Saturday, July 16, 2011

Forbidden Heroes: New Ricardo Alarcon Book on the Case of the Cuban Five

Havana. July 14, 2011

Forbidden heroes, new Ricardo Alarcón book on the case of the Cuban Five

LOS heroes prohibidos (The Forbidden Heroes,) a book which brings together 16 articles written by the President of Cuba’s National Assembly, Ricardo Alarcón de Quesada and first published in the magazine CounterPunch, was launched July 13, in the Union of Cuban Writers and Artists’ Villena Hall, with relatives of the Cuban Five anti-terrorists held in U.S. prisons in attendance, along with a significant number of intellectuals and the general public.

The valuable content, first presented in the bi-weekly as a series entitled The Untold Story of the Cuban Five, has been published by the Sur house, sponsored by the Havana International Poetry Festival. In the texts, Alarcón, also a member of the Political Bureau, uses solid arguments to expose the U.S. government, which is responsible for this injustice and furthermore, is not only attempting to hide it, but is also promoting terrorism against Cuba and protecting those who engage in it.

In an introduction entitled ‘Returning to an untold story’, Alarcón explains the reasons which led him to write the selections, "They do not attempt to analyze in depth, with technical legal rigor, the twisted judicial process which, in addition to being absolutely arbitrary was, at the time, the longest, most drawn out of its kind in U.S. history. They are, rather, what some have called emergency journalism."

"The total innocence of our compañeros has been made clear in official government documents and within U.S. courts," he said, adding that, nevertheless, the empire has ordered the evidence buried and has totally censured it. The corporate media, without exception, has systematically ignored it."

Referring to the U.S. Attorney General’s emergency petition, submitted May 30, 2001, as the verdict in the Miami trial was about to be delivered, Alarcón said, "This solemn, explicit acknowledgement of the vacuous nature of these calumnious accusations has remained totally hidden for more than 10 years."

He denounced the U.S. government which "refuses to reveal all that it has in its hands about this conspiracy and can do so thanks to the complicity, or stupor, of other information agencies."

The media, he said, consists of "giant corporations which decide what the people can know; manipulate the capacity to think and feel, stultify and promote banality, self-centeredness and isolation among human beings.

They are the ones who disseminate news or make news disappear. It is truly a global dictatorship which has penetrated everywhere, unnoticed."

In his remarks, Alarcón addressed the responsibility of intellectuals and journalists.

"Only by escaping from media tyranny, looking beyond the news menu imposed on us, can we have access to the truth and be qualified as revolutionaries, ‘thinking beings, not directed beings,’ to use Julio Antonio Mella’s definition.

"Only if we are able to help others emancipate themselves from the new yoke, unite and synchronize so many disparate forces, will we be meeting our responsibility to the Five brothers. I know it is difficult, but it is worth the effort. After all, they gave their lives for us."

Translated by Granma International

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