In “JFK: The Cuba Files, the Untold Story of the Plot to Kill Kennedy,” Fabian Escalante tells the untold story of a “counterrevolutionary project … of groups and individuals … linked to conspiracy.”
Escalante’s account deserves the attention of more U.S. people. This fascinating history written by the head of State Security for the Cuban government between 1976 and 1982 reveals, with compelling logic, what really happened.
Treachery, corruption, unlawful trafficking of human cargo, manipulated media coverage, sabotage, military invasion and CIA intrigue summarize the murky events around 46 years of U.S. hostility toward the Cuban people. The author raises questions not answered by various U.S. commissions, official inquiries and Congressional committees charged with oversight. Many groups connected by circumstances to anti-Cuban events of the early 1960s are part of a larger mystery — the bombing of Cubana Airlines flight 455 in October 1976 that resulted in the deaths of 73 innocent passengers.
Caught in this web in 1998 were the Cuban Five who were unjustly incarcerated and charged with intent to commit espionage. Their monitoring of suspected criminal elements to expose their terrorist activity led to their being subjected to prosecutorial misconduct and violation of due process, denied a change of venue, and finally, shamefully convicted by a stacked jury.
Unraveling the facts that the U.S. government concealed would open the way to repeal the blockade legislation like the Helms-Burton that violates international law. A new set of political and economic agreements between both countries is long overdue. Freedom of travel, legalizing trade, sharing advanced healthcare technology and worker-to-worker contact through labor solidarity are just some examples of the unlimited potential of normalizing relations.
After reading this book, it is much easier to arrive at the logical conclusion that the Cuban Five are indeed innocent.
Solid4evr @ yahoo.com
JFK: The Cuba Files
The Untold Story of the Plot to Kill Kennedy
By Fabian Escalante
Ocean Press, 2006
Paperback, 261 pp., $16.95
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