Cuban Farmer/Journalist Osmel Ramirez Back in Jail
His powerful writing apparently shakes the system
HAVANA TIMES – On Tuesday when we published a commentary by the farmer and journalist Osmel Ramirez Alvarez on the subject of reforms to the Cuban Constitution, we did not imagine that he had been arrested a short time earlier in his house for writing in publications like ours, which are not controlled by the government.
Last November Osmel, who lives in Mayari, Holguin, was arrested and singled out for writing in the alternative press, something the Cuban government considers a threat to “the Revolution.” At that time they confiscated computer equipment and other possessions.
Now, a State Security agent and two policemen arrived at his home at 2:30 PM on Tuesday to handcuff him and take him away without informing his wife, Idalia Torres, where he was being taken, something common with arrests in Cuba. Idalia already experienced this psychological torture the last time Osmel was arrested and held incommunicado for three days.
The agent told the wife that, for now, Osmel’s detention will be for 72 hours for each article he writes and “if he keeps writing, they will open a legal process against him and he will be imprisoned for a long time,” Idalia said.
It seems that Osmel’s words shake the foundations of the system and the Castro-Diaz Canel government has a long track record of repressing and imprisoning independent journalists.
Torres informed that the State Security agent did not want to let Osmel take a change of clothes with him, but the police and a girl who accompanied them allowed him to take some clothes and toiletries. They said he would be freed on Friday afternoon.
Osmel is a tobacco grower, member of a credit and services cooperative, and also writes news and opinion columns for other media such as Diario de Cuba and the SPD Bulletin.
Well Michael Davis Sr/Captain Deufuss, you obviously don’t fully understand the Cuban dictatorship.
Those of us who do, did not expect any change as a consequence of Miguel Daiz-Canel Bermudez being appointed five years ago (the communist theoreticians will respond saying that he was ‘elected’ in 2018) by Raul Castro Ruz to take over the position of President in 2018 and at that time Raul Castro said that he did so because Diaz-Canel adhered to his (Raul’s) philosophy. First, it is necessary to understand that in Cuba, the Communist Party of Cuba takes precedence over the State of Cuba. The First Secretary of the PCC is Raul Castro, so he is still at the top of the rotten heap.
Secondly, Raul Castro selected Diaz-Canel because over a period of 35 years he had remained faithful to Raul’s view of communism (which is the Stalinist version of Marxism/Leninism). The Castro’s vehement condemnation of capitalism was expressed openly by Fidel Castro who criticized Vietnam for its policies and similarly disliked (maybe detested would be more accurate) the Chinese adoption of capitalism – which has resulted in there being more billionaires in China than in the US.
The PCC objective is for the Party to continue to retain the total power and control of a totalitarian communist dictatorship.
Cubans are denied what if perhaps the least recognized but possibly the most important right for those who live in the free world. That is simply the right to openly disagree with the opinions of others
and especially with political viewpoints. The Castro regime (which includes Diaz-Canel) rigidly demands conformity with their view, no other is permitted.
Those who have spent their lives in countries with freedom of expression, freedom of the press, freedom of movement and freedom to choose different political parties, often have difficulty in comprehending the full effects of communism.
For many of us who are not US citizens, we remain mystified by the fact that although elected by a minority of the voters, President Trump(f) did have the support of sixty three million Americans. To I think most who live in free capitalist countries, he was self evidently a narcissistic bully with a deep neurotic need to be recognized and admired. It is obvious by examining those whom he likes to befriend, that he envies the powers of dictatorship and dislikes the democratic process.
Havana Times readers and contributors are frequently bugged by US contributors having a compulsion to compare things Cuban with things American, ignoring the rest of the world where many countries have multi-party political systems rather than the two alternatives in the US of choosing between a blundering myopic elephant and a he-hawing ass. Fortunately, if Cubans are eventually freed from communist bonds, there are better models than the US to pursue!
It’s a sad commentary on continued repression. It was my hope that with leadership change, the Cuban people would begin to enjoy the simple freedom of speaking without fear, whatever they feel and believe. This freedom is being quenched now in my country also, but not nearly as oppressively as it is to you, my Cuban brothers and sisters. I am saddened for you, and I pray for you, that one day soon you will be free. Please pray for me and my USA too, I fear the direction that some have taken, to quench unwanted opinions that they fear.
It’s just the Castro Cuban communist regime confirming that there is no freedom of speech in Cuba and that their purpose is repression. Yet, there are contributors to these pages who support that regime and its repression. They inevitably live in capitalist countries where they have freedom of speech.
Nick, Dani and company will continue to say that they take a “balanced” view. They object to my saying that one is either for or against communism. So where do they stand on this demonstration of communist repression? Are they for it or against it? Speak up!
It is possible that Osmel Ramirez Alvarez will end up at Villa Mariska if he continues to openly express his opinions. At least Elio is honest in expressing his support for communism, the Castro dictatorship, the indoctrination of children and the imprisonment of parents who teach their own children in there own home anything that is contrary to communism. To Elio that is the success of the system that Cubans have endured for almost sixty years.
Humanity has no role in communism!
All those who stand for the Castro´s Dictatorship, something to say now? you should be shamed