Dsource
The lies of Dan Christensen about me that were exposed:
- his lie about me playing golf to "lobby": exposed. Dan Christensen
had to admit there were no quotes to support any of that.
- his lie about singles resorts and schmoozing: exposed as various
people stated that it is merely a family resort that even had a circus
school for children
- his lie about me being in Varadero: exposed as Dan Christensen had
to admit I never said I was there
- his lie that it were all "CIA junkets" exposed as Dan Christensen
ran like hell when he realized that this lie could expose him to legal
sanctions
- his lie that I had "self-confessed" anything: exposed by people that
put the snippets Dan Christensen abusively posts in context (as shown
in this message)
All Dan Christensen's lies have been exposed by various people.
as I said comrade
Dan: whenever you post your lies about me I post the truth about you.
Your record of lies, innuendo, insults and support of human rights
abuses discredits you.
All shame you brought on yourself by your attitude and actions.
The exposure of the "lobbyist" lie in further detail.
Dan Christensen's abuse of misquotes has been exposed over and over
again. He just aped the lie of another apologist that dropped that
specific lie very quickly. The guy is indeed smarter than stupid Dan.
When Dan Christensen tried to come up with his own "new and
improved" version of the lie he fell flat on his face.
He claimed I had been "lobbying" people In Geneva while his Rat Pack
pal "cuba libre" that stalked me then showed from an IP address from
which I had posted something that I was in Santiago de Cuba at the
time. One Rat Pack member exposing another's lies with the result of
his cyber stalking. Ironic.
Dan's other exposed false claim:
"Taking a little break from arm-twisting in Geneva, Mr. Lobbyist?"
Link:
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.cuba/msg/b6375f9783e47aee?q=3D3Dg:thl174670614d&dq=3D3D&hl=3D3Den&lr=3D3D&ie=3D3DUTF-8
Again it is clear what a pathetic loser Dan Christensen is.
Below you will find what is behind Dan Christensen's slanderous
campaign: facts he can't deny.
- Frustration
I exposed Dan Christensen as a fraud in this group years ago when I
blew his "cover". In SCC he tried to portray himself as an
"independent
interested party" with no political agenda.
When I came across a blatantly different reply to a similar question
in a Stalinist e-group to which I had been invited I posted it to show
his lying hypocrisy.
Since then he has been pissed as hell as it undermined his lying
propaganda effort to mislead "those in the background" (his own words,
those that didn't have "local knowledge". He himself admitted in the
same e-group that propagandist like him can never "convince" those
with "local knowledge". In frequent exchanges he got some mad he often
forgot to keep up the pretense and made him show his hand and true
nature:
Quote:
"In my opinion the advances made by the Revolution are morally well
worth fighting for and justify the use of these extraordinary
measures. In this case, the ends do indeed justify the means.
.................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
These measures, however, would NOT be morally justified in propping
less worthy regimes in the region -- the USA and its vassal states in
the
Caribbean and Latin America come immediately to mind."
"It is wrong to think that a particular end justifies EVERY means. At
this time, for example, it would be wrong of the Cuban government to
send death squads after their opponents as happens in Mexico and
Colombia. Again, the actions of the Cuban government in detaining
these so-called dissidents seem quite mild in comparison and are
morally justified under the circumstances."
That meant he was exposed a the hypocrite liar he is. It showed that
the false claims he made about others (support of genocide, torture,
abuses, ..) in fact only applied to him.
I have also frequently exposed his lies about facts and people in SCC.
Dan Christensen once claimed:
"It is clear from Smith's article here (and his website, CIP Online)
that he does, in fact, support an immediate and unconditional lifting
of your beloved embargo."
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.cuba/msg/3f1fe3a55c12d7d7?dmode=3D3Dsource&hl=3D3Den
Mr. Smith's own words:
'We should reduce tensions, not aggravate it, making it clear to the
Cuban government that we do not have hostile intentions toward them,''
Smith
said during a 40-minute speech at a conference titled Cuba and the
United States: Relations in Permanent Conflict, Causes, Effects and
Solutions.
''I did not say lift the embargo without conditions,'' he said.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/world/cuba/12157593.htm
You can enter after a free registration.
Permanent copy in the Cubaverdad archive:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaVerdad/message/16823
Then there is the issue of his lying website: acting with a third
person I had pages removed (for violations of law, slander, ...), I
have shamed him in to changing it on
various occasions (adding links that would then expose his lies,
remove lying caption from pictures, ...) and I have in general exposed
the lies on it (on Amnesty International for example)
What Dan claimed on his website (the misquote):
"Today, for the first time, Amnesty International has explicitly
denounced the US embargo on Cuba in humanitarian terms, and made clear
its support for the immediate and unconditional lifting of these cruel
sanctions"
http://members.allstream.net/~dchris/CubaFAQ215.html
now moved to:
http://www3.sympatico.ca/danchristienses/CubaFAQ215.html
Link to the "report": (the one Dan didn't give until I shamed him in
to it)
http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR250172003?open&of=3D3DENG-CUB
where the only thing Amnesty international asks for "immediately and
unconditionally" is the release of political prisoners.
Quote:
"in 1.
"On the basis of the available information, therefore, Amnesty
International considers the 75 dissidents to be prisoners of
conscience
(2) and calls for their immediate and unconditional release."
In 8.1
" to immediately and unconditionally release the 15 prisoners
previously named by Amnesty International as prisoners of conscience.
" to immediately and unconditionally release anyone else who is
detained or imprisoned solely for having peacefully exercised their
rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly."
end of quote
- Dogmatic hatred.
Dan Christensen is a hard-line Stalinist. His first steps in SCC were
to defend Stalin and in other forums he has praised "workers
democracy" under Stalin.
He has admitted that he is ready to fight to the last Cuban (from his
comfortable armchair in Canada) for his cause.
By posting the reports from the international press, human rights
organizations and Cuban independent journalists I have exposed his
propaganda as a lie. That makes the man wild with rage.
As he like to see himself as the "victim" (he once claimed he was
being censored in SCC) he therefore lashes out at people claiming that
those that contradict him are "CIA" agents (as if the CIA would care
about a third rate liar as Dan) and professional "lobbyists" probably
to make himself feel that he is "important" and to explain away his
complete propaganda failure (portraying himself as "overcome by
unsurmountable institutional odds").
- Personal hate and the "rat pack"
Dan has suffered the trauma of having part of his website remove
after a long battle over the personal attacks and falsifications he
had posted there.
The frequent exposures of his lies and hypocrisy only fueled the
personal hatred.
Dan ganged up with various other propagandists that people that have
been attacked by them refer to as the "rat pack". I have been the
target of the lies and slanderous insults of this "rat pack".
They specialize in online slander (from posting private information,
attacking their business or businesses they are associated with,
inciting others to harass people, over accusing people of being "CIA
agents" or "lobbyists" to the worst things one can imagine) and direct
harassment (phone calls, letters, letters with razor blade or white
powder, loitering in front of people's houses,.. up to death threats
in France).
All they succeeded in doing was to dramatically increase traffic to a
website I participate in ( www.cubaverdad.net ) and to suffer the
consequences of their slander.
Dan Christensen had part of his website removed. The Centre Che in
France had their complete website removed and their "secretary" known
here as "cubalibre" real name Fran�ois Valy was sentenced to 6 months
in jail for a whole series of abuses (including racism). A Spanish
"subsidiary" of the rat pack still has a surprise coming.
All because of their lies were exposed.
But then in the end this is what it boils down to: those that don't
have rational arguments find themselves exposed as the liars they are.
When that happens all they have left are the old
slander tactics: they attack the people that expose their lies in the
hope that they can intimidate them.
If Dan Christensen felt he had any chance to convince people directly
he would try to do so by posting facts and arguing facts.
He is reduced to snipping, posting the same snippets over and over
again, lies and slander.
As long as he and the rest of the "rat pack" (and their hangers on)
are reduced to that they expose" their own failure as Dan Christensen
does here every time.
Fine by me.
PL
"The Cuban government is based on lies and cheap propaganda. That is
why it is afraid of words and the truth."
Raul Rivero, April 2006, University of Sevilla
PL
> On Dec 22, 3:51 pm, PL <pl.nos...@pandora.be> wrote:
>> Dissident slams U.N. and OAS for silence on torture in Cuba
>>
>> Havana, Cuba, Aug 26, 2009 / 03:30 pm (CNA).- The leader of the
>> Christian Liberation Movement in Cuba, Oswaldo Paya, criticized the
>> United Nations and the Organization of American States this week for
>> responding with silence to the open letter he sent denouncing the
>> torture that prisoners of conscience are being subjected to in Cuban jails.
>>
The text that Dan Christensen snipped:
Dissident slams U.N. and OAS for silence on torture in Cuba
Havana, Cuba, Aug 26, 2009 / 03:30 pm (CNA).- The leader of the
Christian Liberation Movement in Cuba, Oswaldo Paya, criticized the
United Nations and the Organization of American States this week for
responding with silence to the open letter he sent denouncing the
torture that prisoners of conscience are being subjected to in Cuban jails.
"We have already denounced this situation [of torture] in a public
Cuba Verdad:
Dissident slams U.N. and OAS for silence on torture in Cuba
http://cubadata.blogspot.com/2009/08/dissident-slams-un-and-oas-for-silence.html
> Thanks again for confirming that the UN (and the OAS) will not back
> your outrageous claims here.
well backed by the UNHCR, Amnesty, HRW, ISR
Human Rights Watch Reports:
United Nations
At its fifty-seventh session in April, the U.N. Commission on Human
Rights passed a resolution expressing concern about continuing human
rights violations in Cuba, the ninth such resolution passed since 1991,
and urged the government to invite the U.N. special rapporteurs on
torture and on freedom of expression to visit the country.
In the resolution, the Commission noted that Cuba had made "no
satisfactory improvements" in the area of human rights. It expressed
particular concern at the "continued repression of members of the
political opposition," as well as about the "detention of dissidents and
all other persons detained or imprisoned for peacefully expressing their
political, religious and social views and for exercising their right to
full and equal participation in public affairs." An early draft of the
resolution criticized the U.S. economic embargo on Cuba, but that
language was omitted from the final version.
The resolution, which was sponsored by the Czech Republic, passed by a
22-20 vote, with a number of abstentions.
http://hrw.org/wr2k2/americas5.html
* Order the immediate and unconditional release of all prisoners of
conscience
Background
Source: http://www.amnesty.org.uk/news/press/15999.shtml
Cuba: Fear for safety / Fear of torture / Intimidation / Harassment
PUBLIC
AI Index: AMR 25/002/2006
http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR250022006?open&of=ENG-346
According to reports, days before Ahmed Rodríguez Albacia's arrest, he,
his family and several dissidents who were gathered at his house were
subjected to so-called "acts of repudiation" ("acto de repudio"),
demonstrations of government supporters outside the homes of dissidents
and activists, which are
often orchestrated by the authorities. Amnesty International believes
that these "acts of repudiation" could amount to psychological torture.
Source: http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR250032006?open&of=ENG-316
The screams of tormented women
"Day and night, the screams of tormented women in panic and desperation
who cry for God's mercy fall upon the deaf ears of prison authorities.
They are confined to narrow cells with no sunlight called "drawers" that
have cement beds, a hole on the ground for their bodily needs, and are
infested with a multitude of rodents, roaches, and other insects.
These female prisoners lack all sort of necessary personal possessions
and almost always have no water, even for bathing, often drinking this
precious liquid full of insects. The food distributed to them is
terrible, smells rotten, and is stored in receptacles lacking in
hygiene. Even prison officials have complained of the small quantities
served.
In these "drawers" the women remain weeks and months. When they scream
in terror due to the darkness (blackouts are common) and the heat, they
are injected sedatives that keep them half-drugged."
Source: http://www.cubanet.org/CNews/y03/nov03/10e8.htm
Journalist suspended by his hair by prison guards.
Frankfurt/M. - 27 May 2004. In protest against the continuing torture of
the journalist Normando Hernandez Gonzalez, whose tortures included
being suspended by his hair by prison guards, three fellow prisoners and
Herández himself went on a hunger strike. The prisoners are members of
the organisation "Christian Liberation Movement". Herández has been
imprisoned in "Kilo 51/2" in Pinar del Rio since September 2003. Since
he went on a hunger strike in autumn 2003 to protest against the
inhumane prison conditions, Herández has become victim of continuous
violent attacks.
Source: http://www.ishr.org/press/pr2004/may04/040527cuba.htm
They kept me in a punishment cell, naked, with several fractures on one leg.
Mr. Chairman, today I want to speak about torture, about what it means
for a human being to be tortured, to be humiliated, or what may be even
worse, to watch a friend, a companion, or a relative being tortured.
As many of you know, I spent twenty-two years in prison for political
reasons. Perhaps, I am the only delegate in this Commission who has
spent such a long time in prison, although there are several persons
here who have known in their own flesh the meaning of torture. I do not
care about their political ideology, and I offer to you my embrace of
solidarity, from tortured to tortured.
I had many friends in prison. One of them, Roberto López Chávez, was
Source: http://capmag.com/articlePrint.asp?ID=625
Mental torture and disease
are to break Cuba's best-known civil rights activist
Dr. Biscet is terrorised in the high security prison "Kilo 8"
Havana/Frankfurt/M. - 14 January 2004. The International Society for
Human rights reports that Cuba's best-known political prisoner, the
civil rights activist Dr Oscar Elias Biscet, is systematically
terrorised in the high security prison "Kilo 8". Biscet was transferred
to the high security prison near Havana in mid-November. He had to live
through a three-week special punishment in a subterranean dark cell
under inhuman conditions.
Source: http://www.ishr.org/press/pr2004/jan04/040114cuba.htm
UNHCR Report 1997.
Concluding observations of the Committee against Torture : Cuba. 21/11/97.
A/53/44,paras.101-118. (Concluding Observations/Comments)
Recommendations
Source:
http://www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/(Symbol)/A.53.44,paras.101-118.En?Opendocument
Torture in Cuba
http://www.cubaverdad.net/torture_in_cuba.htm
PL
Dan Christensen
[snipping portions of PL's posting already debunked here, or just too
lame to bother with]
> Dan Christensen wrote:
> > Here are excerpts from Amnesty International's most recent annual
> > reports on the USA
>
> (snip)
>
> address the issues on Cuba instead of trying to divert attention
[snip]
I have. Unlike the cases of the USA and Mexico, Amnesty International
reports no torture in their most recent annual report on Cuba. (See
text and links in my previous posting which PL snipped for all too
obvious reasons.)
Dan Christensen
> Dan Christensen wrote:
> > On Dec 22, 3:44 pm, PL <pl.nos...@pandora.be> wrote:
> >> Dan Christensen wrote:
> >>> Not this bullshit again! Apart from the US Naval base in Guantanamo,
> >>> you will not find any reports of this kind of systematic torture in
> >>> Cuba from either Amnesty International or the UN.
>
> > What PL snipped (snip)
>
What PL snipped for all too obvious reasons:
-----------------------------------
[Quote]
[End quote]
[Quote]
[End quote]
Who, indeed?
> exposed as propaganda lies
>
You mean, you snipped and ran away in terror -- as usual.
> >> Another lie from Dan Christensen.
>
> > No lie, Mr. Lobbyist. As we see here, you have nothing from either AI or the UN to support your outrageous claims. (They have plenty of reports, however, on the systematic torture favoured by your political masters and their allies.) (snip)
>
> ye.
> Lies as whon below.
>
Sadly for you, Mr. Lobbyist, readers can see that you do indeed have
nothing from either AI or the UN to support your outrageous claims.
> >> Human Rights Watch Reports:
>
> > [snip]
>
> > The US-based Human Rights Watch??? (snip)
>
What PL snipped for all too obvious reasons:
The US-based Human Rights Watch??? Get real! As we saw recently in the
case of the lying blogger, HRW will believe absolutely any allegations
against Cuba -- no evidence is ever necessary. See for example:
"Blogger busted by own propaganda video"
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.cuba/msg/ec732adab1e214c6
They have even recently unveiled their own genocidal plan to bring the
Cuban people to their knees! They have effectively shattered any
credibility as an advocate for human rights that might have had.
> a reputable human rights organization.
Not any more. They are washed up, their all too obvious political
agenda now revealed for all the world to see.
>
> >> United Nations
> >> At its fifty-seventh session in April, the U.N. Commission on Human
> >> Rights passed a resolution expressing concern about continuing human
> >> rights violations in Cuba, the ninth such resolution passed since 1991,
> >> and urged the government to invite the U.N. special rapporteurs on
> >> torture and on freedom of expression to visit the country.
> >> In the resolution, the Commission noted that Cuba had made "no
> >> satisfactory improvements" in the area of human rights. It expressed
> >> particular concern at the "continued repression of members of the
> >> political opposition," as well as about the "detention of dissidents and
> >> all other persons detained or imprisoned for peacefully expressing their
> >> political, religious and social views and for exercising their right to
> >> full and equal participation in public affairs." An early draft of the
> >> resolution criticized the U.S. economic embargo on Cuba, but that
> >> language was omitted from the final version.
> >> The resolution, which was sponsored by the Czech Republic, passed by a
> >> 22-20 vote, with a number of abstentions.http://hrw.org/wr2k2/americas5.html
>
> > Nothing here to support your outrageous claims. And as we see in your original posting, "In January, Havana invited Manfred Nowak, the special raporteur on torture for the U.N. Human Rights Council, to make his first-ever visit to the island." (snip)-
>
> Just concerns about the violations you mean.
>
No allegations of torture -- unlike their recent reports of torture by
your political masters and their allies.
Thanks for confirming AI's condemnation of these cruel and inhumane
sanctions of yours, and their call for the immediate and unconditional
lifting of these sanctions.
> >> The organisation also calls on the Cuban government to stop using the
> >> embargo as a pretext to violate the human rights of the Cuban people.
>
> >> Background
>
> >> Most of the dissidents arrested during the 2003 crackdown were charged
> >> with offences carrying higher penalties under Article 91 of the Penal
> >> Code or Law 88.
>
> >> Article 91 provides sentences of 10 to 20 years or death for anyone who
> >> ?in the interest of a foreign state, carries out an act which has the
> >> objective of harming the independence of the Cuban state or its
> >> territorial integrity?.
>
> >> Law 88, provides lengthy prison terms for those found guilty of
> >> supporting United States policy on Cuba aimed at "disrupting internal
> >> order, destabilizing the country and destroying the Socialist State and
> >> the independence of Cuba".
>
> >> Source:http://www.amnesty.org.uk/news/press/15999.shtml
>
> > Prisons are violent places at the best of times.(snip)
>
What PL snipped for all too obvious reasons:
Prisons are violent places at the best of times. Nothing here that
couldn't be the result to usual scuffles between prison staff and
unruly inmates. Sadly for you, no allegations of the systematic
torture favoured by your political masters and their allies, Mr.
Lobbyist.
> especially of the rgeime has it in for you.
> thanks for confirming Amnesty reported torture.
>
[snip]
The never even use the word torture, idiot! -- unlike the case of
their reports on your political masters and their allies. (Compare
their 2009 annual reports on Cuba, the USA and Mexico, for example.)
> >> Source:http://www.cubanet.org/CNews/y03/nov03/10e8.htm
>
> > CubaNet??? Get real! They are nothing more than a US government-funded propaganda organ! (snip)
>
> reporting the same facts as HRW,, Amnesty, ...
>
[snip]
A blatant lie.
> >> Source:http://www.ishr.org/press/pr2004/jan04/040114cuba.htm
>
> > As above, try searching their website for anything on "Guantanamo" or "Abu Ghraib." Nothing. Are they some kind of CIA front? (snip)
>
> Yep.
> As above.
> You can't refute any of it.
[snip]
Unless you can cite some credible sources, their is nothing to refute.
As we see here, you have been unable to cite any reports from say the
UN or AI to support your outrageous claims here.
[snip]
The UNHRC make no specific allegations of torture in this 12-year-old
report. And we know how your political masters like to fabricate lies
about Cuba. Again, here is what HRW, as long ago as 1989, had to say
about the exaggerated claims of your political masters in Miami and
Washington, no doubt the ultimate source of these bullshit claims of
yours:
"...[T]he Commission's initial decision to review human rights in Cuba
was due in large part to exaggerated U.S. charges of ongoing political
executions, disappearances and torture... [T]he U.N. delegation to
Cuba found no evidence to support those allegations."
http://www.hrw.org/reports/1989/WR89/Cuba.htmAgain, unlike the case of
your political masters and their allies, AI reports no in the most
recent reports by Amnesty International
Unlike the case with your political masters and their allies, AI's
most recent reports make no mention of torture at all in Cuba (compare
their 2009 annual reports on Cuba, the USA and Mexico, for example.
Links in previous posting here).
PL
and snipped:
Source: http://capmag.com/articlePrint.asp?ID=625
The screams of tormented women
"Day and night, the screams of tormented women in panic and desperation
who cry for God's mercy fall upon the deaf ears of prison authorities.
They are confined to narrow cells with no sunlight called "drawers" that
have cement beds, a hole on the ground for their bodily needs, and are
infested with a multitude of rodents, roaches, and other insects.
These female prisoners lack all sort of necessary personal possessions
and almost always have no water, even for bathing, often drinking this
precious liquid full of insects. The food distributed to them is
terrible, smells rotten, and is stored in receptacles lacking in
hygiene. Even prison officials have complained of the small quantities
served.
In these "drawers" the women remain weeks and months. When they scream
in terror due to the darkness (blackouts are common) and the heat, they
are injected sedatives that keep them half-drugged."
Source: http://www.cubanet.org/CNews/y03/nov03/10e8.htm
> On Dec 23, 3:34 pm, PL <pl.nos...@pandora.be> wrote:
>> Dan Christensen wrote:
>>> On Dec 22, 3:44 pm, PL <pl.nos...@pandora.be> wrote:
>>>> Dan Christensen wrote:
>>>>> Not this bullshit again! Apart from the US Naval base in Guantanamo,
>>>>> you will not find any reports of this kind of systematic torture in
>>>>> Cuba from either Amnesty International or the UN.
>>> What PL snipped (snip)
>
> What PL snipped (snip)
replied to and exposed as propaganda mlies
>> exposed as propaganda lies
>>
>
> You mean, you snipped and ran away in terror -- as usual.
>
>
>>>> Another lie from Dan Christensen.
>>> No lie, Mr. Lobbyist. As we see here, you have nothing from either AI or the UN to support your outrageous claims. (They have plenty of reports, however, on the systematic torture favoured by your political masters and their allies.) (snip)
>> ye.
>> Lies as shown below.
>>
>
> Sadly for you, (snip)
sadly for you exposed as propaganda
>>>> Human Rights Watch Reports:
>>> [snip]
>>> The US-based Human Rights Watch??? (snip)
>
> What PL snipped for all too obvious reasons:
>
> The US-based Human Rights Watch?(snip)
as shown: respected world-wode
>
>> a reputable human rights organization.
>
> Not any more.(snip)
deal with it Dan, most people don't care a shit what you think.
They deal with reality, not your lies.
>>>> United Nations
>>>> At its fifty-seventh session in April, the U.N. Commission on Human
>>>> Rights passed a resolution expressing concern about continuing human
>>>> rights violations in Cuba, the ninth such resolution passed since 1991,
>>>> and urged the government to invite the U.N. special rapporteurs on
>>>> torture and on freedom of expression to visit the country.
>>>> In the resolution, the Commission noted that Cuba had made "no
>>>> satisfactory improvements" in the area of human rights. It expressed
>>>> particular concern at the "continued repression of members of the
>>>> political opposition," as well as about the "detention of dissidents and
>>>> all other persons detained or imprisoned for peacefully expressing their
>>>> political, religious and social views and for exercising their right to
>>>> full and equal participation in public affairs." An early draft of the
>>>> resolution criticized the U.S. economic embargo on Cuba, but that
>>>> language was omitted from the final version.
>>>> The resolution, which was sponsored by the Czech Republic, passed by a
>>>> 22-20 vote, with a number of abstentions.http://hrw.org/wr2k2/americas5.html
>>> Nothing here to support your outrageous claims. And as we see in your original posting, "In January, Havana invited Manfred Nowak, the special raporteur on torture for the U.N. Human Rights Council, to make his first-ever visit to the island." (snip)-
>> Just concerns about the violations you mean.
>>
>
> No allegations of torture
(snip)
Just of inhumane treatment you mean.
Read up.
>>>> Arziza prison Cienfuegos CubaArziza prison Cienfuegos Cuba
>>>> Cuba: Two years after crackdown, prisoners confined to tiny cells and beaten
>>>> Cuban prisoners of conscience, arrested in the crackdown two years ago
>>>> today (18 March) have been beaten by guards while handcuffed and kept in
>>>> tiny "punishment cells" infested with rats and cockroaches, according to
>>>> a new report launched by Amnesty International today in Madrid.
>>>> Prison guards reportedly stamped on the neck of Juan Carlos Herrera
>>>> Acosta, causing him to pass out during a beating last November while he
>>>> was handcuffed.
>>>> Another man, Luis Enrique Ferrer Garcia, was reportedly stripped and
>>>> beaten by guards during an assault at the Youth Prison of Santa Clara
>>>> last October. He is serving a sentence of 28 years.
>>>> The 71 men, aged 26 to 63, were arrested for ?offences? such as
>>>> publishing critical articles or communicating with human rights groups..
(snip)
of the cruel and inhumane treatment and torture indeed.
>>>> The organisation also calls on the Cuban government to stop using the
>>>> embargo as a pretext to violate the human rights of the Cuban people.
>>>> Background
>>>> Most of the dissidents arrested during the 2003 crackdown were charged
>>>> with offences carrying higher penalties under Article 91 of the Penal
>>>> Code or Law 88.
>>>> Article 91 provides sentences of 10 to 20 years or death for anyone who
>>>> ?in the interest of a foreign state, carries out an act which has the
>>>> objective of harming the independence of the Cuban state or its
>>>> territorial integrity?.
>>>> Law 88, provides lengthy prison terms for those found guilty of
>>>> supporting United States policy on Cuba aimed at "disrupting internal
>>>> order, destabilizing the country and destroying the Socialist State and
>>>> the independence of Cuba".
>>>> Source:http://www.amnesty.org.uk/news/press/15999.shtml
>>> Prisons are violent places at the best of times.(snip)
>
> What PL snipped for all too obvious reasons:
>
> Prisons are violent places at the best of times.(snip)
replied to
>
>> especially of the regime has it in for you.
>> thanks for confirming Amnesty reported torture.
>>
> [snip]
>
> The never even use the word torture, idiot!
(snip)
just describe acts on "cruel and inhumane" behavior you mean.
What is the definition of torture in human rights, Dan.
http://www.cfr.org/publication/9194/convention_against_torture_and_other_cruel_inhumane_or_degrading_treatment_or_punishment.html
>>>> Source:http://www.cubanet.org/CNews/y03/nov03/10e8.htm
>>> CubaNet??? Get real! They are nothing more than a US government-funded propaganda organ! (snip)
>> reporting the same facts as HRW,, Amnesty, ...
>>
> [snip]
>
> A blatant lie.
fact.
>>>> Source:http://www.ishr.org/press/pr2004/jan04/040114cuba.htm
>>> As above, try searching their website for anything on "Guantanamo" or "Abu Ghraib." Nothing. Are they some kind of CIA front? (snip)
>> Yep.
>> As above.
>> You can't refute any of it.
>
> [snip]
>
> Unless you can cite some credible sources, (snip)
You can't refute any of it you mean.
Journalist suspended by his hair by prison guards.
Frankfurt/M. - 27 May 2004. In protest against the continuing torture of
the journalist Normando Hernandez Gonzalez, whose tortures included
being suspended by his hair by prison guards, three fellow prisoners and
Her�ndez himself went on a hunger strike. The prisoners are members of
the organisation "Christian Liberation Movement". Her�ndez has been
imprisoned in "Kilo 51/2" in Pinar del Rio since September 2003. Since
he went on a hunger strike in autumn 2003 to protest against the
inhumane prison conditions, Her�ndez has become victim of continuous
violent attacks.
Source: http://www.ishr.org/press/pr2004/may04/040527cuba.htm
>>>> UNHCR Report 1997.
>>>> Source:http://www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/(Symbol)/A.53.44,paras.101-118..En?Op...
>>> Nothing here to support your outrageous claims.
>> false.
>> demand to address the complaints on torture.
>>
> [snip]
>
> The UNHRC make no specific allegations of torture in this 12-year-old
> report.
(snip)
It just says that the instances and complaints of torture need to be
addressed you mean.
You go down in flames again desperate serial liar.
Torture in Cuba http://www.cubaverdad.net/torture_in_cuba.htm
- Frustration
..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Dan Christensen
[snipping portions of PL's posting already debunked here, or just too
lame too bother with]
> >>>>> Not this bullshit again! Apart from the US Naval base in Guantanamo,
> >>>>> you will not find any reports of this kind of systematic torture in
> >>>>> Cuba from either Amnesty International or the UN.
> >>> What PL snipped (snip)
>
> > What PL snipped (snip)
>
What PL snipped for all too obvious reasons:
And here is what HRW, as long ago as 1989, had to say about the
exaggerated US claims:
-----------------------------------
[Quote]
[End quote]
[Quote]
[End quote]
Who, indeed?
> replied to and exposed as propaganda mlies
[snip]
You mean snipped and ran from in terror. As usual.
Face it, the only torture in Cuba being reporting by mainstream groups
like Amnesty International and the UN is at the hands of your
political masters at the US Naval base in Guantanamo. Whatever it
takes, right, Mr. Lobbyist?
> >>>> United Nations
> >>>> At its fifty-seventh session in April, the U.N. Commission on Human
> >>>> Rights passed a resolution expressing concern about continuing human
> >>>> rights violations in Cuba, the ninth such resolution passed since 1991,
> >>>> and urged the government to invite the U.N. special rapporteurs on
> >>>> torture and on freedom of expression to visit the country.
> >>>> In the resolution, the Commission noted that Cuba had made "no
> >>>> satisfactory improvements" in the area of human rights. It expressed
> >>>> particular concern at the "continued repression of members of the
> >>>> political opposition," as well as about the "detention of dissidents and
> >>>> all other persons detained or imprisoned for peacefully expressing their
> >>>> political, religious and social views and for exercising their right to
> >>>> full and equal participation in public affairs." An early draft of the
> >>>> resolution criticized the U.S. economic embargo on Cuba, but that
> >>>> language was omitted from the final version.
> >>>> The resolution, which was sponsored by the Czech Republic, passed by a
> >>>> 22-20 vote, with a number of abstentions.http://hrw.org/wr2k2/americas5.html
> >>> Nothing here to support your outrageous claims. And as we see in your original posting, "In January, Havana invited Manfred Nowak, the special raporteur on torture for the U.N. Human Rights Council, to make his first-ever visit to the island." (snip)-
> >> Just concerns about the violations you mean.
>
> > No allegations of torture
>
> (snip)
>
> Just of inhumane treatment you mean.
Thanks for confirming that there are no allegations of tortures here.
> > Thanks for confirming AI's condemnation of these cruel and inhumane sanctions of yours, and their call for the immediate and unconditional lifting of these sanctions.
>
> (snip)
> of the cruel and inhumane treatment and torture indeed.
>
Unlike the case of the USA and Mexcio, AI makes no allegations of
torture against Cuba.
> >>>> The organisation also calls on the Cuban government to stop using the
> >>>> embargo as a pretext to violate the human rights of the Cuban people.
> >>>> Background
> >>>> Most of the dissidents arrested during the 2003 crackdown were charged
> >>>> with offences carrying higher penalties under Article 91 of the Penal
> >>>> Code or Law 88.
> >>>> Article 91 provides sentences of 10 to 20 years or death for anyone who
> >>>> ?in the interest of a foreign state, carries out an act which has the
> >>>> objective of harming the independence of the Cuban state or its
> >>>> territorial integrity?.
> >>>> Law 88, provides lengthy prison terms for those found guilty of
> >>>> supporting United States policy on Cuba aimed at "disrupting internal
> >>>> order, destabilizing the country and destroying the Socialist State and
> >>>> the independence of Cuba".
> >>>> Source:http://www.amnesty.org.uk/news/press/15999.shtml
> >>> Prisons are violent places at the best of times.(snip)
>
> > What PL snipped for all too obvious reasons:
>
> > Prisons are violent places at the best of times.(snip)
>
What PL snipped for all too obvious reasons AGAIN!:
Prisons are violent places at the best of times. Nothing here that
couldn't be the result to usual scuffles between prison staff and
unruly inmates. Sadly for you, no allegations of the systematic
torture favoured by your political masters and their allies, Mr.
Lobbyist.
> replied to
>
You mean snipped and avoided -- as usual.
> >> especially of the regime has it in for you.
> >> thanks for confirming Amnesty reported torture.
>
> > [snip]
>
> > The never even use the word torture, idiot!
>
> (snip)
>
What PL snipped for obvious reasons:
The never even use the word torture, idiot! -- unlike the case of
their reports on your political masters and their allies. (Compare
their 2009 annual reports on Cuba, the USA and Mexico, for example.)
> just describe acts on "cruel and inhumane" behavior you mean.
[snip]
Thanks for confirming AI makes no allegations of torture against Cuba
-- unlike the case of the USA and Mexico.
> >>>> Source:http://www.ishr.org/press/pr2004/jan04/040114cuba.htm
> >>> As above, try searching their website for anything on "Guantanamo" or "Abu Ghraib." Nothing. Are they some kind of CIA front? (snip)
> >> Yep.
> >> As above.
> >> You can't refute any of it.
>
> > [snip]
>
> > Unless you can cite some credible sources, their is nothing to refute. As we see here, you have been unable to cite any reports from say the UN or AI to support your outrageous claims here. (snip)
>
> You can't refute any of it you mean.
>
[snip]
I mean, it seems you cannot cite any credible sources to support your
outrageous claims. Repeating them a hundred times will make no
difference.
What PL snipped for obvious reasons:
The UNHRC make no specific allegations of torture in this 12-year-old
report. And we know how your political masters like to fabricate lies
about Cuba. Again, here is what HRW, as long ago as 1989, had to say
about the exaggerated claims of your political masters in Miami and
Washington, no doubt the ultimate source of these bullshit claims of
yours:
"...[T]he Commission's initial decision to review human rights in Cuba
was due in large part to exaggerated U.S. charges of ongoing political
executions, disappearances and torture... [T]he U.N. delegation to
Cuba found no evidence to support those allegations."
http://www.hrw.org/reports/1989/WR89/Cuba.htm Again, unlike the case
of
your political masters and their allies, AI reports no in the most
recent reports by Amnesty International
Unlike the case with your political masters and their allies, AI's
most recent reports make no mention of torture at all in Cuba (compare
their 2009 annual reports on Cuba, the USA and Mexico, for example.
Links in previous posting here).
> It just says that the instances and complaints of torture need to be
> addressed you mean.
Thanks for confirming that AI make no specific allegations of torture
against Cuba in this 12-year-old report. And that, unlike the case
with your political masters and their allies, AI's most recent annual
reports (2009) make no mention of torture at all in Cuba.
Dan
Visit my CUBA: Issues & Answers website at http://tiny.cc/CubaFAQ
(Note new address. Please update your bookmarks and links.)
PS: As an antidote to PL's venomous personal attacks on me here, and
his lies and evasions on everything from his lobbying exploits to the
international condemnation of his beloved embargo, see: "PL's same
tired old lies and evasions EXPOSED" at
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.cuba/msg/36c96cf26743ccca?hl=en&pli=1
PL
> On Dec 27, 9:13 am, PL <pl.nos...@pandora.be> wrote:
>
> [snipping portions of PL's posting already debunked here, or just too
> lame too bother with]
As usual Dan Christensen snips, lies, insults and runs.
>>>>>>> Not this bullshit again! Apart from the US Naval base in Guantanamo,
>>>>>>> you will not find any reports of this kind of systematic torture in
>>>>>>> Cuba from either Amnesty International or the UN.
>>>>> What PL snipped (snip)
>>> What PL snipped (snip)
>
> What PL snipped for all too obvious reasons:
(snip)
repeatedly replied to.
> Face it, the only torture in Cuba being reporting by mainstream groups
> like Amnesty International and the UN
HRW is a "mainstream" group and respected.
is at the hands of your
> political masters
(snip)
I have no masters and Amnesty and the UNHCR reported torture on their
websites
Another lie from Canadian Stalinist and castro lobbyist Dan Christensen.
To set the thread straight and clean again after Dan's desperate lies.
Human Rights Watch Reports:
United Nations
At its fifty-seventh session in April, the U.N. Commission on Human
Rights passed a resolution expressing concern about continuing human
rights violations in Cuba, the ninth such resolution passed since 1991,
and urged the government to invite the U.N. special rapporteurs on
torture and on freedom of expression to visit the country.
In the resolution, the Commission noted that Cuba had made "no
satisfactory improvements" in the area of human rights. It expressed
particular concern at the "continued repression of members of the
political opposition," as well as about the "detention of dissidents and
all other persons detained or imprisoned for peacefully expressing their
political, religious and social views and for exercising their right to
full and equal participation in public affairs." An early draft of the
resolution criticized the U.S. economic embargo on Cuba, but that
language was omitted from the final version.
The resolution, which was sponsored by the Czech Republic, passed by a
22-20 vote, with a number of abstentions.
http://hrw.org/wr2k2/americas5.html
Arziza prison Cienfuegos CubaArziza prison Cienfuegos Cuba
Cuba: Two years after crackdown, prisoners confined to tiny cells and beaten
Cuban prisoners of conscience, arrested in the crackdown two years ago
today (18 March) have been beaten by guards while handcuffed and kept in
tiny "punishment cells" infested with rats and cockroaches, according to
a new report launched by Amnesty International today in Madrid.
Prison guards reportedly stamped on the neck of Juan Carlos Herrera
Acosta, causing him to pass out during a beating last November while he
was handcuffed.
Another man, Luis Enrique Ferrer Garcia, was reportedly stripped and
beaten by guards during an assault at the Youth Prison of Santa Clara
last October. He is serving a sentence of 28 years.
The 71 men, aged 26 to 63, were arrested for ?offences? such as
publishing critical articles or communicating with human rights groups.
Amnesty International believes they were imprisoned for peacefully
The organisation also calls on the Cuban government to stop using the
embargo as a pretext to violate the human rights of the Cuban people.
Background
Most of the dissidents arrested during the 2003 crackdown were charged
with offences carrying higher penalties under Article 91 of the Penal
Code or Law 88.
Article 91 provides sentences of 10 to 20 years or death for anyone who
?in the interest of a foreign state, carries out an act which has the
objective of harming the independence of the Cuban state or its
territorial integrity?.
Law 88, provides lengthy prison terms for those found guilty of
supporting United States policy on Cuba aimed at "disrupting internal
order, destabilizing the country and destroying the Socialist State and
the independence of Cuba".
Source: http://www.amnesty.org.uk/news/press/15999.shtml
Cuba: Fear for safety / Fear of torture / Intimidation / Harassment
PUBLIC
AI Index: AMR 25/002/2006
http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR250022006?open&of=ENG-346
According to reports, days before Ahmed Rodr�guez Albacia's arrest, he,
his family and several dissidents who were gathered at his house were
subjected to so-called "acts of repudiation" ("acto de repudio"),
demonstrations of government supporters outside the homes of dissidents
and activists, which are
often orchestrated by the authorities. Amnesty International believes
that these "acts of repudiation" could amount to psychological torture.
Source: http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR250032006?open&of=ENG-316
The screams of tormented women
"Day and night, the screams of tormented women in panic and desperation
who cry for God's mercy fall upon the deaf ears of prison authorities.
They are confined to narrow cells with no sunlight called "drawers" that
have cement beds, a hole on the ground for their bodily needs, and are
infested with a multitude of rodents, roaches, and other insects.
These female prisoners lack all sort of necessary personal possessions
and almost always have no water, even for bathing, often drinking this
precious liquid full of insects. The food distributed to them is
terrible, smells rotten, and is stored in receptacles lacking in
hygiene. Even prison officials have complained of the small quantities
served.
In these "drawers" the women remain weeks and months. When they scream
in terror due to the darkness (blackouts are common) and the heat, they
are injected sedatives that keep them half-drugged."
Source: http://www.cubanet.org/CNews/y03/nov03/10e8.htm
Journalist suspended by his hair by prison guards.
Frankfurt/M. - 27 May 2004. In protest against the continuing torture of
the journalist Normando Hernandez Gonzalez, whose tortures included
being suspended by his hair by prison guards, three fellow prisoners and
Her�ndez himself went on a hunger strike. The prisoners are members of
the organisation "Christian Liberation Movement". Her�ndez has been
imprisoned in "Kilo 51/2" in Pinar del Rio since September 2003. Since
he went on a hunger strike in autumn 2003 to protest against the
inhumane prison conditions, Her�ndez has become victim of continuous
violent attacks.
Source: http://www.ishr.org/press/pr2004/may04/040527cuba.htm
They kept me in a punishment cell, naked, with several fractures on one leg.
Source: http://capmag.com/articlePrint.asp?ID=625
Mental torture and disease
are to break Cuba's best-known civil rights activist
Dr. Biscet is terrorised in the high security prison "Kilo 8"
Havana/Frankfurt/M. - 14 January 2004. The International Society for
Human rights reports that Cuba's best-known political prisoner, the
civil rights activist Dr Oscar Elias Biscet, is systematically
terrorised in the high security prison "Kilo 8". Biscet was transferred
to the high security prison near Havana in mid-November. He had to live
through a three-week special punishment in a subterranean dark cell
under inhuman conditions.
Source: http://www.ishr.org/press/pr2004/jan04/040114cuba.htm
UNHCR Report 1997.
Concluding observations of the Committee against Torture : Cuba. 21/11/97.
A/53/44,paras.101-118. (Concluding Observations/Comments)
Recommendations
Source:
http://www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/(Symbol)/A.53.44,paras.101-118.En?Opendocument
Torture in Cuba
http://www.cubaverdad.net/torture_in_cuba.htm
THE STANDARD REPLY TO DAN'S LIES AND PERSONAL INSULTS.
Posted in reply to Dan's slanderous lobbyist lies.
- Frustration
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