CubaMinrex. Sitio del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Cuba

An Injustice Against Cuba

UGANDA,  February 2, 2012.- In November 2011, I visited the Island of Cuba. The visit was a culmination of the various engagements the Global Pan African Movement Secretariat has had with the people of Cuba over the years, as well as a precursor of the strengthening of the Uganda-Cuba Friendships Association. One thing that struck me was their thriving tourist industry, with the entire related infrastructure in immaculate conditions. The other thing was their hospitality.

The Cubans are a resilient and confident people that are proud and fully aware of the successes of their Revolution.

I found myself an unsuspecting ambassador of Uganda amidst a barrage of questions concerning our own people’s Revolution in Uganda. We concurred that both the Cuban and Uganda Revolutions were similar in character and aspiration in improving the lives of their peoples.

The Cuban Five.

The gist of my article, however, concerns an injustice so grave. It has to do with the incarceration of Five Cuban nationals in US jails in Miami since 1998. They are now known as the “Cuban Five”.  Cuba demands their immediate release.

Cuban US-based terrorist.

The Five were arrested for being Cuban government agents that has infiltrated the US. However, the reasons for their infiltration of the US was to avert terrorist activities of anti-Cuba groups.

These Groups have been behind terrorist bombings in Cuba in the past, including the 1976 blowing up of a Cuban national carrier over the Atlantic killing all 75 passengers on board.

These groups are US based and have also been behind the 638 attempts on Fidel Castro’s life in the last 50 years.

These are the same groups that plotted to assassinate President Ronald Reagan in order to force the arm of the US’s full military might on Cuba. And obviously, there was the infamous Bay of Pigs invasion in April 1961,  that involved amphibious landings of hundreds of terrorist on the south Cuban coast, as well as aerial bombardment by air force planes from the US, which was defeated in less than 72 hours of combat. The wreckages of the air force planes are on display at the Museum of the Revolution in Havana and that misadventure went down in history as the US’s first military defeat in Latin America.

Human Rights violations by the US.

The incarceration of the Cuban Five stemmed from the Cuban government’s cooperation with the US’s FBI in trying to contain the terrorist based in Miami. However, the US used that information to identify the Cuban agents that had infiltrated the terrorist groups leading to the arrest of the five. Upon arrested, they were put in solitary confinement for 17 months, which begun a long list of violations of their basic human rights.

In a country that prides itself as the epitome of democracy and justice, it is mind-boggling why all laws, rules and regulations have been broken. In what could be termed as probably the worst case of an absurdity of the law, one the five was charged with the “premeditated murder”  in an incident that occurred 18 months after he had been detained an which he absolutely had nothing to do with.

The incident involved the downing of two planes on sabotage missions from Miami and belonging to known terrorist groups, by Cuban air force jets. From the aforementioned, the crimes for which the Cuban Five are those of fighting against known terrorist groups that are bent on overthrowing the Cuban Revolution for the last 50 years.

The injustice committed against the Cuba Five has generated solidarity campaigns with over 200 solidarity Committees in 75 countries worldwide.

The Pan African Movement and the Uganda-Cuba Friendship Association also add their voices to lobby for the release of the Cuban Five.

Our call also goes to demand that Rene Gonzalez, one of the Cuban Five, who was freed on October 7, 2011, but sentenced to remain on US soil for three years upon release, returns to Cuba immediately to join his family and compatriots. This is the solidarity the Cuban people are asking for.

Signed by Mr. Stephen Othieno, Sec. Gral. Pan African Movement in Uganda.

(Cubaminrex/Embacuba Uganda)

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