Castro mediates Colombian peace deal — but won’t talk to Cuban dissidents

(Photo: Ramon Espinosa – AP)

What irony! Cuban President Gen. Raúl Castro has been applauded by world leaders for his mediation in Colombia’s peace talks, but he steadfastly continues refusing to hold peace talks with his own country’s internal opposition.

The irony of Castro’s mediation in Colombia’s peace talks with the FARC guerrillas was brought to my attention this week by Guillermo Fariñas, the well-known Cuban dissident who started a hunger strike in his hometown of Santa Clara, Cuba, on July 20. He wants to call world attention to the plight of Cuba’s peaceful dissidents, and wants the Castro regime to start a dialogue with them.

More than 12 other dissidents have joined Fariñas’ indefinite hunger strike, and the National Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU) dissident group has announced that an additional 200 of its members would hold a 12-hour fast in a symbolic gesture of support for the hunger strikers.

It sounds absurd, but even now — a year after Cuba and the United States resumed diplomatic relations and U.S. cruise liners with American tourists are descending on the island — Cuba’s military regime refuses to talk with any of Cuba’s peaceful opponents under the ridiculous claim that all of them are U.S. “mercenaries.”

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