President Obama's condemnation of repression in Cuba is a welcome if somewhat belated acknowledgment of the campaign of "intensified harassment" that the Castro-run government is directing at Cubans who dare to demand freedom and engage in nonviolent protests.
Such campaigns are business as usual for Cuba's rulers. Fidel Castro's regime is characterized by repression designed to stifle any form of independent activity. At other times, Castro has seized on the pretext of "intervention" from other countries, real or imagined, to tighten the screws on his own people.
The "black spring" of March 2003, when some 75 dissidents were rounded up and thrown in prison for years, was his petulant reaction to the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
What is unusual about the current wave of repression is that it responds to a completely spontaneous outburst of pent-up frustration inside the country. More and more Cubans are just plain fed up.
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