When the Cuban Revolution triumphed on Jan. 1 1959, its leaders openly declared their enmity for imperialism and colonialism, and began to organize material solidarity for revolutionary struggles in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
One of the first African countries on which Cuba focused was the Congo, a Belgian colony until 1960. Though rich in minerals, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (as it is now called) had been ruthlessly looted by Belgian, European and U.S. capitalists, who strove to make sure they could continue to do so unimpeded after the country became independent. The CIA and Belgium connived with Congolese traitors to murder the left-wing prime minister, Patrice Lumumba and replace him with a corrupt military man, Joseph Mobutu (later Mobutu Sese-Seko). Lumumba’s supporters carried out guerilla war against Mobutu and an army of foreign mercenaries the CIA brought in to support him.
Ernesto “Che” Guevara, one of the main leaders and theoreticians of the Cuban Revolution, showed up in the Congo with a small but highly-trained group of mostly Afro-Cuban volunteers, and worked with Congolese guerilla forces, trying to impart some of the ideological and tactical lessons learned in Cuba in a new context. Unfortunately, even with Cuban help, the organizational and leadership level of the insurgent forces was no match for the Mobutu army and the white mercenaries. Thwarted, Che left Africa for Bolivia, where he met a heroic death.
Cuba helped Algeria resist a Moroccan invasion, and helped the Portuguese colonies in Africa (Angola, Mozambique, Guinea Bissau, Cape Verde and Sao Tome-Principe) fight for independence. In 1974, the overthrow of the fascist regime in Portugal made possible the quick triumph of the independence struggles. In central Angola, the MPLA (People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola) formed a government, led by Marxist doctor Augustinho Neto, whom Che had met in Africa in 1965. However, two right-wing armed movements — the FLNA of Holden Roberto (Mobutu’s brother in law) and UNITA, led by a ruthless warlord, Jonas Savimbi — contested the MPLA’s power.
From the north, Roberto invaded with troops from Mobutu’s Congolese army, in an attempt to capture the Angolan capital, Luanda. South African apartheid troops, who had been fighting the SWAPO independence movement in Namibia, pushed north. Both these forces were fully aided by the CIA.
At this point, Cuba sent its own military forces to support the Angolan troops. It was not a matter of technical advisors, but of thousands of Cuban volunteers putting their lives on the line to defend the Angolan people’s freedom. Quickly, Cuban and Angolan troops defeated Holden Roberto’s forces, which ceased to be a factor in Angola, and then turned back the South African intervention.
In 1985, the South African army invaded Angola from Namibia once more, in coordination with Savimbi. Cuban President Fidel Castro quickly sent a force of 40,000 Cuban troops to help Neto (Fidel says eventually more than 300,000 Cuban soldiers and 50,000 technical helpers served in Angola — all of them volunteers).
From December 1987 to March 1988, Cuban and Angolan troops, with Soviet aid, defeated South Africa and UNITA in the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale, an Angolan military base which the South Africans and UNITA tried to capture with five unsuccessful ground assaults. Though South Africa claimed victory, there is no doubt it was for them not only a military but a huge political defeat. A short while later South African and Cuban troops were withdrawn from Angola and Namibia got its independence.
Most analysts consider that Cuito Cuanavale so rattled the South African regime that it led to the fall of hard-line racist prime minister P.W. Botha and his replacement by F.W. deKlerk, who convinced his colleagues in the ruling National Party that they must negotiate with the African National Congress. There followed Nelson Mandela’s release from prison and the crumbling of the apartheid state.
Today, Angola remains poor despite continued Cuban help, oil wealth and the death of Savimbi. The Democratic Republic of the Congo has still not recovered from Mobutu’s long and larcenous reign. But all over Africa, the Cuban contribution is recognized and extolled.
Nelson Mandela put it best: “Hundreds of Cubans have given their lives, literally, in a struggle that was, first and foremost, not theirs but ours. As Southern Africans we salute them. We vow never to forget this unparalleled example of selfless internationalism.”
Showing posts with label Cuba. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cuba. Show all posts
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Thursday, January 15, 2009
The Cuba 5 on the 50th Anniversary of the Cuban Revolution
On the 50th anniversary of Cuba's socialist revolution, the CPUSA recognizes the heroism and revolutionary example of five Cuban men unjustly imprisoned in U.S. federal prisons for over ten years.
Arriving in Florida in the 1990's, Gerardo Hernández, Antonio Guerrero, Ramón Labañino, Fernando González, and René González joined private paramilitary groups in order to monitor and report on preparations for attacks against Cuba. For decades, right wing terrorists based in Florida had carried out murderous assaults which have cost the lives of many innocent people.
From the time of their arrest, the Five were subjected to cruel persecution. At their trial, which rampant with bias, the prosecution had free rein to commit egregious abuses of due process. Outrageously long sentences were handed down. UN human rights authorities and international jurists are of one voice in castigating judicial proceedings in the case of the Five.
Violation of civil rights and repudiation of judicial norms are two reasons why we joined the world solidarity movement on their behalf. The CPUSA fights for the Cuban Five also because of dedication to the Cuban Revolution. The U.S. government has cast these five revolutionaries as proxies for a government and people that resist. Our Party defends Cuba's right to protect its national sovereignty against the depredations of empire, and to continue without interference on the socialist path it has chosen.
Wholesale perversion of justice in the case of the Five serves as cover-up for hypocrisy. The U.S. government wages a so-called war on terrorism, yet has long sanctioned violent assaults on Cuba. Safe harbor provided arch terrorist Luis Posada Carriles, who lives undisturbed in Miami, is one example.
The CPUSA issues an appeal for all in solidarity with the Five to reach out to fair-minded, politically conscious people to commit themselves to the Five. Such solidarity is overwhelmingly necessary if the nefarious influence of the corporate dominated media that has suppressed news of the case is to be overcome.
The time is now for our party and other activists to intensify educational efforts on the Five directed at union locals, peace groups, and civil rights organizations as preparation for communications to the media, meetings with elected officials, and public statements.
British and other international labor unions have taken up the cause of the Five as their own; we urge US trade unionists to do so also..
We are mindful that mobilization of progressive forces to demand a presidential pardon could eventually be required to complement the appeals process.
The CPUSA is part of the campaign to force the U.S. State Department to permit Adriana Perez and Olga Salanueva to visit their imprisoned husbands, whom they have not seen for ten and almost nine years, respectively. At issue are rights of families and prisoners.
Lastly we urge that all in solidarity with the Five to correspond with the prisoners as a step toward lessening their isolation and as token of the worldwide movement on their behalf [below are the addresses].
Gerardo Hernandez
#58739-004
U.S.P. Victorville
P.O. Box 5300
Adelanto, CA 92301
Antonio Guerrero
#58741-004
U.S.P. Florence
P.O. Box 7000
Florence CO 81226
Luís Medina
#58734-004
U.S.P. McCreary
P.O. Box 3000
Pine Knot, KY 42635
(NOTE: the envelope should be addressed to "Luis Medina," but address the letter inside to Ramon Labañino)
Rubén Campa
#58733-004
FCI Terre Haute
P.O. Box 33
Terre Haute, IN 47808
(NOTE: the envelope should be addressed to "Rubén Campa," but address the letter inside to Fernando González)
René González
#58738-004
FCI Marianna
P.O. Box 7007
Marianna, FL 32447-7007
Arriving in Florida in the 1990's, Gerardo Hernández, Antonio Guerrero, Ramón Labañino, Fernando González, and René González joined private paramilitary groups in order to monitor and report on preparations for attacks against Cuba. For decades, right wing terrorists based in Florida had carried out murderous assaults which have cost the lives of many innocent people.
From the time of their arrest, the Five were subjected to cruel persecution. At their trial, which rampant with bias, the prosecution had free rein to commit egregious abuses of due process. Outrageously long sentences were handed down. UN human rights authorities and international jurists are of one voice in castigating judicial proceedings in the case of the Five.
Violation of civil rights and repudiation of judicial norms are two reasons why we joined the world solidarity movement on their behalf. The CPUSA fights for the Cuban Five also because of dedication to the Cuban Revolution. The U.S. government has cast these five revolutionaries as proxies for a government and people that resist. Our Party defends Cuba's right to protect its national sovereignty against the depredations of empire, and to continue without interference on the socialist path it has chosen.
Wholesale perversion of justice in the case of the Five serves as cover-up for hypocrisy. The U.S. government wages a so-called war on terrorism, yet has long sanctioned violent assaults on Cuba. Safe harbor provided arch terrorist Luis Posada Carriles, who lives undisturbed in Miami, is one example.
The CPUSA issues an appeal for all in solidarity with the Five to reach out to fair-minded, politically conscious people to commit themselves to the Five. Such solidarity is overwhelmingly necessary if the nefarious influence of the corporate dominated media that has suppressed news of the case is to be overcome.
The time is now for our party and other activists to intensify educational efforts on the Five directed at union locals, peace groups, and civil rights organizations as preparation for communications to the media, meetings with elected officials, and public statements.
British and other international labor unions have taken up the cause of the Five as their own; we urge US trade unionists to do so also..
We are mindful that mobilization of progressive forces to demand a presidential pardon could eventually be required to complement the appeals process.
The CPUSA is part of the campaign to force the U.S. State Department to permit Adriana Perez and Olga Salanueva to visit their imprisoned husbands, whom they have not seen for ten and almost nine years, respectively. At issue are rights of families and prisoners.
Lastly we urge that all in solidarity with the Five to correspond with the prisoners as a step toward lessening their isolation and as token of the worldwide movement on their behalf [below are the addresses].
Gerardo Hernandez
#58739-004
U.S.P. Victorville
P.O. Box 5300
Adelanto, CA 92301
Antonio Guerrero
#58741-004
U.S.P. Florence
P.O. Box 7000
Florence CO 81226
Luís Medina
#58734-004
U.S.P. McCreary
P.O. Box 3000
Pine Knot, KY 42635
(NOTE: the envelope should be addressed to "Luis Medina," but address the letter inside to Ramon Labañino)
Rubén Campa
#58733-004
FCI Terre Haute
P.O. Box 33
Terre Haute, IN 47808
(NOTE: the envelope should be addressed to "Rubén Campa," but address the letter inside to Fernando González)
René González
#58738-004
FCI Marianna
P.O. Box 7007
Marianna, FL 32447-7007
Sunday, January 4, 2009
An Appeal from the Cuban Five
The following is a letter from Gerardo Hernández Nordelo, who is one of the five Cuban men imprisoned in the United States for fighting terrorism. Known as the Cuban Five, these men were in the U.S. watching right-wing, anti-Cuba groups known for supporting and planning attacks on the island and its people. The Cuban Five’s story is interwoven with the complex and unjust U.S. policy towards Cuba, which includes a many decade-long blockade prohibiting any trade with Cuba and a ban on travel for American citizens wishing to go to the country 90 miles from Florida.
For more information on the Cuban Five and Cuba search pww.org’s website with key word “Cuba.”
Dear compañeras y compañeros,
We arrive at the 10th anniversary of the arrest of the Cuban Five at a crucial moment of our legal process (That is what they call it, although perhaps "illegal process" would be more appropriate.) The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Atlanta, has just ended our appeal.
That is to say, if it were up to them, things would stand as is, and some day my bones would be sent to Cuba, after death frees me from two life sentences.
The court in question has given unmistakable signals of the type of "justice" that the Five can aspire to in this country. When there was a decision 3-to-0 in our favor, with 93 pages of solid arguments in which the three-judge panel characterized our trial as "The Perfect Storm," the full panel, against all predictions, not only agreed to review the decision, but reversed it without much explanation. The "perfect storm" quickly became simply a drizzle.
Yet, this time, when the decision was 2-1 against the Five, with obvious legal errors, with a judge arguing in 16 pages that the prosecution presented absolutely no proof that sustains the charge of conspiracy to commit murder, and with a judge who-although voting against us-recognized that it is a "very close case," and with several defense arguments were not even seriously analyzed, the 11th Circuit categorically refused to review it.
As we say in Cuba: "Not even water is as clear." We have said time and again that this is a political case, and those who do not see it as such, choose not to see it.
Someone recently mentioned that now the Supreme Court has the last word. I would say the second-to-last word. The final word in the case of the Cuban Five rests with you, our sisters and brothers of Cuba, the United States and the whole world, who throughout all these years have been our principal source of encouragement. Our hopes are not placed in any court. Ten years are more than enough to have cured us of any such naïve notion.
You are our hope, who through sacrifice and swimming against the current, have succeeded in making people on all continents aware of the injustice committed against the Five. You are the ones who are not taking time out or resting in your homes but instead are honoring us with your presence in different activities, commemorating the 10th anniversary of our imprisonment. You continue struggling to unmask the double standard of a government that invades other countries to supposedly fight terrorism, at the same time that it harbors and protects infamous terrorists, and imprisons those who are trying to stop those criminal acts.
We have confidence in you to expose the hypocrisy of the corporate media and of certain international organizations, which portray mercenaries-who betray our people for a handful of dollars or a visa-as suffering political prisoners. Yet they are disgracefully silent in the case of two women who have been deprived for a decade of the basic right to visit their husbands in prison.
We know that right is on our side, but to win true justice we need a jury of millions of people throughout the world, and we need you, defenders of just causes, to make our truth known.
The injustice committed against the Five has kept us away from our homeland for ten years, but it has not kept us from accompanying our people through joyful times and also the suffering. A few days ago Hurricane Gustav caused great damage in Cuba, mainly on the Isle of Youth and in Pinar del Río, two territories from where we have received a multitude of support and love all these years.
We are certain that all the people of Pinar del Río and Isle of Youth, together with local and national leadership, with the solidarity of all dignified Cubans and many friends of the world, will become stronger in these difficult moments and-as is characteristic of revolutionaries-will convert the setbacks into victory. Although it is not possible for us to be there physically, today more than ever the Cuban Five are with you in our hearts, with our brothers and sisters in the Isle of Youth and Pinar del Río, who have done so much to support the struggle for our liberation.
Compañeras y compañeros: Ten years after that September 12, 1998, we thank you once again for walking this long and rough road together with us. We know, that to continue this march, we can keep counting on you, and you can also always count on our firm determination to resist, with our heads held high, for as long as it takes.
¡Hasta la Victoria Siempre!
Gerardo Hernández Nordelo
Victorville Federal Prison, California
September 2008
For more information on the Cuban Five and Cuba search pww.org’s website with key word “Cuba.”
Dear compañeras y compañeros,
We arrive at the 10th anniversary of the arrest of the Cuban Five at a crucial moment of our legal process (That is what they call it, although perhaps "illegal process" would be more appropriate.) The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Atlanta, has just ended our appeal.
That is to say, if it were up to them, things would stand as is, and some day my bones would be sent to Cuba, after death frees me from two life sentences.
The court in question has given unmistakable signals of the type of "justice" that the Five can aspire to in this country. When there was a decision 3-to-0 in our favor, with 93 pages of solid arguments in which the three-judge panel characterized our trial as "The Perfect Storm," the full panel, against all predictions, not only agreed to review the decision, but reversed it without much explanation. The "perfect storm" quickly became simply a drizzle.
Yet, this time, when the decision was 2-1 against the Five, with obvious legal errors, with a judge arguing in 16 pages that the prosecution presented absolutely no proof that sustains the charge of conspiracy to commit murder, and with a judge who-although voting against us-recognized that it is a "very close case," and with several defense arguments were not even seriously analyzed, the 11th Circuit categorically refused to review it.
As we say in Cuba: "Not even water is as clear." We have said time and again that this is a political case, and those who do not see it as such, choose not to see it.
Someone recently mentioned that now the Supreme Court has the last word. I would say the second-to-last word. The final word in the case of the Cuban Five rests with you, our sisters and brothers of Cuba, the United States and the whole world, who throughout all these years have been our principal source of encouragement. Our hopes are not placed in any court. Ten years are more than enough to have cured us of any such naïve notion.
You are our hope, who through sacrifice and swimming against the current, have succeeded in making people on all continents aware of the injustice committed against the Five. You are the ones who are not taking time out or resting in your homes but instead are honoring us with your presence in different activities, commemorating the 10th anniversary of our imprisonment. You continue struggling to unmask the double standard of a government that invades other countries to supposedly fight terrorism, at the same time that it harbors and protects infamous terrorists, and imprisons those who are trying to stop those criminal acts.
We have confidence in you to expose the hypocrisy of the corporate media and of certain international organizations, which portray mercenaries-who betray our people for a handful of dollars or a visa-as suffering political prisoners. Yet they are disgracefully silent in the case of two women who have been deprived for a decade of the basic right to visit their husbands in prison.
We know that right is on our side, but to win true justice we need a jury of millions of people throughout the world, and we need you, defenders of just causes, to make our truth known.
The injustice committed against the Five has kept us away from our homeland for ten years, but it has not kept us from accompanying our people through joyful times and also the suffering. A few days ago Hurricane Gustav caused great damage in Cuba, mainly on the Isle of Youth and in Pinar del Río, two territories from where we have received a multitude of support and love all these years.
We are certain that all the people of Pinar del Río and Isle of Youth, together with local and national leadership, with the solidarity of all dignified Cubans and many friends of the world, will become stronger in these difficult moments and-as is characteristic of revolutionaries-will convert the setbacks into victory. Although it is not possible for us to be there physically, today more than ever the Cuban Five are with you in our hearts, with our brothers and sisters in the Isle of Youth and Pinar del Río, who have done so much to support the struggle for our liberation.
Compañeras y compañeros: Ten years after that September 12, 1998, we thank you once again for walking this long and rough road together with us. We know, that to continue this march, we can keep counting on you, and you can also always count on our firm determination to resist, with our heads held high, for as long as it takes.
¡Hasta la Victoria Siempre!
Gerardo Hernández Nordelo
Victorville Federal Prison, California
September 2008
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Saludemos a los Cinco Héroes Cubanos
Otro año termina y todavía los cinco antiterroristas cubanos siguen en las cárceles estadounidense. Antonio Guerrero Rodríguez, Fernando González, Gerardo Hernández, Rene Gonzalez Sehwerert, y Ramón Labañino han estado en las prisiones federales por diez años. Ellos fueron a Florida para vigilar a los grupos derechistas paramilitares que llevaban a cabo ataques terroristas desde ese estado norteamericano. Los cincos fueron arrestados, acusados de “espionaje” y sentenciados injustamente.
Ellos necesitan oír de gente que defienden a Cuba, que defienden a los derechos de los presos y que los quieren ver en libertad. Aunque son modelos de dedicación y consecuente a una lucha justa, todavía necesitan que les brindemos nuestro ánimo y solidaridad. Para más información vea a www.antiterroristas.cu
Para enviar cartas:
Para escribrirle a Fernando González, dirija la carta a:
Rubén Campa
No. 58733-004
FCI Terre Haute
P.O. BOX 33
Terre Haute, IN, 47808
Para escribrirle a Ramón Labañino, dirija la carta a:
Luís Medina
#58734-004
U.S.P. McCreary
P.O. Box 3000
Pine Knot, KY 42635
Gerardo Hernandez
# 58739-004
USP Victorville
PO BOX 5500
Adelanto, CA 92301
Antonio Guerrero Rodríguez
No. 58741-004
USP Florence
PO BOX 7000
Florence, CO 81226
Rene Gonzalez Sehwerert
No. 58738-004
FCI Marianna
P.O. Box 7007
Marianna, FL 32447-7007
Ellos necesitan oír de gente que defienden a Cuba, que defienden a los derechos de los presos y que los quieren ver en libertad. Aunque son modelos de dedicación y consecuente a una lucha justa, todavía necesitan que les brindemos nuestro ánimo y solidaridad. Para más información vea a www.antiterroristas.cu
Para enviar cartas:
Para escribrirle a Fernando González, dirija la carta a:
Rubén Campa
No. 58733-004
FCI Terre Haute
P.O. BOX 33
Terre Haute, IN, 47808
Para escribrirle a Ramón Labañino, dirija la carta a:
Luís Medina
#58734-004
U.S.P. McCreary
P.O. Box 3000
Pine Knot, KY 42635
Gerardo Hernandez
# 58739-004
USP Victorville
PO BOX 5500
Adelanto, CA 92301
Antonio Guerrero Rodríguez
No. 58741-004
USP Florence
PO BOX 7000
Florence, CO 81226
Rene Gonzalez Sehwerert
No. 58738-004
FCI Marianna
P.O. Box 7007
Marianna, FL 32447-7007
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Cuban Five Case to go to U.S. Supreme Court
WASHINGTON, Dec. 25 — The appeal of the Cuban Five, the anti-terrorist fighters held as political prisoners in the United States, is to be brought before the Supreme Court before January 30, according to one of their defense lawyers.
René González, Gerardo Hernández, Antonio Guerrero, Ramón Labañino and Fernando González have been imprisoned since September 12, 1998 for infiltrating counterrevolutionary organizations in Florida to prevent acts of terrorism against Cuba, Prensa Latina reports.
In an interview with the National Committee to Free the Five, attorney Richard Klugh said that the appeal will ask for all of their sentences to be reviewed, following the decision by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta to deny a change of venue, incorrect conduct by prosecutors and the improper and discriminatory jury selection.
In Klugh’s opinion, the venue is one of the main aspects that need to be reviewed, in line with U.S. law itself and in any legal system.
"If you have a judge or jury who is likely to be influenced by local passions and pressure, what you have is a mob rule and you don’t have justice in any sense," he said, referring to the original trial of the Five in Miami.
Klugh noted that, in relation to this appeal, the defense has the assistance of attorney Thomas Goldstein from the legal firm Akin Gump, a lawyer of vast experience in Supreme Court cases.
Translated by Granma International
René González, Gerardo Hernández, Antonio Guerrero, Ramón Labañino and Fernando González have been imprisoned since September 12, 1998 for infiltrating counterrevolutionary organizations in Florida to prevent acts of terrorism against Cuba, Prensa Latina reports.
In an interview with the National Committee to Free the Five, attorney Richard Klugh said that the appeal will ask for all of their sentences to be reviewed, following the decision by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta to deny a change of venue, incorrect conduct by prosecutors and the improper and discriminatory jury selection.
In Klugh’s opinion, the venue is one of the main aspects that need to be reviewed, in line with U.S. law itself and in any legal system.
"If you have a judge or jury who is likely to be influenced by local passions and pressure, what you have is a mob rule and you don’t have justice in any sense," he said, referring to the original trial of the Five in Miami.
Klugh noted that, in relation to this appeal, the defense has the assistance of attorney Thomas Goldstein from the legal firm Akin Gump, a lawyer of vast experience in Supreme Court cases.
Translated by Granma International
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