Why Doesn't Obama Care About Freedom?
By Cliff Kincaid
June 29, 2009
If you recognize that Obama failed to vigorously and immediately support the pro-freedom demonstrators in Iran, take a look at his attitude toward those suffering under the Castro dictatorship.
An extraordinary editorial (web site) ran in the liberal Washington Post on Thursday, June 25, about the indifference of the Obama White House to the plight of those who believe in freedom just 90 miles from our shores. The editorial, "A Dissident Deflected," told the story of how the Obama Administration wouldn't issue a statement recognizing the plight of five human rights activists in Cuba until the Post itself inquired about the matter.
The five leaders of Cuba's pro-democracy movement were recipients of the National Endowment for Democracy's 2009 Democracy Award. It was expected that they would not be allowed by the Castro regime to travel from Cuba to the U.S. to accept their award. But it wasn't expected, at least by the Post, that the Obama White House would seem unconcerned about their struggle for freedom.
The Post explained, "None were able to travel to Washington. They have been represented here by Bertha Antúnez, sister of Jorge Luis García Pérez. And Ms. Antúnez, an Afro-Cuban who was active in the Rosa Parks movement before she was forced into exile a year ago, has been snubbed by President Obama. Requests that he meet with her went unanswered. Only as the ceremony began did the White House issue a brief statement."
The paper said that "Mr. Obama's hastily drafted statement―issued after The Post inquired about his silence―said he wished 'to acknowledge and commend' the five dissidents 'and all the brave men and women who are standing up for the right of the Cuban people to freely determine their country's future.'"
The belated "Statement of President Obama on NED 2009 Democracy Award Recipients" consisted of one paragraph:
"I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge and commend the National Endowment for Democracy's 2009 Democracy Award recipients Jorge Luis Garcia Perez, Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia, Librado Linares, Ivan Hernandez Carrillo, and Iris Tamara Perez Aguilera and all the brave men and women who are standing up for the right of the Cuban people to freely determine their country's future. Like too many of their fellow citizens, four of these individuals have been unjustly jailed for defending the basic freedoms we all hold dear in the Americas. It is my sincere hope that all political prisoners who remain jailed, including three of today's award recipients, will be unconditionally released and allowed to fully participate in a democratic future in Cuba."
As important as the Post editorial was, Jack Otero of the Committee for Free Trade Unionism wrote a letter to the paper noting that the Post failed to highlight a leader of the Cuban independent labor movement by the name of Iván Hernández Carrillo, who is serving a 25-year prison term since his arrest in 2003. Otero said that Hernández Carrillo is imprisoned for the "crime" of organizing unions not beholden to the communist-controlled Cuban Labor Confederation. "The Post should have acknowledged that labor activists in Cuba also risk their lives for freedom," he said.
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