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April 12, 2005
Where is the outrage?
Val over at BabaluBlog asks this very important question, pointing out that you can "scour every single component of the MSM and you will not find many - if any - articles on Cuba's political prisoners. Men and women rotting away in jails, prisoners of conscience, treated inhumanely by their jailers, lacking decent food and any kind of medical care whatsoever and not a damn peep by the self-appointed purveyors of truth and justice Mainstream Media."
Val points us to a website detailing some of those jailed in Cuba.
I have pondered the question asked by Val many times myself, with no answer forthcoming. I have scoured the news myself, to no avail. I read every name, I looked closely at each and every one of the photos on that site, but the one face I looked for, I did not see. The one name I searched for, I could not find.
I cannot contemplate the horrors faced by each of those men, horrors shared by my friend Walter van der Veer.
Walter van der Veer is an American citizen, abandoned by his country, sentenced to 15 years of hell in a Cuban prison, forgotten by everyone but his family, and of course, me. No one else seems to care.
Sadly for Walter, members of the Cuban Exile community here in South Florida seem only to care about fellow Cubans who suffer in Cuba's jail. I have never been able to get any one of them to talk about Walter or to show any measure of support.
Are you still alive Walter? I honestly do not know, but if you are, you're halfway through your sentence, halfway home. I pray for you every day. It is hard to hope, yet, I do.
Posted by LindaSoG at April 12, 2005 01:28 PM
Comments
Your love and concern for your friend is admirable. He's lucky to have you as a friend.
I propose the formation of the 'Walter van der Veer Society' to press for information on his well-being and for his early release.
EV
Posted by: eternalvigilance at April 12, 2005 03:16 PM