Victims of State Terrorism Day in Cuba

"Terrorism and deception are weapons not of the strong but of the weak." - Mohandas Gandhi

"Violence breeds violence." - Mohandas Gandhi

These photos are of victims of state terrorism carried out by the Cuban dictatorship in 1994, 1996, and 1997. Their killers remain at large and protected by the Castro regime. There are other victims.

The Associated Press reported that the Cuban dictatorship has declared today, October 6, its annual "Victims of State Terrorism Day." In addition to remembering the victims of the October 6, 1976 Cubana airlines flight 455 and its 73 passengers there are other victims of state terrorism that should also be remembered today: the 37 victims of the July 13, 1994 "13 de Marzo" tugboat massacre; the four victims of the February 24, 1996 Brothers to the Rescue shoot down; and the March 29, 1997 extrajudicial killing of a Danish student shot to death by a Cuban soldier as he walked home in Havana just to name three additional instances in which the guilty have not been brought to justice.

In his speech today Raul Castro complained that the United States in 2001, 2002, and 2009 had not taken up the regime's proposal for "bilateral cooperation to fight against terrorism." There are a number of reasons why the United States, or any sane country for that instance, would think twice about "cooperating" with the Cuban dictatorship in the fight against terror [or for that matter against drug trafficking]. For the sake of brevity will only list three reasons:

1. The Castro brothers in their struggle to obtain power engaged in and promoted terrorism including terror bombings in Havana. They continue to celebrate the night of 100 bombs and have named a park and erected a plaque for the individual who carried out the bombings.
2. The Cuban dictatorship has carried out acts of state terrorism against Cuban nationals killing dozens including women and children. It has also conspired to murder US citizens. Fidel Castro, in the case of the tugboat massacre, then defended and celebrated the men responsible for the massacre declaring their actions to be "exemplary, there's no denying it."
3. Cuban dictatorship in its Tri-Continental meetings advocated worldwide campaigns of urban guerrilla warfare and terrorism to achieve revolution. Terror bombing campaigns and bank robberies were carried out with training and support from the Cuban intelligence service. The regime published the "Mini Manual for Revolutionaries" in 1970 in the official Latin American Solidarity Organization (LASO) publication Tricontinental, written by Brazilian urban terrorist Carlos Marighella with a chapter on how to be an effective terrorist translating it and distributing it worldwide. In the chapter on terrorism it states:

   "Terrorism is an action, usually involving the placement of an explosive or firebomb of great destructive power, which is capable of effecting irreparable loss against the enemy. Terrorism requires that the urban guerrilla should have adequate theoretical and practical knowledge of how to make explosives. The terrorist act, apart from the apparent ease with which it can be carried out, is no different from other guerrilla acts and actions whose success depends on planning and determination. It is an action which the urban guerrilla must execute with the greatest calmness and determination. [...] Terrorism is a weapon the revolutionary can never relinquish."

By the way an online copy of the above mentioned text is displayed on the website of terror fugitive Assata Shakur who fled to Cuba in 1984 for the murder of a police officer and is protected by the regime. Having internet access is a right denied to everyday Cubans especially those critical of the dictatorship, but apparently not terrorists under the protection of the Castro brothers.

The victims of repression and terror require both justice and a thorough investigation of the facts in evidence to arrive at the truth. Obtaining both will set the groundwork for national reconciliation on a solid footing but will necessitate an independent judiciary in Cuba not the instrument of a totalitarian dictatorship that it is today.