Bomber alive and well in Miami
Cuba marks anniversary of terrorist bombing of plane
By Leslie Feinberg
More than a million Cubans rallied at Havana's Plaza of the
Revolution on Oct. 6, many arriving at dawn. They gathered to
commemorate the 25th anniversary of an act of U.S.-sponsored
terror against Cuba and to demonstrate their solidarity with
the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States.
Twenty-five years ago, on Oct. 6, 1976, a bomb exploded on a
Cubana airliner flying near Barbados. Seventy-three people lost
their lives, including 57 Cubans--many of them teenage members
of the national fencing team--11 Guyanese and five north
Koreans.
Two right-wing Cuban-Americans were found guilty of the
attack and jailed in Venezuela: Luis Posada Carriles and
Orlando Bosch.
Posada--a notorious anti-communist terrorist--was part of
the defeated CIA-sponsored Bay of Pigs invasion. He was
involved in the so-called Iran-contra affair organized by
Marine Lt. Col. Oliver North. The CIA trained him for acts of
sabotage at Ft. Benning, home of the School of the Americas. He
also organized a right-wing terrorist training camp in Florida
for the CIA. Posada admits to engineering the 1997 hotel
bombings in Havana that resulted in the death of an Italian
tourist and millions of dollars in property damage.
He managed to escape from prison in Venezuela, which at that
time was run by parties subservient to the U.S. and the
Rockefeller oil interests.
Bosch--also an avowed counter-revolutionary
terrorist--formed an organization in the U.S. called CORU the
same year as the bombing of the Cubana airliner. Its activities
included several dozen bombings, mass murder and attempted
assassinations. In 1989, Bosch was ordered deported by the U.S.
Justice Department for his role in numerous bombings
originating from the U.S., including the 1976 Cubana explosion.
But the order was never carried out. One year later, the
Justice Department cancelled his deportation.
Today Bosch lives free in Miami.
'Stop U.S. terror against Cuba!'
Loved ones and friends of those who lost their lives in 1976
were among the million Cubans who rallied on Oct. 6. On such a
small island, the loss of scores of lives is felt deeply by the
population.
At the rally Fidel Castro said, "This massive demonstration
against terrorism has been called to pay homage and tribute to
the memory of our brothers and sisters who died off the coasts
of Barbados 25 years ago, and also to express our solidarity
with the thousands of innocent people who died in New York and
Washington." While condemning the Sept. 11 attacks, the
revolutionary leader criticized U.S. war preparations against
Afghanistan.
He also reminded those gathered that after the 1976 terror
bombing of the Cubana airliner, "there was no upheaval around
the world, no acute political crises, no United Nations
meetings, nor the imminent threat of war."
And he pointed out that, since the 1959 Revolution, U.S.
authorities "have not sanctioned a single one of the hundreds
of individuals who have hijacked and diverted dozens of Cuban
aircraft to that country, not even those that have committed
murder in the course of the hijacking."
Yet the U.S. tries to justify its illegal economic blockade
of the island nation by listing Cuba as a state that allegedly
sponsors terrorism. "Never has one American been killed or
injured, nor has one installation--large or small in that
immense and rich country--suffered the slightest damage due to
an action from Cuba," Fidel Castro emphasized.
The leader of the Cuban Revolution demanded an end to the
U.S. blockade of the island nation. "Cuba has the full moral
authority and the right to demand the end of terrorism against
Cuba," he concluded. "Economic warfare, itself a genocidal and
brutal act to which our people have been subjected for more
than 40 years, must also end."
Reprinted from the Oct. 18, 2001, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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