Bernie Dwyer, Carlos Martinez April 14-15

Bernie Dwyer, co-director and producer of "The Day Diplomacy Died", “Mission Against Terror: The Case of the Cuban 5," “Philip Agee, Cuba and the CIA,” and Radio Havana Cuba correspondent


The US has waged a covert war against Cuba for over 50 years, much of it under the radar of the American public. The frame-ups of the 5 Cuban political prisoners in the U.S. and the case of Miami CIA terrorist Posada Carriles illustrate this. "Human rights" and "democracy" are used as code words for US aggression. The "dissidents" movement in Cuba is used as a US tool to undermine the Cuban social system.


This new documentary being shown by Bernie Dwyer and Roberto Ruiz Rebo exposes the story behind the lock up of 75 “independent” journalists, trade unionists, and librarians in Cuba in 2003 through the eyes of four ex-Cuban state agents working undercover. In this film former Cuban undercover agents speak out for the first time on film about the inner workings of the dissident groups they infiltrated and the various plans, supported by the U.S. government, that were being developed to destabilize Cuba.

Carlos Martinez, editor of Venezuela Speaks! Voices from the Grassroots, served in Venezuela as the program director for Global Exchange, where he coordinated delegations to Venezuela. His articles have been published in Common Dreams, Monthly Review Zine, and on venezuelanalysis.com.

Venezuela Speaks! is a compelling oral history details the country's bloodless uprising and reorganization. For the last decade, Venezuela’s “Bolivarian Revolution” has captured international attention. Poverty, inequality, and unemployment have all dropped, while health, education, and living standards have seen a commensurate rise. The stories told in the book shed light on the complex facets within the revolution, detailing the changes from community media to land reform, cooperatives to communal councils, and the labor movement to the Afro-Venezuelan network. Offering a different perspective than that of the international mainstream media, which has focused predominantly on Hugo Chavez, these examples of democracy in action illustrate the vast cultural, economic, and racial differences within the country.