HomeUploadUpload DirectHotlinkRandomAbouttheme toggle

Why A Dictatorship Could Crumble: "Young Cubans... have not been brainwashed."

Views: 873
Martha Bueno's organization, People 4 Cuba, smuggles food and medicine directly into the hands of suffering Cubans to help undermine an oppressive dictatorship.

Full text and links: https://reason.com/video/2022/03/16/the-decomposition-of-cubas-communist-regime/


------------------
Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/ReasonTV?subconfirmation=1
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Reason.Magazine
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/reason

Reason is the planet's leading source of news, politics, and culture from a libertarian perspective. Go to reason.com for a point of view you won't get from legacy media and old left-right opinion magazines.
----------------

A massive protest movement broke out in Cuba on July 11, 2021. Food, medicine, and electricity shortages exacerbated by the COVID pandemic were pushing an already desperate, oppressed, and impoverished nation to the brink of rebellion.

Demonstrators used the internet—which has only been legally available in the country since 2018—to coordinate action in large and small cities across the island.

"Freedom…I felt free. I have never experienced in my life something so spectacular and wonderful. You had to have lived it to understand," one Cuban citizen, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retribution from the Cuban government, told Reason.

In the face of widespread protests, the Cuban government arrested hundreds of protesters and shut down the internet.

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel appeared on state TV to call for the violent suppression of the protests against "counter-revolutionaries."

In Miami, members of the sizable Cuban-American community planned to load their own fishing boats with supplies to make the 90-mile journey to the island themselves but were deterred by the U.S. Coast Guard.

So they set off fireworks in international waters off the coast of Cuba instead.

"I think what people don't understand is that the problem in Cuba stems from the fact that people can't do anything for themselves," says Martha Bueno, a Cuban-American activist. "You're only allowed to make money if the government says it's OK. And that's how the government throttles people. They'll throw you in jail if you decide to try and feed your family on your own."

Bueno started the group People 4 Cuba following the protests. They assemble packages of dry foods and medical supplies and then pay people $35/pound to smuggle them onto the island. They've shipped more than 800 pounds so far, but she says it's become more difficult in recent months as the Cuban government has cracked down harder on smuggled medical supplies.

"The big reason that we have to smuggle it into Cuba is because if I send it legitimately… the Cuban government will take that and then sell it in the stores," says Bueno. "I wanted people to receive it, people who needed it to be able to receive it without paying. And I especially won't help the Cuban government. I refuse to fund raise, pay for, and then give it to them so that they can sell it in the stores. I'm not that kind of girl."

Produced by Zach Weissmueller. Camera by Dominic Easter.

Photo credits: Al Diaz/TNS/Newscom; Yander Zamora/EFE/Newscom; Michele Eve Sandberg / SplashNews/Newscom; Elvis Gonzalez/EFE/Newscom; INSTARimages/Cover Images/Newscom; Ismael Francisco/AP; imageBROKER/Egon B�msch/Newscom; Ernesto Mastrascusa/EFE/Newscom; Cristian Mijea/ZUMA Press/Newscom; Circa Images/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom; Ardavan Roozbeh/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom; YAMIL LAGE/TNS/Newscom; CHINE NOUVELLE/SIPA/Newscom; José Méndez/EFE/Newscom
@ReasonVidsfollow
Thumbnail for The Air Force Veteran Fighting to Save Afghans From the Taliban14:00
The Air Force Veteran Fighting to Save Afghans From the Taliban
ReasonVids
924 views
Thumbnail for How California Will Legalize Pot in 2016: Learning The Lessons of Prop 197:18
How California Will Legalize Pot in 2016: Learning The Lessons of Prop 19
ReasonVids
828 views
Thumbnail for To Surly, With Love: Are Teachers Overpaid?1:11
To Surly, With Love: Are Teachers Overpaid?
ReasonVids
796 views
Thumbnail for "They Kidnapped Our Child": Why CPS Needs Transparency Now10:12
"They Kidnapped Our Child": Why CPS Needs Transparency Now
ReasonVids
879 views
Thumbnail for Stealing Music Was the Late 90s Version of Drug Experimentation in the 60s10:47
Stealing Music Was the Late 90s Version of Drug Experimentation in the 60s
ReasonVids
806 views
Thumbnail for Remy Shows Cardi B Where Her Taxes Go (Bodak Yellow Parody)1:40
Remy Shows Cardi B Where Her Taxes Go (Bodak Yellow Parody)
ReasonVids
836 views
Thumbnail for Saibaman and the Kraken vs Aegis and Kuno - MUGEN (Gameplay) S1 • E280:43
Saibaman and the Kraken vs Aegis and Kuno - MUGEN (Gameplay) S1 • E28
memology101
1098 views
Thumbnail for Lock and load 0:04
Lock and load
AOUisgay
417 views
Thumbnail for Can Burning Man Survive Grover Norquist?1:57
Can Burning Man Survive Grover Norquist?
ReasonVids
819 views
Thumbnail for The Grover Norquist of Spending Cuts: Jonathan Bydlak and the Coalition to Reduce Spending13:17
The Grover Norquist of Spending Cuts: Jonathan Bydlak and the Coalition to Reduce Spending
ReasonVids
896 views
Thumbnail for California Environmentalists: Bees Are Now Fish2:17
California Environmentalists: Bees Are Now Fish
ReasonVids
1002 views
Thumbnail for Connecting The Dots: Economic Collapse Edition | Computing Forever29:53
Connecting The Dots: Economic Collapse Edition | Computing Forever
bitchute_topics
914 views
Thumbnail for Fort Pierce Food Truck Owners Fight Back0:59
Fort Pierce Food Truck Owners Fight Back
IJvids
944 views
Thumbnail for Dennis Hof on Why He Started "Pimpin' for Paul"1:28
Dennis Hof on Why He Started "Pimpin' for Paul"
ReasonVids
844 views
Thumbnail for The Failure of CRAPitalism: Q&A with Barron's Economic Columnist Gene Epstein5:47
The Failure of CRAPitalism: Q&A with Barron's Economic Columnist Gene Epstein
ReasonVids
873 views
Thumbnail for Joel Stein on His "Stupid Quest for Masculinity"6:35
Joel Stein on His "Stupid Quest for Masculinity"
ReasonVids
853 views
Thumbnail for Reports of many killed in a mass-shooting at the Charles University of Prague, Czechia.0:32
Reports of many killed in a mass-shooting at the Charles University of Prague, Czechia.
AOUisgay
384 views
Thumbnail for Gary Johnson Gets ANGRY Over Foreign Policy And Exclusion From Debates (You Will Too)!6:32
Gary Johnson Gets ANGRY Over Foreign Policy And Exclusion From Debates (You Will Too)!
ReasonVids
853 views
Thumbnail for Yes, I'm actually banned. | Phoenix SC3:06
Yes, I'm actually banned. | Phoenix SC
invidious
312 views
Thumbnail for WFAA-TV Follows IJ's Matt Miller As He Hands Out Posters Protesting the Dallas Sign Ban2:14
WFAA-TV Follows IJ's Matt Miller As He Hands Out Posters Protesting the Dallas Sign Ban
IJvids
924 views
Thumbnail for Jefferson Memorial Dance Dance Revolution - 6/4/20111:41
Jefferson Memorial Dance Dance Revolution - 6/4/2011
ReasonVids
931 views
Thumbnail for 'Locked Out': A Hair Braider Fights Occupational Licensing5:38
'Locked Out': A Hair Braider Fights Occupational Licensing
ReasonVids
874 views
Thumbnail for Ferguson Protesters React to Michael Brown Robbery Footage2:49
Ferguson Protesters React to Michael Brown Robbery Footage
ReasonVids
816 views

points

Permalink
Reply
libertarian, reason magazine, reason.com, reason.tv, reasontv
TOS  •  Add Keywords  •  Donate  •   Analytics  •   DMCA  •   Puzzle