An ugly past relevant to Cuba's future
OUR OPINION: ARCHIVE WILL HELP THE SEARCH FOR TRUTH AND JUSTICE
THE MIAMI HERALD - EDITORIAL
Wednesday, April 26, 2006

To reconcile the past, you must know the truth about it. To that end, Armando M. Lago and María C. Werlau are producing priceless work that promises to benefit post-tyranny Cuba. The two are the driving forces behind the Cuba Archive, which seeks to document the victims of the Cuban Revolution. One day, the accounts of extrajudicial executions, torture and disappearances will contribute to the search for truth and justice in a democratic Cuba. The data will help in the struggle to come to terms with the many human-rights abuses committed under totalitarian rule.

Thousands died

Meanwhile, the Cuba Archive puts a human face on the people who have suffered at the hands of the revolution. The individual stories show the lie of Fidel Castro's benevolent society and counter the revolution's propaganda with facts.

The archive now lists more than 40,000 people who died or disappeared for political or military reasons. Most victims are documented by name and at least two sources. Some may quibble with the categories included. About 3,000 are people killed during the Batista period before Castro took power in 1959. More than 9,000 are Angolan guerrillas killed by Cuban forces in Angola.

Nonetheless, the data may be sorted in whatever manner makes best sense to those interested. In a post-Castro Cuba, new sources should provide opportunities to add to, correct and confirm what is in the archive.

Documenting horror isn't easy. As The Miami Herald's April 23 article The revolution's toll notes, Mr. Lago still chokes up talking about Virgilio Campanería, a law-school classmate who was executed in 1961. Ms. Werlau's father, Armando Cañizares Gamboa, is also on the list. A disillusioned rebel who returned to un seat Castro, he is presumed to have been killed at age 28 at the Bay of Pigs in 1961.

Also included are the 45 Cubans who drowned when the Cuban Coast Guard sank the 13 de marzo tugboat in 1994. Owen Delgado Temprana, 15, was beaten to death at State Security headquarters in 1981. Political prisoner Julio Tang Taxier, 28, was stabbed with a bayonet by a prison guard in 1966 and bled to death.

The material in the Cuba Archive may indeed, as its authors hope, lay a foundation for an eventual truth, justice and reconciliation process. Doing so would help prevent such atrocities from being committed again in Cuba.
 

Maria C. Werlau
Principal, Orbis International Consulting
& President, Free Society Project, Inc.
P.O. Box 757
Summit, NJ 07902
Of. Tel. 973.701-0520
Mobile 973.219-7000

 

To send this page by e-mail follow these steps:

1- CLICK HERE to open a new windows.

2- Write the e-mail address in the blank.

3- Push SEND THIS URL buttom.

HOME