April 21, 2014 - No. 45
Revolutionary Cuba Continues to
Make Advance
53rd Anniversary of Cuba's Victory
Against Foreign Invasion at Playa Girón
Toronto
Bay
of Pigs Invasion --
First Military Defeat of U.S. Imperialism in Latin America
Tuesday, April 22 -- 6:30 pm
Documentary Screening
and Guest Speaker, the Honourable Javier Dómokos Ruiz, Consul General of Cuba
in Toronto
Beit Zatoun, 612 Markham St.
Organized
by:
Toronto
Forum
on
Cuba
Hamilton
The
Cuban 5 Political Prisoners
Saturday,
April
26
--
1:00pm
With Honoured Guest, Cuban Ambassador
His Excellency Mr. Julio
Garmendía Peña
&
Keynote Speaker, Stephen Kimber, University of Kings College, Halifax
Volunteer Hamilton, 267 King Street East
$10 - Pay What You Can, No One Turned Away
Organized
by:
Hamilton
Friendship
Association with Cuba
|
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Revolutionary
Cuba
Continues
to Make Advance
• 53rd Anniversary of Cuba's Victory Against
Foreign Invasion at Playa Girón
• Cuba Publishes New Foreign Investment Law
• Revelations about U.S. Operations in Cuba
Corroborate President Raúl Castro's Assertions -
Granma International
• ZunZuneo: The Story Is Long and Continues
- Iroel Sánchez, Granma International
• Cuba's Considerations on the Cyber Subversion
of Cuba and the Case against the Social Network ZunZuneo
• Cuba Expresses Willingness to Work with U.S.
to Resolve Alan Gross Case
Coming Events
• 53rd Anniversary of Bay of Pigs Invasion --
First Military Defeat of U.S. Imperialism in Latin America
• Behind the Empire's Bars: The Case of the
Cuban 5 Political Prisoners
Revolutionary Cuba Continues to Make
Advance
53rd Anniversary of Cuba's Victory Against Foreign
Invasion at Playa Girón
Celebration of the
victory in Playa Girón in Cienaga de Zapata, Matanzas, April 19,
2014, near the site of invasion. (Granma)
April 19 marks the 53rd 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.
This year's commemorations of Playa Girón are
very timely, coming amidst revelations about new types of aggression
via the USAID-funded ZunZuneo social media intrigue, activities
described in a U.S. Special Forces manual as "non-conventional warfare."
In April 1961, such non-conventional warfare 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 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."
Left:
April 16,
1961: The declaration of the socialist character of the Revolution.
This event occurred after bombing raids had killed several civilians.
The Playa Girón invasion occurred the next day. Right: On April 17, 1961, the
U.S.-organized Bay of Pigs
invasion began. 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. At the time, 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.
U.S.-backed
mercenaries of Brigade 2506 after
their
resounding defeat. |
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.
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 Cuban children.
Fifty-three 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.
Hail the Victory at
Playa Girón!
Long Live the Cuban Revolution!
Hands Off Cuba!
Cuba Publishes New Foreign Investment Law
On April 16, Cuba published
the full text of its foreign
investment law meant to attract greater foreign investment, in the
government's Official Gazette and also as a special issue
of Granma.
The law was approved March 29 and will take effect June 27. The broad
outlines of the law and the changes it introduces
had already been widely dessiminated by Cuban media, Radio Havana Cuba
reports.
The new law replaces a 1995 law, implemented when it was
decided that certain sectors of the economy, such as tourism, would be
opened to foreign investment. This decision came in the midst of the
Special Period, the severe period of economic hardship that Cuba
faced in the aftermath of the end of the bipolar division
of the world when the dissolution of the Soviet Union saw Cuba lose its
major trading partner.
Senior government officials explain that Cuba needs more
than $2 billion a year in foreign investment to revive its
economy and attain its 7-percent growth target.
The new law offers investors substantial tax breaks and
incentives, including a 50-per cent reduction of the income tax rate
and an eight-year tax waiver, which could be extended by the Council of
Ministers.
It also provides foreign investors with a stronger legal
framework, including guarantees of non-expropriation, except for
reasons
of public utility or social interest, and then only with due
compensation.
Foreign companies' staff recruitment, barring management
posts, will be carried out through a Cuban employment agency, which
will also be responsible for negotiating the workers' wages with the
companies, to be paid in Cuban pesos. The agency will charge the
companies a 20-per cent commission.
Revelations about U.S. Operations in Cuba Corroborate
President Raúl Castro's Assertions
- Granma International, April 4, 2014 -
President Raul Castro's
denunciations of the United
States government's attempts to destabilize Cuba were corroborated by
the April 3 revelation of a plan to draw Cuban youth toward
counter-revolution, with the participation of a U.S. government agency.
To undermine Cuban authorities, Washington planned the
creation of a "Cuban Twitter," promoted by USAID (U.S. Agency for
International Development), through a network of secretly organized
front companies with financing routed through offshore banks.
The Associated Press (AP)
said on April 4 that it had
access to more than a thousand documents regarding the ZunZuneo
communications network, designed to gain popularity among young Cubans
and later "push them toward dissidence."
The objective of the operation was to launch a messaging
network which could reach hundreds of thousands of Cubans using
non-controversial content, and popular topics such as soccer, music,
hurricanes and advertising. When this goal was met, the plan was to
begin sending messages with political content
and calls for mass action, which could unleash a "Cuban Spring."
AP reported that the network's users never knew that the
project was created by a U.S. agency working with the State Department,
nor that U.S. contractors were gathering personal data, in hopes of
using it for political purposes.
On January 1 of this year, on the occasion of the 55th
anniversary of the Cuban Revolution, President Raul Castro denounced
"attempts to subtly introduce platforms for neo-liberal thought and
restoration of neo-colonial capitalism" in Cuba.
"They are eager to deceptively market the supposed
advantages of disregard for ideology or social conscience to the
youngest [Cubans], as if such concepts were not fully reflective of
ruling class interests in the capitalist world," the President said in
Santiago de Cuba.
He emphasized that such efforts were meant to "induce a
break between the historical leadership of the Revolution and younger
generations, promoting uncertainty and pessimism about future
prospects, all with the clear objective of dismantling socialism in
Cuba from within."
According to the AP report, the anti-Cuban plan may have
violated U.S. law, which requires written presidential authorization
and notification of Congress to carry out any undercover operation. At
the very least, the evidence would seem to contradict the arguments
long advanced by USAID about its non-participation
in covert action.
The matter is closely related to the situation of USAID
contractor Alan Gross, arrested in Cuba in 2009 and convicted of
engaging in illegal actions with objectives and procedures very similar
to those of the ZunZuneo operation.
The report emphasizes that USAID and its contractors
made a significant effort to conceal the project's ties with
Washington. To this end, front companies were established in Spain and
bank accounts in the Cayman Islands, to cover the money trail.
Attempts were also made to hire business executives
without revealing to them that the project was being financed by the
U.S. government.
There will be absolutely no mention of United States
government involvement," said a memo from Mobile Accord, one of the
businesses contracted for the project. "This is absolutely crucial for
the long-term success of the service and to ensure the success of the
Mission," it added.
Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy from Vermont, chairman
of the Senate sub-committee overseeing State Department and Foreign
Operations, said that the revelations were troubling.
"There is the risk to young, unsuspecting Cuban
cellphone users who had no idea this was a U.S. government-funded
activity," he pointed out. Also, "There is the clandestine nature of
the program which was not disclosed to the Appropriations Subcommittee
with oversight responsibility. And there is the disturbing
fact that it was apparently activated shortly after Alan Gross, a USAID
subcontractor who was sent to Cuba to help provide citizens access to
the Internet, was arrested."
The plan, which was meant to mobilize and organize young
Cubans to oppose their country's government lasted from 2009 to 2012,
said the AP.
ZunZuneo is yet another in a long list of secret
anti-Cuban operations, ranging from the Bay of Pigs, through the
hundreds of attempts to assassinate Fidel Castro and other Cuban
leaders, and support for other counter-revolutionary bands who murdered
rural residents and teachers.
That list includes terrorist actions such as the downing
of the Cubana de Aviacion passenger plane in 1976, with 73 people
aboard, and the introduction to Cuba of illnesses such as hemorraghic
dengue and other bio-warfare agents.
The U.S. government finances and directs anti-Cuban
radio and television broadcasts, and has subjected the country to the
longest economic, financial and commercial blockade in history.
Spanish Company Will Reveal Information About
Anti-Cuban Network
The Spanish communications company Lleida.net has
expressed its willingness to release information about its
participation in the ZunZuneo project [... which] was financed with
U.S. public funds and included a contract with
Lleida.net to send unidentifiable messages to Cuba.
In a communiqué received by Prensa Latina,
LLeida.net denies having participated "in an active way" in the program
which was launched in 2010 and functioned through 2012. The company
expressed its willingness to collaborate in clarification of the events.
"If at any point, users of Lleida.net have committed and
illegal act, Lleida.net is, as it had always been, at the disposition
of competent authorities to facilitate necessary information through
legally established channels," the communiqué stated.
The company argues that as a telecommunications operator
it must abide by privacy regulations, and cannot verify or modify the
content of messages sent by its clients.
Lleida.net adds that it operates messaging systems used
by thousands of clients around the world, and functions transparently.
An internet attorney Carlos Sánchez Almeida,
cited by AP, said that the activities revealed violated Spanish data
privacy laws since, the personal information gathered was used to
illegally develop a list of telephone numbers to which unsolicited
messages were sent from a Spanish platform.
ZunZuneo: The Story Is Long and Continues
- Iroel Sánchez, Granma
International, April 16, 2014 -
The scandal unleashed as a result of Associated Press
(AP) revelations regarding the undercover construction of a mobile
phone messaging system by the United States, with the goal of
overthrowing the Cuban government, continues to develop, despite White
House and State Department efforts to contain it. There
are, however, details of the U.S. Aid for International Development
(USAID) ZunZuneo project which have not been addressed, and questions
which have not been raised.
The Nicaraguan daily La Prensa reported
that
the messaging system's programmer was a citizen of this country, named
Mario Bernheim, who works in the U.S. embassy in Managua. Meanwhile, a
Costa
Rican newspaper, La Nación, has revealed that the
project was launched in 2009 from
a secret office in San José, at a distance from the U.S.
embassy, despite the fact that USAID has not had an official presence
in Costa Rica since 1996. La Nación identified Joseph
(Joe) Duke McSpedon, a USAID employee who visited the country on "42
occasions, between 2009 and 2011, arriving on
commercial and private flights," and two other persons, contracted to
work on the project by Creative Associates, a Washington consulting
firm.
According to the Costa Rican paper, these individuals
were "Noy Villalobos Echeverría, who remained in the country for
periods of up to three months, according to immigration records, and
his brother Mario Berheim Echeverría, a young programmer who
developed the system to send mass messages to Cuba."
Costa Rican Minister of Communication Carlos Roverssi
stated, "An investigation of the case must be undertaken; it is very
serious. If this is true, it is a serious affront to Costa Rica. It is
an issue for the Foreign Ministry. But of course, an explication must
be requested."
From Spain, eldiario.es reported that the Spanish
company Lleida.net, identified by AP as responsible for sending the
ZunZuneo SMS, has ties to the right-wing Guardia Civil. The company
released a communiqué, making an effort to avoid using the words
Cuba or ZunZuneo, saying "If, at any time, one of the
users of Lleida.net has committed any type of illegal act, Lleida.net
is, as it has always been, at the disposal of competent authorities, to
provide necessary information through legally established channels."
Internet attorney Carlos Sánchez Almeida
commented to eldiario.es that Spain's Data Protection Law (in Article
7, Appendix 4) prohibits the use of information to create lists based
on political affiliation -- among ZunZuneo's activities, according to
AP
-- since this is information which merits special protection.
He stated that the messaging system's actions were in violation of
Spanish law, since, "The ZunZuneo team, in an illegal fashion,
collected personal information from a list of telephones and sent
unsolicited messages via a Spanish platform." Sánchez Almeida
was explicit on his Twitter account, which has some 23,000
followers, saying, "If Cuban citizens' data has been handled illegally
in Spain, the Spanish justice system must intervene."
In the meantime, AP issued a new dispatch, adding to
previous revelations that persons very close to the U.S. Interests
Section in Havana were part of the ZunZuneo plan developed by USAID. In
the United States, an influential publication, The New Yorker,
commented
on
White
House
assertions
that
the
project was not an undercover operation, "This kind of
bald-faced disingenuousness is risible. Whatever it is labeled, there
seems to be little doubt that ZunZuneo functioned as a secret
intelligence operation aimed ultimately at subversion." Politico
Magazine entitled an article about the mobile
phone social network fiasco 'Bay of Tweets,' in a clear reference to
the failed 1961 U.S. Bay of Pigs invasion.
Glenn Greenwald, the journalist who published National
Security Agency (NSA) information leaked by Edward Snowden, described
ZunZuneo as "another drop in the bucket" of propaganda on the Internet,
and Tracey Eaton published documents on his Along the Malecon blog
showing how ZunZuneo was financed,
to the tune of $1.6 million, by diverting funds destined for
Pakistan.
Hilda Arias, director of mobile services for Cuba's
national telephone company Etecsa, spoke with Juventud Rebelde about
the issue and has been quoted widely describing the multiple spam
attacks on Cuban systems generated from U.S. platforms, run directly by
the government. She said, "The so-called CAN
SPAM Act, Public Law 108-187
approved by the U.S. Congress in
December, 2003, and signed immediately by President George W. Bush
himself, clearly prohibits sending commercial, or other kinds of
messages, without the explicit permission of the receiver.
"Nevertheless, the promoters of so-called Martinoticias,
which also involves other subversive projects in Cuba such as
Cubasincensura and Diario de Cuba, appear to believe that when it comes
to Cuba, they are above the law.
"Through October, 2013, according to information
obtained by Etecsa, including an analysis of the origin of the text
messaging, they had sent 219 mass spam messages, for a total of
1,055,746 SMS to Cuban users."
Juventud Rebelde also addressed a project
called Commotion, to which USAID has allotted $4.3 million for
the period between September, 2012, and September, 2015, to hire
subcontractors to establish clandestine wireless networks in Cuba,
re-attempting ZunZuneo via another SMS network
named Piramideo, launched by the Transmissions Office and directed
toward Cuba in 2013, along with other projects like Hablalosinmiedo and
Singularidad.
It is no surprise that spammers who receive funds, for
the likes of Diario de Cuba and Martínoticias, are
among the few voices raised in support of such illegal U.S. government
activities. Diario de Cuba, financed by the U.S. via the
National Endowment for Democracy, said in an editorial
that ZunZuneo revelations "had caused an unmerited international stir."
Martinoticias issued a statement signed by
director Carlos García Pérez saying, "Piramideo is one
more communication tool, like radio, television, DVDs, flash drives,
e-mail and text messages, which Martí media offers its
audience." According to documents published by Tracey Eaton, Piramideo
was developed by Washington Software, in Germantown, Maryland, for
Martí Radio and TV, at a cost of $3.2 million. In April
of 2013, he showed on his blog that the U.S. Broadcasting Board of
Governors (BBG) had paid this company huge sums:
- $531,576 to expand proxy Internet
- $500,987 to develop an SMS social network
- $451,796 to circumvent Cuban government efforts to
block their electronic messages
- $173,074 to send messages to Cuba via SMS
- $96,028 to program computers
- $84,000 to design and operate a SMS system
- $83,050 to run an unspecified operation related to TI
and architecture
- $60,275 to send mass e-mails
- $2,580 to pay for internet gateways
Total: $1,983,366.
Eaton clarified that the documents do not indicate the
total number of text messages sent, although one does show that the BBG
paid Washington Software $14,474 for 361,873 messages sent in October
of 2011.
Martinoticias' penchant for spam is not limited to SMS
or Piramideo. In August of 2012, I, who am not a subscriber, was
obliged to denounce a spam [on my blog La Pupila Insomne] attack
originating from their Twitter
account.
Cuba's Considerations on the
Cyber Subversion of Cuba
and the Case
Against the Social Network ZunZuneo
U.S.
Cyber
Subversion
Against
Cuba
- The U.S. has not given up its subversive plans against
Cuba, which have been occurring since 1959.
- The U.S. government continues to devote millions in
resources to promote subversion in Cuba. With public funds, it is
trying to create an artificial opposition in Cuba.
- Since 1996, when the U.S. government's U.S. Agency for
International Development (USAID) officially created the Cuba Program,
it has allocated more than $260 million for the promotion of subversive
projects against Cuba, using both traditional and more sophisticated
methods.
- U.S. agencies, and especially USAID, use social
networks covertly for "propaganda," "deception," "mass messaging," and
"fabrication of false stories."
- As part of their subversive activities, the United
States deploys maneuvers that include the use of shell companies in
third party countries, money laundering and hiring mercenaries
disguised as technological entrepreneurs, both inside and outside of
Cuba, to try to cover up their plans against our country.
- The U.S. attempts to exploit social networks against
Cuba as part of a design which has been called "soft coups" to
overthrow governments, without resorting to the use of military force
or before it is used. This destabilizing scheme has been tested in
countries like Syria, Ukraine and Venezuela; attempting
to influence the people, to destabilize the country and provoke changes
in Cuba's political, social and economic system.
- The U.S. has maintained against Cuba for decades a
policy of severe economic, financial and trade sanctions; organized
acts of terrorism and sabotage; and financed a seedy domestic
opposition, with the intent to subvert order and overthrow the Cuban
government.
- The U.S. government cannot claim to have good
intentions regarding Cuba while continuing their subversive and covert
actions.
Regarding the Social Network ZunZuneo
- ZunZuneo is only one page of more than 50 years in the
history of hostile U.S. government policy against Cuba, now based on
new information technologies and communications.
- USAID planned to create "ZunZuneo," a "Cuban Twitter"
to undermine the revolutionary government. The plan was to send spam
messages to mobile phones, to alter the flow of information and the use
of Internet in Cuba.
- The social network was active for two years beginning
in
2012, and had about 40,000 users, for which it illicitly obtained
databases from the Telecommunications Company of Cuba (ETECSA).
- Through this private network, data on Cuban users was
gathered without their consent, which allowed the U.S. government to
compile profiles
by gender, age, tastes and affiliations of various kinds, to be used
for political purposes.
- The investigative report by the Associated Press (AP)
revealed the scope and details of the development of ZunZuneo, with
USAID funding, for purposes of subversion.
- The revelations of the U.S. agency AP confirmed the
repeated denunciations by the Cuban government that the U.S. government
has not given up its subversive plans against Cuba.
- The U.S. acknowledged funding the creation of
ZunZuneo, although, as expected, denied that the aim of this social
network was to challenge the government of Cuba.
- ZunZuneo, like other subversive operations, violates
Cuban and U.S. laws, including the CAN
SPAM
Act,
Public
Law
108-187,
approved by Congress in December 2003, which prohibits sending
commercial or other messages without receiving expressed consent. It
also violates 11 resolutions of the International
Telecommunication Union (ITU).
- ZunZuneo was doomed to fail from the start. The
counterrevolution does not have popular support in Cuba.
- ETECSA detected since 2009 spam messaging traffic from
the ZunZuneo platform, prompting repeated complaints from users about
unwanted messages.
- These attacks were reported by ETECSA to operators who
communicated the decision to close the messaging centres (SMS Centre)
that maintained the behaviour.
- The network tried to hide from the Cuban government,
creating an intricate system of shell companies in third countries.The
subscribers never knew the service was created by the U.S. government,
or that users' private information was being compiled for political
purposes.
- The shell companies allowed ZunZuneo to distance
itself from Washington so "the money trail would not lead to the United
States."
- ZunZuneo has not been the only platform designed with
these features. Still running are the social network Piramideo and
Martí Noticias, Diario de Cuba and Cubasincensura, among other
platforms.
- Recently, ETECSA has detected other malicious variants
such as sending messages promoting voicemail calls using deceptive or
manipulative techniques that cause economic damage to users and the
institution itself.
- All these technological attacks generate overuse of
the capacity of Cuba's cellular network and is detrimental to the
quality of service, which directly harms the Cuban population as a user
of these services.
- ETECSA condemns the illegal use of telecommunications
services, their networks and users.
On the Use of New Information Technologies and
Communication in Cuba
- Cuba places great importance on the protection and
promotion of the right to freedom of information. It is a right that is
fully guaranteed in our country and included in the Cuban Constitution.
- The U.S. blockade affects Internet access, with
restrictions on available bandwidth and higher connection costs.
- The Information Technology and Communications are
goods at the service of all the people and training in their use is
free.
- ETECSA will continue carrying out its program of
expansion and improvement of telecommunication services, including
Internet, in line with the strategy for economic and social development.
Cuba Expresses Willingness to Work with U.S. to Resolve
Alan Gross Case
Cuba has once again reiterated its willingness to work
with the U.S. for a resolution to the case of the U.S. citizen Alan
Gross, imprisoned in Cuban since 2009. Gross was arrested, tried, and
convicted for having violated Cuban law, by implementing a subversive
U.S.-financed program to establish an illegal
covert communications system that relied on non-commercial technology,
Prensa Latina informs.
An April 9 note from Cuba's Ministry of Foreign
Relations (MINREX) said that any resolution ought to be "acceptable for
both sides, taking into account Cuba's humanitarian concerns in
relation to the case of the three Cubans from the group known as the
Cuban Five, who have continued to be unjustly imprisoned
in the United States for more than 15 years."
Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon Labañino and Antonio
Guerrero have been imprisoned in the U.S. since 1998 followed a staged
trial. They are part of the Cuban Five, which includes René
Gonzalez and Fernando González, who recently returned to Cuba
after having fully served their unjust sentences. The vindictive nature
of the trial was also reflected in the conditions of
imprisonment for the
five, in which they have been subject them to long periods in solitary
confinement and denied visits from family members.
The statement, signed by MINREX Director General for the
United States Josefina Vidal, pointed out that Cuba is aware of and
concerned by the April 8 press release from the U.S. government stating
that
"Alan Gross, a USAID contractor incarcerated in Cuba for four years and
four months, began a hunger strike last
week."
The statement emphasizes that Gross has received
dignified and respectful treatment, and ever since his arrest has been
kept at a hospital, not because his health condition requires such a
thing, but because it is a place where he can be guaranteed specialized
care by highly qualified doctors and medical staff.
Gross is in good physical condition and his health is
normal and stable, the note said. His chronic ailments, typical for his
age, are under control and are being medically treated. He has received
visits from his wife and attorney, with whom he also maintains regular
email and telephone contact, as well as with
other family members and friends, in addition to receiving monthly
visits from the U.S. consul and diplomats, and visits from political
and religious leaders, the note added.
Coming Events
53rd Anniversary of Bay of Pigs Invasion --
First
Military Defeat of U.S. Imperialism in Latin America
Toronto
Tuesday, April 22 -- 6:30
pm
Beit Zatoun, 612 Markham St. (Bathurst subway)
Organized by: Toronto Forum on Cuba
Documentary
Screening
and
Guest
Speaker,
the
Honourable Javier Dómokos Ruiz, Consul General of Cuba in Toronto
On April 17th, 1961 the U.S. sent about 1,500
CIA-trained mercenaries to invade the Bay of Pigs (Playa Girón)
on the southern coast of Cuba, in an attempt to overthrow the Cuban
Revolution and by April 19th, in less than 72 hours, the U.S. empire
had been defeated!!!
To the present date, U.S. government-sponsored
ultra-right terrorist groups in South Florida (which include
mercenaries from the Bay of Pigs invasion) have caused the deaths of
3,478 innocent people, maimed over 2,000 people and continue to operate
unobstructed by U.S. authorities.
Today, Five Cuban heroes who infiltrated these groups to
prevent further attacks against Cuba, continue to be unjustly punished
by the U.S government: ANTONIO GUERRERO, GERARDO HERNANDEZ and RAMON
LABAÑINO are serving their 16th year of imprisonment in U.S.
jails. RENÉ GONZALEZ
and FERNANDO GONZALEZ have finally been released and are back with
their families in their homeland, but only after having unjustly served
their full sentences.
While the three Cuban heroes remain unjustly imprisoned
and as we continue to bear witness to the U.S. government's continued
interventions in other countries -- through its illegal support and
financing of violent and fabricated insurrections -- we encourage
everyone who struggles for peace and justice and
all those who have experienced the Empire's aggression to come and join
this discussion on the lessons to be learned from the Cuban Revolution,
as we continue our ongoing struggle for peace.
Click image to download (PDF).
Behind the Empire's Bars:
The Case of the Cuban 5
Political Prisoners
Hamilton
Saturday, April 26
-- 1:00pm
Volunteer Hamilton,
267 King Street East
$10 - Pay What You
Can, No One Turned Away
Organized by: Hamilton
Friendship Association with Cuba
Want to get
involved,
need a ride? Contact us at info@cubacanada.org
With Honoured Guest,
The
Cuban Ambassador to Canada,
His Excellency Mr. Julio Garmendía Peña
& Keynote Speaker, Stephen Kimber, University of Kings College,
Halifax
The Hamilton Friendship Association with Cuba (HFAC) is
honoured to welcome the Cuban Ambassador to Canada on his first
official visit to Hamilton. His Excellency Mr. Julio Garmendía
Peña will be in Hamilton for an afternoon of information and
conversation dedicated to the five Cuban heroes, unjustly
imprisoned for defending their country against terrorism. The
afternoon's keynote address will be given by Professor Stephen Kimber
of University of Kings College, Halifax. Kimber will outline the case
of the Cuban 5 and update on recent developments, including the
celebrated return of two heroes, Fernando and
René, to Cuba! Stay tuned for further details.
Click image to download (PDF).
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