Source: Cubadebate
Translation by: Machetera
'The Truth is On the Side of the Cuban Revolution and it Shall Prevail'
To Compañero José Estevez,
Instituto Cubano de Amistad con los Pueblos (ICAP, Cuban Institute for Friendship with the People),
Havana,
Cuba.
25 March 2010.
Of course it is with the greatest of honour and a sense of justice that I am signing the Declaration in Defence of Cuba to counter the hypocritical and cynical campaign by the Yankees and the European Union. With what moral authority can these plunderers of humanity speak of human rights? It’s beyond cynical that those who have never bothered themselves about the deaths by starvation of thousands of children who would have liked very much to have something to eat, should suddenly and in a very orchestrated way pretend to be so worried about someone on a ‘fast.’
This ‘fasting’ gentleman [Guillermo Fariñas] – who I understand is black and is also said to be a psychologist (if so, it is thanks to the Revolution) – has no idea how his race was treated by those who today claim to be so concerned for his health. I was surprised enough to hear about this psychologist because I lived in Cuba under [Cuban presidents] Prío Socarrás and the bloodthirsty Batista and I never knew of any black psychologists. I remember that when the legal and illegal mafias were predominant in Cuba, there were clubs where black people were prohibited from entering and places where they were not even allowed to approach, such as the house belonging to the DuPonts. To be precise, those that organized those clubs were of the same mentality as those who today claim to be worried about the health of the ‘faster.’ I also remember the poverty of my brother, the black man named Saturnino, who worked alongside me repairing streets in Havana.
Seeing as this ‘faster’ is of the noble black race, I’d like to suggest to him that he make a ‘fast’ in favour of the liberation of a group of his black brothers from the Black Liberation Army and the Black Panthers, who’ve spent more than thirty-five years behind bars in Yankee prisons for having fought for the rights of their race. Here are their names:
* Abdulla Majad
* Sekou Odinga
* Dr. Mutulu Shakur
* Jalil Muntaquim
* Robert Seth Hayes
* Sundiata Acoli
Also having spent more than three decades in prison are:
* compañero Herman Bell, and
* the spiritual leader of the Native Americans (the originals) Leonard Peltier,
* as well as the Puerto Ricans Carlos Alberto Torres and
* Oscar López Rivera.
As well, the ‘faster’ might honour the four compañeros of the Black Liberation Army who died while incarcerated:
* Kuwasi Balagoon,
* Bashir Hameed,
* Albert Nuh Washington,
* Teddy Jah Heath.
And he might also remember his brother, the black journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal, who has spent years on death row. Of course, the imperialist and oligarchic press will not mention him, and as we say amongst ourselves, they’ll look the other way; they’ll shut their mouths, just as they remained silent about our Five Cuban antiterrorist brothers, as they’ve remained silent about the rape of Colombian girls by Yankee soldiers, as they’ve said nothing about Haitian women marching to protest the abuses committed against them – including rape – by the Yankee soldiers. Well…they’re black women and dressed in the garments of poverty.
The truth is with the Cuban Revolution and it shall prevail. The fakers will fall in their own trap.
Well, my brother José, I began to write these lines to you some three days ago, but my father in law fell ill and you know what the deal is with healthcare in Puerto Rico. The first thing they ask you is not where it hurts, but how you’re going to pay and go on from there. You can’t believe how many people die because they can’t pay.
Onward, forever!
With a warm Caribbean embrace,
Rafael Cancel Miranda
