Thursday, March 01, 2007

Arrested in Castro's Cuba

Arrested in Castro's Cuba
2007-03-01. www.iflry.org
Daniel Wennick, Vice President/IFLRY

Foto: www.iflry.org.
When I was asked about going to Cuba to meet the opposition I got
excited, yet a bit scared. Some of my friends got a bit envious because
of the nice and warm weather in Cuba. My father, on the other hand,
didn't want me to go since he thought that I would get arrested. It
turns out that he was right but meeting the opposition in Cuba was
definitely worth the trouble.

Most people that talked to me before going to Cuba know that I was well
aware of the risks of going there. I had attending study sessions with
people who had already been there explaining the necessary security
measures and what could happen if we got arrested. I was there for 8
days in January along with Mauricio Lopez Gavia (Juventud Libertaria)
and Henrik Winterstam (Liberal Youth of Sweden, LUF). The last two days
of the trip were spent under house arrest in Havana.

In Cuba we met with the two main social liberal parties PSD, PLC and
also the liberal youth organization CJM. We were all very impressed with
CJM – Coalición Juvenil Martiana – that received observer status within
IFLRY at the General Assembly in Andorra at the end of last year. They
are very active, working under extremely hard conditions. It is very
heartening to see young dynamic individuals boldly rising against a
totalitarian regime such as Castro's. There is more to read about CJM
and the trip in the attached travel report.

After meeting with CJM in the countryside we ended up being arrested and
were brought to Havana to be interrogated. During the interrogations we
talked a lot of politics. Sometimes it seemed like the interrogators
doubted their own propaganda. I asked them if they knew how much it
costs to go to school in Sweden and they answered that it probably costs
a lot. To their surprise I could tell them that most schools in Sweden
are public and are completely free of charge. I also told them that I
felt it was strange for them to have newspapers in their country that
only write what the government tells them to write.

They argued with me that if the Cuban regime was so unpopular then the
people would have overthrown it a long time ago. I said that I partly
hoped that they were right because that could mean that the Cuban public
is happy with its government. However, if the government is so popular
with its people then I couldn't understand why they were unable to allow
free and fair elections as the ruling Communist party would win anyway
if their convictions were true. This was hard for them to answer but, my
interrogator at the time argued that anybody within the Communist party
could run for elections and therefore the elections were indeed free and
fair already.

After many hours of comparing and discussing our political systems he
asked me what I would think if he had come to my country, met with the
opposition and spoken badly of my government. I told him that we would
thank him and that he could speak to as many people as he liked and as
badly of our government as he wanted. He looked surprised and told me
that things are different in Cuba. I became more than a bit disappointed
that he had yet to understand the principles of a free society after I
had spent so much time trying to explain it to him.

The day after the last interrogation we went back to pick up most of the
things they had confiscated from us. A very friendly lady was going to
escort us to the airport. She was clear about that we could come back
after a year, and I promise that I will come back, hopefully to a free Cuba.

If you are curious to find out more about CJM and my visit to Cuba,
please read the uploaded travel report and the upcoming issue of The Libel.
http://areyouliberal.org/files/folders/event_reports/entry653.aspx

http://www.miscelaneasdecuba.net/web/article.asp?artID=8932

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