March, 18 2010, 03:45pm EDT
Cuba's 'Ladies in White' at Risk of Beatings and Intimidation, Says Amnesty International
Amnesty
International urged Cuban President Raul Castro to ensure the safety of
a group of female relatives of prisoners of conscience ahead of a scheduled
demonstration today.
The call came after a protest by the Damas
de Blanco (ladies in white) was forcibly broken up by Cuban police
yesterday, who briefly detained several women.
WASHINGTON
Amnesty
International urged Cuban President Raul Castro to ensure the safety of
a group of female relatives of prisoners of conscience ahead of a scheduled
demonstration today.
The call came after a protest by the Damas
de Blanco (ladies in white) was forcibly broken up by Cuban police
yesterday, who briefly detained several women.
After the incident, some of the women said
they had been beaten by the police. They include Reyna Tamayo, mother of
Orlando Zapata Tamayo, who died on February 22, 2010, having spent several
weeks on hunger strike to demand the release of prisoners of conscience.
"The Cuban authorities must stop repressing
legitimate dissent and harassing those who are only asking for justice
and exercising their freedom of expression," said Kerrie Howard, deputy
director of the Americas at Amnesty International. "Instead, they should
review their repressive legislation and release all those who have been
detained for years sentenced in summary trials on charges that are often
baseless."
The Damas de Blanco, an unofficial
group of women relatives and friends of individuals imprisoned around a
major crackdown around March 18, 2003, have organized daily demonstrations
in Havana during the week of the seventh anniversary of the arrests. 53
of those arrested in March 2003 continue to be detained.
Since the start of their campaign, members
of the Damas de Blanco have been victims of threats and intimidation
by Cuban security officials.
On March 15, state security officials visited
Soledad Riva's home and advised her against taking part in the events
organized by the Damas de Blanco. The officials warned her that
if she took part in a demonstration she could risk being beaten and would
not see her children again. Her children live abroad and Soledad has been
seeking an exit visa to visit them, which so far has not been granted by
Cuban authorities.
Soledad Rivas' husband is a former prisoner
of conscience Roberto de Miranda Hernandez, a demonstrator who was detained
in March 2003 but released in June 2004 on health grounds.
On March 16, several members of the Damas
de Blanco were intimidated by government supporters during a march
they had organized to call for the release of their relatives in prison.
Government supporters shouted insults at
them and physically assaulted William Cepero Garcia, a man supporting the
protest. Hugo Damian Prieto and Juan Carlos Vasallo, two men who were supporting
the demonstration, were detained.
Amnesty International is a global movement of millions of people demanding human rights for all people - no matter who they are or where they are. We are the world's largest grassroots human rights organization.
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Sanders Says 'Political Movement,' Not Murder, Is the Path to Medicare for All
"Killing people is not the way we're going to reform our healthcare system," he said. "The way we're going to reform our healthcare system is having people come together."
Dec 12, 2024
Addressing the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson and conversations it has sparked about the country's for-profit system, longtime Medicare for All advocate Sen. Bernie Sanders on Wednesday condemned the murder and stressed that getting to universal coverage will require a movement challenging corporate money in politics.
"Look, when we talk about the healthcare crisis, in my view, and I think the view of a majority of Americans, the current system is broken, it is dysfunctional, it is cruel, and it is wildly inefficient—far too expensive," said Sanders (I-Vt.), whose position is backed up by various polls.
"The reason we have not joined virtually every other major country on Earth in guaranteeing healthcare to all people as a human right is the political power and financial power of the insurance industry and drug companies," he told Jacobin. "It will take a political revolution in this country to get Congress to say, 'You know what, we're here to represent ordinary people, to provide quality care to ordinary people as a human right,' and not to worry about the profits of insurance and drug companies."
Asked about Thompson's alleged killer—26-year-old Luigi Mangione, whose reported manifesto railed against the nation's expensive healthcare system and low life expectancy—Sanders said: "You don't kill people. It's abhorrent. I condemn it wholeheartedly. It was a terrible act. But what it did show online is that many, many people are furious at the health insurance companies who make huge profits denying them and their families the healthcare that they desperately need."
"What you're seeing, the outpouring of anger at the insurance companies, is a reflection of how people feel about the current healthcare system."
"What you're seeing, the outpouring of anger at the insurance companies, is a reflection of how people feel about the current healthcare system," he continued, noting the tens of thousands of Americans who die each year because they can't get to a doctor.
"Killing people is not the way we're going to reform our healthcare system," Sanders added. "The way we're going to reform our healthcare system is having people come together and understanding that it is the right of every American to be able to walk into a doctor's office when they need to and not have to take out their wallet."
"The way we're going to bring about the kind of fundamental changes we need in healthcare is, in fact, by a political movement which understands the government has got to represent all of us, not just the 1%," the senator told Jacobin.
The 83-year-old Vermonter, who was just reelected to what he says is likely his last six-year term, is an Independent but caucuses with Democrats and sought their presidential nomination in 2016 and 2020. He has urged the Democratic Party to recognize why some working-class voters have abandoned it since Republicans won the White House and both chambers of Congress last month. A refusal to take on insurance and drug companies and overhaul the healthcare system, he argues, is one reason.
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In addition to highlighting Sanders' interview on social media, Congressman Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) pointed out to Business Insider on Wednesday that "you've got thousands of people that are sharing their stories of frustration" in the wake of Thompson's death.
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"You condemn the murder of an insurance executive who was a father of two kids," he said. "At the same time, you say there's obviously an outpouring behavior of people whose claims are being denied, and we need to reform the system."
Two other Medicare for All advocates, Reps. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), also made clear to Business Insider that they oppose Thompson's murder but understand some of the responses to it.
"Of course, we don't want to see the chaos that vigilantism presents," said Ocasio-Cortez. "We also don't want to see the extreme suffering that millions of Americans confront when your life changes overnight from a horrific diagnosis, and people are led to just some of the worst, not just health events, but the worst financial events of their and their family's lives."
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.)—a co-sponsor of Sanders' Medicare for All Act—similarly toldHuffPost in a Tuesday interview, "The visceral response from people across this country who feel cheated, ripped off, and threatened by the vile practices of their insurance companies should be a warning to everyone in the healthcare system."
"Violence is never the answer, but people can be pushed only so far," she continued. "This is a warning that if you push people hard enough, they lose faith in the ability of their government to make change, lose faith in the ability of the people who are providing the healthcare to make change, and start to take matters into their own hands in ways that will ultimately be a threat to everyone."
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Reporters Without Borders' (RSF) 2024 roundup, which was published Thursday, found that at least 54 journalists were killed on the job or in connection with their work this year, and 18 of them were killed by Israeli armed forces (16 in Palestine, and two in Lebanon).
The organization has also filed four complaints with the International Criminal Court "for war crimes committed by the Israeli army against journalists," according to the roundup, which includes stats from January 1 through December 1.
"In Gaza, the scale of the tragedy is incomprehensible," wrote Thibaut Bruttin, director general of RSF, in the introduction to the report. Since October 2023, 145 journalists have been killed in Gaza, "including at least 35 who were very likely targeted or killed while working."
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Meanwhile, in a statement released Thursday, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) announced that at least 139 Palestinian journalists and media workers have been killed since the war in Gaza began in 2023, and in a statement released Wednesday, IFJ announced that 104 journalists had perished worldwide this year (which includes deaths from January 1 through December 10). IFJ's number for all of 2024 appears to be higher than RSF because RSF is only counting deaths that occurred "on the job or in connection with their work."
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According to the FTC:
Under the Robinson-Patman Act, it is generally illegal for sellers to engage in price discrimination that harms competition by charging higher prices to disfavored retailers that purchase similar goods. The FTC's case filed today seeks to ensure that businesses of all sizes compete on a level playing field with equivalent access to discounts and rebates, which means increased consumer choice and the ability to pass on lower prices to consumers shopping across independent retailers.
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