U.S. Libertarian Party Condemns Cuba's Incarceration of Libertarians

Ubaldo Herrera Hernandez and Manuel Velazquez Visea have lit some huge brush fires of liberty in the short time since their arrest by State Security and incarceration in the Cuban Gulag.  After 10 Libertarian state parties in the United States, as well as the Libertarian parties of Spain and Russia, condemned the action and called for the release of Herrera and Velazquez, the U.S. (national) Libertarian Party published the following:

The Libertarian National Committee of the United States condemns the arrest and detention of political dissidents Ubaldo Herrera Hernandez and Manuel Velazquez, who have been detained by the Cuban government since their arrest on February 2.

Both men were targeted for peacefully promoting small government, civil liberties, and free markets, for which they occasionally distributed flyers and put up posters.

Hernandez and Velazquez are members of Mises Cuba, an independent think tank which is based on the Ludwig von Mises Institute of Auburn, Alabama.

Mises Cuba has confirmed the activists’ ongoing detention.

“Hernandez and Velazquez are political prisoners whose actions have harmed no one and damaged no property,” said Nicholas Sarwark, Chair of the Libertarian National Committee. “We stand in solidarity with our fellow freedom fighters in Cuba.”

The Libertarian National Committee passed a resolution asserting that the activists’ arrest and detention “illustrate the threats to freedom we all face around the world.”

It further states:
“The Libertarian Party calls on the Cuban government to immediately release details of the above-mentioned arrests and detentions, including the specific charges being levied against the individuals in question. In the absence of such information, we call for the release of these prisoners.

“Libertarian activism worldwide must not be deterred by the attempts of authoritarian leaders, totalitarian governments, and dictatorial regimes to silence the voice of freedom. We condemn any acts of official oppression, and uphold the promotion of limited government and free markets in any country. Furthermore, we call on the U.S. Department of State to publicly denounce violations of the right to free speech, the right to peaceably assemble, and the right to due process abroad.”

For more information about this story:

Report: Arrested Mises Cuba Member Charged with “Distributing Enemy Propaganda”

Cuban libertarian activists sent to the gulag

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The Libertarian Party of Nevada extends a sincere THANK YOU to the LNC members who votes Yes on this resolution, on behalf of the libertarians of Mises Cuba and the Ben Franklin Library, and on behalf of the families of the now 6 imprisoned libertarians: Ubaldo Herrera Hernández, Manuel Velázquez Visea, René Ronco Machín, Rolando Guerra, Roser Ayala García, and Rafael Averof Rodríguez.  Repression against the ideas of liberty carries on in Cuba and elsewhere.  Days ago, Rodrigo Quintana of Paraguay's Authentic Radical Liberal Party was shot dead by police.  Less than 2 weeks ago, Javier Oteca was murdered in Colombia.  Oteca was a libertarian activist who'd been occupying and reclaiming lands stolen from indigenous peoples through eminent domain or forced evictions by paramilitary forces and given to crony corporations. Early in February, a libertarian and Community Police (anti-cartel self-defense militia) veteran named David (last name withheld) was murdered in Mexico City.  Last summer, libertarian activist Salvador Olmos Garcia was killed by crooked police in Oaxaca.  Sadly, the international libertarian movement has its martyrs, but it now also has international attention.

Also, Guatemalan libertarian author, activist, and talk radio star Gloria Alvarez recently dedicated an episode of the politics and current events talk show Libertopolis to the heroism of libertarians in Cuba.  Havana-based activists Nelson Rodriguez and Caridad Ramirez talked about the arrest and incarceration of Ubaldo Herrera and Manuel Velazquez, about the activism of Mises Cuba and the Benjamin Franklin Libertarian Library, and about the government's increased repression against libertarians and all other perceived opposition on the island.  Spanish speakers can enjoy the interview here.  LP Nevada extends a sincere thank you to Ms. Alvarez and to the independent Chilean libertarians who plan on protesting the incarceration in front of the Cuban embassy in Santiago in the near future.

Cuba's libertarians have officially asked the international libertarian community for help.  You can write to several human rights watch groups with the names of the libertarian prisoners. We recommend Amnesty International, The Cuban Observatory of Human Rights, Human Rights Cuba, and the Cuban Commission of Human Rights and National Reconciliation.  You can also directly contact Cuba's Ministry of Foreign Relations on Facebook and call for the immediate release of the libertarian political prisoners (@CubaMINREX on Twitter).  Finally, you can visit MisesCuba.org or email misescubacontacto@gmail.com to find out how to donate Bitcoins to Mises Cuba and the Benjamin Franklin Libertarian Library.

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Image courtesy of Haaretz.  This article was first published by the Libertarian Party of Nevada.  Full permission to reprint or republish this article on the condition that the author and first publisher are credited, and the reproduction links back to this page.

Colorado, Chile, and Guatemala Libertarians Condemn Cuban Government for Arrests

International support keeps growing for the now-famous Cuban libertarian prisoners, Ubaldo Herrera and Manuel Velazquez.  In recent demonstrations of support for the prisoners and opposition to the regime that sent them to Melena del Sur, the Cuban Gulag, libertarians in Colorado, Guatemala, and Chile took a public stand against the Castro regime's oppression of libertarians associated with Mises Cuba and the Benjamin Franklin Libertarian Library in Havana.  The parties involved are the Libertarian Party of Colorado, a libertarian talk radio celebrity in Guatemala City, and independent libertarians in Santiago, Chile.

In a recent press release, the Libertarian Party of Colorado said the following:

In early February, two libertarian activists, Ubaldo Herrera Hernandez and Manuel Velasquez Visea, were arrested in Cuba and convicted of attempted assault and the highly disturbing “distributing enemy propaganda” in short order. There is no evidence of any violence by these activists, and the subversive literature is in fact the type of items that Libertarians routinely read and distribute here in the United States. This conviction is a violation of the human right to peacefully declare one’s political convictions, and further, it is reported that the conditions of the prison where Ubaldo and Manuel are currently housed is the equivalent of the “gulag.” The Libertarian Party of Colorado joins the state Libertarian parties of Nevada, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Indiana, New Mexico, North Carolina, and Florida in calling for the Cuban government to free these activists by passing the following Resolution:

The Libertarian Party of Colorado condemns the unjust detention of libertarian activists Ubaldo Herrera Hernandez and Manuel Velasquez by agents of the Castro regime in Cuba on February 2, and demands the immediate safe release of these political prisoners who were targeted for their peaceful activism promoting limited government and free markets. We further ask the U.S. government's State Department to place diplomatic pressure on the Castro regime for their release, and encourage Libertarian Party members and supporters to contact their elected officials toward that end.

Recently, Guatemalan libertarian author, activist, and talk radio star Gloria Alvarez dedicated an episode of the politics and current events talk show Libertopolis to the heroism of libertarians in Cuba.  Havana-based activists Nelson Rodriguez and Caridad Ramirez talked about the arrest and incarceration of Ubaldo Herrera and Manuel Velazquez, about the activism of Mises Cuba and the Benjamin Franklin Libertarian Library, and about the government's increased repression against libertarians and all other perceived opposition on the island.  Spanish speakers can enjoy the interview here.

Libertarians in Chile also took a public stand.  Libertarianism is still in its seedling stages across Latin America, where CIA-sponsored terror has made socialism the default 'good-guy' philosophy for 60 years.  Despite their small numbers, independent Chilean libertarians took to the streets of Santiago to protest the incarceration directly in front of the Cuban embassy.  LP Nevada heartily extends a high-five to the handful of Chilean libertarians who did more for liberty with their one action of defiance than most of the armchair activists reading this article.  

In recent weeks, the incarceration was also denounced by the Libertarian parties of Spain and Russia.  This movement is growing.  Far from weakening political opposition, the Castro regime has only made libertarianism stronger. LP Nevada's sources in Havana say that Ubaldo Herrera and Manuel Velazquez are converting and new libertarians in the labor prison.  Even in their cell, the hunger strikers are growing the liberty movement in Cuba. Moreover, the Castro regime's repression has strengthened solidarity among libertarians across the world, but especially in the Americas.

Libertarians keep arguing against government intervention in favor of civil society voluntarily solving problems. Now is the time for libertarians to follow through on that standard with action. No one else is going to help our libertarian brothers languishing in the Cuban Gulag. Cuba's libertarians are officially asking the international libertarian community for help.

You can write to several human rights watch groups with the names of the libertarian prisoners. We recommend Amnesty International, The Cuban Observatory of Human Rights, Human Rights Cuba, and the Cuban Commission of Human Rights and National Reconciliation.  You can also directly contact Cuba's Ministry of Foreign Relations on Facebook and call for the immediate release of the libertarian political prisoners (@CubaMINREX on Twitter).  Finally, you can visit MisesCuba.org or email misescubacontacto@gmail.com to find out how to donate Bitcoins to Mises Cuba snd the Benjamin Franklin Libertarian Library.

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** Note: I was recently contacted by one of the Chilean libertarians.  Regrettably, they report that the protest at the embassy was postponed at the last minute in order to protest another, more local injustice, and a person's first priority is to clean up his own house.  Nonetheless, the Chilean libertarians insist they fully intend to follow through with the postponed Cuba protest in the near future.

Image courtesy of Region Coquimbo and has been cropped from its original version.  This article was first published by the Libertarian Party of Nevada.  Full permission is granted to reprint or republish this article, provided the author and first publisher are credited and the reproduction links back to this page.

Cuban libertarian activists sent to the Gulag!

The civil rights and human rights case regarding the two jailed Cuban libertarian activists just took a dark turn.  As of this afternoon, Mises Cuba reports that Ubaldo Herrera Hernandez and Manuel Velazquez Visea are incarcerated in Cuba's infamous Melena II prison.  Various human rights groups have documented conditions at Melena II, and it's Cuba's equivalent of the Gulag in Soviet Russia and the labor camps in North Korea.  

Five Libertarian state parties (Nevada, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Indiana, and New Mexico) and the Libertarian Party of Spain (P-LIB) have already published denunciations of the Cuban government and the Communist Party of Cuba, and these parties are calling for the immediate and safe release of the political prisoners.

Ubaldo Herrera Hernandez and Manuel Velazquez Visea were originally arrested by State Security (the secret police) and the National Police on the night of February 2 and were being detained at a jail facility in Mayabeque Province.  Less than 2 hours ago Mises Institute Cuba (an independent Cuban organization based on the American Mises Institute) reported that Herrera and Velazquez are believed to have been convicted of attempted assault.  In truth, Herrera was targeted for his "dissident activities" of getting people together in a room to discuss limited government, civil liberties, and free markets. Velazquez had the misfortune of being with Herrera when both men were challenged by a plainclothes undercover State Security agent who demanded to see their ID.

Mises Cuba staff members Nelson Rodriguez Chartrand and Heriberto Pons Ruiz both testify that Herrera and Velazquez have been transferred to Melena II, a labor prison outside of Melena del Sur, near Havana.  Thanks to refugees like Esteban Marcial Mosqueda, whose testimony was published by retired U.S. immigration judge Susan Yarbrough, we know exactly what conditions the two jailed libertarian activists are facing.

"There were no beds and no sheets so I slept on the floor with the other men.  The toilet was a hole in the floor, and it overflowed everyday.  At night the rats and roaches came through it, and sometimes a snake.  Our food was beans once a day, and it was always filled with insects and worms.  We got a pail of water every other day; it was for drinking, but it was so dirty it made us sick...  Many months and many guards went by.  Most of them would call me negro azul [blue-black, because of his dark skin]...  I was very thin by then, and it was very easy for them to pull down my pants."

In 2011 the Committee to Protect Journalists confirmed the existence of Melena II, and the labor prison's appalling conditions.  The Spanish-language Cuban-American news venue Let's Talk Press reported appalling conditions and human rights abuses in the Melena II prison as recently as 2015.  The Spanish-language Cuba news venue Café Fuerte reports on the forced labor conditions.   "'We are subjected to a twelve-hour work day in the sun, melting and raising blocks or working in the field,' said a labor convict at the Melena II prison's collective farm...  The Melena II prison houses more than 600 convicts, mostly young black men. They work by making cement blocks."

Now that the Cuban libertarian activists Herrera and Velazquez are in the Gulag, it's now more important than ever for supporters of human rights across America and around the world to take action.  Libertarians from around the world are already taking the fight back to the Cuban government. In one example, a French supporter demanded their release on the Ministry of Foreign Relations' French-language Facebook page.

All concerned citizens in all countries can help by doing these things:

1. Publicly condemn the Cuban government and the Communist Party of Cuba, and demand the safe release of the libertarian prisoners,
2. Ask the US State Department to place diplomatic pressure on Cuba for their release,
3. Call Senators, Congressmen, Governors, and State Legislators to make their own statements of support for these political prisoners and to ask the State Department to diplomatically pressure the Cuban government. Find your Congressman here and contact his or her office, and tweet at your governor.
4. Directly contact Cuba’s Ministry of Foreign Relations and demand the safe release of Ubaldo Herrera Hernandez and Manuel Velazquez Visea. Send them a message on Facebook and tweet directly at them.

The Libertarian Party of Nevada isn't advocating for sending the Marines to Havana; we're simply rallying free people around the world to call out a human rights abuse against one of our own flock.  We the People must never give in to evil, but fight boldly against it. #TodosSomosMisesCuba

For further inquiries contact Zach Foster at zach.foster@lpnevada.org 

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Melena II prison photo courtesy of CIH Press.  This article was first published by the Libertarian Party of Nevada.