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Internet-Spreading American Gets 15-Year Sentence In Cuba
decora writes "American social worker Alan Phillip Gross, who has spent years connecting developing countries to the internet, has been sentenced by a 'Security Court' in Cuba to 15 years in prison. His crime: 'Acts against the Independence and Territorial Integrity of the State.' The Cuban government also claimed he was trying to 'destroy the Revolution through the use of communication systems out of the control of authorities.'"
'destroy the Revolution through the use of communication systems out of the control of authorities.'
And I always thought that a revolution by definition involves total loss of control by authorities...
to withstand criticism, maybe it doesn't deserve to rule.
I'm not a lawyer, but I play one on the Internet. Blog
CIA-agent is more accurate. USAID is a CIA-cover.
For an example closer to Western home, check out what's happening to Bradley Manning.
http://inteldaily.com/2011/03/our-man-in-havana/
Stop trying to be hero's by trying to rebuild countries after destroying them with wars or business blocks.
Funny thing, this guy entered Cuba on a tourist visa, so I'm not sure what he was doing hooking up dissidents to the Internet and expecting to get away with it.
If the American government had as much outrage against its own military torturing and jailing innocent civilians, or hero's who risked their own lives and well being to help people; like Bradly Manning did in the whistle-blowing case; then people would be more likely to believe the United States, and the integrity of their words.
Shame, shame, shame.
The actual story is: Jew handing out sat phones to contacts in cuba to assist in the transfer of black market goods into cuba and assist to drug-trafficers to import their wares into the US.
We have absolutely no idea how innocent or guilty this person is. For all we know he could be a freedom of speech activist or an undercover CIA operative.
I simply refuse to take these stories at face value. Person X that did Y that I can neither confirm nor deny has recieved penalty Z.
Uhm, OK. I'll just read my emails now, if that's OK with you.
Also, how many cable stations in the US is English Al-Jazeera on? Talk about a corporate/government lockdown. Al-Jazeera is banned from the New York Stock Exchange floor as well for whatever reason.
What rank hypocrisy. Five Cubans who were concerned with terrorists like Carilles are locked in US jails right now. I'm sure Cuba would be perfectly willing to do a prisoner exchange. The US should free its political and free spech prisoners and stop supporting terrorists like Carilles before its corporations like Geeknet/Slashdot complain about Cuba. How is this USAID spy a spy who should be free, but the Cuban Five should be in prison. Just the arrogant imperial hubris of the US.
Regimes that have, ideologically, started out as Communist revolutions, like to refer themselves as "revolutionary," much like the West uses the word "democratic": "that is us, never mind the word's meaning or our actions". So, yes, it is possible to have a reactionary Revolution, or a fascist Democracy; note the capitalization.
Look what happened to them.
I can't get upset about this. I feel it is bad enough that Americans with Cuban heritage have the right to visit Cuba while my government says that I am forbidden to do so. But this guy isn't Cuban (he's Jewish), yet somehow he get to go to Cuba on a tourist visa. He broke their laws (which really suck but he clearly knew their laws).
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
oposite other prisoners on that island.
Doubtless the Cubans are merely following the shining example of the kangaroo courts that try 'terrorist' inmates in the concentration camp at Guantanamo. I can't quite recall which democratic power operates that camp though, perhaps it will come back to me...
Wow, that karma was really burning a hole in your pocket.
My UID is prime. Hah!
So, what ? A man employed by an hostile foreign power (a power imposing to a country an illegal blockade since 50 years, and sponsoring terrorism against that country) is arrested because he, secretly and without any permission, is corrupting local persons into subverting the local government. He would be arrested in any country for that.
As for USAID, it's a not a charity, it's a CIA cover entity since long.
If USA were really interested into spreading Internet in Cuba, they would lift the blockade restrictions that forbid Cuba to connecting to the trans-atlantic cable that runs not so long from it. If they were really interested into spreading Internet in Cuba, they would allow Cuba to purchase computers.
But no. They don't want to spread Internet in Cuba. They want to reward the few cubans (and the wikileaks are clear that even the SINA (US "embassy" in Cuba) acknowledge the "opposition" in Cuba is very small and unpopular there) who betray their own country to support the agenda of the nearby imperialist power. That's it. It's plain corruption.
Cuba system is not perfect. It has many flaws. It also have many positive things. We should encourage them to keep what's good and change what is not. But it's not by sending cover agents to corrupt people to oppose their government that it'll happen. And the cover agent who tried to do that is not a freedom-fighter.
And I can understand Cuba being strict with those cover agents, when you see that the Cuban Five were sentenced to much harder penalty, while they weren't at all opposing the US government, but only infiltrating the Miami-based terror groups.
Manning and Crowley criticised the US government ... Look what happened to them.
Manning indiscriminately sprewed hundreds of thousands of sensitive documents out the door in a fit of not liking the fact that he'd put himself - an angsty gay man - into a military job that really didn't suit his personality. The problem was that he didn't criticize the government, or use any of the many established mechanisms for pointing out specific acts or policies requiring wider whistleblower-style attention/coverage, and when straight for the personal drama (using the outlet set up by Assaange, who is also all about personal drama). He displayed the exact opposite of thoughtful, principled action. He had a tantrum.
Crowley, who worked in an appointed position at the pleasure of the chief executive, decided to deliberately call his chief executive's policies "stupid" (and more) in a public setting, for the press, and of course lost his job. He worked for the country's diplomatic wing, and showed the inability to be diplomatic and to uphold the policy positions of the person who put him in that job. So of course someone else is now going to have that job. Are you really so morally bankrupt that you can't grasp the distinction between that and being thrown in a Cuban jail for fifteen years for helping people get on the internet? Yeah, I guess you are. I don't know how you even manage to choose which brand of toothpaste to use, considering you have a case of mixed premises that bad.
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
Internet-Spreading American Gets 15-Year Sentence In Cuba = USAian Spy Gets A Trail* And A 15-Year Sentence In Cuba.
*Unlike those people in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.
Can you imagine what would've happened if someone funded by the Soviet Union tried to set up communications networks in the US that the Government couldn't monitor?
I know Cuba is a backwards country, but I didn't suspect the situation was so bad that the government couldn't monitor the internet.
Remember that the US has a history of attempting assassination attempts against Fidel Castro and has organized (badly) at least one attempt to violently overthrow the government
Considering how easily the US invaded two different countries at the same time at the other side of the world, they could take over Cuba in a weekend if they wanted to. The Bay of Pigs rebellion was performed by Cuban citizens, with some support from the CIA but no direct military intervention from the USA.
This is very different from the Cuban invasion of Angola. The Bay of Pigs affair is more similar to the many different interventions that Cuba has performed all over Latin America. Cuba tried for decades to overthrow the governments of almost all countries in Central and South America, so when they complain about CIA actions in Cuba that's the pot calling the kettle black.
- and they're not exactly doing it out of a desire to spread freedom and democracy
I see. So Cuba has oil?
remember that the previous US-supported dictator was pretty horrid and screwed over basically the entire Cuban population in favour of the US interests that owned most of Cuba.
Batista was a corrupt dictator that got money from the US organized crime. To call that "US interests" is quite an exaggeration. it was the Italian mafia operating from the USA that paid Batista to launder their money. That was no more "US interests" than when the Colombian drug cartels used Noriega in Panama to launder their money.
The fact is that the Cuban dictatorship uses the USA as a convenient excuse for keeping their country under their military rule. And the irony of it is that from financing and training agents to overthrow foreign governments to direct military invasion, Cuba has done in many other countries exactly what they accuse the USA of doing.
the difference between Manning and Crowley is that one is an enlisted traitor and the other is a passed-over mouthpiece who stepped on his you-know-what
Manning will be in jail for a long, long, long, long time
Crowley will find somewhere to land inside the Belchway with others of his ilk
Of course, USAID and the CIA have been trying to foment revolution in Cuba for a long time, and the US government has supported the terrorist groups that have been bombing hotels in Cuba
Isn't it ironic that people who claim about US agents are trying to overthrow the Cuban government are the same people who idolize a Cuba government agent that was killed while conducting terrorist actions to overthrow other countries governments?
> foreign satellite channels I wonder why you felt you had to use that euphemism instead of just saying "Hezbollah TV". Maybe because Hezbollah is a world-wide famous terrorist organization? As such, distribution of its materials is prohibited by law, therefore what you support here is violation of law, and apparently you don't want to appear that way, am I correct?
This is the usual hypocrisy of your type of rights activists. You are accusing state authorities of actions that are determined by law authorities and, indeed, by law. There are good laws and bad laws, and it is arguable whether this particular law is any good. But this is not a level of discussion you want to engage in, as you don't care about the laws or logic behind them, all you care about is propaganda. Just to show this, you proceed to make further radical unsubstantiated claims, such as
> US government has supported the terrorist groups that have been bombing hotels in Cuba
The problem with communism (Marx/Engels version) is that violent revolution is part of the Communist Manifesto's implementation plan for Communism (read it if you don't believe me).
In most violent revolutions the person willing and capable of exerting the most violence ends up at the top. Most such people do not give up their power once at the top.
That's why communist (and other violent) revolutions tend to end up as dictatorships.
Only a few cases (e.g. the American Revolution) are the exceptions. I'm no expert but I think the American Revolution was quite different when compared to most "communist revolutions". Seems to me that much of each state's structure was maintained rather than overthrown.
The article linked to speaks of 'covert actions' to bring about 'democratic reforms', and the slashdot article speaks of a 'social worker'. Site's losing trustworthiness quickly this way. Sad.
They are going to make him serve out his sentence in Gitmo? Or is he going to be sentenced to a prison that overlooks the base?
"Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet." General James Mattis
Yup. Just ask McKinnon. Or Bradley Manning. Or the people in GITMO.
Cuba system is not perfect. It has many flaws. It also have many positive things.
Not according to any Cuban I've known (and yes, I have known a few). Ask them, and you'll find nothing but hatred for Castro AND his political system.
You're free to move to Cuba, North Korea, or Venezuela where I'm sure you will find the political environment more to your liking.
therefore, it is not legitimate, and deserves no respect. either the people participate in who is chosen as their leader on a regular basis, or they don't. if they do, it is a good government and a stable country. if the people have no voice in their own government, it is a vile government that deserves no respect, internationally and domestically, and will crumble eventually, as the middle east shows: even the most hardened despot can do nothing if his people ceases to fear him anymore. and if you do not have consent, then fear and force is all you have left to govern people, and this is how cuba operates
therefore, in the name OF the cuban people, in solidarity with the cuban people, i condemn their government to hell. as well as china. as well as iran, as well as any other country where the people do not participate in the formation of their own government
only democracy creates legitimacy. all other forms of government are illegitimate. either the government regularly subjects itself to the consent of the people, or the country rules by force and fear. there is no other choice between what undergirds the source of the power of your government: either consent, or fear
it is only a matter of time before castro's regime falls, as the revolutions facing the middle east show. it is only a matter of time before china, iran, cuba, zimbabwe, etc., befall the same fate. simply because these governments don't subject themself to periodic reconstitution from its own people: a democratic vote. therefore, the government's legitimacy fades over time, to the point where the people just throw off the yolk. if you are not a democratic government, there is an essential instability you cannot escape and will be your doom, one way or another, one day or another. the only way for the people to renew their faith in their government is to actually be consulted on their government's makeup on a regular basis. if they aren't consulted, they will eventually revolt. there is no other way
so to hell with the government of cuba, in the name of the cuban people. the cuban government apparently does not respect its own people enough to consult them as to its makeup. therefore the cuban government is illegitimate, and does not deserve any domestic or international respect. same applies to china, same applies to iran, same applies to zimbabwe
consult the will of your people on regular basis in a true democratic vote, or you are doomed
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Not defending this guy in particular but calling USAID a CIA cover is rather false. Perhaps some CIA people have said they worked for USAID but USAID itself is a fully independent organization that does a lot of good around the world. My wife works there is spends a lot of long hours trying to work to get money to forgotten little places in africa where people are still starving and dieing of disease in large numbers.
Why do they have to keep reminding us what mongoloid dummies are in charge of the law in (poor) countries? With the banking crisis and them using bailout money to pay their bonuses, I felt that socialism wasn't such a bad thing after all, and maybe Sharia law would ensure that guilty greedy bankers had both their hands chopped off.
Cuba as an evil Communist dictatorship for a government. Nothing more,, nothing less!
It's not an either/or proposition douchebag. It's perfectly reasonable to make the point that the USA meddles where it shouldn't meddle, usually fucks it up when they do (see Cuba, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc.) and we should be using our resources to improve America rather than tossing bombs left and right to make the defense industry rich. Just because Cuba, North Korea and Venezuela are worse doesn't mean we don't have plenty to clean up here in the US.
Oh Cuba, haven't you learned anything since the Spanish-American War?
Man breaks law, is convicted for it, news at 11.
Castro wins the elections and remains leader. How is that not legitimate? Before then, US puppets were in charge allowing US (i.e. foreign) companies to work there and reap rewards of their enforced governor.
Obviously, when these illegitimate leaders were kicked out, these friends of the USA were pissed off and cried to their parent about how bad it was and how it was illegitimate that they were kicked out.
And their children are continuing it, safe in Florida.
Put him in GITMO.
Where's Michael Moore when you need him?
Coder's Stone: The programming language quick ref for iPad
Hey retard, saying "USA commited cirmes" does NOT equal saying "North Korea is cool place to live".
What modern Obelix would say today? Of course, "Those crazy Americans!".
the people freely elect their governments. corporate influence is disgusting, but its just that: influence. to reduce it is a laudable goal. but to think that is anymore remotely in the same ballpark as actual genuine authoritarian control makes you out to be a complete idiot
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
As far as I can tell, this man did break the law, and whats more was aware that he was breaking it. You can't really complain when you work to bring down a government when that government stops you.
Much as I love the internet, it really isn't a human right.
Unlike most, I chose to be an American citizen. It was not a decision taken lightly.
The USA (like every country) is not perfect, and I suspect what most people mean by "I'm ashamed to be American." is "I'm ashamed of the actions taken by the American government, nominally on my behalf and in my name."
Implicitly saying "If you don't like something here, go to another country." is so wrong on so many levels. Perhaps you should remember the words of Carl Schurz, the 19th century American senator, who said "My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right."
If Obama and his fellow Mao supporters stay in charge, the same crap will eventually happen in the US. China is another fine example of government controlling speech. It starts by enacting a "fairness" doctrine, and then labeling points of view that you don't agree with, hate speech. Like most liberal programs, the name is completely opposite of the true intentions. Because normal freedom loving people wouldn't buy into it with a more accurate description. Makes me absolutely sick to see how many communists and socialists drive the message at Democrat rallies lately. They make no effort to even hide the fact that they're communists/socialists, yet the media doesn't say anything about it. Yet the media goes out of their way to find the one lone goon at a Tea Party rally. Amazes me that Democrats would squash the communists/socialists amongst their ranks. They have no business being in America. If they love that style of life, go to a communist country, I'm sure you'd love it in Cuba. OK, done ranting, only meant to type one sentence :-)
I hate to break the news to all you revolutionaries in China and Cuba, but when the revolution succeeds, it becomes the establishment. You can't be in power and still claim to be revolutionary! Who are you revolting against?
Sorry, but gray text on gray background is making my eyes bleed.
As for the Cuban government, it's not perfect, but it's not a "dictatorship" under the common meaning of the word nowadays.
It is common knowledge that Castro was not a dictator in power from 1959 to 2008, but a rightfully self-appointed "president".
It is also common knowledge in Cuba that they have best education, best healthcare and the best rule of proletariat. This is also the main reason why the Internet is a big no-no -- it is only best while Cubans believe it.
It takes a special kind of retard to equate Obama with Mao.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
I suppose you've never wasted any time ever in your entire life. Oh wait, the post you just made seems less than useful.
...will not be televised. Or streamed over the internet for that matter.
Anakin did bring balance, when he threw the emperor into the pit at the end of Jedi
This guy entered the country on a tourist visa, "smuggled" banned communication equipment into the country and then helped people install it.
While this should not be a crime in any country it is hard to complain that he is being treated unjustly when he:
1) Lied w.r.t. immigration intent
2) Smuggled banned items under clear customs regulations
3) Was an accessory to setting up illegal connections
Yes the laws are stupid, but they are the law and when you get caught you face the consequences.
That doesn't mean that we shouldn't get this guy released as he is really fighting for our agenda; but lets not paint this as a corruption/unjust incident.
I had to check your Slashdot ID to make sure it wasn't a low number. If it had been I was worried you might have a brain tumor. But you're just colorful. Oh well, carpe diem!
Thank you AC. My grandfather and great uncles fought in WWII, one getting radiated and eventually dying of cancer helping the Japs after Nagasaki and my grandfather helped to liberate one of the smaller camps before spending two years in a body cast thanks to an attack by a Werewulf squad that took out three of his men and dropped a wall on him.
And one thing I can say without fear of doubt is if they were here now they would be sickened and ashamed and the USA paying mercs that are selling little kids for fucktoys to get better deals. I mean how can you even answer that? I don't think there is any lower you can get here.
That is why I don't give a shit what anybody thinks Manning is a hero of the USA for showing the sickness and corruption hiding behind closed doors between the mercs and the MIC. My grandfather got out before Vietnam and even then he said "The MIC will keep us in wars until we are broke or there is nobody left to ship out" and he was 100% correct, only it is even worse as they'll just hire mercs that don't follow ANY rules of war when they need that contract signed or that wetwork done.
We USED to be the good guys, we used to actually care. Ever since the end of WWII when the MIC was born we have fallen further and further and we should all be ashamed at the rape, child trafficking, and outright genocide being committed in our names with our flag flying overhead. Is it any wonder they hate us?
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
It takes a special kind of retard to equate Obama with Mao.
Isn't that a rather harsh way to refer to the Chinese? Seems to have been popular with them.
Is this Anita Dunn’s favorite clothing store?
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell