Amidst all of the coverage of the handful of recently announced economic reforms, the average consumer of news could be forgiven for temporarily forgetting that Cuba is still ruled by an oppressive authoritarian regime. This regime, however, is troubled by no such identity crisis. And so while it ballyhoos and obfuscates with a well-timed hodgepodge of economic reforms to try to signal to the world (and especially to the then sanctioning EU and the still electorally-conscious US) that Raul represents a new hope, the true nature of the regime is revealed by its lack of movement towards political reform and human rights, and more specifically, by actions such as last week's arrest of more than 30 dissidents (most of whom have since been released), the intimidation of many more, and by the previous week's ugly canceling of a planned LGBT parade.
Besides being partially instructive of the repression Cubans face, these latest episodes provided additional poignancy to this past weekend, as I celebrated my country's Independence and the unalienable rights we enjoy and to which all are endowed, and now, as I type these words that would must assuredly precipitate my own arrest had my country been the one 90 miles off our shores.
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