Originally posted by PalynkaA strawman???? How?? You can go to Cuba, period. What exactly is your point, anyway? You haven't bothered to check why AI was banned in 1988 but you insist you know that's it's because Fidel's trying to hide something. Yet you don't seem to have any idea what that might be. In addition, foreigners are allowed to go to Cuba; according to wiki, there were 1.6 million tourists in 1999 (that's in a country of 11 million). Amazing that Fidel can hide his terrible human rights abuses with so many foreigners roaming around!
The evidence and the rational argument are both there. Your repeated claims that they aren't doesn't make them so.
No Portuguese can go as part of an AI team so your argument that I can go there is, again, a strawman and irrelevant to the point.
Obviously, Fidel and AI don't see eye to eye but to jump from that to the supposition that they're not being allowed to go to Cuba is related to some fear of Fidel that they'll discover something is pure speculation unsupported by any evidence at all. Maybe he just doesn't like them.
Actually I've been assuming there is some official ban, but AI doesn't say that. The quote was:
AI last visited Cuba in 1988. The government did not respond to AI’s repeated requests to be allowed into the country.
Maybe a bunch of AI people should just jump on a plane and go to Cuba without pestering the Cuban government with "repeated requests".
EDIT: This AI press release simply says the Cuban government hasn't responded to written requests; it does not say or claim that any personnel from AI have ever been denied entry to Cuba. www.amnesty.org.ru/library/pdf/AMR250032002ENGLISH/$File/AMR2500302.pdf -
Cuba sounds like a dreadful place to me - I hear they have a prison camp there where the inmates are incarcerated for years and years without trial or charges being brought against them, regular beatings called "ERF"s and long periods of solitary confinement.
Oh wait...that is run by the US government....sorry, my mistake.
Originally posted by no1marauderOh, dear. How many of the recent tourists saw what happens inside Guantanamo?
A strawman???? How?? You can go to Cuba, period. What exactly is your point, anyway? You haven't bothered to check why AI was banned in 1988 but you insist you know that's it's because Fidel's trying to hide something. Yet you don't seem to have any idea what that might be. In addition, foreigners are allowed to go to Cuba; according to wiki, there were ...[text shortened]... pure speculation unsupported by any evidence at all. Maybe he just doesn't like them.
Apparently, for you, tourism now exempts governments from having secrets. 🙄
It shouldn't matter if he likes them or not, they should be allowed to do their reports.
Originally posted by PalynkaActually the fact that there is no official ban at all demolishes your "arguments".
Oh, dear. How many of the recent tourists saw what happens inside Guantanamo?
Apparently, for you, tourism now exempts governments from having secrets. 🙄
It shouldn't matter if he likes them or not, they should be allowed to do their reports.
Or this (which you repeated several times):
How is being prevented access to a country not detrimental to reporting about that same country?
Does the fact that there is no official ban not make this question one based on an incorrect premise?
I could go on, but simply put every single one of your posts was based on a premise that was not true.
Originally posted by no1marauderNo. He doesn't allow AI in Cuba. Unless you think he lost the requests under all those speech notes.
You are now trying to rewrite your claims; remember this:
If Fidel let Amnesty International in Cuba, maybe all of us would know a little more.
Does the fact that they are NOT banned from Cuba not modify the first part of this sentence?
Originally posted by no1marauderInnacurate, yes. But definitely not wrong. Not granting admission has the same effects as banning.
Or this:
Why else would Fidel prevent them from entering?
My point stands, if Fidel let them in we might know something more.
Does not the fact that there is no official ban make the premise of your question incorrect? And your point simply wrong?
Originally posted by no1marauderAgain, not being granted permission is the same as being prevented.
Or this (which you repeated several times):
How is being prevented access to a country not detrimental to reporting about that same country?
Does the fact that there is no official ban not make this question one based on an incorrect premise?
I could go on, but simply put every single one of your posts was based on a premise that was not true.
If Fidel is too much of a hypocrite to say "no" doesn't really matter. His absence of reply has the same effect as a "no".
Originally posted by PalynkaWHAT?????? Where does it say AI needs to be "granted admission"?? Where does AI say that any of its personnel have ever been denied admission to Cuba? So they don't bother to return its letters; so what? If people from AI wanted to, they could get on a plane and go to Cuba tomorrow.
Innacurate, yes. But definitely not wrong. Not granting admission has the same effects as banning.