do cubans REALLY get jailed if...

[R_P_A_S]

this has been a big claim for years and years.

"cubans get put in jail, tortured or executed if they voice public dislike or Castro and the Cuban Government"

and I'm not even talking about counter-revolutionary stuff. just simply saying stuff like. "I don't like Fidel" or "The government does a bad job"

does this really land you in Jail? I have been studying Cuba for some time now and well. I can't find anything or any good proof that this is true.

But if you guys ever noticed when most people have a camera and microphone in their face. they do hesitate to answer questions and just seem very skeptical and uncomfortable. why is this?

is it because the informants? trying to cash in on "counter-revolutionaries"?

[which doctor]

I highly doubt that Cuba would have the time and resources to jail all everyone who voices dislike of the government, so no.

[Dominicana_1965]

Theres been various times where people in Cuba have claimed "Fidel promised us this & that" & "theres not much money". The majority that say this though are the youth that didn't witness the human improvements made by Cuba after the revolution.

[PigmerikanMao]

Usually the people who make that argument are anti-communists who observe maybe one man who threw rocks at the party HQ and were put in jail, label them a political prisoner, and spread the idea that there are mass jailings going on in Cuba, which the American government then furthers because of its own distrust with Fidel, leading the general public to instantly believe it's true. I, however, fail to see any proof in these accusations, and thus do not take them seriously.

[bootleg42]

Yeah plus I always notice one thing, when those anti-castro sites puts those list of names of "political prisoners", they never list what the Cuban government accused them of. Plus most of those sites are part of organizations that are or recieved funding from the U.S. government.

So don't believe it when you hear that people are being thrown in jail left and right only for saying bad things about Fidel.

[Demogorgon]

It is nearly impossible to jail everyone who criticises a Governemnt, because Government by its nature attracts criticism. The Cuban Government could not go around jailing all its critics even if it wanted to.

There have been open protests against the Government in Cuba, right in the middle of Havana even, without arrest.

That being said though, the Cuban Government is not particularly dissent friendly, and prominent members of the opposition better make sure they are squeaky clean because they will be subject to the usual police harrassment and risk being arrested as soon as they present an excuse. That is the source of the complaints about political repression

[PigmerikanMao]

Originally posted by [email protected] 26, 2007 09:41 pm
It is nearly impossible to jail everyone who criticises a Governemnt, because Government by its nature attracts criticism. The Cuban Government could not go around jailing all its critics even if it wanted to.

There have been open protests against the Government in Cuba, right in the middle of Havana even, without arrest.

That being said though, the Cuban Government is not particularly dissent friendly, and prominent members of the opposition better make sure they are squeaky clean because they will be subject to the usual police harrassment and risk being arrested as soon as they present an excuse. That is the source of the complaints about political repression
Sounds like the US

[Marion]

Originally posted by PigmerikanMao+July 27, 2007 01:34 am--> (PigmerikanMao @ July 27, 2007 01:34 am)
[email protected] 26, 2007 09:41 pm
It is nearly impossible to jail everyone who criticises a Governemnt, because Government by its nature attracts criticism. The Cuban Government could not go around jailing all its critics even if it wanted to.

There have been open protests against the Government in Cuba, right in the middle of Havana even, without arrest.

That being said though, the Cuban Government is not particularly dissent friendly, and prominent members of the opposition better make sure they are squeaky clean because they will be subject to the usual police harrassment and risk being arrested as soon as they present an excuse. That is the source of the complaints about political repression
Sounds like the US[/b]
In that case I'm looking forward to you criticising the Cuban government on this as much as you'd criticise the US for it... ;)

[Dominicana_1965]

Originally posted by Compañ[email protected] 26, 2007 09:21 pm
Oh, also, read "Cuba: Dictatorship or Democracy" by Marta Harnecker. She documents a number of workplace and neighborhood meetings in which people make all sorts of complaints. None of them are jailed, obviously.
Aren't most of the counterrevolutionaries exposed by the CDRs by the way?

[rebelworker]

I know in the early days, leftist oponents of Castro were jailed, often for a very long time.Anarchists and Trotskyists in Particular.

I also know that when people tell jokes that are of a critical nature they often dont mention Castro by name, the instead makingly stroke their chin...

Cuba is clearly a dictatorship of sorts, and Castro and his supproters have a history of silencing dissent, but compared to most govements in the region, I think the political repression is fairly comparable even low.

Look at Mexico for example, dissident orgnisers are regularly shot,dissapeared, beaten tortured ect.

Colombia, The second highest recipient of US aid after Isreal, has by far the worst human rights record in the region, and is high up by global standards as well.

I wouldnt underplay the controlling Nature of the Cuban Govt, but I wouldn't buy most of the US anti Castro rhetoric either.

[Red Rebel]

do cubans REALLY get jailed if..., they speak out negatively about Castro?

Jail? No. Perhaps they might be more observed/harassed by various agencies of the government but you need to do more than say "i don't like fidel" to get in jail.

[TC]

No, its not true, because Cuba is so TOTALITAIRIAN that Cubans don't have *TIME* to say bad things about Castro, if they even THINK a negative or neutral thought about Castro their brain waves are heard by Cuban Stasi sattilites and Castro KgB snatch squads grab them within 76 seconds in any location on the island. Officially this is enforced by the Castro Smile Act of 1962 which makes it against the law to say the word "Castro" without having a big beaming smile on your face.

Its so sad, if only the Bay Of Pigs Liberation had sparked the popular uprising in the Cuban people, yearning for freedom, as the real left (NOT THOSE STALINIST BASTARDS LIKE CASTRO) had hoped :mellow: .


Any other intelligent and thoughtful questions?

[manic expression]

No:

"Chanting 'freedom' and 'democracy now', about 100 dissidents voted for a steering committee to lead the group.

(snip)

Cuban authorities did not intervene but had earlier expelled several European politicians who planned to attend.

On the first day, the meeting was attended by about 200 dissidents as well as Western envoys."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4569981.stm

That link, and many others like it, should be required reading for everyone on this forum.