This April marks a decade since one of the most depressing moments of recent Cuban history: Black Spring. It was a time when Fidel Castro, excited about what he recognized as a revolutionary wave in Latin America and the arrival of the 1st Venezuelan subsidies, decided to eradicate all signs of discontent and opposition that had accumulated along the path of defeat-after-defeat-until-the-final-victory he had outlined.
His pretext, as had been usual since 1959, was to stop the imperialist threat.
Although the Black Spring is remembered especially for the imprisonment of 75 opposition activists without due process, I'm focusing my attention on another event: the executions of 3 black youths for the failed hijacking of the Havana Bay ferry.
A group of 11 young people participated in this criminal act on April 2, 2003 with the aim of reaching the coast of Florida. This involved the kidnapping of 30 passengers, including two foreign women who became key parts of the negotiations between the hijackers and the police.
The boat finally ran out of gas, prompting the hijackers to accept a settlement that can only be explained by their naivete: to be towed to the Mariel port where they would be refueled so they could resume their journey to the north.
The result was the capture of all the hijackers, which occurred successfully without any physical injuries to any of the dozens of hostages. On April 8th, a summary trial concluded in which the detainees had no right to lawyers of their choice.
3 of the young men (Lorenzo Capello, 31; Barbaro Sevilla, 22; and Jorge Martinez, 40) were sentenced to death, while others were punished with sentences ranging from life imprisonment to 2 years in prison.
According to the Washington-based Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (of the Organization of the American States), the Cuban state proceeded to "try and find them guilty without due process." Moreover, the body determined, "The offenses committed against the alleged victims (under the law applied) does not provide for the death penalty, but a prison sentence."
In the galactic time span of 3 days, the sentences were reviewed by the Supreme Court and the Council of State, whose members unanimously pronounced the 3 youths be shot to death.
The men were killed on April 11, without notifying their families (who during all that time were confident of a reversal of the death order), nor were they allowed to bid farewell to the men. This means that in 9 days (between April 2 and 11) the decision was handed down, appeals were made on the lives of 3 people, and their executions were carried out.
In a 4-hour tirade about the shootings, Fidel Castro said the Council of State based its decision on "the potential dangers posed not only to the lives of many innocent people but also for the security of the country, subjected to a plan of alarming provocations hatched by the most extremist sectors of the US government and its allies of the terrorist Miami mafia with the sole purpose of creating conditions and pretexts for attacking our country."
According to Fidel Castro, this means the shooting of the 3 young Cubans, who didn't kill anyone, was to deal with the threat posed by the George W. Bush administration.
Source: Haroldo Dilla Alfonso, Havana Times, April 9, 2013
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