Hi Met good afternoon its 2012 and some gyal don’t understand dem position. This one I dedicate to all the Philly dancehall gyal dem & worldwide. Find your position and play your part. Keep in mind #2 would NEVER be #1.

The Day My Mother Lost Her Faith in Fidel and the Revolution
http://youtu.be/ny_thtXqYYY

My mother, devoted to Fidel, sat in front of the television. A few days later her two daughters understood that a transcendental and irreversible change had come over that compulsive 30-something. A former militant in the Young Communist Union, she had suffered a degree of ideological disillusionment in the late eighties, but the trial of General Arnaldo Ochoa was too much for her revolutionary illusions.

I remember seeing her sitting in that easy chair in front of the television thinking that her “Commander” was more than a father — much more than the nation itself — and observing, from my naïve adolescent perspective, her transformation. Her anger, her sadness, while the farce of the judicial process continued. Later I heard from my school friends that a similar metamorphoses occurred in many of their homes. “What have we come to,” seemed to spread among a good part of Fidel’s faithful followers.

Why, 23 years after that “reality show” televised throughout the country, is what is called “Case No. 1 of 1989” still considered a point of rupture? How did this moment become one of the dates marking the decline of the Cuban Revolution?

I do not think it was solely because of popular sympathy for the haughty and handsome man who was in the dock. Nor for the false note of the generals — chubby cheeked from the good life — blaming one of their colleagues for enjoying a luxury here, an extravagance there. Nor can it be said that it was just the evident contrast between the soldier who had led battles in Africa, and the Commander in Chief who played at war from afar, from the comfort of his office.

I think it all came together for many Cubans, in that moment, that the train of the political process had gone off the rails. But undoubtedly added to this was the desire to find a good excuse for a break, a sufficiently strong pretext to show the door to an ideology that had defrauded so many. We children saw this metamorphosis in our parents… there was no way we could emerge unscathed in the presence of such a mutation.

For four weeks, the small screens in every Cuban household were tuned to these courtroom images, where the great majority of those present wore olive green uniforms. We heard the witnesses testify, the accused shift from a tone of alarm to the stuttering of terror as many of them declared that the highest levels of the Cuban government were not aware of the drug trafficking.

Raúl Castro talked about how he had cried in front of his bathroom mirror, thinking about Ochoa’s children, but he still approved his execution, and that of three other defendants.

And all this happened before our eyes in the same year in which the Berlin Wall would fall and many Eastern European regimes would crumble like illusory castles in the sand. It wasn’t possible to separate what was happening outside our borders from that Military Tribunal that indicted Arnaldo Ochoa for “high treason against the country and the Revolution.” Difficult to separate the crisis of faith that the Cuban process was passing through at the moment of this public lesson broadcast to millions of TV viewers.

The authorities — intending to teach us a lesson — wanted to show that they were still capable of striking a blow against any ideas of a tropical Perestroika that might be lurking on the island. A self-inflicted wound in their own ranks was a very clear way of warning that there would be no mercy for those who crossed a certain line. Parallel to the official version of the trial ran a thousand and one popular rumors about the most decorated General in Cuba overshadowing Fidel Castro.

Many analysts argued that what was really playing out was a rivalry for power. It was not surprising, therefore, that so much of the evidence presented in the trial ultimately did not convince the audience. “There’s something more going on here,” said the older people… “there’s something fishy,” they repeated, with the wisdom of those who had seen many others fall, be ousted.

At dawn on July 13, 1989 Arnaldo Ochoa, Antonio de la Guardia, Amado Padrón and Jorge Martinez were shot. My mother had turned off the television just as the sentence was announced. I never saw her look at the screen with rapture again; nor meekly consent when the figure of Fidel Castro appeared.

Yoani’s blog, Generation Y, can be read here in English translation.
Translating Cuba is a compilation blog with Yoani and other Cuban bloggers in English.

this is tamara,,she call herself the goodlife,,,,,,,she is a lielife bitch,,,COCKY VACUUM IS HER NAME,,walk and tek man like how old house tek nail,she party 7days a week has two kids no job, and all she caah do a walk and beg,u see gal a dance and would

Met mi na jump pon har enuh but it just bothers me that she dress like a little girl for a grown woman! Is 2012 now where people shoes game n dress game a go hard n this woman just na step up the game.

SHERI I AGREE WID DI SENDER…IS WHERE YUH GET DESE FROM AND WHERE YUH WAS GOING?

A DOW KNOW IS WHO DIS BUT OVA LOADING INA BUNGLE AND PILE TILL DI PILE LEAN WHEY GONE OVA CURRY AND DI NEXT SIDE DUNG A GI WHEY GRUNG MAWKIT

http://youtu.be/6OtREnGEA14

A TEENAGER who raped an 83-year-old granny has told a court that he “just felt like doing it”.

Sikhumbuzo Gumede, 18, of Mawuwini Village in Nkayi, was beginning a 15-year jail term on Wednesday after pleading guilty to the violent sex attack.

A Bulawayo court heard how the victim bravely tried to fight off Gumede, her screams finally attracting a passer-by whose arrival at the scene forced the teenager to flee.

Before passing sentence, magistrate Godwin Sengweni asked if Gumede had an explanation for his actions.

“I still don’t understand why I did it. I just felt like doing it,” he replied.

The magistrate sentenced Gumede to 20 years in jail, but conditionally suspended five years after crediting him for his guilty plea and the fact that he was a youthful offender.

The magistrate said: “What aggravates your actions is that you raped an 83-year-old woman and subjected her to a horrific experience.

“The court will suspended a portion of the sentence to allow you a chance to live a crime-free life after you are released from prison.”

Blessing Kudhlande, prosecuting, told the court that Gumede was walking home from Nkayi business centre just after 4PM on July 4 this month when he came across the victim walking in the opposite direction.

Gumede, the court heard, offered the victim a 2kg packet of sugar which he was carrying, but she had declined.

“Gumede blocked her way, grabbed her by the hand and dragged her into the bush,” Kudhlande told the court.

A few metres from the footpath, Gumede ordered the elderly woman to lie down, but she picked up a log and tried to strike him. He ducked and eventually overpowered her, the court heard.

During the attack, the court heard, Gumede threatened to kill her if she did not stop resisting and screaming.

“The victim bravely fought Gumede and told her she would rather die than be violated,” the prosecutor said.

The victim’s screams attracted a passer-by who came to her rescue. Gumede was arrested hours later.

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