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Fidel proposes the creation of a
permanent anti-terrorism tribunal in the hemisphere
PRESIDENT Fidel Castro has proposed the creation of
a permanent anti-terrorism tribunal in the Western
Hemisphere, as a contribution to the battle against
this crime.
Fidel closed the International Conference against
Terrorism, For Peace and Justice, attended by
individuals from 67 countries.
“It
is us, the victims, who know about suffering and
terrorism,” commented Fidel, referring to the
atrocities committed throughout the hemisphere.
He
explained that the Cuban chapter that convened the
conference in Havana from June 2 – 4, could promote
the idea of a body of this kind for the hemisphere.
Alluding to terrorism as the essence of imperialist
politics, he recalled the dropping of nuclear bombs
on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a massacre that still
moves the world today.
After this tragedy, they manufactured tens of
thousands of those kind of bombs, carried out
nuclear experiments on human beings in the United
States and developed methods of torture, he added.
Fidel also recalled the acts of cruelty practiced in
Viet Nam, which caused the deaths of four million
inhabitants, disabling another four million people
and causing uncountable material damage.
Those participating in the conference, which the
Cuban president described as a forum for combat,
have raised their voices against untold criminal
events fostered by successive governments of the
superpower.
(TORTURE) SCHOOL OF THE AMERICAS
“At
which school did they learn these acts of cruelty
and methods of torture that have cost so many lives
that have cost so many lives?” he asked, recalling
the mantle of pain that extends over the people.
With
respect to that subject, he stated that such
teachings were learnt at the School of the Americas
and immediately tried and tested in a spiral of
terror in Argentina, Chile, Central America and
other places.
Weapons such as those were supplied to genocidal
puppet governments by successive US administrations,
he said.
In
demanding that justice be done in the face of such
crimes, including that of the sabotage of a Cuban
passenger plane in 1976, Fidel once again demanded
that the U.S. extradite terrorist Luis Posada
Carriles to Venezuela.
“We
must force them to say how this criminal entered
their territory, even if we have to spend the next
100 years asking that question; they’re stumped and
patience is running out,” he remarked.
“They have to sort out this mess,” he commented,
“the whole story is known and they are committing
very serious errors, given that for the last two
months Cuba has been waiting for a response to the
criticisms about Posada and his accomplices.
“Not
one spokesperson has uttered a single explanatory
word during all this time, they deny knowing
anything,” stated the Cuban president and, at the
same time, called for them not to allow the murderer
to “disappear”.
He
also condemned the self-proclamation on the part of
the right-wing US government to order and carry out
extra-judicial executions of any person affecting
their imperialist interests.
He
said that George W. Bush has endorsed this policy
with a presidential law that would allow them to
kill 100, 200 or 500 individuals, whenever it suits
their purposes, and has even defended this policy
before Congress.
Fidel stated that the “emperor” had proudly stated
to the Senate, clearly referring to those he had
ordered to be eliminated in that way: “They are no
longer a threat to our security.”
“Now
we must ask him how many have been executed, where
are their bodies, and do the families of the victims
know what has happened to them,” he added.
“This is not the way to bring an end to terrorism,
neither is war, as we warned after the September 11
attacks. The way forward is what we are doing here,”
stated the Cuban president, referring to the
conference.
“We
have enough of a sense of morality to make these
demands,” he added and said that in the almost
50-year-old Revolution, there had never been an
extrajudicial execution and no prisoner had ever
been tortured, not even at the Bay of Pigs when
1,300 mercenaries were captured.
“We
have felt a satisfaction at having been loyal to our
principles, because men with few morals do not win
battles, or wars, or help good ideas to triumph.”
Fidel explained that the whole world feels contempt
for the power of the United States, which now no one
fears.
“When human beings lose their fear of power, that
power no longer exists; when human beings call on
ideas, there are no weapons that can stop them,”
commented the president.
“We
are happy for those who possess these weapons,” he
reiterated, “it’s not enough that they’re available
but they have to be used in a war that is lost
before it has started, that doesn’t even have the
support of the US people, who are becoming
increasingly aware of their government’s lack of
morals and ethics.”
The
head of state referred to the lies by the White
House in relation to the alleged measures adopted by
Cuba with respect to diplomats, when the island is
the place where these officials are best treated.
He
stated that they are desperate and capable of the
most incredible provocations in order to terrorize
us, but they cannot damage the Revolution in the
slightest, because it is as strong as cast iron.
Fidel stated that the US government is furious about
all that has been said during the conference, a
point of departure to create an encyclopedia for
current and future generations on the history of our
peoples. We have to unmask it, demoralize it, he
insisted, because it possesses weak morals.
He
recalled that historically, the United States has
used lies to achieve its most minimal of interests,
and quoted what Simón Bolívar predicted so long ago:
that, because of its nature, that country seemed
predestined to spread misery throughout America in
the name of liberty.
Along this road, however, they have had to face the
power and force of ideas, which has prevented them
from taking control of Cuba; thrown them off the
island of Vieques ,which had become an extensive
rifle range for them; and forced them to recognize
Panamanian independence over its canal, he noted.
The
Cuban president referred to the new era that is
beginning in the midst of long and difficult
struggles, with the Bolivarian Alternative for the
Americas, proposed by Venezuelan President Hugo
Chávez to make dreams of solidarity and social
justice become realities.
He
gave as an example the cooperation between Cuba and
Venezuela and praised the advances of the Latin
American country with respect to education, with a
program that is unique in the world.
Fidel criticized the fact that the noble practice of
medicine has been commercialized to such a point
that today in the hemisphere, a great healthcare
disaster reigns, whereas in Cuba and Venezuela
100,000 doctors will graduate over the next decade.
He
warned of the fact that the world is experiencing
one of the worst moments in history, with the
enormous waste of oil, environmental pollution,
economic crisis, and warned that every day there is
less and less arable land, increasing climate
change, droughts and the indiscriminate felling of
forests.
“The
whole thing is madness, they should not be
“disappearing” and assassinating people but working
together to avoid such apocalyptic consequences,” he
affirmed.
“We’ll deal with these issues in the next event,
which will take place relatively soon, and which
will also cover economic and social terrorism,
because I’ve heard the figure here that 100 children
are dying from hunger every day in Argentina, one of
the main producers of wheat, corn, meat, milk and
beans,” he said.
“In all the meetings that we’ve held here over the
years, I don’t believe that any has left such
admiration, warmth and significant value in its
wake,” he concluded. (AIN)
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