As a rule I'm not allowed to let Evie's battery get very low; with wife and children in the car it's more than my life's worth to get us stranded. So when the chance came to drive the Leaf on my own to central London and back one evening I couldn't resist the challenge. I had half a plan: I knew there was an Ecotricity rapid charger at Fleet Services, but I wasn't at all sure whether I'd be able to charge near the South Bank.
After a thoroughly pleasant evening with friends, I left at half past midnight. Driving cautiously back to the M3, I maintained about 8-10 miles of headroom. Moving up to motorway speeds, though, I found that cushion gradually reducing – to the point where the distance to the services was almost exactly equal to the indicated range. Exciting! I slowed a little … then a little more … until I was travelling at no more than 50mph. Normally I'd consider that dangerous on a motorway, but fortunately the road was deserted.
The indicated range went to '—' with about eight miles to go, but I still had 8% of battery left. What I wasn't prepared for was that the state of charge also went straight from 6% to '—' when I still had 5 miles or so to cover. Boy was I relieved to pull into the services at Fleet! 'Fleetingly' I was tempted to drive round the car park until turtle mode kicked in but hey – it was getting late! When I plugged in, the charger showed the state of charge as 2% – cutting it a bit fine! I had a bit of a snooze while the car charged, and was on my way in half an hour; arriving at home near Salisbury sometime around 3.30am. It was a strangely satisfying homecoming – especially considering a total fuel cost for the journey of about £2.
Two quid ? You were robbed !. That was a seriously brave drive, 2% is really sailing close to the wind but well done you !


text:
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Evaluation of SafeCare Colorado parent support program shows strong outcomes for vulnerable families
DENVER (February 8, 2017) — The Colorado Department of Human Services (CDHS) announced today that Colorado families who completed the SafeCare Colorado program were significantly less likely to have an open child welfare case six months after completion when compared to similar Colorado families, according to a preliminary evaluation of the program. Parents and caregivers reported high satisfaction and improved skills upon completion of the program.
SafeCare Colorado is a flexible, free and voluntary in-home parent support program for at-risk families with children ages 5 and younger. SafeCare Colorado helps parents and caregivers build on their existing skills in the areas of home safety, child health and parent-child or parent-infant interactions. SafeCare Colorado depends on partners in the community to help identify families in need of parent support services, as well as child welfare departments and self-referrals.
"We know parenting can be both wonderful and stressful. SafeCare Colorado teaches parents and caregivers ways to keep their children healthy, safe and happy." said Julia Blomberg, SafeCare Colorado program manager at CDHS. "This program provides critical emotional and social support to a vulnerable population, helping set parents and their children on the path to success."
SafeCare Colorado is one piece of Gov. John Hickenlooper's multi‐faceted approach to child welfare called "Keeping Kids Safe and Families Healthy 2.0." It was implemented as a three‐year pilot program beginning in 2013. The Colorado Office of Early Childhood partners with the Kempe Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Child Abuse and Neglect to support the implementation of SafeCare Colorado. In June 2016, CDHS announced that approximately $5.4 million had been secured to continue funding the program beyond the pilot.
Today's announcement stems from an evaluation of the pilot program conducted by the Social Work Research Center at Colorado State University (CSU), which reported that program data shows SafeCare Colorado "is effectively reaching a highly vulnerable population of families, as intended."
According to the CSU evaluation:
A total of 1,752 unique families were enrolled in the SafeCare Colorado program from January 2014 through June 2016. Sixty-eight percent reported an annual household income of less than $20,000, and 62 percent had a high school education or less. As for the children served, 43 percent of those enrolled were younger than age 2.
The program piloted in 11 community-based agencies serving 39 counties and two tribal nations.
A matched group comparison analysis of caregivers who participated in SafeCare and caregivers who did not participate in the program found that the SafeCare group had zero open child welfare cases during the six months following the completion of the program. By comparison, 6 percent of the comparison control group experienced an open case during the follow-up period. The difference is statistically significant.
Caregivers who completed SafeCare satisfaction surveys and/or participated in focus groups reported very high satisfaction with all aspects of the program. A majority of caregivers who completed all three topics – home safety, child health and parent-child or parent-infant interaction – and participated in focus groups reported that they would recommend the program to other caregivers without question.
Assessments completed by families at the beginning and end of each topic showed improvement in skill acquisition on safety, health, and parent-child and parent-infant interactions.
SafeCare Colorado has continued to expand since the pilot period concluded. In Fiscal Year 2016-17, the program will provide services to approximately 1,400 families and be implemented by 13 community-based agencies in 41 counties and two tribal nations.
SafeCare Colorado Sites
Ute Mountain Ute Tribe
Northwest Colorado Health, serving Moffat and Routt counties
Baby Bear Hugs, serving Cheyenne, Elbert, Kit Carson, Lincoln, Logan, Morgan, Phillips, Sedgwick, Washington and Yuma counties
Mesa County Health Department, serving Mesa County
Montezuma County Public Health Department, serving Archuleta, Dolores, La Plata, Montezuma and San Juan counties and the Southern Ute Indian Tribe
Savio House, serving Denver County
Arapahoe County Early Childhood Council, serving Arapahoe County
Catholic Charities Diocese of Pueblo, serving Pueblo, Custer, Huerfano and Las Animas counties
High Plains Community Health Center, serving Baca, Bent, Crowley, Kiowa, Otero and Prowers counties
The Family Tree serving Adams, Douglas and Jefferson counties
La Llave Family Resource Center, serving Alamosa, Conejos, Costilla, Mineral, Rio Grande and Saguache counties
Lutheran Family Services Rocky Mountains, serving El Paso County
North Range Behavioral Health, serving Weld County
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https://www.instagram.com/co_cdhs/
https://twitter.com/CO_CDHS
https://www.facebook.com/Colorado-Department-of-Human-Services-100791360004450/

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Santa's Lapland Started Selling Tickets for Winter 2023
Sally Murphy
Santa's Lapland has begun selling tickets for the winter season of 2023.
According to reports, the company, which offers excursions to see Santa in his winter abode above the Arctic Circle, has already sold around half of the vacations for 2022.
Guests will be able to ride in a husky sled and a reindeer sleigh, view elves, igloos, and snow, toboggan, and look for the Northern Lights.
Joe Ponte, the chief executive of Santa's Lapland, said the early opening was necessary to meet increased demand for trips to Lapland throughout the holiday season.
Ponte said, "We're ecstatic to have been able to deliver the magical holidays our customers were dreaming of for Christmas 2021."
"We understand how important it is for families with children growing up fast to be able to book ahead and get the most out of visiting Santa at the right time.
"With both 2022 and 2023 on sale, there's greater availability and choice for families to do that."
Trips are presently available for 2022, with departure dates ranging from 25th November to 24th December. The travel dates for 2023 are 24th November to 24th December, and deposits of £150 per person are required for both years.
Antigua, Antigua And Barbuda
Casual, club-like ambience in Antigua!
St James's Club & Villas, Antigua
Travel between Sep 14th 2022 and Sep 21st 2022
Sally Jo Anne Murphy
Pontefract, West Yorkshire
All My Holidays
sally@allmyholidays.com
Spa & Wellness, Weddings and Honeymoon, Touring, Self Drive, Safari, Romantic, Luxury


text:
German anti-doping lab finds 266 positive results with new test
%27Most of them were from the first half of this year%2C%27 said Cologne lab scientist Hans Geyer.
The IOC has confirmed an improved testing method used by Cologne and Moscow labs
The labs will retest samples from the 2008 Beijing Olympics
ZURICH (AP) — A German anti-doping laboratory using a new steroid test has found 266 positive cases in the past year and is finding other positives in retesting of old samples.
Cologne lab scientist Hans Geyer revealed detailed figures Friday at an anti-doping conference hosted by FIFA.
The lab found 184 cases involving stanozolol, the banned drug used by sprinter Ben Johnson at the 1988 Olympics, and 82 of oral turinabol, a steroid widely used in the former East Germany.
Geyer said many of the positives since November 2012 involved athletics, weightlifting and wrestling, and all were reported to the World Anti-Doping Agency and sports governing bodies.
"It was surprising for us, we didn't expect that many," Geyer told reporters on the sidelines of the conference. "Most of them were from the first half of this year."
German broadcaster ARD reported this month on the testing at the Cologne and Moscow labs, and the IOC confirmed it was using the improved method to retest samples from the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics.
Cologne scientists have used a Russian-developed test which detects steroids in smaller quantities for around six months after athletes took them.
Previously reported cases this year included dozens of track and field athletes in Turkey, while the International Weightlifting Federation identified 29 athletes on its website who were banned this year for using one or both of the two steroids.
Geyer said he was surprised that no athletes challenged the lab results, which typically follows the introduction of a new test method.
"We expected many objections, many outrages (from athletes) but nothing happened. This is very unusual for a lab," he said.
More cases are being revealed in re-tests requested by sports bodies, which the scientist did not identify, and have shown10 percent positives.
However, Geyer said no new cases have been revealed in testing of samples from cyclists, footballers or German athletes.
"I think it's a success of this strategy to look for long-term metabolites, but the best deterring effect is the long-term storage (of samples)," he said.
Geyer suggested that the improved test showed the limitations of previous strategies to catch drug cheats.
"Maybe the athletes always knew how long we could detect these substances," he said. "Maybe the out-of-competition (testing) system doesn't work."
The IOC has said the new test will be used at the Winter Olympics in Sochi in February. It will also be used in the planned retesting of samples from the 2008 Beijing Olympics before the eight-year statute of limitations expires in 2016.


text:
<?php

namespace Frontend\ContenidosBundle\Entity;

use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping as ORM;
use Symfony\Component\Validator\Constraints as Assert;

/**
 * Unidadadministrativa
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 * @ORM\Entity
 */
class Unidadadministrativa
{
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     * @ORM\GeneratedValue(strategy="SEQUENCE")
     * @ORM\SequenceGenerator(sequenceName="contenidos.unidadadministrativa_id_seq", allocationSize=1, initialValue=1)
     */
    private $id;

    /**
     * @var string
     *
     * @ORM\Column(name="nombre", type="string", length=60, nullable=false)
     * @Assert\NotBlank()
     */
    private $nombre;

    /**
     * @var \Contenidos.unidadejecutora
     *
     * @ORM\ManyToOne(targetEntity="Frontend\ContenidosBundle\Entity\Unidadejecutora")
     * @ORM\JoinColumns({
     *   @ORM\JoinColumn(name="id_unidadejecutora", referencedColumnName="id")
     * })
     * @Assert\NotBlank()
     */
    private $idUnidadejecutora;

    /**
     * Get id
     *
     * @return integer
     */
    public function getId()
    {
        return $this->id;
    }

    /**
     * Set nombre
     *
     * @param string $nombre
     * @return Unidadadministrativa
     */
    public function setNombre($nombre)
    {
        $this->nombre = $nombre;

        return $this;
    }

    /**
     * Get nombre
     *
     * @return string
     */
    public function getNombre()
    {
        return $this->nombre;
    }

    /**
     * Set idUnidadejecutora
     *
     * @param \Frontend\ContenidosBundle\Entity\Unidadejecutora $idUnidadejecutora
     * @return Unidadadministrativa
     */
    public function setIdUnidadejecutora(\Frontend\ContenidosBundle\Entity\Unidadejecutora $idUnidadejecutora = null)
    {
        $this->idUnidadejecutora = $idUnidadejecutora;

        return $this;
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    /**
     * Get idUnidadejecutora
     *
     * @return \Frontend\ContenidosBundle\Entity\Unidadejecutora
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    public function getIdUnidadejecutora()
    {
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Translating Cuba
English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
About the Translating Cuba Project
Category: Ladies in White
Two Ladies in White who Filmed Matanzas Protests Were Fined 2,000 Pesos
Ladies in White Sissi Abascal and her mother, Annia Zamora. (Facebook)
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 11 November 2020 — Two Ladies in White, Sissi Abascal and her mother, Annia Zamora Carmenate, were fined the high amount of 2,000 pesos by the authorities. Abascal and Carmenate published on their social networks the images of the protests that took place last week in the town of Carlos Rojas, Matanzas. The townspeople were protesting the lack of electricity, and the protesters demanded restoration of service from the authorities.
Both were summoned this Tuesday to appear at the Jovellanos Police unit for an interrogation, information that was released by Leticia Ramos on her Facebook profile; Ramos also belongs to the Ladies in White. In addition, she recalled that the previous Saturday the secretary of the Jovellanos Communist Party "threatened to make Abascal Zamora disappear" for filming the protests.
Opposition member Félix Navarro detailed that during the interrogation the "investigators" wanted to know "the name of the person who advised both Ladies in White to go to Carlos Rojas Park on the day of the protest and the reasons for a mobilization of such nature." continue reading
Annia Zamora was warned how difficult jail would be since she was in poor health. "But Annia told them that others with different health conditions have also been unjustly deprived of their liberty and they have not been interested."
He explained that they were trying to put the blame on the two Ladies in White for "instigating the population to yell at [the authorities] and to mob the place" and said that both of them "were secretly threatened with jail, with the intention of intimidating them."
The leader of the Ladies in White Movement, Berta Soler, also criticized the town of Carlos Rojas for having had a State Security operation since the day of the protest, and for the fact that when the opponents returned to their homes after the interrogation, they found State Security agents surrounding their houses.
Shouting "Liars!", residents of the town of Carlos Rojas surrounded various officials and military personnel during a protest last Friday, November 6, after spending several hours that day without electricity.
In the video, filmed overnight and widely disseminated on social media, dozens of people are seen surrounding various officials, including one dressed in a military uniform, to demand the restoration of electricity service. "We are tired of lies," Abascal Zamora forewarns one of the directors who, among complaints and demands about his management, cannot articulate a convincing answer.
Translated by Norma Whiting
COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba's reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
Author 14ymedioPosted on November 12, 2020 November 13, 2020 Categories 14ymedio, Ladies in White, Luz Escobar, Translator: Norma Whiting
Xiomara Cruz Miranda Left Havana To Get Medical Attention In Miami
Xiomara Cruz Miranda upon her arrival in Miami this Tuesday. (Courtesy of the New Herald)
14ymedio, Havana, 21 of January, 2020 – The Lady in White Xiomara Cruz Miranda arrived in Miami on an American Airlines flight from Havana on Tuesday, to be treated for a disease she contracted in prison in the middle of last year without receiving effective medical care. Her relatives have reported constant irregularities in her diagnosis and treatment.
Cruz Miranda received a humanitarian visa after months of efforts, initiated on August 14th, as Berta Soler — leader of the women's group — told 14ymedio. Ángel Moya (Berta's husband), has been another major activist on the Island.
In addition, on the other side of the Florida Straits she has had help from other fellow activist: exiled María Elena Alpízar, as well as Iliana Curra and Mercedes Perdigón, both political ex-prisoners, and from others in exile who started a petition addressed to the US congressman of Cuban origin Mario Díaz-Balart. continue reading
"Thank God she must be landing already, everything went well on this side, now we are awaiting her arrival. There is a team of doctors there, focused on improving her well-being and on getting her a diagnosis. The Cuban American National Foundation invited her and will take care of all expenses. An ambulance is waiting there for her and everything is ready to assist her as soon as she arrives", indicated Soler.
"With everything that happened with Laura Pollán and Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas any activist is at risk when they enter a hospital, because State Security has doctors at their disposal, doctors who will always follow their orders. We don't trust them and thus of doctors who do not receive orders from the Cuban regime," she added.
At the airport, she was received by the Cuban doctor Alfredo Melgar. "First, will get a comprehensive diagnosis of Xiomara and then we will put her under treatment," Melgar told the New Herald, who accompanied her to the hospital. The doctor asked the community for help to welcome Cruz Miranda and her daughter, who accompanies her on this trip.
Martha Beatriz Roque had also announced the news on her social media yesterday (on Monday): "With God's favor she arrives tomorrow in Miami," she celebrated.
the Lady in White's state of health has worsened in recent weeks, with a last relapse that began on December 26th and extended until January 10th, but it remains unclear what disease afflicts her.
From the beginning, Cruz Miranda has been diagnosed with tuberculosis, but her relatives and friends have expressed doubts to the point of accusing the Government of having inoculated her with a virus to make it difficult — or worse — to prevent her from continuing to exercise her political opposition. That suspicion aligns with that expressed by Ariel Ruiz Urquiola, who has been denouncing, for months, that the regime has infected him with HIV.
Xiomara was sentenced in 2018 to one year and four months in jail for "threats" in a trial described as rigged by Berta Soler, leader of the Ladies in White. The first prison she went to, was El Guatao (West of Havana), and subsequently she was transferred to a prison in Ciego de Ávila.
Last August, the Government granted her conditional release when health problems arose, and she was transferred to La Covadonga hospital in Havana, where she was admitted into intensive care.
Relatives have also considered that the Lady in White has cancer, as mentioned by the Cuban Alliance for Inclusion and the Cuban Women's Network in a protest note condemning the situation in which the Government held the activist and asking international organizations to take action for her safety and her defense.
"Her muscular pains worsened, as well as the intermittent fever. Doctors have confusedly declared, everything from a disease caused by an unidentified bacteria, to even mentioning cancer. Which has baffled relatives, friends and fellow activists, who request her release to take her to another country in order for her to receive proper medical attention immediately," both women's organizations were asking for last fall.
Translated by: Rafael (Tampa, Florida)
Author 14ymedioPosted on February 1, 2020 February 1, 2020 Categories 14ymedio, Angel Moya, Ladies in White, Oswaldo Paya, Translator: Rafael
Cuban Independent Reporter Ricardo Fernandez Now Missing for 48 Hours
Cuban independent ieporter Ricardo Fernandez has now been missing for 48 Hours
14ymedio, Havana, 14 July 2019 — Independent journalist Ricardo Fernandez Izaguirre, who works with 14ymedio and lives in the city of Camagüey, has been missing since Friday morning, according to information provided to this newspaper by the activist Berta Soler, leader of the Ladies in White.
Soler details that the reporter was at her home in the Havana neighborhood of Lawton, from where he left around 11 am on July 12 to go to the national bus terminal and travel to the city of Pinar del Río. Fernandez agreed to make a phone call to confirm that he had arrived safely, but never called.
Soler fears that the reporter has been arrested by the State Security since he has not given any sign of life in the last 48 hours. Any attempt to call his mobile phone results in a message that indicates that the cell phone number is "off or outside the coverage area." continue reading
Soler's house, which also houses the headquarters of the Ladies in White, was surrounded from the early hours of Friday by a police operation, according to the activist. Fernandez, who also collaborates with La Hora de Cuba and Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), arrived at the house on Thursday afternoon and fell asleep at nightfall.
The wife of the journalist, Yuleysy Ruiz, adds that Fernández wanted to travel from Havana to Pinar del Río to visit his daughter who lives in that city. "The last time we heard from him was Friday at five in the morning. He called his mother but since then we do not know anything else and we are all very worried."
A report issued earlier this month by the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights (OCDH) denounced that during the first semester of 2019 there were at least 1,468 arbitrary arrests in Cuba.
The organization, based in Madrid, said it has registered numerous complaints of arrests, as well as detentions at airports, fines and other types of illegal actions that have been committed against opposition leaders, activists and independent journalists.
The 14ymedio team is committed to serious journalism that reflects the reality of deep Cuba. Thank you for joining us on this long road. We invite you to continue supporting us, but this time by becoming a member of 14ymedio. Together we can continue to transform journalism in Cuba.
Author 14ymedioPosted on July 14, 2019 July 15, 2019 Categories 14ymedio, Ladies in White
Dissident Group Damas de Blanco (Ladies in White) Denounces 23 Arrests this Sunday in Cuba
Berta Soler, leader of the Ladies in White, is arrested during a demonstration in Havana. (Damas de Blanco)
EFE via 14ymedio, Havana, 27 August 2018 – The Cuban dissident movement Damas de Blanco (Ladies in White) denounced on Monday the "harassment" by authorities and the temporary detention of 23 of its members in Havana and the western province of Matanzas, after attending Sunday Mass in different churches or upon leaving their homes.
In Matanzas 17 women were arrested as were six others in Havana, including the leader of the opposition group, Berta Soler.
Soler explained that for more than two years the authorities have not allowed the women to reach the Santa Rita Church in Havana, where the group attended mass weekly since its formation in 2003, and at the conclusion of services demonstrated for the release of political prisoners on the island. continue reading
Given these circumstances, she explained that they decided to attend different churches separately, but often cannot do so because they are unable to evade police operations such as the one routinely held Thursday through Sunday around the headquarters of the Ladies in White in the Lawton neighborhood, in the capital city.
Soler described as "terrible" the current situation of the Ladies in White because they are not allowed to exercise their "rights of expression" and said that the "harassment" against its members is on-going.
In addition, she denounced that four women from the group are imprisoned, among them Martha Sánchez, sentenced to five years in prison August 21 for "public disorder, resistance and attack" after having protested in front of a polling place in the general elections held in March.
She remarked that, in the cases of Nieves Matamoros and Yolanda Santana, they were sentenced to one year in prison for non-payment of fines and a fourth detainee is awaiting trial.
Berta Soler (b. 1963, Matanzas, Cuba) is one of the founders of the Ladies in White movement that emerged to advocate the release of the 75 dissidents imprisoned in the "Black Spring" of 2003, including her husband, Ángel Moya, all of whom were released and, as of today, remain out of prison.
After the death of Laura Pollán in 2011, Soler has headed the group, one of the most active of the internal dissidence of the island.
The Cuban government considers the dissidents "counterrevolutionaries" and "mercenaries."
Translated by Wilfredo Díaz Echevarria
Author 14ymedioPosted on August 30, 2018 August 30, 2018 Categories 14ymedio, Ladies in White, Translator: Wilfredo Díaz Echevarria
What Do Cuban Dissidents Think About Diaz-Canel? / Ivan Garcia
On Monday, 22 March 2016, during his visit to Cuba, President Barack Obama met in the United States Embassy in Havana with a group of Cuban dissidents, among them Manuel Cuesta Morua (to Obama's left), and the independent journalists Miriam Leiva (to Morua's left) and Miriam Celaya (to Obama's right). Source: Cubanet.
Iván García, 30 April 2018 — Manuel Cuesta Morúa, a 55-year-old Afro-Cuban historian of average height and thin build, is probably one of Cuba's most intellectually gifted dissidents.
Morúa's political proposals are based on a social democratic model. He has tried different strategies, looking for a legal angle that would allow him to carry out his projects legitimately. The military dictatorship, however, has thwarted him. He considers himself to be a man of the left, a position from he articulates his ideas.
The arrival of Miguel Díaz-Canel — a 58-year-old engineer from the town of Falcón in Villa Clara province, about 300 kilometers east of Havana — marks the first time someone born after the triumph of the Cuban revolution has ascended to power. He is part of a generation that, for differing reasons, began to dissent from the Marxist, anti-democratic and totalitarian socialism established by Fidel Castro. continue reading
The hardline, diehard generation is passing away. In the current political climate, the most eloquent spokespersons, both official and dissident, were born during the height of the Cold War. They experienced the fall of the Berlin wall and the collapse of the international communist bastion, the former Soviet Union.
The dialectical struggle will not be resolved at the point of a gun. The system will have to reinvent itself, unleash productive economic forces and rely on the private sector if it wants to bring an adequate level of prosperity to Cubans frustrated by the precarious conditions of their lives.
At one time Díaz-Canel, Manuel Cuesta Morúa, Luis Cino, Angel Moya and the economist Martha Beatriz Roque Cabello were all in the same ideological trenches. For reasons of their own, they stopped applauding Fidel Castro and began a long, arduous journey aimed at establishing a democratic society in their homeland.
For Morúa, the transfer of power to Díaz-Canel, "can be read in several ways, all of them interesting. The generational change, no matter who is its public face, puts society on a more equal footing when it comes to dealing with those in power," he says.
He adds, "The only thing left to do now is make demands. Díaz-Canel is an obstructionist president. He has very little legitimacy. He is not a historical figure and he has not won an election. Every person on the street says, 'I didn't vote for him.' The government is incorrect when it claims that Cuba holds indirect elections. Elections here are by acclamation. To date, this president has no agenda. He comes off as a clone."
When I ask him if he thinks it is time for dissidents to change tactics and devise a strategy to reach out to ordinary citizens, Cuesta Morúa responds, "I think it's time to think more about politics, to offer a clearer alternative. It's time to step up to the plate, but in political terms."
In Lawton, a neighborhood of low-slung houses and steep streets on the southern outskirts of Havana, is the headquarters of the human rights group The Ladies in White. Most of its members are mothers, wives or daughters who had never before been interested in politics.
Their dispute with the regime centers on their demands for release of their sons, husbands and fathers, who were unjustly imprisoned by Fidel Castro. Their protest marches, during which they walk carrying gladiolas, were brutally suppressed by agents of the regime's special services. The Cuban government's actions led to strong public condemnations from the international community.
After entering into negotiations brokered by the Catholic church and the Spanish government, Raúl Castro's regime agreed, for the first time, to release some political prisoners and to grant The Ladies in White space along Havana's Fifth Avenue to carry out peaceful protest marches.
After their release most of the seventy-five former political prisoners left Cuba. The Ladies in White are still subject to brutal repression by the Castro regime, which has denied them access to the space it once gave them permission to use.
The Ladies in White's main strategy involves street protests. Angel Moya Acosta, the 53-year-old husband of Berta Soler, leader of The Ladies in White, believes "that the Cuban political opposition needs to confront the regime. If we want people to take to the streets, the dissident community has to take to the streets and to actively persuade the people. This is not a problem about unity. Changing the electoral system in Cuba is up to the opposition and — except for some exceptions such as UNPACU, the Pedro Luis Boitel Front and the Forum for Freedom — that is not happening. Anything else is an excuse for not doing anything."
According to Moya, the selection of Díaz-Canel was expected. "Nothing in Cuba will change. Repression could even increase. Díaz-Canel indicated that major national decisions will still be made by Raúl Castro. And he ended in inaugural speech with the outdated slogans 'homeland or death', 'socialism or death' and 'we will win'." Everyone on the island knows that real power in Cuba still rests with Raúl Castro."
Luis Cino Álvarez, 61, one of the strongest voices in independent journalism, says he "does not expect any political reforms from the Díaz-Canel government except, perhaps, some slight fixes to the economy. He has already stated what we can expect: more socialism and a continuation of the policies of Fidel and Raúl Castro. Stagnation in its purest form. I believe that now is the time for dissidents to come up with a better strategy for confronting the regime."
Martha Beatriz Roque Cabello, a 71-year-old economist, thinks that "Díaz-Canel is a person with many illusions. He held a meeting of the Council of Ministers that was illegal, saying that new appointments to the council had been postponed until July. Díaz-Canel feels very comfortable governing. And that is not a positive thing. When they govern, all the word's presidents feel pressure due to multiple demands from different sectors of society." She adds,"Cuban dissidents followed the wrong path. They should have taken the road of the people. But with each step they get further and further away from it."
If there is anything upon which the fragmented local dissident community agrees, it is that the government of Miguel Díaz-Canel represents the beginning of a significant new era. They face two dilemmas: either find a way to motivate thousands of citizens to demand democracy or watch the military dictatorship celebrate the centenary of Fidel Castro's revolution with a parade though the Plaza.
Author Iván GarcíaPosted on May 15, 2018 May 15, 2018 Categories Angel Moya, Ivan Garcia, Ladies in White, Luis Cino Alvarez, Manuel Cuesta Morua, Martha Beatriz Roque Cabello, UNPACU - Patriotic Union of Cuba
Cuban Faces 2017: José Conrado Rodríguez Alegre, Priest
Father José Conrado Rodríguez, priest of the Catholic Church in Trinidad, Cuba. (14ymedio)
14ymedio, Havana, 30 December 2017 — More than a man who believes, the priest José Conrado Rodríguez Alegre (b. 1951, San Luis, Santiago de Cuba) is a human being who overflows with credibility from every pore of his skin.
He was ordained a Catholic priest in 1976 and since then he has managed to reconcile, without a shadow of contradictions, his devotion to the Church and his love for Cuba. He proved it in the almost 14 years that he was parish priest of the church of Santa Teresita in Santiago de Cuba and continues to do so in his new parish of San Francisco de Paula, in Trinidad, where he was sent in 2013.
In October, José Conrado presented his book Dreams and Nightmares of a Priest in Cuba at the Amphitheater of the American Museum of the Cuban Diaspora in Miami; in the book he says, "The Catholic Church of Cuba has a future of hope because despite the forces that have wanted to sow hatred in the Cuban nation, love has always triumphed."
Among the irreverences noted next to Father José Conrado's name in his secure police file is an open letter to the government of Fidel Castro, dated 1994, and another written in 2009 to the current president Raul Castro, as well as notes of his participation in the meetings of the Cuban Civil Society Open Forum.
Not satisfied, last July he accompanied the priest Castor Álvarez in officiating a mass at the headquarters of the Ladies in White in the Havana neighborhood of Lawton.
His pastoral work, his absolute detachment from material goods in favor of the most needy and, above all, his personal courage to conduct himself as dictated by his conscience, against all hierarchies, make this pastor a personality of the first order in today's Cuba.
Author 14ymedioPosted on January 2, 2018 January 1, 2018 Categories 14ymedio, José Conrado Rodríguez, Ladies in White
Dozens of Opponents Attend Mass in Honor of Oswaldo Paya in Havana
Our apologies for not having subtitles for this video.
14ymedio, Havana, 21 July 2017 — At least 40 activists attended a mass in tribute to opponents Oswaldo Payá and Harold Cepero on the fifth anniversary of their deaths, on Thursday evening. The ceremony took place in the church of Los Quemados in Marianao, Havana, and passed without incident.
The daughter of the leader of the Christian Liberation Movement (MCL), Rosa María Payá, traveled from the city of Miami, where she lives, to participate in the memorial. About 60 people attended the mass, among whom were family, friends and opponents of the Castro government.
Among the activists who participated were former Black Spring prisoner Félix Navarro, the dissident Manuel Cuesta Morúa and the leader of the Ladies in White, Berta Soler.
Speaking to 14ymedio Rosa María Payá said she found "the whole of civil society represented" to honor the memory and legacy of his father. "[All opponents] agree fundamentally: this system does not work and we have to change it."
Berta Soler said that "the Cuban regime thought that killing Oswaldo Payá was going to do away with him" but that was not the case because "he lives among us."
Oswaldo Payá founded the MCL in 1988 and died on 22 July 2012 with Harold Cepero, after the vehicle in which they were traveling, driven by the young Spanish politician Ángel Carromero was driving, went off the road and hit a tree.
Payá's daughter is carrying out an intense international campaign to demand an independent investigation of the case and maintains that the death of her father was a murder orchestrated by the authorities of Havana, and that the car was purposefully run off the road.
A report by the international Human Rights Foundation (HRF) points to "solid indications" that the car in which Payá and his companions were traveling was hit by another vehicle before the crash.
Author Translating CubaPosted on July 22, 2017 Categories 14ymedio, Christian Liberation Movement, Felix Navarro, Ladies in White, Manuel Cuesta Morua, Oswaldo Paya, Rosa Maria Paya Acevedo
Mass Celebrated At Ladies In White Headquarters 'For The Freedom Of The Cuban People'
The priests Castor Álvarez and José Conrado Rodríguez celebrate Mass at the Ladies in White headquarters in Havana. (Courtesy)
14ymedio, Havana, 18 June 2017 — On Monday afternoon, in the presence of 27 people, priests Jose Conrado Rodríguez and Castor Álvarez celebrated a mass at the Ladies in White headquarters Havana's Lawton neighborhood.
Berta Soler, leader of the women's group, explained via telephone that they gathered at the building with "a lot of discretion" to avoid State Security preventing the Mass. "It was very important to hear from those two priests, as we are not able to get to the church, the church has to come to us."
José Conrado Rodríguez told 14ymedio that the Mass was also a way to show that they both support "the right of the Ladies in White to attend Mass every Sunday" in the Church of Santa Rita, in the Cuban capital. continue reading
"That is also part of religious freedom and the right that people have to practice their faith," added Castor Alvarez, who presided at the mass with Rodriguez.
"We feel as priests a concern to bring our faith to Cuban society," added Alvarez, a native of Camagüey and for whom it was a joy to be able to share with the activists and "pray together for the freedom of the Cuban people."
"We are part of the people and we want to enjoy freedoms, we want them to let us have peace and tranquility and share all the good that we Cubans have in order to progress," added the pastor.
Along with the Ladies in White, attending the mass were the former prisoner of the Black Spring, Angel Moya, the activist Raul Borges, and the opponent Yosvany Martinez, a member of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU).
For more than a year, the political police have prevented this civil society group from attending Santa Rita Church and carrying out its Sunday walk on Fifth Avenue.
Author 14ymedioPosted on July 19, 2017 July 20, 2017 Categories 14ymedio, Angel Moya, Ladies in White, UNPACU - Patriotic Union of Cuba
Dozens Of Ladies In White Arrested On The 100th Day Of #TodosMarchamos
Arrest of the Lady in White Ada López in front of her house and when she tried to reach the headquarters of the Movement in Havana's Lawton neighborhood. (14ymedio)
14ymedio, Havana, 8 May 2017 – At least 38 Ladies in White were arrested this Sunday in Havana, Matanzas, Guantanamo, Ciego de Avila and Santa Clara, during the 100th day of the #TodosMarchamos (We All March) campaign for the release of Cuba's political prisoners.
The leader of the group, Berta Soler, was arrested along with three other activists outside the group's headquarters in Havana's Lawton neighborhood. The women carried posters denouncing the harassment against their movement, dissident Deisy Artiles told 14ymedio. continue reading
"The threats they are making against the activists and their families are serious, and many are being fined for simply evading the police cordon in front of their homes"
Soler was leaving the headquarters along with to Yamilet Garro, Aliuska Gómez and Sodrelis Turruella when they were intercepted and arrested by the police. Inside the house were Artiles, along with Ladies in White Zenaida Hidalgo and Cecilia Guerra.
The police also detained, in the vicinity of the headquarters, the former political prisoner Angel Moya Acosta and the activist Jose Oscar Sánchez.
"The operation started on Friday morning," Artiles said, adding that "an act of repudiation was carried out [against Berta Soler] at the time of her arrest."
Dissident Ada Lopez was also arrested outside her home when she tried to reach the headquarters of the movement. Her husband reported the arrest and managed to photograph the moment she was taken to a police car.
In Matanzas, at least a dozen of the movement's women managed to reach the church to attend Sunday Mass, while 19 were arrested on the way to the parish.
"We have had an operation since Saturday in front of the houses of the Ladies in White," said Matanzas activist Leticia Ramos Herrería.
The police "have been embroiled in trying to end our movement," says the opponent. "The threats they are making against the activists and their families are serious. Many are being fined for simply evading the police cordon in front of their homes."
In the town of Palma Soriano, in Santiago de Cuba, a dozen members of the group were arrested, while in Ciego de Avila the police violently arrested the dissidents Lucía López Rondón and Mayden Maidique Cruz.
Cuban Observatory for Human Rights (OCDH) issued a report in which it stated there were 1,809 arbitrary detentions in the island during the first four months of 2017
On Thursday, the Cuban Observatory for Human Rights (OCDH) issued a report in which it stated there were 1,809 arbitrary detentions in the island during the first four months of 2017.
Throughout the month of April the organization documented 467 arbitrary arrests, of which 335 were women and 132 were men. 147 of those arrested were black and ten of them were "beaten brutally," according to the text.
The OCDH emphasizes that a climate of repression prevails "at a time when the Cuban Government has achieved important international support such as that from the European Union and the Government of Spain," and warns that "in the coming months the political climate may be aggravated because of the government's nervousness over the difficult economic and social situation that Cuba is facing."
Author 14ymedioPosted on May 8, 2017 May 8, 2017 Categories 14ymedio, Ladies in White
Lady In White Sentenced To Almost Three Years In Prison For Alleged Crime Of 'Attack'
Lady in White Micaela Roll Gibert, 53 years old. (Martinoticias)
14ymedio, Havana, 25 April 2017 — On Tuesday morning the Court in Havana's municipality of Diez de Octubre, confirmed the prosecutor's request of two years and eight months in jail for Micaela Roll Gibert, 53.
The woman, a member of the opposition group Ladies in White, is charged with the crime of attack, alleging that she knocked down Luanda Mas Valdés, an official from the Ministry of the Interior (MININT), during an arrest. continue reading
According to Berta Soler, the leader of the women's group who spoke with 14ymedio, the incident took place on May 1, 2016, when Roll Gibert left the headquarters of the Ladies in White.
"Roll was beaten by two cops. When they put her inside the bus to take her to the police station, one of the officers twisted her arm and knocked her down. As she fell, Roll took with her another police officer who was trying to repress her," explained Soler.
Soler says that Micaella Roll Gibert's 16-year-old daughter was expelled from the School of Nursing because of her mother's activism and another of her children, a son, was fired from his job in retaliation against his mother
The officer who fell, Mas Valdés, did not appear in this Tuesday's trial and according to Soler, they explained to those present that she was "nine month's pregnant" and "has high blood pressure."
"The trial was finally held without the presence of the officer making the accusation and instead the court accepted an affidavit, taken at the house of Mas Valdés moments before the trial," adds Soler.
According to the opposition leader the trial was rigged, prepared by State Security.
"It's one more woman they are going to send to prison," says the activist, who notes that some time ago a State Security official proposed to Roll Gibert that she "collaborate with them."
"When she refused him, they warned her that her life would become a nightmare," Soler adds.
Soler says that Micaella Roll Gibert's 16-year-old daughter was expelled from the School of Nursing because of her mother's activism and another of her children, a son, was fired from his job in retaliation against his mother.
The Lady in White also denounced that other women from the movement are "still missing since early this morning."
"We do not know where the Ladies Yolanda Ayala, María Josefa Acón and Gladys Capote are," says Soler.
Author 14ymedioPosted on April 26, 2017 April 26, 2017 Categories 14ymedio, Ladies in White
"None of these women have anything better to do at home" / Martha Beatriz Roque
Site manager's note: The Cuban opposition frequently posts photos of their repressors — in plainclothes as well as in uniform — sometimes naming them as well.
Angel Juan Moya: Department of State Security (DSE) and National Revolutionary Police (PNR) repressive operation at the national headquarters of the Ladies in White.
Martha Beatriz Roque: None of these women have anything better to do at home.
Author Translating CubaPosted on March 25, 2017 Categories Angel Moya, Ladies in White, Martha Beatriz Roque Cabello
The Government Prohibits Berta Soler From Leaving Cuba / 14ymedio
The leader of the Ladies in White, Berta Soler, says that the government will not allow her to leave Cuba because of leaflets distributed in a protest. (14ymedio)
14ymedio, Havana, 21 March 2017 – This Tuesday, the Cuban government prevented Berta Soler, leader of the Ladies in White movement, from traveling outside the country because of an unpaid fine for for an alleged infraction "against public adornment." Meanwhile, the authorities accuse her of having thrown "papers in the street," which the regime opponent clarified to 14ymedio were "leaflets."
Soler took advantage of the action to denounce the disappearance, this Tuesday, of her husband, the activist Angel Moya. "We consider that he is 'disappeared' because when he left the house he was being followed," she detailed. "Today I am calling him and his phone is shut off or outside the coverage area." continue reading
"This morning I was supposed to travel to the United States, first to Miami and then to California," said Soler. However, after passing through the immigration booth and security controls at Jose Marti International Airport in Havana, she was intercepted by an immigration official who asked her to accompany him to an office.
The official told Soler that they would not let her board the plane because she had not paid a fine for "throwing papers into the street." According to Decree 272, whoever "throws into the public street waste such as papers, wrappings, food waste, packaging and the like," will have a fine of 50 pesos and must "pick them up immediately."
"Here, the person who owes the Cuban people freedom is Raul Castro," Soler replied to the accusation. She claims that it was sheets with political slogans. "The fine is from last September, after that I went to Panama and the United States, so I don't understand this now," the dissident complains.
The activist was planning to meet in California with David Kaye, United Nations rapporteur for freedom of expression. Instead of Soler, the activist Leticia Ramos will attend the meeting
Last year, when the Aguilera Police Station informed Soler about the fine, she signed a document informing her of the contravention with an ironic "Down you-know-who," and threw it in the agents' faces, telling them: "I do not accept any inappropriate fines."
Subsequently, Soler was informed that the unpaid fine could be doubled, and it was suggested that the police could exchange each Cuba peso (approximately 4 cents US) of the fine for one day in jail or instead not let her travel on Tuesday.
The activist was planning to meet in California with David Kaye, United Nations rapporteur for freedom of expression. Instead of Soler, Lady in White Leticia Ramos will attend the meeting.
"In the report we list all those fines that they assign to us inappropriately," reflects Soler. "They are illegal and violate the Republic's penal code," a situation that is complemented by "the harassment, the threat and violence that is unleashed against our families, against our children and our husbands to try to get us to stop our activism."
This month marks a year since the Lady in White was prevented from attending mass at Santa Rita parish, and also blocked from attending the Sunday marches on 5th Avenue, a traditional route that goes back to the origins of the movement after the repressive wave of 2003, known as the Black Spring.
Author 14ymedioPosted on March 21, 2017 March 23, 2017 Categories 14ymedio, Ladies in White
Cuban Human Rights Group Denounces The Death Of A Political Prisoner Pending Trial / 14ymedio
Hamel Santiago Maz Hernández had been in prison for eight months pending trial. (CCDHRN)
14ymedio, Havana, 7 March 2017 — The Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation (CCDHRN) has denounced the death of political prisoner Hamel Santiago Maz Hernández, an activist from UNPACU, who died* on February 24 at Combinado del Este prison in Havana. The opponent had been imprisoned for eight months without trial for the alleged offense of contempt.
The CCDHRN has released its report for the month of February in which it says that "there have been thousands of cases of Cubans killed in government custody," a situation for which the authorities bear all the "moral and legal responsibility." continue reading
The report includes the 482 arbitrary arrests of dissidents last month, a "slightly higher figure than in January."
The CCDHRN also documented 16 cases of physical aggression and 18 of harassment, "by the secret political police and para-police agents," with the victims being peaceful opponents, adds the report.
The report includes the 482 arbitrary detentions of dissidents last month, a "slightly higher figure than in January"
The text clarifies that, given "the closed nature of the regime that has ruled Cuba for almost 60 years," it is "impossible to record the thousands of violations of fundamental rights" that occur throughout the island each month.
Nevertheless, it reports that the Ladies in White and the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU) are once again the organizations most repressed. In the case of the women's organization, they have been "subjected to humiliations and other abuses" over and over. For its part, 54 members of the UNPACU "are political prisoners, most of whom remain imprisoned without formal charges or pending trial."
During 2016, the Cuban Commission on Human Rights and National Reconciliation (CCDHRN) documented 9,940 arbitrary detentions. This figure "places the Government of Cuba in the first place in all of Latin America," according to the independent organization.
*Translator's note: Cuban State Security informed his wife that he died of a heart attack.
Author Translating CubaPosted on March 7, 2017 March 8, 2017 Categories 14ymedio, Cuban Commission on Human Rights and National Reconciliation, Ladies in White, UNPACU - Patriotic Union of Cuba
Havana's Archbishop Asked Cuban Government "To Sit Down And Talk To The Opposition," Says Berta Soler / 14ymedio
The Archbishop of Havana, Juan de la Caridad García Rodríguez. (EFE)
14ymedio, Havana, 16 February 2017 — Berta Soler, after meeting this Wednesday with Archbishop of Havana Juan de la Caridad Garcia Rodriguez, said that he has offered his full support to the Ladies in White and that the prelate told her he had asked the Government to sit down and talk to the opposition.
"We ask the Catholic Church to speak out, because whoever is silent supports [the government], and he said to me: 'No Berta, silence is not always support. We have asked the Cuban Government to sit down and talk to the opposition, but what we say is one thing and what they do is another," Soler told 14ymedio. continue reading
Soler, the leader of the Ladies in White, and Maria Cristina Labrada, a member of the organization, met with Juan de la Caridad Rodriguez early Wednesday morning and the Archbishop told them that that during the trip from their Lawton headquarters they were "monitored by a large operation made up of the National [Revolutionary] Police and State Security."
According to Soler's account, at the meeting the Archbishop was "very receptive" to the movement's complaints, and they explained to the prelate how they are systematically prevented from reaching the church to attend mass and are victims of abuse such as thefts and fines for "violating the security cordon of the Communist Party of Cuba" when they leave their homes.
"We were able to give him some names and surnames of those who have told us that we could never go to mass at any church," she added.
María Cristina Labrada and Berta Soler received from the hands of the Archbishop "a family Bible with a dedication for each of us," and they gave him "a CD and two reports with evidence of repression" suffered by the women's movement and their families. Both left the door open for a future second meeting.
Juan de la Caridad García Rodríguez was named Archbishop of Havana in April of last year after Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Jaime Ortega and Alamino who retired, as established by the Code of Canon Law, after having reached the age of 75.
A few weeks after taking office, Garcia Rodríguez generated a bitter controversy in declaring that he did not want Cuba to "have capitalism or anything like that, but that socialism should progress" to go "forward in a just and balanced society and one of brotherhood."
Author 14ymedioPosted on February 16, 2017 February 16, 2017 Categories 14ymedio, Ladies in White
Threats and Arrests if Dissidents Continue in Cuba / 14ymedio
The leader of the Ladies in White, Berta Soler, during an exhibition of the work of Danilo Maldonado, known as 'El Sexto'. (14ymedio)
14ymedio, Havana, 15 December 2016 –The leader of the Ladies in White, Berta Soler, was arrested Thursday in the morning when she was about to leave the headquarters of the organization in the neighborhood of Lawton, Havana, in order to connect to the Internet.
Angel Moya, a former prisoner of the Cause of 75 from the 2003 Black Spring and Soler's husband, told this newspaper that neighborhood witnesses confirmed to him that the arrest had been made with excessive use of force. "She was arrested violently, neighbors testify that they even beat her," says the dissident who was not at home at the time of arrest. continue reading
Moya speculates that Soler was taken to the detention center in Alamar, but was unable to confirm the information.
The former prisoner of the Black Spring told 14ymedio that the Ladies in White movement has not programmed any activities for today. "Right now, the only thing Berta did was to launch a call for Tuesday, 19 December, at two in the afternoon in Central Park, for the traditional Literary Tea, if State Security continues to operate around the group's headquarters in Lawton, and prevents the activists from accessing it.
Around two in the afternoon the political police arrested another Lady in White, Marlen Gonazalez, when she went out with her husband to buy food at the agricultural market. "A patrol car came and asked for her ID card and they took her prisoner," said her neighbors in the San Miguel de Padron area.
While all this was going on, at Jose Marti Airport the activist Jose Diaz Silva, a Cuban delegate to the Democracy Movement, he was approached by police before taking a flight to the United States. According to a report from the dissident, the officials warned him that on his return from Miami he would encounter very serious reprisals and that from now on the opposition's "days are numbered."
The latest report of the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation (CCDHRN) said that during November there were at least 359 arbitrary arrests of peaceful opponents on the island, over a hundred cases fewer than in October. However, the independent organization warns of a possible increase in repression following the death of former President Fidel Castro.
Author 14ymedioPosted on December 15, 2016 December 15, 2016 Categories 14ymedio, Angel Moya, Ladies in White
For Melissa Barreto Galvez, a Cuban from Santa Clara, the Trip Ended in Mexico
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The Survivors of the Cuarteles Street Tenements in Old Havana Speak Out
Cuban Artist and Designer Rolando Pulido Dies at 58
Cuban Convertible Pesos Not Accepted, Even in Cuba
Cuba's Dismal Soap Opera of Slander
Artist Tania Bruguera Files Defamation Complaint Against Cuban Television
The Sweet Potato Has Become a Luxury Product in Cuba
The Number of Cubans Traveling to Nicaragua Went From 2,000 a Year to Nearly 45,000
A Covid Patient in Santiago de Cuba is Beaten Over a Bar of Soap
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InCubaToday
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Pedazos de la Isla – English
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A secret FBI report into police cover-ups over the kidnapping of cellar prison victim Natascha Kampusch is due to be made public this month (April).
Austrian justice officials were forced to call in neutral investigators from the US agency after Natatscha's father Ludwig Koch accused local police of a cover up because of political interference.
His claims were detailed in his best selling book 'Missing', based on 57,000 police files put in the public domain by his lawyer.
Natascha's father claims that police were ordered to cover up bungles in the original investigation to protect the discredited Interior Minister Liese Prokop from a political scandal in an election year (2006).
"It may sound unbelievable but everything in the book is taken directly from the more than 57,000 police files that were leaked to my legal team.
"It's not my words. They are facts and evidence from those files," said Koch of the blockbusting book.
Victim Natascha was snatched off the streets of a Vienna suburb as a 10-year-old girl on her way to school.
She escaped eight-and-a-half years later after enduring years of confinement in a basement cell and sexual abuse at the hands of her abductor Wolfgang Priklopil.
A movie of her ordeal '3096 Days' was released worldwide earlier this year starting Northern Ireland actress Antonia Campbell-Hughes.
Pervert Priklopil took his secrets to the grave when he hurled himself under a train just hours after Natascha escaped while he was making a phone call.
Next month's FBI report is also expected to unlock a civil legal case against Priklopil's best friend Ernst Holzapfel.
Court papers submitted by Koch have identified Holzapfel as an accomplice in the kidnap.
Now Natascha's father is expecting the FBI report to strengthen his case.
"What Ludwig has said all along and what he says in the book is that the police always knew someone else was involved," explained one family friend.
"The first time they investigated, the police were lazy and incompetent. Then when she escaped they covered it up because it was too scandalous to admit.
"Now he hopes the truth will finally be dragged kicking and screaming into the daylight.
"Ludwig is, rightly, proud of the way he has helped to make this happen first with his tireless campaigning, and then with his book," they added.
Koch himself explained: "The FBI report can't come to any conclusion other than the fact that there was massive interference and errors in the case."
And he says he helped release the 57,000 files to the FBI team to make sure Austrian authorities could no longer keep them secret.
"I have made sure that the FBI also got plenty of paperwork which I'm sure the Interior Ministry were not too enthusiastic about them seeing.
"I hope that finally there will now be justice and that the truth will come out," he said.
"And I also hope it will improve the chances of the court case's success so we can finally go ahead once we have the report.
"I can't do more than I have. But win or lose, I will have made sure that the information I have has been recorded for the history books – where the ultimate judgement will take place," added Natascha's father.
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Home > Life > health and wellness > FDA Commits to Evidence-Based Actions Aimed at Saving Lives and Preventing Future Generations of Smokers
FDA Commits to Evidence-Based Actions Aimed at Saving Lives and Preventing Future Generations of Smokers
May 1, 2021 May 1, 2021 Rod Washington
Efforts to ban menthol cigarettes, ban flavored cigars build on previous flavor ban and mark significant steps to reduce addiction and youth experimentation, improve quitting, and address health disparities
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced it is committing to advancing two tobacco product standards to significantly reduce disease and death from using combusted tobacco products, the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S. The FDA is working toward issuing proposed product standards within the next year to ban menthol as a characterizing flavor in cigarettes and ban all characterizing flavors (including menthol) in cigars; the authority to adopt product standards is one of the most powerful tobacco regulatory tools Congress gave the agency. This decision is based on clear science and evidence establishing the addictiveness and harm of these products and builds on important, previous actions that banned other flavored cigarettes in 2009.
"Banning menthol—the last allowable flavor—in cigarettes and banning all flavors in cigars will help save lives, particularly among those disproportionately affected by these deadly products. With these actions, the FDA will help significantly reduce youth initiation, increase the chances of smoking cessation among current smokers, and address health disparities experienced by communities of color, low-income populations, and LGBTQ+ individuals, all of whom are far more likely to use these tobacco products," said Acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock, M.D. "Together, these actions represent powerful, science-based approaches that will have an extraordinary public health impact. Armed with strong scientific evidence, and with full support from the Administration, we believe these actions will launch us on a trajectory toward ending tobacco-related disease and death in the U.S."
The agency is taking urgent action to reduce tobacco addiction and curb deaths. There is strong evidence that a menthol ban will help people quit. Studies show that menthol increases the appeal of tobacco and facilitates progression to regular smoking, particularly among youth and young adults. Menthol masks unpleasant flavors and harshness of tobacco products, making them easier to start using. Tobacco products with menthol can also be more addictive and harder to quit by enhancing the effects of nicotine. One studyExternal Link Disclaimer suggests that banning menthol cigarettes in the U.S. would lead an additional 923,000 smokers to quit, including 230,000 African Americans in the first 13 to 17 months after a ban goes into effect. An earlier studyExternal Link Disclaimer projected that about 633,000 deaths would be averted, including about 237,000 deaths averted for African Americans.
"For far too long, certain populations, including African Americans, have been targeted, and disproportionately impacted by tobacco use. Despite the tremendous progress we've made in getting people to stop smoking over the past 55 years, that progress hasn't been experienced by everyone equally," said Mitch Zeller, J.D., director of the FDA's Center for Tobacco Products. "These flavor standards would reduce cigarette and cigar initiation and use, reduce health disparities, and promote health equity by addressing a significant and disparate source of harm. Taken together, these policies will help save lives and improve the public health of our country as we confront the leading cause of preventable disease and death."
If implemented, the FDA's enforcement of any ban on menthol cigarettes and all flavored cigars will only address manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers, importers and retailers. The FDA cannot and will not enforce against individual consumer possession or use of menthol cigarettes or any tobacco product. The FDA will work to make sure that any unlawful tobacco products do not make their way onto the market.
These actions are an important opportunity to achieve significant, meaningful public health gains and advance health equity. The FDA is working expeditiously on the two issues, and the next step will be for the agency to publish proposed rules in the Federal Register allowing an opportunity for public comment.
The agency also recognizes the importance of ensuring broad and equitable access to all the tools and resources that can help currently addicted smokers seeking to quit, including those who smoke menthol cigarettes and would be impacted by these public health measures. The FDA will work with partners in other federal agencies to make sure the support is there for those who are trying to quit. Smokers interested in quitting today should visit smokefree.gov or call 1-800-QUIT-NOW to learn about cessation services available in their state.
The FDA also remains focused on its regulatory oversight of e-cigarettes and other electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS). The Center for Tobacco Products recently provided an update on its ongoing work of conducting the premarket review of ENDS and other tobacco product applications, and has issued warning letters to ENDS product manufacturers and retailers who continue to sell products that are illegally on the market. The FDA has also made a significant investment in a multimedia e-cigarette public education campaign. The campaign targets nearly 10.7 million youth aged 12-17 who have ever used e-cigarettes or are open to trying them, and highlights information about the potential risks of e-cigarette use.
Background on Today's Actions
Menthol Product Standard
Today, the FDA granted a citizen petition requesting that the agency pursue rulemaking to prohibit menthol in cigarettes, affirming its commitment to proposing such a product standard.
The 2009 Tobacco Control Act (TCA) did not include menthol in its ban on characterizing flavors in cigarettes, leaving menthol cigarettes as the only flavored combusted cigarettes still marketed in the U.S. The law instructed the FDA to further consider the issue of menthol in cigarettes.
Since then, the FDA sought input from an independent advisory committee as required by the TCAExternal Link Disclaimer, and further demonstrated its interest by issuing an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, undertaking an independent evaluation and supporting broader research efforts—all to better understand the differences between menthol and non-menthol cigarettes and the impact of menthol on population health.
In the U.S., it is estimated that there are nearly 18.6 million current smokers of menthol cigarettes. But use of menthol cigarettes among smokers is not uniform: out of all Black smokers, nearly 85% smoke menthol cigarettes, compared to 30% of White smokers who smoke menthols. In addition, among youth, from 2011 to 2018, declines in menthol cigarette use were observed among non-Hispanic White youth but not among non-Hispanic Black or Hispanic youth.
Cigar Flavor Product Standard
After the 2009 statutory ban on flavors in cigarettes other than menthol, use of flavored cigars increased dramatically, suggesting that the public health goals of the flavored cigarette ban may have been undermined by continued availability of these flavored cigars.
Flavored mass-produced cigars and cigarillos are combusted tobacco products that can closely resemble cigarettes, pose many of the same public health problems, and are disproportionately popular among youth and other populations. In 2020, non-Hispanic Black high school students reported past 30-day cigar smoking at levels twice as high as their White counterparts.
Nearly 74% of youth aged 12-17 who use cigars say they smoke cigars because they come in flavors they enjoy. Among youth who have ever tried a cigar, 68% of cigarillo users and 56% of filtered cigar users report that their first cigar was a flavored product. Moreover, in 2020, more young people tried a cigar every day than tried a cigarette.
Statement by HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra on FDA Tobacco Actions on Menthol Cigarettes and Flavored Cigars
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Robert Youngjohns, who led Sun's sales team through two years of falling revenue, will take the helm at a Silicon Valley software maker.
Robert Youngjohns, the executive who led Sun Microsystems' sales team during two tumultuous years of revenue declines, has left the company to head start-up Callidus Software.
Youngjohns is now president and CEO of Callidus, a San Jose, Calif.-based company that makes software to help companies tie employee compensation to business goals. Callidus is a Sun customer, according to a Sun internal memo announcing Youngjohns' departure, dated Thursday and seen by CNET News.com.
"Robert has given this move a lot of thought and ultimately decided the time was right for him to realize his goal of leading a company," Sun President Jonathan Schwartz said in the memo.
Youngjohns was named head of sales at Sun in July 2002. He held the post until he was replaced two years later by Robert MacRitchie, and became executive vice president of strategic development and of Sun's financing unit.
Most recently, he led initiatives such as Sun's utility pricing service, in which the company charges $1 per processor per hour to use a bank of Sun computers.
During his years leading Sun's sales, the Santa Clara, Calif.-based server and software company saw consistent declines in its quarterly revenue, which had boomed during the dot-com era. Revenue growth returned during his last quarter in the job, but it shrank again during the most recent quarter.
Stuart Wells, who joined Sun in 1988, will take Youngjohns' post. Wells will report to Schwartz, Sun said in a statement Thursday.