The true story & challenge of Cuban journalists- II
Fidel Castro Ruz

THAT same night I visited the wounded from both sides. We couldn’t go ahead with the plan. Up until then, communications between Trujillo and the counterrevolution in the Escambray had taken place through short wave. Trujillos’s official radio station broadcast triumphant military reports similar to those we would hear from Radio Swan and Miami in the days of Giron. We never used Cuba’s public stations to spread false official reports.
It would have been possible to continue with the game even after the plane had been seized and Luis del Pozo Jimenez and Roberto Martin Perez Rodriguez were arrested. We could have faked a mechanic failure of the plane that should have returned there, but that would have misled and confused our people, which were by then restless over the news about the alleged counterrevolutionary victories in Escambray publicly spread from Trujillo City. That August 13, 1959 was my 33rd birthday. I was in my prime, physically and mentally strong.
It was a major revolutionary victory, but at the same time a signal about the times that would come and a sad gift from Rafael Leonidas Trujillo on my anniversary. Twenty months later we would be fighting at Giron; there would be violence and bloodshed in the Escambray, by the sea shore, in towns and all over the country. It was the counterrevolution organized by the United States. In that country they would have executed Roberto Martin Perez Rodriguez and Luis del Pozo Jimenez, as mercenaries in the service of an enemy power. The Revolutionary Courts sentenced them to prison, and they were not mistreated. What was the final destiny of Martin Perez? He migrated to the United States, legally, and he is today a standard bearer of the Cuban American terrorist Mafia which supports Republican candidate McCain.
A distinguished Canadian journalist and researcher, Jean-Guy Allard, describes the terrorist life of Roberto Martin Perez Rodriguez as follows: “…in fact, since early in his life, ‘Macho’ (his nickname) Martin Perez joined the Batista police and, for his special merits, that is, his beating of the prisoners in the last months of the bloody regime, he earned the rank of Sergeant.
“Both, the father and son were so close to Batista that, on January 1st, 1959, instead of running away to Miami, they followed the dictator to his sanctuary in the Dominican Republic. “…released on May 29, 1987…in 1989 he joined the Cuban American National Foundation (CANF) established by the CIA under Ronald Reagan.
“He would very soon be leading the paramilitary committee created by this organization which ensures the financing, among others, of the terrorist group Alpha 66 and other extremist groups acting against Cuba. “…Martin Perez Rodriguez took part in the arrangement of a series of failed attempts on the life the President of Cuba during various Ibero American Summits. “In 1994, on the occasion of Fidel’s attendance to the 4th Summit, in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia… he purchased a 50 mm Barret gun and explosives which were transferred to Colombia from Miami…by plane! …he plotted with Jimenez Escobedo and Eugenio LLameras with a view to the 5th Ibero American Summit in 1995. That year, he revived the same plan for the Non Aligned Movement Summit, also in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia. “In 1997, at Margarita Island, Venezuela, on the occasion of the 7th Ibero American Summit of Heads of Sate and Government, Posada mounted another conspiracy with direct support from Martin Perez Rodriguez and other leaders of CANF…”
“…he signed the Declaration of support for terrorism against Cuba published by the Foundation on August 11th…Roberto Martin Perez, Feliciano Foyo and Horacio Garcia are some of the people Posada publicly named as the ‘financiers’ of his terrorist actions during his interview with the New York Times in 1997.
“…he sponsored in Miami an exhibition of paintings by [Orlando] Bosch and Posada [Carriles], the two masterminds of the sabotage against the Cuban civilian plane, in 1976, where 73 people were killed. “In 1998, the great advocate of the ‘political prisoner’ carried out one of his dirtiest deeds: with other Miami Mafia ringleaders…he led the new FBI chief, the very corruptible Hector Pesquera, to the arrest of five Cubans who had infiltrated the ranks of the terrorist organizations.
“…his unfailing friendship with Guillermo Novo Sampol, the murderer of Chilean leader Orlando Letelier is well known… “The Republican candidate should know that his 73-year-old protégé was the first to assert that on the day of his longed for victory over the Cuban Revolution he would drive a bulldozer from the Cabo San Antonio to the Punta de Maisi  crushing the island population guilty of any links with the Revolution. “…on another occasion, asked about the risk of killing innocents in an attempt on Cuban leaders he said that he didn’t care if ‘the Pope died’.” The historical truth tells us that John McCain’s father commandeered the amphibious attack, the invasion and occupation of the Dominican Republic in 1965 against the nationalist forces led by Francisco Caamaño, another great hero of that nation whom I knew very well and who always had confidence in Cuba.
I dedicate this Reflection on historical events to our dear journalists, since it coincides with the 8th Congress of the Union of Cuban Journalists (UPEC, by its Spanish acronym), whom I consider like family. How I would have liked to study the techniques of their trade! The UPEC has been very generous in publishing a book under the title Fidel, the journalist, which will be presented tomorrow afternoon. They sent me a copy with several articles published in clandestine or legal newspapers over five decades ago, with a prologue by Guillermo Cabrera Alvarez and the selection, introduction and notes by Ana Nuñez Machin.
I gave Guillermo Cabrera the nickname of “the genius” since I first met him. It was the impression I received from that great man who unfortunately passed away last year.  He had had a heart surgery some time ago at the prestigious Cardiovascular Center established by our Revolution in Santa Clara City. I reread some of the articles published in Alerta, Bohemia and La Calle, and I relived those years. 
I wrote those articles when I felt the need to convey certain ideas. I did it out of pure revolutionary instinct. I always applied the principle that words should be simple and the concepts understandable to the masses. Today I have more experience, but I’m not as strong; it’s harder for me to do it. Our people’s educational level is higher with the Revolution, thus the task is more difficult. From the revolutionary point of view, discrepancies are not important; it is the honesty of the opinion that counts. And, it is from the contradictions that the truth will emerge. Perhaps, it would be worthwhile some other time to make an effort to make some observations on this issue.
Yesterday, an important event took place, which will be an issue the following days. This is the release of Ingrid Betancourt and a group of people held by the FARC, that is, the Revolutionary Armed Forces from Colombia. On January 10th this year, our ambassador to Venezuela, German Sanchez, following a request of the Venezuelan and Colombian governments, took part in the release of Clara Rojas to the International Red Cross. She had been a candidate to vice President of Colombia when Ingrid Betancourt was running for President and was kidnapped on February 23, 2002. Consuelo Gonzalez, a member of the House of Representatives, kidnapped on September 10, 2001, was released with her.
An era of peace was opening for Colombia. This is a process Cuba has been supporting for over two decades, as it is most convenient for the unity and peace of the peoples of our America, using new ways in the special and complex circumstances prevailing after the demise of the USSR in the early 1990s —which I wont try to analyze here— very different from those existing in Cuba, Nicaragua and other countries in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s of the 20th century. The bombing of a camp in Ecuadorian soil in the early hours of March 1st, —while Colombian guerrillas and young visitors from different nationalities were sleeping— using Yankee technology; the occupation of the territory, the coup de grace on the wounded and the kidnapping of corpses as part of the terrorist plan from the United States government was repudiated the world over. Rio Group meeting was then held in the Dominican Republic on March 7th. There the events were strongly condemned while the US administration applauded.
Manuel Marulanda, a peasant and communist militant, the main leader of that guerrilla founded almost half a century ago was still alive. He passed away on the 26th of that same month. Ingrid Betancourt, feeble and sick, as well as other captives with a serious health condition could hardly resist any longer.
Out of a basically humanist sentiment, we rejoiced at the news that Ingrid Betancourt, three American citizens and other captives had been released. The civilians should have never been kidnapped neither should the militaries have been kept prisoners in the conditions of the jungle. These were objectively cruel actions. No revolutionary purpose could justify it. The time will come when the subjective factors should be analyzed in depth.
We won our revolutionary war in Cuba by immediately releasing every prisoner absolutely unconditionally. The soldiers and officers captured in battle were released to the International Red Cross; we only kept their weapons. No soldier will ever surrender if he thinks he will be killed or subjected to cruel treatment. We are watching with concern how the imperialists try to capitalize on what happened in Colombia in order to hide and justify their heinous crimes of genocide against other peoples. They want to deflect international attention from their interventionist plans in Venezuela and Bolivia and from the presence of the 4th Fleet in support of the political line that intends to obliterate the independence of the countries located south of the United States while taking possession of their natural resources.
These should be illustrative examples for all of our journalists. In our times, truth is navigating rough seas, where the mass media are in the hands of those threatening human survival with their immense economic, technologic and military resources. That’s the challenge faced by the Cuban journalists!

Justice for Darfur? What about Iraq?
Aijaz Zaka Syed

FEW issues have exercised me as much as the conflict in Darfur has. One hates to blow one’s trumpet but I have the dubious distinction of being the first journalist from the Middle East to break the silence on the genocide in Sudan. When I first wrote about Darfur way back in 2006 criticising the deafening silence of the Arab and Muslim world on the genocide, it was as though I had hit the proverbial hornets’ nest with lots of brickbats — and some bouquets — coming my way. Not surprisingly, most of those brickbats originated in Sudan. It was a blistering critique of the government of Sudan and its incredibly inept handling of the Darfur conflict.
That article, and subsequent ones, censured the Sudanese leadership for its failure to rein in the bloodthirsty militias and warlords prowling in the region who have killed hundreds of thousands of people from a besieged minority and drove millions from their homes. (By the way, few people even in the Muslim world seem to realise that those at the receiving end in Darfur also happen to be Muslim. Not that it makes any difference in the cutthroat, survival-of-the-fittest world of the Dark Continent!) Today, as the International Criminal Court at The Hague deliberates on the fate of Sudan President Omar Bashir for ‘genocide and crimes against humanity,’ you would think people like us who have regularly written about the conflict would be delighted by the development. And all those human rights groups and aid agencies, the courageous soldiers of humanity who have relentlessly toiled and endangered their own lives to save a defenceless people, would be relieved.
Unfortunately, this is not the case. It’s too simplistic and dangerously naïve to assume that President Omar Bashir planned and perpetrated the atrocities against the people of Darfur, just as Yugoslavian president Slobodan Milosevic did against the Muslims of Bosnia Herzegovina and Kosovo in 1990’s. The Sudan regime may be guilty of not doing enough to stop the mass murder, rape and persecution of the ethnic minority. The regime could certainly have done more to deal with the murderous thugs of Janjaveed militia whose reign of terror is far from over despite the presence of UN peacekeepers and African Union troops.
Sudan’s leaders could and should have done more to alleviate the suffering in the region by working with the UN agencies and aid groups. By refusing to allow in the UN peacekeepers and relief agencies in initial years of the conflict, the authorities exacerbated the humanitarian crisis and multiplied the woes of the local population. But it would be unfair and unreasonable to accuse President Bashir of being the architect of the Darfur catastrophe. God knows I am no fan of the Sudan leader. And I do not doubt the intentions of monsieur Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the high profile chief prosecutor of the world court. I know he means well. The honesty of his intentions is demonstrated by the number of war criminals he has brought before the ICC since its inception. The world court has issued warrants at least in 10 cases presented before it by Ocampo, including those for the mass murderers of the Balkan wars in the last decade of the last century. But is monsieur Ocampo on the equally firm-footing in this case? We are not so sure.
It is feared that the prosecution of Bashir will achieve too little too late at an incalculable cost to the people of Darfur. More to the point, notwithstanding Ocampo’s good intentions, the world court cannot put Bashir in the dock because Sudan as yet does not come under the jurisdiction of the world court. The African country, just like Bush’s America, the leader of the free world and champion of human rights, is not a member of the ICC. In fact, instead of making a difference to the unfortunate lot of Darfurians, the prosecution of President Bashir could actually end up aggravating the humanitarian crisis in Sudan.
The African Union has warned of a ‘dangerous leadership vacuum and chaos’ in Sudan if attempts are made to prosecute Bashir. Even the United Nations fears grave consequences of such an action. It has already put its peacekeepers and personnel on high alert fearing reprisal attacks by the militias and Sudanese forces. Not to mention the increased threat to the people of Darfur themselves, as a consequence of such an action. This is no defence of the Sudan leader. But if we are really talking accountability, fair play, justice and equality before law, what about dealing with other perpetrators of crimes against humanity? I respect ICC chief prosecutor Ocampo for his courage to bring justice to the people of Darfur. But I would respect him even more when and if he brings justice to the people of Iraq and Afghanistan too. In case, the ICC official has failed to notice, more people have died in Iraq and Afghanistan than those claimed by the conflict in Sudan over the past five years. And don’t forget the mass killings in Iraq started almost around the same time as they did in Darfur. Information Clearing House, a funny sounding but diehard anti-war online publication based in the US, (www.informationclearinghouse.info), in its daily newsletter keeps telling me how many more innocents have died the day before in Iraq. Yesterday, ICH reminded me that the number of Iraqis killed since the US invasion stood at 1,236,604. That is more than a million lives!

—Khaleej Times

Importance of Madrid conference
Abdul Aziz Valiyaveetil

IT is indeed welcoming to know that a three-day interfaith conference has been organized in Madrid this week by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah. I hope the conference, which began on July 16, will discuss ways for different communities, religions and cultures to find ways to achieve common human values. God willing, this will be a groundbreaking event. The selection of the venue is appropriate because Spain is a country where Muslims, Christians and Jews lived in peace for centuries. It is horrific to note that extremism, prejudice and fanaticism are spreading - something that may eventually lead to a collision. It is a historical fact that religious, cultural and ethnic differences have led to misunderstandings, hostilities and conflict.
The root cause of conflict is ignorance, which is also the source of prejudice. By attacking innocents, the so-called jihadists have proved that they are in no way better than the imperialists. If we allow this trend to continue, much innocent blood will be shed and the world will be in turmoil. There is a general impression that we should retaliate to overpower and defeat the enemy. However, this view is against the basic tenets of the religion of peace.
Every Muslim agrees that the monotheistic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam trace their roots back to Prophet Abraham (peace be upon him). But beyond this concept, the Qur’an has clearly mentioned that every authentic religion was one and the same in its original form. The Qur’an (17:70) proclaims that all human beings should be treated with respect, irrespective of their race and religion. Religion is the source of the humanitarian vision capable of bringing together believers and nonbelievers alike for committed action for peace. The starting point should be our common humanity, our obligation to God and respect for one another. Religion, like any other thing, can be abused. Extremism is not the monopoly of a particular religion. When religion is twisted to fit a political agenda based on violence, hate and war, it is an abuse of religion. We understand that religions, in their true spirit, promote the values of equality, tolerance, justice, reconciliation and forgiveness.
As history shows, religious faith or belief can often prove to be a much stronger force than considerations of pure self-interest. If all religions become less exclusive and more inclusive, less sectarian and more universal, less ritual-oriented and more value-based in their approach and orientation, then this would have great impact on world peace. The increasing influence of the exclusive, sectarian, ritual-oriented interpretation of religion is one of the most formidable challenges of our time. The Madinah Charter that was signed by the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) with leaders of Judaism and Christianity during his time provides answers to questions about how people of different faiths can live harmoniously and settle disputes. It offers a superior model for the conduct of dialogue in a pluralistic society, and ways to establish political and social relationships among different groups. A Muslim should deal with all human beings with love and affection after understanding these meanings and principles.

—Arab News