After a thorough investigation, the news site 14ymedio has put together a list of terms that Cuba's regime censors from SMS (text) messages.
Prominently featured on the list are democracy leaders, such as Berta Soler, Guillermo Farinas, Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet, Jorge Luis Garcia "Antunez" and Jose Daniel Ferrer.
It is the 48th day of Cuban democracy leader Guillermo Fariñas' hunger strike.
Yesterday, he was rushed to the hospital in critical condition.
Statement by U.S. Rep. John Katko (R-NY), Chairman of the House Transportation Security Subcommittee, released the following statement on this week's first commercial flight departure from the U.S. to Cuba:
"In spite of concerns about the security of Cuban airports, the Obama Administration continues to push political goals at the expense of the safety and security of the traveling public by moving forward with commercial flights between Cuba and the U.S. This premature, and ill-advised opening represents a direct threat to our national security..."
Today, JetBlue inaugurated its commercial flight from Ft. Lauderdale to Santa Clara, Cuba.
The flight included more Obama Administration officials and fluff media than actual passengers.
But more interestingly is who wasn't on the JetBlue flight.
This week, former British Ambassador to Cuba, Paul Hare, wrote a column about the Cuban military's takeover of Old Havana -- the heart and soul of the island's tourism activity.
However, this not simply about the Cuban military "outmaneuvering" a fellow regime apparatchik, Eusebio Leal. It's about the Castro regime gaming Obama's policy.
A Cuban’s Ultimate Battle to Win the Streets
By declaring a hunger strike on July 20th, to the same rhythm of a beating undertaken with the precision of a karate expert, repressors on guard warned Guillermo Farinas that “I was becoming a dangerous person, that they didn’t want me out on the street, that this disciplinary measure – beatings, torture – was given to me so that I dedicate myself to the magazine and the newspaper, but not the streets.”
Last month, the Basel Institute on Governance released its 2016 Basel AML Index.
The Basel AML Index is the most renowned, annual ranking assessing country risk regarding money laundering/terrorism financing. It focuses on anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing (AML/CTF) frameworks and other related factors such as financial/public transparency and judicial strength.
During a radio interview this week, Democrat vice-presidential nominee, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, stated that Obama's Cuba policy "has already opened doors in the Americas with other countries."
Opened doors for Iran, perhaps.
Senator Kaine's statement seems particularly out-of-touch as Iranian Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, is currently in Cuba for the kickoff of a Latin America tour.
It's also out-of-touch as Cuba's puppet-regime in Venezuela further radicalizes and Nicaragua transitions from democracy to dictatorship.
FANTU Activists Ask Obama to “Save the Life” of Guillermo Fariñas
A group of activists from the Anti-Totalitarian Forum (FANTU) have sent an open letter to President Barack Obama, asking him to “save the life of Guillermo Fariñas Hernández” who, as of Sunday, has been on a hunger strike for 32 days. The missive is addressed to the leader as “president of the country which is a beacon of human rights in the world.”
Cuban dissident Guillermo Fariñas, whose health has sharply declined over the month since he began a hunger strike to protest human right violations, was rushed to a hospital Thursday.
Doctors and nurses spent eight hours trying to stabilize Fariñas, who lost consciousness, said another dissident, Jorge Luis Artiles Montiel, who has been holding vigil at the hunger striker’s home and serving as his spokesman.
The dissident's Thursday hospitalization was the third one in the last two weeks.
