Can Steemit.com Help Free an Anarcho-Capitalist Dissident in Communist Cuba?

I recently visited Cuba to interview one of 23 known anarcho-capitalists on the island.

Many of them have been beaten and jailed for their beliefs but they asked that I make public their plight in the hopes that the added worldwide exposure offers them some level of protection.

We will soon find out if it does as this is the worldwide exclusive release here on Steemit. I will be hoping and praying that this does not make things worse for them... but as you will see in my interview with Nelson Chartrand, he is willing to lose his life in order to publicize what is going on in Cuba because, as you will hear, he has essentially been enslaved his entire life.

Even I did not realize how enslaved Cubans are. I have visited three times in the last ten years but have mostly stayed to the very tourist friendly parts of Havana and very few Cubans are willing (or legally allowed) to tell you what their lives are like.

Nelson does, in this interview. He is a lawyer and makes $20/month. He says that is about the maximum anyone is allowed to make. He also eats only once per day and has no opportunity to earn more nor to even travel outside of Cuba.

Most Cubans are not allowed to have internet access, either, so getting a hold of him or almost anyone there is very difficult. But thanks to a few embassies he gets two hours of internet access per week and we were able to connect.

I hope you watch this interview (exclusively available on Steemit) and pass it along to as many people as you can. It's quite heartbreaking but also incredibly courageous at the same time.

After our interview I asked Nelson if he'd like to go for lunch in my luxurious (by Cuban standards) hotel.

He told me Cubans were not allowed to go into tourist hotels. I told him that I don't care what any government says as they are illegitimate criminal organizations and we walked into the restaurant at the hotel.

I ordered food for the two of us and he said it was more than he usually sees in a week as he only eats once per day.

I ordered a few beers and he began to tear up and said that it was the happiest day of his life.

It wasn't until then that I realized just how bad of a situation he is in.

I asked him why he doesn't just leave Cuba and he told me the laws and restrictions that, for all intents and purposes, would mean he never could. You have to have thousands of dollars in your bank account in order to even be allowed to leave, he told me.

And, at $20/month in income it meant he would never have enough to leave.

When I told him that in Mexico (or almost anywhere except Cuba) we had full access to the internet, could choose where we want to live (you cannot do that in Cuba, you need government permission to even live in certain areas including Havana) and that food was so plentiful that a lot of people are pretty fat.

He was shocked to hear it.

I asked, "Surely you've seen it on TV or something, right?"

And he explained they are not allowed access to foreign television. He explained he has seen some things on his highly limited internet access but couldn't believe it was true.

It was then that I decided I had to do something.

I told Nelson I was posting this interview on Steemit and it would likely make at least $1,000 USD and could even make $5-10 thousand or more.

He was shocked, saying, "That's more than I've made in my entire life."

I told him I'd make sure he received all the money made from the Steemit post and he again nearly broke into tears.

I then said, "And then, why don't you fly to Acapulco, Mexico and I'll show you what life is like outside Cuba."

It was then that he explained just how hard it was to get permission to leave the island. Even if he had the thousands of dollars necessary he may still not be able to leave.

Then I told him, "We will find whatever way is possible to at least get you outside of Cuba so you can see capitalism (or at least what small bit of it that is left) with his own eyes."

I'm still not sure exactly what we may have to do but I have a feeling we will find a way.

So, I am donating every Steem dollar made from this post to Nelson. Hopefully it will be a lot.

Plus, if you'd like to help Nelson in other ways I have started an indiegogo campaign to raise funds for him.

It sounds like somewhere between $5-10 thousand will give him what he needs to visit Mexico where I will show him TRULY the time of his life. And, even better, we'll document it all.

I even offered him to sail a boat to Cuba and just pick him up so he could leave... but he told me that would be considered "defecting" and he would never be able to return to see his daughter and family. And they would possibly never have the resources to leave Cuba to see him. So, he'd have to leave his family forever to do so and does not want to do that.

So, we will find every legal means in Cuba, with the money made here from Steemit and any funds from the indiegogo campaign (click here to donate) to get him out of Cuba, even for just a week, to see what the world is like.

And, if we cannot, then he'll at least have more money than he has ever had in his life so he can at least eat more than once per day and live a better life.

I will post all expenses and remittances paid and sent to Nelson on this page on Steemit as well as on the Indiegogo campaign page. As well, Nelson is on Facebook but can only access for two hours per week and he doesn't speak English... but I'm sure he'd love to hear from anyone. You can contact him here: https://www.facebook.com/nelson.rodriguezchartrand?fref=ts

Please upvote (and donate if you can) and let's change someone's life!