EDITORIALS
Archive 1998
August 2008
THE IGNORED CONTINENT
By Miguel
L. Talleda
Last June I wrote an article for our
website,
www.alpha66.org,
entitled “The Battle of Oil” where I put
forth the arguments supporting my thesis of
who is behind the rise in oil prices. I
argued that this high cost of fuel posed a
grave danger not only to our great nation
where the most needy are the chief victims
of this progressing strangulation, but that
this danger could become a catastrophe that
would threaten the freedoms we are
accustomed to in the West.
Two months have passed and the price of oil
has decreased somewhat but the effect of
high prices has been disastrous. Thousands
of workers have been laid off. Unemployment
is the highest we have seen in 30 years.
Businesses are feeling the effect of the
lack of consumer spending and many are
facing the possibility of closing or
declaring bankruptcy.
We think this
is a good time to go more deeply into the
origins of the great tragedy that is coming
our way and that finds most people unaware.
Although the classes with the least
resources are the ones feeling the crush,
others are benefiting greatly and are happy
to reap the benefits of these exorbitant
profits. Among this latter group are the
speculators and big oil companies right here
in our own country.
When the genius of evil, Fidel Castro,
realized that the guerrilla warfare he had
sponsored for years to try and topple
governments in South and Central America, a
strategy that was conceived at the
Tri-Continental Conference in Havana in
January 1966, would not succeed he changed
course. He decided the new tactic would be
to spread his message through the use of the
young people who had survived these wars and
who became professionals working in their
own countries in South and Central America.
He joined with Luis Ignacio Lula da Silva,
president of the Workers Party in Brazil, to
unite all the remnants of Communism left in
the continent to create a new organization.
This new group was formed on July 3, 1990 in
the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo and since
then has been known as the “Forum of Sao
Paulo”.
This new forum was to give new life to the
objectives of Communism which had suffered a
great defeat with the fall of the Soviet
Union and the Berlin Wall as well as the
liberation of the captive nations of
Europe. The objective of the forum was, of
course, to confront the free world and to
battle tirelessly to sow hatred against whom
they consider their greatest enemy, the
United States.
In these 18 years of existence the Forum of
Sao Paulo has worked very hard, meeting in
different cities of Latin America and
achieving some notable successes. Those that
started out without any political power are
today governing countries like Brazil,
Bolivia, Cuba, Uruguay, Ecuador, Venezuela,
Nicaragua, and the latest to be elected, the
president of Paraguay.
Country after country feels threatened today
as Hugo Chávez Frías uses money from the oil
profits that belong to the Venezuelan people
and money that comes from the drug traffic
through the terrorists of the Fuerzas
Armadas Revolucionarias Colombianas (FARC)
to destabilize these countries. The most
recent country to feel threatened is El
Salvador where Chávez is sending ships with
petroleum to practically give away and whose
proceeds serve to finance the political
campaign of the old Communist guerrilla
group, the Frente Farabundo Martí de
Liberación Nacional (FMLN).
In its last meeting on May 25th
in Montevideo, Uruguay, Hugo Chávez boasted
that he had the money and the oil to share
with all those willing to fight for the same
principles with which Fidel Castro has
enslaved the Cuban people and which is the
same path awaiting the people of Venezuela.
Of course, he said all this in a more
palatable manner.
I bring this simple narrative regarding the
Forum of Sao Paulo because it seems that in
the great American media--the print press,
television, and radio--this forum does not
exist. This is an organization dedicated to
the development of revolutionary projects
that have armed struggle and terrorism as
valid means and whose goal is first and
foremost the destruction of the United
States. Ask anyone to your left or to your
right, “What is the Forum of Sao Paulo?” You
will be surprised how few people have heard
of it.
Nevertheless, this Forum works day and night
to destroy us. Of course this is not
surprising in the Ignored Continent where we
note that the media hardly covers the news
happening in South and Central America. And
where people in the continent ask
themselves, “How is it possible that the
United States does not care that we will
have to suffer this Communism that is coming
our way?” “Will we follow the same path of
Cuba and be enslaved for fifty years?”
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June 2008
THE BATTLE OF OIL
By Miguel L. Talleda
The American people find themselves in a
situation which they have never had to
confront in the past. All of a sudden the
price of gasoline begins to rise
disproportionately. Each day we are
surprised when we have to pay higher and
higher gas prices since what cost $2.50 per
gallon just a few months ago is now costing
close to $5.00 per gallon. And there is no
sign that the oil producing countries are
satisfied with the current price they are
charging for a barrel of oil.
There is no need to explain what this
represents to the price of gas in general
and especially the impact on the middle and
lower classes as well as the many industries
that base their production on oil and need
this commodity in one form or another. We
will go straight to an economic chaos if
this disaster is not brought to an end!
There have been a large number of articles
and opinions addressing the causes of this
destructive phenomenon but I don’t think we
truly understand what is going on.
The
position of victory on the world stage that
the United States has achieved for many
years has always been the object of
bitterness and envy. After 1959 and with
the coming to power of Fidel Castro in Cuba,
these feelings intensified. All the hate
Castro felt towards the United States he
spilled in the international panorama of the
time.
To put together all the factors that can
produce an irreparable hecatomb is not
simple. Defended by a powerful military
that has no equal in the rest of the world,
our enemies have had to wait patiently to
create the proper conditions to cause us
irreparable damage.
These various factors have conveniently been
aligned and our enemies think that the time
has come.
On the one
hand, Castro has the support of the
unscrupulous Hugo Chávez Frías who, with the
money belonging to the people of Venezuela,
is spreading Communism throughout Latin
America and, in addition, holds an important
position in the world oil cartel.
At the
other end is Iran, governed by a faction
that despises the United States and who also
has great influence over the oil cartel as
this country has vast oil reserves. Their
efforts to prevent the United States from
winning in Iraq have been responsible for
innumerable deaths of American soldiers
fighting there.
The third
factor is Al Qaeda, which although
persecuted, has spread throughout the world
and maintains good relations with all the
countries and factions that hate the United
States.
These three factors have converged and have
taken control of the price of oil.
Venezuela and Iran because they own large
amounts of oil and Al Qaeda because it
represents a threat to those producers in
the middle east that would dare break with
the criminal agreements currently in place.
We have to acknowledge that Al Qaeda is in
no hurry to put and end to the price
increase because they are aware of the
mutilating consequences they will bring
about.
And we are
already seeing the results of all this
although we have not fully grasped the
danger we are in. If immediate measures are
not taken and this situation lasts for
another year, we will feel effects one
hundred times worse than what we felt after
the attacks of 9-11 on the Twin Towers.
Yes, it’s
true that the oil companies are making
profits in the billions of dollars, but the
average person is being squeezed to the
maximum. And the effects on business and
industry could create a paralysis that would
topple the victory that happens to
represent the example of living happily in
freedom, and whose model is the United
States.
Our enemies
have taken their time. Fidel Castro
announced it in Teheran, Iran in May 2001
when published in the French press, he said,
“The
North American government is weak and we see
it from up close. I can tell you we are not
afraid of that country. The people and the
governments of Cuba and Iran can bring the
United States to its knees”.
This is the Battle of
Oil. We have faith that for the good of
civilization we shall prevail over jealousy
and hatred.
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Febrero 19, 2008
STATEMENT OF ALPHA 66
In view of the announcement that Fidel
Castro is resigning his duties as chief of
state and other positions that he
arbitrarily used in his capacity as dictator
for almost 50 years, ALPHA 66 takes this
opportunity to appeal to the people of Cuba
and those in exile, not to let themselves be
misled by those who want to see us on our
knees begging for freedom based on
conditions.
The transfer of power to his brother Raúl
Castro who is as blood thirsty and despotic
as Fidel Castro himself, is nothing more
than the continuation of a system that has
oppressed our people by systematically
denying them the most fundamental of
liberties and has kept the people of Cuba in
the most unimaginable and humiliating
misery.
ALPHA 66 reaffirms its commitment to
continue the struggle to eradicate once and
for all the communist institutions in our
homeland as the only way to reach a true
freedom and a return to a system of
government that is genuinely democratic.
Ernesto Díaz Rodríguez
Secretary General of Apha 66 and
Vice-President of Unidad Cubana
Osiel González
Vice Secretary
General of Alpha 66
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February 2008
THE
ROAD TO THE 7ht NATIONAL CONGRESS
OF ALPHA 66
In June 2007 Alpha 66 celebrated a grand
meeting in Torrance, California where
members and friends of the organization came
together to demonstrate huge enthusiasm in
anticipation that the dark system of hate
and evil currently governing Cuba was coming
to an end. We determined to get together on
a national scale to find ways to support the
effort and sacrifice being made by those in
Cuba who were challenging the opprobrious
Communist system of the Castro brothers.
Without wasting any time we determine that
the best way to begin this process was to
convene a national congress where we could
analyze the current situation in Cuba and
the problems associated with its eventual
freedom, especially from an international
perspective. By September 2007 we took the
first step and contracted with the Double
Tree Hotel in Torrance, CA to celebrate the
7th National Congress of Alpha 66
on February 22, 23, and 24 of 2008. The
date of February 24 is of special meaning to
Cubans as it was on February 24, 1895 that
Cubans began their final struggle for
independence from the colonial rule of
Spain.
Since then we have been working very hard.
Invitations were extended to delegations of
Alpha 66 throughout the country. The
response was very enthusiastic and
overwhelming. In addition to our national
directorate, members from Miami, New York,
New Jersey, Chicago, Washington D.C, Houston
and San Antonio, Texas, Tampa and the
Dominican Republic have already confirmed
their participation. Members from
throughout California will be present along
with our National Secretary, Ernesto Díaz
Rodríguez, and Vice-President, Osiel
González Rodríguez.
In addition to members from California and
the many other delegations, we have invited
a number of highly qualified and well-known
individuals each of whom will present in
their areas of expertise and discuss the
issues necessary that will bring about the
final blow to end once and for all the
plague of villains that has for 50 years
ruled over an indefensible people, leaving
behind a history of crimes that can only be
compared with the atrocities of Hitler’s
Germany and Stalin in the Soviet Union.
It is time that our people live in liberty.
It is impossible to continue on the
sidelines as the world watches in apathy.
Justice will demand that those who do not
help in this struggle for freedom and who
don’t speak up against the horrible crimes
of Castro’s Communism be seen as
accomplices to that bitter and painful
tragedy.
For over 47 years Alpha 66 has been actively
denouncing those who have forcefully imposed
themselves on the people of Cuba. In this 7th
National Congress we will determine the next
steps to follow.
Organizing Committee of the 7th
National Congress of Alpha 66.
Miguel L. Talleda
Coordinator in California
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September 1l, 2007
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SENATOR
CHRISTOPHER DODD:
AN ALLY
OF UNJUST CAUSES
By:
Ernesto Díaz Rodríguez
Secretary General of Alpha 66
Vice-president of Unidad Cubana
In an
article titled “Dodd Defends Broad
Opening Toward Cuba,” columnist for
El Nuevo Herald, Rui Ferreira
highlights the following: “In
complete contrast to the rest of the
Democratic presidential candidates,
Senator Christopher Dodd outlined
yesterday in Miami a wide ranging
platform on Cuba that calls for the
total resumption of diplomatic
relations, the lifting of the
economic embargo, an end to travel
restrictions, strict compliance of
immigration agreements, and
abolition of the Cuban Adjustment
Act.” None of this comes as a
surprise to political exiles
conscious of their responsibility to
history, those of us that will not
add our voices to the ones calling
for a dialogue with the Castro
government. This is also no
surprise for those who struggle
inside Cuba from a position of
principles and dignity, not for a
cosmetic change, but rather for a
complete and total defeat of the
Castro tyranny.
From my
point of view, Senator Christopher
Dodd has come to Miami with the
wrong message. If his motive is to
win votes in his quest to replace
George W. Bush in the White House,
he will have no recourse but to
return to his home in Connecticut or
to his resplendent office in
Washington carrying on his shoulders
the incandescent cross of failure.
But
this is not the first time that this
person, known for his extreme
liberal views, errs in taking a
position that involves the
adversaries of this great nation of
freedoms and rights, of progress and
hope. As it was well stated by
Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart when
referring to Senator Dodd:
"He has always defended the enemies of the United
States, like the Sandinistas in
Nicaragua, the Communists of El
Salvador and the tyranny of the
Castro Brothers."
No, this
is not the first time he stumbles
with the same rock. The same as
Congressmen José E. Serrano, Charles
Rangel, Jeff Flake, William D.
Delahunt and a few other adherents
to the loathsome and out-moded Left,
they have failed in the House of
Representative every time they have
tried to get votes for an unjust
cause that will support the forces
of evil. They have also had to
endure total defeat in the U.S.
Senate. It seems that despite a
seat in Congress, his speeches often
lack a sense of reality and show
that he has very little vision with
relation to national affairs and
certainly no vision with respect of
foreign affairs. You can say that he
is blinder than a scarecrow.
For those
of us who have followed closely the
pitiful path set forth by the Castro
brothers and by Ortega and his
cohorts, this platform by this
Senator toward Cuba is no surprise.
We should not be worried either, as
only 5% of Democrats say they will
vote for Senator Dodd as their
candidate to the presidency. This
shows he could not even beat el
Bobo de la Yuca,
a silly character in Cuban culture
ridiculed in music and in writings,
if he were to run against him.
Finally, it seems that this
Democratic presidential hopeful has
forgotten that the American
electorate will always go with a
candidate that is intelligent and
whose vocation is to defend
democratic institutions. Voters
will not support a candidate that
adheres to irrational and perverse
doctrines that are an impediment to
progress and to fundamental
freedoms.
We have to
acknowledge, however, that the
honorable senator from Connecticut
has the right to present whatever
platform he wants with relation to
Cuba, no matter how absurd it may
sound. These are the great
advantages of democracy and the ones
we don’t have in Cuba under the
Communist government of the two
Castros. But I don’t think that his
passionate defense of the diabolical
dinosaurs that today lack any
conscience and human decency, and
who took over our unhappy island by
force more than 50 years ago, will
have any support among the voters of
this great nation. Even less
support will come from the
Cuban-American voters when the
“humanist” Senator Dodd has come to
try to convince that what is bad for
Cuba is actually good and that
tyranny is the perfect symbol of
justice and liberty.
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ALPHA
66
“PROCLAMATION FROM LOS ANGELES”
For the
Freedom of Cuba
July 8, 2007
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Conscious of the
moral commitment imposed by the respect to those that during the
difficult times faced by our country did not waiver in
sacrificing everything, including their lives, in a heroic
effort to achieve with dignity the freedom of Cuba, Alpha 66
together with a group of brave Cubans has come together on this
day to proclaim the following:
1.- We reiterate the sacred commitment
to continue the struggle for the freedom of our country, the
country of all Cubans, without holding back on any sacrifice or
accepting of any defeat, regardless of the adversities and
obstacles that may interpose in our way.
2.- We commit to double our efforts and
contribute according to our possibilities to the realization of
an effective and coherent strategy that will help us shorten the
way toward national liberation. As part of its traditional
politics of brotherhood in effect since its founding 46 years
ago, Alpha 66 will put at the disposal of all organizations in
exile that comply with the requirements already established, the
military camp, “Rumbo Sur.” This will allow these organizations
to prepare themselves physically and capable for combat.
3.- Alpha 66 and all those signing this
document will have as a priority a demand on the Communist
government of Cuba to immediately free unconditionally all Cuban
political prisoners.
4.- We recognize and support all the
opposition sectors inside Cuba that claim from a position of
dignity the fundamental rights allowed to all human beings,
including the right to rebel against despotism and oppression as
it is written in the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of
Human Rights.
5.- We denounce those who try to reach
a shameful arrangement with the tyranny by calling for a
sterile dialogue with the main culprits of that horrendous
politics of crimes, abuses, and corruption which has lasted
almost 50 years. All unscrupulous proposals that will lead to a
less than honorable solution with impunity for the enemy will be
considered treason toward the motherland and we should severely
condemn it.
6.- We offer our solidarity with the
noble struggle of the people of Venezuela as they justly call
for an end to coercions, defamations, and all types of mischief
being perpetrated by the dictator and ex-colonel, Hugo Chavez
Frías in his ongoing quest to perpetuate himself as the sole
ruler of Venezuela. We salute and admire with respect the brave
fighters of the opposition and the students of this heroic
nation that have confronted with a bravery that honors their
people and have opposed the arbitrary measures taken by Chavez
against the prestigious RC-TV Radio Caracas to eliminate freedom
of the press in the land of the liberator, Simón Bolívar.
7.- Because of the importance it has
for those of us who have experienced losing one’s freedom, we
offer our solidarity also to the American troops fighting in
Iraq, risking their lives in an admirable effort to help a
country that had for many years been oppressed to solidify their
democratic institutions and become masters of their own
destiny.
8.- We understand as uncivilized the
idea of personal vengeance for what ever reason that it may be
motivated. But we reject vehemently the absurd politics of
“forgive and forget” as we find it dehumanizing and unjust to
the suffering of its victims. As an inevitable instructive
example, those that have blood on their hands will have to
respond to a court of law. Those accused will be treated with
respect and will be offered all the guarantees and total
impartiality regardless of the severity of their crimes and they
will be subjected to a real justice.
9.- Finally, we fight for the total
eradication of the corrupt structures of power of the two
Castro’s and their communist regime.
The basic fundamentals to guarantee the
happiness, progress, and peace of the Cuban family in a Cuba of
the future have to be sustained on the principles proclaimed by
the Apostle of Independence, José Martí. These principles were
the absolute respect of the dignity of man.
We understand also that the proper form
of government has to be a true democracy, with social justice,
free enterprise, private property, pluralistic political process
and all the liberties inherent in a modern, dynamic, and
representative democracy.
Given in Los Angeles, California, on
July 8, 2007.
Ernesto Díaz
Rodríguez
Miguel L. Talleda
Secretary General of Alpha
66 Coordinator for
State of California
This document was signed by hundreds of
people present at the event, celebrated on July 8, 2007 at the
Hotel Marriott, in Torrance, California.
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July 4th, 2007
MEDITATIONS OVER THE 4TH OF JULY
By Ernesto Diaz Rodriguez
General Secretary of Alpha 66
Vice President of Unidad Cubana
 Today
is the 4th of July, for me the most important date in
the history of the United States of America, the country of
George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. The country of Ronald
Reagan and of Franklin D. Roosevelt. The country the heroes of
New York’s Fire and Police Departments, who generously gave
their lives when intending the superhuman rescue of the trapped
victims in the rubble of debris and fire, or that vile crime
against the “Twin Towers”. The country by all means of my
children and of my children’s children. The beautiful country of
all North Americans.
As a grateful Cuban and despite all spiritual ties to that
wonderful reef where I had the privilege of being born, I crave
to say that in my most sublime sentiments I have come to hold
her as part of my country too. And for that reason every day my
thoughts are for the desire of peace and happiness for this
country, generous and noble by nature, and committed in the
effort to reconquer the liberty for those nations that suffer
from tyrannical governments. Regrettably, on some occasions, the
feeling of that solidarity has been distorted as a consequence
of erroneous and had intentions from the very means of
communications of North Americans.
Today is the 4th of July, the historical date of the
birth of this great nation’s independence and sovereignty. Many
years have passed since the 4th of July in 1776, when
the trees of liberty flourished along with progress and justice,
and the immense gateway of democracy was built for all North
Americans. Since then the challenges and the sacrifices in the
struggle to guarantee the preservation of those fundamentals
values deserved by all humans beings have not ceased. The United
States suffered the agony of a devastating civil war, but one
which offered of its fruits the abolition of slavery and the
strengthening of its roots, to make itself invincible once the
wounds were healed and the hearts were fused in national
brotherhood. Both World Wars, Korea and the controversial
conflict of Viet Nam, which did not yield the necessary results,
were all confrontations that paid a high price in sacrifice and
in lost of lives of valuable soldiers. But herein lies the
grandeur, the solid gestures of solidarity, the satisfaction of
having fulfilled the inevitable commitment with history, when a
nation is the most important leader and power in the world.
Today is the 4th of July, a holiday, and it should
also be for me a day of happiness. But I have preferred to
meditate in silence and dedicate my best thoughts to those
heroes who risk their lives in the ambushes in Iraq, in a
supreme effort to bring happiness to that unhappy country, today
harassed by a bloody pack of hounds. I simply prefer to feel as
being part of them in my conscience and in my spiritual
solidarity. I wish for them to return home with the flags
hoisted in the pride of a definite triumph that, thanks to the
heroism of the troops and the firm convictions and perseverance
of George W. Bush, will not be delayed much longer.
Congratulations on this Holiday of Independence to all North
Americans. May God bless this great nation on this day and
always, and help her preserve her values and her democratic
institutions.
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March 2007
THE SUGAR-BOWL OF THE WORLD
By: Miguel L.
Talleda
For those of
us who had to leave our homeland to go into exile, not a day
goes by that our Cuba is not in our thoughts. The suffering
of families separated, the memories of what life was like in
that generous island, and the having to witness day by day
the colossal collapse of the Communist regime imposed by
Castro and his accomplices—all these things are a part of
our life here in exile.
For me it
has been especially interesting to watch the hecatomb of the
sugar industry because I spent a great part of my life
working in this field and know this industry from all its
angles. I worked for 23 years in the office of Central
Washington in the province of Las Villas. I was involved in
all the activities of this industry, including managing it
during one of its sugar harvest and processing seasons.
I did not
know this industry only as a worker. I was a representative
of ANDOA, the National Association of Sugar Industry Office
Employees and I was also a member of FNTA, the National
Federation of Sugar Workers. In this capacity I assisted
congresses in Havana, Santa Clara, and in Holguin where I
was part of a confrontation between the leader of the
Authentic Movement, Emilio Suri Castillo in his forceful
opposition to the Communist Jesus Menendez and the control
Menendez had over the labor movement in the sugar industry.
And now we see
that this industry, the sugar industry, has been totally
destroyed by the imbecile Fidel Castro! How is it possible
that from the 156 sugar mills in existence when Castro stole
the revolution, today in 2007, only 40 can process sugar!
And even these are working below capacity because when it is
not the excess of water, it’s the drought, the lack of
fertilizers or the breakdown of old machineries. And
sometimes the fault is attributed to “El Niño.”
And how does
the cretin of Fidel Castro justify this disaster? On March
17, 2005 he said the following: “Today, sugar is the ruin of
the island’s economy because it requires too many
resources.” And he followed it with this equally stupid
comment. “We know that this country will never again live
off sugar. (Sugar) belongs to the era of slavery and of a
country of illiterate people which represented the 30 per
cent that did the work of animals.”
This is classic
of the tyrant that, in the absence of truth, never admits
that he and his ill-fated regime are the ones to blame.
The reality is
that thousands of office workers, chemists, engineers,
experts in agriculture, electricity, etc. worked in the
sugar industry. Many were called upon to share their
expertise in foreign lands where sugar was grown. I had the
privilege of knowing many of these experts, like the
Engineer, Miguel Chinchilla Varona, whom I assisted and who
traveled all over the world to share his knowledge and
experience.
Yes, the work
was hard when it came to growing and cutting the sugar
cane. But the introduction of new machinery to cut the cane
was making the job easier. And before the Communist
disaster, workers had negotiated a lower weight for sugar
sacks bringing it down from 325 to 200 pounds.
It was the
Cuban sugar industry, the jewel, that produced the largest
quantity of sugar per ton of sugar cane. Our climate and
our careful work made our sugar cane one of the best in the
world. For this reason we were called “The Sugar-Bowl of
the World.”
And now
what! When President Bush and Brazil’s President, Lula da
Silva, get together they proclaim the need for sugar cane to
go into making (ethanol) as a “Biocombustible” that besides
being a very rich resource, can help wean us from our
dependence on oil which today is in the hands of many of our
enemies.
In this
proposal they include as possible participants, Colombia,
Uruguay, Mexico, and Central America. But Cuba is not
mentioned.
While
freedom in Cuba continues to be crushed, we will not be able
to revive the sugar industry even though since World War II,
Cuba was already using ethanol to add to gasoline.
But in a climate of freedom, we can
once again become the “Sugar-Bowl of the World.”
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March 2007
WHAT HISTORY TEACHES US
By Miguel L. Talleda
There isn’t anything that helps us
understand the present better than to focus our minds on
history, because the present is no more than the repetition of
events that occurred in the past. The need to understand how
past events were addressed, confronted, and their eventual
outcomes have brought us to where we are today.
If we look at our current world events,
where black clouds darken the future of our next generations,
threatened by Muslim extremists united with communists and
others who breed hate and together have sworn to bring this
country to its knees, we are able to see how men of unparallel
courage have brought forth the solutions necessary to confront
the crises of their times.
Hitler was advancing in his conquest of
Europe. Countries were falling with virtually no resistance.
Great Britain saw itself truly threatened when they elected
Winston Churchill to power, and when asked what the solution
was, he responded: “I have nothing to offer but blood, work,
sweat, and tears.” “Facing us is months of struggle and
suffering. You ask me: What is our policy? The only thing I
can tell you is to wage war, by sea, by land, by air with all
the power and might God may grant us.” (1)
I don’t believe we are faced with a
situation as grave a threat as that of England during WWII,
where every night they received a slew of bombs dropped by
planes coming from Germany, but we are faced with an enemy
equally dangerous, cruel, and savage who dreams of annihilating
the free world and goes through desperate efforts to obtain the
weapons of destruction necessary to carry out its objectives.
President Reagan, during his time, had
the necessity to demonstrate his courage and acted with the
decision that was required. Libyan dictator, Muammar Gadhafi,
with total impunity, was placing the lives of Americans in
danger, and all it took was for Reagan to order the bombardment
of his palace for him to stop playing with fire. On another
occasion, Reagan realized that the combination of Castro and the
Soviets was resulting in the construction of a road on the
island of Grenada, in the Caribbean, which could place in danger
the national security of the United States. He sent in American
troops and within one week the threat to this country was
liquidated.
We are witnessing news that startles
us. Details are beginning to emerge about what has already been
discussed, that the Iranian government is supplying the Shiite
insurgents in Irak, who are trying to destabilize the
established government, with all kinds of weapons and
sophisticated explosives that have resulted in an enormous
number of casualties and injuries to American soldiers.
Might this be something of a plot to be
accepted? Or might President Bush need to act with the
determination he demonstrated in the taking of Afghanistan where
Bin Laden and the Taliban’s terrorists were in power, or in the
elimination of the tyrannical government of Saddam Hussein, so
that in its place a government elected by the people could be
established?
Although this may seem far away and
remote from our own tragedy in Cuba, it is not. Those who are
murdering our people in Cuba are firmly allied with Iran’s
terrorists. We feel a sense of brotherhood with those who are
trying to preserve the free world, of which we are a part, and
we hope, that with God’s help, President Bush will also confront
this difficult situation and make the correct decision.
(1)
This quote from Winston Churchill was taken from an article by
Andrei Illarionov, former Chief Economic Advisor to the
President of the Russian Federation as per
<list@guaracabuya.org>
|
|
August 2006
THE BASTILLE IN THE MIRROR
By Miguel L. Talleda
The month of July is full of historical events that have left
deep marks in the development of human civilization. Events that
have served as points of reference in the study of the freedoms
that some nations enjoy and other lacks. Two of these events
stand out as brilliant flashes of light.
The first and most significant has been the Declaration of
Independence, July 4, 1776. This is the date the English
colonies declared themselves free from the vassalage of the
crown and created the United States of America. This date marks
the origin of a nation that has served as a beacon and example
for the rest of the world for the respect for freedom that is
enjoyed by all its citizens.
The other event occured a few years later in 1789 when the
impoverished and abused people of France realized they could not
stand their misery any longer and in a revolutionary act against
the troops of the autocrat, Louis XVI, took over the
fortress-prison of The Bastille, a symbol of the tyranny that
oppressed them. It is interesting to study these events which
are similar in many respects to the situation suffered by us
Cubans.
An absolute king and a court that lived with all the luxuries
the system provided and which showed only disdain for the people
that it trampled and abused (same as Cuba). That is how the
people lived for years with a whip at their back and the cruelty
of prison as punishment for any protest. Hunger and disease were
the inseparable companions of the French people. There was no
solution in sight (as in our homeland).
A people so brutally mistreated began to have a defeatist
attitude without any hope for change. The feeling that they had
to live without freedom began to feel natural without any way to
get out of it. The majority of the people could only think about
how to clothe and feed their children. In these daily
necessities the people began to lose respect for others and in
many cases virtue itself suffered greatly.
(A picture of what
has happened in Cuba).
But there were always minds that would not accept the tyranny of
the King and his Court and plotted in the shadows to convince
the people of the power it had if it made the decision to break
the chains that bound it to a cruel and bloody system. The
powerful forces backing the King of France were said to be
"fearsome" (the same fear inspired by the Communist regime in
Cuba).
And so came July 14, 1789 and the people put on long pants and
without arms, only with rocks and sticks, hurled itself as one
to destroy that symbol of the tyranny in the center of Paris,
the prison of The Bastille. Incredibly, they were helped by
members of the royal troops. They took over and set fire to the
prison. They freed the prisoners and the government fell because
when the oppressors saw a united people fighting for freedom
they trembled like the cowards they were for having hid behind
the use of force, becoming infamous tyrants of their own people.
Yes, these events happened more than two hundred years ago but
they have been repeated throughout history time and time again.
More recently in Romania and in the former East Germany where
young people, supposedly Communists, rose against their
oppressors.
This is the destiny of our people, an uprising at the national
level that will sweep away all the Communist filth that has
turned our beautiful island into a hell.
(The Bastille reflects in the mirror).
|
July
2006
UNDER THE STARS OF
FREEDOM
By
Ernesto Díaz Rodríguez
Secretary General of ALPHA 66
Vice President of UNIDAD CUBANA
Frequently
we ask ourselves what is going to happen in Cuba when
Cubans get the opportunity to live under a genuinely
democratic government system, with social justice and
absolute respect for human dignity. However, not very often
do we ask ourselves if in fact we are working hard enough to
enable these transformations to take place in our country
and see her return to the fold of free nations where
governments work for the common good and for the peace and
stability of the family which are the basic ingredients for
happiness.
During the
past 47 years our nation has been suffering a progressive
deterioration, not only at the economic level but also at
all aspects that affect Cuban society. Cuba, my poor Cuba
(the old Switzerland of the Caribbean) has become the
Cinderella of Latin America. There is not even sugar to
sweeten a little bit of coffee, in an island that used to be
a sugar empire. It’s not possible to buy salt, and even
bread has become a luxury item. There are no fruits or
vegetables. There is no iodine dye, nor medication for
diarrhea, nor a simple aspirin, even though government
officials proclaim the benefits of the "revolutionary
medicine". And this situation is caused by an adventurer,
a vulgar clown, a crazy, satanic and evil man that should
have been dragged by the tail of a horse or thrown to the
bonfire a long time ago because he doesn’t deserve anything
better for being a wicked and cowardly dictator.
But time has
passed. Almost half a century of oppression only 90 miles
away from the most powerful, prosperous and democratic
nation of the world. It’s a true nightmare, a circle of
unexpected astonishment. Trapped in our own errors, we
Cubans have repeatedly gone around in circles without
finding the right course, without reaching the star that
illuminates us, or the lightning that sets a fire in our
soul and forces us to say: ¡no more tyranny! But our
obligation is to continue our path and to be faithful to
those who have offered everything in a supreme effort to
reclaim the lost freedom.
I acknowledge
the combat efficiency and the fertile stoicism of a sector
of this historical exile that does not surrender and bow my
head with respect before those tireless fighters in a
spontaneous gesture of admiration. Of this intransigent
exile that was nourished by courage and inspiration, of
proven dignity, in sublime figures such as Andrés Nazario
and Dr. Diego Medina, and of legendary fighters like Vicente
Méndez and that symbol of transparent, radiant ebony of
generosity and nobility, our unforgettable Eusebio Peñalver.
For them and a happy Cuba, it is necessary to unite our
efforts in the daily fight against the tyranny. There is no
other alternative than to strike the enemy, to strike it in
the face with a steel fist and to use the arms of
intelligence and reason to fight against his obsolete and
wobbly dictatorship.
When a tyrant
seizes power and practices oppression without any scruples;
when the sense of life is systematically destroyed creating
a feeling of impotence in the conscience of the victims,
there is no other alternative than to rise from the miseries
of the spirit and to fight. A meek submission is not honest,
not even when it is the only means to preserve our own
existence, because to live on our knees is worse than to be
dead. It is to be diluted in the depth of a symbolic well
without leaving a track. It is to crawl through the dust or
to simply float on the dirty waters of a marsh without any
direct course. Yes, thoughtless conformity is a disease of
the soul. To fight to break the chains of any tyranny is
very rewarding and as beautiful as planting a tree.
For Cuba
time has arrived. We must be rebels with the force of
giants against injustice. And we must have faith and
confidence in the future. We cannot doubt our strengths as a
hard working and civilized people, able to reconstruct our
country once we achieve freedom and manage to establish a
society based on democratic principles and values. We know
by experience that when a Cuban is given the opportunity to
exert his creativity, to work in order to live honestly and
to construct a better future with his own hands and not
depend on a few breadcrumbs offered by a government that
oppresses and degrades him imposing as a condition the
renunciation of his rights, the Cuban prospers and stands
out. We have the best example in the exile community. Only a
few of those that have had the opportunity to escape the
captive Island have stayed stagnant caught in the stormy
lianas which means a state of defenselessness and of
impotence that the Castro tyranny has engraved in their
conscience with arrogance and wickedness.
I know there
are reasons to feel a little frustrated sometimes,
especially when we are affected by the reality that some
segments of the people, although hating and despising
oppression, shamefully continue supporting the yoke with
arms crossed sometimes due to indifference and other times
to cowardice. A man cannot feel dignified when he is tamely
dragging the chains imposed on him by a tyrant. I know that
type of people can make us sad. But the examples that
stimulate and drive us are far more numerous: The beautiful
heroism of those who gave everything, of those who
generously offered their lives in unequal combat or that
rose high until reaching the glory before the firing wall;
the diaphanous, frontal and unwavering stoicism of the
political prisoners “plantados”; the historical
intransigence of those that year after year have
maintained, inside and outside Cuba, an attitude of dignity
in their strategy to demand a radical change without vile
compromises in the structure of Castro’s dictatorship. No,
definitively there is no reason that can justify making
concessions to the enemies of freedom. And we are not going
to allow it because we want the future of Cuba to be
immense, without the mud of those who have stained it,
without the traps of the recycled Communists no matter how
much they try to hide their bloody nails. The evil sons and
daughters of Cuba, those that without scruples have
impoverished and ruined our country together with the
torturers and assassins will have to pay for their vileness
and their crimes. And that price must be very high.
Cuba will be free. Nobody should doubt it. That Cuba that
we proudly have in our heart will soon wear a wedding gown
and the coconut palms will dance under stars of freedom. And
there will be no more jails to imprison the ideas, or
shipwrecks devoured by sharks, or barbed wire fences
circling the beaches. Only when this time comes, will we
have the right to rest.
|
July 2006
IN THE FACE OF THE TIRANT’S
TANTRUMS
by Miguel L.
Talleda
During these times when the usurper in his agony is seeing
up close his trip to hell and accuses all those that have
confronted him of being terrorists and while his cronies
tremble at the thought of facing a people they have ruined
and trampled with impunity, a State Department Commission
reports to President Bush on how to face Cuba’s future in
view of the changes that are inevitably near.
We
think appropriate to remember the letter our Secretary
General, Ernesto Diaz Rodriguez, wrote to President George
W. Bush just a few months ago and the reply he received from
the President.
“Honorable President George W.
Bush:
Dear Mr. President:
Just over a year ago, in
response to your invitation, I had the honor of meeting with
you in the Oval Office in the White House, as I had done
with your father when he was President of the United States
and who honored me with an invitation May 20, 1991 to
commemorate Cuba’s independence. My release, after more
than 22 years as a political prisoner (“plantado”-steadfast)
in the jails of the tyrant Fidel Castro, was due in large
part to the support your father gave to the cause of my
liberty, a gesture I will always remember with sincere
gratitude.
The reason that I am moved to write you today is to
reiterate, on behalf of myself, my family, and the patriotic
Cuban organization I currently lead, our most fervent
support in your role as President of this great nation,
cradle of liberty and progress. Our solidarity and our
thoughts are with the American troops stationed in Iraq and
any place where duty to protect liberty and democracy
requires the presence of such brave soldiers.
It is also my intention to request, Mr. President, that a
more dynamic and effective policy be put in place in support
of the freedom of Cuba. We Cubans of good faith who are
involved in this struggle are aware of the work of the
Commission your administration established to find solutions
to the Cuban tragedy. But we think that 47 years of a
ferocious tyranny is enough in the social and economic
disintegration of a country and in the suffering of its
victims. We think the time urgently calls for more radical
solutions not only in the promises but also in concrete
actions.
With sincere humility from
someone who is willing to give everything, including my life
if necessary, in exchange for no personal benefit other than
the satisfaction of the freedom of my country and the
fulfillment of my duty, it is with profound respect and
gratitude that I wish to remind you of the words of José
Martí that say, “For Cuba it is time”.
May God bless you, Mr.
President and this great nation you lead with courage and
honor.
Respectfully, Ernesto Diaz
Rodriguez, Secretary General ALPHA 66, Vice-President UNIDAD
CUBANA”
What follows is
the reply by President Bush:
“May 16, 2006
Mr. Ernesto Diaz Rodriguez
150 George Washington Highway
Ridgefield, Connecticut 06877
Dear Ernesto:
Thank you for your letter and
kind words. I appreciate your taking the time to write.
During these historic times, the best hope for peace in our
world is the expansion of liberty in all the world. I
appreciate your commitment to helping freedom and democracy
reach your homeland, and America continues to look forward
to the day when Cuba is free.
Thank you again for writing.
May God bless you
Sincerely, George W. Bush
WE SHOULD HAVE
FAITH THAT PRESIDENT BUSH WHO HAS ALREADY SECURED HIS PLACE
IN HISTORY AS A LIBERATOR OF OPPRESSED PEOPLE WILL MAKE THE
RIGHT DECISION IN VIEW OF THE RECOMMENDATIONS HE HAS BEEN
GIVEN.
WE MAINTAIN OUR
RIGHT TO FIGHT TOGETHER WITH THE CUBAN PEOPLE FOR THEIR
COMPLETE AND TOTAL FREEDOM.
|
|
May 2006
WHO ARE
THE TERRORISTS?
By Miguel L.
Talleda
To the ridiculous campaign
alleging that ALPHA 66 is a terrorist organization, a topic that
has always been a favorite of the propaganda tools of the
tyranny like Granma,
Juventud Rebelde,
and the newspaper, Los
Trabajadores, now we
can add the tyrant himself who has denounced ALPHA in radio and
television as well as in public appearances. Such was the case
on May 1st at the Civic Plaza in which he dedicated
part of his long speech to denigrating our organization.
Of course there
is a reason for all this. He fears us because he knows we have
been preparing the people in Cuba for the explosion that will
occur at a given time when their evil system comes crashing
down. He also knows of the prestige ALPHA 66 enjoys
internationally, a prestige that has been won because our
organization is made up of thousands of exiled Cubans that have
dedicated their lives to work exclusively for the return to a
truly free Cuba.
We regret to have
to say to the tyrant and to his cohorts that while they call us
terrorists, the free world shows us the respect we have earned
as fighters for freedom.
Just a few days
ago on May 20, a glorious date in Cuba’s history, the Senate and
Assembly of the State of New Jersey honored our Secretary
General, Ernesto Díaz Rodríguez with a certificate of
recognition for being a respected poet, for his championing of
human rights, and for his sacrifices in the prisons of Cuba’s
tyranny.
Yet another recognition of the
prisoners, Plantados,
or “those who would not yield,” comes on June 6 in Washington DC
when a documentary on the story of Cuban political prisoners
will be screened. This will take place in the Capitol and will
be sponsored by the Cuban Congressional Representatives, Ileana
Ros-Lehtinen and Lincoln and Mario Díaz Balart. Invited to this
event will be various prisoners
Plantados
as well as members of ALPHA 66, including Ernesto Díaz Rodríguez
and our representative in Washington DC, Basilio Guzmán.
To all of those
whose rented pens write for the tyranny, we say to reserve the
label of terrorist for their friends in Iran with whom they have
on going planning sessions to carry out their plan to “bring the
Americans to their knees” as was promised by Castro on his visit
to Teheran in 2001.
|
|
January 28, 2006
The Honorable
George W. Bush
The White House
1600
Pennsylvania Ave. N.W.
Washington, DC
90500
Dear Mr. President:
Just over a year
ago, in response to your invitation, I had the honor of meeting
with you in the Oval Office in the White House, as I had done
with your father when he was President of the United States and
who also honored me with an invitation May 20, 1991 to
commemorate Cuba’s independence. My release, after more than 22
years as a political prisoner (“plantado”-- steadfast) in the
jails of the tyrant Fidel Castro, was due in large part to the
support your father gave to the cause of my liberty, a gesture I
will always remember with sincere gratitude.
The reason that
I am moved to write you today is to reiterate, on behalf of
myself, my family, and the patriotic Cuban organization I
currently lead, our most fervent support in your role as
President of this great nation, cradle of liberty and progress.
Our solidarity and our thoughts are with the American troops
stationed in Iraq and any place where duty to protect liberty
and democracy requires the presence of such brave soldiers.
It is also my
intention to request, Mr. President, that a more dynamic and
effective policy be put in place in support of the freedom of
Cuba. We Cubans of good faith who are involved in this struggle
are aware of the work of the Commission your administration
established to find solutions to the Cuban tragedy. But we
think that 47 years of a ferocious tyranny is enough in the
social and economic disintegration of a country and in the
suffering of its victims. We think the time urgently calls for
more radical solutions not only in the promises but also in
concrete actions.
With sincere
humility from someone who is willing to give everything,
including my life if necessary, in exchange for no personal
benefit other than the satisfaction of the freedom of my country
and the fulfillment of my duty, it is with profound respect and
gratitude that I wish to remind you of the words of José Martí
that say, “For Cuba, it is time”.
May God bless you,
Mr. President and this great nation you lead with courage and
honor.
Respectfully,
Ernesto Díaz
Rodríguez
Secretary General,
ALPHA 66
Vice-President
UNIDAD CUBANA
|
|
December
2005
JUSTICE
|
|
By
Ernesto Díaz Rodríguez
Secretary General of Alpha 66 |
Last December 9th at the main office of ALPHA 66,
under the title, "The Courts of Law in the Cuba of the Future
and the Law as Sanction”, Dr. José Sánchez Boudy offered an
extraordinary conference. As it was to be expected, his lecture
was wonderful. It gave us Cubans one more reason to fill
ourselves with pride because it revitalized the love we have for
that magical Island that holds our roots and that Dr. Sánchez
Boudy describes, with refined sensitivity and patriotism, as
"The Eternal Cuba".
This morning as I
remembered the essential points that served as the central theme
of his lecture, I asked myself once again: What formula should
we use to stanch the wounds in our search for the reconciliation
of the Cuban family? Should we simply forget the horrible
crimes committed by the executioners of the tyranny? Could we
consider as adequate the controversial policy of “let bygones be
bygones?".
From the perspective of those who defend the Communist theory
that "the end justify the means”, this type of solution seems to
be acceptable. As it seems acceptable to many Cubans who thought
it correct to applaud all the nastiness that came from the sick
mind of the Commander-in-Chief, including the abolition of
Christmas, the right to be free, the celebration of elections
with the participation of diverse parties, freedom of the press
and the right to own property, the right to have the possibility
of choosing a job based on an individual’s vocation and his or
her capabilities to fulfill the particular job. For some
people, even humiliation was acceptable; and it was acceptable
that the tyrant stepped not only on their rights but also on
their own dignity.
For those who put
the duty of conscience above their personal interests, the
answer to that vacillating strategy –similar to the ostrich’s-
must be an emphatic NO! When the moment of the liberation
arrives, it will not only be necessary to bring the criminals to
justice so that the corresponding sanctions be applied to them,
with all the guarantees offered by law, but the sanctions must
also be imparted according to the severity of the crimes
committed. We must be careful with our good intentions. To
spread a message that is contrary to this is not only an
irresponsible and false promise, but the result could have a
negative impact because it provides confidence to the assassins
and stimulates them to continue committing their abuses and
crimes.
Regardless of what
the weight of the conscience could mean to people in their
ethical and moral behavior, if when applying a “humanist” or
“national reconciliation” approach, the bank robbers were
rewarded with an irresponsible pardon, the increase in those
robberies would multiply by the day, because it is easier to
take money in piles from a bank vault, than to earn a salary as
a doctor, bricklayer, bus driver or gravedigger. This is why it
is necessary to inform the predators of freedom, the
executioners, and those who take lives away to simply satisfy
their hunger for hatred or to serve a tyrant that we won’t have
considerations with them in a free Cuba.
And
it must be clear, very clear, that we disapprove of the
abominable method of revenge. No, there is no place for revenge
in civilized societies and we reject it with the same vehemence
that we reject that other extreme of injustice, symbolized by
the unrestricted tolerance and the subtle insensitivity in the
face of someone else’s pain and even the victims’ rights to not
be infamously assassinated.
The balance between love, pardon,
understanding, and human life itself should not be represented
by a tightrope, but by a very well-balanced scale. That is the
tangible limbo that indicates to us the side of the twilight and
the side of the dawn; and also which road we must take for the
inevitable transit between thorns and flowers in that long trip
that we initiated many years ago towards a prosperous and happy
future Cuba. To impart true justice is neither a pleasure nor a
consolation. It is simply an instructive and historical
necessity
November 2005
THE STRATEGY OF DIGNITY
By Ernesto Díaz Rodríguez
Secretary General of Alpha 66
This morning at the beginning of dawn, looking through my
windowpane, I saw the naked, leafless trees,
and perched on a
withering branch was an unfortunate, shivering bird. Then, I
realized that I was not in Cojímar, the peaceful fishing town where
I had the privilege to be born and to grow in total freedom,
enjoying the restless breeze and a beach without bars and chains. It
was a time of happiness, hope and dreams, until the arrival of the
annihilating Revolution that surrounded the whole island with gases
of misery, and flooded the arteries of thousands of Cubans with
hatred and malice. Tens of thousands of Cubans, I would say,
(despite the pain of this bitter truth) who were not conscious of
the concept of nation, nor of the meaning of human dignity.
Suddenly, I felt sad. I was invaded by the sadness of the
shipwrecked, of the butterfly that wishes to fly but remains trapped
in its cocoon. I was not looking at the landscape of my beloved
Cuba, always immersed in my pupils, although far away in time and
space. I did not awaken surrounded by palms, neither was this silent
bird the sonorous mockingbird, or the joyful hummingbird that sucked
the nectar of the flowers in the backyard of my house. No. How sad
I felt! I had just rediscovered, as in so many previous occasions,
the bitter flavor left in my throat by the aloe of a prolonged
exile, of a borrowed land, and a strange freedom.
Then, I was glad for my struggle, for not giving up. I was glad of
my almost 23 years of political imprisonment and of the privilege of
sharing my confinement and agony with men who are a national symbol
due to their heroic attitude, their sacrifice, and for their love of
democratic institutions and the freedom of their homeland. I was
glad of the many times that I risked my life in efforts to
infiltrate the island, in unequal combats against the enemy, against
those who, like idiots, support the atrocious tyranny, either out of
fear or maliciousness, or just for the sake of enjoying a few
breadcrumbs once in a while.
We, who yearn for a happy country, a country free of all the grief
imposed by dictatorships and indecent and unscrupulous governments
that ignore their obligation to duty in exchange for improving their
own way of life, have no other option than that which has been
correctly described by some people of reason as, intransigence,
which means, honor. Because in the matters related to our homeland,
in those regarding national interests, intransigence means dignity,
it means not giving up, not accepting shameful agreements where the
loafers and assassins from Castro's tyranny are granted positions in
the governmental directives of a future Cuba. No, they will have to
go to the thrash heap of history or to another thrash heap of their
preference, but where they won't have anything to do with the
destiny of the Cuban nation.
ALPHA 66 has a long history of battles, a long and beautiful history
where its supreme leaders stood out for their abnegation, for their
honesty, and for the humility with which they traveled through life,
leaving each step of the way a fertile seed of love, understanding,
and human solidarity. They had the vision to insert themselves
within the indispensable currents of not making concessions with
tyranny. The strategies of Andrés Nazario Sargén and Dr Diego Medina
coincided and were coherent in the vertical position that our
organization regards as the principles and the right that we Cubans
have to fight with our own means to someday reconquer the freedom of
Cuba. Colonels Vicente Méndez and José Rodríguez Pérez landed on the
coasts of Cuba, each of them accompanied by a group of brave
fighters. They offered their lives in an unforgettable gesture of
patriotism. Other Cubans preceded them. Many
more have left their
mark in the prisons of the regime or have fallen later, in unequal
combats, like Méndez and Rodriguez Perez. Thousands of Cubans have
given everything. They are those who, facing
the firing
squads, have courageously shouted: "Long live Christ the King!"
That everlasting example is to be the light that will guide us in
our daily tasks. We cannot accept a solution where the foundations
of Castro's tyranny are not totally destroyed. No, we cannot grant a
place inside the future government to loafers or people responsible
for so many abuses, whether moral or physical, against a defenseless
population.
If we aspire to have a dawn with the whisper of palms, and without
little, somber birds shivering on dry branches, then, when the bells
of dawn awake us, we must continue striking the reef with our naked
fist. To demolish the wall with our bare feet is not a task for
those who are simply satisfied by waiting for things to happen. It
is necessary to make things happen, without waiting for anyone else,
and without requesting permission from anybody.
|
March 2005
A REUNION OF BROTHERS
By Miguel L. Talleda
It is not a coincidence. The fact is that there is a greater power that decides. Most of the time it is incomprehensible for humans to grasp that a road has been traced for a people, that regardless of difficulties and horrible stumbling blocks, as is the case of Cuba, there is always a shining light that remains steady during its darkest hours and that will not falter even when the path to follow appears endless.
On several occasions we discussed this with Andrés because always in the face of some set back or a great loss, the imponderable would surface to give us (and I am referring to those of us in Alpha) the necessary courage to not faint and to continue onward. This has led us to the sound conclusion that behind us is a great power that has guided and destined us to be a beacon of light in the struggle of freedom for our people.
Why is it that over the years the set backs Alpha has suffered, rather than bring us down, have instead made us more determined to go forward? Other organizations would have disappeared (as some have done) in cases like the failure of the landing in Cuba of Vicente Méndez, Rodríguez Pérez, and their men. But not us. On the contrary. An infinite number of Cubans eager to fight for the freedom of our country joined our struggle after this disastrous event. Many more inside Cuba joined Alpha and created a new force inside the island that served to break the inertia and mental complacency left following the end of uprisings in the Escambray Mountains of Cuba.
After this we were faced with the events at the Embassy of Peru in Cuba and the Mariel. And who was right in the center of the whirlwind caused by these incidents? Only Alpha, which had to stock its offices in Miami and find ways to provide assistance and asylum to all those arriving. Many of those coming for assistance were clear in their one and only desire: to return with a rifle in hand to continue the struggle they had involuntarily left behind.
And this is how we have found in every occurrence, a positive factor that has made Alpha's trajectory a true liberating epic. We always noticed that each time we lost a leader, for whatever reason, others came to take his or her place. It became like a sacred duty to be sure that the machine, in this case Alpha 66, did not lose its vigor.
But what we are currently seeing, and what we saw at our recent assembly where we elected a new National Executive Committee, is unparallel. We are in the midst of a great enthusiasm that presages a triumph. Old friends have returned along with new militants that want to join this great liberating fury, which under the leadership of our newly elected Secretary General, Ernesto Díaz Rodríguez, is preparing for the final battle against the stupid and criminal Castro-Communist system.
Within this pleiades of patriotic valor we are getting the experience of those that already proved their caliber by remaining PLANTADOS (FIRMS OR STEADFAST) for many years in the grim prisons of tyranny. Many have come to join Ernesto, their brother from prison, who together with them forged one of the most brilliant pages in our contemporary history.
When countries around the world are shaking free from those that have enslaved them and are breathing the fresh air of liberty, Alpha 66, together with the Cuban people prepares to take its place in the vanguard of this final phase of the struggle for freedom.
In this photo are from left to right: Roberto Jiménez, José Antonio Jiménez, Angel de Fana, Ernesto Díaz Rodríguez, Eusebio Peñalver and Luis González Infante. (José Antonio Jiménez is our delegate in Chicago and Eusebio Peñalver is our Secretary for Special Projects)
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February 2005
THE WALL OF SILENCE
By Miguel L. Talleda
The unknown is now clear. The Iraqi people want to live in freedom. The effort of the American, British, and other coalition troops against the ferocious terrorists has triumphed. President Bush, so unjustly berated, can feel proud. Yes, the price has been high in lives lost but that is the price this nation has paid from its beginning not only to create and defend the freedom and democracy we enjoy today, but also to help other peoples in danger of losing their own freedoms.
As this enormous effort that has liberated almost 50 million people in the Middle East is secured, we hope to finally see, like the Berlin Wall, the fall of the Wall of Silence - a wall that surrounds a storm that has approached in the hopes of imposing on the peoples of Latin America the failed doctrine of Communism. This is being accomplished with the same Soviet tactics of terror that made of Cuba an enslaved country.
Is this an exaggeration? No. The danger is real, as the people of Venezuela are already experiencing. In other countries of Latin America, concrete steps are already underway and work has intensified to create the dark shroud in a society where fear becomes the key factor, a society where terror will turn people into beings without will, without hope, and into zombies at the service of a cruel and bloody caste.
And what is that great media that is made up of newspapers, radio and TV in the United States, in Europe, and in other western countries saying? Isn't this media supposed to watch over the rights that we enjoy today?
It is saying NOTHING. In the rare case when they analyze events related to what is happening in Latin America, this "great free press" only gives simplistic answers. They are totally ignorant and in many cases their analysis coincides with the extreme views of those embedded within the various media organizations. How many times have we heard that Castro is old and sick and does not pose a threat to the United States? Let's not fool ourselves, the reality is very different.
The reality is that we are faced with an American public that ignores the events that can be very dangerous to our system of liberty and democracy. Let's look at one example. Ask some of your coworkers and others around you, to tell you about the Forum of Sao Paulo. You will be surprised the number of people in the U.S. that have never heard of this forum. Yet this group of Communists and fellow travelers, created by Fidel Castro and the current president of Brazil, Lula da Silva in 1990, right after the fall of Communism in Europe, works incessantly to turn the free world into a constellation of enslaved people along the order of Cuba.
The Forum is made up not only of all the Communist and extremist groups of Latin America, but also the narco-terrorists who are not asleep on the job. On the contrary, they have already attained great successes. In addition to the presidency of Brazil, they have a president in Argentina that was part of the Montoneros guerrilla movement and a president in Uruguay that was part of the Tupamaros guerrillas. Both these groups, inspired by Castro, bloodied their respective countries during the 1960s and 1970s trying to violently overthrow their governments in order to impose Communism.
Isn't it time that the media, the governments, and the general public wake up? Or do we wait until terror and slavery, Cuban style, are imposed in all of Latin America?
This important topic is one we will be returning to in the future. Let's hope that the victory of the people of Iraq awakens all of us that value our way of life. We will not tire of sounding the alarm on what is happening in Latin America. There is too much to lose if we don't knock down this Wall of Silence.
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January 2005
THE PRINCIPLES OF ALPHA 66
By Ernesto Díaz Rodríguez
Secretary General of Alpha 66
Just a few weeks ago, an article signed by the journalist, Jean Guy Allard, was published in Granma
International. The extensive article ferociously attacked Alpha-66, the organization, which at the
present time, I have the honor to lead as its Secretary General. In said article, the opportunity
was also taken to characterize me with the traditional labels of "CIA agent", "supposed terrorist" and other
generic and adverse qualifiers which the Communist regime of Cuba traditionally tries to give those who,
for one reason or another, causes them to lose their sleep. And while these
accusations do not correspond to reality, we still do not feel "honored" by them, on
the contrary, they are fantasies that at least, in all honesty, keep us entertained. Moreover, it's free
publicity. And here, it's worth mentioning: When your enemies hate you as much, it confirms that your
actions are correct and you're on the right track.
SOME BACKGROUND ON THE AUTHOR OF, "MIAMI, THE TERRORIST'S PARADISE".
Throughout the years, for lack of reasons, lies and defamation have been the most recurrent weapons
employed by the tyrant, Fidel Castro. And no one can doubt that this stale journalist, seemingly the author
of the afore-mentioned article, speaks in the words of the heroic comma-ante of the bulletproof vest. He
repeats thoughtlessly, like a trained parrot, all the slogans of the caudillo of the Sierra
Maestra. Perhaps, many may ask themselves: Who is this Jean Guy Allard who writes so often in Granma International
attacking the Cuban exiles, and any who within the opposition stand out for their meaningful actions
toward the principles of dignity and honor? Well, it has been rumored, and I would not doubt it, that
Allard has been involved in drug trafficking and for such reasons is obligated to carry out favors for the
boss, Fidel Castro. God knows from what dirty pond he was fished out, because those who know him well have
said that the Canadian smells of dung. Notwithstanding, the fact is, that he is in Cuba,
protected for the time being by the compensatory services he renders to the dictator and the governing
Cuban mafia.
THE STRATEGY OF DIGNITY
Mr. Jean Guy Allard, like it or not, and without worry as to the stupidities you write in Granma
International or any other outlet to which you are assigned, Alpha 66, and without asking for permission,
is going to continue with its strategy of battle, which is the strategy of dignity, the strategy of
those of us who prefer the strategy of personal sacrifice, even death if necessary, before shameless
and sterile submission. ALPHA-66 is an organization with a conscience of historical responsibility, forged
by the doctrine of love, and without surrender, or accepting compromises with the vile enemy. It will
apply all methods its leadership deems appropriate. ALL! All methods within the rights given to all
nations to be free, to have hopes and dreams, to coexist with those who share a different opinion,
sharing in the beautiful condition of civilized human beings, in sum, taking pleasure in the harmonious
climate of peace and prosperity. For these rights we fight, not to serve as nourishment
to tyrants. For those rights, Alpha 66, the organization that so much scares the Castro
dictatorship, was founded 42 years ago. And these, Mr. Allard, not those you persevere to emphasize, are
the humanitarian, ideological, and moral principles of Alpha 66.
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December 2004
AS WE GREET THE NEW YEAR
By: Miguel L. Talleda
Another year has ended. The men and women of Alpha 66 have not yet realized the work we set for ourselves of liberating our people from the scoundrels that follow the traitor, Fidel Castro. We have not achieved this despite the hundreds of heroes we have left along the way and the many years spent by our brothers in the prisons of the tyranny. But we continue in the trenches of our duty which is the only place of honor for a people who left their homeland, not as immigrants, but as exiles from the paradise where they were born.
As December 31 approached, we Cubans saw a date that should have been a day of glory, because this is the day that witnessed, in
1958, the culmination of a revolution by a people that struggled to restore their right to liberty, a right guaranteed by the Constitution of 1940. Instead we find that the betrayal of a coward has made this date a curse that our history will not be able to erase.
And what can we expect of the year 2005 that is just beginning? The question has only one answer. If the traitor is physically a tattered bag of bones, if he is unable to provide for even the basic needs of the people, if the failure of the economy is complete, there is nothing else for us to do but to maintain our fierce line of offense until we can once again unite in combat.
The collapse that threatens Communism in our island is clear. The lack of tourism gets worse as a result of confrontations with European countries tired of the tyrant's lies. The sugar harvest is almost all destroyed to the extent that it will produce less than those in the 1920s. His little games of laundering millions of dollars of drug money has become more difficult, and the trips by Cuban Americans to the island have also decreased considerably.
And what occurs to the tyrant? In order to divert their attention, he announces to the deaf and submissive parliamentarians in his congress the discovery of petroleum in the sea facing Santa Cruz del Norte that will be operational in 2006!
On the face of this spectacle of total disaster of the system now in Cuba, our answer is final. In this past year, 2004, we suffered the loss of our leader and guide Andrés Nazario Sargén, but as one man we stood up to continue the struggle, with renewed spirit, new leaders, and unbreakable will. Already our new Secretary General, Ernesto Díaz Rodríguez and his under-secretary, Osiel González, are working tirelessly in the matters of the encampment, Rumbo Sur. They are also reorganizing the offices of Alpha 66 and preparing for our general assembly to reconvene our National Executive that will take place February 26-27, 2005.
Our actions as revolutionaries who struggle to bring freedom to Cuba without compromises, nor ties of any kind, is the core of our organization. Nothing and no one will divert us from our objective which is the same one we set at the founding of the organization in 1961.
And let no one scare us or doubt us because we use the word REVOLUTION, a word tarnished by Fidel Castro and the total destruction he has brought upon our island. TIME magazine in selecting President George W. Bush as person of the year, declares him to be an "American Revolutionary." We are honored to call ourselves revolutionaries and to be in the same company as someone who has been a great liberator of nations.
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December 2004
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OUR STRUGGLE HAS NOT ENDED
By Ernesto Díaz Rodríguez
Secretary General of Alpha 66
In just a few days, we will unfortunately commemorate the 46th anniversary of Fidel Castro's arrival to
power. The so-called experiment initiated by that diabolic creature, the leader of the Sierra
Maestra, which he baptized with the name of "Revolution", has cost the Cuban nation more suffering than any other
Latin American country has ever been forced to endure. Since that fateful date of January 1, 1959, the
number of political prisoners who have spent the better part of their lives in prison and concentration
camps, simply for the love of freedom, is really astonishing. Tens of thousands of honest Cubans who
did not commit any other crime except the desire for a free, prosperous, and happy Cuba, were assassinated
with viciousness and cowardice in front of the firing squads. Other tens of thousands were forced to throw
themselves, in a desperate exodus, to the stormy waters of the Straits of Florida. Some
survived. Miraculously, they survived to describe their experience, and to narrate their own agonies. Others,
in much greater proportion, dissolved within the salted waters, frustrated hopes, and the famished
gulps of sharks.
And, we are still rolling downhill. Still the merry-go-round of the Castro revolution continues to
turn, destroying everything, and we have yet to find an effective formula to stop it. But we must find it! We, those of us who want a solution without giving
up, and without shameful agreements with the enemy, must join all forces, because freedom cannot be
conquered on our knees, but only with the razor edge of the machete, and the guiding light of Máximo Gómez. We must fight, tooth and nail, if necessary, in order
to bury all the miseries that have been imposed on us. We must fight with the powerful weapons of honor and
reason. To bury the agonies and the hopelessness in a deep grave, within the mud, the stench, and the dung
that composed the matter and fabric of the tyrant who now commands that brutal and devastating experiment.
Almost 46 years have passed since they weaved our blood with chains. Since they erased the sun of
freedom from us, and locked our illusions with bolts. Many were satisfied with survival, and accepted with
resignation the humiliating formulas of the thoughtless and capricious will of the tyrant,
thinking, perhaps, that in facing an official policy of traps and lies, any method of survival was valid.
Others, in a significantly inferior proportion, but with a much more refined sense of the responsibility
imposed on us at the moment, understood that, more important than preserving our material values, and
more important even than our own lives, was not to let ourselves be annihilated spiritually, because the
destruction of the spirit weakens and affects our human condition. Moreover, it places at risk, the
preservation of our dignity.
Those courageous human beings who represent the moral reserves of our Mother country, understood the message
of José Martí when he said: "A man who is satisfied obeying unjust laws, and allows the men who mistreat
the land in which he was born to step on it, is not an honest man." Instead, they either gave their lives in
a heroic sacrifice, or integrated into the honorable legions of the Political Military prisons of Cuba.
Others, who were forced to leave the country, have fought without truce from the trenches of exile,
without letting themselves be dazzled by the borrowed freedoms and the personal rewards offered to us by
this great nation.
Our fight has not ended. It must be a collective conscience for all Cubans, inside and outside the
island, as we aspire to a system of government capable of providing us the joys guaranteed and established by
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. A government where the healing of the spiritual wounds,
respect for democratic institutions, and the happiness of the Cuban family are the cornerstones of our new
nation.
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December
2004
REFLECTIONS
By Ernesto Díaz Rodríguez
Secretary General
ALPHA
66
The freedom of Cuba has
been a long caressed dream. Our captive people has paid a high quota in
sacrifices and humiliations having wronged their destiny in history, but
it’s already time to make that dream come true. We all urgently need
it: Cubans agonizing inside the island and those wandering through
the world, because securing the material needs while being away from our
country does not mean that we have spiritual tranquility, neither peace
or happiness. I hope that we have gained enough experience and will
never say to a diabolic leader “this is your home,” neither we’ll
applause when another Cuban is killed for the simple crime of having a
different opinion. I hope that we will never accept without protest that
a meager minority carries over their shoulders, together with their own
load of civism, the violated decorum of those who are contented with
just floating to the drift and assuming attitudes of shameful servitude
or pretending to support, due to fear or vileness, the reality that they
internally curse and hate. We have to erase from our minds the false
conceptions of a double morality. We have to take a step forward and
say: ¡NO! Your jails do not scare me anymore, your jails are not more
powerful that my spirit. Because, as Jose Marti said, “liberty has a
price and it’s necessary to pay that price or to resign to live
without liberty”.
Cuba will be free of
Castro’s dictatorship in a not very far away future. Nobody should
doubt it. The present conditions are adequate for that necessary change,
without shady compromises or claudicating. We cannot, under any concept,
to offer a space to the executioners of our nation. We cannot, under any
circumstances, live with the assassins of thousands of victims,
shamefully sharing the power of a democracy that we hope to be the
fairest and most representative of Latin America. We cannot accept that
someone tries to impose on us, as a starting point, the obsolete
parameters of a dirty constitutional system, designed not to guarantee
the fundamental liberties and a respectable justice order, but to favor
in a subtle way the permanency of a government system, which is
repulsive in all aspects. For that radical change, without the ballast
of corrupted officials, the fighters of Alpha 66 work day by day
together with the leaders of the exile and the opposition inside Cuba
with awareness of homeland and of human dignity. To attain that change
we work together with the journalists who are aware of their historic
responsibility and have enough courage of not accepting the official
censorship of the government. To attain that goal, we work very hard,
without hesitation, together with the professionals and the students,
the workers and the farmers; together with the army sectors that have
not incurred in abominable acts of vengeance and have not bloody
hands.
There cannot be anything
that compromises us more than the heroic sacrifices of our martyrs;
nothing more than the memory of those heroes who emptied their veins
offering their love to our country. With those values, that are as
brilliant stars and which inspire other men of noble ideals, the history
always goes on; the history that is written with the heart and the most
steady and transparent conscience. That’s why we have a powerful
reason that requires renewed sacrifices from us. Today, more than
ever before, we evoke those thoughts remembering our beloved friend
Andrés Nazario Sargén, an undisputed and irreplaceable leader of
Alpha-66, whom we left under a mantle of flowers just a few weeks ago.
With sadness and profound emotion we buried his lifeless body.. And we
recognized him with all the honors he deserved for his perseverance and
total devotion to the cause of a free Cuba. His unquestionable honesty,
next to the nobility of his soul was his best legacy; and his humility
was the faithful mirror of his extraordinary human sensitivity. He
was a man who understood the urgent necessities of the poorest segments
of society, who was deluded with beautiful projects of constructing
hundreds of thousands of houses for the more underprivileged classes of
the population, once our country was liberated. By the respect
obtained with his creative work and his great principles, without
avoiding sacrifices either on his part or by his family, he was a
giant of the soul, whom we will always remember like a symbol of
stoicism and abnegation. Yes, he was a giant that knew how to ascend to
the height of the circumstances with his diaphanous and vital
intransigence every time he had to defend his principles, his moral
values, his strategy of fighting without requesting permission from
anybody, which is the strategy of honor and dignity. For that reason, we
will never forget him and he will always be a light that will guide us
in the decisive fight for the freedom of our nation, especially to us
who are part of Alpha 66, the organization that he helped to found and
that he directed successfully for more than 40 years.
The dawn is here. There is
a steel rooster singing in the distance and a sad palm covered
with snow next to my window. I think about my unfortunate Cuba and
that beloved friend who smiles to us from heaven because we have kept
faithful to its philosophy. I think about the moment of freedom that he
deserved to enjoy, in a day of glory for the Cubans, and at the end of
these reflections I cannot avoid asking myself: What message
Nazario Sargén would like to send to his captive people through these
lines?... A message of faith and hope – I respond myself-, of
perseverance and strength overall. Next to a combat shout. A shout
that turns in spirals through the streets, and becomes an echo in doors
and windows. A shout, finally, that germinates as the good wheat in the
sublime furrow of the mother land, because as he liked to repeat:
Nothing is more humiliating for a human being that the thoughtless
observance of measures that attempt to demolish the dignity of mankind,
because it turns them into vile aggressors or enslaved poor devils to
the service of the regime that despises and represses them.
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October 30, 2004
OUR RESPECT FOR A LIBERATOR
By Miguel L. Talleda
For us, who lost the right to elect those that would govern our country, the close elections that are held every four years in the United States bring us mixed feelings. On the one hand we feel sad that we lost our right to vote, but on the other we feel happiness to see how this country participates in that sacred right that constitutes the difference between living in freedom and vegetating in a totalitarian regime.
And in just three days we will see whether the next president of the United States will be Senator John Kerry, whose record of aiding the communist victory in Vietnam is well known and which led to the surrender of that country to communist slavery and also to the holocaust of the Cambodian people by the tyrant Pol Pot, or whether it will be George W. Bush elected to
four more years.
For those of us, whose primary objective in life is the freedom of our country enslaved by the terror claws of communism, the differences between these two leaves no doubt: we are on the side of President George W. Bush.
His strategy on the war on terror, which did not begin but had its most criminal act on September 11, 2001, has been transparent and victorious. Today the world is witnessing how the strategy to free Afghanistan and Iraq from terrorist regimes is about to triumph and bring to these two countries, NEARLY 50 MILLION PEOPLE, a life of liberty and democracy and respect for all, including women whose disgraceful state was at the mercy of the savages that ruled by terror.
President Bush, who is an unwavering enemy of the governments where terror is the
mean used to subjugate its people, has declared that he will fight until freedom is brought to those oppressive regimes. Based on this premise, we free Cubans, seeing how the tyrant's claws enslaves our own people and how it's helping to do the same to the Venezuelan people, declare clearly and without doubt that we are totally on the side of President Bush.
We are confident in the sagacity of the American people to see through the campaign lies and to use the powerful right to vote and choose President George W. Bush, a true standard-bearer, who truly represents the words in our national
anthem "the land of the free and the home of the brave".
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Miami, October 11, 2004
ALPHA 66 PRESS RELEASE
During an extraordinary meeting that took place yesterday, October 10, 2004, in the city of Miami, regarding the death of Andrés Nazario Sargén, Secretary General of our organization, the following was agreed, by unanimous vote:
1.. To continue the vigorous defense of our principles of liberty, dignity and justice that had inspired us in our struggle for freedom since the foundation of ALPHA 66.
2.. To appoint Osiel González, long-time and prestigious member of this organization since its foundation in 1962, for the position of Vice-Secretary General, responsibility that he will immediately assume on this date.
3.. To transfer the position of Secretary General to Ernesto Díaz Rodríguez, former political prisoner and also founding member of ALPHA 66.
The legacy of humility, patriotism and honesty left by our irreplaceable leader Andrés Nazario Sargén, together with the moral commitment, the respect and admiration deserved by each of our martyrs, who devoted the best of their lives to the cause of a free Cuba, will continue to guide the noble fight of ALPHA 66, utilizing to attain the freedom of our beloved homeland all the combat strategies that the leaders of our organization consider honorable, necessary and appropriate.
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Ernesto Díaz Rodríguez
Secretary General |
Osiel González
Vice-Secretary General |
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August
2004
Believing it
necessary that we all know who is this gratuitous enemy that spreads
hate against the Cubans, we bring to our web page this illuminating
article by Armando Gonzalez. –Alpha 66
MICHAEL
MOORE ON HIS OWN WORDS
By Armando Gonzalez
Choosing
the topic of his next column can become an interesting dilemma for a
journalist given the many options available. That was the case with me
this week until film producer and writer Michael Moore facilitated my
decision with his recent commentaries on his website about the Cuban
exiles.
It
is not necessary to revert to rhetorical ideology or philosophical
posturing. Mr. Moore in his own words has simplified our work when he
asserted: “It’s from there (Miami) that a bunch of crazy Cuban
exiles has controlled the foreign policy of the United States toward
that insignificant insular nation.” “These Cubans,” Moore
continues, “many of them acolytes of Batista that used to live the
good life while that gang devastated the country, appeared not to have
closed an eye since they took their money and went to Florida.”
So
we are “crazy.” And we come from an “insignificant insular
nation.” Of course what Mr. Moore is incapable of understanding is
that this “insignificant insular nation” is our homeland, and our
“craziness” is the highest patriotic testament of our infinite love
for it. A love that has held firm for a free Cuba during 45 years of
exile, and that will last beyond the day Mr. Moore disappears from the
scene to become part of the intellectual excrement where these
improvised ideologues end. And
Moore continues: “And since 1960, (the Cubans) have insisted in
infecting us with their craziness. One of the high rewards that we
received from our investing in these Cuban exiles was the help we got in
introducing illegal drugs to the United States, destroying families and
entire neighborhoods in our cities.”
Any
honest observer, well-informed and especially well intended, would never
have characterized the Cuban exiles as involved in the drug traffic. The
stain caused by some of the exiles, pales in comparison to the
unprecedented example of the most successful exile community in the
history of the United States. And whoever looks for an ethnic angle to
the drug traffic would not include the Cuban exiles, although some
unfortunate exceptions would be accepted.
Moore
is not afraid to make these anti Cuban statements: “Why am I not
worried? Because for all their chest-thumping and terrorism, they are
really just a bunch of wimps. That’s right. Wimps! When you don’t
like the oppressor in your country, you stay there and try to overthrow
him. You don’t put your tail between your legs and run like these
Cubans.”
It’s
good that Moore has the opportunity to express his enormous ignorance
and lack of historical perspective. What would the thousands of ex
political prisoners say about these comments? How about the honorable
members of the veterans 2506 Brigade? And the sacred memory of those who
gave their life fighting the Communist regime?|
Finally,
what do we make of these barbaric insults by someone who has become a
prominent figure in the Democratic Party in this presidential
campaign?
To
begin with, we Cuban exiles should not, must not, accept simple excuses
or explanations. We must demand specific actions. How can they explain
this affront to our honor as exiles to those who will knock on our doors
asking for our vote for their candidate? Moreover, what will those Cuban
exiles think who, honestly I am sure, help and work for the same
candidates as Michael Moore?
We
can not accept any excuse! And we should state very clearly to the two
members of the presidential democratic ticket that only the expulsion of
Michael Moore of everything that concerns their campaign, will help to
mitigate the enormous wound this arrogant imbecile has opened in the
heart of the Cuban exile community.
Let
them not think that time will heal that wound. And these two candidates
can be sure that we will hold them accountable … them, as well as
their campaign workers in South Florida if they try to pull the wool
over our eyes and ignore our collective anger.
Those
that have ears to hear should hear.
(Article
published by NetforCuba International –www.NetforCuba.org.
Translation by our staff)
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June 2004
Food For thought on this Memorial Day.
Dear Friends,
Here we are commemorating another
Memorial Day. The United States of America, the bastion of world
democracy, takes time every year to render tribute to its unmatched
independence and the men and women that have given the ultimate
sacrifice to maintain the freedom and rights we all dearly cherish. On
this, the ultimate date of remembrance of it heroes, we in the Cuban
American community, a community that has become an integral part of the
American tapestry, stand and salute the nation that has given us shelter
and succor in our long denied quest for freedom, and those that have
died to bring it about.
The United States of America, my country
of birth which I cherish and would stand ready to defend, has for years
held an embargo against the country of my ancestors and the land which I
too consider to be home... Cuba. This embargo has helped keep the
Castrist government, a dictatorship of the most vile nature, from
proliferating throughout this hemisphere at a greater rate than if we
had no embargo at all. But is it enough?
There are some that look towards the U.S.
as the means for the liberation of our island nation, but in reality
many of us in the Cuban American community know that the freedom of our
country falls to us to achieve. Yet we are shackled by an agreement
between this country and the now defunct Soviet Union. An agreement
signed by the Kennedy Administration that obligates them to intercede in
the fight for the liberation of the very nation they enforce an embargo
against.
Our freedom fighters are intercepted, our
anti-castrist organizations are foiled at every turn in their fight for
the freedom of our native soil. We are constantly subject to arrests and
interdiction for simply wanting to, in our way, give the people of the
island nation that lies a mere 90 miles away the same rights and
freedoms they, the U.S. themselves enjoy.
Why does the United States still enforce
an agreement with a nation that no longer exists? Why are our brave and
selfless fighters, that very well resemble those that we honor on this
day, treated like criminals for wanting to do the exact same thing that
today's honorees have done.... fight for the freedom of their country?
Many liberals in Congress want to
re-evaluate this country's commitment to the embargo. They would like an
end to, what they consider, an outdated notion. I submit that they
should be considering ending an outdated treaty with a non-existent
country that has tied the hands of the Cuban American community for the
past 4 decades.
Call and write your legislators and
representatives and ask them to do away with a treaty that keeps the
Castrist dictatorship, a dictatorship dedicated to the downfall of this
very country, a country that gives safe haven and succor to terrorists,
in power. Lets put an end to a treaty signed with a country that fell
over a decade ago, yet continues to dictate U.S. foreign policy. We are
not asking for American lives to be put on the line. We are not asking
for money to fund our freedom. We are not asking for Uncle Sam to
intercede in what are clearly Cuban national affairs.
What we are seeking is the freedom to
fight for the liberty of our bretheren on the island. What we are asking
is for the same opportunity that the founding fathers of this nation had
to seek their freedom from their English overlords. What we are asking
is to allow the Cubans that are on U.S. soil to participate in shaping
the future of their own country.
Food for thought on this Memorial Day.
Jose "Alex" Ybarra
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March 2004
A RIGHT STEP TO SEE CUBA FREE
By Miguel L. Talleda
We don't think it's necessary to give a history of the complicity of the
Castro government with international terrorism. Anyone who is keeping a
record of world events has a file describing the activities of these
international evildoers, who using our island as a launching pad, are
plotting the destruction of the United States and of our freedoms.
Hate is a powerful weapon and is easy to sow by perverse minds like
Castro's and his evil cronies who use it incessantly against this
country. They have no limits. One such case is described in the book
"Honor Bound" by Stuart I. Rochester and Frederick Kiley, when
they write of a group of Cuban agents sent to Vietnam "to show the
north Vietnamese how to torture American prisoners of war." The
regime's machination to sow hate was perfected as a destructive force
during the Tri-Continental Conference held in Havana in 1966 and has
been relentless ever since. Today the Castro government is reaping the
fruit of its labor. All those that were indoctrinated in camps in
Cuba are today working to destabilize Latin American. After being
responsible for much of the bloodshed in this continent, many of them
are now holding positions of power in Latin American governments--as is
evidenced by the Montoneros in Argentina.
On the other hand, there is ample evidence to probe that Castro will not
even hear of any change that will release the Cuban people of the
ferocious terrorizing system he has imposed upon them. For us Cubans,
who has been immersed in the teachings of our national hero Jose Marti,
is plainly clear that we have to exercise our duty to fight against this
monster. This is why Alpha 66 training occurs at our camp "Rumbo
Sur." We have to be able, as we tried in the past, to effectively
show the terrorized Cubans in the island, that instead of taking the
risk of leaving Cuba in raft and being the pray of sharks in the
Caribbean waters, it is time to fight back to eliminate the tyranny, and
that we will be at their side in the island, in full military uniforms,
as were our heroes Vicente Mendez and Rodriguez Perez in 1970.
But there is one problem. The U.S. Coast Guard has been persecuting us,
in many cases in international waters, and confiscating our weapons,
boats and supplies. These actions are based on laws not intended for
that purpose (ie. The Neutrality Law), or "laws" that were
never laws, such as the supposed "Kennedy-Krushev" accord to
keep "hands off Castro", while actually ignoring the only law,
Law 87-733, that guarantees us Cubans the right to fight for the
liberation of our country-a law approved by the joint session of
Congress and signed by President Kennedy, on October 2, 1962. In
practice what all this amounts to, is that the persecution of our
Freedom Fighters clearly shows that Fidel Castro and his communist
tyranny are in fact enjoying the protection of the American government.
This nation has had ten presidents since the tyrant took over Cuba. They
have all condemned the atrocities of the tyranny but have not taken the
definite step needed: to let us prove that we can liberate Cuba. The
current president, the Honorable George W. Bush, has the opportunity to
be different from the rest. His courage is surprising the entire world.
We are in the dawn of seeing more than fifty million people recuperate
their freedom. Yet, we are faced with the unavoidably sad news that just
as Afghanistan and Iraq are being liberated, 18 million Venezuelans have
been taken in slavery because Castro has used his U.S. protection to go
one step beyond the limits of the island.
These questions need to be answered. Are we free Cubans, less worthy
that the Afghans fighting in the mountains against the Taliban?
Are we more inconsequential than the Kurdish enemies of Saddam Hussein?
All of them were given arms to combat their dictators. If all we are
asking is not to be persecuted in our efforts to liberate our homeland,
then why are we being denied this right? Is there a difference between
Osama Bin Laden, Saddam Hussein and Fidel Castro in their hatred toward
Americans?
It is time to put and end to this absurd and incongruent historical
mistake.
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October 2003
THE SIGNIFICANCE
OF THE 10TH OF OCTOBER
On this very date,
October 10th, when we celebrate an inspiring event in our history, it
surprises us that the White House decided to hold an event on behalf of
the American government and President George W. Bush to honor us
Cubans. It surprised us because it had always been May 20th
the designated date to honor the heroic struggle of the Cuban people to
become a free nation.
But we feel
encouraged because October 10th is a definitive date. A date
when a conclusion was reached that there could not be an agreement with
Spain. If we wanted a free nation, it was necessary to fight. And it
was this date that gave birth to the concept that war was the only way
to free Cuba from colonial rule and establish a free nation. If this is
the thinking of the President and his advisors, we welcome it.
We in Alpha 66
believe that President Bush, to the pride of this country, has already
secured his place in history as a liberator. His actions resulted in
removing the Al-Qaeda terrorists to free the people of Afghanistan as
well as removing the humiliating rule Sadam Hussein had on the Iraqi
people. We have never asked him to liberate our own people. We have,
however, made it known to him in writing, and personally through
emissaries, that we want him to respect our right to fight with arms for
the freedom of our people.
We should not be
witnessing again the persecution of our men in the high seas, not by
forces from Castro’s tyranny, but by forces of the free world,
especially the American government. It is time to put an end to
previous actions when boats, arms, and other equipment were confiscated,
forgetting that we are a liberating force that will not rest until we
see Cuba free and a democratic government heading a new republic.
The people of Cuba
are ready to rise against the infamous communist system of Fidel
Castro. They only need a spark to light the courage necessary to change
from slaves to free men and women. Our history has shown that Alpha 66
is that spark and we are ready to demonstrate it. As we have said, any
other plan is welcomed but nothing will substitute the obligation of the
Cubans in exile to liberate our Cuba.
Miguel L. Talleda
Andrés Nazario Sargén
Coordinator in
California
Secretary General Alpha 66
(310)
324-8778
(305) 541-5433
P.O..Box
6434
P.O. Box 420067
Torrance,
Ca. 90504
Miami, Fla. 33142
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May 2003
A CENTURY FOR FREEDOM
By Miguel L. Talleda
What we
have witnessed lately is that the enemy has to be hit hard and on the
head. Al Qaeda made a big mistake with its terrorist attacks on the
Twin Towers and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. Just like it
happened after Pearl Harbor in 1941, a giant was awakened.
The
result is that in less than two years two countries, Afghanistan and
Iraq, with a population of close to 40 million people are facing a
future that for the first time includes freedom. Sure we had to
distance ourselves from the spineless and putrid United Nations. An
organization where representatives from the most repressive and brutal
dictatorships in the world pat themselves on the back making impossible
the attainment of any dignified agreement.
The
coalition of the United States, Britain, and countries like Poland,
Hungary, and the Czech Republic, countries that truly appreciate liberty
because they have lived the Communist tyranny, have given the world an
example of the road to be followed in this new century.
But isn't
the tactic used by President Bush in Iraq the same that Alpha 66 has
been proclaiming with respect to Cuba? Why are we Cubans denied the
right to do with Castro what has been done with Sadam? Could it be that
some believe that Castro is less evil than Sadam? When the truth of the
atrocities committed during these last 44 years finally comes to light,
the free world will have to hide in shame for having permitted such
cruelty.
We hope
that Castro's record of complicity and support for terrorist groups
throughout the world is not swept under the rug. Just this week the
State Department declared that Iran has the strongest links with
terrorism of any other country in the world. This reminds us that not
too long ago it was Castro that told an audience of students at the
University of Teheran that Iran and Cuba would bring the United States
to its knees.
The goal
for all of us that struggle to see Cuba free should be to convince
everyone that this new century ought to be the century for freedom and
that the next step should be to once and for all rid our homeland of the
nauseating stench of the tyrant Fidel Castro.
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April 2003
VICENTE MENDEZ THE HERO THAT OUTLINED THE WAY
By Miguel L. Talleda
This
month marks 33 years that Vicente Mendez and his men landed in Cuba in
full uniform and with the insignias of the organization ALPHA 66 and
their corresponding military grade. They were not terrorists as the
Castro tyranny has labeled them. They were freedom fighters for our
homeland. It was April 17, 1970.
They were only 13 in
that expedition, but not because there was a lack of men willing to
confront the forces of the tyranny. It was because in the richest exile
in the world we were unable to secure the funding necessary for a larger
force. But Vicente Mendez was very clear during a rally in Los Angeles
at the Embassy Auditorium when he said, "We aspire, and if I tell you
otherwise I would be lying, we aspire to land with 500 men if possible.
But this is not a plan for 500, or 300, or 200, or 50, or 20 men…but if
the exile does not respond with the funds and we have to take 50 instead
of 100, what can we do?…It doesn't matter, we will land no matter what
because this is a plan that was outlined to be carried out regardless".* |
And like 13 giants they
faced a force of 50,000 militias sent by the tyranny to Oriente Province to
pursue them. That marked their entry through the large door of history,
leaving a stellar legacy that was followed by other groups from ALPHA 66.
We remember these
happenings because a long time has passed but the circumstances have not
changed. The tyrant continues to oppress our people and the exile continues
to shamelessly look for foreign solutions to liberate our homeland and our
enslaved people.
There also has not been
any change in the thinking of those, who like ALPHA 66, have said that only
through our own efforts can we put an end to the horrendous situation that
is Cuba today.
The quick war we just
witnessed in Iraq has moved the entire world. We are facing different
circumstances. A different kind of men is leading the free world today.
President George W. Bush as well as British Prime Minister Tony Blair
demonstrated how to break through a cowardly world. They have demonstrated
how to destroy and bring to light the horrors of an evil tyrant. This is
our opportunity. Not to ask to liberate us from Fidel Castro who is a twin
of Saddam Hussein, but to let them know that we Cubans have a right to fight
for our homeland. We ask that they suspend the protection enjoyed by the
tyrant, a protection that has slowly allowed Castro to become a protectorate
of the American government.
The evil Fidel Castro can
no longer fool anyone. The entire world has been horrified in the face of
his latest crimes. To give him any support, no matter how small, so he can
continue his horrendous task is also a crime.
*A
full account of the landing of Vicente Mendez can be found in the book,
"ALPHA 66 Y SU HISTORICA TAREA".
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April 2003
UNITED WITH THE TROOPS FOR THE FREEDOM OF IRAK
By Miguel L. Talleda
There are three reasons why we, the Cubans in exile, feel as if this
war for the liberation of Irak and freedom from the tyranny of
Sadam Hussein, is our very own war. First, it is to be in
solidarity with the majority of the American people and their
President, George W. Bush, who courageously confronts the
threat presented by a scrupulous, virtually proven terrorist
regime, and sworn enemy of this great nation. Second, it is
to support the Armed Forces, which includes, amongst its
members, many of our own brothers and sisters--an Armed Forces
traditionally known for its track record as liberators, rather
than conquerors. Third, and lastly, it is for the gratitude we
feel for the opportunity to have been welcomed with open arms
in our darkest moment. To turn our backs on the efforts of
those who only wish to free the world of a decaying regime,
led by a diabolical mind, denotes a lack of character
bordering on betrayal.
But there is something else. We are here in the United States
because we have known, in flesh and blood, who the enemy is,
and we are certain that the reasons put forth by the American
government and its allies-- specifically, England and Spain,
are sustained in truth. To sit and wait for economic strength
to convert Sadam Hussein into a worse danger, capable of
assisting in the repeat of another sabotage, like the one
committed upon the Twin Towers and the Pentagon, is to toy
with far too dangerous an element.
Destiny has transformed us into a definitive force, next to the fighters
for the liberation of peoples. The same today, along side a
Republican president, as in the 70s, with then Democratic
President, Lyndon B. Johnson, and the war in Vietnam. We have
always been against those forces of evil that enslave people,
and out of envy, teaches them to hate the United States.
For these reasons, the members of Alpha 66, along with the rest of
the Cubans, Americans, and other nationalities, stand shoulder
to shoulder in whatever demonstrations are organized around
the country in support of the Allied Forces, who fight and sacrifice
themselves for the freedom of the people of Irak.
Our faith is unyielding. One day, we shall also be the liberators
of our own people.
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March 2003
THE THREE PRINCIPLES FOR
LIBERATION
By Miguel L. Talleda
In masterly form
in his article, "Brief Comments About the Future of Cuba", Andres
Nazario sketches in a few words what our presence represents in this
unprecedented struggle to see Cuba free. A simple program outlines
our thinking. The spirit that has moved Alpha 66 throughout its
historical journey is reflected in three fundamental points.
Andres Nazario has
penetrated the thought of the Apostle and has never wavered from the
central theme that guided José Martí. This central theme was none
other than to put forth the only valid objective in liberating our
homeland from the oppression of colonialism when we had the right to
become a nation. Andres summarized these three principles as
follows: (1) Total liquidation of the tyranny. (2) Total elimination
of the misery. (3) An absolute end to corruption in the entire
country.
The first
principle, "total liquidation of the tyranny" does not represent
revenge as many people want to believe. It is a sentiment of
justice. Justice is what we owe our martyrs that lost their lives
because of this group of bandits that has trampled an entire people
with the insanity of savages.
How can someone
believe that in order to end the most brutal tyranny this continent
has seen we have to embrace the oppressors of our country? We in
Alpha 66 have no feelings of getting even against anyone, but we
also don't have the stomach to have to share with scums a future
that logically no longer belongs to them.
If the Alarcons,
Lages, Perez Roques, and other bandits and accomplices of the
madness of the Castro brothers, perpetrators of the hunger and
misery suffered by our people, pretend they can be part of a future
in which there is no room for them, they ignore the verdict of
history in these cases.
Those that pretend
to engage in dealings with the criminals want us to believe that
maintaining a hard line of total victory against the tyranny is now
an incongruity and label us obstinate, ignorant, and deluded. But
don't they realize that the regime of terror is in a state of total
decay and cannot help but fall?
We shall intensify
the pressure, be present, and be prepared with the banner of
victory. Be present next to those on the island that struggle with
the same certainty: the absolute freedom for our homeland.
In the next
articles we will examine the second and third principle outlined by
Andres Nazario.
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February 2003
WHAT DISTINGUISHES A FREE PEOPLE
By Miguel L. Talleda
The realities that
have come to light regarding the Varela Project as a result of
Oswaldo Paya's trip to accept the Sakharov Prize leave no doubt that
the project represents absolutely nothing in the context of
returning freedom to Cuba. One thing that is clear is its
pretension to ignore those in exile that have tirelessly struggled
for 44 years to see Cuba free, truly free.
Paya's declaration
in Mexico that the Historical Exile is only radical when creating an
uproar, an offense, or a threat is a reaction to the fact that we
will not swallow the pill he has presented. It appears that his
mind has been saturated with the campaign and the hate that the
Communist system has used against those of us that will never
renounce the only solution for the Cuban people to achieve their
freedom. That solution is to DEFEAT THE TYRANNY and not negotiate
with its cowardly supporters.
The fact that we
in exile cannot create an army that can compete with that of the
dictatorship because we need to abide by the laws of the country
that has given us refuge does not mean we are not engaged in a fight
until the end. We are engaged in an irregular war that has been an
undisputed factor in the fact that the regime is on the verge of a
total collapse.
The Cubans
struggling in and out of Cuba have not achieved victory yet, but
neither have we admitted defeat. This is something that should make
us all very proud. We are facing the final battle. The enemy
trembles because there is no alternative to its downfall. In the
words of Celedonio Gonzalez, a columnist for La Nueva Cuba, the
tyrant is merely "a pre-cadaverous mummy roaming around with the
permission of its grave digger".
So what's left? A
train of followers that has always trembled in the presence of the
dictator and has never had the courage to question him. Also a group
of unworthy generals that will not refute orders given by the drunk
Raul Castro. Could there be a more pathetic military scene in the
world than to see a group of twenty generals condemn one of their
own to the firing squad like they did with General Ochoa without
raising a voice of protest?
Now the countries
of Europe in an effort to salvage their businesses and properties
after supporting the Communist regime for so long praise the Varela
Project and its promoter. They are hoping that after the death of
the dictator they will be able to continue with their acquisitions,
with their abuse and violations of Cuban women, and with their
continued exploitation of Cuban workers. This is the reality today.
But there are forces inside Cuba that will not fall for this trap.
It is with these forces that Alpha 66 will be united at the final
moment of victory.
There are
countless examples throughout history that show us the way. During
World War II Hitler was conquering Europe. He had occupied several
countries, including France. He attacked England. He almost
completely destroyed the city of Coventry with his fierce bombing
and threatened to "coventrize" the rest of England, including
London. The death toll was in the thousands and the destruction
unmeasurable. Some approached Winston Churchill and told him he had
to negotiate with Hitler to stop the bombing. It appeared that
England could not win this battle. But Churchill refused to
negotiate with the invaders. To negotiate with criminals was
immoral.
There is a point
that we Cubans have reached and that not every one understands, and
that is, that it is immoral and pernicious to embrace the Mafia that
has destroyed our homeland.
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September 2001
THE FRUITS OF HATE
By Miguel L. Talleda
In view of the criminal terrorists attacks of September 11,
that destroyed the twin towers of the World Trade Center In New York
and part of the Pentagon in Washington, we see that the horror
generated by such tragedy, where so many innocent people have paid
with their lives, has no parallel in human history. The
indignation of these attacks has not only been felt in the United
States, but also in the entire civilized world. They are proof
of the hate that certain sick segments of humanity feel toward this
country, because it is a universal symbol of freedom, a country that
has known how to create a system with faith in God, that can bring
happiness to a people and can influence the rest of the world, so
that everyone can enjoy the same way of life.
But where does this hate which has been building for some time and
materialized in the terrible events of last Tuesday come from? There
will surely be many opinions on the origins of this kind of vile,
that tries to destroy nations that have overcome adversity and
triumphed with effort and intelligence, to serve their people, not
to do evil, but to bring happiness to all.
In my view, the origin of this hate in our modern age begins after
the Allies triumphed over Nazism and Fascism and the countries of
Eastern Europe, Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia , Romania, etc.,
having been liberated from Hitler were forced into a new slavery
under Communism. The iron curtain, as Winston Churchill called it,
fell on these people and their right to freedom was totally and
completely denied.
Fifteen years passed until the rise to power of Fidel Castro in Cuba
consummated an alliance with the Soviet Union, which gave this
latter the possibility of widening its job of converting the world
to the brutal and enslaving system of Communism. As part of
this union of hate, where the United States was “the enemy,” the
“Tricontinental Conference” was held in Havana, on January 3-16,
1966, at the confiscated Havana-Hilton Hotel.* This conference
included delegates from Russia and China and openly declared war on
“American imperialism”.
Cuba quickly became a training camp for terrorists and guerrillas,
that bloodied the entire American continent from one end to the
other. The peoples of Argentina, Uruguay, and Central America
suffered most from the accords taken at the Tricontinental
Conference, since they were immediately subjected to attempts to
forcefully communize them. Even today, the head of the
Colombian guerrillas, Manuel Marulanda, known as “tiro fijo,” a
product of the Tricontinental, is fighting to destroy the freedoms
of that country.
In Africa the terrorists trained in Cuba, following the accords of
the Tricontinental, were no different. Entire people were subjected
by fire and blood to a war, not of their making, that tried to
enslave them under Communism. Ethiopia, Somalia, the Congo,
Angola, and many other countries suffered the ferocious cruelty of
these evil doers. And the people of Cuba saw how their young
men were sent as mercenaries to Africa to serve the interest of
Russia.
The third part of the world that gave the Tricontinental Conference
its name was Asia. Here too the flames of hate were fanned and
terrorists came to Cuba to train laying the seeds of the alliance
between Fidel Castro and the worse dictators of the Middle East.
Their purpose was to destroy the American nation and all of the free
world. That is why we are not surprised when the U.S. State
Department has on its list of terrorist countries, Iraq, Iran,
Sudan, Libya, Syria, North Korea and Cuba.
The new generations have not heard about the Tricontinental
Conference of 1966 held in Havana and others have forgotten.
But the wicked brain that created this evil and sowed the seeds of
hate is still in power trampling our people.
Just as it is necessary when eradicating plagues of mosquitoes to
eradicate the swamps, where they breed, so too in addition to
bringing to justice the perpetrators of these unspeakable acts in
New York and Washington, we must eradicate the swamps where hate is
bred and where terrorists are made. If we fail to do this,
unfortunately the hate against this great nation will once again
bear fruit. *
*"Alpha 66 y Su
Histórica Tarea”,
pages 49-50
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June 2001
THE LOVE AND CONTRADICTION OF THE CUBAN EXILED
COMMUNITY
By Máximo A. Gómez
Ask the great majority of Cubans if they love their island home and
they will answer first that the question is an understatement.
They will then recount the sad tales of their experiences with the
efficiency of poets, speaking of a love that has no comparison,
intertwined with short stories of their daily lives on the island,
of their past and future hopes. Cubans are unique among the
inhabitants of other Latin American countries. The
characteristics which set us apart are, among others, courage and
daring, optimism, idealism, a progressive vision, business savvy and
most important of all, an unending supply of happiness, coupled with
the ability to laugh at ourselves.
In the celebration of some festive event as well as in some terrible
politically charged struggle, we are a passionate people and during
moments of crisis and great sadness there is a sudden bond and
empowerment that overtakes us without the necessity of too much
exterior influence or exhortation. When others attack us, we
form a nucleus for the confrontation, whose tremors can be felt in
some of this country's most prestigious political control centers.
In spite of the fact that we may often come out of the fight
wounded, bleeding and losing the ideological struggle, our worse
detractors still feel the sting of our punishment and knowing full
well that the determination of the Cuban exiled community is without
equal. Nonetheless, something exists within us that hampers
the continual and total unity of the exiled community in the United
States and as a result, the struggle against Castro-Communism is
forever stifled and exhausted.
That particular idiosyncrasy, that contradiction that wars against
the love it professes, which has formed part of our lives throughout
the four decades of our time here, is the inability to put aside the
old ideological and political differences we sustained before the
revolution. That is the partisan politics between Batista,
Authentic and Orthodoxy loyalists, among others. Naively, we
try to satisfy the frustration we feel over the origins of Socialism
and Communism in Cuba, pointing the finger and blaming each other,
while friends, family and patriots are consumed in the sickening
detritus of Castro's regime. The irony of it is that all of
us, Batistians, Authentics, Orthodox, etc., are now together in
exiled, still bickering about things that forty years later should
make no difference. We have all been ousted from our homes and
our country and the only one left laughing is Fidel Castro himself.
All of us, all of us for one simple reason, the unacceptable
ideology of the communist regime on our beloved island. We
preferred to impose exile on ourselves rather than live in the
repression and enslavement of a despot with no soul and no heart.
Now we find ourselves living in an exiled limbo that every day
becomes more and more unbearable, because of the assaults and lies
fired against us by the news media and the willfully ignorant
American public, that readily believes everything they read.
As depressed as we sometimes might feel, because of those assaults
however, we should start investing more time considering that our
enemies will someday have to swallow their words and give us an
accounting of their actions. It is because of that, my friends
and brothers, that we should first of all forget about the errors of
the past and with that issue behind us, look toward the future and
dedicate ourselves irrevocably to the unity of all Cuban-Americans
living in the United States. United, not only in the military
ranks of Alpha 66, but also in the development of the Internet, in
order to subvert Castro's command and control apparatus.
Some will probably say that the battle for Cuba's liberation is in
the hands of more powerful nations and that we have no part in
anything related to the future of our country. Others compare
the irregular military activities of Alpha 66 against Cuban military
installations, to the sting of a wasp on the hardened exterior of a
bull elephant. I can only respond with the anecdote of the
child that was firing his rifle at the moon. While observers
pointed out that he would never reach his target, the child was only
heard to say, "I may never reach the moon but I'm closer than
you are". It is not for us to lose our enthusiasm, but
rather to dedicate ourselves with heartfelt duty and agony to the
battle for Cuba's freedom.
During my Basic Training in the United States Army, there were many
times when I doubted the legitimacy of some of the orders I was
given. After two months of rigorous training, I graduated with new
confidence, awed by the things I had learned and all that my body
could now endure. I was a new man and at that moment I realized that
all of the orders I had been given during my training, that
sometimes appeared ridiculous, were used to get me accustomed to
following orders unquestioningly. That type of blind obedience
could one day save my life and could also help me to save the life
of one of my fellow soldiers. With this example I just wanted
to point out that we as Cubans have no other duty than to throw off
the past and unite ourselves obediently to the only destiny which
God has before us, which is the liberation of the Fatherland
and the vindication of a suffering people.
As an exile myself, I am of the belief that in the next ten or
fifteen years we shall be witnesses to great and important changes
in our Caribbean island home and we are obligated to take advantage
and prepare ourselves for this propitious moment. With our
souls, bodies, blood and sacrifices we should be ready to challenge
the diabolical system of the beast once and for all. Some of
us live in this world, terrorized continually by the inevitable
prospect of our deaths. With great conviction, I can say that
in this life there are many things that are to be feared more than
death and one of those things is to live with the regret of having
had the opportunity of doing something honorable during the uprising
and not doing anything because of foolish pride or cowardice.
Like the disciple of the lord of darkness that he is, Fidel Castro
has used those things that divide us very efficiently, in order to
keep us isolated and impotent. This is the time to use the
same tactics against him. Imagine the great problems we could
bring upon him if, instead of complaining and pointing the
finger at each other, we would form a strong front and dedicated
time and money to running him out of the island in shame.
Without doubt, a strong and united Cuban-American community would
quicken his departure and that of the people that have followed him
to the perdition of their own souls. The decision lays
squarely on all of our shoulders. How long will we stand with
our arms crossed and on the periphery of our patriotic duty?
Now is the time to answer the call of our destiny, which across the
ages has distinguished dozens of Cuban heroes. Men that even
today inspire us by their valor, selfless service, convictions and
principles. We should not allow their deaths for the liberty
of our country to be in vain. Where there is love for the
Fatherland, the contradiction of inaction has no right to exist.
Love demands action. It asks for action to manifest itself
once and for all and that is what I ask from all of you. Let
us act decisively for the good of our country and our people.
In closing, I would like to quote two very well known people of
history. One was the leader of the Civil Rights movement in
America and the other a fictitious character whose words still ring
true:
"We shall not remember the
actions of our enemies, but the inactions of our friends."
Martin Luther King Jr.
"Fight and you may die. Run and you'll live, at least a
while. And dying in your beds many years from now, would you
be willing to trade all the days, from this day to that for just one
chance, one chance, to tell our enemies-That they may take our
lives, but they will never take our freedom!" William Wallace
Braveheart.
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Octubre 30, 2000
ALPHA 66 AND THE ELECTIONS OF NOVEMBER 7
By Miguel L. Talleda
Since its inception, the chief objective of our organization, Alpha
66, has been to devote all our efforts to the liberation of our
homeland from communist slavery. As such, we have always abstained
from the political process of this great country, where we live and
to which we are forever indebted for taking us in during our sad
moment in history.
Even as our organization maintains this posture, however, our
members have the right, indeed the duty, to exercise their role as
citizens of this great country, beacon of liberty in the world, and
participate in the election of those who will govern. To exercise
this right, the bedrock of democracy, which we lost in Cuba and led
to our exile, should be sacred.
But don’t let it be said that because Alpha 66 as a patriotic
organization fighting for the liberty of Cuba wishes to remain
politically independent, that it is not interested in the electoral
process of the United States. On the contrary, the election of those
who govern us is of vital importance for us Cubans, so we may be
able to see once and for all a liberated Cuba. The United States,
which today represents the most powerful state in this planet,
should have the moral force to combat and not succumb to the black
mail of sinister elements, such as the Castro-Communism we have in
our country. This is one of the situations that can be made better
or worse when a new president is elected on November 7.
This is not to say that we expect American forces to liberate Cuba
from the Communist terror that has taken hold there. We have always
maintained that the freedom of Cuba must be the work of Cubans, the
ones left on the island and the ones that went into exile. But the
character and actions of our elected officials can be a determining
factor for us Cubans in whether, together with the pressures inside
the island, we can carry out the final and total liberation of our
homeland. It is not the same to have as a president of the United
States someone who understand the danger posed by the enemies of
this country, and who will act like President Reagan did during the
fall of the Berlin Wall and who courageously and without wavering
faced the Communist danger in Grenada, than to have a president who
doesn’t understand that no accord can ever be reached with Fidel
Castro. There can never be an accord, because the hate and jealousy
that Castro has toward this great country represents a totally
opposite view of what this country is all about.
Alpha 66 only asks of the administration that will be elected
November 7 that it does not persecute us. That it allows us to
exercise our right as freedom fighters for Cuba’s liberation. That
it never forget that in Cuba there is a people dying of hunger,
suffering misery and repression, and not because of an embargo, but
because of the bloody boot of a psychopath who pretends to raise
communism from its deadly ruins.
We pray that God will bless this great land and its election, so
that we can all move forward as light and beacon for our complicated
world.
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September
2000
THE TWO VISITS
By Miguel L. Talleda
This week we see again the contrast
between two characters that have come face to face throughout
humanity since the beginning of time. On the one hand we see evil
represented by the followers of Satan which in our times is the
doctrine of communist terror, face to face with the wise legacy of
freedom and happiness left to us by our apostle José Martí.
Since the end of the 1960’s
followers of the Cuban drama as well as the press began to
contrast the tyrannical government of Fidel Castro with the figure
of Andrés Nazario Sargén, great freedom fighter and mentor of
the heroic actions of Alpha 66. The landings, the commando raids
and other acts carried out by those inside the island who followed
the doctrine of Alpha 66, were enough to put face to face these
two diametrically opposed points of view. It’s been 30 years
since this image of confrontation was created and nothing and no
one has been able to change it.
And so it is. On the one hand, Fidel
Castro, the one most responsible for the crime and misery that our
homeland continues to suffer has arrived this week with the same
shamelessness that has been one of his main characteristics to
speak at the United Nations in the so-called "Millenium
Conference". As is expected he will be given a hypocritical
welcome by leaders of free countries but he will receive a
different welcome by Cuban protestors in the streets of New York.
The people who love freedom have no
choice but to feel revolted by the presence of this emissary of
Satan. Even before he arrived, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani publicly
labeled him an infamous murderer. At a press conference the Mayor
said "If you all want me to make clear that Fidel Castro is a
murder, I will make it clear that he is a murderer...Americans
should not be fooled since we are dealing with a dictator".
Giuliani further called the Cuban leader "infamous and a
terrible human being."
And while New Yorkers have had to
welcome real heads of states, with some exceptions like the wicked
one that has brought communist terror upon our people, in Los
Angeles the men and women who have dedicated their lives in exile
toward the freedom of our homeland welcome the visit of our
Secretary General, Andrés Nazario Sargén. Andrés is in Los
Angeles to give a deposition in the lawsuit filed by the friends
of Communist Cuba, Pastors for Peace, against Alpha 66. Andrés
comes with the same faith and assurances in the success that will
lead to the freedom of our homeland. His thinking throughout the
years has been clear and decisive. Read what Andrés says to
Guillermo Suñe in a letter dated April, 1973:
"It is for certain that Alpha 66
is the suitable instrument for Cuba’s liberation. It is no
coincidence; we have worked better than the rest and have an
adequate strategy. The determining factors are leaning in our
favor. We have been successful in planting in every Cuban soul the
essence of our struggle, faith, and the consciousness of victory.
These are no easy things to create, but once they are formed in
the minds and hearts of the masses, they cannot be destroyed. We
are legends, vibrations of emotions, we are the feelings of a
people that no one is able to touch but which beats and stimulates
hope". (Page 213 in the book, ALPHA 66 Y SU HISTORICA TAREA).
This has been the confrontation
always; Castro’s Communism with its regime of terror and facing
it, the actions and doctrine of Alpha 66 under the leadership of
our Secretary General.
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July 2000
THE “X FILES” OF CRIMES IN COMMUNIST CUBA
By Miguel L. Talleda
During the last decade of the 20th Century, America was
captivated by a TV program called “The X Files,” an interesting
series depicting a different mistery in every show. Sometimes it
focused on unsolved crimes, on supernatural phenomena, or alien
sightings and abductions. Things that by their own cruel, mysterious
and horrific nature would send chills down your spine and sometimes
make it difficult to get to sleep at night.
This makes me think of the need that we Cubans have of opening our
very own “X Files,” our archives. The one we carry within
ourselves having been witnesses to the most criminal, horrible and
sadistic of acts that have occurred in these last 40 years of
communist oppression in our native soil. Yes, much has been written
in articles and books and we have explained much on television and radio. But his apparently has not been
enough and we see the ignorance that exists and which our enemies
use to hide behind, as if they were harmless lambs in need of help,
instead of being judged for the wrong they have committed.
Cuban exiles just recently gathered to remember the victims of one
of the most tragic and infamous events in the history of our nation,
the sinking in July 1994 of the tugboat “13 de Marzo,” by forces
of the Cuban Communism regime. Forty-one people, including 21
children, were mercilessly massacred in this cowardly act by the
Castro government.
With cold-hearted efficiency for murder, under the direct
supervision of Fidel Castro, the tyranny’s agenda over the last 40
years has been covered with the blood of our brothers and sisters,
victims of the cruelty of the regime. Unfortunately, many people
including young Cubans, remember little, if at all, these bloody
events that have taken place in our country. We have to let the
world know about all these tragedies. Who remember the story of the
student leader Pedro Luis Boitel, who was left to die in prison
without medical attention? How many know the heroic story of Plinio
Prieto, Sinesio Walsh and Porfirio Ramirez, who were cowardly
assassinated at a farm called La Campana? Who has heard of the death
in La Cabana of Commander William Morgan, who Castro himself forced
to kneel and ask for pardon before being shot to death?
The history of the crimes of the Castro tyranny need to be
publicized over and over again, with all the wrenching details, so
that no one will be ignorant. So that everyone will understand that
to help Communism in Cuba is to, in one way or another, be an
accomplice to these horrific acts.
When we see Congressmen Jerry Morgan, Republican from Kansas, and
Mark Sanford, Republican from South Carolina, proposing laws to help
Castro and allow U.S. citizens to travel freely to Cuba, we ask: Did
these Congressmen forget the recent crime of the murder of four
pilots of Brothers to the Rescue? And parenthetically, are these the
same Republicans many Cubans hope will help them to see a free Cuba?
We can all expose these crimes. As for us, Alpha 66 opens this web
site to expose to the world the crimes of the Castro regime. Our
“X Files” need to be the light for all those who have lost their
lives fighting Castro’s communism.
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July 2000
Monthly Messages
By Miguel L. Talleda
At the beginning of every month the members and supporters of
Alpha66 receive a message of orientation from the National
Executive. At its head, Andrés Nazario Sargén, with his unshakable
persistence frames the Cuban problem with the certainty that he is
tracing the correct way. Let us read some excerpts from the report
for the month of July:
" We insist on defining the
reason for the struggle in its projection and execution of the
irregular war. There does not exist another method of
confrontation . Every day that passes the tyrant holds on to
power although he no longer governs. He continues his refrain that
he will not abandon his post until he dies. In fact, before so
brazen affirmation there is no alternative but to fight. To
discuss this reality is to waste time. There is only one
alternative, and it is the confrontation. Nothing will happen
in favor of freedom and the Cuban liberation if we forget about the
war actions and the spirit of combat that Alpha 66 has always
maintained." And Andres
continues: " In truth the
history of Alpha 66, written with blood, does not have parallel.
It is of an incomparable dimension. No other movement has had
the world-wide impact that Alpha 66 has,creating a legend without
foreign aid."
And our Secretary General continues: "
In this beautiful and epic task we must put in play every available
resource. It is necessary to be convinced that no matter what
we do for our mother country, it should always be considered not
enough. But we must be strong and brave to save our beautiful
island, the mother country that is supreme... this is the time of
great decisions. If you lament nothing is solved. If you
fight, if you speak against the tyrant, if you protest in any form,
if you give money, if you attend the patriotic rallies, if it pains
your heart, if you know of the suffering of your brothers and
sisters on the island, if your soul feels oppressed by the abuses in
our homeland, and more when it is against those who fight and
protest, if you keep in your thoughts the brave ones of Lawton, with
Oscar Elías Biscet at the top, and his radiating eyes of patriotism
and dignity, if all those values cross your fibers of patriotism,
then we know that Cuba is saved."
And if the regime does not stop its daily hits and abuses, the
jailing and murder of Cubans in the island, if it continues to
restrict liberties while its economy tumbles then everything
indicates the irregular war against the usurper is unalterable.
For that reason Andrés Nazario says to us:... "
a people cannot live in agony, with sully hearts and betrayed dreams
without revolting. The reactions of a people with heroic
traditions are always the same. These social groups rise at a
precise moment to fight for their destiny. Those human
reactions are genetic and emerge from the core of past
generations."
This it is the message that comes to us; a message of patriotism.
A message reaffirmed by the exemplary conduct of a life dedicated to
a gigantic task. When we undertake a task of such magnitude,
unique in this time in history, we have the right to feel that we
are opening a path, that all of us, if we close our eyes, can see
the sun of freedom illuminating our beloved Cuba.
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IS THIS THE SAME
HAPPY CHILD WE SAW PLAYING AND SMILING IN MIAMI, WITH HIS ARMS
ALWAYS HIGH IN THE AIR, AS A SYMBOL OF FREEDOM AND GRATITUDE? |
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WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO
THE MUCH PUBLICIZED FATHER-SON LOVE BOND AND WHERE
IS JUAN MIGUEL, THE SO CALLED SUFFERING FATHER? IS
ELIAN SURROUNDED BY CASTRO'S THUGS? ARE THEY STILL
AFRAID OF ELIAN SAYING THE WRONG THING, AS HIS GRANDMOTHER
DID? DOES ELIAN NEED MORE DRUGS AND
INDOCTRINATION? DID THEY FORGET TO TELL ELIAN TO GIVE A
BIG SMILE FOR THE MIAMI FAMILY? WHY DOES ELIAN HAVE TO
BE HELPED TO STAND STRAIGHT OR TO GO DOWN THE STEPS?
YOU REACH YOUR
OWN CONCLUSIONS. WE CUBANS KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWERS
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"BLACK SATURDAY FOR HISTORY"
ALPHA 66 STRONGLY PROTEST THE
"GESTAPO TYPE" OPERATION CONDUCTED BY FEDERAL AGENTS
AGAINST ELIAN GONZALEZ
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LET THE AMERICAN PEOPLE AND THE WORLD REACH THEIR OWN CONCLUSIONS
RESCUED ON "THANKSGIVING
DAY"
CRUCIFIED ON "HOLY SATURDAY"
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April 12, 2000
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IMPORTANT
CALL
TO
ALL CUBANS, TO ALL AMERICANS, AND TO PEOPLE ALL OVER THE WORLD
WHO LOVE FREEDOM.
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We are
witnessing in horror how, after a miraculous arrival in the U.S.,
following the death of his mother in trying to bring him to freedom,
six year old Elián González is being deported back to Cuba, by
unreasonable people.
NO ONE,
not the U.S. government nor his own father has the right to deport
this child, who is a symbol of freedom, to the prison island that
Castro has created in our beloved homeland.
We ask
all the free thinking men and women of the world, to address the
elected officials where they live and protest the abuse being done
against Elián González.
Likewise,
we ask all Cubans and Americans who think like we do, to immediately
contact their President, Congressional Representative, Mayor, etc.
and plead with them to intercede on Elián’s behalf, so that this
does not become a black mark in the great history of this country.
Freedom
is the human condition that has most distinguished great peoples;
Elián González has the right to live in liberty. His mother paid
the price with her life.
ALPHA
66
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November 1999
OUR THREE CHAMPIONS IN WASHINGTON
By Miguel L. Talleda
If there is something we Cubans in exile should feel proud of it is
to have three representatives in the Congress of the United States
defending the rights of the Cuban people to be free. These three
Cuban Musketeers of modern age utilize their clear intelligence and
are always alert on any issue that deals with Cuba.
One is a woman, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, and the other two are men,
Lincoln Diaz-Balart and Bob Menendez. They are from different
political parties but of a single voice when combating the tyrant
that oppresses our people. They are always ready to do battle. They
have clearly fought against any type of settlement with the red
satrap in order to prevent the economic power of the United States
to tilt in assistance to the one that oppresses our people. An
assistance that could put into debt the future of the new Republic
that will come after the fall of the present ignominy.
Lately we have seen them formidably denounce on the House Floor the
repugnant actions of the torture experts sent by Castro to Vietnam
in order to satisfy his hate towards the American people. Feeding on
the misfortune of defenseless prisoners of war, who were tortured in
an opprobrious manner with some of them losing their lives.
The identifying of Fernando Vecino Alegret, current Cuban Minister
of Higher Education, as the person in charge of torturing the
American POWs is the blemish that embodies the communist system and
can not be erased. Where did these diabolic people practice these
cruel tortures before going to Vietnam? There is no doubt--on the
backs of the Cubans imprisoned on the island that died in their
dungeons. These murderers have yet to be held accountable.
The freedom of Cuba requires a global effort on the part of all
Cubans because as has been said: "we are only one people".
Towards this goal, the fighting positions in the U.S. Congress are
well manned
.
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September 1999
A NEW TEST
By Miguel L. Talleda
Facing adversity has been something that has strengthened the
foundation and conscience of our organization. Only a strong will
base on irrevocable principles that will be present when the flag of
victory is raised in a free homeland could make us prevail during
this long struggle to see a free Cuba.
And we say this because with the loss of Dr. Diego Medina our power
to resist has been tested. A giant, whose absence is slowly being
felt in our community, had to be replaced. But fate was preparing to
strike another blow; to test our
endurance once again to resist destructive strokes, or perhaps to
help us create the internal force that can only be found in true
champions. On September 2nd Rolando
Olivares, another giant of ALPHA 66 passed away.
Rolando Olivares, a Cuban from Oriente was one of those used to
fighting battles. He was a leader in the construction sector of the
C.T.C. (Cuban Workers Federation) in Oriente Province. At that time,
before Castro and Communism, the job of a worker’s representative
was to defend the rights of workers, to struggle for better
treatment and working conditions. It is not the system that exists
today where the so-called protectors of the workers receive their
orders from the tyrant who makes workers work without complaining in
the newly created slave system.
Like many other Cubans who rebelled against the system, Rolando
Olivares was imprisoned for many years until he escaped and made his
way to the United States where he immediately joined ALPHA 66. For
many years he was the Delegate in New York until he retired to Miami
and joined the National Executive Committee along with Andres
Nazario, Diego Medina and other leaders of our organization. His
work in ALPHA 66 was humble but firm and always of exceptional
quality. Today we mourn his passing and his loss subjects us to a
new test.
Without any doubt we know we will succeed! We owe it to the
suffering people of Cuba who we will never abandon. We owe it to our
martyrs, to our heroes, to our lost countrymen in this great battle
among which are Dr. Diego Medina and Rolando Olivares.
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