Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the September 18, 1997 issue of Workers World newspaper

Cuba says U.S. sponsors terrorism

By John Catalinotto, in Workers World, 12 September, 1997

Terrorist bombs aimed at socialist Cuba's thriving tourist industry went off at three hotels and a landmark Old Havana restaurant Sept. 4, killing a young Italian visitor.

The attacks were consistent with the terror and sabotage organized by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency ever since the Cuban Revolution began seizing the property of U.S. corporations 37 years ago. These corporations had been behind the bloody Batista dictatorship, which was overthrown by the Cuban Revolution in 1959.

Cuba's Interior Ministry released a statement Sept. 5 confirming the explosion of three bombs in the Havana hotels Copacabana, Chateau and Triton. The bombings were similar to others aimed at tourism, a principal economic activity on the island.

The ministry charged that these terrorist activities are organized and financed in the United States. "These attacks are in line with enemy efforts to strangle the economy as a way to destroy the Cuban Revolution," the Cuban statement said.

Washington has imposed an economic blockade on Cuba for over 35 years. In the past year the infamous Helms-Burton Law has extended the goals of this blockade and violated the sovereignty of other countries.

The Central Intelligence Agency has also been behind attempts to assassinate Cuban President Fidel Castro. It is suspected of introducing dengue fever and other diseases on the island. And recently Cuba has presented evidence to the United Nations that a U.S. plane spread pathogens in an area where Thrips palmi plague has damaged agricultural yields.

Despite these criminal efforts by the strongest imperialist power, Cuba is recovering from the worst of its economic problems following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Its expanding tourist industry has played a major role in earning hard currency for socialist Cuba, helping to pay for its free medical care and education.

ITALIAN TOURIST KILLED BY BOMB

One of the Sept. 4 terrorist bombs killed Fabio Di Celmo of Italy at the Copacabana Hotel. He was reportedly in the hotel's lobby, near the bomb, when it exploded.

Cuba's Interior Ministry stated that "the Cuban people and government--defenders of the country's legitimate peace and security--strongly condemn crimes such as these, deeply regret the death of a young, peace-loving Italian citizen--a victim of unscrupulous, professional assassins--and are taking the necessary measures to confront these cowardly and repugnant attacks."

Cuban Parliament President Ricardo Alarcon, in Chile to attend the Ibero American Legislative Seminar, directly accused the extreme right-wing Cuban- American community in Miami for the terrorism.

And in statements to reporters in Havana, Cuban Foreign Minister Roberto Robaina said the terrorist campaign comes on the heels of Washington's approval of millions of dollars earmarked for so-called dissident organizations, whose real aim is to destroy the Cuban Revolution.

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