DeFede Acknowledges Dissidents

For all you Miami Herald fans out there (excluding the birds, of course), check out Jim DeFede's latest column on Cuba.

I must give credit where credit is due. DeFede did a decent job with the column. Much of the column focused on the dissonance within the Cuban dissident community, which is a recurring theme in my postings. At least he mentioned the dissidents, and even managed to interview someone other than Oswaldo Paya. Here's an excerpt:

All the (Cuban) government institutions today are controlled by the Communist Party, we can not work with them, we are striving instead to develop organizations independent of the state,'' said Rene Gomez Manzano, one of the three organizers of the Assembly (to Promote Civil Society), along with (Martha Beatriz) Roque and Felix Bonne Carcasses. ``We want to develop independent libraries, an independent press and independent drug stores. We want these things to be closer to the people.

''We are not against national reconciliation,'' Gomez Manzano said. ``But it is the regime that exerts totalitarian control of the state and it is the regime which puts people in jail for speaking their minds and therefore it is for the regime to come forward and ask for dialogue with the people, and not for the dissidents to do so.''

It would have been nice to see DeFede mention the wide support the Assembly received outside of Cuba, especially in South Florida. But something is something. Perhaps that will be the topic of another column.