Lic. javier HerreraJurista cubano, defensor de derechos humanos. Este escrito es una breve y primer acercamiento a la aplicación desmedida, injusta e ilegal del Estado cubano del Decreto Ley 370 “Sobre la Informatización de la sociedad en Cuba”, de fecha 17 dic de 2018.
Esta norma jurídica está siendo aplicada constantemente a cualquier ciudadano por el simple hecho de documentar, fotografiar distintos eventos de la vida social y diaria del pueblo cubano, por supuesto dejando en evidencia la ineficiencia del Sistema para resolver y garantizar las necesidades básicas de la población, fundamentalmente, aseguramientos para una alimentación y parámetros de salud adecuados. Estas personas están utilizando las redes sociales de internet relacionado con sus perfiles personales de Facebook y otras plataformas digitales, en el ejercicio de su derecho soberano a la libertad de expresión e información, amparado en el artículo 54 de la Constitución. “El Estado reconoce, respeta y garantiza a las personas, la libertad de pensamiento, conciencia y expresión”. By Jason I. Poblete
Congress is working to provide Americans more tools to hold to account Communist China, the World Health Organization (WHO), and others for their role in causing, or worsening, the COVID-19 pandemic. A long-time defender of fundamental rights, Representative Chris Smith (R-New Jersey), and Representative Ron Wright (R-Texas) introduced legislation that would strip Communist China and other countries of sovereign immunity in U.S. courts if they made misrepresentations regarding the coronavirus.  A post by Jason I. Poblete, Co-Founder, Chief Counsel, and Policy Advisor of the Global Liberty Alliance. Last week Iran’s Foreign Minister, Javad Zarif, met with Nicaragua’s new envoy to that state sponsor of terrorism, Iran. As the world combats the China Flu pandemic, evildoers such as Iran should be watched even closer, especially when Iranian regime officials meet with fellow travelers in Latin America. This was not the first time that high-level Nicaraguan and Iranian officials have met. And it will not be the last. The true nature and depth of Iran’s unique relationship with Nicaragua remain shrouded in secrecy, but for certain it is more than a political ruse. Most of what is known about Iranian-Nicaraguan relations, at least based on open sources, remains anecdotal and unverified. Yet the two nations share many common interests and goals. For example, both countries have a common enemy: the U.S., the “Great Satan.” Nicaragua and Iranian leaders are corrupt, criminally inclined, and hell-bent on doing whatever they can to hurt American national and security interests. If you ask people in Nicaragua, victims of the Ortega Murillo regime, they'd think otherwise. However, verified cases of Nicaraguan acts of terrorism against the United States, at least outside their borders, have never been publicly documented. Nicaragua is a close ally of Iran, a known state sponsor of terrorism and this is enough, at least in my book, to keep a very close watch on Nicaragua. It could all be a ruse, for “show,” as one Nicaraguan policy expert counseled me years ago; however, no matter the reason for the contact, the U.S. and regional partners should seek to break the bond once and for all. It will take some doing. Modern Iranian-Nicaraguan links are anchored in the revolutionary period for both nations. Daniel Ortega has allegedly maintained close ties to Iran’s Supreme Leader and with senior IRGC Qods Force commanders. Culturally very different peoples, they are united in hatred toward America, free markets, and the rule of law. In the mid- to late 2000s, Iran and Nicaragua inked several agreements that included millions from Iran, likely from terrorism proceeds or dirty oil money, to build a deepwater port in Nicaragua. Another close ally of this trio, Communist China, has also been promising money for the project, along with a canal. Just the idea of a China-Iran built canal will set off huge debates with rural farmers and security-minded Nicaraguans. In fact it was one of the many reasons that helped spark the 2018 uprising in the countryside. Neither project has ever materialized. It may just have been another fake transaction to launder terrorism proceeds via Nicaragua’s notoriously weak financial sector. Recent events in Nicaragua, such as the Russia-backed Ortega-Murillo regime’s insistence on gathering crowds in the midst of coronavirus, and the police brutality against civilians peacefully raising the flag in Moyogalpa, Isla de Ometepe, continue to show that regime’s contempt for civil society. As the leader of Nicaragua’s largest rural farmer organization, Medardo Mairena, wrote in his statement of the Second Anniversary of the April Uprising of 2018, The majority of the Nicaraguan people do not have a voice or representation in the government so we began to exercise our sovereign right to self-determination in a civic and peaceful way, but at the same time agreed two years ago that the "the Dictator must go." The people paralyzed the country with roadblocks and human barricades as a response to the dictator’s silence and indifference. After 40 years, the cobblestones that form many of Nicaragua’s departmental highways are the only tool of war and a symbol of resistance for the revived opposition. The Global Liberty Alliance announced earlier this spring collaboration with several Nicaraguan civil society groups in Nicaragua and exile to raise awareness of these violations of human rights, including Medardo’s rural farm coalition. The trampling of fundamental freedoms extends beyond Nicaragua. It destabilizes the regime and hurts U.S. national and security interests including border security and stemming the flow of transnational crimes such as money laundering or drug smuggling. American citizens have also been unlawfully imprisoned, tortured, and killed by out-of-control Ortega-Murrillo authorities. The past few years Members of Congress from both sides of the aisle have passed laws to help better combat Nicaraguan corruption, including the NICA Act. During the past few years, the Global Liberty Alliance has worked to raise awareness of how the Sandinistas are destabilizing the region and making it easier for enemies of the United States to hurt American national and security interests.  Up until a few years ago, Iranians could travel to Nicaragua without a visa. If that does not cause concern with American politicians who are in charge of these matters I’m not sure what would, with the possible exceptions of illegal drugs and illegal immigration from the region. Structured the right way, Iranians could move about the Americas without detection, especially when traveling to one of the Bolivarian Axis nations that include Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, and few others that comprise the Russia-backed, Cuba-Venezuela created an economic and political network for the Americas to undermine U.S. interests. Nicaragua’s role? Bagman for the criminal networks of the region, especially Central America and, who knows, Iran’s main port of call in Central America too. The Trump administration started to dismantle the hub and spoke network of corruption, criminal networks, and terror that has penetrated just about every nation in the region by focusing on three key points. Economic sanctions coupled with other measures, including, kinetic action have started to take a toll. It has disrupted what former National Security Advisor John Bolton called in late 2018 as the Western Hemisphere’s “triangle of terror” - Havana, Managua, and Caracas. During her very successful tenure at the United Nations, Ambassador Nikki Haley did a good job at the United Nations Security Council raising awareness of the problems posed by the triangle of terror including Nicaragua. Efforts to break Russia and China-backed criminal enterprise continue to this day. Senior Ortega-Murillo regime officials have been targeted and more measures are expected to break illicit money flows and transnational criminal behavior. Zarif’s recent meeting with Nicaragua’s Ambassador to Iran is a reminder that Iran has not received the message it must stop meddling in the Americas. More needs to be done, soon, to break Iranian, Hezbollah, and other terror and criminal networks in the region. If the Ortega-Murillo regime refuses to expel all Iranian regime presence from the country, tougher sanctions must be implemented on the financial sector and anyone supporting, directly or indirectly, Iranian regime presence in the Americas. |
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