Better Dinner Guests for Secretary Clinton

at 12:08 AM Wednesday, June 1, 2011


BY: THE HILL


USA Today's Dewayne Wickham has just returned from Cuba, where he was looking to fill-in-the-blanks of his predisposed narrative (just read his previous columns) that Raul Castro's farcical "reforms" are actually significant.

During his trip, he met with Castro regime officials and "members of [Cuba's] emerging middle class" (meaning more regime officials) and is now providing the following "sage" advice to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton:

"Have dinner with Jony Jones."

Now, we have no idea who Jony Jones is -- and she might very well be a nice person -- but sadly that's the best Wickham was able to come up with, in order to attribute his narrative and to draw this audacious (unfounded) conclusion:

"What's clear is that there is no widespread support here for a 'Cuba spring' -- no looming upheaval like those that toppled a government in Egypt and threatens to do the same in Libya. If Hillary Clinton doesn't believe me, she should come here and have dinner with Jony Jones."

In other words, Wickham can confirm there will be no "Cuban spring" based on counsel from Castro regime officials and dinner in a designated tourist zone with Jony Jones -- both of which might be inter-changeable.

Yet, if he'd bothered to leave his escorts behind, Wickham could have visited with courageous pro-democracy activists who are challenging the regime every day -- and come up with better dinner guests for Secretary Clinton.

For example:

How about dinner with Yris Perez Aguilera?

Yris is the head of the Rosa Parks Feminist Movement. She is beaten and arrested almost on a weekly basis for undertaking peaceful, non-violent, marches and sit-ins. Last week, the regime's thugs kidnapped her for four days, then released her all bruised and battered.

How about dinner with Yris's husband, Jorge Luis Garcia Perez "Antunez"?

Antunez was first arrested when he was 17-years old for protesting against the dictatorship in a public square. He spent nearly half of his life in prison. He's now in his 40s and leads weekly protests against the Castro regime, for which he's continously beaten and arrested.

How about dinner with the four young Cubans (or their parents) sentenced to four years in prison yesterday for peacefully handing out leaflets?

Their names are Luis Enrique Labrador, 33, David Piloto, 40, Walfrido Rodriguez, 42, and Yordanis Martinez, 23.

How about dinner with some of the Ladies in White and their supporters, e.g., Crispina Xiomara Duquesne or Sonia Garro Alfonso?

Crispina's son was arrested and murdered (poisoned) by the Castro regime for her opposition activities.

Meanwhile, the Castro regime's state security organizes modern-day lynch mobs against Sonia and her husband (who heads the Association of Independent Afro-Cubans) asserting that "those black counter-revolutionaries must be punished."

But of course, none of them would fit Wickham's narrative.