Chavez vs. Bodies Exhibition

The Chavez regime has started their case against Bodies exhibition, in this case Premier Exhibitions, or their Venezuelan agent, Evenpro. What is really funny is that it was the tax administration would confiscated the bodies, since their where brought by international courier. Now the Venezuelan Public Prosecuting office (Fiscalia Ministerio Publico) is pressing charges against the company. To this very moment they are investigating where did the bodies come from and have even considered to press criminal charges against the promoters. What is on Chavez mind is that this could easily be a way for black market homicide....Ugh! Chavez thinking like the crook that he know he is...

I personally find it amusing to exhibit for medical or scientific purposes the remains of humans who previously have given their informed consent. On contrast, my fathers opinion is that he finds it awful and does not think it should be exhibited.

However, their has been a past with this Bodies exhibition. Prior to the 2005 U.S. premiere of the Bodies exhibit, the Florida Attorney General expressed the opinion that the State Anatomical Board’s approval should be required. The Board fought the Tampa Bodies exhibit, with its director expressing the opinion that the exhibit should be shut down. Premiere Exhibitions officials disagreed, claiming that the Board had jurisdiction only over medical schools and not museums; the exhibit opened two days ahead of schedule at the Tampa Museum of Science and Industry.

Questions regarding the origins of the bodies continue to be raised. In 2006, reporting from Dalian, China for the New York Times, David Barboza described "a ghastly new underground mini-industry" with "little government oversight, an abundance of cheap medical school labor and easy access to cadavers and organs." Premier representatives say "the bodies were not formally donated by people who agreed to be displayed." The director of the Anatomical Committee of the New York Associated Medical Schools (NYAMS) worries that "you have no documentation of who this is."

ABCNews' program 20/20 produced a major report exposing the "secret trade in Chinese bodies." Claiming that bodies are sold on the black market for $300, the report spawned not only a series of other articles but also a Congressional inquiry, an investigation by the NY Attorney General,and the resignation of Premier's CEO Arnie Geller.

On the front of their exhibition website reads a disclaimer describing the presumed origin of the bodies, and fetuses:

Disclaimer:

-This exhibit displays human remains of Chinese citizens or residents which were originally received by the Chinese Bureau of Police. The Chinese Bureau of Police may receive bodies from Chinese prisons. Premier cannot independently verify that the human remains you are viewing are not those of persons who were incarcerated in Chinese prisons.

-This exhibit displays full body cadavers as well as human body parts, organs, fetuses and embryos that come from cadavers of Chinese citizens or residents. With respect to the human parts, organs, fetuses and embryos you are viewing, Premier relies solely on the representations of its Chinese partners and cannot independently verify that they do not belong to persons executed while incarcerated in Chinese prisons.

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo concluded his investigation of Premier, finding "The grim reality is that Premier Exhibitions has profited from displaying the remains of individuals who may have been tortured and executed in China. Despite repeated denials, we now know that Premier itself cannot demonstrate the circumstances that led to the death of the individuals. Nor is Premier able to establish that these people consented to their remains being used in this manner. Respect for the dead and respect for the public requires that Premier do more than simply assure us that there is no reason for concern. This settlement is a start."

In June 2007, Elaine Catz quit her job of 11 years as science education coordinator for the Carnegie Museum of Science in protest over the exhibit, citing religious objections and questions regarding provenance, including the issue of reports of organ harvesting from Falun Gong in China.

In 2007, a Washington State bill was introduced to ban exhibits of bodies without clear documentation of consent, and a similar bill was introduced in January 2008 by California legislator Fiona Ma.

In June 2008 New York State passed a bill requiring anyone showing an exhibit that uses real human bodies in museums across New York to get a permit to show where exactly the bodies came from. Senator Jim Alesi sponsored the bill.

Professional ethicists, human rights activists and religious leaders have also objected. "Given the (Chinese) government's track record on the treatment of prisoners, I find this exhibit deeply problematic," said Sharon Hom, the executive director of the advocacy group Human Rights in China. Professor Anita L. Allen, a University of Pennsylvania bioethicist, argued spending money to "gawk" at human remains should raise serious concerns. Thomas Hibbs, Baylor University ethicist, compares cadaver displays to pornography in that they reduce the subject to "the manipulation of body parts stripped of any larger human significance." Even if consent were to be obtained, Rabbi Danny Schiff maintains that we should still question what providing "bodies arranged in showcases for a hungry public" says about a society.[29] Harry Wu, a long-time human rights activist, terms the practice of obtaining exhibit specimens from China "immoral" and describes how the Chinese label of 'unclaimed' on bodies may imply that families were not notified of the death.

Regarding the educational concerns around these exhibits, St. Louis Diocese Archbishop Raymond Burke directs Catholic Schools there to avoid field trips, citing serious questions for Catholics. Prior to the exhibit's opening in Pittsburgh, the Pittsburgh Catholic Diocese endorsed the educational content of the exhibition, while noting that it would not be appropriate for everyone and welcoming continued discourse regarding the place of such exhibits in society. Rev. Daniel Pilarczyk, Archbishop of Cincinnati, issued a statement: "I do not believe that this exhibit is an appropriate destination for field trips by our Catholic schools."

In 2006, citing concern over how "some kids will process these images," Abbotsford, British Columbia School Superintendent Des McKay barred field trips to exhibits of plasticized human beings. In an editorial, Lutheran Reverend Christoph Reiners questioned the effect on the values of children. Elaine Catz, who helped coordinate field trips for the Carnegie Science Center prior to resigning in June 2007, maintains "it teaches that, once he is deceased, there is nothing wrong with taking a person's body without his consent; it teaches that there is nothing wrong with exploiting the dead in order to make a profit, as long as it is in the name of science or education or art. It teaches that it is incredibly easy to dehumanize others."

In 2009, after a week of presence in Venezuela, on march 4th the authocratic president Hugo Chavez confiscated the corpses, that will remain under his jurisdiction for undetermined time.

Carl Andre / Artist Review

Remembering my days in 2006 when I roamed what is now my favorite museum in the whole wide world, Tate Modern in Southwark, London. At the Tate Modern in one of the exhibitions I remembering seeing a sculpture of an artist called Carl Andre.

The sculpture in the picture is called Equivalent VIII. Nothing more than a pile of bricks. 120 white firebricks placed in a rectangular form, constitutes this piece of minimalist work.

Andre´s piece provocked an uproar in London in 1976 when it was subject to a piece in the Sunday Times, questioning the content of art of this Tate Modern art display...I would say he is a genius...

Carl Andre (born September 16, 1935) is an American minimalist artist recognized mainly for his ordered linear format and grid format sculptures ranging from large public artworks (such as Stone Field Sculpture, 1977 in Hartford, CT) [1] and Lament for the Children,1976 [2] in Long Island City, NY) to more intimate tile patterns arranged on the floor of an exhibition space (such as 144 Lead Squares [3], 1969 or Twenty-fifth Steel Cardinal, 1974)..

Andre was born in Quincy, MA. He completed primary and secondary schooling in the Quincy public school system and studied art at Phillips Academy in Andover, MA from 1951 to 1953[4]. While at Phillips Academy he became friends with Hollis Frampton who would later influence Andre's radical approach to sculpture through their conversations about art[5] and through introductions to other artists[6].

Andre served in the U.S. Army in North Carolina 1955-56 and moved to New York City in 1956. While in New York, Frampton introduced Andre to Constantin Brâncuşi through whom Andre became re-acquainted with a former classmate from Phillips Academy, Frank Stella, in 1958. Andre shared studio space with Stella from 1958 through 1960[7].

Andre's early work in wood may have been inspired by Brâncuşi, but his conversations with Stella about space and form led him in a different direction. While sharing a studio with Stella, Andre developed a series of wooden "cut" sculptures[8] (such as Radial Arm Saw cut sculpture, 1959, and Maple Spindle Exercise, 1959). Stella is noted as having said to Andre (regarding hunks of wood removed from Andre's sculpture) "Carl, that's sculpture, too."[9]

From 1960-64 Andre worked as freight brakeman and conductor in New Jersey for the Pennsylvania Railroad. The experience with blue collar labor and the ordered nature of conducting freight trains would have a later influence on Andre's sculpture and artistic personality. For example, it was not uncommon for Andre to dress in overalls and a blue work shirt, even to the most formal occasions.."[10]

During this period, Andre focused mainly on writing and there is little notable sculpture on record between 1960 and 1965. The poetry would resurface later, most notably in a book (finally published in 1980 by NYU press) called 12 Dialgues in which Andre and Frampton took turns responding to one another at a typewriter using mainly poetry and free-form essay-like texts[11]. Andre's concrete poetry has exhibited in the United States and Europe, a comprehensive collection of which is in the collection of the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam[12].

In 1965 he had his first public exhibition of work in the "Shape and Structure" show curated by Henry Geldzahler at the Tibor de Nagy Gallery. Andre's controversial "Lever" was included in the seminal 1966 show at the Jewish Museum in New York entitled, "Primary Structures." In 1970 he had a one man exhibition at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and has had one man exhibitions and participated in group shows in major museums, galleries and kunsthalles throughout America and Europe.

In 1969 Andre helped organize the Art Workers Coalition.

In 1972 Britain's Tate Gallery acquired Andre's Equivalent VIII, an arrangement of bricks. It was shown several times without incident but became the center of controversy in 1976 after it featured in an article in The Sunday Times. It was defaced with paint later in the year. The "Bricks controversy" became one of the most famous public debates in Britain about contemporary art.[13]

In 1979 Andre first met Ana Mendieta through a mutual friendship with artists, Leon Golub and Nancy Spero at AIR Gallery in New York, N.Y.[14]. Andre and Mendieta eventually married in 1984 but the relationship ended in tragedy. Mendieta fell to her death from Andre's 34th story apartment window in 1985 after an argument with Andre. Andre was charged with second degree murder. He elected to be tried before a judge with no jury. In 1988 Andre was acquitted of all charges related to Mendieta's death.[15]

Jonathan Meese / Artist review

Jonathan Meese (born January 23, 1970, Tokyo) is a German painter, sculptor, performance artist and installation artist based in Berlin and Hamburg. His (often multi-media) works include collages, drawings and writing. He also designs theater sets and wrote and starred in a play, "De Frau: Dr. Poundaddylein - Dr. Ezodysseusszeusuzur" in 2007 at the Volksbühne Theater.

Meese attended Hochschule für bildende Künste in Hamburg, but left the school before completing his studies and was picked up by Berlin gallery Contemporary Fine Arts. An early installation Ahoi de Angst was presented at the first Berlin Biennale in 1998. Susanne Titz, writing about the Biennale said, "It was thus clear that Meese had indeed put his finger on the pulse of his generation and presented it." [1] According to Karel Schampers, "Jonathan Meese can tell a story in such a gripping way that you would never have the idea to doubt its truth. Especially his installations benefit from this quality," [2]

He has been included in exhibitions “Spezialbilder” at Contemporary Fine Arts in Berlin, “Grotesk!” at Schirn Kunsthalle in Frankfurt and “Schnitt bringt Schnitte” at Ausstellungsraum Schnitt in Köln. Recent exhibitions include Thanks, Wally Whyton (Revendaddy Phantomilky on Coconut Islandaddy) at Modern Art, London, and a performance at Tate Modern, entitled Noel Coward Is Back — Dr. Humpty Dumpty vs. Fra No-Finger. [3] [4] He has exhibited at Modern Art, London, Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris, and Centro Cultural Andratx, Mallorca.

He is represented by Contemporary Fine Arts in Berlin, Leo Koenig in New York, and Modern Art in London. In 2007 he collaborated with the composer Karlheinz Essl on the installation FRÄULEIN ATLANTIS shown at the Essl Museum in Vienna/Klosterneuburg.

He has worked collaboratively with the painters Jörg Immendorff, Albert Oehlen, Tim Berresheim, Daniel Richter, Tal R and the composer Karlheinz Essl.

Benicio del Toro in Caracas, Venezuela playing politics

Benicio del Toro was last night in Caracas. No doubt paid by the Venezuelan government. According to the Venezuelan news agency, de Toro (who played Dr. Gonzo in one of my favorite movie, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas), assisted to the premiere of the movie el Che in Nuevo Circo in downtown Caracas. In the pictures he is caught right next to Libertador mayor and Ex-Electoral Vice President Jorge Rodriguez. What is really pathetic is that they were showing the movie in a Bull Fight arena. Nuevo Circo in Caracas is legendary for bull fights with bullfighters from Spain and all over the world. Poetic, I would say so...

As for Che Guevara, I have a lot to say about this fellow. Mythical I would certaintly say so. Specially when you can see him in T Shirts all over, trying to get a reaction from society. Most people do not know much about the history of Che Guevara and how we met Fidel, climbed on a boat with him in Mexico to invade Cuba, how we was appointed President of the Central Bank and how we escape Castros hands to hide in the mountains of Bolivia. There are a bunch of movies out there, concerning Che and Fidel, let alone television documentaries, so why is Steven Soderberg doing another movie about Che Guevara?

The truth is Che Guevara was a sociopath killer hired by Fidel Castro for the invasion of Cuba. When the invasion succeded the monster Che Guevara was getting bigger than Fidel´s...

I will post this article by Dale Yeager, and US writer on who was really Che Guevara. And not the manipulative version out there trying to make a quick buck...

Yogui, this is for you:

Why He Became Famous

A search for his name in Google produces 1,120,000 hits. His image is tattooed to the belly of Mike Tyson [and Maradona´s shoulder], and he frequents the t-shirts and hats of college students and celebrities.

In 1952, former Cuban president Fulgencio Batista was third in the race for president and decided to hold a coup. By the way, he had done this earlier in 1933 and was elected the first time by forming a political alliance with the Cuban Communist Party, sound familiar?

In 1953 a young attorney named Fidel Castro, tried to oust Batista but he and his group failed after which he was arrested and jailed. After two years, Batista freed Castro. That same year Castro meets Che Guevara and Che joined Castro’s 26th of July Movement.

In 1956 Castro and his 26th of July Movement launched another attack and was beaten by Batista’s troops…again. Castro moved to the mountains for three years. In 1958, several groups [not affiliated with Castro], tried to bring down Batista, along with Castro’s crew.

Eventually Batista realized that the gig was over for him and he fled Cuba on New Year's Day 1959.

After the revolution's success, the 26th of July Movement was joined with other bodies to form the United Party of the Cuban Socialist Revolution, which in turn became the Communist Party of Cuba in 1965.

So who was Che Guevara?

His full legal name was Ernesto Rafael Guevara de la Serna. He was of Spanish-Irish descent.
In 1928, he was born into an aristocratic and politically Marxist family in Rosario Argentina. As a boy he played rugby and was nicknamed the “The Raging" because he was extremely aggressive.
In 1948 Guevara entered the University of Buenos Aires to study medicine. There is no evidence that he graduated with a medical degree. In fact the only medical job he had was that of a medical assistant and his efforts to get an internship as a doctor were not successful.
1956 he married his first wife Hilda Gadea, an exiled Peruvian Marxist. They had one child. Later in 1959 he decided to divorce Gadea and marry a Cuban, Aleida Marsh. They had four children. In 1964 this loyal father had an extramarital affair with Lilia Rosa López, and they had a son Omar Pérez. His closest friends described Che as a father using one word …absent. In reality he was – like all political extremists – obsessed with his cause and his personal pleasure instead of the well being of his family.
But many people see Che Guevara as a liberator as a social savior. He was far from that. When Guevara met Castro and joined forces with him Cuba needed saving….or did it?

Facts from a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization report on Cuba released in 1957:

· "One feature of the Cuban social structure is a large middle class”.

· "Cuban workers are more unionized (proportional to the population) than U.S. workers.

· The average wage for an 8 hour day in Cuba in 1957 is higher than for
workers in Belgium, Denmark, France and Germany.

· Cuban labor receives 66.6 per cent of gross national income. In the U.S. the figure is 70 per cent, in Switzerland 64 per cent. 44 per cent of Cubans are covered by Social legislation, a higher percentage then in the U.S."

· In 1958 Cuba had a higher per-capita income than Austria and Japan. Cuban
industrial workers had the 8th highest wages in the world. In the 1950's Cuban stevedores earned more per hour than their counterparts in New Orleans and San Francisco.

· Cuba had established an 8 hour work-day in 1933 -- five years before FDR's New Dealers got around to it. Add to this: one months paid vacation.

· Cuba, a country 71% white in 1957, was completely desegregated 30 years before the U.S.

· In 1958 Cuba had more female college graduates per capita than the U.S.

In reality the Cuban people had lost control of their government when Batista seized power in 1952. When the Castro / Che team took over the country was thriving economically and in some ways socially but it had lost its direction. History has shown that when liberal democracies lose their direction there is always an opportunist ready and waiting to take over.

But maybe with all of his faults Che was a kind man, a loving man, think again! In his article “The Killing Machine”, Alvaro Vargas Llosa details the violent side of Guevara.

· In April 1967, speaking from experience, he summed up his homicidal idea of justice in his "Message to the Tricontinental": "hatred as an element of struggle; unbending hatred for the enemy, which pushes a human being beyond his natural limitations, making him into an effective, violent, selective, and cold-blooded killing machine."

· "I feel my nostrils dilate savoring the acrid smell of gunpowder and blood of the enemy,"

· Guevara's disposition when he traveled with Castro from Mexico to Cuba aboard the Granma is captured in a phrase in a letter to his wife that he penned on January 28, 1957, not long after disembarking, which was published in her book Ernesto: A Memoir of Che Guevara in Sierra Maestra: "Here in the Cuban jungle, alive and bloodthirsty."

· In January 1957, as his diary from the Sierra Maestra indicates, Guevara shot Eutimio Guerra because he suspected him of passing on information: "I ended the problem with a .32 caliber pistol, in the right side of his brain.... His belongings were now mine."

· Later he shot Aristidio, a peasant who expressed the desire to leave whenever the rebels moved on. While he wondered whether this particular victim "was really guilty enough to deserve death," he had no qualms about ordering the death of Echevarría, a brother of one of his comrades, because of unspecified crimes: "He had to pay the price." At other times he would simulate executions without carrying them out, as a method of psychological torture.

· Instruction given to his underlings, "If in doubt, kill him".

· José Vilasuso, a lawyer and a professor at Universidad Interamericana de Bayamón in Puerto Rico, who belonged to the body in charge of the summary judicial process at La Cabaña [the prison Castor put Che in charge of], told me recently that Che was in charge of the Comisión Depuradora. The process followed the law of the Sierra: there was a military court and Che's guidelines to us were that we should act with conviction, meaning that they were all murderers and the revolutionary way to proceed was to be implacable. My direct superior was Miguel Duque Estrada. My duty was to legalize the files before they were sent on to the Ministry. Executions took place from Monday to Friday, in the middle of the night, just after the sentence was given and automatically confirmed by the appellate body. On the most gruesome night I remember, seven men were executed.

· Javier Arzuaga, the Basque chaplain who gave comfort to those sentenced to die and personally witnessed dozens of executions, spoke to me recently from his home in Puerto Rico. A former Catholic priest, now seventy-five, who describes himself as "closer to Leonardo Boff and Liberation Theology than to the former Cardinal Ratzinger," he recalls that there were about eight hundred prisoners in a space fit for no more than three hundred: former Batista military and police personnel, some journalists, a few businessmen and merchants. The revolutionary tribunal was made of militiamen. Che Guevara presided over the appellate court. He never overturned a sentence. I would visit those on death row at the galera de la muerte. A rumor went around that I hypnotized prisoners because many remained calm, so Che ordered that I be present at the executions. After I left in May, they executed many more, but I personally witnessed fifty-five executions. There was an American, Herman Marks, apparently a former convict. We called him "the butcher" because he enjoyed giving the order to shoot. I pleaded many times with Che on behalf of prisoners. I remember especially the case of Ariel Lima, a young boy. Che did not budge. Nor did Fidel, whom I visited. I became so traumatized that at the end of May 1959 I was ordered to leave the parish of Casa Blanca, where La Cabaña was located and where I had held Mass for three years. I went to Mexico for treatment. The day I left, Che told me we had both tried to bring one another to each other's side and had failed. His last words were: "When we take our masks off, we will be enemies."

· Che set up the first forced labor camp, Guanahacabibes, in 1960. This camp was the precursor to the eventual systematic confinement, starting in 1965 in the province of Camagüey, of dissidents, homosexuals, AIDS victims, Catholics, Afro-Cuban priests, and other such scum, under the banner of Unidades Militares de Ayuda a la Producción, or Military Units to Help Production. Herded into buses and trucks, the "unfit" would be transported at gunpoint into concentration camps organized on the Guanahacabibes mold. Some would never return; others would be raped, beaten, or mutilated; and most would be traumatized for life, as Néstor Almendros's wrenching documentary Improper Conduct showed the world a couple of decades ago.

But maybe the people of Cuba today are benefiting from his reforms and economic genius. According to Ernesto Betancourt his deputy at the Cuban National Bank where he was put in charge by Castro, " Che was ignorant of the most elementary economic principles”.

Today Cuba is a mess.

Water and sewer pipeline networks are in shambles.
Only 62% of Cubans have access to clean water.
Cuba is lacking 1.6 million housing units.
Cuban schools rely on 18 year old high school graduates as their primary teachers.
Cuba, with the governments blessing, has become a major sex tourism destination and is a source country for women and children trafficked for exploitation.
AIDS victims are imprisoned in locked compounds and not allowed out.
Way to go Che!

This article is dedicated to the men, women and children killed by Che Guevara.

14 executed by Che in the Sierra Maestra during the anti-Batista guerrilla struggle (1957-1958):

1. ARISTIDIO 2. MANUEL CAPITÁN 3. JUAN CHANG 4. “BISCO” ECHEVARRÍA 5. ECHEVARRÍA BROTHER #1

6. ECHEVARRÍA BROTHER #2 7. EUTIMIO GUERRA 8. DIONISIO LEBRIGIO 9. JUAN LEBRIGIO 10. “EL NEGRO” NÁPOLES

11. “CHICHO” OSORIO 12. ONE UNIDENTIFIED TEACHER (“EL MAESTRO) 13.-14. 2 UNIDENTIFIED PEASANTS



10 executed in Santa Clara at Che’s orders in only two days (January 1959):

1. RAMÓN ALBA 2. JOSÉ BARROSO 3. JOAQUÍN CASILLAS 4. FÉLIX CRUZ 5. ALEJANDRO GARCÍA OLAYÓN

6. HÉCTOR MIRABAL 7. J. MIRABAL 8. FÉLIX MONTANO 9. CORNELIO ROJAS 10. VILALLA



156 executed at La Cabaña Fortress prison at Che Guevara’s orders:

1. VILAU ABREU 2. HUMBERTO AGUIAR 3. GERMÁN AGUIRRE 4. PELAYO ALAYÓN 5. JOSÉ LUIS ALFARO

6. PEDRO ALFARO 7. MARIANO ALONSO 8. JOSÉ ALVARO 9. ANIELLA 10. MARIO ARES POLO

11. JOSÉ RAMÓN BACALLAO 12. CEVERINO BARRIOS 13. EUGENIO BÉCQUER 14. FRANCISCO BÉCQUER

15. RAMÓN BISCET 16. ROBERTO CALZADILLA 17. EUFEMIO CANO 18. JUAN CAPOTE FIALLO

19. ANTONIO CARRALERO 20. GERTRUDIS CASTELLANOS 21. JOSÉ CASTAÑO QUEVEDO 22. RAÚL CASTAÑO

23. EUFEMIO CHALA 24. JOSÉ CHAMACE 25. JOSÉ CHAMIZO 26. RAÚL CLAUSELL 27. ÁNGEL CLAUSELL

28. DEMETRIO CLAUSELL 29. JOSÉ CLAUSELL 30. ELOY CONTRERAS 31. ALBERTO CORBO 32. EMILIO CRUZ

33. JUAN FELIPE CRUZ 34. ORESTES CRUZ 35. HUMBERTO CUEVAS 36. CUNY 37. ANTONIO DE BECHE

38. MATEO DELGADO 39. ARMANDO DELGADO 40. RAMÓN DESPAIGNE 41. JOSÉ DÍAZ CABEZAS

42. ANTONIO DUARTE 43. RAMÓN FERNÁNDEZ OJEDA 44. RUDY FERNÁNDEZ 45. FERRÁN ALFONSO

46. SALVADOR FERRERO 47. VICTOR FIGUEREDO 48. EDUARDO FORTE 49. UGARDE GALÁN

50. RAFAEL GARCÍA MUÑIZ 51. ADALBERTO GARCÍA 52. ALBERTO GARCÍA 53. JACINTO GARCÍA

54. EVELIO GASPAR 55. ARMADA GIL Y DIEZ CABEZAS 56. JOSÉ GONZÁLEZ MALAGÓN 57. EVARISTO GONZÁLEZ

58. EZEQUIEL GONZÁLEZ 59. SECUNDINO GONZÁLEZ 60. RICARDO GRAO 61. BONIFACIO GRASSO

62. RICARDO JOSÉ GRAU 63. OSCAR GUERRA 64. JULIÁN HERNÁNDEZ 65. FRANCISCO HERNÁNDEZ LEYVA

66. ANTONIO HERNÁNDEZ 67. GERARDO HERNÁNDEZ 68. OLEGARIO HERNÁNDEZ 69. SECUNDINO HERNÁNDEZ

70. JESÚS INSUA 71. ENRIQUE IZQUIERDO 72. OSMÍN JORRÍN 73. SILVINO JUNCO 74. ENRIQUE LA ROSA

75. IGNACIO LASAPARLA 76. JESÚS LAZO 77. ARIEL LIMA LAGO 78. RAÚL LÓPEZ VIDAL 79. ARMANDO MAS

80. ENERLIO MATA 81. ELPIDIO MEDEROS 82. JOSÉ MEDINAS 83. JOSÉ MESA 84. FIDEL MESQUÍA

85. JUAN MILIÁN 86. FRANCISCO MIRABAL 87. LUIS MIRABAL 88. ERNESTO MORALES 89. PEDRO MOREJÓN

90. DR. CARLOS MUIÑO, MD. 91. CÉSAR NECOLARDES ROJAS 92. VICTOR NECOLARDES ROJAS 93. JOSÉ NUÑEZ

94. VITERBO O'RREILLY 95. FÉLIX OVIEDO 96. MANUEL PANEQUE 97. PEDRO PEDROSO 98. RAFAEL PEDROSO

99. DIEGO PÉREZ CUESTA 100. JUAN PÉREZ 101. DIEGO PÉREZ CRELA 102. JOSÉ POZO 103. EMILIO PUEBLA

104. ALFREDO PUPO 105. SECUNDINO RAMÍREZ 106. RAMÓN RAMOS 107. PABLO RAVELO 108. RUBÉN REY

109. MARIO RISQUELME 110. FERNANDO RIVERA 111. PABLO RIVERA 112. MANUEL RODRÍGUEZ

113. MARCOS RODRÍGUEZ 114. NEMESIO RODRÍGUEZ 115. PABLO RODRÍGUEZ 116. RICARDO RODRÍGUEZ

117. JOSÉ SALDARA 118. PEDRO SANTANA 119. SERGIO SIERRA 120. JUAN SILVA 121. FAUSTO SILVA

122. ELPIDIO SOLER 123. JESÚS SOSA BLANCO 124. RENATO SOSA 125. SERGIO SOSA 126. PEDRO SOTO

127. OSCAR SUÁREZ 128. RAFAEL TARRAGO 129. TEODORO TELLEZ CISNEROS 130. FRANCISCO TELLEZ

131. JOSÉ TIN 132. FRANCISCO TRAVIESO 133. LEONARDO TRUJILLO 134. TRUJILLO 135. LUPE VALDÉS BARBOSA

136. MARCELINO VALDÉS 137. ANTONIO VALENTÍN 138. MANUEL VÁZQUEZ 139. SERGIO VÁZQUEZ 140. VERDECIA

141. DÁMASO ZAYAS



*15 additional executions were reported by The New York Times (on 2/6/59, 2/8/59, 3/16/59, and 4/2/59),

but names are unknown.

References:

1. State Department on Repression in Cuba, Fact Sheet Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor and the Bureau of Public Affairs
Washington, DC December 15, 2003

2. The Killing Machine, Alvaro Vargas Llosa, The New Republic, 7/11/2005

3. UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization) report on Cuba, 1957

4. CAFC.gov U.S. Department of State July 2006

5. FREE SOCIETY PROJECT, INC. http://www.cubaarchive.org/

Venezuelan Government seizes 2 Rice Plants

As of yesterday, Monday March 2, 2009, the Venezuelan Government has seize 2 important rice plants in Venezuela. One of the plants, Primor, is own by the Polar group and solely represents 22% of the market of rice. The rationale behind government intervention is that the private companies are underproducing rice on account of shortages of raw material. Private companies are producing approximately -15% of what they produced exactly last year while the government alleges that theres is plenty of raw (rice) materials.

Over the past 5 years, the government has increased its regulation concerning the sale of rice, coffee, ketchup, vegetable oil, in its frenzy to control inflation. Now those who understand how the market operates, know that its only a matter of time until they creatively comply with such government regulation. On creative compliance I will try to address it separately since its such a deep subject of government regulation. We Venezuelans now can find, Ketchup light or Ketchup hot sauce instead of regular ketchup because its price are regulated, flavored rice instead of white rice, decaffinated and flavored coffee instead of black coffee, so on and so forth...

What is true is that its obvious that this government intervention measure will severely permeate through other wholesale goods. Why? Well a couple of days ago the Government made an announcement calling for economic measures in 15 days, its obvious the government is battling against inflation and the strong loss of purchase power of the Venezuelan Bolivar, and what is worse, the economy seems to have slow down...

My advise, again divest Venezuelan currency and watch for more and more government intervention of wholesale goods. This morning a government consumer protection agency has announced that they will intervene vegetable oil and flour plants.

I also predict that investment and financial frauds schemes will become very popular as the population will severely go desperate...

US State Department unloads against Venezuela

On Feb. 25, 2009, the United States State Department release its Country Report on Venezuela concerning the status of human rights. Its not that the United States is perfect in this regard, after all its one of the few countries with lawful death penalty. However, the State Department issues this report so that people can learn on the violations of human rights in that specific country and recognize the development of policies in favor of protecting human rights.

I will paste certain parts of the report, which can be found here

"Venezuela is a constitutional democracy with a population of approximately 26 million. In 2006 voters reelected President Hugo Chavez of the Fifth Republic Movement (MVR). Official observation missions from both the European Union and Organization of American States (OAS) deemed the elections generally free and fair but noted some irregularities. While civilian authorities generally maintained control of the security forces, there were instances in which elements of the security forces acted independently of government authority.

Politicization of the judiciary and official harassment of the political opposition and the media characterized the human rights situation during the year. The following human rights problems were reported: unlawful killings; harsh prison conditions; arbitrary arrests and detentions; a corrupt, inefficient, and politicized judicial system characterized by trial delays, impunity, and violations of due process; official intimidation and attacks on the independent media; discrimination based on political grounds; widespread corruption at all levels of government; violence against women; trafficking in persons; and restrictions on workers' right of association."

Here the report is totally correct, the politicization of the Judiciary is obscene in Venezuela, as a practicing attorney can give loads of examples, I remember that when the Initial Celebration of the Judicial year, all the Justices of the Supreme Court chanting Chavez no se va! Chavez will not go away. This is dead on. Unlawful killings, well one can read the papers in Venezuela to see that we have more dead count than the war in Iraq and Afganistan, put together. Trial delays, impunity and violations of due process. I wish to remember the people in Venezuela, that we have political prisoners, awaiting for years for a trial thats never going to come. The names, Lazaro Forero, Henry Vivas, Ivan Simonovics, Gral Martinez Mendoza, Jose Mazuco from Zulia State police, among others. Widespread corruption, well this is totally correct!!!

"In October the Ministry of Interior and Justice reported that 18,313 police officials, or 16 percent of the country's police force, were under investigation for misconduct and alleged human rights violations, including kidnapping, torture, unlawful arrest and detention, and extrajudicial killings stemming from cases filed from 2000-07. In 2007 alone, 1,948 police officers were accused of alleged misconduct, according to the Ministry. The National Organic Police Law was passed in April 2007. This law created a national police force; however, there have been no efforts to staff this organization. In January the Caracas Metropolitan Police Force was placed under the authority of the Ministry of Interior and Justice."

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While the constitution provides for an independent judiciary, judicial independence remained compromised. The judiciary also was highly inefficient, sometimes corrupt, and subject to political influence, particularly from the Attorney General's Office, which in turn was pressured by the executive branch.

The judicial sector consists of the Supreme Court and lower courts, the Attorney General's Office, and the Ministry of Interior and Justice. The Supreme Court is the country's highest court and directly administers the lower courts through the Executive Directorate of the Judiciary.

According to the NGO Foro Penal, almost 40 percent of the judges were provisional and temporary. The Supreme Court's Judicial Committee may hire and fire temporary judges without cause and without explanation, and it did so. Provisional judges legally have the same rights and authorities as permanent judges. The provisional and temporary judges, lacking tenure in their profession, particularly were subject to political influence from the Ministry of Interior and Justice and the attorney general.

The law provides that the Moral Council (attorney general, human rights ombudsman, and comptroller general) may suspend judges and allows the National Assembly to revoke the appointment of Supreme Court judges by a simple majority vote.

Lower court judges hear pretrial motions, including prosecution and defense motions, prior to criminal cases going to trial judges. Executive judges oversee the application of sentences. Appeals courts, consisting of three-judge panels, review lower court decisions. The attorney general oversees the prosecutors who investigate crimes and bring charges against criminal suspects.

In accordance with President Chavez's December 2007 amnesty decree, the charges against governor-elect of Miranda State Henrique Capriles Radonski, for his alleged involvement in the arrest of Ramon Rodriguez Chacin, were dropped. In October the courts reopened the case against Capriles related to a violent demonstration in 2002 outside the Cuban Embassy.

In March an ex-prosecutor accused former attorney general Isaias Rodriguez of altering witness testimony and falsely implicating critics of the government in the Danilo Anderson case. Anderson was a high-profile prosecutor killed in a car bomb explosion in November 2004. The government's one-time key witness, Giovanny Vasquez, told the media that Rodriguez paid him 1,075,000 Bs.F (approximately $500,000) to present false testimony in the case. The government reportedly reopened the case following the allegations against Rodriguez.

Trial Procedures

The law provides for open, public, and fair trials with oral proceedings for all individuals. The accused have the right to be present and consult with an attorney. Public defenders are provided for indigent defendants, but there continued to be a shortage of public defenders. Defendants have the right to question witnesses against them and present their own witnesses. The accused and their attorneys do not necessarily have access to government-held evidence. Defendants are considered innocent until proven guilty. Defendants and plaintiffs have the right of appeal.

Trial delays were common. A professional judge and two lay judges try serious cases; a single judge may hear serious cases if requested by the defendant or victim or if attempts to appoint lay judges have failed. Difficulty in finding persons willing to serve as lay judges also resulted in delays.

The law provides that trials for military personnel charged with human rights abuses after 1999 be held in civilian rather than military courts.

Political Prisoners and Detainees

There were an estimated 12 political prisoners in the country. In some cases the political prisoners were held in distinct penal facilities, including DISIP installations and the Ramo Verde military prison. The International Committee of the Red Cross was permitted access to these political prisoners.

In December 2007 President Chavez decreed a partial amnesty for persons implicated in the drafting or signing of the 2002 Carmona Decree, which recognized an interim government during the 2002 coup against Chavez, and in a series of enumerated acts surrounding the coup. Human rights organizations welcomed the measure but urged Chavez to broaden the amnesty to include all those accused of involvement in the events of 2002 and to all implicated in political crimes.

Retired army General Francisco Uson remained free on conditional release from Ramo Verde after being released in December 2007. Uson served three years and six months for allegedly "defaming" the army. The conditions for his release included not traveling outside of greater Caracas and reporting before a judge every 15 days. He was also prohibited from participating in demonstrations or commenting on his case to the media.

Former Caracas Metropolitan Police commissioners Ivan Simonovis, Henry Vivas, and Lazarro Forero, along with eight other police officers, remained imprisoned without conviction, stemming from charges of being accomplices to murder committed during the events related to the civil disturbances in 2002. The three commissioners were held in DISIP installations, while the eight other police officers were in Ramo Verde. On January 16, a judge denied a motion to dismiss the charges under President Chavez's December 2007 amnesty decree. The ruling followed statements by Chavez and Attorney General Luisa Ortega Diaz that the accused were not eligible to benefit from the amnesty.

In September 2007 government officials imprisoned and accused Jose Sanchez "Mazuco," former chief of security for Zulia State, which is controlled by opposition governor and former presidential candidate Manuel Rosales, in connection with the killing of Claudio Macias, a Military Intelligence Police (DIM) informant who was jailed at the time. Prosecutors contended that Sanchez authorized the hanging of Macias. Sanchez remained in custody at the Ramo Verde military prison at year's end."