Following is an excerpt from a debate posted on the CubaNews mailing list from another unspecified forum on Cuba.
From: Karen Lee Wald
Sent: Monday, April 23, 2001 9:37 AM
Subject:
Re: Fwd: The truth some don't want to see:
Another Not-so-Concise Terrorist
Chronology
Armando, of the group that calls itself the New Generation (NG)
of
Cuban Americans, writes:
Of course I'm sure you, Karen and the rest of those who admire Cuba's communist system would totally dismiss the thousands of cases of executions, jailings and torture that the Cuban government has conducted for the past 42 years and that have been documented by human rights groups and living relatives. To condemn violence in the case of radical exile groups but condone the Cuban government's use of violence is the ultimate in hypocrisy.
Armando Fana
New Generation Cuba
Karen's response:
You should be careful about lumping together "jailings, torture and executions". They are not, after all, the same thing.
Actually, I did sincerely and for a number of years investigate such claims -- alongside members of international human rights groups such as Americas Watch, the National Committee Against Torture, and others. Attempts at verification of charges of torture, disappearances, and summary executions of the type used by rightwing dictatorships to instill fear in their populations simply were not fruitful. When pressed on the issue of torture, most government opponents retreated to a position that the jailing of their comrades amounted to "psychological torture".
On "disappearances":
Ricardo Bofill came up with a case of a young
man whose clothes were found on a beach and whose mother was convinced he
would not have simply taken off like that. However, that man was not a
political activist and there was no reason to assume Cuban government forces
would have wished to do him in.
He and Elizardo Sanchez also presented Bill DeWind, then head of Americas' Watch, with a long list of reputed political prisoners, but with no details -- not even their homes or the prisons they were supposedly in or the crimes they'd been convicted of. When DeWind pressed for these details, and verification, he was told it was impossible to get due to the "repressive nature of the regime". Given that such verification WAS forthcoming from survivors, victims, witnesses and others in truly bloody regimes such as Pinochet's Chile, Videla's Argentina, and throughout Central America during the 80s, DeWind said it was inconceivable that Cubans, facing a far less threatening situation, would be unwilling or unable to come up with documentation of their charges of abuse.
The Committee Against Torture reported, after their visit, that there was no credible evidence that torture was part of the government's policy or practice in Cuba. They pointed out at a press conference that the object of systematic torture (as well as the practices of leaving maimed or battered bodies along the road with their throats slit, "disappearance" and similar measures of state terrorism) was precisely to terrify the population into obedience, to make them too afraid to resist the illegal regime in power.
That was clearly not the case in Cuba, they said, because everyone they spoke to throughout the island (ordinary citizens, not just government officials) denied that any such occurrences happened in their country. "Torture and disappearance lose their effectiveness if no one knows it is happening" they explained at the press conference. "The whole purpose of instilling terror in the population is lost if you do it in secret."
Furthermore, numerous members of the "human rights committee" originally headed by Ricardo Bofill (since then it has divided into numerous splinter groups which, despite the US' attempts to get them to present a united image, still often squabble with each other and break off into separate "organizations", some with only 2 or 3 "members") would come up to me knowing I was an American reporter, slipping me pieces of paper they urgently asked me to present to the US Interests Section.
Contrary to your expectations, they did not contain allegations of abuse, torture, etc. of some friend or loved-one. They were uniformly requests for expedited visas to the US. That's when I became discouraged with these so-called "human rights activists". They only human right most of them were interested in was improving their standard of living. I think that is a worthy goal, but would be much better achieved by having the US end its hostility (economic and otherwise) towards Cuba, trade with it normally, and stop pressuring others around the world to not trade with Cuba. Then Cubans could have a decent standard of living without having to leave their country.
Karen Lee Wald
PS: Probably also contrary to your expectations, I did not show those notes to any Cuban authorities before passing them on. That would have been a violation of the code of ethics all journalists (are supposed to) adhere to.
And some of us still believe in ethics, just as we still believe in ideals -- that's why we support what the Cuban Revolution is trying to do.
She describes herself as follows:
I've been travelling to and from Cuba and writing about it for over 30 years. ... I lived there 18 years. Raised two children there. Knew, arranged meetings for, translated for, Ricardo Bofill, Elizardo Sanchez.talked to their followers.
Lived through the worst of the "Special Period" in the 90s when blackouts lasted as long as 16 hours a day, and when it was impossible to sleep because if you stayed inside, you suffocated without a fan and if you tried sleeping out on the balcony the mosquitoes ate you alive.
Was out on the beaches -- and in the water on a boat -- during the summer of the balseros, talking with everyone about why they were leaving, the craziness of risking their children's lives on flimsy embarkations in search of the illusive pot of gold, went into the prisons, talked with prisoners.
I saw the best and the worst of what the Cuban revolution had to offer. I have no illusions that it is a Utopia, but also know perfectly well that it is not the Inferno [some say it is.] ... It's mostly decent, hardworking people trying to make a better life for everyone -- including for the "everyone's" there who don't appreciate it, who want more, who would rather be in Miami (or more precisely, have Miami's luxuries there on the island), who don't do their fair share, who cheat and steal from others who don't deserve that treatment because they too are poor and struggling.