Democracia, a la Cubana

The Castros can't allow even a smidgen of opposition electoral success;

The PanAm Post spoke with [Yuniel Francisco] López, a Havana native and information and communication technology specialist turned opposition politician, who revealed the truth about the polls, government intimidation, and how one individual can confront a totalitarian state.

Lopez was attempting to win ONE of 12,500 seats in municipal assemblies last week. How'd it go?

Did you face any kind of intimidation before the elections?

No. But one of the things that happened is that my grandmother surprised two state-security agents taking photos inside my house. Filming and taking images. Now the dictatorship is beginning to carry out reprisals against my family.

Just this morning [Tuesday, April 21] two inspectors came to my house to tell me that it had been constructed illegally. It could turn out that they’re going to slap a fine on me.

What were your proposals as a candidate?

Proposals? No, I didn’t do any kind of campaigning because the law here prohibits any candidate from campaigning.

The government did my campaigning for me, putting in my biography that I was a “counter-revolutionary.” What’s more, they held meetings between state security and members of the communist party to prevent people voting for me under any circumstances, to spread the idea that I was a “counter-revolutionary,” and spreading fear among many voters. [our italics above]

Maybe Barack Obama is thinking he'd like to be able to keep his opponents in line. And the Governor of New York too;

[Andrew] Cuomo and Cuban First Vice President Miguel Diaz-Canel also talked about relations between Cuba and the U.S.

“Through a complete relationship we can have dialogue where we can discuss any issue and reach an agreement,” Cuomo said.

The visit by the governor and businesses represented the first state-based visit to Cuba after dialogue began between the two countries to normalize relations.