"They told us they were coming for us later to expel us," the spokeswoman for the group, Barcelona city councilor Francina Vila, told reporters.
...
The foreign women, who traveled to Cuba on tourist visas, carried banners that said "democracy" and "freedom."
Reuters story
I say the Spaniards got off light.
The one theme I read throughout the Island’s history is that the population wants to govern itself. So let them.
Indeed, I find it mind-boggling that any reasonably well educated non-Cuban, including Cuban-Americans, could think that their empathy for those Cubans on the island (against whom an injustice may very well have been served) entitles the foreigners to agitate on the island itself.
From Hatuey through today, I doubt that any population on the face of the earth has sacrificed more than Cubans for a longer period to enjoy right to self-determination.
But even if you (as a foreigner) want to privilege the facts of an individual alive today (e.g. by making an Human Rights case against the Cuban government) over all that the Cuban nation has sacrificed for the cause of self-determination, your making a spectacle of yourself is only going to play into the hands of the Fidelistas.
It is very much in their interest to force a debate (on and off the island) about sovereignty by throwing you in jail for the rest of your life.
And IF the international community takes notice, the Fidelistas would be happy to trot-out the historical record.
Dumb. Really dumb. But another good example of how Fidelista foes play into hands of the Fidelistas themselves.
