Burson-Marsteller, Alan Gross, and the light at the end of the tunnel

The lesson at the Salpêtrière (1887), by Pierre-André Brouillet (1857 - 1914)

PR as Valium - español, traducido por Manuel Talens, de Tlaxcala

Machetera

Saltpêtrière is a legendary Parisian hospital.  Built in the 17th century, it was known as the cradle of neurosciences for having hosted great teaching doctors such as Charcot, Babinski and Freud.  In the image above, a famous painting by Pierre-André Brouillet, the French doctor Jean-Martin Charcot is portrayed explaining how to diagnose hysteria in a female patient whose name has gone down in the annals of medical history: Blanche Wittman.

The scene is unmistakably sexist: a roomful of men deciding how to treat a woman for a condition whose very etymology reveals its sexism.  Simply by virtue of the fact that she is a woman, she is at the mercy of their decisions. A victim.  The two nuns waiting to catch Blanche as she collapses are mere voiceless spectators.  The men in this image know everything, the women, nothing.

A century and a quarter later, the story behind this painting suggests nothing so much as the case of Judy Gross, the wife of the USAID contractor imprisoned in Cuba. Paternalism remains very much alive, and both The New York Times and Washington Post confirm this through their participation in the inane media campaign to pressure Pope Benedict XVI to counsel Cuba to exchange Rene González for Alan Gross.  Counseling Cuba, as though it were an unruly child, not a sovereign country, is offensive enough.  But it’s nothing new.  The counsel that Judy Gross is receiving on the other hand, is another matter.  Instead of being treated as an active subject, capable of taking her future into her own hands, Judy’s campaign to bring her husband home is being managed and reported by people who have their own, very different priorities.

Rene González and Alan Gross: speed and bacon

Disparates - (español)

Machetera

I suppose the Latin American term for an apples and oranges comparison is peras y manzanas.  [Pears and apples.]  Somehow it doesn’t have quite the same ring.  In Spain, the expressions are funnier.  No hay que confundir el culo con las témporas. [No need to confuse the ass with the temporal bones].  No confundir churras con merinas.   [Don't confuse the sheep that produces itchy wool with the sheep that makes merino].

But at the moment, thinking of Rene González and Alan Gross, I prefer the Spanish no mezclar la velocidad con el tocino [don't mix up speed and bacon], because it’s an expression that highlights the absurd, and nothing is more absurd than the comparisons that are being marketed by the mainstream U.S. press on behalf of the State Department about these two men.

Sticky fingers at “Ladies in White” in Cuba

Cuban “Ladies in White” Suspect Recently Deceased Leader of Embezzling $20,000 – español

Jean-Guy Allard
Translation: Machetera

Rumors in Havana circulate at lightning speed.  Sources close to the “Ladies in White” [Damas de Blanco] reveal that upon taking charge of the mini-group and reviewing its finances, Berta Soler had the disagreeable surprise of learning that some $20,000 was missing from the organization which is openly funded by the United States.

The “Ladies” founder, Laura Pollán, died on October 14 at the Calixto Garcia Hospital, at the age of 63, victim of cardiac arrest “aggravated by diabetes, hypertension and dengue.”

The discovery of the group’s missing funds came about in a meeting where the 48 year old Soler, who’d acted as second in command until Pollán’s death, was confirmed as the new leader.  The rivalry between the two women who competed for favors from the U.S. diplomatic post in Havana (known as the U.S. Interests Section – USIS) was well known.

Ted Henken rolls snake eyes

Ted’s Excellent Adventure

Long story short.  Ted Henken, the quite white chair of the Black and Hispanic Studies department at Baruch College who calls himself “El Yuma” and writes a blog under the same title, recently returned from a trip to Cuba where he had gone to interview bloggers of all persuasions, but most especially his close personal friend, “La Yoa,” (Yoani Sánchez) whose cherished interview he saved for last.

U.S. Soldiers: Posada Carriles, Juan Carlos Castillón and Ernesto Hernández Busto

Left to right: BFFs Posada Carriles, Castillón & Hernández Busto

U.S. Soldiers: Posada, Castillón and Hernández Busto

Posada Carriles: U.S. citizen by virtue of “spilt” blood, according to Castillón

Enrique Ubieta Gómez, La Isla Desconocida – español

Translation: Machetera / Tlaxcala

From time to time, one has to be grateful to [Ernesto] Hernández Busto for the clues he leaves in his blog about the darker regions of his little brain.  Today he posted a priceless article by Juan Carlos Castillón – a regular collaborator of his, and I suppose, a friend.  Let’s see, it’s titled “Bambi, acquitted.”  The author, apparently distanced from Posada, nevertheless dedicates all of his argumentative efforts to justifying him:  “In good conscience I can’t approve of many of the things that he’s done, but I admire the fact that a man, alone, or with the help of very few friends, at an age when many of them are in nursing homes, has taken upon his shoulders the work of keeping alive a Cold War in which those who were his bosses no longer believe.  Is Posada in the right?  He was in his day.”  Castillón talks without embarrassment about the legitimacy of a dirty war “against communism,” and elevates Posada to hero status; when he says that “he was right,” it is a reference to an era in which a bipolar world still existed, to the years in which the man he admires and defends plotted the mid-air bombing of a Cuban passenger airliner and caused the death of the 73 persons on board.  But there are also some fragments where Castillón says who he, Posada, and Hernández Busto serve:

“A (USAmerican) society to which Posada rightfully belongs, no matter how much it bothers his critics in Havana, Caracas and the United States itself.  The French legionnaires, who may become citizens once they’ve performed certain duties, often say that they are French by blood, not inherited blood, but through spilt blood.  This is true.  Few fight harder for their adopted countries than immigrants.  U.S. history has plenty of examples (…) Posada Carriles has been a U.S. soldier in times of war and this gives him the right to be in the United States.  Because Posada, despite having fought on a different battlefield, is not all that different from other soldiers.  Although we may have forgotten it and put it away in that drawer where bothersome mementos are kept, the Cold War was a real war.  A war in which plenty of exiles participated in order to oppose the governments who led their nations (…) Many Cuban American exiles sympathize with Posada Carriles because he was a combatant in that war.”

They were men, Castillon finally admits, “who enlisted in ‘The Company’ or supported it, in order to struggle for their countries by fighting for the United States.”  “The Company” is what the CIA is often called.  I’ve never read a more open argument.  The fascists Castillón and Hernández Busto admit frankly that they are U.S. soldiers, in a war against the governments that lead their countries; that they have enlisted with the CIA to fight for the United States.

Machetera is a member of Tlaxcala, the network of translators for linguistic diversity. This translation may be reprinted as long as the content remains unaltered, and the source, author, and translator are cited.

The Habeas Corpus Appeal of Gerardo Hernández, one of the Cuban Five: he had no advance knowledge about Brothers to the Rescue shoot down

No evidence exists that Hernández had any advance knowledge whatsoever regarding Cuban Air Force shoot down of Brothers to the Rescue planes – inferences made at trial were “tragically, utterly false” – español

Machetera

“Gerardo Hernández never did receive due process of law either on the part of the prosecutors or his own defense.”

Leonard Weinglass

Gerardo Hernández

Attorneys for Gerardo Hernández, a Cuban citizen serving two consecutive life sentences plus 15 years in the maximum security wing of the US Federal Penitentiary at Victorville, California have filed his final appeal in the US legal system. The evidence supporting his right to a new trial is staggering.

Hernández is one of ten Cubans who, like the Russian agents arrested in the summer of 2010 in New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts, were arrested by the FBI in Miami in 1998 and charged with failing to register as agents of a foreign government, as well as  conspiracy to commit espionage. Unlike the Russians, who were swiftly deported and never faced a trial, five of the arrested Cubans quickly pled guilty and were rewarded with reduced sentences and green cards, while the remaining five, including Hernández, were thrown into separate solitary confinement cells for nearly a year and a half to await their court date. All the evidence for, against, and irrelevant to their cases was locked away by federal authorities under cover of national security. The government’s manipulation of the evidence is one of the issues raised in the appeal.

Teaching the Miami Herald to read: Gerardo Hernández’s habeas corpus appeal

On Sunday, December 28, Jay Weaver filed a story for the Miami Herald about the habeas corpus appeal for Gerardo Hernández, one of the “Cuban Five” who is currently serving a double life sentence in the maximum security federal prison at Victorville, California.  The article was subsequently translated for publication in the Herald’s Spanish language subsidiary, El Nuevo Herald.  The story and its headline (“In about-face, Cuban spy says planes were shot down over international waters”) made the sensational claim that in his appeal, Hernández had made a 180 degree turn, and is now contradicting the Cuban government’s position regarding the events of February 24, 1996, when two light aircraft belonging to the Miami group “Brothers to the Rescue” were shot down by Cuban fighter jets after being led toward Cuban airspace by their commander, José Basulto.

Sensationalism certainly attracts readers.  But it is not a substitute for a well-researched story, or the truth.  A careful reading of Hernández’s appeal does not lead to the conclusion stated by Weaver or the Herald.  I will write further about this in upcoming posts.  For now, these are my comments at both the Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald (Spanish below).

On Anna Ardin, Israel Shamir and glass houses

Machetera

As far I can tell, the whole Israel Shamir/Anna Ardin business started back in September, when Counterpunch, edited by Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St. Clair, posted an article co-authored by Shamir and Paul Bennett, announcing the “telltale signs of CIA connection surrounding Anna Ardin,” one of the women involved with the Swedish complaint against Julian Assange, whatever that case might be.

The CIA beckons and the media answer the call

Afghan women could serve as ideal messengers in humanizing the ISAF [International Security Assistance Force] role in combating the Taliban because of women’s ability to speak personally and credibly about their experiences under the Taliban, their aspirations for the future, and their fears of a Taliban victory. Outreach initiatives that create media opportunities for Afghan women to share their stories with French, German, and other European women could help to overcome pervasive skepticism among women in Western Europe toward the ISAF mission.

- CIA Red Cell Special Memorandum, March 11, 2010

Frei Betto explains Yoani Sánchez’s life of luxury

La Jiribilla interviews Frei Betto - español

Translation: Machetera

Once again, Cuba is in the news.  But the majority of the reports reflect a false reality, produced by the huge multinational media conglomerates to follow the media campaign of the moment.  “The problem is simply that we live in a world that is considered to be democratic, where it is said that everyone has the right to freedom of expression,” explained the Brazilian theologian Frei Betto in an interview  with La Jiribilla. “It just so happens that very few people have access to the means of expression; therefore, the version of events that is presented by those who have hegemonic control of the major media, such as with the Zapata Tamayo story, is always on the side of imperialistic interests and those of the United States; these lies and a strong ideological offensive are meant to discredit the Cuban Revolution and destabilize the country.

The author of Fidel & Religion is currently in Cuba to celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the publication of this seminal text and says that “Nothing’s going to happen because fortunately there are plenty of people who do not have the means to express themselves but who show, as I do, their support for the Revolution and, above all, denounce the fact that behind every campaign there’s a permanent plan to destabilize the Revolution, as though this were a country that does not allow its people freedom of expression.  What it does not permit, just as no country permits, least of all the United States, is conspiracy to destabilize the government, and in Cuba’s case, the Revolution.”

“Now you have a woman here who spends every day disparaging Cuba through her blog,” Betto pointed out.  “This is the only country in the world in which a person can enjoy the luxury of not working, of spending the entire day blogging, and nothing happens to her.  Nothing happens, not in the sense that she doesn’t go to prison, but in the sense that if someone in Brazil were to not work and spend the entire day at their computer, they’d go hungry, they’d end up in the street, they couldn’t support themselves, and if they were to fall ill they’d be totally lost because they’re not going to have the money to get medical attention, while in this country, this woman has that luxury.  She is proof positive that there is freedom of expression in Cuba.  What there is not, just as there is not in any country that I am aware of, is freedom to conspire.”

In Betto’s judgment, “the Internet is important because by virtue of its speed and proximity, huge amounts of information and barriers are liquidated, and this is essential to allowing more reflection over the events taking place in the world.  Unfortunately the capitalist system and those who have ideological hegemony dominate the Internet, and therefore when there is something favorable to Cuba or when there is a demonstration of solidarity with Cuba, it comes out way down in thirtieth place on the search engine, but if there’s something negative about Cuba, it comes out on top.”

“We have exceptionally worrisome situations in Latin America,” said Betto, who won the 2009 ALBA (Bolivarian Alternative for the  People of our Americas) Literature Prize.  One is “the blockade against Cuba, the criminal, imperial manner in which the United States relates to Cuba through the blockade and its base at Guantánamo.  These are factors that demand plenty of attention, and plenty of resistance by Latin American and Caribbean countries.”

Machetera is a member of Tlaxcala, the international network of translators for linguistic diversity. This translation may be reprinted as long as the content remains unaltered, and the author and translator are cited.