Cuba news roundup

Congressional Black Caucus says: ‘Talk to Cuba’

“We are the isolated country,” concluded U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver on April 7, upon returning to Missouri from a six-day Congressional Black Caucus delegation to Cuba. Every other country in the Western Hemisphere has diplomatic relations with Cuba. (kansascity.com)

The delegation, led by CBC chairperson Barbara Lee from California, met with Cuban President Raúl Castro; Ricardo Alarcón, president of Cuba’s National Assembly of Peoples’ Power; Pedro Sáez Montejo, first secretary of the Havana Provincial Committee of the Party; Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez; Deputy Foreign Minister Dagoberto Rodríguez; and Jorge Bolaños, head of the Cuban Interests Section in Washington, D.C. The message the CBC brought back was, “It’s time to talk to Cuba. The moment is now.” (Reuters, April 7)

Just before the trip, legislation blocking U.S. presidents from interfering in the right to travel to Cuba was introduced in both congressional houses.

The CBC report to congressional leaders and President Barack Obama comes on the eve of the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago, April 17-19. The U.S. has used its imperialist muscle to force the exclusion of Cuba from hemispheric organizations since the early 1960s, but now faces stiff opposition. The entire membership of the United Nations—except for the U.S., Israel and Palau—has called on the U.S. to end the blockade of Cuba. At the previous summit, held in 2005 at Mar del Plata, Argentina, the U.S. “free trade” agenda to further dominate the economies of developing countries was rejected.

The irreconcilable hostility of the U.S. capitalist class to an economy based on human needs has not changed. The Washington Post shelved its liberal news media veneer to show U.S. ruling-class reaction, with an April 9 editorial slamming the CBC delegation for “Coddling Cuba.” The Post even conjured a fantasy civil rights movement, misappropriating Rosa Parks’ name, and criticized the delegation for not meeting with a sparse U.S.-sponsored and -funded “pro-democracy movement.”

The editorial ignores the major issue addressed by the delegation: the nearly 50 years of diplomatic, economic and military aggression against socialist Cuba by the U.S. government and counterrevolutionary paramilitaries allowed to base in Florida. Even under these conditions, an April 7 New York Times article points out that, per capita, fewer babies die in Cuba during their first year of life than in the U.S.—only one of many human advances achieved since the 1959 revolution. The Post disregards that internationally acclaimed journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal remains on Pennsylvania’s death row and the U.S. is condemned as the prison house of the world, with more than two million men and women incarcerated, disproportionately African-American and Latina/o, and virtually every one of them poor. Among those imprisoned are the Cuban Five, whose sole mission in the U.S. was to warn Cuba of impending terror attacks organized from Florida.

Along with Lee and Cleaver, the delegation included Marcia Fudge from Ohio, former Black Panther leader Bobby Rush from Illinois and California representatives Melvin Watt, Laura Richardson and Mike Honda. Lee, Rush and Richardson also met with former Cuban president and revolutionary leader Fidel Castro—a first for anyone from the U.S. since his illness and retirement.

Hotel bombings finally tied to Posada

The treatment of self-proclaimed hotel and airplane bomber Luis Posada Carriles by the U.S. courts and government really fits the Merriam-Webster definition of “coddling”: to pamper. Certainly the immigrant women and children awaiting deportation in the Hutto prison in Texas would view it that way.

In 2007 Federal Judge Cardone released Posada on bond from charges of immigration fraud. Posada now lives comfortably in Miami although Venezuela has repeatedly demanded that the U.S. extradite him to stand trial there for his role in the 1976 midair bombing of Cubana Flight 455, killing all 73 civilians on board. The family of Fabio di Celmo, an Italian tourist killed in a 1997 Havana hotel bombing linked to Posada, still seeks justice.

In a new development on April 8, a grand jury in El Paso, Texas, indicted Posada on perjury and other charges, stating that he lied about his involvement in Havana bombings during immigration proceedings. Although these charges are only related to immigration, José Pertierra, attorney for the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, stated: “You don’t simply say that he lied and hide the fact that he was involved in international terrorism and hide the fact that he hired the Salvadoran assassins to go to Cuba to kill Fabio di Celmo. ... They have to indict Posada Carriles for the murder of Fabio di Celmo. They have to either extradite him to Venezuela or prosecute him in the United States for 73 counts of first-degree murder in relation to the downing of the plane. These are concrete steps that have to be taken. ...

“April 17 [when Posada must answer the indictment] is not simply the anniversary of the Bay of Pigs but is the first day of the Summit of the Americas. ... The Obama administration has been thinking ahead of how it’s going to present itself to the world, and to Latin America on April 17 with relation to ... the so-called war on terror. The United States is sheltering an international terrorist. So we welcome this as a first step, but Venezuela insists [Posada] must be extradited and he must be prosecuted for murder and not simply for perjury.” (www.freethefive.org)

Smash the U.S. blockade

This year, 2009, celebrates many anniversaries: the 50th of the socialist revolution in Cuba, and of active solidarity in the U.S. with Cuba; the 40th of the Venceremos Brigade; and the 20th of Friendshipment Caravans by Pastors for Peace. The VB and Caravans have repeatedly challenged the illegal, immoral blockade of Cuba by traveling without government authorization.

The act of defending rights by exercising them has made travel ban enforcement impossible. This summer is your chance to exercise your freedom to travel and help end the blockade of Cuba. For more information, go to venceremosbrigade.net or pastorsforpeace.org or e-mail [email protected].