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<font size=3 color="#0000FF"><b>[and some of the obvious omissions are
the political prisoners being held in u.s. prisons - some for over 40
years - victims of Cointelpro, others being given 20-year sentences more
recently for property damage - or like the Cuban Five, getting enormous
sentences for exposing u.s. sponsored attacks against Cuba]<br><br>
</b></font><font size=2 color="#990000">July 23 - 25, 2010<br><br>
</font><h1><font size=4><b>Surprise! Mainstream Media Omits Context and
Key Facts <br><br>
</font><font size=5 color="#990000">Cuba's Prisoner Release
</b></font></h1><font size=4>By SAUL LANDAU and NELSON P. VALDES
<br><br>
</font><font size=3>On July 8, the <i>Washington Post</i> lead story
["Cuba to release 52 political prisoners, Catholic Church
says"] reported Cuba had released five political prisoners with
assurances of forty-seven more to come in the near future. Cuban
President Raul Castro said all political prisoners would soon be
released. On July 16, another group was freed.<br><br>
The <i>Post </i>story and its July 9 editorial "Cuba's marginal
gesture" omitted facts readers would need in order to understand the
significance of the prisoner release. Both pieces convey the image of a
"political prisoner" who is dedicated to expressing unwelcome
views - perhaps a poet, or a whistle blower who has uncovered corruption.
But these prisoners were in jail for committing crimes that would have
placed them behind bars if they were done in the United States including
working for a foreign government without registering, and committing
violence. <br><br>
For example, Orlando Zapata the hunger striker who died in March was
convicted of aggravated, assault -- cutting off a man's ear with a
machete because the man had intervened to stop a street brawl. He
developed his reputation as a "dissident" while serving his
sentence in prison.<br><br>
When James Cason arrived in Cuba in 2003 to head the US diplomatic
mission the State Department reportedly instructed him to adopt the
"ugly American" role, to interfere blatantly in Cuba's domestic
affairs. Roger Noriega, then Assistant Secretary of State for Western
Hemisphere Affairs, recently explained on a Miami radio talk show that
the motive was to induce Cuba to expel him, thus providing the Bush
Administration with a pretext to end formal contacts with the island. To
achieve that goal, Cason openly organized and paid Cuban
"dissidents." Rather than expel the puppeteer, however, Cuba
arrested the puppets Cason had used as human instruments for his
machinations. (July 1, <i>Que Pasa</i>, Miami, referring to May 20
interview on WQBA Miami [Univision], "Lo que otros no
dicen")<br><br>
The editorial also missed the fact that the United States holds more
political prisoners in Cuba (Guantanamo Base) <b>[and in US prisons]
</b>than the Cuban government does <b>.</b> Of the 181 remaining
Guantanamo detainees, an Obama Task Force recommended 48 should be
released since they have been cleared of criminal acts. Most of these
people were kidnapped. No warrants were issued for their arrests (July 9,
<i>Financial Times</i>).<br><br>
The US government justified such “arrests” post 9/11 because Americans
felt under attack from terrorists. We should thus be able to empathize
with Cubans who at least issued arrest warrants for people who secretly
received money from Cuba's avowed enemy. Declassified CIA documents
attest to thousands of CIA-backed-terrorist raids against Cuba since the
early 1960s. More Cubans died in these attacks than perished in the 9/11
horrors. Cuba also suffered substantial property damage from CIA backed
sabotage of factories and fields. <br><br>
As for civil liberties, Cuba at least held formal trials for the
dissidents and found them guilty of organizing at the behest of US
officials as well as discussing future actions and accepting money, goods
or services from US diplomats. They were not charged for having
opposing ideas -- although the expression of opposition ideas may have
motivated the arrests. The <i>Post</i> editorial, like a similar sermon
in the <i>Los Angeles Times</i> (July 10), seems to have made its
judgment by using a double standard.<br><br>
The US media has also portrayed Ghandi-like attributes of Guillermo
Fariñas, the other faster of conscience, which might have been tempered
by the fact of his 1995 arrest for beating the female director of a
hospital. In 2002, he attacked another woman who then needed
surgery.<br><br>
Zapata and Fariñas may qualify as legitimate political oppositionists,
but would the editorial have talked of George Jackson and other former
Black Panthers without mentioning their criminal records?<br><br>
Nowhere do the double standards applied to Cuba shine more dramatically
than in the issue of terrorism. Currently, the United States harbors
individuals accused of horrific terrorist acts - sabotage of a Cuban
commercial airliner killing 73 and a spate of bombings of Cuban tourist
spots killing an Italian and wounding many. Instead of indicting or
extraditing Luis Posada Carriles and Orlando Bosch for international
terrorism -- CIA and FBI cables point to their role in sabotaging the
airliner over Barbados in 1976 killing all aboard – Washington has
protected them. The Justice Department has charged Posada with
immigration fraud, a minor charge, and has allowed the case to drag on
for six years.<br><br>
Double standards and irony abound. Spain and the United States lecture
Cuba on freedom after holding the island as a formal and informal
economic colony respectively for 450 years. Somehow, both seem to claim
they have a perennial right to dictate Cuban government
behavior.<br><br>
<b>Saul Landau</b>, a fellow of the Institute for Policy Studies is
author of
<a href="http://www.easycartsecure.com/CounterPunch/CounterPunch_Books.html">
A BUSH AND BOTOX WORLD</a>, published by CounterPunch.<br><br>
<b>Nelson P Valdes</b>, Professor Emeritus, Sociology Department,
University of<br>
New Mexico.<br><br>
<br><br>
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