Daily Headlines: January 10, 2013

* Argentina: An Argentine naval ship detained for two and half months in Ghana because of a financial dispute returned to a “triumphant homecoming” on Wednesday.

* Mexico: U.S. legislators Elijah Cummings and Henry Waxman released documents alleging that Wal-Mart’s chief executive was aware of widespread bribery taking place in Mexico.

* Peru: At least two people are dead and three are injured after a Dakar Rally convoy was involved in a multiple vehicle accident.

* Cuba: Dissident and former political prisoner Oscar Elias Biscet announced a new campaign aimed at collecting thousands of signatures for a pro-democracy manifesto.

Video Source – YouTube via user TVPublicaArgentina

Online Sources- LAHT, The Guardian, The Independent, Reuters

Freed dissident blasts “totalitarian” Cuba

Days after leaving prison Cuban dissident (and Nobel Prize nominee) Oscar Elias Biscet blasted the Castro regime.

The Cuban government is a “totalitarian dictatorship akin to Hitler or Stalin” said the physician in an Internet-based press conference from his Havana home. Biscet denounced the government as “anti-American, anti-Semitic, and anti-black” and he called for the resignation of president Raul Castro.

Biscet also discussed the Cuban opposition movement and claimed that it’s “strong” yet “scattered”. He praised his fellow dissidents for advocating what he viewed as “advances” such as “slowing down” the use of death penalty and the number of abortions.

Biscet was allowed to leave prison on Friday after having served eight years of a 25-year prison sentence for "counter-revolutionary activities." He was the last of a group of 52 prisoners freed by Cuban authorities under an agreement reached with the Catholic Church last July.

Biscet was freed one day before a Cuban court sentenced U.S. contractor Alan Gross to 15 years in prison for allegedly supplying the opposition with computer equipment.

Image- AFP via BBC News (“Oscar Biscet said he would continue fighting for human rights.”)
Online Sources- The Latin Americanist, El Nuevo herald, ABC.es, Al Jazeera English, CNN

Cuba: Prominent dissidents nominated for Nobel honors

While dissidents in Cuba struggle against a crackdown led by the government, their cause may soon receive a very prestigious honor.

Along with Wikileaks and Middle Eastern democracy activists, Cuban opposition activists are among the record 241 nominations for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. Among the dissident figures in the running for the famous honor is Oswaldo Paya, a very influential political activist who founded the Varela Project initiative. Paya, who has been previously nominated on multiple occasions, was reportedly “cited for uniting the opposition to the government in Havana.” Indeed, a 2007 U.S. diplomatic cable uncovered by Wikileaks cited Paya as one of the few dissidents with the “national recognition to mobilize a figure close to one million Cubans.“

Another possible winner is Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet, a well-known Cuban political prisoner whose Nobel candidacy was presented by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Biscet is one of the so-called “Group of 75” dissidents imprisoned since 2003 and serving sentences of up to 28 years behind bars. While he has campaigned against abortion, Biscet has been an outspoken critic of the Castro regime and was also the founder the nongovernment Lawton Foundation.

Biscet’s nomination has received international support including from a pair of ex-Salvadoran presidents and several Hispanic members of the U.S. Congress. He has also received the backing of another famed dissident, Guillermo Fariñas, according to the El Nuevo Herald’s website:

“(Biscet) is one of the great symbols of rebellion he hopes for democracy for the Cuban people…I believe that he has put the interests of a nation ahead of his personal (views).”

Both Paya and Biscet have received several honors for their human rights efforts. Paya received the 2002 Sakharov Prize from the European Parliament while Biscet was awarded the U.S. Medal of Freedom in 2007.

Image- daylife.com (“Cuban leader of the Christian Liberation Movement (MCL) and opponent of Fidel Castro, Oswaldo Paya (L), leaves the Cuban National Assembly, in Havana, 18 December 2007.”)
Online Sources- BBC Mundo, Wikipedia, AllAfrica.com, Global Voices Online, El Nuevo Herald, BBC News, USA TODAY, EPA