Washington's favorite terrorist,
former CIA hand Luis Posada Carriles,
remains free in Miami
after bombing a Cuban airliner killing 76 people,
yet Cuba is on the State
Department's list of state sponsors of terror.
Cuba Faces Threat of Terror from U.S., Not the Other Way Around (Opera
Mundi, Brazil)
"Washington refuses to act to stop extreme right Cuban groups
in Florida from planning attacks against the island. ...For over half a century, Cuba has suffered from terrorist violence
orchestrated by the United States - first by the CIA, and now by the Cuban extreme
right. The impunity afforded violent groups and the drastic imprisonment of
Cuban agents who managed to prevent at least 170 attacks against the island
show the two faces of the United States in the battle against terrorism, and
casts a shadow on Washington's credibility on the issue."
Former Cuban officer and CIA operative Luis Posada Carriles: the convicted terrorist who continues to walk free on U.S. soil now appears to be training a new generation of anti-Cuba terrorists, and with the consent of U.S. authorities. What crediblity does Washington have to prosecute its fabled 'war against terrorism' when it so blatently sponsers terrorism itself?
On
May 6, 2014, Cuban authorities announced the arrest of four Miami-based Cubans suspected
of preparing terrorist attacks against the island. José Ortega Amador, ObdulioRodríguezGonzález, Raibel Pacheco Santos
and FélixMonzónÁlvarez left Florida, and “acknowledge that they intended
to attack military installations with the goal of promoting violent actions.”
The
Havana government charged three other Miami residents with long criminal histories
of having been the masterminds behind the attempt: “[The other four prisoners]
also stated that the plans were organized under the direction of the terrorists
Santiago ÁlvarezFernándezMagriñá, OsvaldoMitat and Manuel Alzugaray, who
lived in Miami and had direct ties to notorious terrorist Luis Posada Carriles.”
Since
1959, Cuba has been the victim of an intense campaign of terror orchestrated
from the United States by the CIA and Cuban exiles. Altogether since the triumph
of the Revolution, there have been 7,000 attacks on the island that have claimed
the lives of 3,478 people, and caused lasting harm to another 2,099.
In
the early 1990s after the collapse of the Soviet Union and opening of Cuba to
tourism, there was an increase in terrorist attacks against Havana's hotel
infrastructure executed by Miami's Cuban extreme right with the goal of dissuading
tourists from traveling to the island, thus sabotaging a vital sector for the
moribund Cuban economy. The violent acts have caused the deaths of dozens of
victims and claimed the life of an Italian tourist, Fabio diCelmo.
The
perpetrators of these terrorist attacks remain in Miami where they enjoy total
impunity. The case of Luis Posada Carriles [pictured
at right] is a perfect example. A former police officer in the Batista dictatorship,
he was a CIA agent after 1959 and participated in the Bay of Pigs Invasion.
He is responsible for more than 100 assassinations, among them the October 6,
1976 attack
against a civilian aircraft of Cubana Airlines which
claimed the lives of 73 people - among them the entire Cuban youth fencing team
which had just won the Pan American Games.
The
guilt of Posada Carriles is beyond doubt: he openly
claimed his terrorist career in his autobiography titled The
Path of the Warrior, and in an interview with
The New York Times on July 12, 1998,
he publicly acknowledged being the mastermind behind the 1997 attacks on the
Cuban tourism industry. Moreover, FBI and CIA files were revealed in 2005 and
2006, respectively, showing his involvement in terrorism against Cuba.
Posada
Carriles was never tried for his crimes. On the
contrary. Washington always protected him, refusing to prosecute him for his
acts or extradite him to Cuba or Venezuela (where he also committed crimes).
This reality belies the statements made by the White House on the battle
against terrorism.
In
1997, Cuba proposed a discrete collaboration with the United States in the
fight against terrorism. Colombian writer Gabriel GarcíaMárquez, recently deceased, who maintained friendly
relations with both Fidel Castro and Bill Clinton, served as messenger. The
island's government invited two FBI officials to Havana to give them a report on
the criminal actions of organizations based in Florida. In fact, the Cuban
intelligence services had infiltrated several of their agents in Florida. But
instead of neutralizing those responsible for terrorist activities, the U.S.
government decided to arrest five Cuban agents in 1998, ordering up summarily
harsh prison sentences for them ranging from two life sentences to 15 years behin bars in a trial denounced by various international
organizations. Three of the condemned - Gerardo Hernández,
Antonio Guerrero and Ramón Labañino, remain behind
bars [aka/The Cuban Fiver. video below].
At
the same time, to justify its hostile policy of anachronistic and cruel
economic sanctions which affect every strata of the Cuban population and prevent
any normalization of bilateral relations, Washington doesn't hesitate to place
Cuba on the list of state sponsors of global terrorism. And this, under the
pretext that members of the Basque separatist organization ETA, and FARC guerrillas from Colombia, are in Cuba ... at the specific
request of the Spanish and Colombian governments. In its [2013 global terrorism]
report, Washington
clearly recognizes this: “The Government of Cuba supported and hosted
negotiations between the FARC and the Government of
Colombia aimed at brokering a peace agreement between the two.” The United
States recognizes that “There was no indication that the Cuban government
provided weapons or paramilitary training to terrorist groups” and admits that
“ETA members in Cuba were relocated with the cooperation of the Spanish
government.”
[Editor's
Note: This is the entire entry from the State Sponsors of
Terror Overview on Cuba: Cuba
was designated as a State Sponsor of Terrorism in 1982. Cuba has long provided
safe haven to members of Basque Fatherland and Liberty (ETA) and the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Reports
continued to indicate that Cuba’s ties to ETA have become more distant, and
that about eight of the two dozen ETA members in Cuba were relocated with the
cooperation of the Spanish government. Throughout 2013, the Government of Cuba
supported and hosted negotiations between the FARC
and the Government of Colombia aimed at brokering a peace agreement between the
two.The Government of Cuba has
facilitated the travel of FARC representatives to
Cuba to participate in these negotiations, in coordination with representatives
of the Governments of Colombia, Venezuela, and Norway, as well as the Red
Cross.There was no indication that the
Cuban government provided weapons or paramilitary training to terrorist groups.
... The Cuban government continued to harbor fugitives wanted in the United
States.The Cuban government also
provided support such as housing, food ration books, and medical care for these
individuals.]
Washington
also justifies the inclusion of Cuba on the list of terrorist countries because
of the presence on the island of political refugees sought U.S. courts since
the 1970s and 1980s. Nevertheless, none of these people have been accused of
terrorism.
The
33 countries of the CELAC [Community of Latin American and Caribbean States]
unanimously rejected the inclusion of Cuba on the list of terrorist states,
indicating a serious setback for Washington. In a statement published May 7,
2014, CELAC expressed “its total opposition to the
development of unilateral lists that accuse states of allegedly supporting and
co-sponsoring terrorism, and urges the government of the United States of
America to put an end to this practice” which incites “the disapproval” of the
“international community and public opinion on the United States.”
For
over half a century, Cuba has suffered from terrorist violence orchestrated by
the United States - first by the CIA, and now by the Cuban extreme right. The
impunity afforded violent groups and the drastic imprisonment of Cuban agents who
managed to prevent at least 170 attacks against the island show the two faces
of the United States in the battle against terrorism, and casts a shadow on
Washington’s credibility on the issue.
*With a PhD in
Iberian and Latin American studies from the Paris-Sorbonne Paris IV University,
SalimLamrani is a
professor at the Universidade de la Reunión and a journalist, specializing in relations between
Cuba and the United States. His last book is titled: Cuba, the Media, and the
Challenge of Impartiality, Paris, Editions Estrella,
2013, with a prologue by Eduardo Galeano.
