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On
September 20th, 2001, when the generous and hard-working
people of the United States were overcome with grief over
the loss of thousands of their children following an
abominable act of terrorism, during an address to a Joint
Session of Congress and the American people, President
George Bush declared: "Tonight we are a country awakened to
danger..."
The people
of Cuba, sensitive to the pain of the relatives of the
innocent victims of September 11 shared, as no other people
in the world, in the grief and the feelings that gripped all
US citizens at the time. As a nation, Cuba has not had a
moment’s rest in over half a century, shaken by the constant
fear of enduring new acts of terrorism. Shockingly, the
terrorists who have murdered over 3,478 Cubans walk the
streets of Miami free of all care. One of them even boasts
of his actions and declares that his crimes do not rob him
of a wink of sleep.
This
monster, responsible for the deaths of citizens in three
different continents, is named Luis Posada Carriles. On May
8th, it will be a year since he was set free in the United
States, a country that claims to be the leader of a crusade
against terrorism.
The
government of the United States fails to meet the treaties
for the struggle against terrorism it has signed by failing
to try Luis Posada Carriles as terrorist. The government of
the United States violates the extradition treaty it signed
with Venezuela in 1922 by ignoring the request of the sister
nation of Venezuela to try this notorious terrorist and
fugitive from justice in Venezuela.
There is
no shortage of moral reasons to demand the trial of the
monster who ended the lives of our relatives. We feel
genuine pride at being the children of a revolution that has
preached respect towards human life through example.
This past
May 6th marked 10 years since our revolutionary government
alerted the Clinton administration, through Nobel Prize
laureate Gabrial Garcia Marquez, of terrorist plans
targeting commercial airliners. This timely forewarning
spared us the tears of new, orphaned children, children who
would have cried, as we did, over the death of our parents.
It pains
us to know that five anti-terrorist activists, responsible
for this opportune and life-saving alert, are unjustly
imprisoned in US jails.
It is
absurd that the mastermind behind the worst crime against
civil aviation ever to be perpetrated in the hemisphere
should be free in Miami, while federal security
organizations, conscious of the extreme danger he
represents, have barred him from travelling in US commercial
airliners.
Posada
Carriles, a confessed murderer and active terrorist, is
given the freedom denied the five Cuban anti-terrorist
activists.
Today,
before the international community, we affirm once again
that we shall not rest a minute in our demand for justice
and that this criminal, who shows no remorse over his
terrorist past, be brought to justice.
We demand
that the government of the United States, if it is unwilling
to try the notorious terrorist, accept his extradition to
the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
We demand
that, if it is unwilling to meet its international
commitments, the government of the United States publicly
recognize that Posada Carriles is a terrorist it is
duty-bound to protect.
This past
May 2nd, the Miami-based Cuban-American mafia feted the
monster, whom they referred to, significantly, as the
"Champion of Freedom".
Mr. Bush,
put all hypocrisy aside and stop lying to your people.
Acknowledge, once and for all, that Posada Carriles is your
terrorist-for-hire, that you require his terrorist services.
On September 20th, 2001, you stated that unchecked terror
can not only tear down buildings but also threaten the
stability of legitimate governments.
Mr. Bush,
you should acknowledge, once and for all, that you need the
type of terrorism your administration perpetrates against
Cuba to go unchecked. We know the reasons behind this very
well, you yourself admitted to them in a speech you
delivered on October 24th last year, when you stated: "the
key word in our future relations with Cuba is not
‘stability’ but ‘freedom’."
More than
three decades have elapsed since the abominable mid-air
bombing of the civilian plane was perpetrated. Many of the
fathers who survived their murdered children are no longer
with us, having passed away with great pain in the hearts
over the loss of their beloved child and the impunity that
has surrounded the crime.
We make
our Commander in Chief’s recent declaration our own:
"neither the living nor the dead" shall cease to demand that
terrorist Luis Posada Carriles be brought to justice. Let no
one harbor any doubts about this: humanity’s thirst for
justice is on our side.
WE DEMAND
JUSTICE!
Granma
07-05-2008 |
