WP: Cuba's Divided Dissidents Keep Low Profile

[DeepModem Mom]

Cuba's Divided Dissidents Keep Low Profile
As Growing Confusion Surrounds Castro's Move, Activists Are Avoiding Risks
By Manuel Roig-Franzia
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, August 4, 2006; Page A14

MEXICO CITY, Aug. 3 -- Cuba's tiny, fragmented dissident movement has fought for decades to end political imprisonments and restrictions on free speech under Fidel Castro.

But Castro's ever-more mysterious illness and temporary handover of power to his brother, Raúl Castro, have not led to a surge in dissident activity. There have been no big speeches. No rallies. No fiery calls for change.

Instead, prominent dissidents seem just as confused as many of their countrymen about what is happening and what it means for them.

"At this point, all of this is not having an impact on the dissident movement, none whatsoever," Vladimiro Roca, once one of Cuba's best-known political prisoners, said in a telephone interview from his Havana home. "We just don't know anything. And we have no way to mobilize."

Even the most vocal dissidents have been holding back. Oswaldo Payá -- founder of the renowned Varela Project, which included a petition drive for free speech and amnesty for political prisoners -- has called for calm....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/03/AR2006080301540.html

[Mika]

1. Looks like we (the US taxpayers) will have to send $80mil to stir the pot

To help with the transition to a US puppet government.

NOT!