Unfinished business between Cuba and the United States

Even with the resumption of diplomatic relations between Washington and Havana, the U.S. and Cuba have unfinished business to take care of.

There is the issue of terrorism — the terrorism U.S.-based exile extremist outfits perpetrated against Cuba.

These groups sought for decades through violence and terror to prevent a rapprochement between Cuba and the United States. Their attacks included arson, bombings and targeted assassinations and claimed many Cuban lives. Declassified documents show the CIA trained a lot of these terrorists in the early 1960s as part of the failed Bay of Pigs landing and the violent Operation Mongoose directed toward regime change in Cuba.

Cuban exiles participated in the infamous Operation Condor, set up by South American dictatorships to eliminate their foes abroad. It included the 1976 murder of Chilean diplomat Orlando Letelier in the streets of Washington, D.C., a crime carried out by Cuban expatriates.

The vilest of all acts these U.S.-based extremists committed was the 1976 bombing of a Cuban passenger airliner in Barbados, in which all 73 occupants were killed. Exile militant Luis Posada Carriles was directly linked to this crime in declassified CIA and FBI documents. He currently is free and living in Miami, and the Cuban government is requesting his extradition.

While the U.S. government has tolerated right-wing terrorism against Cuba, it also has funded political dissent in the island to the tune of millions of dollars per year through entities such as the National Endowment for Democracy. This seemingly harmless support is in blatant violation of international norms, which frown upon such meddling in the internal affairs of foreign nations.

The Obama administration needs to acknowledge these legitimate grievances of Cuba. Otherwise, true reconciliation between the two nations still will be a long way away.

Carmelo Ruiz is a Puerto Rican author and journalist who directs the Latin America Energy and Environment Monitor and writes a bilingual blog about journalism and current affairs.

He wrote this for Progressive Media Project, a source of liberal commentary on domestic and international issues; it is affiliated with The Progressive magazine. Readers can write to the author at: Progressive Media Project, 409 East Main Street, Madison, WI. 53703; email: pmproj@progressive.org; website: www.progressive.org. For information about PMP’s funding, visit www.progressive.org/pmpabout.html#anchorsupport.