[News] Cuba challenges TSA list
Anti-Imperialist News
news at freedomarchives.org
Sun Jan 10 12:36:21 EST 2010
cubanmission.com
Declaration of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cuba
On Monday January 4, press reports indicated that
as from that day, the US Transport Security
Administration was applying additional security
measures, at every airport in the world, to any
passenger carrying a passport from the countries
the State Department has listed as “sponsors of
international terrorism.” Among the countries
unfairly and arbitrarily included in that list
are Cuba, Iran, Syria and Sudan as well as other
countries “of interest” such as: Afghanistan,
Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan,
Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Yemen. The measures
also apply to any person making a stopover in any of these 14 nations.
It has been reported that the decision to impose
these new measures was adopted after an attempted
terrorist action against an American Northwest
Airlines aircraft aimed for Detroit city last December 25.
According to statements from unidentified
American officials ran by the press, the
passengers that qualify in these categories will
be subjected to body search and their hand
luggage will be thoroughly checked using
sophisticated explosive-detection techniques or imaging scanners.
In the evening of January 5, after a meeting with
members of his National Security staff, President
Barack Obama confirmed the adoption of the
abovementioned regulations, in effect since the
previous day, affecting “passengers traveling to
the United States from or through the nations in
our list of states sponsors of terrorism or other countries of interest.”
That same evening, the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs of Cuba and its Interests Section in
Washington presented a Note of protest to the US
Interests Section in Havana and the State Department, respectively.
In the Note, the MINREX categorically rebuffs
this new hostile action by the US administration
arising from the unjustified inclusion of Cuba in
the so-called list of ‘States sponsors of
terrorism’ for purely political reasons and with
the single purpose of justifying the blockade
policy that the international community has so overwhelmingly condemned.
The Note contests the elaboration of such lists
and underlines facts that prove Cuba’s impeccable
record in the fight on terrorism, an evil of
which it has historically been the victim. It
also reaffirms that the arguments used by the US
administration to justify our country’s inclusion
in its list of “States sponsors of terrorism” are
absolutely baseless, and demands its immediate
removal from that arbitrary list.
That same day, in response to an AFP question on
the MINREX Note of protest, a State Department
spokesman said that “Cuba is a country that
supports terrorist activities, therefore, its
citizens and travelers in air transit should be
subjected to additional controls for security reasons.”
Following the public announcement of this new
measure, columnists of major US newspapers like
the Washington Post have referred to Cuba’s
designation as a “terrorist State” as something
“ridiculous” and “unwarranted,” and have recalled
that our country poses no threat to the security
of the United States, adding that looking for
terrorists in flights coming from Cuba “is a waste of time.”
Again on January 5, 2010, State Department
spokesman Philip Crowley stated that Cuba’s
designation as a “State sponsor of terrorism” is
“well-earned.” Next day, January 6, another
spokesman repeated to AFP the worn out pretexts
that supposedly justify keeping Cuba in the terrorist list.
As one more element of its policy of hostility
and its propaganda campaigns aimed at
discrediting the Revolution, in 1982, long before
the attacks on the Twin Towers in New York City,
the Ronald Reagan administration unjustly
included Cuba in the annual State Department list
of “States sponsors of international terrorism.”
The insertion of Cuba in that list led to the
implementation of new economic sanctions that
included freezing financial transactions,
preventing technology transfer and executing
restrictive and isolationist actions against the
country and its citizens. These sanctions would
be added to the already Draconian regulations
derived from the economic, commercial and
financial blockade imposed since the beginning of the Revolution.
Every year, the US administration has kept Cuba
on that list resorting to different pretexts, all
of them unsustainable, while unable to offer any
evidence of our country’s involvement in any terrorist action.
On April 30, 2009, Obama’s administration
ratified the absurd inclusion of Cuba in that
list while insisting that “the Cuban government
continues to provide save haven to various
terrorists,” that “members of ETA, the FARC and
the ELN have remained in Cuba during 2008”
and that “it continues to allow some US
fugitives to have legal residence in Cuba.” This
was strongly denied by the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs and motivated a Reflection by comrade
Fidel challenging the United States to discuss the issue.
Cuba has revealed the past sufficient information
to prove the falsity of such pretexts and their
manipulative nature. This was also extensively
described in the Declaration of the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs entitled “Cuba has nothing to
hide and nothing to be ashamed of,” published on May 2, 2003.
The presence of various exiled members of the
Basque organization ETA was not initiated by
Cuba; it originated in a request from the Spanish
governments concerned with the issue, with which
an agreement was reached, more than one-fourth of
a century ago, allowing a small group of members
of that organization to travel to Cuba. Our
country then established the strict rule that if
any member of that group ever left the country
they would be unable to return to Cuban territory.
The members of ETA living in Cuba have never used
our territory to conduct actions of that
organization against Spain or any other country.
Cuba has scrupulously abided by that agreement.
The presence of ETA members in Cuba is a
bilateral issue discussed with the Spanish
government in various contacts. The US
administration has no right or authority to
interfere in these affairs which do not involve
or affect in any way its national security or that of any other country.
As to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia
(FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN) of
Colombia, it is widely known that, at a certain
point, both the Colombian government and these
guerrilla forces converged in asking Cuba to
participate in the peace process. In that
framework, Cuba has been a member of the Group of
Countries Facilitators of the dialogue and of the
Group of Friendly Countries to the Peace Talks
and has hosted several rounds of negotiations.
The transparent position of the Cuban government
and its contribution to the peace process has
been publicly recognized not only by the FARC and
the ELN but also by the United Nations and the Colombian government.
As to the presence in Cuba of fugitives of the US
justice, it would be worthwhile repeating that no
terrorist from any country has ever found save
haven or residence in our territory. Cuba has
legitimately offered protection and political
asylum to some American civil right fighters.
Also living in Cuba are other American citizens
who have broken the law, mainly aircraft
hijackers. These people were tried in court and
severely punished and after serving their
sentences requested to remain in the country. It
was the Cuban government that adopted the
necessary measures that during Carter’s
government definitely put an end to plane
hijackings, a scourge that had originated in the United States.
In contrast, since the triumph of the Revolution
the US administration has welcomed to its
territory hundreds of criminals, murderers and
terrorists, ignoring the formal requests for
their return filed by the Cuban government in
every case, in accordance with the Extradition
Accords that were then in effect. Many of these
individuals still walk free and undisturbed the
streets of that country, even when they have been
involved in other terrorist actions against
citizens and interests of the United States, Cuba
and other nations. The most notorious and
appalling case was the blasting of a Cubana
Airlines passengers’ plane on October 6, 1976,
that took the lives of 73 people; this was the
first terrorist action against a commercial
airliner in mid flight in the Western Hemisphere.
The authors --Orlando Bosch Avila and Luis Posada
Carriles-- have lived and still live unpunished
in Miami. The former received a presidential
pardon from George H.W.Bush while the latter
awaits a protracted trial under charges of deceit
and obstruction of justice in a migratory case
but not for international terrorism as his actions warrant.
Those same State Department reports that
designate Cuba as a “State sponsor of terrorism”
have been unable to overlook some of these truths.
Cuba refuses to accept the illegitimate mechanism
used by the US administration to take upon itself
the right of certifying the behavior of other
nations with respect to terrorism and to issue
politically motivated, discriminatory and
selective lists while assuming a double-standard
position and failing to take to trial the
confessed culprits of horrible terrorist actions
against Cuba who are instead allowed to go free.
An example of this is provided by our Five Heroes
-- Gerardo, Fernando, Ramón, Antonio and Renéwho
are serving arbitrary and unfair sentences in
American prisons for protecting Cuba, --3478 of
whose citizens were killed and 2099 maimed by
terrorist actions-- and also for defending the
integrity of citizens from the United States and other countries.
Cuba has always behaved in an exemplary manner in the fight on terrorism:
- Cuba condemns every act of terrorism,
in all forms and manifestations;
- The Cuban territory has never been used
nor will it ever be used to arrange, finance or
implement terrorist actions against any other
country, including the United States;
- Cuba is a Party to the 13 international
conventions on terrorism and it strictly observes
the obligations set forth in UN Security Council
Resolutions 1267, 1373 and 1540 on this matter;
- Cuba does not have, nor does it intend
to have, any kind of weapon of mass destruction
and it abides by its obligations stemming from
the international instruments it has signed
related to nuclear, chemical and biological weapons;
- The National Assembly of People’s Power
of the Republic of Cuba adopted on December 20,
2001, the Act 93 ‘Against Terrorist Actions,’
defining every act of international terrorism as
a serious crimes and establishing very severe sentences;
- Additionally, Cuba has adopted measures
to prevent and suppress every act of terrorism
and every action related to them, including
financing terrorism. Likewise, it has increased
surveillance along its borders and promoted
actions to thwart the trafficking of weapons and
to intensify juridical cooperation with other
countries. To this end, it has signed 35
agreements for juridical assistance and
repeatedly expressed its continued willingness to
cooperate with very State in this area;
- In this spirit, Cuba has cooperated,
even actively, with the US administration. On
three occasions, --November 2001, December 2001
and March 2002-- Cuba proposed to the US
authorities a draft program of bilateral
cooperation to combat terrorism; and on July
2009, Cuba reiterated its willingness to cooperate in this area;
- On various occasions, the Cuban
authorities have let the US administration know
of its willingness to exchange information on
plans to carry out attacks and/or terrorist
actions on targets located in either one of the
two countries. It is also known that in 1984 Cuba
alerted on a plan to attempt against the life of
President Ronald Reagan which led to the
neutralization of those involved by the US
authorities. In 1998, information was transferred
to the William F.Clinton administration on plans
to blow up planes from Cuban airlines or from
other countries traveling to Cuba;
- Likewise, the Cuban authorities have
provided the US government with plenty of
information on terrorist actions carried out
against Cuba. In 1997, 1998, 2005 and 2006, Cuba
handed over to the FBI numerous evidence on a
string of bombs set up in various Cuban tourist
resorts, and even gave them access to those
responsible for such actions detained in Cuba and to some witnesses;
- It should not be forgotten that Cuba
was one of the first countries to publicly
condemn the criminal terrorist attacks of
9/11-2001 in the United States; that it expressed
its willingness to provide medical and
humanitarian assistance to the victims and that
it immediately opened its air space and airports
to passenger planes flying towards American
territory. Despite the numerous terrorist actions
against Cuba originated in the US territory, our
country has observed a clean and flawless conduct
with regards to any event that could affect US
citizens because Cuba is a nation guided by
political principles and ethical standards.
The government of Cuba, loyal to its honor and
dignity, condemns the arbitrary inclusion of Cuba
in the list of 14 countries whose citizens will
be the subject of new restrictive measures determined by the US Administration.
The government of Cuba also demands the immediate
removal of Cuba from the list of “States sponsors
of international terrorism,” since it is an
unfair, arbitrary and politically motivated
designation that contradicts the exemplary
conduct of our country in the struggle against
terrorism and calls into question the seriousness
of the United States in the fight against that scourge.
Similarly, it urges the US administration to act
firmly and without double standards, --as an
expression of its commitment to the antiterrorist
struggle-- against those that have carried out
terrorist actions on Cuba from the US territory;
and to free the Five Heroes who are Cuban
antiterrorists unjustly incarcerated in that country.
Havana, January 7, 2010
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cuba
Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863-9977
www.Freedomarchives.org
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