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April 18, 2015 - No. 16 Government
Set to Release 10th "Economic Action Plan" Harper's Balanced Budget Bible
Council of the
Federation
Meeting on Climate Change in Quebec City • Provincial Premiers Fail to Protect the Environment - Louis Lang - Scandal in the Senate and the Duffy Trial • Harper Government Taken to Court to Challenge Unconstitutionality of Attempts to Kill the Senate - Anna Di Carlo and Pauline Easton - Important International Developments • Palestinian Prisoners' Day Opposes Criminalization of Palestinian Politics by Israeli Occupation • Call for International Criminal Court to Investigate Grave Violations Against Palestinian Political Prisoners - Addameer - • Victory of Venezuela's Bolivarian Revolution Commemorated in Toronto • President Obama Officially Removes Cuba from List of State Sponsors of Terrorism • Mexico's Military Integration with the USA - Pablo Moctezuma Barragán - • The Free Trade Agreement that Destroyed Mexico - Vicky Peláez, Sputnik News - 54th Anniversary of Cuba's Victory Against Foreign Invasion at Playa Girón • Historic Defeat of U.S. Imperialists Underscores Who Is the Source of State Terror in the World Today • April 16, Cuba Reaffirms Its Socialist Character - Prensa Latina Editorial - Supplement • A Review of Harper's Attempts to Reform the Senate Government Set to Release 10th "Economic Action Plan" Harper's Balanced Budget Bible News agencies report that Finance Minister Joe Oliver will deliver the Harper government's 10th "Economic Action Plan" on April 21. It was originally due to be released in February and this release date is beyond the end of the current fiscal year. According to Oliver "we needed to assess the implications of the dramatic fall in oil prices and its instability on the Canadian economy" but "we now have the information we need to make informed decisions." Many suspect it will in fact be a self-serving election platform to cover up the real concerns of Canadians with the nation-wrecking direction in which the Harper government has taken the economy. Oliver spoke of his government's 10th "Economic Action Plan" on April 2 on the factory floor of Canada Goose, a coat manufacturer in Toronto. He chose a manufacturing plant as a backdrop to preach from Harper's balanced budget bible. He did not speak of any dynamic new initiatives to boost Canadian manufacturing, which has been in serious decline during Harper's entire reign, with the sector reaching a new historical low of 9.4 per cent of Canada's economy compared with 20 per cent in the early 1980s. Rather than addressing any real problem requiring real solutions, Oliver intoned the standard mantra, "It will be a balanced budget just as we promised." The budget gospel according to Harper declares a balanced budget cures all ills, including unemployment, poverty, a lop-sided resource extraction economy beset with low commodity prices and a manufacturing sector in crisis. The Drop in Oil Prices
Would Harper implement public authority over the wholesale sector to control oil prices; would he restrict the energy monopolies and organize public right to take control of the country's natural resources and mobilize them to strengthen the manufacturing and other sectors within a dynamic self-reliant economy? My no! That would be a sacrilege against the neo-liberal budget bible. Cutting Department Spending"We're not looking at a budget that will be cutting," Oliver added. Of course not, that would not suit a pre-election budget. But Oliver failed to mention that substantial cutting already occurred barely one month before when Harper's Treasury Board president Tony Clement announced all federal departments and agencies -- except CSIS, to build a police state and the armed forces, to wage predatory wars in Iraq and Syria -- are to freeze spending despite price inflation and population growth. Some of the departments targeted for cuts include Environment Canada, Canadian Heritage, the Immigration and Refugee Board, the Public Health Agency of Canada, National Research Council, Library and Archives of Canada, and Via Rail. The Toronto Star says the departments were unceremoniously directed to slash their payrolls, programs or both. Oliver insists the April 21 budget is not just about cutting but rather about balance, which apparently will mysteriously lead us forward to recovery, prosperity and security. Cutting Has Consequences -- Bunker Oil Spill in Vancouver Rally to save the Kitsilano Coast Guard station, Vancouver, September 15, 2012. (PSAC-BC) Cutting departmental spending as a neo-liberal badge of honour can create serious problems. Case in point is the consequence of degrading the response of the Vancouver Coast Guard in meeting a hazardous material emergency. Most Vancouver residents wanted to see improvements to their Kitsilano Coast Guard station in English Bay, not only for human rescue but also for responding to hazardous material incidents especially given the enormous increase in sea freighter traffic in Vancouver ports. Instead of upgrading, the Harper government cut the Kitsilano station altogether and consolidated operations far away in the Fraser River. This cut meant the Coast Guard could not immediately respond to the April 8 toxic bunker oil spill off Stanley Park, less than five minutes from the Coast Guard's disappeared Kitsilano station. This left bunker oil to drift for hours without containment, despoiling the water, attacking wildlife and spilling onto Vancouver's pristine beaches. Outrage would be mild in stating the response of Vancouverites to this particular cutting and its consequences. First, the neo-liberals allow shipping monopolies to have free rein to anchor as many ships as they want in downtown Vancouver. Second, they allow monopolies to ship whatever they want in whatever quantity they want through Vancouver. Third, the U.S. monopoly Kinder Morgan proposes and the neo-liberals applaud the shipping of even more toxic bitumen oil through Vancouver, more than doubling the number of oil tankers. Fourth, they cut the hazmat public emergency response. Fifth, they outsource to private monopolies for a hefty sum the cleanup of any mess and in this way the monopolies profit from mess-making and mess cleanup. And when disaster strikes and the people want answers and a new direction, Harper's Industry Minister Moore takes to the airwaves to denounce in his most indignant imperial tone all those demanding the Harper government be held to account. The cutting and nasty consequences in Vancouver come right out of the Harper neo-liberal bible: the first commandment is "Monopoly right trumps public right!" It holds true for ripping and shipping Canada's resources and for the destruction of public education, health care, seniors' care and day care -- let the monopolies have free rein, pollute Mother Earth, cut public services, privatize the public sectors, force the people to pay and those who cannot afford the privatized service, well, fend for yourselves and tough it out.
Council of the Federation Meeting on
Climate
Change in Quebec City Premiers Fail to Protect the Environment Thousands participate in the Act on Climate March in Quebec City, April 11, 2015, to demand governments take action to protect the environment. Sharp contradictions between the federal and provincial governments, as well as among the provinces were once again the main focus this week as provincial premiers met for a special session on climate change issues in Quebec City.
The last meeting of the Council of the Federation took place in Ottawa on January 30 where much of the discussion centred on the contradictions between the provinces and the federal government on spending on infrastructure projects. In the final statement of the conference, the premiers called for "a stronger commitment from the federal government and greater federal funding." The other message that came out of the conference was that in spite of the fact that Premier Jim Prentice of Alberta and Premier Brad Wall of Saskatchewan did not attend, the work on the CES was progressing well and a document was being circulated among the premiers which would certainly be approved at the meeting hosted by Premier Phillipe Couillard of Quebec in April. While the so-called Central Canada Alliance recreated last summer between the governments of Quebec and Ontario, which both won Liberal majorities, was the main force pushing for the premiers to get behind the CES in opposition to the agenda of the Harper Conservatives, the absence of the premiers from the western provinces in January was not accidental. In the same way, the special meeting in Quebec City organized to finalize the position of the provinces was not able to achieve that goal. Once again Premier Prentice was absent along with the Premiers of British Columbia, Nova Scotia and PEI. Some claimed scheduling conflicts and others said they were in the middle of election campaigns. Not only did the meeting fail to produce a document that could be called a national energy strategy but the meeting was marked by conflicting views on issues regarding the way to achieve reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and the introduction of a cap-and-trade system. All the discussion on climate change issues and the concern of the premiers for the environment served to hide the fact that the provincial premiers' main concerns were to put forward the competing interests of the monopoly corporations they represent over issues like pipeline projects, transfer payments and infrastructure spending. The premiers of Quebec and Ontario want to turn central and eastern Canada into a huge network of energy corridors and gateways, with pipelines, railways, intermodal trucking and warehousing. This is to convert Quebec and Ontario into a massive hub, linking the European monopolies to the so-called North American economy and Asia. Premiers Prentice and Wall want to create the corridors which link the resources of Alberta and Saskatchewan and the private interests that have usurped control over them with the U.S. Gulf Coast and Asia and with increased oil production from the tar sands to build more pipelines to the east coast for export.
It was not surprising then that even the final statement of the conference was vague and contained no definite decisions. The first draft of the release indicated that the provinces had agreed to "put a price on carbon or adopt other structuring initiatives to reduce GHG emissions towards a lower carbon economy." But in the final text that phrase was struck out and replaced with a vaguer commitment "to make a transition to a lower carbon economy which may include carbon pricing." It is clear that the premiers are incapable of doing their duty and acting on the demands of the people to protect the environment because they represent competing international monopoly interests. The fact that not a single provincial premier, not to mention the Harper Conservatives, have been able to formulate a Canadian Energy Strategy shows that they have no nation-building project and are willing to jeopardize the destruction of the Earth's climate to help plunder the natural resources of Canada for the benefit of monopoly interests. Act on Climate March and Forum in
Quebec City
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"We really needed to assess
the
implication of the dramatic fall in oil prices," Oliver said in
Toronto,
explaining the delay in this year's federal budget. Oh really Minister
Oliver?
And just what according to the Harper gospel would you do upon
discovering
the "implication"? The Harper bible tells you to do nothing that would
restrict
monopoly right so where does that leave your government except
"assessing
the implications" of this and that, and doing really nothing to solve
the
problem but rather concocting schemes to pay the rich, which only make
worse the discovered "implications."
The meeting on April 14 was
supposed to be the culmination of the
work of the premiers on a Canadian Energy Strategy (CES) agreed to at
the
Council of the Federation meeting in Charlottetown, August 29, 2014. At
that
time the premiers unanimously agreed on the necessity to develop a
national
energy strategy to "deal with regulatory reform, environment,
transmission, and
transportation networks in order to effect market diversification." The
meeting
in Quebec City was supposed to be for the sole purpose of finalizing
the work
of the premiers on the CES since that time.
While Ontario Premier Kathleen
Wynne accused the federal Conservatives of
standing on the
sidelines and not engaging with the provinces on energy issues,
Premier Couillard
added that Canada must be one of the most proactive countries in the
world
in the fight against climate change. Premier Wall then
tried to
downplay the importance of environmental issues by pointing out that
"Canada's GHG emissions represent only 2 per cent of the world's
total." Like a true
spokesman of the oil monopolies, he stressed that the main issue that
had to
be solved was the need to eliminate coal-fired plants. He declared that
"coal
consumption internationally is responsible for one-third of emissions
worldwide."
The trial of suspended
Senator Mike Duffy is now scheduled to take more than the 41 days
originally allotted. Duffy faces 31 charges of fraud, breach of trust
and bribery. Amongst other things in the first two weeks of the trial,
his defence lawyer Donald Bayne continued to build a case that Senate
rules and policies allowed almost unlimited discretion to all Senators
when it came to contracting services and staff. His point is that Duffy
is being singled out for opprobrium for matters that are common
practice. The fact that the Senate rules and guidelines can be cited to
justify abuse and profligacy is par for the course but also a sad
comment on the degenerate state of affairs which prevails in Canada's
so-called democratic institutions such as the Senate. But it also
reveals a far greater issue than the habits of this or that
individual. The entire issue has to be looked at as far more than
the offensive behaviour of a buffoon, as Duffy is more often than not
portrayed; a particularly greedy and unsavoury sort of person who can
be expunged like a pimple on an otherwise healthy body. This is not the
case. We are not dealing with the personal habits of a Duffy or a
Pamela Wallin, another suspended Senator whose spending habits have
been questioned, however offensive such habits are to most people. We
are dealing with unscrupulous private interests who have usurped the
power of government. These interests will stop at nothing to put
private monopoly interests in charge of everything, trying to run the
country like a private control board with arrogant self-serving people
in charge of decision-making who can do as they please when they please
no matter who gets caught in the cross hairs.
This
attempt to destroy the
Senate is the result of archaic arrangements put
in place to maintain the monopoly of power in the hands of property
owners
while presiding over a public authority which permitted and enabled the
different factions of the ruling class to sort out their differences
and reach
accommodations suitable to themselves. The aim at all times was to
avert the
revolt of the working class and people and suppress such revolts when
necessary should they cause harm to the capitalist order. The
arrangements
include the residual powers of the Prime Minister, Canada's formation
as a
constitutional monarchy, not a republic, with a foreign monarch as its
head of
state and the anachronistic colonial office of a Governor General.
These arrangements include, besides other things, the way problems are
supposed to be sorted out through negotiations with the accommodated
representatives of the working class within the labour movement and
other social and cultural interests, as well as with the provinces and
territories.
However,
these arrangements all interfere with the demand of the most powerful
monopolies to have unfettered access to the state institutions and
resources. Everything which stands in their way is to be smashed and
the state is to be restructured in a manner which politicizes private
interests.
A modern constitution must
vest sovereignty in the people, not a foreign
monarch, especially a foreign monarch and its representative, the
governor
general, who does not even abide by the Rule of Law their class
interests
established in the first place. It is in contempt of even itself. It is
high time a
modern constitution vests sovereignty in the people and abolishes all
notions
of privilege and arbitrariness in the decision-making process.
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Important International Developments
Palestinian Prisoners' Day Opposes Criminalization of
Palestinian Politics by Israeli Occupation
Demonstration in Ottawa, April 14, 2015, in support of Khalida Jarrar and all
Palestinian political prisoners.
An Israeli military court has submitted a variety of bogus charges against Khalida Jarrar, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council and longtime fighter for the rights of Palestinian political prisoners. The indictment comes after Jarrar was taken from her home in Ramallah on April 2 in an early morning raid by 60 Israeli soldiers, after which she was subjected to 17 hours of interrogation with which she refused to collaborate. Despite the charges, the judge at the April 15 hearing opted to continue holding MP Jarrar under administrative detention until her next hearing on April 29. Jarrar is currently being held at Hasharon prison alongside other women Palestinian political prisoners, but is the only Palestinian woman currently held under illegal administrative detention.
Ghassan Jarrar, husband of the jailed leader told the Anadolu Turkish news agency that Khalida Jarrar has been charged with 12 supposed "security crimes," all related to her public political activities. These include membership and activities in the political party to which she belongs, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). Like the vast majority of Palestinian political organizations, the PFLP is branded by Israel as a "terrorist group" and banned. Association with Palestinian politics, even attending a public demonstration, is considered by Israel to be grounds for arrest and prosecution. Ghassan Jarrar affirmed that the occupation military court is illegal and called on international institutions to apply pressure on Israel to halt its aggression.
Speaking to OPIRG-Carleton on CKCU FM on April 14, Khalida Jarrar's daughter Yafa said, "First of all she is a mother, and a very good mother, and I miss her a lot. My mother has dedicated all her life to be a human rights advocate, an advocate for the rights of the Palestinians, and in particular Palestinian women and Palestinian political prisoners. She has served all these years, and my family, like any other Palestinian family, has been punished by the Israeli authorities and has suffered a good amount because of that.
"This recent Israeli arrest of my mother is a reflection of her important role, her influence. She is a beloved leader, a beloved person, a beloved friend. She used to attend every single rally, any strike that she could be a part of. She has been serving not only as a political leader and a parliamentarian, but on a personal level people from all around Palestine come to my mother to raise issues that concern them and their families.
"Israeli raids and arresting Palestinians and detaining them is a daily practice. If you speak to any Palestinian, they can tell you of a family member or someone they know who has been detained and arrested. We're not surprised by this act. This is Israel. They claim to be a democracy, but in action nothing is a reflection of any democracy except for holding elections. That is the only thing that defines them as a democracy. Every single other law or practice by Israel, I would call it fascist, I would call it apartheid, and this is the reality."
A new campaign is being launched at freekhalidajarrar.org, said
Yafa, who
called on Canadians to step up their efforts in support of the rights
of
Palestinians.
Ottawa, April 14, 2015
Well-known Palestinian political prisoner Khader Adnan was put into solitary confinement on April 13. Adnan staged a 66-day hunger strike in 2012 which won his release. He was re-arrested in July 2014 and has been held without charge or trial since. This move came as retaliation after Adnan spoke out on April 10 against mistreatment of sick prisoners to fellow inmates. Adnan had also highlighted the case of Jaafar Awad, a former political prisoner who died April 10, two months after his release. Awad, who suffered from diabetes, was not provided with adequate medical care in prison and became seriously ill and by the time of his release in January was in critical condition.
Efforts are being undertaken in Canada and around the world demanding the release of MP Jarrar and all Palestinian political prisoners. An April 13 letter from 58 members of the European Parliament called on the European Union to pressure Israel for the release of Khalida Jarrar and the 16 other members of the Palestinian Legislative Council. Italian organization Uniti per la Palestina (United for Palestine) has launched a letter writing campaign to deliver words of support to Khalida Jarrar from around the world. Noting that Israel often blocks correspondence from reaching Palestinian prisoners, the organization states that "the Zionist regime has made a further escalation with the arrest of Khalida Jarrar, a parliamentarian! We MUST write our solidarity to Khalida! A letter or, at least, a postcard of admiration and love. In any case they'll be noticed by Israel the illegal colonialist jailer and [word] will spread of our massive demonstration of solidarity and approval of the patriotic fight of Khalida Jarrar!"
Lively protests were held in Ottawa on April 14 and
Toronto on April 17
at the Israeli embassy and consulate, respectively. They demanded the
immediate release of MP Jarrar and other political prisoners, and
denounced
the silence of the parties in the Canadian Parliament over Jarrar's
detention and
other crimes against the Palestinians.
Toronto, April 17, 2015
TML Weekly calls on everyone to keep up their efforts to demand the immediate release of Khalida Jarrar and all Palestinian political prisoners. These include:
- Demand her immediate release -- click here.
- Sign this petition.
- Contact elected representatives in your area.
- Protest outside Israeli embassies and consulates.
- Write to Khalida Jarrar -- click here.
- Take action for Khader Adnan -- click here.
(With files from Samidoun, Addameer, Electronic Intifada. Photos: TML, K. McRae.)
Call for International Criminal Court to
Investigate
Grave
Violations Against Palestinian
Political Prisoners
Protest April 16, 2015, marking Palestinian Prisoners Day at Ofer prison, West Bank. (Active Stills)
This past year witnessed an unprecedented level of Israeli violence against Palestinians, including killing over 2,000 civilians in Gaza, demolishing 20,000 homes, displacing more than 500,000 Palestinians at the peak of the attack and arresting 8,000 Palestinians across historic Palestine.
Israel is committing nothing short of a modern-day ethnic cleansing before our eyes; in the continuing quest for full annexation of Palestinian land and the expansion of Israel's colonial frontier.
The time is more urgent than ever for the international community to hold Israel accountable for its recurring and blatant war crimes against Palestinians, especially those held captive in the Occupation's jails.
Addameer calls on International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda to investigate these crimes in the preliminary investigation and to bring the accused to trial immediately, in light of the exacerbated and worsening conditions.
Administrative Detention
The Occupation legitimizes the use of administrative detention for the "security of the state." Since 1967, the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) issued more than 50,000 administrative detention orders, 24,000 (nearly half) of them between 2000 and 2014. The occupation forces use the policy of administrative detention to maintain control over Palestinian society and undermine self-determination. Administrative detention targets all sectors of society including politicians, academics, students, leaders, journalists, doctors, women, children and human rights defenders. The Occupation's authorities use administrative detention as a bargaining tool for political gain.
Over 700 administrative detention orders were issued since June 2014, expanding the number of administrative detainees to 550 at its height, the highest number since 2009. This increase in the use of administrative detention, an internationally condemned practice, can be seen as a direct reaction to a 63-day mass hunger strike among administrative detainees in 2014, in which they demanded the end of the policy.
In April 2015, the Occupation's authorities issued an administrative detention order against Palestine Legislative Council (PLC) member Khalida Jarrar, which brings the number of elected Palestinian legislators in administrative detention to eight. Jarrar was also recently appointed by President Mahmoud Abbas to the Palestinian National Committee for the ICC.
The policy of administrative detention violates Article 78 of the Fourth Geneva Convention and denies administrative detainees their guaranteed right to a fair and speedy trial as stated in Article 75 of the Additional Protocol I of the Geneva Convention. The policy of administrative detention also violates Articles 9, 10 and 14 of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (1966).
According to the Rome Statue, the systematic use of administrative detention is considered a war crime (Article 8) and a crime against humanity (Article 7).
Extrajudicial Murders
In 2014, the IOF escalated its unstated policy to extra-judicially murder Palestinians during arrest raids. In the occupied West Bank, including Jerusalem, the occupation forces killed fourteen civilians during arrest raids into refugee camps, villages and Palestinian cities. All fourteen of those killed during arrest raids were Palestinian youth under the age of thirty.
The extrajudicial murder of civilians is a gross violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention according to Article 147 and a war crime according to Article 8, Item A,I2 of the Rome Statue.
Torture
Demonstration in Bilan, West Bank April 17, 2015 marking Palestinian Prisoners' Day.
(Active Stills)
Widespread torture continues to be used against Palestinian detainees. Virtually every Palestinian arrested by the IOF has been subjected to psychological or physical torture or ill-treatment, including severe beatings, stress positions, solitary confinement, verbal abuse and threats of sexual violence. In 2014, Addameer documented two cases of prisoner's death that resulted directly from torture. Wa'el Mustafa, a 39-year old Jordanian citizen, was killed by brutal physical torture in interrogation in August 2014. He was arrested at a peaceful demonstration in Yafa that called for the end of the war on Gaza. Ra'ed Abd Al Jabari, from Hebron was killed during transfer from Eshel Prison to Be'er Al Sabe' Prison (Beersheva). There have been 73 Palestinians killed by torture since 1967.
Moreover, during the mass 63-day hunger strike in the first half of 2014, the Israeli Knesset attempted to pass a bill to allow the force-feeding of protesting Palestinian detainees, effectively an attempt to sanction torture on an industrial scale. Torture is considered both a war crime and crime against humanity as outlined in International Humanitarian Law and International Criminal Law, specifically the Fourth Geneva Convention, the Preamble of the Rome Statue, Article 7 and Article 8, the Geneva Convention I and III Article 12, third Geneva Convention 17 and 87 and the Fourth Geneva Convention Article 32.
Forcible Transfer
The transfer of Palestinian detainees by the IOF is an ongoing practice. Transfer of protected persons from occupied territory into the occupying state, categorized as "unlawful deportation or transfer" is a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention (Article 147) and a war crime as established by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (Article 8). At the end of 2014, only 544 of the 6,000 detainees were detained in the occupied territories. Over 800,000 Palestinians have been arrested and the majority of them forcibly transferred to prisons outside of the occupied territory, limiting their access to their families, legal support and communities as well as stripping them of their rights under the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Considering the summary of the major violations outlined
above,
Addameer calls on the ICC Prosecutor to immediately open an
investigation
into the case of the prisoners, and bring those who have tortured,
murdered,
forcibly transferred and ordered the arbitrary detention of
Palestinians to be
held to account in the International Criminal Court.
Addameer (Arabic for conscience) Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association is a Palestinian non-governmental, civil institution that works to support Palestinian political prisoners held in Israeli and Palestinian prisons. Established in 1992 by a group of activists interested in human rights, the center offers free legal aid to political prisoners, advocates their rights at the national and international level, and works to end torture and other violations of prisoners' rights through monitoring, legal procedures and solidarity campaigns.
Victory of Venezuela's Bolivarian Revolution
Commemorated in Toronto
"The Triumph of the People" was the theme of a political event April 11 held at Beit Zatoun cultural centre in Toronto commemorating the anniversary of the Venezuelan people's defeat of the 2002 coup attempt against the country's president at that time, the late Hugo Chávez.
The main presentation for the evening was given by the First Consul of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in Toronto, Martha Pardo, who explained the significance of the people's defence of democracy in 2002 in the historical context of the Bolivarian Revolution. She pointed out that the spontaneous uprising of the Venezuelan people in April 2002 not only rescued President Chávez from his captors but restored the sovereignty of the people and the independence of the nation. Her remarks were followed by the screening of a video of a new patriotic song Viva Venezuela, Mi Patria Querida (Long Live Venezuela, My Beloved Homeland), which specifically responds to the false allegation that Venezuela is a threat to the national security of the U.S. or any other country.
The events of 13 years ago assumed particular significance in the discussion at the meeting in light of the Organization of American States (OAS)' VII Summit of the Americas happening at the same time in Panama. The Consul General of the Republic of Cuba in Toronto, Javier Dómokos, said that he had just come from watching television news reports showing the heads of state of one country after another denouncing the most recent threats by the U.S. against Venezuela. He expressed pride in the unity shown by the Latin American nations not only in defence of Venezuela but also in solidarity with revolutionary Cuba, which was included in the Summit at the insistence of Latin American leaders for the first time in 53 years after it was expelled from the OAS under pressure from the U.S.
Representatives of the group Siglo 21 (21st Century) gave a historical overview of the Bolivarian Revolution from its roots in the 19th century struggle for liberation from Spain. They described the contributions made by the heroes of the Bolivarian Revolution -- Simón Rodriguez, Simón Bolívar, Ezequiel Zamora, Francisco de Miranda and Antonio de Sucre.
Speaking on behalf of the Louis Riel Bolivarian Circle, Dr. Maria Páez Victor noted that there are many anniversaries in the month of April for the independence struggles of the peoples of Latin America. The Declaration of Independence of Venezuela in April 1810, the military defeat of the CIA invasion of Cuba at Playa Gíron (the Bay of Pigs) in April 1961 and the saving of the constitutional democracy of Venezuela on the occasion of the failed coup in April 2002 were examples she mentioned. From this time forward, she said, Cuba's acceptance into the regional summit of nations in April 2015, after years of resistance by the U.S., will be another historical landmark marked in the history of the peoples' struggle. What the U.S. really fears as regards Venezuela, she said, is not "human rights" violations but the example set by Venezuela in the use of resources such as oil for the benefit of the people and in the regional leadership it has shown in the struggle for independence from imperialism.
Santiago Escobar gave a call to support the people of Ecuador, especially the indigenous people of the Amazon region, in their lengthy legal battle against Chevron to be compensated for the environmental damage caused by the company's oil drilling operations in the past. People from the area are planning to attend a mass protest action in Washington, D.C. on April 20 and 21.
The final speaker, Manuel Luna of the Hugo Chávez People's Defence Front, appealed to all to continue to spread the message of solidarity with the Bolivarian Revolution that the news media blocks. He called on everyone to become "communicators of truth" and suggested social media as a means to reach more people without interference.
President Obama Officially Removes
Cuba from
List
of State Sponsors of Terrorism
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On April 14, U.S. President Barack Obama submitted the required certifications to Congress indicating his intent to remove Cuba from the U.S.' spurious list of state sponsors of terrorism.
According to TeleSUR, Congress has 45 days to respond to the elimination of Cuba from the list before it goes into effect, but it cannot revoke Obama's decision without holding a separate legislative vote, a measure the White House considers extremely unlikely.
The document submitted to
Congress states that the Cuban government
"has not provided any support for international terrorism" over the
last six
months. Similarly, the text notes that Cuba "has provided assurances
that it
will not support acts of international terrorism in the future."
Cuba has long demanded its unjust inclusion on this bogus and defamatory list be ended. Cuba was added to the list in 1982 because of its support of national liberation movements in Latin America and throughout the continent of Africa such as South Africa's African National Congress (ANC). The other countries on the list are Iran, Sudan and Syria. According to the U.S. State Department, countries on the list face restrictions on aid and access to international loans, as well as a ban on arms exports and sales.
Cuba has stated that its removal from the list is a necessary pre-condition to re-establishing diplomatic relations with the U.S., specifically stating that it will not open an embassy in the U.S. until this has been met.
However, the main impediment to re-establishing diplomatic relations is the U.S. economic blockade of Cuba. Cuba has firmly stated that relations cannot be restored until the blockade is lifted.
"There can be no normalization of relations between Cuba
and the United
States if they don't lift the unjust blockade which has caused huge
economic
damage to Cuba," Miguel Diaz-Canel, the First Vice President of the
Council
of State of Cuba said recently in Havana at a ceremony for the
signature
campaign in support of Venezuela against U.S. aggression.
Statement by Cuban Ministry of Foreign Relations
General Director for
the United States
The following statement was issued by Josefina Vidal Ferreiro, General Director for the United States at Cuba's Ministry of Foreign Relations, regarding the decision by the President of the United States, Barack Obama, to remove Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism on April 14, 2015.
***
In the afternoon of Tuesday, April 14, 2015, it was learned that the President of the United States, Barack Obama, had submitted the "Certification of Rescission of Cuba's Designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism."
Through this measure, President Obama has decided to exclude Cuba from the list of state sponsors of international terrorism and report to this effect to the United States Congress, which will have 45 days to make known its decision.
The Cuban government recognizes the just decision taken by the President of the United States to eliminate Cuba from a list on which it never should have been included, especially considering that our country has been the victim of hundreds of acts of terrorism that have cost 3,478 lives and disabled 2,099 Cuban citizens.
As the Cuban government has reiterated on multiple occasions, Cuba rejects and condemns all acts of terrorism in all their forms and manifestations, as well as any action that is intended to instigate, support, finance or conceal terrorist acts.
Broad Recognition that Cuba Should Never Have Been
Listed as a State
Sponsor of Terrorism
International public opinion supports Cuba's removal from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism. The decision is recognized as an important step in advancing President Obama's policy change to improve relations between the two countries.
The news that U.S. President Barack Obama decided yesterday, April 15, to remove Cuba from the list of state sponsors of international terrorism, and notify Congress of the change, generated broad interest internationally.
Bolivia's President Evo Morales commented that Cuba has never been a terrorist country, but rather one which has shown solidarity with all the world's nations, and should never have been included on any U.S. list of any kind.
Morales insisted that the U.S. made a mistake including Cuba on the list created unilaterally by the State Department, a policy he described as "arrogant."
According to Prensa Latina, during a press conference, the Bolivian President commented, "When is the fundamental problem between the U.S. and Cuba going to be resolved? When Washington resolves fundamental problems, lifts the blockade and returns Guantanamo to Cuba."
The Chinese news agency Xinhua reported that government spokesperson Hong Lei emphasized that China has always called for an end to all unilateral sanctions imposed by the U.S. on Cuba. In the United States, the New York Times hailed the move as a step in the right direction since it removes a major obstacle to the reestablishment of diplomatic relations.
The Washington Post reported that the removal of Cuba from the list would imply an end to a number of sanctions, including prohibitions on trade and other financial restrictions, although many of these will remain in place as a result of blockade regulations approved by Congress.
(With files from Granma, TeleSUR, Reuters)
Mexico's Military Integration with the USA
Demonstration outside whitehouse against Mexican President Peña Nieto's visit,
January 6, 2015.
On January 6, 2015, Enrique Peña Nieto, Mexico's President, travelled to Washington to complete the mission "to strengthen the strategic direction of cooperation between Mexico and the U.S." thereby strengthening the U.S.-Mexico "strategic alliance." This alliance subordinates Mexico to our northern neighbour. Obama and Peña highlighted "the economic and cultural ties" between the two countries and pledged to deepen the relationship on issues of security, migration, economy and culture. There was no reference to the systematic killing of Mexicans by the U.S. Border Patrol. Both governments reaffirmed their commitment to building an ever "stronger relationship" with a strategic vision to meet the challenges of the region "in the future." Given the Yankee Empire strategy of dominating Latin America and the Caribbean, it is worrying that Peña and his government are openly committing Mexico to Washington's objectives for the subordination of Mexicans.
To strengthen "security," Peña has proposed in his "Ten Security Commandments" measures that Washington has long pushed for to control our population: the Clave Única de Identidad (electronic identity card) and the Single State Police, which eliminates municipal autonomy with the idea that the Federation takes control of municipal services or even dissolves the councils when required.
Military integration is also proceeding apace. On February 24, 2015, President Enrique Peña Nieto sent the Senate a bill to reform the Federal Law on Firearms and Explosives to allow "foreign --" mainly United States -- customs and immigration agents to operate in Mexico bearing arms as part of "a joint program" of customs and immigration review, "which they are seeking to adopt." All this openly violates the political Constitution of our country and is an attack against our sovereignty. Last year he promised to send Mexican soldiers to participate in military actions of the UN "peacekeepers" to serve the strategy of U.S. domination all over the world, intervening in Afghanistan, Lebanon, Haiti, Kosovo, the Congo, the Ivory Coast, Darfur.
Integrating Mexico into what they call the North American region make us participants in the United States' conflicts. These are not only open wars but also secret attacks unleashed by their by Special Operations Forces in 134 countries. These include drone attacks and open or veiled war on multiple fronts: Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Syria, Ukraine, Mali and Sudan; not to mention provocations against Iran and North Korea, destabilization campaigns against Venezuela and growing tension with China and Russia.
It is clear that the United States aspires to have Mexico participate in its bellicose plans and, step by step, using the pretext of the "strategic partnership" and "security integration" signed by Vicente Fox in 2005 under the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP), and the military integration that accelerated with the Obama-Calderon agreements contained in the 2007 Mérida Initiative[1], wants to include us in its "defence" plans.
Moreover, they want us Mexicans as cannon fodder for the wars launched by the United States. With"North American" military integration they expect Mexican soldiers to collaborate in Pentagon adventures. They also expect to convert Mexico, which they consider their backyard, into a range for military exercises and contention within North America and a corridor to transport goods, military equipment and arms. To do this they seek to control the ports, railways and roads and to build intermodal transport corridors through which our wealth will flow to the U.S. and their goods to Europe and Asia. For this they have brought about privatization and plan to sell beaches and borders to foreigners. They want to use the port of Lazaro Cardenas-Las Truchas to access and eventually confront China. In the meantime, Mexico has joined the Trans-Pacific Partnership with the United States, Australia, Japan, Peru and Chile (Canada has also applied to join) to confront China commercially. On the other hand, we must pay attention to Punta Colonet in Baja California. In this very vulnerable spot for us close to the border with the USA they want to build a port for trade with China.
To connect Mexico with the rest of North America, currently five logistically strategic and multimodal corridors are being promoted that pass through the border cities of Tijuana, Nogales, El Paso, Laredo and Matamoros. With this infrastructure for the purpose of looting comes the border wall which establishes a de facto apartheid. The wall of death is so-named because of the continual assassination of Mexicans at the border there by the INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service), which put bullets in their heads with impunity, claiming they were "throwing stones." Now it wants Mexicans to pursue death in its aggressive wars, to build its empire and seek world domination.
Article 89 of the Political Constitution of the United States of Mexico is very clear: it condemns armed intervention and calls for the self-determination of peoples and the peaceful resolution of conflicts. Therefore, Mexicans reject war plans of the Institutional Revolutionary Party-National Action Party (PRI-PAN) allies of the U.S. empire. Mexicans want peace and respect for the sovereignty of our country and of all nations. This policy, applied in exemplary fashion by Lazaro Cardenas del Rio, turned Mexico into a beacon of freedom in the world.
For these reasons the struggle for sovereignty is vital. We have to win the second independence. And for that, the people have to show who leads, who decides, who has the power. That involves the unity of all the people fighting for the cause of Mexico, without divisions of any kind -- religion, political parties, ideologies, sexual orientation, age, national origin, gender, socioeconomic status, lifestyle -- because the struggle we are undertaking is for the survival of our country, against those who are dismantling and devastating it, and against the future generations who plan to enslave us and deny all freedoms. They want our children and grandchildren to live a life dedicated to enriching corporations with our country a new colony. Furthermore, they want us to give our blood for them (as Mexican soldiers fighting in the Middle East are already doing). With our unity, our organization and our struggle, we will not allow it. Mexico has always been a force for peace in the world and will remain so.
TML Note
1. The Mérida Initiative (also called Plan Mexico by critics, in reference to Plan Colombia) is a security cooperation agreement between the United States and the government of Mexico and the countries of Central America, with the declared aim of combating the threats of drug trafficking, transnational organized crime and money laundering. The assistance includes training, equipment and intelligence. (Wikipedia)
(Translated from original Spanish by TML.)
The Free Trade Agreement that Destroyed Mexico
Demonstration in Mexico City, February 2014, against the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
(Popular Resistance)
"Politics
is
the
concentrated
expression
of economics."
- V.I. Lenin
1870-1924
The end of the twentieth century and the beginning of twenty-first century have been characterized not only by the proliferation of wars, but also by the boom in different international treaties, which in many cases have devastated the economy and stability of many countries, leading them to a vortex of dependency from which they cannot escape.
Day after day the globalized media are telling us about the FIPA, ACT, FTAAP, TPP, TTIP, TIFA, NAFTA, FTA, GATT, WTO, TISA agreements etc.[1] and logically one wonders why there are so many treaties and whose interests they serve. To understand all this mess, which of course has benefited or will benefit only a few, we will have to review some history.
It turns out that as early as 1908, according to records of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the board of that organization was debating "whether there were other known forms besides war to disrupt the life of a nation." After many days of deliberation, the participants concluded that war had always been the most effective method for changing the life of a nation or a society. At the same time they stated that treaties, agreements and covenants aimed at weakening the sovereignty of the State through its gradual subordination to international organizations could also serve this purpose.
In the era of
globalization, transnational corporations harboured by the
world's only superpower, the United States, took control of the
decision-making apparatus of the majority of international
organizations which,
in turn, through bilateral or multilateral agreements diminished the
political,
legal and economic freedom of the participating countries in the name
of the
signed international agreement. In reality every international treaty
affects the
sovereignty of the signatory countries, especially of developing
countries
which often or almost always accept the impositions of the most
powerful
nations who signed the agreement.
Mexico is a clear example of the consequences that treaties can have on the economic, political and financial life of a nation and society. Ever in the sights of its northern neighbour, this proud and sovereign country finally succumbed to pressure from Washington and its generous promises of prosperity and signed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with the U.S. and Canada in 1992. As of January 1994, this treaty entered into force. That same year many Mexican scholars reported that very few people were able to have access to the 2,226 articles of that agreement before the final signing and before even members of Congress had time to review them carefully and discuss them.
In all these 20 years of NAFTA's existence the global press has never tired of talking year after year of the economic benefits Mexico would get over the medium and long term. However, as time progressed the country became increasingly impoverished, as reflected in the increase in violence and organized crime. Currently Mexico is considered by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights as the "graveyard of the disappeared," whose number exceeds 25,000 people and this is not counting some 100,000 killed by violence in the past 20 years and more than 150,000 displaced persons.
 Demonstration in Mexico demanding maize and beans be taken out of NAFTA. |
Mexico, which in 1994 was virtually self-sufficient in food, in 2014 became a net importer of basic foodstuffs. According to Mexican journalist, Carlos Fernández-Vega, since the entry into force of NAFTA the country has imported "$2.75 billion worth of food, 80 per cent of it from the U.S., while the number of Mexicans without access to food is increasing and the countryside is an enormous factory producing poor people."
In 1994, Mexico imported $1.8 billion worth of food and in 2014 the figure was $25 billion. Currently the country imports 75 per cent of the rice consumed domestically, 30 per cent of the corn and 42 per cent of the wheat. It also purchases mainly from North America meat, dairy products, eggs, milk, poultry, seeds etc. Its exports are limited to vegetables, plants, roots and tubers, fruits, beverages and vinegar. Mexico, with its 12 nautical miles of territorial waters and 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone, has already ceased being self-sufficient in seafood and its fishing fleet has practically disappeared.
All this explains why 60 per cent of the 112 million people in Mexico are poor and without access to social security. Nor has NAFTA brought the promised amount of work. Currently nearly 30 million Mexicans work in the informal sector (60.1 per cent of the employed population) with a minimum salary of $167 a month. According to government reports, the percentage of obese and overweight persons among the population increased in these 20 years from 32 to 78 per cent due to poor diet and a lack of access to nutritious food that has been replaced by junk food imported from the U.S. The situation is such that three of every four hospital beds are occupied by patients with obesity-related diseases.
However for the President of the U.S. Barack Obama, "The Mexico of today is showing significant progress" as he put it. In a way the "manager of the White House" is right, since the domestic rich have become richer. Carlos Slim increased his fortune in these 20 years from $6.8 billion to $77.1 billion; Ricardo Salinas Priego from $1.9 billion to $8 billion; the Servitge Montull family from $1.2 billion to $4.9 billion; and Alberto Baillères from $1.9 billion to $10.4 billion, as reported in Forbes Magazine. In total the fortune of Mexican billionaires increased from $44.1 billion in 1994 to $129.3 billion. Surely it was this that Barack Obama was referring to when he spoke of Mexican "progress."
The U.S. also made "progress" in economic and financial terms through NAFTA as well as in geopolitical and geostrategic terms. Its energy corporations received access to Mexican oil (10.5 billion barrels) that the country's current president Enrique Peña Nieto managed to privatize, plus U.S. banks took control of the domestic financial sector. Agents of the U.S. Marshals Service, the Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Agency and FBI roam the country as if they own the place. They even participate, disguised and armed, as members of the Mexican Navy in anti-drug and other types of operations. Meanwhile, drugs flow through Mexico to North America. It is estimated that each year some 700 tons of cocaine enter the U.S. despite all this deployment of security forces, both domestic and U.S.
Mexico has actually been turned into the first North American laboratory for remodeling a State and accommodating it to U.S. interests and the interests of its corporations. Mexican journalist, Alejandro Nadal, is absolutely correct in stating that global finance capital "is not destroying the state, but is reshaping and reorganizing it to respond to its needs and interests." The neo-liberal market needs a State to facilitate the creation of the electoral, judicial and legislative market that also knows how to control the labour force and render it obedient. Corruption is one of the methods for achieving all these goals for the benefit of the world's primary superpower and its corporations. In exchange, the State receives moral protection, and in a way also economic and media protection from the corporations involved in this game where the national yields to the transnational.
The situation is such in Mexico today that according to James Corbett, editor of International Forecaster, in 2013 the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) provided an infographic to Democratic Senator Diane Feinstein in which the U.S., Canada and Mexico were part of its "Homeland," which in the future would become the North American Union. The very idea of creating a North American Community was launched in 2005 by the U.S. Trilateral Commission, the Mexican Council on Foreign Affairs and the Canadian Council of Chief Executives. It's all a matter of time and the approval of new agreements, treaties and pacts that Washington is implementing step by step while the people of Mexico and Canada are being depoliticized by the media day in and day out, with patience, persistence and insistence, in keeping with the manuals on "psychological warfare."
In reality Canada, Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean are but a small part of the imperialist globalization project of the U.S. The United States is also engaged full-time in the project of removing Europe, involved since the end of World War II in a number of secret treaties with the United States, later reinforced by trade and military agreements (NATO), from its geoeconomic and geopolitical path. The forthcoming signing of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) Treaty will put an end to the sovereignty of the European Union and its individual members. Also underway is the Trans-Pacific Partnership of the Asia-Pacific Economic Region (TPP) with the domination of Asia and the isolation of China and Russia as its aim.
But as the popular saying goes, "Don't bite off more than you can chew." Life is full of surprises and this land is no longer "a river of knees." For the moment Latin America is demonstrating this. China has become the second largest economy and its yuan is already the second international reserve currency, even though the White House does not officially recognize it. Russia is surviving and recovering in spite of the sanctions of the U.S. and its satellites, like the European Union and Australia, with its president Vladimir Putin announcing to the world "that nobody should have any illusions about gaining supremacy over Russia."
Are these enlightened globalizers, both the neo-liberals and neo-conservatives, taking this into account? I doubt it very much, because as Anton Chekhov said, "Everyone has a head, but not everyone needs one."
TML Note
1. Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (FIPA), Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP), Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA), North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), Free Trade Agreement (FTA), General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), World Trade Organization (WTO), Trade in Services Agreement (TISA).
(April 8, 2015. Translated from original Spanish by TML.)
54th Anniversary of Cuba's Victory Against Foreign Invasion at Playa Girón
Historic Defeat of U.S. Imperialists Underscores Who Is the Source of State Terror in the World Today
"Girón: First defeat of Yankee imperialism in Latin America"
April 19 marks the 54th anniversary of Cuba's victory over the U.S.-backed terrorist brigades that sought to overthrow the Revolution. The U.S. attempt to invade Cuba at Playa Girón (also known as the Bay of Pigs) took place at a time when the U.S. imperialists had already caused many tragedies through coups, military interventions and other interference in Latin America and the Caribbean. Thus, the decisive victory of Cuba over the enemy forces at the Bay of Pigs, regarded as the first defeat of U.S. imperialism in Latin America, had significance not only for Cuba, but for all the peoples of the Americas. It remains relevant to the present period as U.S. imperialism continues to interfere in the Americas and elsewhere.
 April 19, 1961 Cuba declares victory over the U.S. invaders. |
The anniversary of the U.S. attempt to invade Cuba comes at a time when President Obama has finally announced that as part of normalizing U.S. relations with Cuba, it is taking Cuba off its bogus list of countries that support terrorism. The bitter irony is that the U.S. imperialists can put Revolutionary Cuba on such a list -- even though Cuba has not once threatened another country, offering only widespread internationalist assistance, including to the U.S., most recently in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina -- while the U.S. is second to none in carrying out state terrorism at home and abroad. Cuba is only on the list because, at great cost to its own country and people, it courageously answered the call of the African nations seeking assistance against the racist apartheid regime of South Africa.
The fact that Cuba has been on this list for 33 years and that now the U.S. is trying to demonize Venezuela shows that the peoples must be prepared to defend their nation-building projects, so that no more invasions like the one at Playa Gíron ever take place, and that any such attempts are decisively defeated.
On the occasion of Cuba's victory at Playa Gíron, TML Weekly salutes the courage and tenacity of the Cuban Revolution, its leadership and its brave fighters and people which delivered a resounding defeat to the U.S. imperialists on April 19, 1961. It is these same qualities that have resulted in the U.S. having to submit to the established practices of diplomacy and international relations and normalize relations with Cuba, which is yet another testament to the steadfastness and vitality of the Revolution.
U.S. Invasion at Playa Gíron
In April 1961, non-conventional warfare in the form of a mass disinformation campaign was the prelude to the outright attempt at armed invasion. U.S. agencies led a ferocious campaign of defamation and destabilization efforts. Broadcasters, newspapers and press agencies imposed a distorted view of life in Cuba and demonized leaders of the Revolution.
These activities were part of the CIA's Plan Pluto, which sought to establish a beachhead on Cuban territory and give the U.S. a pretext to self-righteously intervene and reinstate a puppet regime. Besides the non-conventional warfare, in the days before the actual invasion, the U.S. and its mercenaries had stepped up violent provocations that included bombing the bases at Havana and Santiago de Cuba, causing death and considerable damage. Likewise, U.S. aircraft disguised with insignia of the Cuban Air Force carried out attacks on Cuba.
Retired Cuban Colonel Armando Martínez Alvarez recounted how just days before the events at Playa Girón, he and other Cuban youth were mobilized by Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro into an anti-aircraft unit to defend Cuba from airborne attack:
"On April 15, 1961, at 06:00 am, three Cuban airports: Ciudad Libertad, San Antonio de los Baños and Santiago de Cuba, suffered a surprise attack by eight B-26 bombers flying out of Puerto Cabezas, Republic of Nicaragua, painted with the insignia of our air force in order to cause confusion, in their attempt to destroy the small and inadequate combat air force on the ground (the action prior to the mercenary invasion), thwarted by the opportune foresight of Fidel, who had ordered the aircraft to be dispersed.
"Only one of the eight aircraft that we had at that moment was destroyed, but the machinegun fire resulted in seven people killed and 53 wounded, mostly civilians. Two enemy planes were damaged by anti-aircraft fire, and one pitched into the sea, as could be seen from the Comodoro Hotel, located in what is now Playa municipality. The rookie gunners riddled the mercenary aircraft and, before dying, one of them, Eduardo García Delgado, wrote the name of Fidel on the wall for posterity with his own blood.
"On April 16, at the burial ceremony for those who died,
Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro solemnly declared before thousands of
men and women
with guns held aloft, the socialist nature of the Revolution and
decreed a
national mobilization given the imminence of the mercenary assault."
 Fidel Castro jumps from a tank, as he personally leads the combat against the invaders. |
For their part, the U.S. imperialists and their mercenaries, emboldened by their cowardly acts of terrorism and recklessness and deluded in their thinking that the Cuban people would support them, proceeded with the invasion.
As part of its nefarious design, the U.S. had assembled
the infamous
Brigade 2506 -- made up mostly of henchmen of the deposed U.S.-backed
dictator Fulgencio Batista, as well as mercenaries, terrorists and
overthrown
oligarchs. In the years before 1961, the U.S. had engineered coups in
Guatemala and Nicaragua, giving it puppet dictatorships in Central
America
which it put to use in the coup attempt against Cuba. Military camps
were
established in Guatemala in the northern departments of Petén,
and Retaluleu,
in the south, to train the mercenaries. The ships full of the
reactionaries,
mercenaries and their instructors from the CIA and the Pentagon, all
departed
from Nicaragua. One of those involved in planning the attack on Playa
Gíron
was none other than Luis Posada Carriles. Posada Carriles has openly
taken
responsibility for many terrorist acts, but today remains a free man in
Miami.
The mercenaries who landed at Playa Girón on April 17 were poorly organized and ill-equipped. Their delusions of being greeted with open arms were abruptly shattered by the reality that the Cuban people were united with Fidel and the army and would not permit Cuba to become a U.S. colony once again.
 U.S.-backed mercenaries of Brigade 2506 after their resounding defeat. |
Despite support from the U.S. military, the mercenaries were defeated by April 19, less than 72 hours after landing. Many Cuban patriots died and a great number of farmers and civilians were struck by enemy fire. Some 1,200 invaders were taken prisoner and later exchanged for medicine, medical equipment and funds for the Cuban children whose parents had been injured in the attack.
Fifty-four years after its decisive victory at Playa Girón, the Cuban Revolution is stronger than ever, calmly overcoming every obstacle in the path of its socialist development while upholding peace, justice and the rule of international law. Meanwhile, the U.S. imperialists are more isolated than ever for their endless crimes against humanity.
The demand of the Cuban and world's peoples that Cuba be permitted to forge its independent path, free from U.S. interference -- be it armed aggression, terrorism, the economic blockade, etc. -- is as relevant today as it was in 1961. The people of the world resolutely reject U.S. terrorism against Cuba and its retrogressive recourse to violence as a solution for differences between itself and Cuba or any other nation. The U.S. imperialists should finally learn the lesson of their ignominious defeat at Playa Girón and keep their hands off Cuba, and all the countries of the world.
Hail the Victory at
Playa Girón!
Long Live the Cuban Revolution!
Hands Off Cuba!
(With files from Prensa Latina, Granma International)
April 16, Cuba Reaffirms Its Socialist Character
At a commemoration for those who died in the U.S. air raids the day before,
Fidel Castro makes the historic declaration of the irrevocable
socialist nature of the Cuban Revolution, April 16, 1961.
Fifty-four years ago, on April 16, Fidel declared the socialist character of the Cuban Revolution, which the people ratify today as the country embarks on a profound transformation to develop a prosperous and sustainable socialism.
The country is currently focused on updating the nation's economic model in a process involving all social actors, looking to boost production and promote development. Cuba cannot, however, forget the events which marked the month of April in its history.
On April 15, 1961, enemy aircraft camouflaged with Cuban military logos bombarded a Havana airport and an air base in the locality of San Antonio de Los Baños, south of Havana, as well as an air field in eastern Santiago de Cuba.
These air raids marked an escalation in U.S. aggression toward Cuba, to defeat the Revolution. These and other actions, designed and financed in the United States included the bombing of the ship, La Coubre, the burning of sugar cane plantations, armed raids by speedboats against coastal settlements, bomb attempts against government and public facilities, all with a large number of victims.
To that point in time, the Cuban government had passed important legislation, such as the land reform, while a large contingent of young people were carrying out the Literacy Campaign throughout the island.
On April 16, during the burial of the victims of the previous days' air raids, the Cuban people flocked to areas near Havana's Colon Cemetery, where Cuban flags were waved from balconies and flowers thrown to the streets.
Fidel addressed the massive demonstration at a busy corner near the cemetery, saying, "This is the socialist and democratic revolution of the humble, with the humble and for the humble....and for this revolution of the humble, by the humble and for the humble we are determined to give our lives."
Referring to the U.S. administration, Fidel said what Washington could not withstand was the fact that Cubans made a socialist revolution right before the eyes of the United States.
With his statement, the Cuban leader was declaring the socialist character of the Revolution, just hours before a U.S.-organized mercenary invasion took place at the Bay of Pigs, on the southwestern coast of Cuba.
Fidel accused the U.S. of blocking the peaceful development in Cuba, of destroying the people's economic resources, and killing Cuban citizens. He also demanded that the United States assume responsibility for such aggression.
"These events will teach us. These painful events will illustrate and show, perhaps more clearly than any previous ones, what imperialism really means," said Fidel.
Images of the people raising guns spoke for themselves,
clearly reflecting
support for the road to be taken from that moment on by the
revolutionary
process -- still unfolding on this Caribbean island nation.
"The change in Cuba is for more socialism."
(Granma International, April 17, 2015)
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