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Maritza Lugo's voice, and that of other dissidents despite all the actions of the regime to silence them, speaks truth with great moral force. "I accuse those cowardly and wretched people who forcibly and unencumbered commit all kinds of human-rights violations to defend a false revolution built and maintained upon a foundation of lies and infamy." Maritza wrote these words behind bars where she is at the mercy of a regime with a track record of human rights violations that puts it on a par with Communist China.
Both Fidel Castro and Cuban Foreign Minister Perez Roque have engaged in wholesale lying on the nature of human rights violations in Cuba. Claiming that there are no human rights abuses in Cuba. Maritza has a response for the claims of the Castro dictatorship. "Stop denying that you torture people. Stop denying international organizations access to your prisons on the pretext that you do not countenance meddling in internal affairs or sovereignty. Stop resorting to tricks to prevent or hinder prison inspections in compliance with international law." The International Red Cross has been blocked from visiting the dictatorship's prisons for over four decades.
Human Rights Watch is right on the money when it states that "in Cuba, President Jiang won't have to worry about Falun Gong protesters, democracy advocates or Catholic Church clerics upset about state interference in religious affairs,'' the group continued, "instead, he'll find a sympathetic ear in Fidel Castro -- someone with a distressingly similar agenda on human rights.''
Castro and Jiang are both moving in the same direction. A controlled opening of certain sectors of their economy to international investment for the purpose of subsidizing their regime. At the same time using the infusion of foreign investment to ensure that the police state crushes all attempts at the exercise of basic civil and human rights by the citizenry of Cuba and China.
Standing in their way are the rising numbers of human rights activists and a democratic opposition that cannot be silenced even behind the bars of the prisons of communist dictatorships. Whether students and workers peacefully demonstrating in Tiananmen Square slaughtered by the so-called "People's Liberation Army" or Cuban youths beaten down in the streets of Havana and taken away to an uncertain fate the struggle for democracy and human rights will continue. Maritza Lugo's words of inspiration impact activists not only Cuba but in China, Burma, Tibet, Vietnam, and wherever human rights and fundamental freedoms are systematically denied. "Brothers, we are the example of liberty, respect and righteousness for which we risk everything. Do not be discouraged. Do not be saddened."
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