As a direct result of Obama's intervention in Cuba, "a large group of prominent Havana dissidents -- activists, civil society advocates and independent journalists -- were arrested as they headed for a pro-free speech... event."

Among the arrested were writer Yoani Sanchez and her husband Reinaldo Escobar. In 2012 Sanchez was arrested when she and other dissidents demanded information about blogger Yaremis Flores accused of making anti-Castro comments. In Sanchez's recent post of December 17, 2014, she speaks of "exhausted hopes" and the need to "redouble [their] guard against the enemy." She speaks of the "deceits of politics" as the United States under Barack Hussein Obama worked in concert with the communist Cuban government.

There was no "evidence of any agreement or compromise from the Cuban side" and no "public timeline ... which commits the Cuban government to a series of gestures in support of democratization and respect for differences." So instead of "the release of all political prisoners and prisoners of conscience; the end of political repression; the ratification of the United Nations covenants on Civil, Political, Economic, Social and Cultural Rights... in essence the beginning of the "dismantling of totalitarianism," the Cuban dictatorship has clamped down on the hopes and aspirations of the Cuban people -- thanks, in part, to the actions of the communist-in-chief, Obama.

Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo, Cuban dissident in exile, writes about the words that "have remained buried by the string of tyrants [.]"  He highlights the "historic malapropisms" that have resulted in the weapons and armies that "in short, impose violence for life on [Cuban] society." He accuses the AP and the New York Times for being "useful idiots."  According to Lazo, "...campaigns of the AP, in symbiosis with the Cuban government to demonize fundraising in support of pro-human rights projects on the Island" have hurt the Cuban people since "it is not common for... Cubans to do public fundraisers, as occurs in any democratic country of the world." Consequently, "Cuba's solvency was always handicapped by Castrosim. Only a poverty-stricken people is vulnerable to enslavement. At the beginning, it was accomplished through ideological class hatred." Therefore, Lazo maintains that "[d]espite the pathetic AP and the NYT, Cuban redemption still goes by this watchword: 'within the dictatorship, nothing; against the dictatorship, everything.'"

But this redemption is still a dream now that Obama has given his blessing to the tyrant to the south. In fact, "[e]veryone from the Pope to the American president decided what life should be for the Cubans. That is, ["e]veryone except the Cubans, decided on behalf of Cubans." 

With restrained anger and sadness, Pardo asks that "[t]he American President and His Holiness, and the General of the Army and all authorities of good faith in the world are invited not to decide but instead to accompany Cubans in this decision, in a historic meeting where the transit from totalitarianism towards an open society or another controlling regimen is defined."

In an open letter to Obama, Rosa Maria Paya Acevedo, a member of the Cuban Christian Liberation Movement, writes "that there is nothing new in treating as 'normal' the illegitimate government in Havana, which has never been elected by its citizens and has been practicing state murder with impunity. That strategy already has been done by all the other governments without positive consequences for democracy in [her] country."

It is only through the "guarantee of freedom of expression and association, the release of political prisoners and the right to own private enterprises, and free and plural elections" that real progress can be made. She exhorts Obama to "support the implementation of a plebiscite for free and pluralistic elections in Cuba; and support citizen participation in the democratic process [as it is] the only thing that will guarantee the end of totalitarianism in Cuba."

Ms. Acevedo and her family are now at risk for making these simple demands. 

Thus, President Obama has undermined the true spirit of freedom as evidenced by these courageous souls, has made a mockery of what America is supposed to represent, and has endangered the lives of these dissidents.  The "Human Cost of Raul Castro's Rule" will continue to increase, aided and abetted by this president's actions.

But given the communist and Marxist bent of the 44th President and his continual exaltation of dictatorship around the world, I, for one, am not surprised, just deeply saddened and ashamed that the leader of the free world continues to empower dictatorial regimes.  At home, Obama erodes our constitutional protections and tramples American rights while he continues to "enthrone communism" a system that only leads to misery for all peoples  The Cubans will remember and weep and the people of goodwill in America will remember and hold their heads in shame.

Eileen can be reached at middlemarch18@gmail.com