Crimes of the Castro regime: The attack on and sinking of the "13 de Marzo" tugboat on July 13, 1994

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

Twenty five years without justice, but we remember and continue to demand justice for the 37 victims of the "13 de Marzo" tugboat who were extrajudicially executed on July 13, 1994.

Please share the report and testimony with others. Let them know of this atrocity.

REPORT Nº 47/96

CASE 11.436

 VICTIMS OF THE TUGBOAT "13 DE MARZO" vs. CUBA

October 16, 1996

 Inter-American Commission on Human Rights

Excerpts from the report:

"82. The evidence clearly shows that the sinking of the tug "13 de Marzo" was not an accident but rather a premeditated, intentional act.  In fact, Jorge Hernández, a survivor of the events that occurred on July 13, 1994, states that, "After leaving the pier, boat No. 2 rammed them" and once out to "sea they began to be attacked by boats No. 2, No. 3 and No. 5."  That "the tug they were in was hit on the port and starboard sides" and that "they attacked them with jets of water."  "After the last attack, the boat sank because the stern was destroyed."  Finally, "the tugs did not help them" but rather "they told them to keep swimming toward the coast guard cutters."  For his part, Arquímedes Lebrigio stated that "when the boat weighed anchor, he was below deck and could see that there was no leak anywhere" and "when he went onto the deck of the boat he saw that the stern and the bow were smashed."  María Victoria García Suarez states that "that's when we saw that two firefighting tugs were coming after us," "they hit the sides and then they began to shoot water at us."  "Then we kept going and told them not to harm us, that there were children on board and we showed them the children and they kept shooting water."  "Later we saw two more [tugs] about seven miles out and they positioned themselves one on each side:  one in front, another in back, and one on each side" and "then all four started shooting us with water and one of the boats rammed us...."  Finally, the witness states that "there were the four tugs--the ones that were sinking us--and we asked them to save us, to take us on board, that there were children, and what they did was laugh.... " 

"VIII.                 CONCLUSIONS

 

          105.    The Cuban State is responsible for violating the right to life (Article 1 of the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man) of the 41 people who were shipwrecked and perished as a result of the sinking of the tug "13 de Marzo", which events occurred seven miles off  the Cuban coast on July 13, 1994.  The persons who died that morning are:  Leonardo Notario Góngora, Marta Tacoronte Vega, Caridad Leyva Tacoronte, Yausel Eugenio Pérez Tacoronte, Mayulis Méndez Tacoronte, Odalys Muñoz García, Pilar Almanza Romero, Yaser Perodín Almanza, Manuel Sánchez Callol, Juliana Enriquez Carrasana, Helen Martínez Enríquez, Reynaldo Marrero, Joel García Suárez, Juan Mario Gutiérrez García, Ernesto Alfonso Joureiro, Amado Gonzáles Raices, Lázaro Borges Priel, Liset Alvarez Guerra, Yisel Borges Alvarez , Guillermo Cruz Martínez, Fidelio Ramel Prieto-Hernández, Rosa María Alcalde Preig, Yaltamira Anaya Carrasco, José Carlos Nicole Anaya, María Carrasco Anaya, Julia Caridad Ruiz Blanco, Angel René Abreu Ruiz, Jorge Arquímides Lebrijio Flores, Eduardo Suárez Esquivel, Elicer Suárez Plascencia, Omar Rodríguez Suárez, Miralis Fernández Rodríguez, Cindy Rodríguez Fernández, José Gregorio Balmaceda Castillo, Rigoberto Feut Gonzáles, Midalis Sanabria Cabrera, and four other victims who could not be identified."

Please  consider wherever you are to hold a silent vigil every July 13th and invite others to join in this continuing demand for justice is achieved. Let others know about your action and use the hashtags #JusticeForThe37, and #WeRemember.

25 minute silent vigil for justice for the "13 de Marzo"tugboat victims

#Nonviolence: 20 years after the silent call for justice in Cuba

"What's past is prologue" - William Shakespeare

Hard to believe that it has been 20 years since we sent this OpEd outlining our nonviolent commitment to justice for victims of the Castro regime. Still so much left to do. https://t.co/UH51tDRS7k

— John Suarez ن (@johnjsuarez) December 29, 2018

Below is the OpEd published in the Miami Herald twenty years ago today. It continues to set the context for the present struggle for a free Cuba. Vigil for the victims of the Castro regime are held every year at FIU on February 24th and July 13th.

  Published Monday, December 28, 1998, in the Miami Herald
FREE CUBA FOUNDATION

---

Join our silent call for justice

``Justice does not help those who slumber but helps only those who are vigilant.''-- Mahatma Gandhi

IN A FEW DAYS the world will be marking the 40th anniversary of the systematic denial of human rights and basic human dignity in Cuba. The 50th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was observed in Cuba by beatings and arrests of dissidents and human-rights activists leading up to and on the anniversary itself.

It is sad to note how far the Cuban government has sunk. It was 50 years ago that the Cuban delegation, representing a democratic and constitutional republic, wrote the first draft of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The members recognized that this document would have been ``accepted by that generous spirit who was the apostle of our independence: Jose Marti, the hero who -- as he turned his homeland into a nation -- gave us forever this generous rule: `With everyone, and for the good of everyone.' ''

Last Dec. 10 a spiritual heir of the 1948 Cuban delegation held up copies of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and of the New Testament and was knocked down and dragged away by Cuban police. Today the mere support of those principles enunciated by the Cuban delegation in 1948 leads to beatings, arrests, and in some cases, deaths.

We shall raise here a silent call for justice. We shall use petitions, silent vigils, and fasts to raise the issue of justice for those who no longer can speak. We will not forget those innocents who died at the hands of the Cuban government such as:

 On Dec. 22, 1997, Sebastian Arcos Bergnes died of a cancer that was allowed to spread until terminal while he sat with violent criminals in a Cuban prison cell. His crime was being a human-rights activist and the vice-president of the Cuban Committee for Human Rights.

 On March 29, 1997, Joachim Lovschall, a 26-year-old Dane studying Spanish at the University of Havana, was shot to death by Cuban state-security agents while crossing a street in Havana. Nearly two years later no disciplinary or lawful investigation of the guard who killed Lovschall has begun despite Denmark's official protests.

 On Feb. 24, 1996, Armando Alejandre Jr., Mario de la Peña, Carlos Costa, and Pablo Morales where blown out of the sky over the Florida Straits while searching for Cuban rafters in international waters. The Cuban pilots responsible for the shootdown have yet to face justice for their actions.

 On July 13, 1994, an estimated 41 men, women, and children were drowned by agents of the Cuban government for the sole crime of exercising their right to leave Cuba. The Cuban government has not held a proper investigation, brought those responsible to justice, or recovered the bodies of the victims and returned them to their families.

We call on all people of goodwill to join our silent call for justice. Let others know of these travesties.

We have embraced the principle of nonviolence, and we seek the truth as our ends. Gandhi said:

``Use truth as your anvil, nonviolence as your hammer, and anything that does not stand the test when it is brought to the anvil of truth and hammered with nonviolence, reject it.''

We call on people everywhere who share our passion for justice to join us. Nearly a year ago we signed an Accord for Democracy in which the final line quoted Marti's noble sentiment: ``With everyone, and for the good of everyone.''

Let us work so that in Cuba once again this will become a reality and not just a noble sentiment.

Susana Mendiola
Chairwoman,

Viviana Mendiola
Vice President,

Marco J. Alonso
Treasurer,

John Suarez
Coordinator,
Free Cuba Foundation
Florida International University

Copyright © 1998 The Miami Herald 

Memory, Justice and Cuba's July 13, 1994 "13 de marzo" tugboat massacre

"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, 1986 Nobel Lecture

 
These are dangerous times for freedom, justice and memory. Institutions are under assault because they have resisted regime narratives and pursued scholarship. Today on the 23rd anniversary of the "13 de marzo" tugboat sinking the most complete report prepared by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in 1996 on this crime committed by the Castro regime on July 13, 1994 is  apparently missing after having been online for 20 years.

In the early morning hours of July 13, 1994 thirty seven men, women, and children were killed by Cuban regime agents who attacked them seven miles off the Cuban coast as these refugees sought to travel to freedom on board of the “13 de Marzo” tugboat. Eleven of these Cubans were children ranging in age from Helen Martínez Enríquez, just five months old to Mayulis Méndez Tacaronte age seventeen.

The 1994 massacre ended in the murder of 37 Cubans. It was a premeditated and well thought out  atrocity committed by the Castro regime. In service to justice and memory reproduced below are the names of the 37 victims. Later today at 12 noon wherever you are join in a 13 minute moment of silence.

July 13, 1994 "13 de Marzo" Tugboat Massacre Victims

Hellen Martínez Enriquez. Age: 5 Months
Xicdy Rodríguez Fernández. Age: 2
Angel René Abreu Ruíz. Age: 3
José Carlos Niclas Anaya. Age: 3
Giselle Borges Alvarez. Age: 4
Caridad Leyva Tacoronte. Age: 5
Juan Mario Gutiérrez García. Age: 10
Yousell Eugenio Pérez Tacoronte. Age: 11
Yasser Perodín Almanza. Age: 11
Eliécer Suárez Plasencia. Age: 12
Mayulis Méndez Tacoronte. Age: 17
Miladys Sanabria Leal. Age: 19
Joel García Suárez. Age: 20
Odalys Muñoz García. Age: 21
Yalta Mila Anaya Carrasco. Age: 22
Luliana Enríquez Carrazana. Age: 22
Jorge Gregorio Balmaseda Castillo. Age: 24
Lissett María Alvarez Guerra. Age: 24
Ernesto Alfonso Loureiro. Age: 25
María Miralis Fernández Rodríguez. Age: 27
Leonardo Notario Góngora. Age: 28
Jorge Arquímedes Levrígido Flores. Age: 28
Pilar Almanza Romero. Age: 31
Rigoberto Feu González. Age: 31
Omar Rodríguez Suárez. Age: 33
Lázaro Enrique Borges Briel. Age: 34
Julia Caridad Ruíz Blanco. Age: 35
Martha Caridad Tacoronte Vega. Age: 35
Eduardo Suárez Esquivel. Age: 38
Martha Mirella Carrasco Sanabria. Age: 45
Augusto Guillermo Guerra Martínez. Age: 45
Rosa María Alcalde Puig. Age: 47
Estrella Suárez Esquivel. Age: 48
Reynaldo Joaquín Marrero Alamo. Age: 48
Amado González Raices. Age: 50
Fidencio Ramel Prieto Hernández. Age: 51
Manuel Cayol. Age: 56 

Two events in Washington DC recall the "13 de marzo" tugboat massacre

 Victims remembered at Heritage Foundation and in Congressional hearing

July 13, 2016 marked 22 years since the Castro regime sent its agents to attack and sink a tugboat full of Cuban refugees seeking a better life in freedom killing 37 men, women and children. In Cuba, Miami and Washington DC vigils and demonstrations were carried out on that day in a continuing demand for justice.

In Washington D.C. there were two additional gatherings in which this anniversary of a crime was recalled. At the Heritage Foundation the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation held the 2016 National Captive Nations Week Luncheon with Lee Edwards, Marion Smith and Michael Ryan presiding over the event. In addition country reports were made of the five remaining communist regimes in the world: China, Cuba, Laos, North Korea, Vietnam.  

National Captive Nations Week 2016 will focus on Cuba

 The country report on Cuba is now available online here and hope to link up the other reports as soon as they are made available.  The Cuba report made mention of the July 13, 1994 attack and sinking of the "13 de marzo" tugboat by Castro regime agents placing it in the context of normalization efforts:

Today, July 13th marks the 22nd anniversary of a massacre of 37 Cuban men, women and children by Castro agents when they tried to flee the communist regime in Cuba. Earlier this year on February 24th friends and families observed the 20 year anniversary of the Brothers to the Rescue shoot down where 3 U.S. citizens and one resident were murdered when their two planes were pulverized on Castro's orders by Cuban warplanes.  Both these crimes took place when a previous administration sought to normalize relations with the Castro regime.

 Later on the same day on Capitol Hill at the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations held a hearing on The Castro Regime’s Ongoing Violations of Civil and Political Rights where Cuban opposition leader and former prisoner of conscience Dr. Oscar Elías Biscet and Cuban democracy advocate Sirley Ávila León spoke out on the reality of Cuba in 2016 along with two other experts.

Congressman Christopher Smith

Chairman Christopher Smith on the purpose of the Hearing and the significance of it being held on July 13, 2016 also remembered this great crime:  

“This hearing will examine the human rights situation in Cuba, where it seems disregard for civil and political rights has gotten worse, not better, since the President visited the Island.  The regime continues to jail and beat political dissidents, with even extrajudicial killings apparently sanctioned.  That we are holding it on July 13 is significant, as it is the anniversary of the tugboat massacre of 1994, when 37 victims, including 11 children, were killed by the regime.  The Obama Administration cannot allow concerns over its ‘legacy’ to muffle its voice when it should be insisting that the rights of the Cuban people be respected.”

The bad news twenty two years later is that the victims remains have not been returned to their loved ones nor the individuals responsible for this atrocity yet been brought to justice. Elie Wiesel observed that "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." The good news is that the "13 de marzo" tugboat victims are not forgotten nor the need for truth and justice on their behalf. 

Remembering two acts of state terrorism committed by the Castro regime and how they are connected

"State crimes are never an issue exclusive to the families of the victims." - Rosa Maria Payá Acevedo, protesting in front of the Cuban Interests Section on 7/10//14
 

On February 24, 2016 friends and families observed in silent protest the Brothers to the Rescue shoot down twenty years earlier on a Saturday afternoon when Cuban MiGs launched missiles destroying two civilian airplanes without warning over international airspace, the first at 3:21pm and the second at 3:27pm killing four men.

Twenty years later looking back at the circumstances that led to the shoot down one is drawn to another crime that occurred less than two years earlier on July 13, 1994 when the Castro regime oversaw the massacre of 37 men, women and children when their agents surrounded and sank the "13 de Marzo" tugboat as entire families risked all to live in freedom. Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas reflected on the significance of this crime years later:

Behind the Christ of Havana, about seven miles from the coast, "volunteers" of the Communist regime committed one of the most heinous crimes in the history of our city and of Cuba. In the morning, a group of seventy people in all, fled on a tugboat, led by the ship's own crew; none was kidnapped, or there against their will. They came out of the mouth of the Bay of Havana. They were pursued by other similar ships. When the runaway ship and its occupants stopped to surrender, the ships that had been chasing them started ramming to sink it. Meanwhile, on the deck, women with children in their arms begging for mercy, but the answer of their captors was to project high pressure water cannons against them. Some saw their children fall overboard under the murderous jets of water amid shrieks of horror. They behaved brutally until their perverse mission was fulfilled: Sink the fleeing ship and annihilate many of its occupants.

How are the events surrounding the massacre of February 24, 1996 joined together with the events surrounding the massacre of July 13, 1994? They are joined together by a third date: July 13, 1995. On July 13, 1995 a flotilla of boats sought to enter Cuban national waters in a nonviolent incursion to travel to the spot where the "13 de Marzo" tugboat had been sunk and where the remains of the victims remain to the present day. The objective was to hold a religious service in memory of the 37 who lost their lives seeking liberty.

Things did not go as planned. As the flotilla neared Cuban territorial waters Cuban MiGs and military helicopters flew over head and Cuban gun boats approached the flotilla eventually partially crushing the hull of the lead boat "Democracia" injuring some of the pilgrims.

When the Castro regime's military personnel begin the aggressive move against the flotilla some Brothers to the Rescue planes to distract attention overflew Havana and dropped fliers that read "Comrades No. Brothers" This was the moment that the Castro brothers began plotting the destruction of Brothers to the Rescue. This is how it was outlined in a legal document presented to the United States Department of Justice in Falls Church, Virginia.

On July 13, 1995, two BTTR aircraft over flew Havana. The Cuban government charged that Basulto publicly, openly and patently endeavored to provoke air incidents and violate Cuban territorial sovereignty. On that flight, Hank Tester, a news reporter from Miami, flew aboard Basulto's plane filming as "fighters were in the area." Basulto claimed his intrusion was an act of civil disobedience. (App. Exh.60) The purpose of the July 13 over-flight was to create a diversion for Cuban fighters that were at the time threatening a freedom flotilla off the territorial waters of Cuba. The flotilla in turn was lawfully commemorating the sinking of the tugboat "13 de Marzo" and the tragic loss of forty lives caused by Cuban gunboats ramming the defenseless vessel. (App. Exh.8 and 60) On July 14, 1995, the day after the over flight, the Cuban government first declared its intention to shoot down even peaceful intruders. Cuba would not govern itself by international standards of engagement when dealing with non-military intrusions. 

Both the July 13, 1994 sinking of the "13 de Marzo" tugboat and the February 24, 1996 Brothers to the shoot down where coldly calculated premeditated acts ordered by the Castro brothers and carried out by its intelligence and military apparatus.

Castro spies that had been dispatched to South Florida and infiltrated Brothers to the Rescue in order to provide information such as flight times, and commit sabotage.  This same spy network received warnings from their superiors in Havana to avoid flying during certain dates that included February 24, 1996  and if they had to fly what special maneuvers to make to avoid being shot down.

These crimes also occurred at a time when the United States was seeking to normalize relations with Cuba during the Clinton Administration and unfortunately the pattern has repeated itself on a different scale during the Obama administration and long time opposition leaders have met with death under suspicious circumstances that point to state security involvement.

Author, philosopher, humanist and holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel reminded persons of conscience in his 1986 Nobel Lecture that: "There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest." In that spirit I ask you to join me on July 13th wherever you are at 12 noon in a 13 minute silent protest on behalf of the victims and martyrs of the Castro regime. Spread the word to others of good conscience and through letters to the editor,  essays for publication and messages on social media take part in this exercise in memory and truth in the defense of justice and true reconciliation.

 

Reflection on conditional forgiveness, justice and the silent vigil for July's Cuban martyrs

“ Then you shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:32

A version of this essay was published in The Daily Signal on July 13, 2015.

Over the past twenty years I have taken part in acts of remembrance for the 37 victims of the July 13, 1994 "13 de marzo" tugboat massacre and over the past 19 years for the four victims of the February 24, 1996 Brothers to the Rescue shoot down. What has motivated me to do this and to continue is a desire for justice and with these actions engage in preserving memory and the facts known about these two events.  Now in the case of the Brothers to the Rescue shoot down I lost two friends: Mario de la Peña, and Armando Alejandre Jr, but long ago made peace with their untimely passing.

From the start the words of the New Testament informed my political beliefs and in public forums both written and verbal cited a key passage from the Lord's Prayer: "forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." A later biblical passage expands on this passage: " If you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions."

In a letter to the editor to The Miami Herald published on July 30, 1996 I made the case against hatred and revenge and for civility:

Many in this community have suffered torture, the death of loved ones, decades of unjust imprisonment and the separation of families. They have good reason to hate Castro, and his supporters, but for the good of the Cuban nation (inside and outside of Cuba) they must overcome their hatred. In the words of Jesus Christ they must love their enemy. They must save the Cuban nation from the evils committed by this enemy, and not add to them out of a thirst for revenge. Leave revenge to God for that is to whom it belongs. The true test of respect for freedom of expression and of thought is how do we react to what we strongly disagree with. I believe that we have a moral obligation to criticize what we think is wrong in a civil manner, but we also have a moral obligation to protect those we disagree with from violations of their civil and political rights.

I still believe this, and live by it, and this belief is at the root of my profound rejection of the dictatorship in Cuba. The Castro regime's "political culture" is one of misrepresenting, slandering and seeking to destroy not only the person advocating a position they oppose when alive but also their dignity and memory after they have died or been killed.

My opposition to Castroism led not only to a rejection of physical violence but also verbal violence that attacks individuals. Cuba needs a new political culture that places Castroism on the ash heap of history. Change must first come from within each person. This is an appeal to civility. The Institute for Civility in Government offers the following definition: "“Civility is claiming and caring for one’s identity, needs and beliefs without degrading someone else’s in the process.” The democratic resistance in Cuba in order to thrive and succeed must embrace and practice civility fully because it is a necessary prerequisite for effective civic action.

However, civility does not mean accepting the rewriting of history or tolerating continuing or new atrocities committed by the unrepentant dictatorship that exists in Cuba. Like, Antonio "Tony" Ramón Díaz Sánchez, a former prisoner of conscience and secretary general of the Christian Liberation Movement, I reject hatred while at the same time forgiving past injustices but refuse to forgive those that are ongoing or that will be carried out in the future. Because to forgive ongoing and future evils raises the danger of one becoming morally complicit in them or as Tony puts it:

"Because what I do not forgive is that the year has started with the same repression that ended last year. What I can not forgive is that in my country, those who govern, do not recognize the need to change to democracy and allow the people to decide in free and pluralistic elections. I can not and do not want to forgive that right now, at this instant, there are political prisoners in Cuba and that the existing laws guarantee their imprisonment or perhaps the firing squad for others. I do not forgive that young people are living without life projects, while a group in power live as billionaires. Nor do I forgive the complicity of many interests that seek capital now in Cuba without wanting to find out today what is happening there. I do not forgive out of hate. No, no but because forgiving a present and a future of injustice and totalitarianism for your country, is not mercy but complicity with the evil of others."

The extrajudicial killings of Oswaldo José Payá Sardiñas and Harold Cepero Escalante on July 22, 2012 and the ongoing escalation of violence against activists and civilians cannot be ignored or tolerated. Clare Short, a former Labor member of parliament addressing the topic of forgiveness and justice raises two important points that underline the previous raised point of forgiving ongoing injustice and repression:

"Is anger about injustice one of the forces that drives historical progress and important social reform? Is there an important difference between the bitterness,hatred and quest for vengeance that can be so damaging to those who have been hurt or wronged, and the anger that thirsts after justice?" ... "I also agree that the quest for vengeance is also wrong because it so often inflicts harm on people who share an identity with the original perpetrator but have no guilt,and it means the evil of the original harm is recreated in the actions of the person who has been wronged. But all this said, there is such a thing as just anger and those who are subject to continuing oppression can get strength from that anger in order to join with others to liberate themselves. And so I wish to conclude by celebrating forgiveness and reconciliation but also by reminding us that reconciliation can not be the answer when there is a continuing wrong or continuing oppression."

Reconciliation with the Castro regime is presently impossible because of its unwillingness both to be reconciled and to admit any wrong doing. Secondly, according to some experts on the subject a "willingness to forgive" does not necessitate reconciliation or for that matter giving up on justice being served. However for forgiveness to take place it does require repentance and must be conditional. Author and theologian Chris Brauns outlines the argument on his blog which is reproduced below:

•  Christians are called to forgive others as God forgave them (Matthew, 6:12, Ephesians  4:32).
• God forgives conditionally. God only forgives those who repent of their sins and turn in saving faith to Him (1 John 1:9, John 3:36).
• Likewise, we also should offer forgiveness to all. 
• We forgive those who repent.  Indeed, we are obliged to forgive (Luke 17:3-4), knowing that whatever someone has done to offend us pales in comparison to what we have done to offend God (Matthew 18:32-33).

The alternative to this, according to Brauns, that in some quarters is called "unconditional forgiveness" may actually lead a victim to internalize "unforgiveness and bitterness." This is not the path to peace and reconciliation but to its opposite.

Defending memory by pursuing truth and maintaining the call for justice is an ever present opportunity for the other to repent and embrace justice and actual forgiveness. The antithesis of this is "forgiving and forgetting" while injustices are ongoing  and new ones being compounded not only harms the victims but also condemns the perpetrator to continue committing evil acts and is described as a "false reconciliation."   It is preaching forgiveness without repentance which the German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer described as "cheap grace." Forgetting the past and the truths that it holds is a threat to freedom.

It is important to remember what has been done within a context of justice while remaining open to forgiveness by calling on the other side to repent and for civil authorities to hold them accountable for past and present crimes. This is why on July 13, 2015 at noon people of goodwill shall gather in silence for 13 minutes in a demand for justice for the thirty seven men, women,  and children killed on July 13, 1994 and for Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas and Harold Cepero Escalante killed on July 22, 2012 in what has all the hallmarks of a state security extrajudicial execution.  Speaking to family members in both cases who with their faith have not succumbed to hatred, but continue to demand justice. Jorge García who lost 14 relatives on July 13, 1994 expressed it best during a question and answer session at Florida International University on July 13, 2004:

''There are those who think that we should be full of rancor and a thirst for vengeance but I don't want revenge. I feel sorry for the people who assassinated my family. I can never be compensated for my loss. I will never be happy again with my family surrounding me. There will always be a tinge of sadness but I do want there to be a trial so that this situation can serve as a lesson and that these people or others like them in other parts of the world, don't do this kind of thing again. Not in Cuba. Not anywhere.''