Christmas & New Year's Message For Cuba

For the past twenty years, when I thought of the stages of a new country with great libertarian potential being formed, I have first thought of people in Cuba clandestinely meeting in homes or secret places to determine how to claim their God given liberties from a tyrant.  I always think of these Cuban people, who are daring greatly, trying to break away from such tyrants.  In the process the people being liberated go from bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from courage to liberty; & from liberty to abundance.  These are the stages that all great nations have gone through, epitomized by the United States formation in 1776.

So I was pleased on July 11, 2021 when anti-communist protests targeting the Cuban government spontaneously broke out in San Antonio de Los Banos, a city south of Havana, starting with a lone protester walking the streets shouting "Freedom!" & other anti-communist government slogans before he was joined by a friend.  This turned into tens of thousands of protesters in more than 60 cities & towns that participated.  

Now Cuba has no Bill of Rights - no freedom of religion, speech, the press, assembly, or association - freedoms Americans take for granted.  Let alone any right to be secure in their houses against unreasonable searches & seizures or quartering Soldiers, or not to be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law or the taking of private property for public use without just compensation.  There is no ban in Cuba on cruel & unusual punishment being inflicted or a right to trial by jury or Law forbidding the impairment of the Obligation of Contracts.

There is no Constitution Cubans can call on to protect them with the due process of law or to ensure them the equal protection of the law.

In Cuba there are no individual rights or liberties from which the right to self-government is derived - including the right to vote or otherwise determine the form of that government.

Without these constitutional protections those who dared to speak out against the Cuban government last summer risked being beaten to death in the streets by the dictator's military or later imprisoned &/or put to death.  And these Cubans in the streets were ordinary people (in one sense) - men & women of every race, age, & locale.

During the commotion of last summer's spontaneous anti-communist protests against the Cuban government many protesters escaped the tyranical Cuban government & braved the 90 mile ocean trip to America only to be told by Biden to return to Cuba & almost certain death.  This underhanded & mean decision by Biden to deny freedom seekers from Cuba entry to America while he was openly inviting in Mexican migrants carrying disease including Covid-19, who are resource draining poor people in need of skills & education, looking to exploit America's generosity, clearly shows the deterioration & anti-American policies against freedom & liberty that Biden prefers.  Having freedom loving Cubans come to America does not fit into Democrat's hateful plans for transforming America.

Now even the jailing of nearly 1,200 Cuban protesters - with about 200 of those facing five to twenty-five year sentences on criminal charges of sabotage, sedition, & confronting socialism - in the biggest demonstrations in decades has not discouraged the people protesting their repression.  After being denied a permit to hold a peaceful, nationwide demonstration on November 15 the dissidents were not dissuaded.

The communist Cuban government realized this & proactively & preemptively sent out large security forces to repress the planned protest that was brought on by an economic crisis that included widespread shortages of food, medicine, & basic goods.  Large police presences in cities prevented protesters from marching & secret police were stationed in homes of known protest organizers to keep them from meeting with other dissidents. 

So there is an uneasy standoff - but the dissidents are receiving help & support from outside the communist island nation.  

Three days after the squelched protest in November "Patria y Vida," which means "Fatherland & Life," won song of the year @ the Latin Grammy awards.  The rap song is in direct conflict with Cuba's decades old slogan "Patria o Muerte," which means "Fatherland or Death." 

Below is a stanza from the song - you can see why it has been banned in Cuba & why Cubans caught listening to it are fined the equivalent of a month's salary.

"My people ask for freedom, no more doctrines, Let's no longer shout homeland or death but homeland & life, And start building what we dream of, What they destroyed with their hands, That the blood does not continue to flow, For wanting to think differently, Who told you that Cuba is yours?, If my Cuba belongs to all my people, your time is up, the silence is broken, (It's over) the laughter is over & the crying is already running, (It's over) & we're not afraid, the deception is over."

So it is to Cuba, & specifically the libertarian people who dare greatly to protest in the streets against as brutal a regime as exists on earth, that I dedicate this Christmas & New Year's message - namely, it is the future that they bring when tomorrow comes.