Cuba dissident jailed since July goes to court (for buying cement)

Cuba dissident jailed since July goes to court

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100622/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/cb_cuba_jailed_activist

HAVANA – A prominent Cuban opposition figure jailed nearly a year ago was taken to court Tuesday for trial on charges of purchasing black-market cement.

Darsy Ferrer arrived at the courthouse in Havana's 10 de Octubre district in a police car with two Ministry of Interior agents wearing green uniforms.

His wife, Yusnaimy Jorge Soca, and small group of supporters waited outside the building for about two hours. Jorge was then let in — suggesting the proceedings against Ferrer had begun, though the trial was closed to the media and most of the public.

Diplomats from the United States, Britain and a few other nations stood in the shade of trees outside the court building and observed the scene from afar.

A physician, Ferrer is among Cuba's most prominent dissidents. Like most opposition activists, however, he is better known in Florida and Europe than his country.

In years past, he organized tiny street demonstrations to mark International Human Rights Day in December, but he has been in prison since July 21, 2009, for allegedly purchasing bags of cement on the black market.

The state controls nearly all construction under Cuba's communist system and many people turn to private sources for quicker repairs. That cement is often pilfered from state stocks.

Ferrer and his wife have not denied they bought the cement for home repairs, but say the case is politically motivated. Ferrer's supporters say that his political views led authorities to jail him for a crime usually only punishable by a fine.

He was also on probation, and that requires that they commit no crimes to stay out of jail.

Just like here.

Headline is nice spin for suckers though.

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and stays away from the cement mafia types.

And if one were in a three strikes state and it was one's 3rd strike - no parole.

Has nothing to do with the "horrible" crime, mainly the violation of probation. Nice attempt at the distraction though.

:hi:

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I think he's done enough time for that "infraction". what about you??

what's he on probation for anyway?? Insulting Castro or something.

A felony.
He has violated the terms of probation.
In most countries of this world, violating the terms of probation usually means the rescinding of probation (unless you're a famous actor or sports star).

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How do you know that is what he did?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100622/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/cb_cuba_jailed_activist

Ferrer and his wife have not denied they bought the cement for home repairs

I'm sure that you remember that Raul announced a crackdown on the black markets that resell stolen state goods, and that included buying these pilfered goods.


There's a familiar pattern.

The Cubaphobes made loud noises in the US RW media claiming that rocker Gorki was arrested for his speech, turned out not to be true. It turned out that he got a civil citation for disturbing the peace because his punk rock band was practicing too loud and the neighbors complained. The judge treated him fairly despite Gorki being on probation for a drug conviction - a $26 fine.

The Ladies in White were said to have been brutally rounded up by Castro's jackboots during a march, with lots of media attention to US based media whores marching on Miami's streets with the likes of Luis Posada - turned out not to be true. The Ladies were rousted from a non permitted sit-in by unarmed female police officers to make room for a permitted event in the same location they were staging their protest sit-in. They were all given bus rides to their homes with no citations.

And now this case. Claims are made that his arrest was based on political speech or actions (like above accusations). Again, not true. It turns out that the "aggrieved party", who was on probation, was engaged in illegal activities with black market thieves.


All of these cases are ridiculously weak in the attempt to make accusations against Castro's gulag state. All actions by authorities in above cases are quite reasonable, by any standard including US legal standards.

The more trumped up non stories like these that come from the anti Cuba factions, the more credibility they lose (not that they have much anyway). Keep up the good work.

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do you??

how you doing in Ecuador anyway??

Haven't made the move yet, cuz the economy here in Miami is so bad that I can't get anywhere near a fair price for my practice.
Been back and forth a bunch of times, though.
Its a very long process.
Thanks for asking.

Going to Nicaragua on another surgical mission soon.

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I think I'd live in Cuenca if I had a choice but I'm sure you have your favorite. Don't let any misconceptions prevent you from visiting Ecuador's neighbors.

You make a good point that the press made this out to be perhaps different than it was, but at the same time buying something from the black market is not necessarily the same as walking up to the construction site yourself and taking it. But again, thank you for the link.

So you think it's reasonable to jail a person for several months for buying a couple of bags of stolen cement? I never heard of ANY country where this is done. Care to give us some references regarding what is done in the US should a person be found to have purchased two bags of cement stolen from a government warehouse? I would love to see this information, so I can start a campaign to change the law and go protest against it.

Maybe you should do a little research on probation violation, since you know nothing about this topic also (imo, just posting strawman theories, dodging the facts).

ANyway, the guy is out of jail now, having served the term for probation violation.

:hi:

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I just love the support for the black marketeer thieves that is present here in this forum.

:hi:

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"The state controls nearly all construction under Cuba's communist system and many people turn to private sources for quicker repairs."

That tells a lot right there. If he can't get it done himself, why shouldn't he find a way of getting it? The State controls all of it. So you either have to wait forever to get anything done, or you go out there and find a way. I mean... can they just go out to a Home Depot and get what they need? If not, the only place to get it is from Castro, and you don't feel like waiting 6 months to fix that crack in your driveway or whatever, all you can do is go to the black market.

I believe things in Cuba are so bad the guy is unlikely to worry about a crack in his driveway. It would be interesting to know what it was for. Let's face it, they have a very repressive and cruel dictatorship, run by an old dictator who has been in power for 50 years. What a bunch of clowns.

Evidenced by your comment "run by an old dictator who has been in power for 50 years".

How do you know things are "so bad" in Cuba?

Got family there that you speak with every few days?

Got professional associates who live there that you talk to weekly?

Maybe you've been there recently?

Please, fill us in on your personal experiences that lead you to this belief. Thanks.

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s

What the hell more do we need?

:rofl:

Good thing the Cuban government makes it so hard to get concrete to take care of home repairs. That doesn't sound repressive at all.

Proof please.

This guy bought stolen concrete on the cheap from a thief, referred to as "black market" in the MSM the create the impression that 'its the damn government' like the teabaggers say here in the USA. The guy might have been doing an addition to his house without a permit too (since the cement was stolen cement from a government project).

"Some guy sold me this stolen cement for my illegal addition for a great price."

"We don't need no dam gubmint"

I guess we all should be supporting non permitted and therefore un-inspected construction using stolen construction materials. Yeah. That's the ticket. Worked in Haiti.
Cool


"We don't need no dam gubmint"

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There are degrees between "We don't need no gubmint" and "The state controls nearly all construction under Cuba's communist system and many people turn to private sources for quicker repairs."

I'm just saying that if they relaxed they controls, may be allowed a Lowe's or a Home Depot to be built there, maybe the country would be a little bit easier to live in. And people wouldn't be stealing concrete as much. There is a black market on drugs here. Not so much on things that are easier to get, like simple building material.

Ever heard of the US's extra territorial sanctions on Cuba? US businesses can't do business in/with Cuba without onerous permitting procedures from the Treasury Dept's OFAC (office of foreign assets and controls), that manages the US sanctions on Cuba. The US government position on Cuba is that Cuba is still considered to be the enemy of the US. Nothing could be further from the truth.

It seems that you are making suggestions based on a near total lack of information.

You might want to do some elementary research on the topic.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=US+sanctions+on+Cuba&aq=f&aqi=g1g-i2&aql=t&oq=&gs_rfai=CZbC0R6AkTKzdLaPuzATv7fXRCgAAAKoEBU_QPuvK

My position is that the US should end the extra territorial sanctions on Cuba (as has been the near unanimous vote in the UN for decades now), and the US gov should end the travel ban on US citizens (of non-Cuban descent). Despite other disagreements here, most of us here agree with this principle.

All the Cubans got to do to end the embargo is hold democratic elections and release their political prisoners. The elections they hold are bs, and their Constitution needs to be amended before they can hold free and fair elections. While I'm at it, they should also dissolve the Communist party, and ban transmission of communist propaganda on government own channels and media. This means they need to close down their commie papers or allow a free press to emerge.

:rofl:

You disaster capitalists want for Cuba what happened to Haiti (banning the most popular party).

Easy to see what the US "rehabilitation" of Cuba would mean.


Plus, your projections of what is going on in Cuba now are not accurate.

Please, do inform us of your actual experiences in Cuba that lead you to make your above remarks.

Thanks.

Look how great de-Baathification is going there.

The others fling shit into the fan.