It should come as no surprise that President Obama has agreed to arm Communist Vietnam and that he continues to extend diplomatic niceties and concessions to authoritarian regimes that show no intention of changing their brutal tactics. These overtures to the Castros in Cuba have resulted in a prominent human rights defender, Berta Soler--right here in this poster--the leader of the peaceful prodemocracy group, the Ladies in White--Las Damas de Blanco--and 27 others being arrested this week and facing charges of resistance because only in Communist regimes and under ruthless dictatorships is nonviolent opposition to the regime considered a crime. Peaceful dissidence, resistance, is a crime in Cuba. For all of the engagement--the concession after concession to the ruthless dictatorship--it has not moved the Castros even 1 inch toward freedom, toward human rights, toward the rule of law, toward democracy. The people of Cuba deserve better. ____________________
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