Castro imprisons 100 more

by Brenda Flynn Tue Apr 22, 2003 12:46

Send your response to Mr Joe Sheahan, Embassy of the United States of America, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4.

by Josef Tue Apr 22, 2003 18:26

Now that we're on a roll.....

by I love Indymedia!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Tue Apr 22, 2003 19:26

Nevermind what Castro's doing - let's bash America!

by Roy Rodgers Tue Apr 22, 2003 20:42

Don't worry darlin' the Americans don't give a damn what you say about them.

We got the guns!

by Roy Rodgers Tue Apr 22, 2003 21:08

Don't worry darlin' the Americans don't give a damn what you say about them.

We got the guns!

by slightly odd - NONE Tue Apr 22, 2003 21:24

Can't you all accept that it is possible to be anti-Castro AND against US imperialism

by castro lover Tue Apr 22, 2003 23:22

The individuals arrested, prosecuted and sentenced in Cuba in recent days were not accused, nor were they detained, tried and sentenced for being economists, journalist, human rights activists or for expressing their opinion and dissent. They have violated laws clearly known by them that are aimed to legitimately protect Cuba from the attempt by the US Government to destabilize the country, undermine and destroy Cuba’s Constitutional order, its Government, its independence and its Socialist society.

Unfortunately Cuba is still forced to defend its independence form US aggression and to face a hostility that has escalated to dangerous levels in recent months. It is illegal in Cuba to act in detriment of the independence of the Cuban state or the integrity of its territory in the interest of a foreign state. It is illegal to render to the US government information that facilitates the implementation of the Helms-Burton law and other provisions of US hostility toward Cuba. It is illegal to seek classified information to help the implementation of Helms-Burton. It is illegal to reproduce and distribute information materials of the US government conceived to support the economic war against Cuba and disturb the internal order of the country. It is illegal to take actions in support of Helms-Burton that damage or obstruct the economic, industrial, commercial and financial relations of Cuban entities with the international community.

The US does not have the right in Cuba and should not have the right anywhere to instruct their diplomats to interfere in the domestic affairs of a foreign country. It is not acceptable to Cuba for the chief US diplomat in Havana to act as an organizer or agitator against the Government and to have Cuban citizens acting not only in complicity but also as instruments of the policy of hostility of the US against Cuba. The US Government has dedicated hundreds of millions of dollars and still dedicates millions of dollars today to destabilize the Cuban nation. It is a publicly documented fact. The actions for which these individuals have faced the law are organized, financed, and conceived by the US government. Cuba has the right to defend itself against such powerful foe and protect the stability, security and the lives of its citizens. US hostility against Cuba has cost already hundreds of lives, pain to many families, immense economic damage and instability to the region. No country that respects itself would allow its nation to face such dangers without protection.

It is not true that the accused did not enjoy proper defense, in most cases designated by them and in the absence of such designation, assigned by the Government. It is not true that they were uninformed about the charges before the trials. It is not true that the trials were held in secret or closed doors. Relatives and other Cuban citizens were present in all of the trials. These were indeed summary trials, conducted in accordance with the law, with full guarantees and based on provisions for summary procedure similar to those existing in over one hundred countries, including the United States.

Some Governments and international figures have expressed public concern about these trials, apparently driven by lack of information, misguided advice or a double standard when looking at justice. In contrast, they express public silence in regard to the most powerful nation on Earth. No action similar to the abuses of Afghans, Arabs and citizens from different countries detained in Guantanamo base has taken place in Cuba. No secret military trial like the ones established in the United States has been nor can be carried out in Cuba. There do not exist thousands of detainees still unaware of the charges against them and whose names have not been released in totality, as is happening in the United States since September 11, 2001. None of the individuals tried in Cuba has been submitted to solitary confinement, to psychological torture or cruel separation from their families like the five Cuban unjustly suffering prison in the United States. The 75 Cuban individuals and their attorneys have had full access to the information used against them by the prosecution, in contrast with the five Cubans condemned to abusive sentences in the US who are still waiting to read over 50 per cent of the documentation used to incriminate them because it was declared secret.

This is not an issue of human rights, liberty or freedom of expression; it is about the right of a nation to build a just society protected from foreign aggression. International Law is on Cuba’s side. The government that has supported some of the most brutal regimes of the 20th century, that disregards international law, that steps over the UN, that carries out a criminal war for economic and geopolitical ambitions, that possesses the greatest arsenals of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons cannot and should not be allowed to assume that Cuba’s integrity and sovereignty are for sale.

Carlos Fernandez de Cossio

Ambassador of Cuba

Further Thoughts on Recent Developments
by Nelson P Valdés (Cuba analysist)

Numerous editorials and analysts have stated that the recent arrests, trials
and prison sentences have major political costs for the Cuban government.
Some go as far as stating that the Cuban government "over-reacted" or
misunderstood the reaction that there will be to its measures.

Such conclusions might be wrong.

The Cuban government, contrary to what might be assumed in Washington, DC or
Miami, Florida, is thorough, highly logical and rational - as far as its
interests are concerned. The people who make such decisions look at issues
in terms of alternative scenarios, costs and benefits. The costs paid by the
Cuban government have not been acknowledged by foreign commentators.

What were those costs?
The trials have meant that the government lost a significant number of its
own intelligence assets by revealing their identities. In other words, the
Cuban government not only penetrated the so-called dissidents; it managed
to have people setting up the very organizations that the United States
government found attractive, supported and funded. In a sense the Cubans who
joined the anti-government organizations and the US Interest personnel
involved, were "controlled" by Cuba's counterintelligence.

Thus, the question is: How come the Cuban government was willing to
sacrifice its assets? Why sacrifice knowledge and control of the opposition
and knowing open and covert US government activities?

What possible benefits could the government of Cuba accrue that will be
greater than losing its assets?
The possible answers:
a) A clear message has been sent to the opposition and to the US government,
Cuban intelligence has penetrated operations to the highest levels. This
will create disarray in both houses.
b) Whatever plans the opposition or the U.S. government had, the Cubans know
about them.
c) Now the opposition and the US Interests Section have to look back and see
what information was fed to them by Cuba's agents. Moreover, what
information did the Cuban agents had access to?
d) The internal organized opposition, for all intent and purposes, has been
obliterated.
e) Ambassador James Cason (and the Bush-Otto Reich team) has learned some
practical things as to the sophistication and dedication of Cuban
intelligence.

Moreover, the Cubans are suggesting that they know much more than they have
revealed.

by fascist watcha Wed Apr 23, 2003 11:16

Are there not enough right wing media outlets
e.g rupert murdock,Tony O Reilly, RTE etc that they control or have access to without boring the few of us that are interested in alternative non controlled information. If we want bulshit or soundbites we can get it from the swp et al

by Andrew Wed Apr 23, 2003 11:41

The massive human rights abuses of the US government both at home and abroad makes the Cuban governments denial of the right to organise OK? So if tomorrow Bertie decides to bring in laws that make it illegal to "undermine and destroy Ireland's Constitutional order, its Government," everyone on the left should clap and sing for joy in the streets.

As a dead anarchist once said
"Freddom without Socialism is privelege and injustice; Socialism without Freedom is slavery and brutality"

by bassman Wed Apr 23, 2003 18:19

Yeah right. Why ol' Fidel is just putting those rascals in a Carribean Club Med. Wake up. How about due process?

by Dan Thu Apr 24, 2003 15:14

The Cuban government has a nerve to accuse dissidents of collaborating with the US. Quite apart from the brutality of imprisoning political opponents for decades for having the gall to demand freedom of speech, these trials will give the Bush administration another brilliant excuse to justify the embargo against Cuba. In other words, the Cuban CP is collaborating with the Republican party. How long will it be before they allow the IMF in to plunder the country? Surely not long now, I fear

by Gerry Sun Apr 27, 2003 02:39

Are there any more Irish people who want to live in the Socialist paradise of Fidel Castro's Cuba?