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Let Justice be
Served
Letters to Secretary Albright and Senator Helms
Crimes Against Humanity
Forbes Magazine
Recovery of Ill-gotten Wealth
July 23, 1997.
Dear Secretary Albright:
Now that bipartisan agreement exists in the U.S. that a transitional
government is needed in Cuba, we would like to make a contribution toward this
common goal. That is, to ask you what legal actions the American Government can
take to bring Fidel Castro to international justice. What can we do to redress
the crimes, the losses and the grief inflicted by this man — and still being
inflicted — on native Americans, nationalized Americans of Cuban origin, the
Cuban people at large, as well as millions of people throughout the world?
Surely we must be able to help the victims of this criminal, who not only roams
at-large, but insults the world by parading as Chief of State and representative
for the downtrodden.
The timing is right to take legal action now against the Cuban despot, and to
recover assets for the Cuban people that they desperately need. The current
issue of Forbes magazine lists Fidel Castro among the world’s billionaires. They
assess his fortune at 1.4 billion dollars. For many years, the corruption of
Castro and his regime has been well known; still, this is the first time that a
prestigious magazine has published an assessment of the Cuban ruler’s wealth.
And what irony! For despite subsidies from the Soviet Union amounting to one
hundred billion dollars, despite the goods and services produced by the Cuban
people during 38 years of diligent, back-breaking work, the economy of Cuba is
in total disarray. It is caught in a downward, unstoppable spiral. Such a
contrast between squalor and opulence, between the distress of eleven million
hard-working people and the cynicism of their would-be benefactor, cannot be
tolerated by civilized people any longer.
Since 1945 the U. S. has had a leading role in the documenting, indicting,
prosecuting and punishing of crimes against humanity. It is time we direct our
energies to Cuba. War crimes, including looting of individual and collective
wealth, have become relevant issues in the aftermath of W.W.II. They have come
under public attention and received close scrutiny in the press. Rampant in
times of turmoil, born of chauvinism, bigotry and demagoguery, these crimes are
recognized as scourges on humanity, especially when they are advanced cruelly as
a means for acquisition of personal wealth. The resulting social disruption has
caused immeasurable grief and untold losses of both lives and wealth. Today, the
world reacts in indignation against such acts, and many such perpetrators have
gone to trial and been judged guilty in international courts. Nor have
accomplices and indifferent witnesses been spared.
Let history bear witness to these times. In search of justice, investing
whatever effort has been necessary, many men and women have devoted themselves
to this cause and sought an adequate punishment for these crimes. We would be
derelict in our duty and irresponsible under the eyes of justice if we were to
ignore Fidel Castro’s long and public record of criminality, if we were to tarry
in recovering his ill-gotten wealth, if we were to let his life end without
punishment His tyrannical and corrupt rule has ruined Cuba beyond measure, has
left indebted a country that barely forty years ago ranked among the four most
prosperous in Latin America. He has ordered the execution of thousands of its
nationals, imprisoned tens of thousands more, forced into expatriation more than
one-tenth of its population and ordered the assassination or caused the death of
thousands of freedom-seekers in the Florida Straits. All for daring to oppose
him.
Fidel Castro has publicly, unceasingly and systematically sponsored, given
training to, provided sanctuary for and promoted the activities of those engaged
in subversion, terrorism, and kidnapping throughout all countries south of the
Rio Grande. During the Vietnam war years he trained American youths to incite
riots in American cities. They learned their lessons well. He sent his
subordinates to Vietnam, to question and torture American prisoners of war.
Arab, German and Basque ETA terrorists, among others, were given sanctuary and
training in Cuba, only to spread violence, blood and destruction across three
continents while under the support and direction of Castro’s regime. In many
African countries where Cuba had no stake whatsoever — Angola and Ethiopia the
best-known — tens of thousands of wide-eyed Cuban youths shed the blood of
helpless citizens, destroyed property, and even gave their own lives, because
they had been deceived into believing their actions were those of liberators.
Furthermore, to finance these endeavors and to weaken and corrupt the public
will, Castro has taken the lead in forging an alliance in Latin America between
narco-trafficking and guerrilla activity. He has turned Cuba into a port of
transfer for shipments of illegal drugs into the U.S. And of course, all these
activities have had a silver lining: the inside of his bulging, billionaire
pockets.
Should the U.S. Government take appropriate legal actions to bring Fidel
Castro to justice before an international court, to recover for the Cuban people
the ill-gotten wealth that Castro has amassed, it would give new hope to the
Cuban people, especially to those who have fought inside Cuba against its
despotic government, many of whom risk their lives every day under the most
unfavorable circumstances. It would offer strength to these good citizens and
the hope of a new day. And it would allow the American Government to reaffirm,
before its own people and the world, its commitment to justice and to the
welfare that can arise when equal opportunities are given to all.
A letter similar to this is being sent to Senator Jesse A. Helms.
Respectfully yours,
Dr. Emilio-Adolfo Rivero. President
By fax and mail.
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