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Forwarded from: Walter Lippmann.
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In an original use of political and diplomatic
imagination, Cuban
diplomat Jose Imperatori publicly challenged the United States government to prove in court its allegations that he had used his position for espionage purposes. Imperatori, whose wife and child had returned to Cuba hours earlier (they would have lost diplomatic immunity when he did) took these steps: First, he formally resigned his diplomatic post, writing to the head of his mission, the Cuban Interests Section: "I am addressing you to submit my resignation, as of this moment, to my position and functions in our beloved interests section and to the prerogatives therein. I have decided to stay in America, assuming all the necessary risks and conse- quences, to struggle against the slanders that hurt my honor, and that of the interests section in Washington and my own homeland." Imperatori added he surrendered his diplomatic immunity so as to disprove espionage allegations against Mariano Faget, the Cuban-American 34-year career INS official arrested on the eve of a key Miami federal court hearing in the case of Elian Gonzalez. (Faget, who declares himself a staunch anti- Communist, probably won't express appreciation for this act of simple honesty by the Cuban diplomat.) Represented by his attorney, former Baltimore, MD mayor, Kurt M. Schmoke, Imperatori carried out his assignment to the end. As the New York Times described it: "Although he could have avoided arrest by staying inside the interest section, an embassy in all but name that operates under the auspices of the Swiss Embassy in Washington, he chose instead to spend today at his apartment in suburban Bethesda, Md., where it would be easy to arrest him. Mr. Schmoke pointedly gave out the street address and apart- ment number at a televised news conference today." [full text of NY Times article below] http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/national/cuba-spy.html Imperatori was taken into custody by US authorities and taken to the airport where he was immediately deported to Canada. Again, as reported in the New York times, Jose Imperatori: "with the concurrence and perhaps at the direction of his govern- ment, he sought to remain here as what amounted to an undocu- mented alien." ``I shall not resist arrest, not even if I am handcuffed and jailed.'' he said. ``My morale and my truth will be my shield.'' http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/i/AP-US-Cuba.html Meanwhile, back at the ranch... "In Cuba, around 50,000 demonstrators expressed solidarity with Imperatori as part of daily rallies held in Cuba since the Elian Gonzalez dispute began three months ago. ``We do not obey the command of the powerful, and we do not accept the lie,'' teacher Ramon Gonzalez told the rally in the western province of Pinar del Rio. ``We will continue protesting as long as we need to demonstrate the truth and achieve our objectives.'' [full text below] http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000226/ts/cuba_diplomat.html See an AP photo of Jose Imperatori with attorney Kurt Schmoke: http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/p/ap/20000226/us/us_cuba_8fj.html COMMENT: Let's please note that those who have been clamoring for 6 year old Elian Gonzalez to have his "day in court", but who have never said a word for any Haitian, Mexican, Guatamalan or Chinese to have THEIR day in court, are not expected to raise any protest against Jose Imperatori being denied HIS day in court... Furthermore, the US government, by deporting Imperatori, has forfeited any presentation of EVIDENCE in a US court, where it would be subject to challenge, cross-examination and so forth. Of course, that seems pretty clearly the reason why they DID deport Imperatori, rather than arresting him. _______
Macdonald Stainsby ----- Check out the Tao ten point program: http://new.tao.ca *** "Those who preach the doctrine of the class struggle are always persecuted by those who practice it". -George Bernard Shaw |
