Washington Hides Proof of Innocence of Cuban Antiterrorists

[dipsydoodle]

Havana, May 2 (Prensa Latina) Washington continues to hide the evidence exposing its corruption in the case of five Cuban antiterrorists imprisoned in that country, and uses its media dictatorship to do so, charged Ricardo Alarcon, president of the Cuban Parliament.

During an International Union Solidarity Conference, at Havanaâ�Ös International Convention Center, the Cuban leader urged the 900 guests from 42 countries to redouble their fight in a battle for life, and against secrecy and infamy.

"A year ago I told you about the situation of the Five, and I explained about the collateral or habeas corpus appeal to be filed on behalf of the fighter Gerardo Hernandez, an innocent young man weighed down by two life sentences plus 15 years in prison," said Alarcon.

Exactly one week ago, prosecutors, meaning Washington, asked the Miami court to summarily rejected the motion without granting a hearing to discuss it, without reviewing the new evidence and arguments, and without allowing Gerardo to appear in court, Alarcon explained.

http://www.plenglish.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=285075&Itemid=1

[joshcryer]

1. Is dropping leaflets terrorism?

And I'm not talking about pretty cluster munitions, I'm talking actual paper leaflets.

[Judi Lynn]

3. Dropping leaflets from an airplane flying low over a foreign city without permission is terrorism.

What do you imagine would happen to any unauthorized airplane doing that in Washington, D.C.?

From former U.S. Cuban Interest Section head, Wayne S. Smith:

Keeping things in perspective: Cuba and the question of
international terrorism

“For almost 40 years, we have isolated Cuba on the assumption that the tiny island is a center of terrorism in
the hemisphere, and year after year we gain new evidence that it is the U.S. that has terrorized Cuba and not
the other way around.”—Robert Scheer, The Los Angeles Times, July 14, 19981

By Anya K. Landau and Wayne S. Smith
November 20, 2001

~snip~
But if we are to call the
shootdown a terrorist act, this
would imply it took place without provocation or
warning. But the fact is that Brothers to the Rescue
planes had been penetrating Cuban airspace and
overflying the island itself for months; the FAA
began investigating Jose Basulto’s group in August
of 1995.107 From July 7 to October 13, 1995 alone,
the FAA and the State Department warned Brothers
to the Rescue at least seven times in public and
private statetements that Cuba would defend its
boundaries against any intruders.108 Cuba, in
response to the Brothers’ continuing incursions into
its airspace, had repeatedly warned that, “Any boats
from abroad and any aircraft can be downed.”109
On two separate occasions in January of 1996,
Brothers to the Rescue overflew Havana at low
altitude dropping leaflets. It was at that point that the
Cuban government lost patience and issued a
warning that the next time these planes came into
Cuban airspace they would be shot down. These
warnings were repeated several times publicly and in
private conversations with U.S. officials.110

In a meeting with Fidel Castro that same month,
Hill staffers who were part of a CIP delegation to
Cuba asked about the overflights. When they
suggested that the offending planes were unarmed,
Castro insisted that they could not be certain the
planes were unarmed. Planes piloted by exiles from
Miami had dropped incendiary devices and
explosives over Cuban territory in past years, and
they might do so again. Castro emphasized that the
first duty of any government was to defend the
national territory and that Cuba would defend its
own. Cuba had warned the Brothers to the Rescue
planes to stay away. If they did not, Castro
maintained, Cuba would act accordingly.111
As Cuba historian Jane Franklin has put it,
“Nobody from a foreign country would dare fly into
U.S. airspace to drop leaflets over Washington.
NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense)
would be ready for a shootdown.”11

~snip~
Basulto, a CIA-trained exile, began that mission
by committing acts of sabotage in Cuba in the early
1960’s.The Miami Herald reported in March that
Basulto testified that “he refused to help the U.S.
government track illegal arms shipments to Cuba
because he broadly supports Cuban exile groups
bent on overthrowing Fidel Castro violently.”114 The
Herald noted this contradicted Basulto’s claim that
he follows the teachings of Martin Luther King, Jr.
and Mohandas Gandhi.115

Aviation expert Charles Leonard testified that
Basulto and other Brothers pilots had repeatedly
flown into Cuba airspace to drop anti-government
leaflets. Leonard also acknowledged that Cuba had
repeatedly warned the government of the United
States that planes that continued to undertake
“provocative” flights might be shot down.116 The
U.N.’s International Civil Aviation Organization
records also confirmed that Havana had issued these
warnings. Leonard further acknowledged that the
United States had indeed passed these warnings on
to Basulto.

More:
http://www.ciponline.org/cuba/cubaandterrorism/keepingthingsinperspective.pdf

Wayne S, Smith has written that he, himself, has stood on the streets of Havana and observed the planes flying so low it was possible to read their insignias. Just try that in Washington, D.C.

[joshcryer]

4. I'm seeing leaflet bombs being classified that way...

...possibly because they do immediate damage to whoever is around. But I'm afraid I am incapable of viewing the people of Cuba as "terrified" of planes flying over dropping paper out their door. To suspend my belief to that point would be merely a descent into degradation.

Nor would I take seriously any US politician calling it "terrorism" if, for example, an ad agency effectively littered all over the place without flight permission to do so. I would not be concerned if said politicians made them clean up their mess and pay a fine, but to be executed would be a bit over the top. :hi:

[Judi Lynn]

5. You're choosing to ignore the fact unauthorized foreign airplanes were buzzing Havana.

How is it you're completely ignoring that fact?

Airplanes invading the airspace in the US would be shot down. They had been warned repeatedly to stay the #### out of Cuban air space, and the US had warned them, as well.

You also haven't bothered to look up Jose Basulto's history of prior terrorist acts against Cuba, involving strafing trains, and dropping bombs, and participating in the Bay of Pigs invasion.

Things won't be as simple for you once you become industrious enough to start doing your homework, and looking for the real answers. Situations are often slightly more complex than cartoons.

[Bacchus39]

2. so says the Cuban government n/t

s