July 9, 2001
The Cuban government condemned the convictions in a U.S. court of five Cuban citizens on espionage and murder charges. The five, the statement says, were part of an operation to “discover and report on terrorist plans hatched against our people” by counterrevolutionary opponents of the revolution.
Gerardo Hernández, Ramon Labaniño and Antonio Guerrero could get life imprisonment. Fernando González and René González face possible 10-year sentences.
In a interview with CNN after the 1998 arrests, Cuban president Fidel Castro said, “Yes, we have sometimes sent Cuban citizens to infiltrate counterrevolutionary organizations, and I believe we have the right to do so as long as the U.S. government tolerates” efforts on its soil to launch terrorist attacks against Cuba. Castro said the five should be considered political prisoners.
July 9, 1976
The Justice Department has begun a large-scale investigation into illegal FBI break-ins done against political dissidents in the last five years. The FBI claimed evidence of the burglaries was discovered while searching their files in response to a court order in a lawsuit by the Socialist Workers Party and Young Socialist Alliance. The SWP and YSA have sued government police agencies for decades of spying and disruption.
The FBI’s problem is that it claimed it had called off black-bag jobs in 1966. But the new file search is turning up material, not only on the SWP and YSA, but on similar dirty work against other political activists since 1971.
No one is sure yet how far the investigation may reach. Lawyers defending FBI burglars from the socialists’ lawsuit have threatened to implead, that is, implicate higher bureau officials or the U.S. attorney general.
July 9, 1951
The war in Korea is heading towards a truce. The attempt to crush the Asian workers and peasants with fire and sword were unsuccessful. Truce does not mean peace, and it certainly doesn’t mean peace when it is a truce negotiated by the American money interests.
The Korean war can be ended temporarily because American imperialism finds this particular war to its disadvantage at the present time. The main arena for American imperialism in its struggle for world domination today is Europe. And the remilitarization of the European continent is far from completed.
The brass hats have bases all over the world. With the present explosive situation, how long will it be until there is another “incident”— another excuse? The grim fact is that imperialism means war, and that only the end of capitalism can bring an end to imperialism and the war danger.