Act
in silence
STATEMENT PRESENTED BY COMRADE
ANTONIO GUERRERO RODRIGUEZ AT THE SENTENCING HEARING HELD, DECEMBER 27, 2001
Now on this spot I stand with my
robust soul.
Walt Whitman
(From Song of Myself)
Your Honor,
 Allow me to say that I share everything that has
been said in this courtroom by my four brothers in arms: Gerardo Hernández, Ramón
Labaniño, René González and Fernando González. They spoke with dignity and courage to
the Court. Our speeches are based on the strictest truth, on the soundness of the
principles we embrace and in the honor of the heroic Cuban people. It is only fair to say
that the lawyers and their assistants acted in a highly professional, honest and
courageous manner and that the translators, Liza, Richard and the marshals worked in a
very ethical and professional way.
At the beginning I wrote in my diary of my
long days, "... a real man does not look to see on which side one lives best, but on
which side lies duty". Those are José Martí’s words, which a century after
they were written still encourage, live and are the essence of what is most pure and
altruistic.
It is often difficult
To find the exact words,
But these have been in me
Beaten
Shaken
Incubated by the truth,
Waiting to break the shell and see the
light.
And the day has come.
Allow me to explain my reasons, your Honor,
in the clearest and most concise way:
Cuba,
My little country, has been
Attacked,
Assaulted,
And slandered
Decade after decade
By a cruel
Inhuman and absurd
Policy.
A real terrorist war,
Fierce and open,
The harbinger of horror
Of sabotage,
A ruin, murder maker
A grief carrier,
Of the most profound grief,
Death.
This aggression has been exposed not only by
documents and information from the Cuban government but also by secret documents that the
very government of the United States has declassified.
This aggression has included the CIA’s
recruiting, financing and training counterrevolutionary agents; the Bay of Pigs Invasion;
Operation Mongoose; pretexts for military intervention; plans to assassinate heads of
State and Government; infiltrations by armed groups; sabotage; violations of our airspace;
spy flights, spraying with bacteriological and chemical agents; machine gun fire on our
coasts and buildings; bombs in hotels and other social, cultural, historic and tourist
centers, all kinds of cruel and vicious acts of provocation.
And the outcome of these acts:
More than three thousand four hundred dead;
more than two thousand people left totally or partially handicapped; substantial damage to
the economy, the source of our livelihood; hundreds of thousands of Cubans who are born
and grow up under a harsh blockade and in a hostile cold war climate. Terror, hardships
and pain have been brought over the entire population.
Where have such unceasing ruthless acts been
hatched and financed?
For the most part, in the United States of
America.
What has the government of this country done
to avoid them?
Practically nothing.... And the aggression
has not ceased...
Today, people who are responsible for some
of these actions still walk freely the streets of Miami. And radio stations and other
media give coverage to and instigate new acts of aggression against the Cuban people.
Why so much hatred for the Cuban people?
Is it because Cuba chose a different road?
Because its people want socialism?
Because it did away with the large estates
and wiped out illiteracy?
Because it gave free education
and medical care to its people?
Because it lets
the dawn break freely over its children?
Cuba has never placed the security of the
United States in jeopardy nor committed any act of aggression or terrorism against it. It
deeply loves peace and quiet and wants the best relations between our two countries. It
has shown that it admires and respects the American people.
"Cuba is not a military threat to the
United States," Admiral Carroll said in this courtroom.
General Atkinson testified that Cuba
presents "zero" military threat to the United States.
It is my country’s unquestionable right
–like that of any other-- to defend itself against those who try to harm its people.
The job of putting a stop to these terrorist
acts has been complex and difficult because the terrorists have enjoyed the complicity or
lax tolerance of the authorities.
My country has done everything possible to
warn the US government of the danger of these acts and to do so it has used official,
unofficial and public channels. However, such cooperation has never been reciprocated.
In the nineties, fired up by the demise of
the socialist camp, terrorist groups intensified their activities against Cuba. It was,
they felt, the long dreamed hour for stirring up the final chaos, for terrorizing the
people, destabilizing the economy, damaging the tourist industry, building up a crisis and
dealing the death blow to the Cuban Revolution.
What could Cuba do to defend itself and be
forewarned of the terrorist plans against it? What could it do to avoid a greater
conflict? What options did it have to safeguard its sovereignty and the safety of its
children?
One way to prevent these brutal and bloody
acts, to prevent the suffering becoming worse because of more deaths was to move quietly.
There was no alternative but to rely on men
who –out of love for a just cause, out of love for their country and their people,
out of love for peace and life– were prepared to voluntarily agree to carry out this
honorable duty against terrorism, that is, to give advanced warning of the danger of
attack.
The reason behind my acts and the motive for
doing my duty, the same as my comrades’, has been to prevent a conflict that would
bring sorrow to our peoples.
We were not moved to do what we did by money
or resentment. It did not occur to any of us to harm the noble and hard-working American
people. We did nothing detrimental to the national security of the United States. The
court records show it. Those who doubt my words may examine them and find the truth.
The barbaric attacks on the World Trade
Center and the Pentagon last September 11 filled with indignation everyone who loves a
peaceful world. The unexpected and unwonted deaths of thousand of this country’s
innocent citizens pierced our hearts with deep sorrow.
Nobody can deny that terrorism is an
inhuman, ruthless and repugnant phenomenon that must be eliminated with the utmost
urgency.
"And in order to make sure that
we're able to conduct a winning victory, we've got to have the best intelligence we can
possibly have." "Unity is needed to strengthen the intelligence agencies, so
that we can learn what the plans are before they are implemented and to discover the
terrorists before they attack."
These two statements were not made by
the president of the Republic of Cuba, our Commander in Chief Fidel Castro, but by the
president of the United States, after these horrendous attacks. I have wondered over and
over again. Are these statements not valid for Cuba, which is a victim of terrorism?
This is exactly what Cuba has done to try to
put an end to this scourge, which has also buffeted her territory for so many years and
made martyrs of her people.
Your Honor,
A "trial" took place
This courtroom knows as much,
We lived together and we lived through days
full of statements
Testimony,
Circumstantial evidence,
Evidence,
Arguments,
Motions,
Commitments,
Doubts,
Slanderous allegations,
Falsehoods,
Deliberations,
I didn’t come here today to justify
anything,
I came to tell
The truth:
"That is the only thing I am committed
to."
Accord; there was none except the
commitment to be useful to the world, to serve a valid cause called humanity and also
motherland.
Intent, there was none except to
prevent senselessness and crime and to save the living flower from chance, sudden,
pointless and premature death.
There was no transgression and no offense.
Nobody was insulted.
Nothing was stolen. No one was deceived. No
one was cheated.
No one tried to or practiced espionage.
Nobody ever asked me to get any classified
information. Here in this courtroom the witnesses’ statements confirmed that, not
only defense witnesses but also those of the prosecution itself.
Read General Clapper’s, Joseph
Santos’ and General Atkinson’s testimony, to name but a few, and they will
confirm what I say in all honesty.
And many other people could have come to
this court to explain things about my life, to say what I did every day just as Dalila
Borrego, Edward Donohue, and Tim Carey came. On the other hand, nobody came here to speak
against me, nor would it be possible to find anyone who, in all sincerity, could point to
any failing in my conduct in this society.
I love the island where I grew up, where I
was educated and where my mother, one of my beloved children, many of the people I love
and many of my other friends live. I also love this country where I was born, where, over
the last ten years, I have given and received real proof of love and solidarity.
I am certain that a bridge of friendship
will definitely be laid not only between these two peoples but also among all the peoples
in the world.
It falls to you, your Honor, to hand down
sentence in this long and tortuous trial.
Bring proof and evidence together!
Voices will say that they don’t exist.
Take into account facts and arguments!
Voices will say they carry no weight:
Read cases and testimony!
Voices will say it is not possible
To blame these men.
Voices that arise from the heart itself.
Voices inspired by the strength of justice.
Voices which did not want to be, or which
were not
Listened to by a jury
Which could not serve justice.
They were wrong! Their verdict was
sacrilege. But we were aware, from the beginning, that when it comes to Cuba, Miami is an
impossible place for justice.
This has been, above all else, a political
trial.
Personally, I ask for nothing else but
justice; for the good of our countries, for the sake of truth. A fair, full sentence, free
from political strings, would have sent an important message in this crucial moment in the
fight against terrorism.
Allow me to repeat that I have never caused
personal harm to anyone not have caused any property damage. I have never tried to take
any action, which would endanger the national security of the United States.
If I were asked to do the same thing again,
I would do it with honor. An excerpt from a letter that Cuban general Antonio Maceo, who
fought for Cuban independence in the 19th century, wrote to a Spanish general comes to
mind at this time with force and passion:
"I shall not find any reasons for
having cut myself off from humanity. I pursue not a policy of hatred but of love; this is
not an exclusionist policy but one founded in human morality".
Because of your rulings, my beloved brothers
and I must be unjustly kept in prison, but there we shall not cease from defending the
cause and the principles we have embraced.
The day will come when we will not have to
live under the shadow of fear and death, and on that historic day, the true justice of our
cause will be seen.
Your Honor,
Many days and months of an unjust, cruel and
horrible imprisonment have gone by!
I have sometimes wondered, what is time? And
like Saint Agustin I have answered myself, "If they ask me I don’t know, but if
they don’t ask me, I do know." Hours of solitude and hopes, of reflection about
injustice and small mindedness; eternal minutes in which memories burn bright: There are
memories that burn the memory!
I take these verses by Martí for this last
page that I write in the diary of my long days:
"I have lived:
It was to duty that I pledged my arms
And not once did the sun drop down behind
the hills
That did not see my struggle and my
victory..."
(Free verses)
And here in this courtroom I quote from the
Uruguayan and world poet, Mario Benedetti:
"...victory will be there, just like
me,
simply germinating"
Because, in the end, we shall rest free
and victorious beneath that sun which we are denied today
Thank you
Antonio Guerrero
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