[NYTr] Fidel Castro: The EmpireTastes an Unprecedented Moral Defeat

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

Granma Daily - Aug 24, 2007
http://www.granma.cubaweb.cu/english/news/art11.html

Reflections by the Commander in Chief

The Empire Tastes an Unprecedented Moral Defeat

by Fidel Castro Ruz

The words of Roberto González, a lawyer born to a Cuban family that
fled to the United States during the dictatorship and returned to Cuba
following the triumph of the Revolution, come to mind as I begin to
reflect on this issue. Like René, he was born in the United States
during his family’s sojourn there. He has been fighting tirelessly to
obtain the release of his brother René, who endures cruel and unjust
imprisonment, as do four other heroes who sought to defend their
country in the struggle against terrorism.

"The worst thing that can happen to us is to allow a sense of defeat or
victory paralyze us; we will have won in the case of the Five when they
have set foot in Havana... for this is the kind of trial that is won
with facts many times over but is lost before the Law, by virtue of the
judges' decision".

These are wise and sensible words, spoken by a true expert at war
against shameless actions. Even he expressed his surprise at what
transpired.

During the Round Table program, we were given a sense of the importance
of the testimonies afforded, in the city of Atlanta, by 73
world-renowned experts in international Law. There, it was shown beyond
the shadow of a doubt that the felonies imputed to the accused,
resulting in convictions unanimously approved by a supposedly impartial
jury, in the last community on Earth where one could expect a fair
verdict, were never in fact committed. Each and every one of statements
made at the Round Table or over the phone, by those who spoke and those
who have yet to speak, must be read word by word and analyzed.

In real espionage cases, recently tried in the United States,
convictions usually do not exceed a 10-year prison sentence. The charge
of conspiracy to commit espionage brought against our five compatriots
has not even been proven. Their cruel and unusual fate, and that of
their relatives, reflects the perfidious overt policy pursued by
Washington of using terrorism against the Cuban people, a policy which,
for nearly half a century, has been in violation of the most elementary
norms set down by the United Nations and encroaching upon the
sovereignty of nations.

There are many important and proven facts that I could add, but I wish
to be brief so that these words may be transcribed and published by the
Cuban press. The most important thing is for our people to develop a
solid and unshakable conscience of these realities.

Havana, August 22, 2007, 4:35 p.m.