GRANMA INTERNACIONAL DIGITAL

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If you consider the dates of these events -the Washington Post articles on May 25; then, in the first half of June a series of statements by officials, lawmakers, anti-drug authorities and others; and a bill promoting to negotiate an agreement with Cuba- and what immediately followed, you can accurately outline and sketch the scheme quickly plotted and readily unleashed by the counterrevolutionary mob, its allies and lobbies working endlessly, round the clock, against Cuba, to thwart any anti-drug cooperation. It is crystal clear, as you will see.

On June 19, that is, almost a month after the two May 25 articles, a favorable climate was creating. Then, El Nuevo Herald, a newspaper that often serves the interests of that mob published an article by journalist Maria Travieso under the heading "Strong Rejection to Anti-Drug War with Cuba", which reads:

"The State Department's announcement that next Monday officials from the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and the Coast Guard service will visit Cuba to cooperate in the fight against drug trafficking caused hot reactions in the Cuban sectors of southern Florida.

"`The sending of these officials did not surprise me. It is consistent with the administration's policy of appeasement and collaboration with Castro's regime,' said Republican congressman for Florida Lincoln Diaz-Balart.

"Diaz-Balart, who received a direct call from the State Department informing him of the officials' trip to Cuba, was clearly very annoyed."

Look how the mechanism works and the fruits of the government timid and hesitant actions against the virulence and permanent blackmail by the anti-Cuban mob. They decide to send some officials to discuss these issues and then call the heads of the mob to humbly inform them that they are sending these people to Cuba. Of course, the outcry, the uproar, the insults and even the threats against the administration immediately began through all possible media and also the maneuvers to jeopardize such action.

"The federal official said that several weeks ago, when the U.S. government leaked information to the press on Castro's alleged support to the war against drugs, the beginning of what we will see on Monday took place'.

"He added that there is a major difference between these meetings and the usual review of agreements by both countries on migratory issues. `They have already admitted' -this insolent says- `that this is a matter of cooperation in an area where Castro has nothing to do, because he is one of the biggest drug traffickers in the world,' Diaz-Balart said."

The article continues: "The Cuban-American National Foundation, through its chairman Alberto Hernández..." -who happens to be the owner of one of the two .50-caliber semi-automatic rifles they were planning to kill me with on Isla Margarita, with a telescopic sight, infrared rays, a 1400-meter range and the capacity to pierce an armored car at 400 meters or to shoot down a plane about to land or moving along a runway, and so on; the owner of one of them, I repeat, is this gentleman.

A boat, also owned by them, was seized in Puerto Rico. By mere chance, a Coast Guard cutter searching for drugs seized it and the powerful weapons were found. Before they realized what was happening, they were already in the hands of the Puerto Rican authorities. This happy owner of the gun "very legally" registered in his name and organizer of the attack continues to live completely free in the United States. He was not included in the trial even when he was the Foundation leader. Now, they have daddy's fair child there but, as always, the other remains at the top.

I continue with the article: "The Cuban-American National Foundation, through its chairman Alberto Hernández, reacted strongly to the announcement: `This is simply outrageous. We will take our opposition wherever necessary. It is unacceptable for the Cuban community in exile and on the island,' he said." The only thing missing was a threat to kill the president of the United States or to shoot him with one of those guns bought there, that are so accurate and have such a long range.

"Other colleagues of Diaz-Balart supported his position. Florida Republican Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen described President Bill Clinton's government attitude as absurd. "This only goes to prove the desire of the Clinton's administration to cooperate with Fidel Castro's dictatorship. To say that his regime collaborates in the war on drugs is as absurd, illogical and incorrect as can be,' she commented."

On July 17, an EFE cable headed "Republican Members of Congress Propose Including Cuba in Drug Certification Process" read as follows:

"Two Republican leaders from the US House of Representatives have proposed including Cuba in the State Department's annual evaluation of countries cooperating in the fight against drug trafficking.

"Congressmen Dan Burton (Indiana)" -a well-known name, it does ring a bell, an off-key bell that has rung loudly in association with a genocidal law, in partnership with Helms; now the big shots come into action, representatives and senators associated with the mob- "and Benjamin Gilman (New York), co-sponsors of the bill, consider that Cuba is one of the main countries involved in international drug trafficking.

"The legislation coincides with reports that the US government is readying to approve new measures to ease the economic embargo on Cuba.

"The State Department does not include Cuba in its evaluation of countries that cooperate with the United States in the anti-drugs fight due to its interpretation that the law does not apply to countries with which it does not engage in trade.

"Two State Department officials visited Havana last month to discuss possible cooperation projects including counter-drug trafficking operations.

"The House of Representatives began its investigation on Cuba and drug trafficking after Colombian police seized seven tons of cocaine on December last that was supposedly destined for a company in Havana."

See how these gentlemen dare to mix Cuba up in this vulgar affair. The United States and Europe have not even been capable of arresting such dangerous subjects. Let them be sent to Cuba to be tried by our courts in a public trial, with absolute and total transparency. There is no need to fear because, in the end, the sanctions later approved by the National Assembly were not yet in force. Let them be sent here and let us argue the case before the courts but, of course, they must be caught first.

Who is helping them so that they cannot be found? Their main crime they committed here where they set up their factory, betrayed the country's good faith and used our opening up to trade, to investments and tourism to try to turn our national territory into a transit point for drug trafficking. They put up a small factory here. It is unquestionably obvious that they had a deliberate intent to traffic in drugs on a large scale. They were already setting up other small financial businesses for loans and other activities.

Now let's see if they can hide in Europe and evade Interpol, which cannot be all that easy. They are well known individuals and must have quite a lot of money. Why have they not been caught? Or could it be that they were sent to set up a provocation against Cuba? What could the reason be? We are demanding that they be captured and sent to our country; that would be fitting. We have a priority right to bring them to trial. It was here that they put up their little factory; it was here that they brought the containers of raw materials secretly stuffed with drugs; it was here that they filled them with products from the factory and sent them to Spain; it was here that they committed their main crimes: bringing in the drugs, handling them, breaking the laws and deceiving the country.

Let them be sent here to be tried: that is our response and our challenge that cannot be eluded; and may lawyers come from all over the world, if they so wish, to defend them, to observe or to take part in the trial and confirm the truth. You can see the way things are twisted, all the tricks, the scheming, the slanders and lies.

I shall continue:

"At the time, however, the US State Department said that there were no links between the drug shipment and Cuban President Fidel Castro's government," concludes the EFE dispatch.

To tell the truth, the FBI, the CIA, the Administration and everybody there knows how things are here; they know it only too well. Of course, they are never concerned about the slanders against Cuba, about the many things that are said against Cuba; that over and over, infamous attempts are made to link personalities from our country, leaders from our country to this repugnant issue, with no respect for anyone.

See how they used the most exemplary trial ever held to turn it into a source of nasty schemes against Cuba; a trial that set an example to the world of how any manifestation, any tendency towards complicity with drug trafficking must be cut at the source.

We also struggle tirelessly against something as common throughout the world as corruption, to which no high official from the Party or the government must ever give in. We cannot be Utopians and aspire to not having any cases of people who commit such misdeeds. Rather, we must fight tenaciously against them within the country's administrative apparatus and, of course, they will never be tolerated in a senior political or government leader. This trench must never be lost. (APPLAUSE)

Here we have a case where the State Department, which is aware of the truth about the matter and our protest at the time of the seizure in Colombia, said according to this article "that there were no links between this drug shipment and Cuban President Fidel Castro's government". It should be acknowledged that this was a State Department's objective and honest statement.

Well then, I shall continue with the wire dispatches because they really help demonstrate how the conspiracy is built up day by day. Remember that we began in late May, and now we have reached July 7.

On July 7 itself, an AFP dispatch from Washington stated:

"Republican Senator Dan Burton introduced a bill before the US Congress on Wednesday to declare Cuba a major drug trafficking state, in light of suspicions that the island's government is an accessory to the smuggling of drugs into the United States."

An EFE dispatch posted in Washington on July 13 -this is another dispatch- reads:

"Three US Cuban American lawmakers -two Republicans and one Democrat- accused the United States of covering up `Castro's tyranny,' the trafficking in human beings and drugs, money laundering and a `series of illicit dealings.'

"They made these accusations because they believe that the governments of Washington and Havana are encouraging the departure of Cubans for the United States to economically benefit Castro.

"Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Lincoln Díaz-Balart, both Republicans for Florida, and Robert Menéndez, Democrat for New Jersey, expressed their annoyance with President Bill Clinton's administration for all the decisions it has adopted in favor of the Cuban government.'

"The members of the US House of Representatives spoke with the press after a meeting with representatives of the State and Justice Departments and the Coast Guard Service on the latest incidents involving Cuban rafters in Florida waters.' They were meeting there with administration officials. Any time they wish, they are received with full honors and given all sorts of explanations.

The dispatch continues: "The three harshly criticized the official authorization given to a group of members of the US Chamber of Commerce to visit the island, as part of Washington's policy of promoting people-to-people contact between the United States and Cuba.

The government agreed to certain measures, a dream, some advice received from the well-known Council on Foreign Relations in New York to change its policy and do something different assuming it was easier to destroy the Revolution by other means. That is the source, it is not new; it was already set out in the Torricelli Act, lots of people-to-people contacts as if the Cuban state and government did not exist. They even subtly raised the matter of sending money, in fact, of every American buying a Cuban but since there are so many Americans and just a little more than 10 million of us, the price of Cubans will rise; there is only one for every 27 Americans.

All this is well known. There has been talk about that policy and other tactics: that the idea of suffocating the country with the blockade should be abandoned; that, on the contrary, they should influence, corrupt, alienate, destroy the Revolution from within. These are two different lines with only one objective but the peaceful one will always be preferable to the other although we know very well the aim pursued by each of them.

III PART