The dead were between the ages of 15 and 20, and the injured are likely to survive, the official said. There were no arrests. Blocking streets and intersections for racing “is a semi-recent phenomenon in which young people gather in various parts of the city.

There were other similar incidents last night that were of no consequence except this one,” Jerome said. The councilor representing the affected area said that the police must act to put an end to the phenomenon.
“This is not just having a little fun on the street,” Councilman Raymond Lopez told reporters at the scene. “Here we are seeing that gangs and thugs get involved.”

He added that the races are promoted through Snapchat and other social networks, which is why a large number of vehicles attend the events. He said that once he was caught in one of those events and that it was “like being a hostage in the middle of a public road.” Lopez said the city should consider blocking vehicles and towing them away.

(With information from agencies)

No defense of humanity is worth much if it is only an illusion – without territory, simply “good intentions.” Territories are not only geography, they are history and have “sense,” tastes and smells… generated by the class struggle that inhabits all social relations and all emotional and symbolic planes. Human rights cannot be invoked in isolation from the territory under consideration and the semantic tensions of the “natives.” Where everything is corruption, humiliation and contempt for the peoples, the discourse of human rights is simply parlor talk or bureaucratic deception – despite the historical significance and value of the Charter of Human Rights as a tool to oppose the fascist Nazi project lying in wait at the time of its birth on December 10, 1948.

Wherever the aberrations and deprivations imposed by the national bourgeoisie bear down on native peoples, wherever fierce police, military and ideological harassment of the indigenous and peasant population is used to usurp their land, their identity and dignity… talk of human rights is paradoxically only enemy propaganda and bourgeois ideology. Territory weighs on meaning. Where workers are victims of triple extortion by employers, tax collectors and unions, where salaries weigh down on them like an alienating coffin, in which life goes by and time is consumed, in exchange for paltry wages and obscene inflation, to speak of human rights is simply grotesque, if it does not offer real instruments of concrete transformation, instead of escapist illusions. It is reality that determines awareness of human rights. Semantics in crisis.

Let us not succumb to the idealistic temptations of a Declaration of Human Rights without its “feet on the ground” and the semantics of reality. Because there is no return from ridicule. It is useless to build temples or give sermons, with pretentious fanaticism, about rights that mean nothing or which, in any case, reflect someone else’s thinking and serve as enemy ideology to defeat our hopes, struggles and programs of revolutionary transformation.

And it is essential that the entire Declaration of Human Rights be reviewed from a perspective and scrutiny that challenges the individualistic character of rights, contrasting it with their inescapable social and by definition political character. It is an obligatory debate, a pending historical subject, with decades passing in search of territorial semiotic consonance, that is, geosemiotics, in which the critical power of human rights in territories is made visible and the need for a revolutionary humanist Charter becomes apparent, one capable of revolutionizing humanism. Under these conditions, it is essential that all analyses of the issue include, in detail, the universe of semantic repercussions of any postulate which assumes to serve all human beings, address all their historical problems and the urgent need for transformative praxis.

In this context, geosemiotics means the theoretical-practical effort to characterize the complex, diverse and dynamic network of dialectical meaning, the general laws of its development, in each territory. The complex, and not infrequently interconnected, network of meanings with which the daily class behavior of peoples is organized, its philosophical foundations and its moral and ethical expressions. With the basic assumption that all action is preceded by a series of notions about reality, and what an idea implies for the future, geosemiotics is rooted in the need to also locally characterize the modes of production of meaning and the relations of production of meaning, in the concrete conditions in which they develop. This is not an esoteric effort making semiotics, and its role as an instrument in combatting the ideology of the dominant class, even more incomprehensible. On the contrary, it is a question of enriching the instruments of action, of scientific praxis, to facilitate their impact on the concrete realities of peoples.

All necessary tasks in the daily struggle for the emancipation of meaning have, in the Charter of Human Rights, a challenge of critical urgency that is the responsibility of all who, in a multidisciplinary fashion, presume to contribute to orienting emancipatory struggles in opposition to humanism in dogmatic, mechanistic or schematic forms, struggles directed toward resolving not only the human problems of our time but also the idea of a right separated from the critical principle of social justice.

Thus, initiatives to revolutionize humanism and confront the semantic framework of human rights with a political framework of social justice – yet to be constructed – assume new meaning. It is clear that where all human hardship is exacerbated and locked in dead ends, the very notion of the human, the very idea of justice, lose meaning. In any case, this is the dream of the ideology of the ruling class, to strip us of every notion and every humanist practice that could provide concrete direction, whether in the field of philosophy or at the sites where immediate praxis is most urgently needed. The sense of the meaningless.

To revolutionize the Charter of Human Rights is no longer a utopian idea, at a time when the pandemic has laid bare the bourgeois cruelty that hoards vaccines to the tune of the market and capitalist cruelty. To revolutionize humanism implies producing tools that consistently present the face of our astonished peoples who watch, with despair and rage, the postponement of their right to vaccines; who watch the delay of their right to education, to nutrition, to work, to housing and to emancipated culture. The right to “live by living and not surviving” in the immoral conditions in which one “lives” under capitalism. To revolutionize the humanism of human rights implies fighting philanthropic illusionism with a program of concrete action against class-divided societies where the inhumanity of the dominant mode of production and alienating relations of production reign, with all their meanings. Their ways and means.

(Taken from Granma)

More than a few noticed the silence of private means of communication and the voices of those who just recently joined an aggressive campaign against gender violence in Cuba, and other individuals who continually post contents supporting freedom of expression, and other rights, raising the question: Where are they now?

Others were not surprised in the least. Their absence only provided further evidence of the double standards of the discourse promoted by forces involved in political propaganda meant to discredit Cuba, which has nothing to do with a real commitment to defending rights or seeking solutions to social problems. I am not referring to the honest voices, not linked to this machinery, expressing concern about gender violence, and other social problems, on previous occasions and at this time.

Violence wielded in this manner is a regular practice used to silence women and men who advocate revolutionary political positions on a virtual media platform where liberal pro-capitalist thinking enjoys hegemony. Silence and differentiated responses to these forms of violence reveal complicity. Selectivity when it comes to what cases of violence are emphasized on digital media, and which ones are glossed over, exposes the agenda of those involved in media manipulation of our social problems.

The existence of a private media network devoted to the fabrication of opinion leaders in alliance with openly right-wing organizations, to produce political propaganda manipulating Cuba’s reality, thinly disguised as theoretical debate, along with media campaigns that suddenly appear online, are examples that reveal the fundamental objective of these forces: undermining the Cuban government and the restoration of capitalism. A structure exists to coordinate the work of these private media and their paid collaborators focused on destroying confidence in Cuba’s political order and its institutions, as well as those who defend them.

These media players are always on the lookout for the latest statistics, events, or anecdotes that they can employ to fabricate contents appealing to readers’ emotions, as opposed to reasoned critical analysis. They present themselves as exponents of critical thinking, when on the contrary they follow the line of the most conservative international currents and the “common sense” they promote.

The goal is to culturally colonize the collective imagination, impose pro-capitalist thinking and create the subjective conditions that could favor regime change and discredit, in virtual territory, any position of resistance that challenges anti-hegemonic values.

This explains the silence evident in the cases of aggression against revolutionary women: such violence serves their purpose, and therefore, they do not oppose it.

Going online today is to become aware that we are in the territory of an important war for control of the symbolic, of subjectivities. The mechanisms employed must be studied in greater depth, from a semiotic point of view. This is the road to be taken by social scientists committed to de-colonized thinking, in addition to the challenge of producing high quality contents on the improvement of our reality.

This is an issue Cuban institutions leave largely unaddressed on the web, or a communicational mistake by their representatives, of which our adversaries take advantage to mobilize and fabricate opposition to the Cuban political system, wherever a critical perspective regarding social media is lacking and where the influence of the avalanche of videos, memes and fake news demonizing Cuba holds sway.

In his remarks presenting the country’s current economic strategy, July 17, 2020, President Miguel Díaz-Canel warned of the ways in which “in the arena of law and society, (our adversaries) have not ceased searching for possible gaps in national unity, magnifying possible disagreement on sensitive issues like egalitarian marriage, racism, violence against women, the mistreatment of animals, to mention a few, on which we are working seriously to resolve centuries-old debts that only the Revolution in power has confronted, making unquestionable progress.”

Herein lies, perhaps, the most important point: the attention afforded the social problems manipulated by groups that see capitalism as the way forward. Denouncing the manipulation does not resolve the problem. Those who are intent on changing the system have no interest whatsoever in resolving these issues, they only use them. Capitalism aggravates every one of these problems. The settling of the debts, to which the President referred, must be seen as an inseparable part of transformative changes currently underway in the country.

Cuban institutions have two tasks, resisting the media offensive, not only reacting to it, but rather developing our own agenda. But they also have the mission of continuing to address social problems with concrete action, which is even more important, not simply to deny our enemies the opportunity to capitalize on our shortcomings, but because, above all, this is the Revolution’s reason for being. In this effort, we have a long record, although some may wish to hide this fact, this has been a historic, difficult battle to meet the demands of those who once had nothing.

Along with Benedetti, “We recognize that the revolution involves mistakes, wrong turns, detours, schematic errors. But we assume the revolution with its good and bad sides, with its light and its shadows, with its victories and its defeats, with its limitation and its breadth. Because, even with all its failures, with all its shortcomings, the revolution continues to be the only option for human beings to recover our dignity and realize our potential; the only possibility (over time or immediately, depending on the situation) to save ourselves from the alienation to which we are subjected by the capitalist order and colonial pressure.”

Given the new challenges and aggression from a virtual civil society which attacks us on orders from the United States, a minority in number but with millions in funding, we must avoid any complacency that could paralyze us.

May the push to move forward, to go for more, prevail – in the virtual world and the concrete.

(Source: Granma)

The most recent of these acts occurred August 15 during a demonstration called by the Nicaraguan opposition, when an armed group attacked the national water and sewer company (Enacal), teleSUR reported.

According to a local police communiqué, the suspected terrorists opened gunfire and launched home-made grenades onto Encal wells which supply the population of Managua.

Such attacks are part of an ongoing coup attempt against President Ortega, that has cost the lives of 198 persons, numerous human rights violations, and severe damage to the national economy, National Assembly sources stated.

During the last three months of violence, 252 public and private buildings have been destroyed, as well as 209 kilometers of streets and highways. Some 278 pieces of industrial and construction equipment have been burned, along with

389 vehicles, reported José Santos Figueroa, vice president of the National Assembly standing committee for Production, Economy, and Budget.

“This coup plan is characterized by efforts to interrupt and severely damage peace, security, tranquility, and the right to life of Nicaraguans,” stated Santos, a Sandinista National Liberation Front deputy.

Added to this are export losses valued at 270 million dollars, he pointed out, noting that the economy suffered a 7% deceleration in the rate of deposits and 10.7% in credit awarded to the productive sector. Through July 31, an estimated 68,000 jobs held by Nicaraguans affiliated with the Social Security system were affected.

As a result of the damage, on August 14 the National Assembly approved changes to the national budget for the year, with projected income and expenditures reduced.

Nonetheless, the amended budget guarantees continued funding for efforts to combat poverty, public investment programs, citizen security, and wages for public sector workers, according to Treasury and Public Credit Minister Iván Acosta.

TIMELINE OF A COUP ATTEMPT

- April 18

Some 60 government opponents protest a social security reform implemented by President Daniel Ortega. Three deaths and 37 injuries are reported.

- May 22

Some 76 deaths occur during conflicts. The Government denounces the plot as financed from abroad.

- April 22

Daniel Ortega expresses his willingness to hold talks to resolve the crisis and announces that the social security reform will be revoked. Looting occurs.

- May 23

The dialogue is suspended due to lack of consensus on the agenda: the opposition demands the resignation of Ortega and early elections; while the legitimate Ortega government rejects these demands and denounces the attempted “soft coup.”

- July 7th

Before a demonstration of supporters, Daniel Ortega refuses to hold the 2021 elections early, saying that elections will be conducted as mandated by law.

- May 16

The national dialogue is established, mediated by five bishops from the Episcopal Conference of Nicaragua (CEN).

- June 16

The Ortega government opens the door to visits by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, in order to demonstrate the intentions of those who promote instability from abroad.

- July 13

The opposition calls a second national strike.

- August 15th

The Government of Nicaragua declares unacceptable the presence in the country of a commission from the Organization of American States (OAS) considering it interventionist.

(Prensa Latina)