What do Michael Moore, Susan Sarandon, Bill O’Reilly, and Chris
Matthews have in common? They and many others U.S. citizens have
all been sentenced to jail terms of 15-27 years. Their crime? They
all spoke out against the U.S. government or its actions at some
time or another in the recent months.

Obviously these Americans have not been jailed, but if they were
jailed we would be rightfully outraged. Sadly, for over 75
non-violent Cuban dissidents, many of whom are independent
journalists, this is reality. Three people were also executed by
firing squad for trying to take over a ferryboat and come to the
United States. They were tried, convicted and executed in three
days — how do you like that for swift “justice”?

Since March 18, Fidel Castro has been rounding up and jailing
pro-democratic activists and critics of his oppressive regime in
large numbers and sentencing them to long jail terms in secret
courts.

These people have been targeted because they signed the Varela
Project petition, a petition signed by more than 11,000 Cubans and
called for a referendum that would essentially give Cubans freedom
of speech and fair and open elections — two things we take for
granted here in the United States.

These arrests and lengthy sentences are clear human rights
violations — yet it does not end with these few instances. Cuban
citizens are frequently jailed for “illegal exit.” That is, trying
to leave the island without permission from the government;
permission that usually involves buying an expensive exit permit,
and even then, the Cuban government can deny a request
arbitrarily.

A man was sentenced to a three-year prison sentence in 2000 for
carrying a Cuban flag upside down and carrying anti-abortion
placards. Others in Cuba have been sentenced to a year in jail for
“disrespect.”

No country in the western hemisphere has a worse record on human
rights than Cuba.

This fact makes it amazing that people in this country actually
support Castro and his government. There is also an irony in
hearing actors like Danny Glover and other critical leftists who
are in support of Castro and speak against the United States. It is
that right to speak against your own country that would confine
these people in jail for 15-27 years if they decide to move to Cuba
and realize living under an evil dictator isn’t so fun after
all.

Earlier this week three Cubans jumped off a small rowboat two
miles off the northern coast of Key Largo and decided they’d rather
risk their lives and try and swim the remaining two miles, then get
picked up by the Coast Guard and be sent back to Cuba.

Thankfully these men made it to shore, where local residents
greeted them with applause and American flags.

It doesn’t speak highly of a regime if its citizens would rather
risk their lives making a 90-mile trek in a small rowboat and than
swim the remaining two miles than be sent back to their home
country.

What is worse is that the United Nations Human Rights
Commission, which is the international body that is supposed to
work to apply world political pressure to stop such violations from
occurring, is ignoring the problem. If you thought that the
Security Council had become the most insignificant part of the
United Nations, you should look at the Human Rights Commission,
because it is at least as embarrassing as the Security Council.

The Human Rights Commission decided not only to not condemn the
Cuban government for the recent arrests and executions, but also
rewarded the communist nation by actually re-electing Cuba to
another three-year seat on the Human Rights Commission. This is a
Commission chaired by Libya, a country that has, according to Human
Rights Watch, “a dreadful human rights record.”

As White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer bluntly put it,
“Having Cuba serve again on the Human Rights Commission is like
putting Al Capone in charge of bank security … Cuba does not
deserve a seat on the Human Rights Commission. Cuba deserves to be
investigated by the Human Rights Commission.”

This is like having the inmates run the insane asylum. An
international body cannot expect to be taken seriously if it puts
the criminals in charge of monitoring crime.

Cuban citizens deserve to be free. They deserve to get out from
under the evil dictator who has ruled that country for the last 44
years. They deserve to be allowed to come and go as they please,
say what they want to say and choose their own leaders. The U.S.
government needs to use as much political and diplomatic pressure
as possible on Cuba and other nations who can then also apply
pressure on the Cuban government to release the jailed dissidents
and works towards a free Cuba.

Matt Modell ([email protected]) is a senior majoring
in journalism and political science.