Anti-imperialism: Impact of a trial

Sunday, 10 April 2011

Progreso Weekly Staff

HAVANA – Cubans have been paying close attention to the judicial process which concluded last Friday in El Paso, Texas, against Luis Posada Carriles, a sinister character associated in the Cuban imaginary with death and tragedy. Posada was charged with eleven offenses, none of them related to the crimes he is sufficiently accountable for. He was acquitted and he´s returning a free man to his Miami home.

Though it did not come as a surprise, the news had a strong impact in many citizens from the island. Juan Borrell, 41, a mechanic, asks “…what else could we expect? Life is sacred but only that of the Americans…that´s the world we live in and such are our neighbors.”

“No conviction for lying nor for illegal entry…it´s really something! “, says Arnaldo Ulástegui, 53, a guava pastries vendor. “They (the American government) can bomb and kill civilians by mistake, or invade Iraq based on a bunch of lies…all those dead don´t count, the innocent dead, such as those who Posada killed, don´t count at all, that is our reality.”

Yordanka, a Havana University student, long black hair and face lit up by anger: “And they want us to believe in them, in their values, in their way of administering justice…it´s just a cruel joke.”

And she doesn´t stop there: “Look, Gerardo Hernández (one of the Cuban five) was sentenced to life prison for being responsible for the downing of the (Hermanos al rescate) airplanes…they say they were shot down over international waters, the (Cuban) government says that it was here, in our waters…you know, the U.S. government could put some light in that issue, they have satellite images, why don´t they show them? They are really shameless, I´m not a Communist, you know, but I´m Cuban and I have arguments of my own”, she affirms while arranging her rebellious hair.

We could include other opinions. There are plenty and even interpret the silence of our dissidents as a “We´d better shut up on this one” as one of them commented asking for anonymity.

If for many who, in a scholarly manner or not, have studied the Cuban topic, one of the pillars of the revolutionary process is precisely that of anti-imperialism as a point of defense and affirmation of the country´s sovereignty. The jury´s decision just strengthened this national ingredient — in the emotional as well as historic field.