Thursday, June 19, 2008

The State of the Union

Even as the EU lifts the sanctions imposed after the Black Spring, reading Oswaldo Yañez's latest piece provides a frame of reference:

Paya incommunicado, the Ladies in White spied on and followed from dawn to dusk, the group that goes to the Church of the Carmen is harassed and stopped weekly. Marta Beatriz is intimidated on a daily basis; Guillermo Fariñas they no longer know where to strike to discourage his indiscreet dispatches and Antúnez, converted into a de facto counterrevolutionary hero to the point young people already wear tee-shirts with his image, understood, of course, is that anyone who dares don one is immediately detained.

I'm not a European diplomat, but it seems pretty clear to me. Still according to this report in USA Today there will be some sort of review to gauge progress on human rights. Oh, but by then, Cubans will probably be able to buy toasters. One can only hope.

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