While indulging in my Christmas break from school watching yet another episode of Bob’s Burgers and checking my Twitter, one trending topic on my Twitter feed caught my eye—the Cuban political prisoner Vladmir Morera Bacallao. While this man’s name probably isn’t trending on the average 21-year-old college students’ Twitter feed, young people with a heart of activism should know this man’s name.
Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart (FL-25) made the following Facebook post on Tuesday, December 29, 2015,
Vladimir Morera Bacallao is in intensive care after being transferred from his prison cell where he has been on hunger strike since October 9, 2015. Reports indicate that he is gravely ill.
Morera Bacallao was released as part of the Obama-Castro deal announced on December 17, 2014. However, he was re-arrested in April 2015 for placing a sign outside his home during the Castro regime's sham 'elections' that said, 'I vote for my freedom and not in an election where I cannot choose my president.' Last month, the Castro regime gave Morera Bacallao a new four-year prison sentence for the 'crime' of expressing his political opinion….
Sadly, Morera Bacallao is not the only one who’s suffered for his beliefs in freedom. Activists like Orlando Zapata Tamayo, Wilman Villar Mendoza, Laura Pollan, and Oswaldo Paya have become martyrs of freedom. Jorge Luis Garcia Perez, also known as “Antunez,” was a political prisoner of 17 years who was fortunate not to lose his life. Heroes like Morera Bacallao and Antunez have done everything in their power to gain a smidgen of US media attention to expose the tyrannical Cuban government.
Here in the US, we are entering the season of voting in the next president. But, how many Americans have the same stance as Morera Bacallao and want to vote for their freedom? How many Americans are willing to fight against propaganda that silences people’s voices?
Freedom of speech is a treasure Americans take for granted. I wrote a while back that anybody in America with a laptop and a social media account can belligerently slander the country’s current leadership or anybody looking to replace the current leadership without any negative consequences. The Cuban government gains its power from silencing freedom fighters. All the Cubans who’ve died to express their voices or the ones who are on the brink of death are the most powerful warriors.
If the citizens under the rule of an oppressive dictator saw all the actions that the leadership is placing them under, the whole country would be in an uproar. Oppressive leaderships force the citizens to believe that they’re living in ideal conditions when in reality everybody else aside from the leadership is suffering. While the average person wouldn’t consider Cuba a utopia, the principle behind Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World is that in order to maintain a utopia, everybody needs to believe they’re living in ideal conditions. People like Jay-Z and Beyonce have had the opportunity to tour Cuba and see “vacation destination” side without seeing the amount of people living under suffering and oppression. While Cuba is progressively opening up to US tourism, the tourism industry censors out the truth behind the dying voices of the people showing what’s really happening.
Be a voice and make Morero Bacallao’s voice heard! Don’t let his suffering along with all the political protestors in Cuba suffer alone! Expose the truth and fight for freedom along side him!
Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart (FL-25) made the following Facebook post on Tuesday, December 29, 2015,
Vladimir Morera Bacallao is in intensive care after being transferred from his prison cell where he has been on hunger strike since October 9, 2015. Reports indicate that he is gravely ill.
Morera Bacallao was released as part of the Obama-Castro deal announced on December 17, 2014. However, he was re-arrested in April 2015 for placing a sign outside his home during the Castro regime's sham 'elections' that said, 'I vote for my freedom and not in an election where I cannot choose my president.' Last month, the Castro regime gave Morera Bacallao a new four-year prison sentence for the 'crime' of expressing his political opinion….
Sadly, Morera Bacallao is not the only one who’s suffered for his beliefs in freedom. Activists like Orlando Zapata Tamayo, Wilman Villar Mendoza, Laura Pollan, and Oswaldo Paya have become martyrs of freedom. Jorge Luis Garcia Perez, also known as “Antunez,” was a political prisoner of 17 years who was fortunate not to lose his life. Heroes like Morera Bacallao and Antunez have done everything in their power to gain a smidgen of US media attention to expose the tyrannical Cuban government.
Here in the US, we are entering the season of voting in the next president. But, how many Americans have the same stance as Morera Bacallao and want to vote for their freedom? How many Americans are willing to fight against propaganda that silences people’s voices?
Freedom of speech is a treasure Americans take for granted. I wrote a while back that anybody in America with a laptop and a social media account can belligerently slander the country’s current leadership or anybody looking to replace the current leadership without any negative consequences. The Cuban government gains its power from silencing freedom fighters. All the Cubans who’ve died to express their voices or the ones who are on the brink of death are the most powerful warriors.
If the citizens under the rule of an oppressive dictator saw all the actions that the leadership is placing them under, the whole country would be in an uproar. Oppressive leaderships force the citizens to believe that they’re living in ideal conditions when in reality everybody else aside from the leadership is suffering. While the average person wouldn’t consider Cuba a utopia, the principle behind Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World is that in order to maintain a utopia, everybody needs to believe they’re living in ideal conditions. People like Jay-Z and Beyonce have had the opportunity to tour Cuba and see “vacation destination” side without seeing the amount of people living under suffering and oppression. While Cuba is progressively opening up to US tourism, the tourism industry censors out the truth behind the dying voices of the people showing what’s really happening.
Be a voice and make Morero Bacallao’s voice heard! Don’t let his suffering along with all the political protestors in Cuba suffer alone! Expose the truth and fight for freedom along side him!