24 hours and counting

"We wish everyone to know that we, Cuban writers and artists, and also dream makers, are with Fidel now and always"
A quote attributed to Cuban artists in the Luis Baez book Absolved by History (previously pictured on this blog as being flushed down a broken toilet for being utter garbage and a propaganda tool sold to tourists with little or no literary value)

It has been over 24 hours since Ciro Diaz and Claudio Fuentes boarded a bus to go visit to Placetas to show their support political activist Jorge Luis Garcia Perez (Antunez). As far as we know they are still in state custody.

The plan today is to put as much pressure as we can and press for their release. The telephone number of Lutenant Colonel Fulgencio (53) 42 213800!! If calling from outside Cuba: 011-53-42-88-2994.

Call. Make inquiries. Pretend you're from the foreign press. Anything.
Stay tuned for more.

Muchacho Enfermo

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

Castroite provocation or the work of a gutter snitch?

"Charlie's opinion"

Castroite provocation or the work of a gutter snitch?
Many of my friends have written to me very happily because Ciro wasn't
thrown in a cage with his band mates from Porno Para Ricardo.
I still have to answer to each of of these friends. I would like
everybody to know that even though Ciro was not taken to the dungeons
because he was not with the rest of the band, a guard barked his name
towards the rest of the prisoners in the holding pen. The Keystone Cops
of Castro were sure that they have also bagged him together with the
rest of the group. Ciro is not out of danger, and he is not that lucky
either.

We should take into account that the members of Porno Para Ricardo were
looking around at the Maxim facilities, according to what eyewitnesses
have referred to us and according to how the photographer Claudio
Fuentes tells the story. That's why Maxyuri, the "commander in chief" of
"la agencia del rock" (she's knows as "el Agente Yuro") and her
thug-of-the-day, the singer of Hipnosis (a.k.a. Zeppelin) reacted so
violently against the members of Porno Para Ricardo. The government is
using one of the oldest traits of rock'n'roll as a tool to do their
dirty work: the rivalry between bands has been used for the first time
to intimidate, to beat, to repress. As y'all know, singer of Hinosis
"Zeppelin" was not arrested in spite of having hit Gorki he and his
friend Maxyuri were just the hand chosen tool of repression and the
ones who called the police..

Besides what happened at the Maxim, one could think that the police and
the state security were framing up the members of Porno Para Ricardo,
with the only objective to be able to prosecute them as common
delinquents and truants, as is their style in Cuba. Not even in the
furthest corner of the civilized world the police would able to jail
some participants in a fight and let the others walk free, and much less
they would be even legally able to bag somebody due to his choice of
clothing or its decoration. It's just another right for those of us who
enjoy freedom of expression, action, and thought.

That the repressive forced squealed Ciro's name in front of the other
prisoners, with the objective to fine him for something in which he was
not remotely involved, only tells us that they were following a script
written with the collaboration of paid agents and volunteer snitches.
As we have denounced in other occasions, there's a conspiracy to silence
Porno Para Ricardo; there are forces who are trying to seed discord,
trying to break them up, and specially they are trying to isolate them
and to silence them. This has not been possible, because the fans fo the
band -in and out of Cuba- know all the details of their work. Then the
authorities are tying to put to work one of their oldest and more
cherished methods: to transform the ideological transgression into a
common crime.

The harassment will be based on the lowest feeling of envy and hate, and
the tyranny already counts on an apparatus of snitches very well
established, full of nosy neighbors and fake friends, even. It's evident
to us that the conspiracy is rough and crude, and that their methods
would make an amateur blush.

Nevertheless, not for this the conspiracy is less dangerous.


Written by Charlie Bravo

English version to follow

¿Provocación castrista o chivatazo?

Muchos amigos me han escrito muy contentos porque Ciro no fue enjaulado con los otros miembros de Porno Para Ricardo.

Aun no he respondido a cada uno de estos amigos. Quisiera que todos supieran que aunque Ciro no fue llevado a los calabozos porque no estaba con el resto del piquete, un guardia ladró su nombre hacia el grupo de prisioneros que estaba en la celda. La policía castrista estaba segura que lo habían capturado junto a los demas. Es decir, Ciro no esta fuera de peligro, ni tiene mucha suerte, tampoco.

Debemos tener en cuenta que los miembros del piquete curioseaban en el Maxim, segun testigos presenciales nos cuentan y segun cuenta la historia Claudio Fuentes. De ahi la reacción de Maxyuri, la "comandanta en jefe" de la Agencia del Rock, más conocida como el Agente Yuro, y el cantante de Hipnosis, su esbirro de turno conocido como el Zeppelin.

El gobierno esta utilizando la mas vieja caracteristica del rock and roll, la rivalidad entre bandas, para golpear y tratar de intimidar. Naturalmente, como ya se sabe, a pesar de golpear a Gorki el Zeppelin no fue encarcelado, el solo fue el instrumento escogido de la represión y él y Maxyuri quienes llamaron a la policia.

Aparte de lo sucedido en el Maxim, todo nos lleva a pensar que la policía y la seguridad del estado han tendido una serie de trampas al piquete, con el unico objetivo de poderles encausar por figuras delictivas comunes -al menos, en Cuba.

En ningún rincon del mundo civilizado pueden llevarse a nadie por una pelea si no se llevan a todos los participantes, o mucho menos por cualquier símbolo que se tenga en la ropa, aunque parte de la sociedad lo considere de mal gusto. Simplemente, el derecho a ponerse cualquier prenda de ropa decorada de cualquier modo es un derecho más para todos los que disfrutamos de la libertades de acción, pensamiento, y expresión.

Que las fuerzas represivas chillaran el nombre de Ciro a los demas prisioneros, para llamarle a multarlo, solo nos dice que estaban siguiendo un guión escrito con la colaboración de agentes a sueldo e informantes voluntarios. Como hemos denunciado en varias ocasiones hay una conspiración para silenciar al piquete: hay fuerzas que estan tratando de causar divisiones, aislamiento, y sobre todo, silenciarlos. Esto último no ha sido posible, ya que el público de la banda dentro y fuera de Cuba conoce todos los detalles de la labor del grupo, y por lo tanto, están poniendo en práctica un viejo método; transformar la transgresión ideológica en crimen común. El acoso se basará en los más bajos sentimientos de envidia y odio, y la tiranía cuenta ya con un aparato de chivatos muy bien establecido, lleno de vecinos fisgones y hasta de falsos amigos.

Se nos ha hecho evidente que la conspiración es burda y cruda, con métodos que harían ruborizar a un aficionado.

No por eso es menos peligrosa, sin embargo.

Porno Para Ricardo musicians arrested! (UPDATE)

This just in!

To all:
Our friends Gorki, Hebert, and Renay from Porno Para Ricardo were
arbitrarily arrested last night in Havana.
They need all of our solidarity, they need all our help to denounce the
harassment of the communist goverment of Cuba on these outspoken musicians.
Please do contact your local newspaper and let them know that Gorki, his
bass player Hebert, and his drummer Renay were arrested without a
warrant in Havana, Cuba. That's state sponsored kidnapping, but a
communist regime knows no bounds for terror.
Please join us in denouncing this violation of their human rights.
Thanks
Charlie Bravo
CubaUnderground, virtual bandmate of the lads of Porno Para Ricardo.

UPDATE:
Our friends of Porno Para Ricardo were finally liberated a short while ago. They were loaded in a police lorry because their shirts and t-shirs had what the Cuban "authorities" considered pornographic images, c'est a dire, related with Porno Para Ricardo, and they were just given a warning and a fine.