The case of the Cuban Five, one of the Top 25 Censored Stories of 2006-2007
posted by F Espinoza | 07.02.2008 00:00 | Analysis | Terror War
The case of the Cuban Five, one of the Top 25 Censored Stories of 2006-2007 in:
http://www.projectcensored.org
http://www.projectcensored.org
The case of the Cuban Five, one of the Top 25 Censored Stories of 2006-2007.
Read the full article in:
http://www.projectcensored.org/Chapter6_CubanFive.pdf
Posada Carriles Missing from Most Wanted List
Code Pink* urges Justice Department to act.
JUAN ANTONIO BORREGO AND CALIXTO N. LLANES, special correspondents
CARACAS.— When US government began posting photos of the most sought after terrorists in 20 cities, including Miami, earlier this year, the anti-war organization Code Pink called the FBI to ask if Luis Posada Carriles was on the list.
"No. He was on the list, but not anymore," was the cynical response from the agent, noted Medea Benjamin, leader of the feminist group founded in November 2002 to oppose the idea of the US president to fight violence with more violence.
"We see that the Bush administration is looking in far off lands for terrorists: in Afghanistan, in Pakistan. However, there are many living peacefully in our own country. Posada Carriles is one case and he should be the most sought after. For that reason when we learned that he wasn’t on the list we decided to launch a campaign to put him where he belongs, on trial in the United States or sent to Venezuela as provided in the valid extradition treaty between the two countries."
We understand that the campaign began in Miami?
M.B.- Yes, on January 12 of this year, but despite assurances from the police and FBI that our safety would be guaranteed, we were attacked by violent Posada supporters in front of the Versalles Restaurant. First they attacked our car and later, the following day, they threw eggs, water bottles and spit on us… We were a group of six women and they were 300, mostly men.
We are going to demonstrate again on February 9 and hope that the Miami authorities comply with their duty, because there are people there that have no respect for the US Constitution nor our right to launch this campaign.
Has your organization taken any legal action against Posada Carriles?
One of the reasons why I’m here in Venezuela is to speak with the people responsible for the extradition request. They already gave us a copy of the petition and with this we are going to knock on many doors, for example the Justice Department, Congress and international organizations as well.
Once a campaign like this begins and you see the injustices that surround the case, you realize that we are just at the beginning, but we are going to steadfastly continue educating people because the great majority doesn’t know who Posada Carriles is nor have any idea of his dirty history. In the process I believe many things are going to come to light: like his entire history with the CIA, and all the ties with the Bush family.
Is Code Pink aware of the case of the Cuban Five?
It’s a tremendous contradiction that five people that were precisely trying to prevent terrorism are in jail and Posada Carriles continues free. He is responsible for the death of 73 persons on a Cubana Airlines flight and also for the death of an Italian tourist at a Havana hotel and many other cases. In Venezuela I have met with several victims of the tortures of Luis Posada when he worked for the DISIP [secret police].
So these are two cases that the US society doesn’t know enough about?
The case of the Cuban Five is incredible, but we also see those in Guantanamo, and the tortures at Abu Ghraib, in Iraq. The Bush administration is full of examples of violations of human rights and international laws. We US citizens must not only continue struggling to change the politics of the United States, of those that are in the White House, of those in Congress, but also so that those responsible for terrorist acts be imprisoned.
*The name Code Pink was adopted by the group as an anti-war reply to the system of codes adopted by the US government (yellow, orange, red…) in its supposed fight against terrorism.
http://www.codepink4peace.org
http://www.codepink4peace.org/article.php?list=type&type=344
http://www.granma.cubaweb.cu/english/news/art14.html
Other news related with the Cuban Five:
- Prepared Statement of Journalist Ann Louise Bardach:
http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/110/bar111507.htm
- The Five Cuban Prisoners - Defending Against Terrorism (Philip Agee):
http://www.freethefive.org/updates/IntlMedia/IMAgee112007.htm
- Luis Posada Carriles and the Bombing of Cubana Flight CU-455 (Peter Kornbluh):
http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/110/kor111507.htm
- Testimony for Hearing before Committee on Foreign Affairs’ Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights and Oversight (Blake Fleetwood):
http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/110/fle111507.htm
- U.S./Cuba: Justice Not So Blind in Politically Charged Cases:
http://www.ipsnews.net/print.asp?idnews=40994
- The case of the Cuban Five: Where we come from, where we go from here:
http://www.freethefive.org/legalFront/LFRoberto012908.htm
- FBI turned to perjury to protect Posada:
http://www.freethefive.org/usTerrorism/USTerrFBIPerjury012508.htm
- Former Panamanian Officials on Trial for Release of Posada Carriles:
http://www.cubanews.ain.cu/2008/0108posadacarriles.htm
- The coddled "terrorists" of South Florida:
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/01/14/cuba/print.html
More:
http://www.antiterroristas.cu
http://www.freethefive.org/usTerrorism/USTerrDelahuntHearing111507.htm
http://www.freethefive.org
http://www.granma.cu/miami5/ingles/index.html
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB153/
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/news/20071115/index.htm
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB222/index.htm
In Great Britain and Ireland:
http://www.cuba-solidarity.org.uk/
http://www.ratb.org.uk/
http://www.cubansarecoming.org/
http://www.cubasol-manch.org.uk/
http://www.cymru-cuba.cjb.net/
http://www.cubasupport.com/
Read the full article in:
http://www.projectcensored.org/Chapter6_CubanFive.pdf Posada Carriles Missing from Most Wanted List
Code Pink* urges Justice Department to act.
JUAN ANTONIO BORREGO AND CALIXTO N. LLANES, special correspondents
CARACAS.— When US government began posting photos of the most sought after terrorists in 20 cities, including Miami, earlier this year, the anti-war organization Code Pink called the FBI to ask if Luis Posada Carriles was on the list.
"No. He was on the list, but not anymore," was the cynical response from the agent, noted Medea Benjamin, leader of the feminist group founded in November 2002 to oppose the idea of the US president to fight violence with more violence.
"We see that the Bush administration is looking in far off lands for terrorists: in Afghanistan, in Pakistan. However, there are many living peacefully in our own country. Posada Carriles is one case and he should be the most sought after. For that reason when we learned that he wasn’t on the list we decided to launch a campaign to put him where he belongs, on trial in the United States or sent to Venezuela as provided in the valid extradition treaty between the two countries."
We understand that the campaign began in Miami?
M.B.- Yes, on January 12 of this year, but despite assurances from the police and FBI that our safety would be guaranteed, we were attacked by violent Posada supporters in front of the Versalles Restaurant. First they attacked our car and later, the following day, they threw eggs, water bottles and spit on us… We were a group of six women and they were 300, mostly men.
We are going to demonstrate again on February 9 and hope that the Miami authorities comply with their duty, because there are people there that have no respect for the US Constitution nor our right to launch this campaign.
Has your organization taken any legal action against Posada Carriles?
One of the reasons why I’m here in Venezuela is to speak with the people responsible for the extradition request. They already gave us a copy of the petition and with this we are going to knock on many doors, for example the Justice Department, Congress and international organizations as well.
Once a campaign like this begins and you see the injustices that surround the case, you realize that we are just at the beginning, but we are going to steadfastly continue educating people because the great majority doesn’t know who Posada Carriles is nor have any idea of his dirty history. In the process I believe many things are going to come to light: like his entire history with the CIA, and all the ties with the Bush family.
Is Code Pink aware of the case of the Cuban Five?
It’s a tremendous contradiction that five people that were precisely trying to prevent terrorism are in jail and Posada Carriles continues free. He is responsible for the death of 73 persons on a Cubana Airlines flight and also for the death of an Italian tourist at a Havana hotel and many other cases. In Venezuela I have met with several victims of the tortures of Luis Posada when he worked for the DISIP [secret police].
So these are two cases that the US society doesn’t know enough about?
The case of the Cuban Five is incredible, but we also see those in Guantanamo, and the tortures at Abu Ghraib, in Iraq. The Bush administration is full of examples of violations of human rights and international laws. We US citizens must not only continue struggling to change the politics of the United States, of those that are in the White House, of those in Congress, but also so that those responsible for terrorist acts be imprisoned.
*The name Code Pink was adopted by the group as an anti-war reply to the system of codes adopted by the US government (yellow, orange, red…) in its supposed fight against terrorism.
http://www.codepink4peace.org http://www.codepink4peace.org/article.php?list=type&type=344 http://www.granma.cubaweb.cu/english/news/art14.html Other news related with the Cuban Five:
- Prepared Statement of Journalist Ann Louise Bardach:
http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/110/bar111507.htm - The Five Cuban Prisoners - Defending Against Terrorism (Philip Agee):
http://www.freethefive.org/updates/IntlMedia/IMAgee112007.htm - Luis Posada Carriles and the Bombing of Cubana Flight CU-455 (Peter Kornbluh):
http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/110/kor111507.htm - Testimony for Hearing before Committee on Foreign Affairs’ Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights and Oversight (Blake Fleetwood):
http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/110/fle111507.htm - U.S./Cuba: Justice Not So Blind in Politically Charged Cases:
http://www.ipsnews.net/print.asp?idnews=40994 - The case of the Cuban Five: Where we come from, where we go from here:
http://www.freethefive.org/legalFront/LFRoberto012908.htm - FBI turned to perjury to protect Posada:
http://www.freethefive.org/usTerrorism/USTerrFBIPerjury012508.htm - Former Panamanian Officials on Trial for Release of Posada Carriles:
http://www.cubanews.ain.cu/2008/0108posadacarriles.htm - The coddled "terrorists" of South Florida:
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/01/14/cuba/print.html More:
http://www.antiterroristas.cu http://www.freethefive.org/usTerrorism/USTerrDelahuntHearing111507.htm http://www.freethefive.org http://www.granma.cu/miami5/ingles/index.html http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB153/ http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/news/20071115/index.htm http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB222/index.htm In Great Britain and Ireland:
http://www.cuba-solidarity.org.uk/ http://www.ratb.org.uk/ http://www.cubansarecoming.org/ http://www.cubasol-manch.org.uk/ http://www.cymru-cuba.cjb.net/ http://www.cubasupport.com/
posted by F Espinoza
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Sign the new Petition for the Cuban Five
07.02.2008 08:05
05 February 2008
THE Cuba Solidarity Campaign is launching a drive to collect 5,000 signatures in order to secure visiting rights for the families of the Miami Five.
To sign the petition email you name and address to:
or download a copy of the petition form at:
BACKGROUND TO THE CASE
On top of the unjust sentences being served by the Cubans, in 2007 the US Government granted visas to only two of their family members. For 18 months the men’s families have been forced to wait to for word about when - and if - they can travel to visit their sons, fathers or husbands.
The most extreme case is that of the wives of René González and Gerardo Hernández. Olga Salanueva and Adriana Pérez have not been allowed to visit them for seven and nine years respectively. September 12th marked the ninth anniversary of their arrest and the US Government chose to mark that anniversary by once again denying visas to the women.
More than a hundred people from 27 countries have formed an organisation called the International Commission for the Right of Family Visits on Behalf of Family Members of the Miami Five.
Father Geoff Bottoms, chair of CSC’s Miami Five Campaign, is one of two British representatives on the commission, and the other is MEP Glenys Kinnock.
Fr Bottoms said: “The US authorities are abusing the human rights of Adriana Pérez and Olga Salanueva.
“We demand that they are granted visas.
“It is crucially important that we collect the 5,000 signatures as soon as possible so that we can demonstrate the depth of feeling about this grave injustice, and so I am calling on CSC’s members to put pen to paper for the families of the Miami Five.”
The commission bases its demand on the families’ rights to visit their loved ones in prison, a right backed by the United Nations, MPs, and Members of the European Parliament in a Written Declaration tabled last year. The commission includes personalities such as Noam Chomsky, Danny Glover and Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchú.
Dr. Miriam Palacios-Callender, a Cuban resident in the UK and CSC member, rececently collected one hundred signatures from women to accompany a letter she sent to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Dr Miriam said: “As women signing this letter we wish to express our concern for the repeated refusals by the US government to grant the visas. Olga and Adriana are asking for the most elementary right to see their husbands who have been unjustly and illegally incarcerated in different prisons in U.S. since 1998.”
SIGN THE CSC PETITION TODAY
1.Email your name and address to:
2.Download a copy of the petition form at:
3. Forward this link to your friends families and colleagues and ask them to sign the petition today.
From:
Music Fund for Cuba fundraiser
featuring live latin band 'Cubania'
The Theatre, Leytonstone Library,
Saturday 9 February
8-11.30pm
"CUBANIA"
(live Latin band)
The Theatre, Leytonstone Library, Church Lane E11 1HG
(Leytonstone tube 100 metres)
Bar/cocktails
Tickets £8 adv. £9 on door
Sales: phone John 020 8989 8752
enquiries:
Find out more about the Music Fund for Cuba at
from:
States of Exchange: Artists from Cuba (exhibition)
Rivington Place, London, EC2A 3BA
23 January - 22 March 2008
States of Exchange: Artists from Cuba, Iniva's first major exhibition at Rivington Place, provides a dynamic and thought-provoking exploration of the complexities of economic and information exchange in contemporary Cuba.
Public opening hours: Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday: 11am-6pm
Late Thursdays: 11am-9pm (Last admission 8.30pm)
Saturday: 12noon-6pm
Sunday, Monday: Closed
Admission: Free
Nearest tubes: Old Street & Liverpool Street
'States of Exchange aims to show how artists in Cuba discuss contradictions, ambiguities and social negotiations in Cuban life, leading a critical culture that prevails in the country since the mid 80s'
Gerardo Mosquera
Artists in Exhibition: Iván Capote, Yoan Capote, Jeanette Chávez, Diana Fonseca, Wilfredo Prieto, Lázaro Saavedra
Artists in Screenings:, Raychel Carrión, Javier Castro, Alexis de la O Joya, Laimir Fano, Adonis Flores, Alex Hernández, Jesús Hernández, Luis o Miguel, Gustavo Pérez, Renier Quer, Alina Rodríguez, Lázaro Saavedra, Asori Soto and Manuel Zayas.
Curated by: Gerardo Mosquera and Cylena Simonds
Access:
Rivington Place is fully accessible in all public areas
For parking & wheelchair facilities or further information about Rivington Place +44 (0) 20 7749 1240,
From:
posted by F Espinoza
The Drums Are Crying, Tata Güines Has Died...
07.02.2008 10:58
Tata Güines passed away Monday morning, at age 77, as a result of kidney failure. The great percussionist will be buried on Tuesday in his hometown of Güines.
PEDRO DE LA HOZ
With his callused hands, sharp fingernails, always bursting with youthful vigor to the rhythm of his drums, and a sixth sense to play around with different tempos, nobody played like Tata.
The character he invented for himself also played its part: the ingenious phrases, the inseparable Bolshevik beret, the African shirts, his "fifty-fifty" greeting and the ever-present smile on his face of strange opaque eyes, resembling the cauri shells of a far off Eleggua.
In addition to his strong ties to local customs, Tata will be remembered for having the tenderness of a child and a man of principles —loyal to his people, his homeland, and a strong supporter of Fidel. He once told me, "I’m a fidelista, compadre, from here to Hong Kong, return trip, for whatever is needed."
Federico Arístides Soto Alejo, "Tata Güines" to the world, was the King of the drums. Nobody dared snatch this scepter from his hands during the second half of the 20th century when, after Chano Pozo and before Miguel Angá, he wove his legend with his golden hands.
"When I was a child, the bottom of a can of pork sausages and another one of condensed milk were more than enough for me to give a spark to the sounds of rumba and son. But I preferred the bass," he said one day while recalling his childhood in Güines, a town in the province of Havana where he was born and from where he got his name. Tata grew up listening to the tres guitar played by his father, Joseito, who played with the Partagás sextet. His uncle Dionisio was the person who brought him to the stage for the first time to play the stand up bass with the Ases del Ritmo local band.
"That instrument was a curse. After taking the bus with such a heavy instrument, I gradually dropped the idea of being a bass player and decided to dedicate myself to the conga drums and to the city of Havana, where I went to play a couple of months with the great Arsenio Rodríguez."
In the early 1950s, Tata Güines played with Belisario Lopez, Los Jovenes del Cayo and Nueva America and the Guillermo Portabales country music ensemble while working as a shoemaker, and newspaper and magazine vendor. In 1952, he took his first big jump with the Estrellas de Fajardo orchestra.
The last time I spoke with Tata Güiness was precisely while listening to a recording of the Fajardo orchestra at a gala organized by Orlando Valle (Maraca) and his partner Celine. We spoke about his days at the Waldorf Astoria and the Palladium, in New York, of the nights he shared the stage or recording studios with Maynard Ferguson and Miles Davis.
"The secret of the congas does not lie in going crazy with four or five drums. Playing a lot doesn’t mean you play more. If you don’t master rhythm, you’ll have trouble being a good improviser," he told me.
"Things work out better when you understand what other people play. That’s what happened with the Cuban jams I shared with Cachao and Chico O’Farrill, and afterwards with Frank Emilio. We just had to look into each other’s eyes to know how or when to play."
It was here, in jazz, specifically the land of Afro-Cuban jazz, where Tata created a style, which, in the words of Leonardo Acosta, represented a true renewal of the role of the drums in the development of this genre.
Awarded with the Felix Varela Order, the Alejo Carpentier Medal, and the National Music Prize, Tata’s musical perspectives wove into several different sounds, including the title track by Sergio Vitier for a documentary about the encounter between dancers Antonio Gades and Alicia Alonso; the original source for Juan Blanco’s Circus tocatta electro-acoustic music piece; his contribution to the albums La rumba soy yo (produced by Cary Diez) and Lágrimas Negras (with El Cigala); his incursions into the Maraca and Cubanísimo bands; the recitals with his good friend Changuito and the prince Angá, and his recordings with Estrellas de Areíto.
"I would like for everything that we have done to be preserved. My CDs are there. They are like books for anyone who wants to read them," he told me, his eyes looking off into the distance, as if looking towards his own immortality.
Tata Guines: Forever in the Soul and Mystique of Cuba
SERGIO VITIER
We said goodbye yesterday to one of the treasures of Cuban music, Federico Aristides Soto (Tata Guines), in his hometown, where he had said he wanted to spend his last years.
I met Tata Guines when I was just a teenager and had begun to play with Felipe Dulzaides. Tata was already a living legend. From that time, 44 years ago, I learned to value his mastery and his unmistakable style, which influenced all of Cuba’s percussionists and those around the world that have sailed in the difficult waters of Cuban music.
When people talk about the conga drums they will always have to say: before and after Tata Guines. He was what today we call a "foundation artist" and a musician that fit right into to any of a number of diverse rhythms such as rumba, dance, jazz, classical ballet, modern music and several others on what would be a never-ending list.
I can recall many times when we worked together as can a large number of musicians both in Cuba and abroad. All of us would unanimously agree in recognizing his mastery, his professionalism, his originality combined with his grace and his personal charm that made him unforgettable.
Tata, rest in peace in your country, among your people whom you loved so much; rest alongside Benny, Jesus Perez, Chano Pozo, Frank Emilio, Guillermo Barreto, Merceditas Valdez, Arsenio Rodriguez and all our great musicians, your brothers and sisters.
You will always be in the soul and mystique of Cuba.
posted by F Espinoza