| WHITE BOOK 2006 >> FIRST PART >>CHAPTER 5 | ||
CHAPTER 5: THE UNITED STATES STEPS UP THE RECRUITMENT, FINANCING AND USE OF MERCENARIES IN ITS ATTEMPTS TO UNDERMINE THE RIGHT TO SELF-DETERMINATION OF THE CUBAN PEOPLE. Many different forms of aggression have been used in the undeclared war waged by United States power circles on the Cuban people —which has become official state policy. An extremely important role in the design and implementation of anti-Cuban strategy has been played by recruiting, controlling and providing financial and logistical support to mercenaries who work for it inside Cuba. Washington has always tried to fabricate —by manipulating the traitors and annexationist on its payroll— the false idea that what is going on in Cuba is a so-called struggle “between Cubans”. The mercenaries who work for imperialist policy and against the Cuban people — always following express orders from US special services— have changed their “methods of struggle” to meet the requirements of each stage in the strategy of aggression towards the Island. They have gone from being invaders to terrorists and from terrorists to soi-disant human rights “defenders”. The US special services’ covert operations against Cuba began as early as 1959. This has been revealed in reports declassified by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Irrefutable proof of this appears in a document drawn up in October 1961 by the Agency’s inspector general, Lyman Kirkpatrick in order to look into the reasons for the failure of the Bay of Pigs invasion. In a 17 March 1960 meeting attended by the then vice-president (Richard Nixon), the secretary of state (Christian Herter), CIA director (Allen Dulles) and others, President Eisenhower gave his approval to what they called the “A Program of Covert Operations Against the Castro Regime” which the CIA had proposed. This plan authorized the creation of a secret intelligence and action organization inside Cuba and allocated the funds needed to do this. In a declassified memorandum on the way this meeting unfolded, General Goodpaster wrote: “The President said that he couldn’t think of a better plan to handle this situation. The main problem is leaks and a security error. Everybody must be prepared to swear that he (Eisenhower) knows nothing about this. […] He said that our hand mustn’t be seen in anything that’s done”.85 The truth is that Eisenhower, when he realized that the United States’ grip on Cuba was becoming looser day by day, ordered that support for counterrevolutionary groups inside Cuba be increased and gave the green light to preparation for the Bay of Pigs invasion, a large scale military attack which was ratified by his successor, John F. Kennedy. On 17 April 1961, Washington hurled around 1, 500 mercenaries at the Cuban people. The majority of those leading these troops were former military men from Fulgencio Batista’s pro-American tyranny which had been ousted two years earlier by the Rebel Army. Recruiting Cuban born mercenaries was an easy task in the United States where, after the triumph of the Revolution, asylum and guarantees of impunity were given to: politicos from the anti-patriotic local bourgeoisie, which had been the client of and had benefited from neo-colonial patterns of domination in Cuba; murderers and torturers who had been the backbone of the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista which Washington had installed and backed against the popular uprising; corrupt, crooked politicians who profited from the people’s blood and sweat; members of the lumped proletariat and anti-social individuals who found their illegal sources of income drained by revolutionary measures aimed at enhancing civil safety, equality and social justice; and other people who quite simply were not willing to make the tiniest personal effort to harmonize their individual interests and aspirations with the aims of general welfare for the society. The Bay of Pigs invasion was defeated in less than 72 hours by the Cuban people and army. The United States government’s mistake was to underestimate the determination to fight and the bravery in combat of a people who were defending their right to a dignified and independent life. More than 90% of the invading troops were taken prisoner. In spite of the seriousness of what they had done — more than a hundred Cuban patriots were murdered by the mercenaries— all invaders arrested were treated in an exemplary manner by our people. Not one of the invading troops was mistreated. The physical integrity and personal dignity of each one was strictly respected. Any wounded mercenary was given excellent medical attention. Once again the Cuban revolutionaries displayed their decorum, goodness, generosity and humanism, principles that had bestowed glory on the way the Rebel Army conducted itself during the hard years of the war of liberation. The Court that tried the prisoners was extraordinarily magnanimous. It did not hand down harsh sentences, there was no revenge. They were asked to pay reparations which the United States government never paid in full. In December 1962, Cuba agreed to exchange 1,113 mercenaries for $53,000,000 worth of medicines and baby food. After the resounding failure of the mercenary forces at the Bay of Pigs, president Kennedy set up a special committee in National Security Council which later approved several operations — such as Operation Mongoose— aimed at using all means available to help the Cuban people to overthrow the communist regime from inside the country and install a new government with which the United States can live in peace.86 From that day forward, the United States gave covert operations undertaken by its special services pride of place in its anti-Cuban policy. The purpose of these operations was to create the false idea that there was an active counterrevolutionary opposition inside Cuba. Since they had no social support base among the Cuban people which could work for their annexationist plans, successive US administrations have continued to recruit and pay mercenaries. Over the years, Washington’s motivations for using mercenaries in its anti-Cuban policy have remained constant as have the way they are paid and given direction for the tasks they undertake. The only changes have been in the apparel and tools issued to anti-Cuban mercenaries. When the Reagan administration took office in the United States in the 1980s, it introduced significant tactical changes to US strategies aimed at overthrowing Cuba’s revolutionary government. Overnight, notorious terrorists and CIA agents of Cuban descent came on the scene dressed up as human rights defenders and “peaceful anti-Castro opponents” and well-supplied with offices, “organizations” and contacts in international NGOs, Several groups of Cuban–Americans who were under the orders of and financed by the CIA and who, up to that point, had been involved mostly in acts of sabotage and terrorism launched from US territory against Cuba or its representatives and property abroad were ordered to change their cover and working methods so they could carry out task of influencing and “sensitizing” US public opinion. This was the period when the Cuban American National Foundation was founded; its declared aim is to “promote a peaceful transition to democracy in Cuba”. Experience has shown that the Cuban American National Foundation never abandoned the use of terrorist methods against the Cuban Revolution, as is evidenced by the direct responsibility of several of its head honchos for plans to assassinate the Cuban Head of State and for organizing and funding terrorist attacks on hotels and resorts in Cuba at the end of the 1990s. Small groups of allegedly “peaceful dissidents” and “human rights defenders” were created inside Cuba; with the direct involvement of diplomats from the US Interests Section. Those recruited for these groups had previously been implicated in violent activities; some were even former officials, policemen, former campaigners and other lowlifes who were closely linked to Fulgencio Batista’s dictatorial regime. A shining light of these so-called “human rights defenders” is Armando Valladares, former member of Batista’s police force who was sent to jail for terrorist acts in the Revolution’s early years. He pretends to be handicapped and is a professional dissimulator who has been reborn as a “poet” thanks to the US government’s powerful propaganda apparatus. The example of Mr. Valladares make’s more than obvious the low moral stature and the lack of credibility of the people who have been used down the years to orchestrate the anti-Cuban circus at the Commission on Human Rights. Anti-Cuban hysteria reached such levels that a terrorist like Valladares was somehow appointed US ambassador to the Geneva Commission. So, as if by magic, so-called activists and human rights groups funded and run by the United States government popped up in Cuba. These individuals, recruited and financed in the same way any other mercenary, carry out missions at the behest of the United States. The aim of these is to destroy the constitutional order chosen by Cubans and to enforce the provisions of the Helms-Burton Act. These groups’ aggressiveness and the seriousness of their activities as a fifth column working against the Cuban people’s freely and willingly chosen social project increased with the decisive influence of ultra-conservative militaristic groups from the US extreme right in the Reagan, Bush (senior) and George W. Bush administrations. Under current President George W. Bush’s administration, the imperialist appetites of the circles making up his government have been intensified by the amount of power given to the most aggressive, reactionary sectors of the Cuban born terrorist mob. In recent years, the government imposed on the United States by George W. Bush has increased the blockade and other hostile policies towards Cuba to an unprecedented degree and stepped up its overt and covert interventionist actions. Top-ranking government officials’ sabre-rattling is on the rise as is, and most especially, the direct involvement of US diplomatic personnel in Havana in attempts to subvert Cuba’s constitutional order. Official funds allocated for these operations have also grown exponentially. Cuba recognizes that the mercenaries the United States recruits on the island to implement its policy to dominate the Cuban people do not have the potential —since they are rejected by society, lack an autonomous social base and a self-generated plan— to become, in and of themselves, a challenge to Cuba’s revolutionary process. Nevertheless, the danger they present stems from the possibility that their activities could be used by the US government, aided and abetted by its proven ability to manipulate the mass media, as a pretext to carry out or support eventual military action in Cuba, a possibility which has become very real and threatening in the present circumstances. The seriousness of the threat to the Cuban nation’s very existence is corroborated by the astounding increase in the money and materials the United States has allotted to recruiting and paying its anti-Cuban mercenaries and by the decision to escalate to an unheard level US agencies involvement in destabilizing and wearing Cuba down and in tightening the stranglehold on her (see the analysis of this given in Chapter 2 part 1 of this document about the report from what is called the “Commission for the Assistance to a Free Cuba”). The magnitude and aggressive nature of the US government’s recent campaign of disinformation and lies against Cuba, because of the legal sentences given to a group of mercenaries recruited, paid, trained and commanded by the superpower’s government is, therefore hardly, surprising. These mercenaries were carrying out actions aimed at overthrowing the political, economic and social order constitutionally adopted by an overwhelming majority of Cuban people in a 1976 universal referendum, two centuries after the US Constitution was adopted. By the way, the superpower’s constitution is still in force today even though a significant sector of that nation, particularly African Americans, women and people of low income were never consulted about its contents. This disinformation campaign —still going on today with the cynical, complicit and active help of several of the Empire’s client governments — has made use of sophisticated disinformation techniques developed by Nazi-Fascism, unjustifiably and repeatedly using false epithets to describe the justly convicted mercenaries, epithets such as “dissidents”, “peaceful political opponents”, “human rights defenders”, “independent journalists, librarians or unionists”. The idea is to make people believe that the mercenaries were “arbitrarily and unjustly” convicted simply for “peacefully exercising the right to freedom of speech, opinion and association”. Both the Charter of the United Nations and the two international agreements on human rights recognize that ¨”All peoples have the right of self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development” and that all States shall promote and respect this right in compliance with the Charter of the United Nations. In conformity with and by virtue of the exercise of this right, the Cuban people have established its Constitution and its law. No one has the right to question the constitutional order adopted by a people in the exercise of its sovereignty. Neither does anyone have the right to judge the actions of the Cuban people without taking into account the permanent and serious threat posed to its existence as an independent nation by the United State’s hostility. In such circumstances, the Cuban people, like any other nation has the right to defend itself against the political, diplomatic, economic, commercial, financial, radio and television hostility inflicted on it for over four decades by the United States for over 4 decades. Were not special legislative provisions and decrees adopted and implemented by European nations to confront the threat posed by fascism to the region in the 1930s and 1940s? Why did no one question the demented, arch-repressive legal provisions and measures adopted by the United States and some Western European countries during the so-called “Cold War” against the alleged “communist” peril, many of which are still in effect? Why does no one condemn the provisions of the Logan Law, included in chapter 45, title 18, part 1 of the US Code of Crimes and Criminal Procedure? This provision states that any US citizen anywhere who, without the authorization of the US government, directly or indirectly takes up or maintains any kind of correspondence with any foreign government, official or agent, in connection with any dispute or disagreement with the United States, shall be fined as per this provision, jailed for a period of up to three years or both. The United States bans its citizens from having any form of correspondence with any foreign government in connection with any dispute or simple disagreement that affects them. At the same time, it expects Cuba to tolerate the recruitment of mercenaries and their activities, mercenaries who not only maintain correspondence with an imperialist power but also follow instructions from and carry out missions for it. The purpose of these missions is to implement the imperial power’s hostile aggressive foreign policy to the detriment of the Cuban people and with the intention of overthrowing Cuba’s legitimately elected authorities and destroying the constitutional order freely chosen by its people in a referendum. The rights and freedoms proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as set forth in article 29, cannot, in any case, be exercised in opposition to the objectives and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, including sovereign equality, independence and the territorial integrity of all nations. Asking Cuba to release from jail or reduce the severity of the sentences of those who were judged and convicted by competent and independent courts, in strict compliance with law adopted by its Parliament, is tantamount to asking it to interfere with the way its judicial system works and would open the door to impunity. This would violate not only Cuba’s constitution and law but also all existing principles and norms concerning the international law. The case of the mercenaries tried and sanctioned for actions against the independence and integrity of the Cuban state. The actions of mercenaries working for US anti-Cuban policies multiplied in 2003 after the superpower’s government took decisions and issued orders pointing in that direction. From the minute he arrived in Cuba in September 2002, the current head of the US Interests Section in Havana increased the frequency of the meetings with his mercenary agents recruited here. His meddling, provocative statements and actions which violate the elemental rules of diplomatic conduct also increased. In an attempt to persuade them to cease their goading, illegal behavior, the US Interests Section and its head were advised, through diplomatic channels, that they were violating Cuban and international law. Nevertheless, the head of the US Interests Sections persisted in his activities, promoting new and more serious subversive acts. Cuba was patient and tolerant, but the matter had reached a point which proved unacceptable to the nation’s security, given the deliberate intention of continuing to encourage confrontational and subversive actions. Cuba could not permit the open disrespect for Cuban and international law to go on without punishment. Cuba had to protect the constitutional order established by its people and ensure that the authority of its legitimately elected government was respected. There was no alternative. We had to act in a sovereign, firm and lawful manner, as any other country in the world would have done. Because of increasing frequency and the seriousness of the crimes committed by these individuals who were attacking the independence, territorial integrity and economy of the Cuban state, 75 of them were arrested on 18 and 19 March 2003 and tried on 4, 5 and 7 April of the same year. Twenty-nine trials were held in Cuba, in several provinces, and every single one of the mercenaries was tried and sentenced in open court. The courts handed down jail sentences of 6 to 28 years. In spite of the serious nature of the crimes that were committed and the dangers to Cuba’s national security these entail, no death penalty, nor life sentence was handed down, although anti-Cuba propaganda has falsely claimed this was so. The police officers who detained the mercenaries did not use even a minimal amount of violence or force. The mercenaries did not resist arrest, since they were fully aware of the nature of the crimes they had no committed and they no moral justification for, nor legal principle to appeal to that encourage them to resist arrest. Today, most of these mercenaries are still in prison serving their sentences, although 15 of them were allowed to serve their sentences outside of a penal institution for purely humanitarian reasons. All of those given jail sentences were involved in activities designed to overthrow the political, economic and social order chosen by the Cuban people and enshrined in the Republic’s constitution. All of them were proven to be guilty of crimes directly aimed at damaging the nation’s sovereignty. All did what they did on the orders of an imperialist power and paid by that power. Not one of them was tried and sentenced for exercising or defending freedom of opinion or expression. The only common denominator they have is unbridled greed for money and contempt for their motherland and their people. All were guilty of serious crimes at the behest of the superpower which is trying to drive their people to its knees through hunger and disease. All were working for the imperial dreams of an administration that has brutally reinforced the over 40- year-long genocidal blockade and raised hostility and aggression towards Cuba, to unprecedented levels. All acted to the detriment of the Cuban people’s human rights, especially its right to self-determination, to peace and development and this crime was aggravated by the fact that they did so on the orders of and paid by those in the United States of America who want to fabricate an artificial crisis which will serve as a pretext for a military invasion of the island. All were involved in cooking up false pretexts for making the US blockade on and hostile aggressive policy towards the Cuban people much harsher. What, concretely, brought the 75 mercenaries before a judge? - Systematic participation in meetings with US congress people and businessmen visiting the island, arranged by the US Interests Section in Havana, the aim of which was to obstruct the efforts of those in the United States who are working to have the genocidal blockade on Cuba relaxed or lifted. The mercenaries who were convicted have worked arduously in favor of the blockade on their people and against the implementation of successive resolutions of the UN General Assembly which have demanded —the last was backed by 182 Member States— that an end be put to this unilateral and illegal policy. That is to say, they have violated not only Cuba’s legislation, but also the norms of customary International Law. - Fabricating statistics, rumors or distorted information about Cuban economy and society, with the aim of encouraging the massive withdrawal of foreign investment in Cuba and of scaring off potential investors, thus reinforcing the deleterious impact of the US blockade on the human rights of the Cuban people. These mercenaries have gone as far as threatening foreign investors, warning them that, following the destruction of Cuba’s current constitutional order, their investments would not be respected. - Conspiring to destabilize the country and dismantle the constitutional order sovereignly chosen by the Cuban people, following the instructions of and using money and resources supplied by the U.S. Government and the anti-Cuban terrorist Miami mob. They have encouraged, organized and carried out plans aimed at fomenting upheaval, chaos and discontent in the population in the hopes of provoking a massive uprising that will do away with the nation’s institutions or, at the very least, produce an image of nationwide anarchy that will provide the pretext for foreign intervention. - Having accepted money and gifts from the government of the United States of America and the anti-Cuban terrorist Miami mob as payment for their criminal anti-Cuban services. - Periodically supplying information to and having meetings with officials and agents of US intelligence services and well-known honchos and messengers of the anti-Cuban terrorist Miami mob. Obeying detailed instructions to find and deliver to the US Interests Section in Havana information of strategic and operational value relating to Cuba’s economy and national security. - Fabricating allegations to damage the country’s image. These fabrications, sent to US agencies in exchange for money, were extensively used in the aggressive anti-Cuba media campaigns orchestrated by US governmental agencies. These campaigns have had a negative impact on the development of sectors vital to the country, such as tourism. - Distorting Cuba’s role in international cooperation in areas such as the fight against terrorism, against drugs, against traffic in persons or to promote and protect human rights. Repeating false allegations invented by US special services in order to keep Cuba on any list Washington puts out of states which behave badly. - Inventing false news and rumors which prejudice the dignity of millions of Cubans and that of their elected representatives. - Having perpetrated acts which place the physical and moral integrity of millions of Cubans at risk, as well as the independence that was won at the cost of the blood, pain and sacrifice of millions of Cuba’s best citizens. Several of the mercenaries sent to jail held “Free Access” passes to the US Interests Section in Havana, something embassies and others around the world reserve for their officials and employees. Receipts and payrolls for cash remittances and payment in kind sent by the US government to its mercenaries were produced at the trials. These had been delivered in a variety of ways; some were sent through commercial companies; through anti-Cuban terrorist mob organizations based in Miami; using the services of messengers or “mules” who came to Cuba as “tourists”, or money and goods were simply delivered directly by the officials of the US Interests Section in Havana. For example, according to the receipts and bills confiscated, Oscar Espinosa Chepe received, between January 2002 and January 2003, at least $7,154 from the US government and its agents. A total of $13, 660, hidden in his home, were confiscated and he was unable to give any legal explanation for having this money. Nearly $5,000 dollars were confiscated from the home of another mercenary, Héctor Palacios; this money was given him as reward for his anti-Cuban actions in the service of the US government. Marta Beatriz Roque –released on humanitarian grounds in July 2004- had received 70.141 usd until June 20, 2005. All the mercenaries were tried under the provisions of Article 91 of Cuba’s Penal Code, Law 62 of 1987, and of Law No. 88 “Protection of Cuba’s National Independence and Economy”, the latter a law passed as a kind of antidote to the US policy of hostility towards Cuba and the Helms-Burton Act in particular. It is worth reminding readers that Cuba is not the only country that criminalized collaboration with the extra-territorial enforcement of Helms-Burton Act. The European Union, for example, adopted regulations to this effect and another group of countries like Canada, Mexico and Argentina adopted law that make any collaboration or compliance with the Helms-Burton Act a punishable offence. The offence for which the mercenaries were condemned, Acts against the independence or territorial integrity of the State, is described in Article 91 of the Cuban Penal Code86 and reads: Article 91 : “He or she who, in the service of a foreign state, acts with the objective of undermining the independence or territorial integrity of the Cuban State, shall receive a jail sentence of between 10 to 20 years, or the death penalty”. The behavior and serious offences committed by the mercenaries who were condemned should have earned them far heavier sentences than those they received, as is legislated in many countries of the world. The criminal trials were carried out summarily, by virtue of Law No. 5 of 1977, Law of Penal Proceedings. Summary trials were held in these cases in strict compliance with the law and because of the serious natures of the crimes committed. A summary trial is held when the President of the Supreme Court uses his/her power to reduce the time allowed for trial; in no case does it curtail the due process of law. This type of proceedings exists in the legislations of more than 100 countries in the world, including the United States. In Cuba, its existence dates back to the 1888 Law of Criminal Procedure, which as the procedural law in force in Cuba until 1973, when new provisions were established which borrowed much from the previous law. The mercenaries were not sentenced by the government; they were tried and sentenced by independent, competent courts in compliance with a due process of law. The defendants exercised of their right to a defense counsel who, according to Cuban legislation, can be appointed by the defendant or, failing this, designated ex officio by the court. More than 80 % of the counsels for the defense were chosen by the accused. All of the defense lawyers had prior access to all records of the charges. The seizure and confiscation of goods were all authorized by a court warrant and always carried out following proof of the illegal origin of these goods. There isn’t a shred of evidence suggesting that any form of coercion, pressure, threat or blackmail was used to obtain the accused’ statements and confessions. The accused exercised of their right to be heard in a trial before existing courts. To judge them, no special, ad hoc court was created. As per Cuban law, their trials were held in the relevant Provincial courts. The accused were brought before judges who had been appointed before any charges were laid, judges who already held office and were working in the relevant courts. No judge was appointed summarily and no court was specifically set up to judge a case. Each of the mercenaries who were sentenced was given an oral hearing in which they were heard by competent courts and judges, and were able to exercise their rights to have a legal defense and to present witnesses and expert testimony that could be examined by defense attorneys. The hearings were not only oral but also public. On average, about there were about 100 people present at each trial, that is to say, nearly 3,000 people in total, most of whom were relatives, as well as witnesses, experts and other interested Cuban citizens. The accused and their defense attorneys exercise of the right to adduce any evidence and call any defense witness they deemed necessary, in addition to those presented by the investigative officers and the prosecution. The defense attorneys called 28 witnesses who had not been called by the prosecution; of these, 22, a clear majority, were authorized by the courts to take the stand. All of the defense attorneys had prior access to the prosecution’s records. As established in Cuba’s legislation and as the accused were told at their trials, all of the accused had the right —exercised by most of them— to appeal to a court higher than that which sentenced them, in this case, the Supreme Court. No one was tried for the enjoyment of any of the rights recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. No one was condemned for exercising or defending freedom of opinion, expression or association. The mercenaries who were convicted were neither independent unionists nor journalists, far less librarians, as the enemies of the Cuban Revolution have repeated ad nauseam. Not one of them was even a journalist, much less independent. Not one reported was really happened; they made things up or simply distorted the facts, with malice aforethought, on the orders of and paid by Washington. More than one of the “independent journalists” can scarcely write more than a line without making grammar or spelling mistakes. They were not independent because they were hired hands following the orders of a foreign government which acted as censor, editor and monopoly owner both of the media that published their work and of their minds. Not one of them was a union leader nor could have been, because the overwhelming majority of those convicted had not, of their own free will, been employed for several years. They lived off the money that they received for carrying out mercenary missions for the US government and the Cuban American terrorist mob in Miami. Not one of them had any contact whatsoever with a worker’s collective or group within Cuba; ergo, they could not have held any union-related office. No group of workers ever elected them as the representatives of its interests. The supposed existence of “independent librarians” in Cuba is a joke, utter nonsense. Few countries in the world have created as many public libraries as has Cuba, with their full catalogues of books to be utilized free of charge by anyone who’s interested. Few countries have published as many volumes by authors from the most diverse regions of the world and sold them at prices as low as Cuba does. Not counting the libraries that operate today in practically all schools and universities, nearly 413 public libraries, more than 8.000 school libraries and hundreds of specialized ones, provide free services throughout Cuba. In the 2004 International Book Fair alone, several million copies were sold in 35 of the nation's cities at prices far lower than in any other place in the world, including over 1,000 volumes of the world’s best literature. Following in situ studies on alleged “independent librarians” in Cuba, professional international and American organizations have corroborated the absence of truth in allegations circulated by anti-Cuba campaigns. Not one of the convicted mercenaries is a librarian, let alone an independent one. At the General Assembly of the International Federation of Library Associations held in Boston, U.S.A. in 2001, a resolution passed with over 86 % of votes and at the proposal of American and Cuban librarians contained the decision that we should “urge the US government to share information materials widely in Cuba, especially with Cuba’s libraries, and not just with ‘individuals and independent non-governmental organizations’ that represent US political interests” (See: Web page of Cuba's Jose Martí National Library, http://www.bnjm.cu/bnjm/espanol/index e.asp and web page of Librinsula , digital publication of the Jose Martí National Library relating to this topic, http://www.bnjm.cu/librinsula/2004/febrero/08/ndex.htm.) The aforementioned resolution clearly described the supposed “independent librarians” as representatives of US political interests in Cuba. Furthermore, it urged the Government of the United States to put an end to the harmful practice of denying the vast majority of Cuban citizens access to the US literature they were interested in, and, in particular, of denying a sector as sensitive as healthcare access to scientific and academic publications. This resolution was backed by the special reports that the IFLA’s Committee on Free Access to Information and Freedom of Expression (FAIFE) submitted in 1999 and 2001, as well as by reports on FAIFE’s and ALA’s (American Librarian Association) visit to Cuba, when they toured freely round the country and its libraries. The paper “US Fund for Dissidence and the ‘Independent Libraries Project’ in Cuba” presented by Rhonda L. Neugebauer, a University of California, Riverside bibliographer at the Cuba Today Panel of the Pacific Coast Council for Latin American Studies held at Los Angeles’ East University from 8 to 9 November 2002, detailed the experiences she and Larry Orberg, librarian at the Willamette University had when they visited over a dozen of the so-called “independent libraries” and many public libraries in Cuba in 2000. What follows is an excerpt from this talk: “(…) By interviewing the owners of these ‘libraries’, we discovered that these ‘libraries’ were carefully chosen drop-off and contact points for staff from the U.S. Interests Section in Cuba and others who visited them on a regular basis to deliver money and materials. We also discovered that by accepting anti-government materials and by increasing the number of ‘libraries’, the ‘librarians’ qualified for a monthly stipend —‘for services rendered’— as one of them put it”. Some of the common features that best describe the mercenaries who called themselves “independent librarians” are: “(…) They have served no jail time for their activities as librarians; rather any jail time has resulted from illegal activities and from their work organizing political operations run from abroad”. “They are aware of the political, financial and diplomatic connections of their work has with the U.S. Government (…)”. Cuba is working very hard on a program to bring general, all-round education to the people, so that they will be able to successfully prevent the penetration of the ideological and cultural imperialism which relies on US information and entertainment transnationals. In Cuba everyone has access to the means of information and communications all of which are used to serve society’s most crucial needs and the education of children and young people in a spirit of social justice, liberty, equality and human solidarity. Medical care provided to the mercenaries in prison. The truth about some of the cases used by the anti-Cuban media campaign. The human dignity and physical and psychological integrity of the convicted mercenaries has been strictly respected. While in prison, they have enjoyed the same extensive benefits as all of Cuba’s prison population (See Chapter 17, Part III of this document.) The allegation of violations of the human rights of any of the mercenaries is absolutely untrue. No convicted mercenary has suffered corporal punishment, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, humiliation or mistreatment of any kind. Not one of them has had his or her food or drinking water reduced nor have they been deprived of or given only limited access to the excellent medical services which are provided completely free of charge to all Cubans in jail. There is no discrimination whatsoever in the way that the mercenaries are treated in comparison with the rest of the prison population because of the crimes for which they were justly brought to trial or the sentences that the court handed down. When there has been a need, all of them have been given the appropriate medical care and treatment and enjoy those benefits and rights established by the law and regulations that govern the penitentiary system. Their right to be visited by a minister of the religion they profess has been respected and this right has been exercised effectively by those who have requested to do so. The mercenaries’ right to the use of conjugal blocks for marital visits has been respected. They are also allowed to have access to the mass media, particularly television and can watch it until the stations go off the air at night. All of the convicted mercenaries enjoy good quality medical care and treatment, including emergency medical services on a permanent basis, dental treatment and consultations with specialists. Highly qualified doctors and nurses have cared for the mercenaries whenever they have complained of pains or symptoms of illness, or whenever their relatives, guards or officials from various areas of the prison or even other inmates have asked for or suggested that a mercenary requires medical care and attention. If it has been necessary mercenaries have been admitted to the penal wards in ordinary public hospitals, where they have been provided with access to all the most up to date technologies and medicines developed by Cuba. If a doctor has prescribed a special diet for any mercenary in jail, he or she has been provided with that diet. Most of the ailments from which the mercenaries suffer had developed prior to their arrest. Whenever an imprisoned mercenary has fallen ill, his or her relatives have received regular information from medical personnel on the way the illness is progressing, the treatment the patient is receiving and what medicines are being prescribed. Each and every concern expressed by relatives and friends has been responded and attended to. The nature of the Cuban penitentiary system, its health care sub-system and the benefits and rights inmates enjoy were seen by some members of the diplomatic corps serving in Cuba during the visits that were made to several prisons in October 2004. A wide-spectrum of information was provided on these visits and diplomats had face to face meetings with male and female prisoners. It becomes more and more difficult for Washington politicians to keep their lies and disinformation campaign about their mercenaries in Cuba going. The cases of Oscar Elias Biscet, Héctor Palacios Ruiz and José Luis García Paneque, all of them tried and convicted under Law 88 of 1999, for their mercenary activities at the service of the US policy of hostility and aggressions against Cuba. All of them had close conspiracy links with officials from the USIS in Havana. Biscet and Palacios had an official pass signed by the Head of that diplomatic mission, granting him free access to the facility at any time, night and day. Elías Biscet has committed continued violations of the prison regulations ever since his admission. He has been involved in several acts of contempt and provocation against the penitentiary authorities and has urged other inmates to disrespect the internal regulations of the detention center. Abiding by the prison’s rules, the authorities have had to apply sanctions provided in the disciplinary set of rules for acts of indiscipline, and in a strict observance of the minimum Rules for the treatment of inmates adopted at the First United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and treatment of Prisoners held in Geneva in 1995. His wife Elsa Morejón Hernández keeps close links with the USIS in Havana, receiving there generous cash and materials from the public and secrets shares assigned by the US government to destroy the Cuban constitutional order. Both Biscet and his wife have active links and they receive instructions and support of terrorist and anti-Cuban groups from Miami. Biscet has claimed to have a background of hypertension, dyslipidemia and gastritis, a diagnostic that cannot be confirmed by physicians at the detention center as he has refused medical attention. In response to his statements, doctors have indicated a treatment with clortalidone and atenolol. Elias Biscet has been on self-medication with drugs supplied by his family as he continues refusing to take doctors-prescribed medicines at the detention center. Despite his rejection to respect the regulations of the penitentiary and his refusal to take medical assistance and treatment, the inmate has had the visit of his wife, brother and parents as well as a systematic mail and phone communication with his wife for 100 minutes a month. None of Biscet’s rights has been violated and his health is good. There is not a single evidence of alleged mistreatment nor has he been denied medical assistance and treatment to attend to the medical background he claims to have. Bisect acted the mercenary at the service of the power that violates the human rights of the Cuban people and he was tried for that, according to the law in force in Cuba. He has been responsible for several actions aimed at creating situations that can be used as pretext for a US military intervention against the island. Besides receiving money and instructions from the US government and the Miami-based anti-Cuban terrorist mob, Hector Palacios Ruiz kept close relations with the Madrid-based, ill-famed terrorist and CIA agent Carlos Alberto Montaner. He was one of the USIS’ mercenaries chosen to contact US congress people, senators and personalities that visited our country. His mission: to dishearten whatever initiative aimed at a change in the hostile and aggressive policy against Cuba. With a long standing record of dishonesty and opportunism, in 1985, Héctor Palacios was removed from his administrative post for embezzlement. He used the money and the material resources he ransacked from the people’s social assets to keep a date. His wife, Gisela Delgado, with instructions and funds from the USIS in Havana, disseminated trumped-up stories about Palacios Ruiz’s health, which is good and perfectly compatible with the conditions of his reclusion. Another similar case is that of José Luis García Paneque, another mercenary, who was tried for his activities as breadwinner at the service of the US hostile and aggressive policy against Cuba. He kept links of conspiracy with officials from the USIS in Havana. He even welcomed former head of that diplomatic venue James Cason at his house. He carried out acts seeking to destroy the constitutional order adopted by the overwhelming majority of the Cuban people. In a public hearing, it was proved that he received instructions and money from the US government and the Miami-based anti-Cuban mob, his partner in crime in his activities against the sovereignty and the very existence of an independent Cuban nation. Paneque has a bronchial asthma background and since he went to prison, he has shown anxiety and depression, for which a psychiatrist has seen him on several occasions with a diagnostic of a anxious-depressive situation that has led him to hospitals for a strict follow-up treatment. He also had diarrheic excretions, colic, and weight loss. Specialists in Internal Medicine and gastroenterologists have diagnosed a severe giardiasis-related colitis, duly taken care of. He is currently undergoing medical treatment, with diet and vitamin supplements. Paneque eats very little, on his own free will, to lose weight and give a look of physical deterioration to get a release on medical grounds. His wife Yamilé de los Ángeles Llanes Labrada, following instructions and with funds from the USIS in Havana, is disseminating trumped-up stories of mistreatment to his husband. She also maintains links with members of the Miami-based terrorists clusters of Cuban descents. As to Paneque, despite his expressed wishes to migrate to the US through the USIS-sponsored Refugees Program, the USIS has denied him that benefit and have asked him to continue stockpiling “merits and services”. All mercenaries in prison, like the rest of Cuba’s penal population, are provided with benefits such as: familiar visits, right to use matrimonial quarters, phone calls (100 minutes a month) and religious assistance. The benefit of Extra penal Licenses The release in 2004 and 2005 of 15 mercenaries under Extra penal Licenses based on their health was a hard dealt a heavy blow to anti-Cuban media campaigns. Not one of the 15 has been able to show any credible evidence of having been mistreated, humiliated or degraded in any way whatsoever. The health of none of them suffered as result of prison conditions or the treatment they were given in jail. Not one of them has been able to cite a single occasion when they were denied or restricted in their access to medical care. It should be pointed out that the decision to grant the 15 leave to serve non-penal sentences was based only on strictly humanitarian grounds. All of the mercenaries were given the opportunity to voluntarily undergo the necessary medical examinations to determine which of them should be allowed to serve non-penal sentences. All Extra penal Licenses were based on rigorous medical criteria. The Extra Penal Licenses prove, once again, the magnanimous nature, the profound humanism and the respect inspiring the Cuban Revolution, which, as it has already been said, has provided irrefutable evidences in that sense. In the Sierra Maestra, the Rebel Army shared their scanty rations of medicines and meals with both revolutionary soldiers and the seized tyranny’s troops sick or wounded, on equal basis. Is there any better example of humanitarian treatment received by the mercenaries seized after the Playa Girón defeat? The Extra Penal License is a permit granted for as long as needed and for justified reasons. Article 31 of the Cuban Penal Code refers to how the leave is granted. Section 3 paragraph b) and section 4 of that article specifically set forth: (…)3. In those cases sentenced to non-life imprisonment: (…) b) the court which handed down the sentence can, on justifiable grounds and on prior request, grant leave to serve a non-penal sentence for as long as is deemed necessary. The Ministry of the Interior can also issue such leave, on extraordinary grounds, and must communicate this to the President of the People’s Supreme Court. 4. The duration of the leaves to serve non-penal sentences and of the passes for leaving a penitentiary establishment to which the previous section refers, are subtracted from the duration of the prison term, provided that the behaviour of the inmate while on leave or a pass has been a good one. Similarly, the sentence reductions that have been granted to the inmate while he or she is serving his or her sentence are also subtracted form the sentence. The Extra Penal License proves, once again, the profoundly humanistic nature of the Cuban penitentiary system as it is enshrined in the Cuban penal law and adequately applied in the cases that required it. The respect for the law is part of our culture and it is the guiding light of the Cuban authorities. What a difference between the Cuban penitentiary system and that of the United States or the real US concentration camps of Guantanamo Naval Base! What a difference between the humanistic and respectful treatment to inmate at Cuban penitentiary centers and the systematic practices of torture and degradation of the US troops against the Iraqi prisoners! What a difference between the treatment of these mercenaries in Cuban jails and that of the Five compatriots serving unjust terms in US prisons for fighting against terrorism! Strictly abiding by reason and Law, with meticulous respect for dignity and the physic and psychological integrity of the human being, Cuba will continue taking the necessary steps to defend its people from the hostile policy and aggressions of the US government. Never will the mercenaries of the policy of a foreign power pursuing to destroy the constitutional order of the Cuban people enjoy impunity in Cuba, nor would they enjoy it in any sovereign State seeking to protect the respect for the will of its citizens. The Cuban law establish the penalties to punish the offenders. The Cuban Government will enforce the provisions adopted by the National Assembly of People’s Power as representative of the people who voted them after extensive discussions. The Cuban Constitution and the Law express the free will of the Cuban people and no one can be above them. Cuba knows it is right and justice is on its side.
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