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EDITORIALS
Archive 1998
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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
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December 2005
JUSTICE |
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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.
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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.
|
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".
|
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.
|
Ernesto
Díaz Rodríguez
Secretary General |
Osiel
González
Vice-Secretary General |
|
|
August 2004
Believing itPRIVATE
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)
|
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
|
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.
|
|
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
|
|
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.
|
 |
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".
|
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.
|
|
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.
|
|
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.
|
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
|
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.
|
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.
|
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.
|
|
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.
|
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.
|
|
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? |
|
 |
|
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
|
| |
|
"BLACK SATURDAY FOR HISTORY"
ALPHA 66 STRONGLY PROTEST
THE "GESTAPO TYPE" OPERATION CONDUCTED BY FEDERAL AGENTS AGAINST
ELIAN GONZALEZ
|
|
 |
|
LET THE AMERICAN PEOPLE
AND THE WORLD REACH THEIR OWN CONCLUSIONS
RESCUED ON "THANKSGIVING
DAY"
CRUCIFIED ON "HOLY SATURDAY"
|
| April
12, 2000 |
|
IMPORTANT CALL
TO ALL CUBANS, TO ALL AMERICANS,
AND TO PEOPLE ALL OVER THE WORLD WHO LOVE FREEDOM.
|
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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