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Claims brought by the people of Cuba for human and economic damages caused by terrorist acts and actions

CLAIM FOR HUMAN DAMAGE

The claim for human damage brought by the people of Cuba against the Government of the United States of America is set out in civil record No. 88/99 of 31 May 1999, in the Civil and Administrative Court of the People's Provincial Tribunal of the city of Havana, Republic of Cuba.

The lawsuit brought by the people of Cuba is based on the Constitution, the Civil Code, the Civil Procedures Law and the practice and doctrines of civil law. The case was brought through social and grassroots organizations covering and including almost the entire population of Cuba. Thus, a claim was brought against the Government of the United States of America for all the human damage caused by its aggression and terrorist actions over a period of more than 40 years. The claim called for civil liability compensation for damages and indemnity for the losses suffered by the people of Cuba.

In describing the events denounced, the claim:

Specified that: The triumph of the Cuban revolution on 1 January 1959 meant that for the first time in its long history of struggles, the people of Cuba obtained genuine independence and sovereignty, having lost around 20,000 dead in heroic and direct combat against the forces of a military dictatorship that was trained and armed and receive advice from the Government of the United States.

Denounced that: The war unleashed by the United States against the Cuban revolution, which was conceived as a State policy, has been demonstrated historically and can be fully proven by many different reports that have been acknowledged recently in that country. These reports make it clear that there many political, military, economic, biological, diplomatic, psychological, propagandistic, spying and terrorist actions and acts of sabotage were carried out, and there was organized logistical support for armed bands and clandestine mercenary groups, encouragement to desertion and emigration, and attempts to physically eliminate leaders of the Cuban revolutionary process. All of this is evidenced in public statements made by authorities of the United States Government, as well as by innumerable and irrefutable evidence gathered by the Cuban authorities and, in a particularly eloquent manner, by many declassified secret documents. Although not all such documents have been made public, there are more than enough to fully demonstrate the grounds for presenting this claim.

As with every claim and every civil proceeding, a copy of the claim was duly delivered to the defendant, which ignored its existence. The defendant did not even answer the communication or send a representative to the trial, as provided for under Cuban law concerning such proceedings and similar rules usually applied by most countries, including the United States of America itself.

More than 200 witnesses, experts and investigators spoke in the public proceedings held over a period of more than 20 days. Evidence was presented and statements were made by mothers, fathers, children, siblings, widows and other relatives of many of the 3,478 people who lost their lives as a result of aggressions and terrorist actions. The United States, as represented by its Government, is responsible for the unlawful acts carried out by its agencies, offices, representatives, officials and by the Government itself.

Statements were also made by many of the 2,099 people whose physical safety was threatened and who were harmed by the many unlawful acts of terrorist aggression.

As a result of the civil proceedings held in connection with this first claim, sentence No. 110, of 2 November 1999, established that the following acts had been proven:

· The policy of the United States of America of trying to overthrow the established political order of Cuba, first by orchestrating and then by implementing plans of aggression in order to reconquer the country and reimpose the system of colonial domination.

· The involvement of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in supplying arms, all kinds of explosives, training and financing, in cash and in matériel, to terrorist bands operating in the country. These bands engaged in attacking and burning schools, murdering young people workers in literacy campaigns and educational programmes, stealing food and clothing, destroying economic production facilities, setting fire to sugar cane plantations and destroying other crops; their aim was to sow panic, terror and mistrust, especially in the agricultural regions of the country and among the Cuban peasants. The terrorist actions were carried out between 1959 and 1965 by 3,995 bandits, grouped in 299 bands.

· The involvement of the Government of the United States of America in the training of paramilitary forces for the purpose of attacking another State, for which the United States Government invested US$ 45 million. In this aggressive action, 176 Cubans were killed and more than 300 were wounded.

· Encouraging, organizing and financing radio broadcasts against Cuba, which provoked and incited to terrorist actions, sabotage and armed aggression, even to the point of providing instruction on how to carry out such acts.

· Covert actions against Cuba, including attacks by air and sea, carrying out terrorist actions for the purpose of hindering the development of the country. Such acts included throwing incendiary bombs and using live phosphorus and other explosives against sugar plants and sugar cane plantations, in order to harm the sugar industry, which was the main source of traditional production during the years immediately following 1959.

· Many acts of sabotage and other terrorist actions, including by setting fires and totally destroying important industrial plants and commercial undertakings in the country. The intensity of these activities against Cuba is demonstrated by the fact that in just 14 months between 30 November 1961, when President Kennedy approved the implementation of the so-called Cuba Project, and January 1963, 5,780 terrorist actions were perpetrated against Cuba; 716 of these consisted of major acts of sabotage against industrial, commercial and service facilities. In Havana, the El Encanto store, the largest department store of the country, was burned and totally destroyed by live phosphorus. As a result of these actions, many people were killed and a significant number of Cuban citizens were disabled. One of the most significant terrorist actions was the explosion, planned from outside Cuba, of Le Coubre, a French ship anchored in the port of Havana. More than 100 people, mainly dock workers unloading the ship, were killed in that explosion.

· The attacks carried out by the Government of the United States of America through terrorist organizations against Cuban diplomatic and consular offices abroad, as well as against Cuban trade offices in different countries, killing and wounding many Cuban staff members in those offices. Those attacks were carried out with the assistance of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

· Attacks and hijacking of fishing boats and acts of aggression against merchant ships from speedboats fitted out and equipped in Florida, United States, as well as the armed hijacking of aircraft belonging to Cuban civil aviation authorities. This method has been conceived and used by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in its programme of terrorist attacks against Cuba since 1959.

· It was demonstrated and proved that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) participated in the most monstrous and abhorrent terrorist act committed against Cuba, which took place on 6 October 1976. A civilian aircraft belonging to Cubana Airlines, with 73 persons on board, was blown up in the air off the coast of Barbados, just a few minutes after it took off from the international airport of Barbados en route to Havana. This terrorist action was carried out by two mercenaries paid by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and hired by Orlando Bosch Ávila and Luis Posada Carriles, two of the most notorious terrorists recruited by the CIA since 1960 who specialized in all kinds of sabotage. Right now, one of them is walking freely through the streets of Miami, USA. The other one is imprisoned in Panama. The Government of Panama has refused to extradite him.

· The terrorist actions planned by the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States Government, which trained terrorists to physically eliminate the President of the Republic of Cuba. There is credible evidence - which has been investigated, discovered or neutralized - of well-conceived and carefully devised plans which are at an advanced stage of organization and execution or on the verge of being implemented. Some of the plans were not carried out because of the cowardice of individuals who had their target just a few metres away. There has been a total of 637 plots against the life of President Fidel Castro Ruz.

· Terrorist actions aimed at hurting tourism and creating a climate of uncertainty and insecurity among visitors and tourists. These actions were carried out by terrorists financed and trained by the Central Intelligence Agency and with the participation of the so-called Cuban American National Foundation, a recognized terrorist organization, with headquarters in Miami, which is protected by the Government of the United States. Some of these actions were carried out through the use of explosives placed in hotels; in other cases, machine-gun fire was shot from speedboats at hotels built near the coasts and beaches.

· The participation of CIA and other agencies of the United States Government in biological terrorism against Cuba. This was well demonstrated in the case of the introduction into the country of a number of diseases, including the hemorrhagic dengue virus which hit the Cuban people in 1981, when 344,203 people fell ill with this disease; 116,143 had to be hospitalized, and 158, including 101 children, died.

· The existence of the United States Naval Base in Guantanamo, as a military enclave that protected hundred of murderers and followers of the Batista regime and later became an active centre for subversion, provocation and aggression against our country. Between 1961 and 1994, 13,498 provocations were carried out from this base, including the killing of 8 Cubans and the disabling of 15.

Finally, the people of Cuba requested that the defendant be found civilly liable for reparations for property damage and ordered to pay a total amount of US$ 104.34 billion as compensation for the lives of 3,478 persons, as well as US$ 31.485 billion as compensation for unlawfully disabling 2,099 persons. The claim also requested indemnity for financial loss as compensation for services that Cuban society has had to provide and for other loss of earnings to victims and family members, as a result of the proven acts. The amounts requested were US$ 34.78 billion for the deaths and US$10.495 billion for the disabilities.

Thus, a lump sum of US$ 181.1 billion was requested, and, in accordance with Cuban substantive law, the court was asked to order the defendant to publicly apologize for the moral prejudice caused to the relatives and victims of al these acts suffered by the people of Cuba.

This sentence was duly notified by means of a letter rogatory sent to the defendant, the Government of the United States of America.

CLAIM FOR ECONOMIC DAMAGES

On 3 January 2000, the people of Cuba submitted their claim for economic damages against the Government of the United States of America to the Civil and Administrative Court of the People's Provincial Tribunal of the city of Havana. This case is set forth in civil record No. 1/2000.

The legal claim of the people of Cuba was based on different articles of the Constitution, the Civil Code, the Civil Procedures Law and the practice and doctrines of civil law. The action was supported by the Cuban Workers' Central, the National Association of Small Farmers, the Federation of Cuban Women, the University Students Federation, the Secondary Students Federation, the José Martí Pioneers Organization, the Committees for the Defence of the Revolution and the Association of Combatants of the Cuban Revolution, and other social and grassroots organizations that include almost the entire Cuban population.

This claim is complementary to the one mentioned above and is aimed at seeking reparation for damages and compensation for economic losses, both direct and indirect, caused by the economic war and the North American blockade, as well as the physical acts of aggression that were organized, executed and promoted by the Government of the United States, including subversion, terrorist actions and sabotage, biological warfare, promotion of armed bands, infiltration and armed invasion against our territory, the organization of hundreds of assassination plots against the main leaders of the country, military harassment, the threat of nuclear extermination and even direct aggression by a mercenary army.

A copy of this claim was delivered to the defendant, which did not respond to or take part in this new lawsuit.

The deposition submitted in connection with this claim consisted of 40 declassified documents of the Government of the United States of America and statements by officials of that Government, including the President, which appear in the aforementioned declassified documents; in those statements, they recognize their responsibility for the events referred to in the claim. All these documents were used to support the Cuban people's allegations and to demonstrate beyond a doubt the involvement of the leaders of the Government of the United States of America in the damages referred to in the documents submitted to the court.

The claim stipulated that the ordinary civil proceedings of case No. 88/99 (claim for human damage) must be taken into account and that sentence No. 110, of 2 November 1999, must be included as evidence, inasmuch as that case had shown that all the acts of terrorism and aggression of the Government of the United States of America against the Cuban people were a proven fact.

Other documentary evidence presented included the Torricelli and Helms-Burton Acts and a number of documents, speeches, proclamations, certifications, press releases, notices and bulletins issued by the Departments of State and of Commerce, all relating to the restrictions and actions taken by the United States of America to enforce the blockade against Cuba.

The presentation of evidence in this new trial lasted 15 days, with 96 witnesses taking part and making statements. In addition, 65 experts presented their opinions. These experts were highly qualified scientific specialists who presented well-grounded, in-depth statements relating to their specific fields (mainly health; the sugar industry; food production; light industry; basic industry; trade and food distribution; production of food crops; the fisheries industry; communications; foreign trade in nickel, foodstuffs, sugar and tobacco; science and the environment; protection against pests, vectors and bacteria in agricultural, livestock and fisheries production; the Central Bank; tourism; commercial aviation; the Ministry of Foreign Investment and the sectors of education, higher education and culture) concerning the harm caused to the country by the different acts of aggression and the measures organized by the Government of the United States of America, especially the economic blockade, the outcome of which is tantamount to genocide. This damage resulted in the use of economic terrorism, as evidenced by the Torricelli and Helms-Burton laws, in particular, and by other actions taken with the intent of overthrowing the legitimately established Government of the Republic of Cuba and frustrating the accomplishments and the prospects for the process undertaken by the country. All this was also confirmed by reports from the Armed Forces, the Ministry of the Interior and investigators from the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Planning.

The claim concludes by specifically requesting that the Government of the United States of America be declared civilly liable for unlawful acts against Cuba, and that the Government in question be sentenced to pay reparations and compensation to the people of Cuba in the amount of US$ 121 billion for the damage and losses caused to the people by those acts.

By sentence No. 47, of 5 May 2000, the court accepted this request and decided that the claim was justified. Consequently, it sentenced the defendant for the unlawful acts committed to pay reparations and compensation to the Cuban people, represented by their social and grassroots organizations, in the amount of one hundred twenty-one billion United States dollars.

Adding up the amounts involved in the two aforementioned sentences, the debt owed by the Government of the United States of America to the Cuban people for the many forms of terrorism it has practiced amounts to US$ 302.1 billion, plus the moral prejudice caused, for which the United States Government has yet to make a public apology.

 

 

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