Based on the government's view of normality, Cuban officials have impugned the sanity of persistent Castro critics, arguing in effect that opposition to the regime is so abnormal that dissidents must be mentally ill.
''Such a conceptualization has enabled the Cuban government to redefine some ecidivist' political activity as a form of mental illness," wrote two veteran Cuba analysts, Charles J. Brown and Armando Lago, in the 1991 book The Politics of Psychiatry in Revolutionary Cuba, published by Freedom House. [End Excerpt]
"Neighborhood watch" communist style: Cuba Wages Offensive on 'Over-Sized' Houses -- ``The day money is the factor behind distribution of the nation's properties is the day we will be divided into social classes. We will not allow that,'' said Juan Contino, who heads the movement of Cuba's state-affiliated neighborhood groups, the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR).
European Union Tells Cuba To Improve Human Rights
U.S. embargo of Cuba remains strongly in place, U.S. official says--[Excerpt] Gutierrez said the Bush administration's mission is ``to see a rapid, peaceful transition to a free and democratic Cuba,'' and that the embargo is a key component of U.S. strategy to do that.
``The United States has not changed any rules . . . or moved in any way to encourage these sales,'' Gutierrez said.
Gutierrez's statements were part of a Bush administration effort to dispel speculation that the food shipments scheduled to begin arriving in Havana this month could lead to more permanent trade relations between the two nations. [End Excerpt]
Bush mulls action on installing nominees (Recess Appointments for Reich and Scalia)