[Ppnews] Jimmy Carter urges release of Cuban Five
Political Prisoner News
ppnews at freedomarchives.org
Fri Apr 1 07:09:34 EDT 2011
Jimmy Carter urges release of Cuban Five
Posted on
<http://machetera.wordpress.com/2011/03/31/jimmy-carter-urges-release-of-cuban-five/>March
31, 2011 by <http://machetera.wordpress.com/author/machetera/>machetera
http://machetera.wordpress.com/2011/03/31/jimmy-carter-urges-release-of-cuban-five/
Interview with former U.S. President, Jimmy
Carter, by Arleen Rodríguez Derivet, Cuban
Television journalist -
<http://www.cubadebate.cu/noticias/2011/03/30/entrevista-con-james-carter-realizada-por-arleen-rodriguez-fotos-y-video/>español
Translation: Machetera
Arleen Rodríguez: Hello! A greeting to all of
those who are watching Cuban Television right
now. I welcome all of you, along with the
former President of the United States, James
Carter, who just moments before leaving to return
to his country has graciously agreed to give us
an interview, and an exclusive statement for our television broadcast.
Welcome. Thank you for accepting our invitation.
Jimmy Carter: Its a great pleasure to return to Cuba, to Havana.
Rodríguez: Its a great pleasure to have you here
as well. You told me that youd like to say
something to the Cuban people before our interview.
Carter: Yes.
Rodríguez: The camera is yours.
Carter: To the people of Cuba I would like to say
that I am very grateful for the chance to return
to your wonderful country once again. My wife
and I enjoy being here with the Cuban people, to
meet with the government leaders, to meet with
some of those Cuban citizens who disagree with
the government. We met with all of them. We are
very excited about the prospects for the upcoming
Congress that will begin next month. We also had
a chance to meet with the parents of the
so-called Cuban Five, with two of the mothers and also with the wives.
My hope is that in the future we will see
normalization of relations between Cuba and the
United States. I would like to see at the time
all the restraints on travel from the United
States to Cuba and Cuba to the United States
lifted, and also have freedoms in both our
countries, freedom of assembly, freedom of
speech, freedom to travel as you wish, these are
very important for the entire world and for the people of Cuba.
We had meetings with the foreign minister, with
the President of the National Assembly, with
President Castro, with the former President,
Fidel Castro, an old friend of mine, to learn all
we can about the economic changes in Cuba.
This morning I was also able to meet with Mr.
Gross, who has been sentenced to a long term in
prison in Cuba, and we believe he is innocent of
any crime. I hope in the future we'll see his
freedom along with the freedom of the so-called
Cuban Five who have now spent 12 years in prison in the United States.
In the future I hope that we can see unimpeded
trade and commerce as well as travel back and
forth between our two countries and Id like to
see the economic embargo lifted completely
it
doesnt just affect the government but it hurts
the people. My views on the Cuban American
relationship are that it needs to change.
When I became president I immediately lifted the
travel restraints between both my country and
Cuba and I have worked very closely with your
former President Fidel Castro to establish
diplomatic exchange through Interests
Sections. Now the United States and Cuba have
about 300 people employed in the Interests
Sections, both in the United States as well as in
Cuba, and there are Cubans who work in the
Interests Section in Cuba and vice-versa, and I
think that this can contribute to normal
diplomatic relations between the two countries.
This has been a good opportunity that Ive been
given by Cuban TV to address you and say how marvelous your country is.
Rodríguez: Thanks.
Id like to take advantage of this opportunity to ask you a few questions.
First of all, Id like to congratulate you for
the respect and sympathy that you've generated as
the only U.S. President in 50 years to do
something to normalize relations. You recalled
some of the important steps. Also for the fact
that you have come to Cuba twice already, and for
doing so with your hand extended and with
respect. The Cuban people, who have a lot of
pride and dignity, receive such visitors sympathetically.
I believe that, getting down to the substance of
this interview, you've relieved me of having to
do an introduction, by expressing once again your
desire and willingness for the blockade against
Cuba to be lifted. Its known that theres a
majority consensus in U.S. society on this, even
among the Cuban community in the United States,
and that, furthermore, the international
community has overwhelmingly demanded this for
the last twenty years, the same way that its
efforts are supported by a vast majority in Cuba and the United States.
As you yourself acknowledge, the blockade remains
in place, and the Cuban people know, furthermore,
that it remains in place as stiffly as ever,
sometimes even more rigorous than before.
I ask: What prospects do you see for relations
between Cuba and the United States and for this
blockade, that the whole world opposes?
Carter: As you know, the majority of Cubans want
to have normal relations with the United States,
and the overwhelming majority of North Americans
also want to have normal relationships with
Cuba. Unfortunately there are a few radical
leaders in my country, some in prominent
positions in Congress, mostly Cuban Americans,
who insist on keeping the relationship between
our two countries separate, these representatives
of the old Cuban American community, whose main
goal was to overthrow the Castro regime; even
among the Cuban Americans now in my country they
are a small minority now, but theyre very
powerful, in our political circles. I believe
that in the last few years, Ive seen public
opinion polls even inside Miami
testifying that
the younger members of that community want to
move the economic blockade against Cuba and want
to have normal opportunities to travel in both
directions: from the United States to Cuba and
also from Cuba to the United States. This is a
change. In my opinion, its a change that is
going to continue into the future and I hope that
my small voice, and the opinion of many American, can make this a reality.
Rodríguez: Mr. Carter, I was very moved as I
listened to you in the press conference, and here
in your statement, when I heard you also ask for,
demand, freedom for the Five Cuban Heroes
imprisoned in the States, who Cuba considers
heroes, because they faced terrorist groups and
were able to prevent the list of 2,099 wounded
and 3,478 dead from terrorist attacks on our country from growing any larger.
I dont know how aware you are of how deeply the
Cuban people feel about the demand that the Five
be released. However, I didnt hear you say they should be pardoned.
You said that according to U.S. law you expected
that they would be freed. They have appealed to
the Supreme Court, which refused to hear their
case, despite the fact that more than 10 Nobel
laureates and hundreds of political personalities
and intellectuals around the world had demanded
it. In other words, all the legal steps have been exhausted.
The process has been extremely arbitrary, as you
said, judges have acknowledged this, and two of
them have been subjected to the additional
punishment of being denied regular visits from
their wives, as well as having the visits from
their family members made very difficult.
To arrive at this point with the Supreme Court
and not allow even for the review of such a
complex case is what made these Nobel
prizewinners and political personalities demand that Obama grant a pardon.
You were the President of the United States. You
exercised the right to pardon, as a humanitarian
gesture, that I tell you as a Cuban the Cuban
people would deeply appreciate a pardon. Are you
inclined to add your name to the other Nobel
prizewinners who are asking Obama to pardon the Five?
Carter: As you know, Im not only a former
president, but Im also a Nobel laureate.
Rodríguez: Thats why.
Carter: Well, in my private talks to President
Bush and also with President Obama, I have urged
the release of these prisoners.
I recognize the restraints within the American
judicial system, and my hope is that the
president might grant a pardon, but you have to
realize that this is a decision that could only
be made by the president himself, it would be
presumptuous of me to try to tell another
president what to do; but the presidents, now and
before this, have known that my own opinion is
that the original trial of the Cuban Five was
very doubtful, it violated standards, and also
some of the restraints on their visitation were extreme.
Now I know that all of the people have been able
to visit them in jail, and it is my wish in the
future that before a pardon might be granted is
that there could be more access by these families to these prisoners .
I have been informed by officials, for instance,
that the shooting down of the small planes over
Havana, that caused the death of two pilots, was
done after the President of the United States
informed Cuban leaders that no more flights would
take place. And I was informed by Cuban
officials that they notified the President of the
United States, very clearly, that they could not
permit a plane to fly over their capital
city
dropping leaflets
but that they would
protect the sovereignty of Cuba. So even those
more serious, allegations, in my opinion are very
doubtful, about their need or cause of the
extensive sentences that have been granted to one
of the prisoners; but in every way, in my private
report with Obama when I return to the United
States, in my public statements like today, in my
previous conversations with American leaders,
Ive called for the release of the Cuban Five.
One of the reasons is that, guilty or not, is
they've served a long prison sentence already,
more than 12 years, and the fact that they've
been punished adequately, even if they are guilty.
Rodríguez: Recently a person very closely
connected to the case, who you knew very well,
Leonard Weinglass, passed away. I know that you
know he was a man with a love for justice, who
fought for justice, and his last words, his last
work, even, on his deathbed, was to prove that
the Five had nothing to do with the downing of the planes.
Carter: Yes, I know.
Rodríguez: To go further into the case would make
this conversation much longer, but what the Cuban
people know, what can be proven, what is known,
even by U.S. authorities, through the reports
that Cuba sent, is that the only thing these
young people were doing was looking for
information to prevent terrorist actions.
I am confident that you will be able to convey
the insistence on a pardon, as a humanitarian
gesture. These men have suffered a lot, and have
lost family members without being able to be at
their side; finally, I dont insist, I thank you
for your interest and your statements in the name of the Cuban people.
Mr. Carter, you also said this morning at the
press conference that you had a friendly meeting
with Comandante Fidel Castro, who has expressed
in his Reflections a great deal of anguish about
the risks faced by the human species, about the
huge nuclear arsenals that keep on growing and
that are capable of destroying the world several
times over, and also about the nefarious
consequences that climate change might have for
the human species. These are subjects in which I
believe you have broad agreement.
As a nuclear physicist, you know what nuclear
weapons mean for the human species, when you were
President, you worked hard to educate your people
against consumer culture, promoted rational
policies, defended the environment, even though
it made you unpopular among certain sectors.
Well, quickly, Id like to know if you still
think there is a chance to do something to save humankind.
Carter: Well, when I was president, we negotiated
with the Soviet Union to reduce the level of
nuclear weapons, through the so-called SALT II
Treaty, and since then Ive been a strong
advocate of reducing productions in nuclear
arsenals on both sides. Also I believe very
strongly that there is a real threat to the well
being of all human beings through global warming,
and as you probably know, President Obama and his
predecessor, President Bush, attempted to work
with other nuclear powers on reducing arsenals,
and that they have been monitoring very closely
the agreements that have been signed by these governments.
I think the United States has not been adequately
strong in its potential leadership in addressing
the global warming issue. Cuban officials, since
Ive been here, have pointed out me that the old
city in Havana is in danger of destruction
I
have been to Bolivia to meet with Evo Morales,
and maybe Bolivia will be the first country that
will have major damage to its economy, because
the glaciers in the mountains of Bolivia are
melting
their source of drinking water. So Im
hoping that in the future, this issue, and the
global warming issue, can be addressed by my
country and all nations, and I know that Fidel
Castro is addressing this now, at least in his
Reflections. I talked to him about inviting
more definitively about his actions at present,
as related to the United States
what goes on in
current affairs, and he wants to use his voice as
a senior statesman for the well being of all
humankind. Weve had good conversations, we
basically agree on many things, and above all, we
also talked about global warming, and I believe
that there might be a possibility between our two
countries. Now Im afraid I have to leave, to
get on my airplane, I dont have an Air Force One any more.
Rodríguez: Im very grateful for your
time. Thank you. Every time you come to Cuba,
hope is awakened, although the blockade continues
to make relations so difficult.
Carter: Espero que podemos volver otra vez,
muchas veces. En la oportunidad traer toda mi
familia. Hay muchos de nuestra familia. Tenemos
treinta y seis miembros
[I hope that we can
return again, many times. I'd like to bring all
my family. There are a lot of us. We have
thirty-six members...] grandchildren, great
grandchildren, spouses, children, wed like to have all of us come to Cuba.
Thank you very much.
Rodríguez: Thank you, Mr. Carter, very much.
Machetera is a member of Tlaxcala, the
international network of translators for
linguistic diversity: http://www.tlaxcala-int.org
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