The truth is in the numbers.

The Castro Cartel can say whatever it wants about dissidents being paid by foreign oppressors and they can have all the little press releases and columns by Comrade Fidel that they want, print all the propaganda in the world, but the bottom line is: it just doesn’t fucking matter.

I got curious today while I was on lunch, so I decided to do some comparisons of Alexa rankings and compare different sites:

Desdecuba.com/generaciony Global ranking: 73,233 (http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/desdecuba.com)

Granma.ca Global ranking: 107,519 (http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/granma.cu)

So if anyone, anywhere in the world would like to question the power of free expression and the determination of those who want to speak out: the statistics speak for themselves. The global relevance of a state run rag filled with propaganda about commercial accords with Viet Nam, the global importance of the sugar cane and how rosy life is under a never-ending dictatorship, is in effect: null.

An independent blogger, blogging through whatever means she cans reaches a wider global audience than a news website that tries so hard to discredit anyone who doesn’t agree with the official position of the party.

I would really love to add more to this but I think I’ll let the number do the talking from here on in…

73,233 > 107,519

PS: my traffic rank…Mypolicophobia.blogspot.com Global ranking: 27,446,962... that's right baby, TWENTY SEVEN MILLION FOUR HUNDRED AND FORTY SIX THOUSAND NINE HUNDRED AND SIXTY TWO!!! That's like 4 million spots down from last year!

Cuba: The G2 strikes again... Ciro Diaz and Claudio Fuentes Arrested

As published for Ashin-Mettacara.com

Havana, March 23rd 2009. Photographer Claudio Fuentes Madan and Ciro Diaz, frontman of La Babosa Azul and guitarist of Porno Para Ricardo, have been detained by State Security after offering their show of solidarity in Placetas for political activist Jorge Luis Garcia Perez (Antunez).

Antunez is still in critical condition following a month long hunger strike to peacefully protest the treatment of prisoners of conscience in Cuba and the abuses of the Castro regime. Antunez, who had written an open letter to president Obama last week, was previously jailed for over 17 years by the Regime.

As far as we can tell, no charges have been laid against Claudia Fuentes or Ciro Diaz and the reasons behind the arrests remain unknown. In fact they are not likely to be known until they are freed or the state decides to lay charges publically. In Cuba an arrest warrant is an abstract concept and is not needed in order to detain someone and people can be held at the whim of the government and the infamous Cuban Gestapo, the G2.

In the past year we have seen harassment of the dissident elements in Cuba, who’s 50 year old Revolution claims to give a voice to the people, grow to levels that have not been seen for quite some time. Bloggers such as Yoani Sanchez and Claudia Cadelo have been called in, along with reporter and blogger Reinaldo Escorbar, for “questioning”; prize winning author OLPL was threatened with bodily harm by agents of the state prior to the launch of his new book; more recently Claudio Fuentes Madan along with members of Porno Para Ricardo were detained twice in the same day but were released with only fines to pay.

The excessive repression of the Castro regime is well known to the international community and is a constant source of debate, but when a photographer and a musician get arrested for showing their support to a man who is quite possibly dying of hunger, things have gone to far.

Muchacho Enfermo

Castro's words from beyond the grave?

Fidel Castro published his latest "reflections" yesterday in the official paper of the Cuban Communist Party. He hadn't written one in over a month. This latest reflection is much shorter then his previous ones and is published at a time where the rumors of his death are once again surfacing all over the internet.

Havana Journal has published them in English for all of us to read. I find this latest "reflection" to be vastly different, not only in length, from his previous ones. It's written much more candidly and he actually praises the new President of the United States. Let's take look so you can see what I mean...

"No one can doubt the sincerity of his words when he affirms that he will convert his country into a model of freedom, respect for human rights in the world and the independence of other nations."

"The intelligent and noble face of the first black president of the United States since its founding two and one-third centuries ago as an independent republic had transformed itself under the inspiration of Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King into a living symbol of the American dream."

Really? Have you ever heard Fidel or anyone in the CCP talk about the American dream like it was a good thing? Or for that matter say that "No one can doubt the sincerity of his words"? This is very unlike Fidel.

"I have reduced the Reflections as I had planned this year, so as not to interfere or get in the way of the (Communist) Party or government comrades"

Again, does this sound like Fidel Castro? Since when has he not interfered with affairs of government in Cuba?

"I am well, but I insist that none of them should feel bound by my occasional Reflections, my state of health or my death."

And this is where I start to think that he's not even writing these at all... Telling the Cuban government not to be swayed by the state of his health or his death? This doesn't sound like something he would write at all.

In fact I'm willing to bet that someone in CCP wrote this because El Comandante is no longer around to write these himself. They're just trying to set the stage for the announcement I'm sure... Oh well who knows.

Muchacho Enfermo