GRANMA INTERNACIONAL DIGITAL

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In an ever-shortening space of time, a transition to democracy will be occurring in our country and this makes it advisable for you adopt measures to prevent your current capital investment from being assessed, in that near future, as a form of complicity in causing the ills to which the suffering Cuban population are being subjected.

As can be appreciated, there exists an exact, virtually textual coincidence between the transcribed paragraph from the above-mentioned individuals' letter and those of the Miami terrorist organizations and the CANF letter signed by Mas Canosa, with the perfidious objective of obstructing the country's development and economy in the midst of the special period.

An April 10, 1997 "CALL TO THE COMPATRIOTS IN EXILE," written in City of Havana and signed by Vladimiro Roca and the three other members of the group, states:

...There is currently vigorous debate as to whether it is appropriate or not to send aid to family and friends on the island.... We would like to comment on the effect those remittances could have on the silencing of voices of many people within the country who are in disagreement with the communist regime.

In most cases, the aid is sent by persons who were exiled because of their opposition to the system, and those receiving them here have similar beliefs; nonetheless, the fact of obtaining that additional income has led in practice to a situation where many of the latter are adopting a position of seeming indifference to the national crisis.

Given this reality, we should like to address those who, in spite of criticism, are economically supporting their loved ones who reside in Cuba. We are calling their attention to the fact that if, together with the money, they were to send firm exhortations to the recipients to join the peaceful struggle for change, such an action would translate into a dramatic increase of those who have taken this road in Cuba.

If one part of those recipients of aid were to leave the so-called mass organizations, stop feigning support that they do not feel for the regime, cease their attendance at political events convened by the government, or refuse to participate in the `communist-style elections,' where nobody is elected, although it is not obligatory to vote, that would represent an inestimable contribution to the peaceful struggle that is being waged within our homeland in pursuit of change....

It is the responsibility of our exiled brothers who send such aid to use their influence on relatives and friends so that they can comprehend that simple reality and act accordingly....

Fraternally,

Félix A. Bonne Carcassés

René Gómez Manzano

Vladimiro Roca Antúnez

Martha B. Roque Cabello.

The extremist Miami mafia didn't take long to react to this call.

In a conversation with Luis Fernández, the moderator of Radio Martí's "Rueda de Prensa" program, Florida Congressman Lincoln Díaz-Balart, one of the staunchest supporters of economic warfare against Cuba and of the Torricelli and Helms-Burton Acts, warmly praised the work of the group which launched the call for making remittances sent from the United States conditional on their recipients doing at least three things:

- Seeking ways of helping internal "dissidence"

- Not playing the government's game

- Trying to achieve a high level of abstentionism in the elections

In an interview granted by Vladimiro Roca to commentator Alvaro de Insua, on "Las noticias como son" slot on Radio Martí, on the occasion of that group's first press conference, the following conversation took place:

Counterrevolutionary radio station commentator: "Vladimiro Roca, president of the Social Democratic Party, is the promoter of a call for electoral abstentionism. What role is the Cuban exile movement playing in this appeal?"

Vladimiro Roca's reply: "One of the initial elements of the appeal was the call on brothers in exile, to have people sending remittances to Cubans living here ask them to please abstain from voting, so as to speed up democratization a bit more; in other words, to pressure them with that issue of sending remittances; if I'm sending you money, you're better off than the rest, so do something so that this changes! And abstaining is a very easy thing, not going to vote."

While the government of Cuba authorizes family remittances, which it never accepted prior to the special period given that they are a source of social differences and inequalities, is a outrageous that these "dissidents" should subject the family members sending them and those receiving them to such offensive conditions and demands, and to say, moreover, that most of the recipients think like them and should stop feigning.

The group went on the air - or on the U.S. publicity mass media - again on May 1, 1997, to launch a declaration stating:

"Some weeks ago, our working group made known the essence of its position in relation to the electoral process announced for a few months from now, by exhorting our compatriots to exercise their right to not attend the polls. We are proposing this because, in our estimation, it is the most appropriate course at the present juncture, due to the fact that the government utilizes the number of votes cast as a measure of the popular support that it allegedly enjoys, given that the process lends itself to unscrupulous persons manipulating the electoral results, computing spoiled votes as valid ones; and because going to the polls signifies legitimizing a process which - since it is not pluralist - is solely legitimate for the communist system, and we would be very naive if we were to compare it with that of the genuinely democratic countries.

"The other alternative open to those who are not in agreement with governmental policy, that of spoiling ballots, really doesn't require any calls or campaigns by the opposition, as that will occur spontaneously among those who, against their will, feel obliged to vote."

In July 1997 they published a "CALL TO THE CUBAN PEOPLE," which stated:

Our working group reiterates the appeal it formulated, urging the citizens not to vote, by which action they would not be violating any legal provision. We know this is not easy, because despite the fact that it is not obligatory to do so, the authorities pressure citizens to vote in a thousand ways, so that they can then present a high level of participation as supposed proof of support for the system. We are aware that those holding jobs or have some kind of advantage are afraid of losing them; that those who have small children fear they might hurt their future in some way if they don't act as the regime expects them to. But we are also confident that the people will overcome their fear and take advantage of this small opportunity to demonstrate their desire for peaceful change.

Further on, they affirm:

It's almost unnecessary for us to say that we urge those who do not agree with the system and who, despite everything, go to the polls, to spoil their ballots by writing the word `NO' on them. Nonetheless, we should warn that, in view of the fact that there will not be representatives of the opposition at the polling places, nor international observers, we have reason to believe that part of those spoiled ballots may be altered or manipulated by unscrupulous persons, something which cannot be done in the case of those who abstain from voting.

Given the slanderous nature of these allegations, this text and the allegation that spoiled ballots could be altered or manipulated do not require any response. These are elections in which the ballot boxes are guarded by schoolchildren and any person who is interested can witness the vote count, as millions of citizens in this country know. There have been 12 elections held since 1976, including a plebiscite, and in these 23 years not a single case of electoral fraud has been reported.

The very idea that a Cuban child could face repercussions because his or her parent had not voted is simply repugnant.

On July 11, 1997, René Gómez Manzano sent a letter to Mr. Frank Calzón, which we publish here:

    Mr. Frank Calzón
    1318-18th St. NW
    Washington DC 20036
    Phone (703) 998-8384
        (202) 296-5101

Dear Frank:

I take advantage of this opportunity to send you warm greetings.

Recently someone who has just emigrated from the Motherland came to see me, on your advice. Since he told me that he was interested in economic matters, I told him how to get in touch with Martha Beatriz, since economics are her specialty.

He turned over to me the sum of two hundred dollars ($200 USD) sent by Bette [the emissary who sent a computer from Mr. Calzón]. I thank you for it very much and I would appreciate it if you would let her know that.

As I'm sure you know, a few weeks ago invitations arrived for us from Ambassador Groth [the special rapporteur on Cuba which the United States had managed to impose at the Human Rights Commission in Geneva] to visit him in New York in August. I don't think that will be possible; we already know that the Cuban government does not often authorize that kind of trip, but in any case we are doing the paperwork. I hope I'm wrong about this and have the pleasure of greeting you and other friends from those northern lands personally.
Thanks again with affection, René

René Gómez Manzano

Pure annexationism!

Who is Frank Calzón?

Born in Cuba, he was recruited by the CIA while studying at Georgetown University. He was a member of the counterrevolutionary terrorist organization Abdala and later became the executive director of the Cuban American National Foundation. Obliged to resign due to conflicts with the top leader of that organization, he went on the head the Transition for a Free Cuba program and the foundation known as Freedom House.

As was widely reported, on October 6, 1995, President Clinton, personally and in front of the mass media, had turned over half a million dollars for the purchase of computers, fax equipment, publications and cash to groups within Cuba that opposed the Cuban state. This took place five months and six days before the president of the United States signed the Helms-Burton Act.

In August 1997, David Norman Dorn, Frank Calzón's emissary, was captured in Cuba and deported to the United States, when he attempted to bring equipment and instructions to small counterrevolutionary groups in Cuba. A computer, short-wave radios, several cameras and 2000 dollars in cash were confiscated from him, after he had already distributed large sums of money and equipment to various groups, among them the one led by Vladimiro Roca.

As a consequence of the scandal, in late 1997 Calzón left Freedom House and created a new organization called the Center for a Free Cuba. He immediately received 400,000 dollars from the U.S. government.

The group has received very large amounts of financial and technical resources. Despite the fact that none of them has worked for years, their lifestyles are way above those of the average Cuban. Indeed, one of them, without lifting a finger to do any work in a long time, maintains four different homes, like a self-made sultan of "dissidence," underwritten by the United States.

When asked where these funds came from, they refuse to answer precisely. They allege that they are donations from exiled friends and comrades in struggle.

On June 27, 1997, during a press conference in Martha Beatriz Roque's house called by the group for the purpose of issuing another of their documents, the old traitor Hubert Matos, general secretary of Independent and Democratic Cuba, one of the most aggressive terrorist organizations working against our country which is implicated in assassination attempts against leaders of the Revolution and which has carried out acts of sabotage and attacks on economic installations in our territory, said in these exact words:

"It is a very objective document with very precise arguments.... We all endorse it in the name of Independent and Democratic Cuba."

During the same program, conversing with Martha Beatriz, he said euphorically and enthusiastically, "You can expect solidarity in every sense of the word."

That press conference in Havana was part of a program simultaneously coordinated with two other groups of journalists located in Miami and Washington.

Along with Hubert Matos there was José Basulto, the ringleader of Brothers to the Rescue, one of those supplying four-digit funds for "dissident" Vladimiro Roca's very "patriotic" personal expenses.

At the time of his arrest, among the other things found in his residence were a cap and T-shirt with the insignia of the "Democracy" movement, an affectionate souvenir given to Vladimiro by the old terrorist Ramón Saúl Sánchez, head of that counterrevolutionary group and the organizer of the flotillas perpetrating provocative acts at sea, on the limits of Cuba's jurisdictional waters, which they have violated repeatedly.

It's worth mentioning that Mr. Ramón Saúl Sánchez, when he was 24 years old, was the head of a terrorist organization with the idyllic name of Young People of the Star, part of CORU, a group of counterrevolutionary organizations united by the CIA under the leadership of Orlando Bosch; Ramón Saúl came to be CORU's second-in command.

It is necessary to recall that this organization, under the leadership of the CIA, carried out very serious acts of terrorism against our country. Among them:

April 6, 1976: Two fishing boats, Ferro-119 and Ferro-123, were attacked by pirate motorboats from Florida, causing the death of fisherman Bienvenido Mauriz and seriously damaging the boats.

April 22, 1976: A bomb placed in the Cuban embassy in Portugal caused the death of two comrades and wounded several more, completely destroying the offices.

July 5, 1976: The Cuban mission to the United Nations was the target of a bomb attack, causing significant damage.

July 9, 1976: A bomb exploded in the vehicle carrying the luggage from a Cubana Airlines flight in a Jamaican airport, just before they were to be loaded on the plane. In other words, it was sheer luck that the Cubana airliner which was going to carry that luggage did not blow up in mid-flight on that day.

July 10, 1976: A bomb went off in the British West Indies offices in Barbados, which represented the interests of Cubana Airlines in that country.

July 23, 1976: A technician from the National Fishing Institute, Artagnán Díaz Díaz, was murdered during an attempt to kidnap the Cuban consul in Mérida.

August 9, 1976: Two Cuban embassy officials in Argentina were kidnapped and there has been no word of them since.

August 18, 1976: A bomb exploded in the Cubana Airlines offices in Panama, causing considerable damage.

October 6, 1976: The most monstrous crime of all: a Cubana airliner with 73 persons on board was destroyed in mid-flight.

Vladimiro Roca and his band of four "dissidents," now known as "political prisoners," have such peaceful intentions and beatific friendships!

PART III