Best wishes to the people of Cuba-

[El Presidente]

34 minutes ago, Ryan said:

Cubans need help and supplies yes, foreign influence, no.

Bingo

 

2 minutes ago, Jimmy_jack said:

Mansions will need to burn and politicians will need to abandon the island for change to occur. That’s the truth. 

They need represenation/seat at a new table and an agreed agenda  for permanent change. 

Use the momentum, extract what compromises they can in the short term, reset, get leadership/direction and a plan. Go again. 

[MPS]

They want access to food and medicine. The basics. Covid and failed policy have escalated the problems. Mobile internet access (at least up until Sunday) has allowed protests to get organised somewhat.
It's not just Covid medicine they need either. Just about every kind of treatment drug and painkiller. People are dying due to lack of access to the basics. Much worse in the last few months than probably any time since 1959.
A small anecdotal example. I have a friend in Jaimanitas who has MS, a young mother. Two weeks ago, she had to go and buy a month's supply of Interferon from a dying man. Now she has medicine for a month.
Diaz-Canal is keeping up the position that the unrest is caused by influence from across the straits, of course. That it is a new form of Imperialism from the US that he says has never gone away. I hope nothing is done that could give any kind of fuel to that argument.
Hints above that "supplies other than food and medicine is being loaded on boats bound for Cuba", that would almost certainly backfire, if there is any truth to those rumours. "Freedom", as also stated above, is important yes, but at least as important to Cubans, given their history, is Independence. The best possibility of change happening, and sticking, in Cuba is if Cubans can be seen to have done it for and by themselves. 
News images of any weapons being unloaded from the US would at very least cause a wobble in determination and could have people switching sides. People. anywhere, will put up with a lot of hardship if they believe they are doing it to withstand aggression from a foreign enemy, as has been seen up until now in Cuba.
Cubans need help and supplies yes, foreign influence, no.

Lots of people here signing this

http://chng.it/NFcsH88z


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Jimmy_jack]

5 minutes ago, El Presidente said:

Bingo

 

They need represenation/seat at a new table and an agreed agenda  for permanent change. 

Use the momentum, extract what compromises they can in the short term, reset, get leadership/direction and a plan. Go again. 

Agreed, they certainly cant leave a vacuum. The idea some here have that a peaceful revolution can win the day is unfortunately inaccurate. Plain and simple. All the oppressors know is blood and greed. They will let the streets flow with blood to keep their wealth. The people have nothing to combat that in any meaningful way. Maybe guerrilla hits, clandestine attacks. But those are just mosquito bites. 
 

I’m not wanting to sound like a warmonger. Quite the opposite. I want peace for them. I just understand what reality is.
 

Poets and journalists won’t win this fight. It will be won with flesh and blood.

[Ryan]

3 minutes ago, miamipadronsmoker said:

Lots of people here signing this

http://chng.it/NFcsH88z


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I can't sign that as I don't agree with the petition.

Having said that, I'm torn. I know that failed policy and shortages have caused deaths and suffering in Cuba, but not militarily. I really think, given what history has shown, Cuba has to decide for itself.

If the Cuban government starts pulling a "Bashar Al-Assad" ands starts fire-bombing residential blocks from the air, I would change my position immediately. But it's not there yet. I want change in Cuba as much as anyone, but for it to last and for any kind of conflict to be over as soon as possible, it needs to be done by themselves as a popular revolution.

How many revolutions have failed, or dragged out for 10 -20 years with no satisfactory resolution, when those in power can spread doubt among the population by questioning the motives of foreign power or military. That has already begun in Cuba, since 1962, and before that in 1898. In Cuba, history can at least be seen to back up that argument. 

[Toast & Taste]

41 minutes ago, Jimmy_jack said:

Agreed, they certainly cant leave a vacuum. The idea some here have that a peaceful revolution can win the day is unfortunately inaccurate. Plain and simple. All the oppressors know is blood and greed. They will let the streets flow with blood to keep their wealth. The people have nothing to combat that in any meaningful way. Maybe guerrilla hits, clandestine attacks. But those are just mosquito bites. 
 

I’m not wanting to sound like a warmonger. Quite the opposite. I want peace for them. I just understand what reality is.
 

Poets and journalists won’t win this fight. It will be won with flesh and blood.

It is possible. The Soviet Union; Poland, just to name a couple. 

 

Big Al 

[Nino]

45 minutes ago, miamipadronsmoker said:

Lots of people here signing this
http://chng.it/NFcsH88z
 

Have to agree with Andy here - Extremely counterproductive IMHO unless the regime starts killing people en masse.

Sending in US or any foreign troops would rob any legitimacy from the uprising and any progress the protesters could make.

 

[Nino]

Update : phone lines are still open, just spoke to 2 good friends in HAV.

One is locked in at home in the Vibora Park area and says all is quiet there but unrest in the city and the other is busy rolling cigars at a factory near Revolution square.

Both confirm that Internet is cut off and situation tense.

Topping up mobiles for your Cuban friends is a good idea so they can communicate.

[JohnnyO]

The dudes in black uniforms are "Avispas Negras" or black wasps. They are kinda SWAT/Special Forces that are more show than anything. Yeah they can do more push-ups and lift more weights but have never been used for anything but presidential escorts and bomb threats. One of the worrysome events is that they are taking away cel phones away from people recording, taking pics. It can be uniformed police or undercover national security. There is a flotilla (parade) headed there Friday by boat that will stop at the 12 mile international water line. It starts in Miami and surely will take off from Key West. Military intervention is not the way to go but assistance from international groups like Red Cross/Churches might help. John

[JohnnyO]

At this moment there is a protest in SW Miami on the Palmetto Expressway (SR 826) shutting down a major highway. It is said there will be more protests throughout the day asking for military intervention. I think that is the common rhetoric to just bring attention to Cuba's situation. John

[chris12381]

I've been scraping compelling videos and photos I've encountered on Fb, Twitter, YT, IG, etc since this started. There are also videos I've been sent by friends on island.  Also included are things prior to the protests that I were posted online in the days before that I believe "lit the match."

I've found sometimes people will post and the video disappear after the people do.  Unfortunately, I've been right in a few instances.  I'm sharing the link so anyone interested can see themselves what is going on.  I'll continue to add to it so long as there are people in the streets.  AS I encounter more stuff, I'll add it.  Consider it a living repository.  

https://photos.app.goo.gl/WXQyXLTbcvyshLRRA

PyV

Chris

[helix]

Scary in the pics/vids you can see the number of Regime spy's popping up in plain clothes to beat/arrest protesters and even journalists . I fear for the Cubans that get arrested , may never be seen or heard from again. Hopefully not like 1959 (thanks Nino) when the dissidents were quickly rounded up and executed by Castro .

[Nino]

1 hour ago, chris12381 said:

I've been scraping compelling videos and photos I've encountered on Fb, Twitter, YT, IG, etc since this started. There are also videos I've been sent by friends on island.  Also included are things prior to the protests that I were posted online in the days before that I believe "lit the match."

I've found sometimes people will post and the video disappear after the people do.  Unfortunately, I've been right in a few instances.  I'm sharing the link so anyone interested can see themselves what is going on.  I'll continue to add to it so long as there are people in the streets.  AS I encounter more stuff, I'll add it.  Consider it a living repository.  

https://photos.app.goo.gl/WXQyXLTbcvyshLRRA

PyV

Chris

Thank you for that ! I have shared it in other forums - great job and sad and scary to see some of the videos.

6 minutes ago, helix said:

Scary in the pics/vids you can see the number of Regime spy's popping up in plain clothes to beat/arrest protesters and even journalists . I fear for the Cubans that get arrested , may never be seen or heard from again. Hopefully not like like 1956 when the dissidents were quickly rounded up and executed by Castro .

There is one video of armed civilians attacking people for filming on their cell phones, drawing guns and wanting to seize the cell phones...

But : No idea what you mean by Fidel and 1956, makes little sense.

[BrightonCorgi]

On the more conservative American cable networks the Cuban protests are getting a lot of coverage.

The official stance of US government is that the protests are mostly Covid related and the US government is looking into ways of possibly providing vaccines to Cuba.

[djrey]

4 minutes ago, BrightonCorgi said:

On the more conservative American cable networks the Cuban protests are getting a lot of coverage.

The official stance of US government is that the protests are mostly Covid related and the US government is looking into ways of possibly providing vaccines to Cuba.

It's just another example of the flaws of the system. It's an embarrassment to them. Prepare to hear "Cuba isn't real socialism."

[helix]

14 minutes ago, Nino said:

Thank you for that ! I have shared it in other forums - great job and sad and scary to see some of the videos.

There is one video of armed civilians attacking people for filming on their cell phones, drawing guns and wanting to seize the cell phones...

But : No idea what you mean by Fidel and 1956, makes little sense.

Sorry 1958 after Castro took power . 

[Silverstix]

1 hour ago, BrightonCorgi said:

On the more conservative American cable networks the Cuban protests are getting a lot of coverage.

The official stance of US government is that the protests are mostly Covid related and the US government is looking into ways of possibly providing vaccines to Cuba.

Playing it real safe with this one for the time being aren't they? Maybe COVID was the tipping point here but everyone (including the US gov't) knows it's not just about COVID 

[Nino]

1 hour ago, helix said:

Sorry 1958 after Castro took power . 

Fidel took power in 1959 ... and Che did most of the killings.

[Nino]

46 minutes ago, Silverstix said:

Playing it real safe with this one for the time being aren't they? Maybe COVID was the tipping point here but everyone (including the US gov't) knows it's not just about COVID 

Certainly not about Covid - People are yelling Freedom, down with repression and down with the dictatorship.

Have not heard anyone demand an end to US sanctions or for the US to intervene.

My 2 cents is that for leftist US/global media Cuba is a political minefield. Suddenly the socialist poster boy island is demanding freedom & human rights and the emperor has no clothes, all the misery is there for the world to see - how dare they destroy the myth ...

[PigFish]

2 minutes ago, Nino said:

Certainly not about Covid - People are yelling Freedom, down with repression and down with the dictatorship.

Have not heard anyone demand an end to US sanctions or for the US to intervene.

My 2 cents is that for leftist US/global media Cuba is a political minefield. Suddenly the socialist poster boy island is demanding freedom & human rights - how dare they destroy the myth ...

Careful Nino... The truth about socialism can make you real unpopular on cigar forums!!! -LOL You must first rationalize every other form of political/economic system and prove that they are flawless. Then, but only then, can you talk socialism. -LOL 

Thanks for your updates and contributions. -R

[helix]

29 minutes ago, Nino said:

Fidel took power in 1959 ... and Che did most of the killings.

Thanks was going from memory. Prime minister 1959–76 and president 1976–2008 .

The point is how ruthless the regime was and maybe still is. 

[chris12381]

2 hours ago, BrightonCorgi said:

On the more conservative American cable networks the Cuban protests are getting a lot of coverage.

The official stance of US government is that the protests are mostly Covid related and the US government is looking into ways of possibly providing vaccines to Cuba.

I don't know that I would call that the "office stance" of the US government.  Though I wouldn't disagree those channels you speak of do.   

Denying the role that COVID has played would be innacurate.  In fact there have been shouts for vaccines in some videos I have seen...among other many grievances.  But Libertad and Patria y Vida and some other colorful Cuban slang words for Mr Diaz Canel are the most common utterances to be heard. 

COVID has affected every country, just has it has Cuba and I would propose that COVID and the cascade it caused within Cuba's "system" has been the proverbial straw that broke their back.  If you go back a week or two before the protests and look at videos that were being posted online for all Cuban society to see, they are all directly related to the misery caused by COVID.  I'm talking about a woman posting a video of head dead brother's corpse sitting in her house because she was told there was no ambulance to take him to the hospital so she needed to continue to treat him at home and besides, they had no medication to treat him there anyways.  She went on to talk about how their healthcare system was all lies.  

Videos of food lines (which are nothing new) that start at 5AM and go until the late evening and often result in those people waiting going home empty handed.  All the while they are waiting in close quarters and risking infection.  

Videos inside hospitals of people and children dying in the hallways because there is no bedspace left. 

Hell, a video a dead man who threw himself out his 5th floor window but not before he killed a bunch of his neighbors with a machete and set his apartment on fire.  I believe this was in Parque Vibora.  I can't find it anymore.  Don't really want to.    

So I would say that daily life, which has alway been difficult for Cubans was made all the more challenging by COVID when tourism was essentially eliminated for essentially 15 months (and the mules which bring goods, cash and medicine).  Then you can add the Western Union and other remmitance blockade between the US and Cuba which went into effect in November of 2020.  I remember a figure which estimated remittances accounted for 20% of the Cuban economy.  No power for the majority of the time, no fuel, major food shortages, what many describe as a complete collapse of the healthcare system and COVID numbers that right now are 7 times higher per capita than the US...and that's based on the numbers they are reporting. 

In speaking with my friend today in Havana I asked, "Hermano...What took you so long?"  

 

[MPS]

Camagüey !!!!

[chris12381]

2 hours ago, miamipadronsmoker said:

Camagüey !!!!

Cuban police allowing protesters in Camagüey to continue

[El Presidente]

you guys are doing a great job bringing us up to speed 

[chris12381]

The Cuban government is without a doubt lying when they say there thave been no protests today.  There certainly have been.

However, it has been over one hour since the rumors started online (as of 3PM PDT) that the city of Camagüey was liberated and as of now, everything online seems to indicate otherwise.  

For now.