CU terrorism
Oct 2001

Havana - (RHC) - More than one million people rallied at Havana's Plaza de la Revolucion -- commemorating the 25th anniversary of the terrorist sabotage bombing of a Cubana airliner. All 73 people on board that flight were killed. Among those in attendance at the massive rally were family members and friends of those who lost their lives on this date in 1976. The special Open Tribune included speeches and presentations by Cuban youth, many of whom were not even born a quarter of a century ago. One hour into the massive rally, Cuban President Fidel Castro took the podium to deliver a prepared speech. Comparing the tragic events of last September 11th in New York and Washington with the sabotage bombing of the Cubana airliner 25 years ago, Fidel Castro noted that "there was no upheaval around the world, no acute political crises, no United Nations meetings, nor the imminent threat of war." The Cuban leader stated that "perhaps few people in the world understood the terrible significance of that event," given that hundreds of Cubans had already been killed in terrorist attacks over the years, since the very beginning of the Cuban Revolution in 1959. During his speech Saturday at the Plaza de la Revolucion, Cuban President Fidel Castro noted that "almost exactly 25 years later, a war with totally unpredictable consequences would be on the verge of breaking out as a result of an equally heinous terrorist attack, which claimed the lives of thousands of innocent people in the United States." The leader of the Cuban Revolution stated that the practice of hijacking aircraft had its origins with former members of Batista's dictatorship. The first incident took place just four months following the triumph of the Revolution, in April 1959. He said that the perpetrators were never punished, but instead, allowed to live freely in Miami. While noting that Cuban authorities have taken strong measures against many who have hijacked planes to the island, "since 1959, until today, U.S. authorities have not sanctioned a single one of the hundreds of individuals who have hijacked and diverted dozens of Cuban aircraft to that country, not even those have committed murder in the course of the hijacking." Cuban President Fidel Castro said that his speech today was notinspired in hate and that he understood that American officials do not even want Cuba to raise these embarrassing issues, saying that we should simply look ahead. But he stressed that we must look back and learn from history, in order to not repeat the errors of the past and to examine "the causes of major human tragedies, wars and other calamities that perhaps could have been prevented. There should not be innocent deaths anywhere in the world." Fidel Castro emphasized that "this massive demonstration against terrorism has been called to pay homage and tribute to the memory of our brothers and sisters who died off the coasts of Barbados 25 years ago, and also to express our solidarity with the thousands of innocent people who died in New York and Washington." The Cuban leader concluded his speech before more than one million people gathered in Revolution Square this morning by saying that "Cuba has the full moral authority and the right to demand the end of terrorism against Cuba. Economic warfare, itself a genocidal and brutal act to which our people have been subjected for more than 40 years, must also end."