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The View From Cuba

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THE VIEW FROM CUBA


Because I know that many Oread Daily readers would be interested in the Cuban explanation of the recent arrests and trials (See OD 2003.53), I am publishing the following from "Prensa Latina" in its entirety…and without comment. You can judge for yourself what you think.


Cuba Will Confront Internal Subversion Financed by the US


Havana, Apr 10 (PL) The government of Cuba will confront the internal subversion financed by the United States, while safeguarding the physical and moral integrity of the defendants, as happened in the recent cases heard in our courts, affirmed Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque. In his more than three-hour press conference, the chief of Cuban diplomacy pointed out that those who collaborate with enemies to attack their country know that this is a crime. He noted that this was demonstrated in the 29 trials, where 75 counterrevolutionaries were convicted as agents, accepting the stream of money from US agencies.





The route of the dirty money is clear, from the US government to the Island under the cloak of non-governmental organizations or remittances from families, he said.


Perez Roque said that the US Interest Section Office (USIS) in Havana created, directed, financed, stimulated, and protected internal subversion, and that just last year that government handed over more than $8.99 million.





He should know that he is not dealing with an ingenuous people, the minister said, alluding to James Cason, USIS chief in Havana, strongly criticized here for financing and backing counterrevolutionary groups.





Besides the 157 accredited foreign correspondents, there are 2,175 citizens working for 548 media and 200 digital versions as journalists in Cuba, he said. "This is the press in Cuba, not the mercenaries who publish in the Miami Herald what their sponsors tell them," he commented, giving the lie to the allegation that 37 of the defendants tried in Cuban courts this month were journalists, affirming that only four of them practiced that profession in this country.





He became indignant when he said that people could work for a foreign power and receive thousands of dollars in a





country where doctors and other professionals live austerely.


The sentences for the conspirators, determined by the trials in almost all of the nation’s provinces, ranged from seven to 28 years in prison.





Perez Roque accused Washington, particularly USIS chief James Cason, of creating and financing groups in opposition to the Cuban Revolution (1959).





He confirmed that the trials are necessary to preserve the country’s independence, given the US obsession with fabricating a fifth column in the Island.





The principal role in the creation, protection, stimulus and financing of these mercenaries has been taken by the successive US administrations and their representative in Havana, and that was proven in the trials, which took place between April 3 and 7, he noted.





Cuba has fought the White House obsession of fabricating an opposition and fomenting groups that respond to their interests in annexing the country, and in an attempt to overthrow the Revolution, he maintained.





The official declared that Cubans are fighting for their right to self-determination and against pressure and the growing hostility of President George W. Bush" government, which rhetoric and aggression against the Island have increased to surprising levels.





The minister showed the journalists photographs of Cason in numerous activities with several of the convicts, both within the USIS building and in his own official residence.





He also showed copies of the free access passes to USIS given to some of the opposition, as well as invoices and packages of money sent to them by the US government.


Nestor Baguer, president of the so-called Independent Journalists Society, attended some of these meetings with the US diplomat. The minister showed a video taken in the Chancellery revealing Baguer as agent Octavio of Cuban State Security.





Other filmed testimony showed the court appearance in one of the trials of Odilia Collazo, revealed as agent Tania, and who, with Octavio, testified that the counterrevolutionary groups received training and money from the US government.


The defendants were tried on facts, for their conduct, not for their ideas, and they are in no way "prisoners of conscience", Perez Roque went into detail to demonstrate.





Our criminal law delineates crimes and their punishment for those who undermine internal stability, those who spread US propaganda, he remarked.





He denied that they had been submitted to secret trials and explained that the diplomats accredited in Cuba were not present because citizens of their countries were not on trial.


Perez Roque lamented the criticism from several European Union countries, which, he said, are unable to form an independent policy on Cuba.





In his discussion, the Cuban minister held the government of the United States, and in particular, its diplomatic representation in this capital, responsible for the most recent hijacking of planes and boats from the Island and for fomenting internal subversion.


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