Brothers to the Rescue Shootdown Anniversary: Continuing call for justice

"To forget the victims means to kill them a second time. So I couldn't prevent the first death. I surely must be capable of saving them from a second death." -  Elie Wiesel

Murdered, 2/24/96 in a conspiracy carried out by Castro regime and its spy network

Twenty one years ago on February 24, 1996 on a Saturday afternoon over the Florida Straits two civilian planes were blown out of international airspace on the orders of Fidel and Raul Castro in an act of state terrorism that claimed the lives of three U.S. citizens, Carlos Costa, Mario De La Peña, and Armando Alejandre and U.S. resident Pablo Morales.  

Two years later in 1998 when Castro's wasp spy network was broken up and Gerardo Hernandez arrested the one person to be held accountable was finally in custody. In 2000 following a lengthy trial he was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences for conspiracy to commit murder and espionage. On December 15, 2014 President Obama commuted his sentence and on December 17, 2014 announced that Gerardo Hernandez had been returned to Cuba. He was welcomed back by Raul Castro where he proudly declared that he was ready to complete another such mission for the dictatorship. Two days later in a year end press conference President Obama sought to rewrite history declaring this premeditated crime "a tragic circumstance."

Thi is why it is so important to continue to stand up silently on February 24th at the times both planes were shot down and hold a moment of silence, remember, and continue to demand justice. We must also remind our fellow countrymen that  U.S. courts have also found the Castro regime guilty of premeditation in this shoot down on three occasions.

1. U.S. District Judge James Lawrence King found Cuba guilty in civil court of planning the shoot down before the actual attack, and noted that there had been ample time to issue warnings to the Brothers to the Rescue aircraft if these had been needed. 
2.  A jury in criminal court presided by U.S. District Judge Joan Lenard found Miami-based Cuban spy Gerardo Hernandez guilty of conspiracy to commit murder because of his role in providing information to the Cuban government on the flight plans of Brothers to the Rescue. 
3. On August 21, 2003 a U.S. grand jury indicted the two fighter pilots and their commanding general on murder charges for the 1996 shoot down.

The Free Cuba Foundation has announced on its blog that once against it will join together with the victim's families at Florida International University at the main fountain on University Park Campus on February 24, 2017 in a moment of silence from 3:21pm to 3:27pm the times that the two planes were shot down.


Brothers to the Rescue page for the shootdown

Shootdown Victims ( Families page)

Shadows over Cuba in July: A Call to Remembrance and Action

"To forget the victims means to kill them a second time. So I couldn't prevent the first death. I surely must be capable of saving them from a second death." - Elie Wiesel

 
Rising violence in Cuba
Violence against Cubans has escalated with the normalization of relations between the United States and Cuba. The dictatorship has been legitimized by the visit of President Obama earlier this year who not only undermined objective international human rights standards, reducing them to an opinion in his March 22, 2016 address to the Cuban people. Worse yet, a day earlier, he asserted during the March 21st joint press conference with dictator Raul Castro that: 

"the goal of the human rights dialogue is not for the United States to dictate to Cuba how they should govern themselves, but to make sure that we are having a frank and candid conversation around this issue and hopefully that we can learn from each other."

 In his March 22nd address to the Cuban people President Obama also equated the ideals of the American revolution with the Communist revolution in Cuba falsely stating:

"The ideals that are the starting point for every revolution -- America’s revolution, Cuba’s revolution, the liberation movements around the world -- those ideals find their truest expression, I believe, in democracy." 

An absurd claim
The American revolution's ideals ended British rule and established a new and more democratic order with the United States. Contrast this with the Castro revolution in Cuba that lied itself into power, claimed to be democratic, only to install a communist dictatorship that 57 years later remains in power through terror and repression enslaving an entire people and the absurdity that the ideals of July 4, 1776 in America bear any resemblance to January 1, 1959 in Cuba becomes evident.    

Many of those wanting to normalize relations with the dictatorship in Havana try to portray the gross and systematic human rights atrocities as something that occurred at the start of the Castro regime while remaining silent about recent crimes. Sadly in July there are four dates that spans six decades from 1953 to 2012 demonstrating the unchanging, violent and criminal nature of the regime in Cuba that continues to the present day. 

Dark shadows in July
These are shadows cast over Cuba in the month of July that demand remembrance and justice. Dark anniversaries observing extrajudicial executions, massacres, and bloodshed between Cubans: 

• First, four years ago on July 22, 2012 Cuban agents rammed the car Oswaldo Paya and Harold Cepero were traveling in on their way to Bayamo in eastern Cuba. Both bodies appeared later. It is unclear if they died in the crash or were killed afterwards. The family is demanding an international investigation.
• Second, 22 years ago on July 13, 1994 Cuban government agents killed 37 men, women and children trying to flee Cuba on board the "13 de Marzo" tugboat. Other vessels struck the tugboat and created a whirlpool effect to drown the survivors.  
• Third, 36 years ago on July 6, 1980 the "XX Aniversario" ferry was commandeered on the Canimar river by three teenagers who wanted to flee Cuba heading out to the open ocean. The regime's response was to send a Cuban jet to strafe the vessel leaving scores wounded and dead.  
• Fourth, 63 years ago on July 26, 1953 Cubans shed each others blood when Fidel Castro organized an assault on the Moncada Barracks ushering in a process that brought an end to Batista's authoritarian dictatorship six years later replacing it with a totalitarian dictatorship that remains in power after 57 years. 

Canimar River Massacre in Matanzas, Cuba July 6, 1980

The duty to bear witness
Recalling the words of Holocaust survivor and human rights defender Elie Wiesel who passed away on July 2, 2016, “For the dead and the living, we must bear witness.”Obvious questions arise within the Cuban context with regards to the victims and martyrs of the Castro dictatorship. What should one do to bear witness and demand justice for them? The temptation to do nothing, to be indifferent to these crimes, would only serve to encourage new injustices.

The drive to normalize relations with the Castro dictatorship in the 1990s saw the July 13, 1994 "13 de Marzo" tugboat massacre and other atrocities committed leading up to it that garnered little attention led to the February 24, 1996 Brothers to the Rescue shoot down twenty years ago this year that claimed the lives of three Americans and a U.S. resident.

 

Taking action in 2016
This is why on July 13 at 12 noon at the main fountain between the Graham Center and the Green Library at Florida International University the Free Cuba Foundation will hold a 13 minute moment of silence for Oswaldo, Harold, and the 37 victims of the "13 de Marzo"tugboat massacre and all those murdered by the Castro regime. 

At 5:00pm the Democracy Movement will remember the "13 de Marzo"tugboat massacre at the Sea wall behind the Our Lady of Charity (la Ermita de la Caridad) with the presence of the families of the victims, crosses and flowers with images of the dead, and a Mass for children and adults who were killed.

Please let others know of these activities and let us make this a July to remember these victims and prevent their second death. 

It is the least we can do for those who can no longer speak up for themselves. 
 

Students and activists with July 13, 1994 massacre victim's families

Screening at FIU of Film Short on daily life in Cuba

Free Cuban Food, Free Cuban Film, Everyone Welcome!

Enjoy some Cuban food and film at Florida International University on Monday, April 18th at 12:30pm. The film in Spanish with English subtitles is "La Muerte del Gato" (The Death of the Cat) and is a comedy about life in today's Cuba.

The film was recently screened in Bogota, Columbia with the cast and director in attendance.

The event is being co-hosted by the Cuban-American Student Organization at FIU and the Center for a Free Cuba.

What: The Death of the Cat (English Subtitles)
When: Monday, April 18th
Time: 12:30pm 
Where: Graham Center 140

Spies in the Ointment: Downside of going to Cuba to get "A Revolutionary Perspective on Education"

 Do participants in "A Revolutionary Perspective on Education" know what they are getting into?

Florida International University and The University of New Mexico are organizing a 9-day trip to Cuba in what they say is a "people to people program" that will "focus on educational practice and philosophy on the island."

"The program kicks off on July 8, 2016 in Miami, Florida, with a one-day educational training session led by FIU Cuban Studies experts." From July 9th until July 17th participants will be introduced to Cuba's totalitarian regime complete with at least two propaganda sessions that portray the dictatorship in a positive light.

This is a Potemkin Village visit to a totalitarian communist dictatorship that has demonstrated its effectiveness in controlling the narrative with visiting groups. To begin to counter this one must read Paul Hollander's Political Pilgrims: Western Intellectuals in Search of the Good Society that studies and catalogs the strategies and tactics that these regimes use, including the Castro regime in Cuba.

A trip highlight that raises eyebrows is the visit to Revolutionary Square on July 9, 2016. This landmark was built during the Batista regime and called the Civic Square until the Castro regime renamed it the Revolutionary Square. The image of Che Guevara is found on the side of the Ministry of the Interior, which houses the Castro regime's secret police.

Also raising eyebrows on Wednesday, July 13th participants will view a propaganda film “Maestra” on the Castro regime's 1961 literacy campaign in the country side, produced by Catherine Murphy, a collaborator with the late pro-Castro propagandist, Saul Landau. No mention is made of observing the 22nd anniversary of the "13 de Marzo" tugboat sinking on that day.

A day before on July 12, 2016 participants will attend a meeting with the "Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP)" that should raise more than eyebrows but alarm. According to counter intelligence expert Chris Simmons the "ICAP’s intelligence collaboration with the Directorate of Intelligence (DI) dates back over three decades. It is not a DI entity per se, but is believed to be roughly 90% DI-affiliated due to a large pool of collaborators who serve the small team of ICAP-embedded DI officers." A past president of the ICAP was indicted for drug smuggling into the United States in 1982. Do participants understand that they may be profiled by Cuban intelligence officers? Will the orientation at Florida International University by Cuban Studies experts provide adequate preparation so that participants are not compromised?

Dr. Carlos & Elsa Alvarez: Castro spies at FIU

A word of caution to participants that during their stay in Cuba they are at the mercy of the Cuban intelligence service and sadly Florida International University in the past has not been a reliable partner for visiting groups. Psychology professor Carlos Alvarez who was the associate professor for educational leadership and policy studies, and his wife Elsa Alvarez, counselor for the psychological services department  at Florida International University were arrested by the FBI on January 6, 2006. Professor Alvarez conducted trips to Cuba with young professionals in the late 1990s in what was billed a conflict resolution project.  Alvarez was sentenced to five years in prison and his wife to three years in prison on February 28, 2007 for conspiring to act as unregistered Cuban agents.

An overview of the agenda shows that this is an official visit that will provide a false impression to visitors on the real nature of the Cuban educational system under the present regime. Unfortunately, President Barack Obama repeated the same cliches on the Cuban education system that are not backed up by the historical record when he stated during his recent visit to Cuba: "Cuba has an extraordinary resource -- a system of education which values every boy and every girl." Sadly, this is not the case.

First, according to the 1953 Cuba census, out of 4,376,529 inhabitants 10 years of age or older 23.6% were illiterate, a percentage lower than all other Latin American countries except Argentina (13.6%), Chile (19.6%), and Costa Rica (20.6%). Factoring only the population 15 years of age or older, the rate is lowered to 22.1%”  Other countries in Latin America were able to achieve similar literacy rates to those claimed by the Castro regime without sacrificing civil liberties. (1)

The Slovak-based People in Peril conducted a study between 2005 and 2006 that generated a 77 page analysis, What is the future of education in Cuba?, gathers criticism,  suggestions and proposals for a future educational reform. According to Eliska Slavikova in an interview with El Nuevo Herald on October 23, 2007 observed ''Cuban education is destroyed, with grave problems like the deterioration of the schools, the predominance of ideology over teaching  and the bad preparation of teachers.'' The study made the following findings:

• There's been a ''pronounced'' departure of teachers to other jobs because of low salaries and the lack of social recognition.
• Many teachers also left their jobs because of the government's growing ideological pressures. The primary objective of education is the formation of future revolutionary communists.
• The great majority of schools lack the equipment and installations needed to provide a good education.
• High school graduates have been put to teach after only an eight-month special course. But much of the teaching now is done through educational TV channels.

More recent analyses of the Cuban educational system in 2014 and 2015 arrive at the same conclusions on lack of quality, resources and continued politicization of the curriculum.  One wonders if the participants of "A Revolutionary Perspective on Education" will be able to get an accurate perspective on the education system in Cuba or will just repeat the same platitudes as President Obama that are divorced from the reality experienced by the average Cuban child.


Footnote
(1)Alvarez Díaz, José R. “A Study on Cuba .” Cuban Economic Research Project. Coral Gables : University of Miami Press, 1965. pg 426-427.

Two Teach-Ins on Brothers to the Rescue 20 years after the shoot down

Truth, memory and justice

 
February 24, 2016 will mark 20 years since two civilian planes were shot down over international airspace on the orders of the Castro brothers in Cuba. At Florida International University, students, members of the university community, and the families of the four men killed (Carlos Costa, Armando Alejandre Jr., Mario de la Peña, and Pablo Morales) will begin to gather at the main fountain at 3:00pm to hold a silent vigil from 3:21pm to 3:27pm the time that the two planes were destroyed.

Two teach-ins on what happened that afternoon and the aftermath will be examined over the next week and both will be in Spanish. The first will be on February 18, 2016 at the West Dade Regional Library in an event with the four families of the men killed. The second will be at Florida International University on February 25, 2016 with Jose Basulto one of the survivors of the events of that day.


Patria de Martí and Alianza Democrática invite the public to a symposium “Derribo de aviones de Hermanos al Rescate: 20 años después” [Shoot down of Brothers to the Rescue planes: 20 years later], commemorating the twentieth anniversary of the assassination of four Cuban American pilots on Thursday, February 18th at 6:00pm in West Dade Regional Library (9445 Coral Way, Miami FL 33165).

On February 25 at 7pm a panel discussion and presentation of the Translated Edition of “Seagull One: The Story of Brothers to the Rescue” will take place with panelists: Lily Prellezo, author of the book “Seagull One: La asombrosa y verdadera historia de los hermanos al Rescate”, José Basulto, founder of Brothers to the Rescue, and Vicente Echerri, translator of Seagull One into Spanish. The event will be in FIU’s Green Library, room 220 (GL220). To RSVP please call (305)348-1991 or simply respond to this message.

Both events are free and open to the public.

Ten years ago the Free Cuba Foundation organized a panel discussion on the Brothers to the Rescue shoot down in an event moderated with Neri Ann Martinez. Below is the video taken from 2006 event.

Free Cuba Foundaton featured in Huffington Post on Obama Cuba Policy

Proud to be one of the signers of the Free Cuba Foundation's "Not in our name" statement protesting Obama Cuba policy published in the Huffington Post. Reproduced below. 

Not In Our Name 

On 17 December 2014, President Barack Obama announced a change in U.S. Cuba policy and the Free Cuba Foundation feels the need to make its position clear in the following statement:

The Free Cuba Foundation (FCF) was founded at Florida International University in 1993. Throughout its history, FCF has been a steadfast and independent voice in favor of nonviolent resistance to injustice and tyranny.

We agree with President Obama on one general observation from his December 17 statement: that one cannot keep doing the same thing and expect a different result. Unfortunately, the efforts of the Clinton Administration to engage the Castro dictatorship as well as loosen sanctions before and after 1996 went unmentioned in President Obama's comments. President Clinton began joint military exercises with the Castro regime in 1994 in pursuit of normalized relations. The shootdown of two Brothers to the Rescue planes on February 24, 1996, by Castro regime MiGs -- which killed Armando Alejandre Jr. (age 45), Carlos Alberto Costa (age 29), Mario Manuel de la Peña (age 24) and Pablo Morales (age 29) -- led to the passage and signing of The Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity (Libertad) Act by Congress as an alternative to military action in an election year.

The attack took place on a day that a national gathering called Concilio Cubano was to have started. A massive crackdown had been underway for days attracting international press attention. Despite this act of state terrorism against Americans, President Bill Clinton shook hands with Fidel Castro in 2000 and loosened sanctions that opened cash and carry exports from American corporations to the Castro regime. This turned the United States into one of the top five trading partners of the Castro regime.

Economic sanctions were not designed to overthrow the dictatorship but were part of a policy of containment to prevent the spread of its totalitarian model. The rise of Hugo Chavez and the spread of Cuban influence in Venezuela began during Bill Clinton's presidency and are now harming the entire region undermining the democratic gains of the 1980s and early 1990s.

Despite this disaster, the Obama Administration began in 2009 to loosen sanctions on the Cuban dictatorship. The Castro regime's response was to take Alan Gross, a U.S. citizen, hostage. The Obama administration remained very low key about Gross's arrest, and it was 25 days before U.S. diplomats even saw this jailed American. FCF believes that this lack of concern sent a message to the dictatorship that they could continue to arbitrarily detain Gross and use him as a bargaining chip in their goals to secure the release of five Cuban spies captured in 1998. These five had not only engaged in spying on U.S.-military facilities but planned terrorist acts on U.S. soil and were criminally involved in the February 24, 1996 shoot down.

As was the case in 1996, this policy of appeasement had dire consequences for the democratic opposition in Cuba, which suffered several setbacks over the next four years. Prisoner-of-conscience Orlando Zapata Tamayo died on hunger strike under suspicious circumstances in 2010; Ladies in White founder Laura Inés Pollán Toledo died from a suspicious illness in 2011; and Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas and Harold Cepero died in the summer of 2012, under circumstances that point to a state security killing. Rising violence against opposition activists, including machete attacks, is a new and disturbing phenomenon.

FCF is concerned that releasing the three remaining spies, including Gerardo Hernandez -- who was serving two life sentences, one of them for conspiracy to murder four members of Brothers to the Rescue in exchange for Gross and an unknown Cuban intelligence operative -- may lead to the Castro regime murdering more innocents inside and outside of Cuba. We also know, as does the regime, that due to short-term economic interests that economic engagement with the dictatorship will not be seriously impacted by whatever new atrocities are committed.

Additionally, the hostage demand having been met by the United States government also sets a dangerous precedent for Americans traveling abroad. Add to this the normalization of diplomatic relations and the further loosening of sanctions and the signal sent to the hardline elements within the regime is clear: operating with criminal impunity delivers results. This was the same message sent by President Clinton in 2000.

FCF and its members are disturbed by the President's statement on December 19,2014 that the 1996 shoot down was not a premeditated move by Castro but a "tragic circumstance." This statement was deficient on two basic points. First of all, two planes were shot down over international airspace not one as he stated in the press conference. More importantly, the president's statement ignored documented evidence as well as court decisions and investigations by international human rights bodies that have concluded that the attack was indeed a premeditated extrajudicial execution.

Every year since the week following the 1996 shoot-down, FCF members have joined together to hold a silent vigil at Florida International University on February 24th between 3:21pm and 3:27pm at the times both planes were blown up by Castro's MiGs in remembrance of Armando, Carlos, Mario, and Pablo who gave their lives in service to others in a continuing demand for justice. This tradition has been maintained for the past 18 years and next year on Tuesday, February 24, 2015 at 3:21pm we will gather with the families of the four martyrs.

We the present and former members of the Free CubaFoundation say to the United States government and the Castro regime that the fruits that have emerged thus far from these negotiations point to the impure means upon which they were founded and will only lead to more grief. Therefore, with great respect we say, not in our name!

Signed by:

Brian Alonso
Grace Cuelez Droblas
Oscar Grau
Yosvani Oliva Iglesias
Robert Linares
Neri Ann Martinez
Augusto Monge
Susana Navajas
Cindy Rodriguez
Raisa Romaelle
Pedro M. Ross
Juan Carlos Sanchez
Harold Alexander Silva
John Suarez
César Vásquez

This post is part of a Huffington Post blog series called "90 Miles: Rethinking the Future of U.S.-Cuba Relations." The series puts the spotlight on the emerging relations between two long-standing Western Hemisphere foes and will feature pre-eminent thought leaders from the public and private sectors, academia, the NGO community, and prominent observers from both countries. Read all the other posts in the series here.

If you'd like to contribute your own blog on this topic, send a 500-850-word post to impactblogs@huffingtonpost.com (subject line: "90 Miles"). 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/neri-ann-martinez/not-in-our-name_b_6587164.html

A conversation with human rights defender Juan Carlos González Leiva at Florida International University

Jorge Duany, Director of  CRI and Juan Carlos González Leiva

Tonight at the Green Library at Florida International University the Cuban human rights defender Juan Carlos González Leiva spoke about his experiences as an activist in Cuba at an event organized by the Cuban Research Institute (CRI).The conversation was in Spanish and excerpts are available in the video playlist below. He is an attorney who has spent the past twenty years in Cuba defending human rights in an atmosphere that is hostile.

Juan Carlos has been a prisoner of conscience and been subjected to cruel and unusual treatment while in captivity amounting to torture. The sound in the recording is muffled by the air conditioning in the room but it is worthwhile to listen closely to what he has to say especially on the subject of extrajudicial killings in Cuba where he engages in an overview of a number of well known and not so well known cases.

Carlos Eire: Bearing Witness

“For the survivor who chooses to testify, it is clear: his duty is to bear witness for the dead and for the living. He has no right to deprive future generations of a past that belongs to our collective memory. To forget would be not only dangerous but offensive; to forget the dead would be akin to killing them a second time.” - Elie Wiesel, Night

Carlos Eire speaking at FIU in the Graham Center on November 21, 2011

Carlos Eire, Riggs Professor of History and Religious Studies at Yale University, spoke today at 1:00pm at Florida International University in a lecture titled: Exile through the eyes of a Pedro Pan. Several times during the lecture he spoke of the importance of bearing witness and made reference to the quote by Elie Wiesel at the top of this page.



Dr. Eire continued with the theme of bearing witness stating: "When someone is an eyewitness to history and that history involves some great injustice and you don't bear witness to that injustice then you are allowing evil to triumph. Not only at the event but forever." He went on to say, "If you don't set it straight you are an accomplice." You can hear him state this in the above video beginning at 1 minute 42 seconds.



He closed his lecture with a powerful observation and call to action stating: "The best history of all. The history that we each have to tell - our own lives. Especially if that history has been misshapen by others." Video excerpt is embedded below.




The main points of today's lecture were similar to a talk that the professor gave at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio on April 21, 2011 as part of the George Washington Forum on American Ideas, Politics and Institutions. That speech was entitled "Learning to Die in Miami: Confessions of a Wayward Historian." In it he stated that in the process"[t]o bear eyewitness to an injustice you might bring it down." The entire lecture is available online.



Carlos Eire is calling on everyone, but especially victims of injustice, to tell their story. To describe the sliver of truth that they carry within themselves and to share it with others. It is a call to action and it is a call to remembrance.

For example today via twitter learned from Roberto J. Guerra of Hablemos Press that Idania Yanes Contreras, a Central Opposition Coalition leader was arrested in Santa Clara, Cuba on her way to witness an eviction. In recent days she was brutally beaten by the political police. The attack left her with a dilated kidney and bleeding. She is still recovering from that assault by agents of the government. Also learned that 17 other activists were badly beaten and detained for demonstrating their solidarity with this opposition leader. Thanks to Marc Masferrer of Uncommon Sense additional information to that provided by Roberto Guerra on twitter offers both additional information and context. Relaying their story, as well as your own, is a way of bearing witness where you can still save lives by getting the facts out to more people.

Another example from November 18, 2011 is the resignation of former prisoner of conscience and independent journalist Manuel Vazquez Portal from Radio Marti. In his letter of resignation, available on his blog, he speaks truth to power citing the reasons for his departure. The original Spanish text is available here.

One final example that terrifies tyrants. On November 16, 2011 at Miami Dade College, students dressed in white gathered to honor the memory of Ladies in White founder Laura Pollán. They were bearing witness to the nonviolent struggle waged by Cuban women for freedom in Cuba and the ultimate price that one of them had paid.



It is important for as many voices as possible to speak out and document their experience - their truth contributing to the sum total that informs what actually took place. During his lecture, Carlos Eire made reference to an interview on National Public Radio titled "Children of Cuba Remember Their Flight to America" and to read the comments sections to see the efforts by some to distort the historical record. The best way to combat untruth is with truth. The more of it the better. As Mohandas Gandhi once observed, "Truth never damages a cause that is just."