Santiago

1976: El exilio del terror

En un nuevo aniversario del asesinato de Orlando Letelier y Ronni Moffitt en Washington, publicamos este libro que detalla y explica el origen del terrorismo paramilitar cubano en Estados Unidos y sus derivaciones políticas.

1976 podría definirse como una “novela de no ficción” que documenta y reconstruye los eventos centrales de ese año con epicentro en lo que el FBI llamó “La capital del terrorismo”, Miami. Organizada por meses, 1976 inicia con los antecedentes que explican ese año: la mafia cubana de los años 50 para luego centrarse en el eje Miami-Caracas-Santiago, el que hizo posible el atentado con autobomba que terminó con la vida del ministro de Salvador Allende, Orlando Letelier y Ronni Moffitt en Washington, a pocas cuadras de la Casa Blanca, y el atentado que derribó el avión de Cubana de Aviación 455 en Barbados, matando a 73 personas, la mayoría de ellos jóvenes atletas.

1976 detalla las historias olvidadas por el imaginario estadounidense sobre el rol de la CIA en el acoso de la Revolución cubana y de los disidentes latinoamericanos, desde la fallida invasión de Bahía Cochinos hasta los sucesivos bloqueos, sabotajes, vuelos incendiarios y el esparcimiento de agentes biológicos sobre la isla. También expone el modus operandi de los grupos paramilitares de Florida y Nueva Jersey que sembraron centenares de bombas en Estados Unidos, desde Miami hasta Nueva York, el ajusticiamiento de exiliados cubanos acusados de moderación, la censura a sus críticos, y el rol que cumplieron los gobiernos de Carlos Andrés Pérez en Venezuela y Augusto Pinochet en Chile protegiendo y empleando a los mismos terroristas cubanos requeridos por la justicia estadounidense, como Orlando Bosch, Luis Posada Carriles, Ricardo Morales, el estadounidense Michael Townley entre otros, hoy considerados héroes de la libertad en Miami.

Jorge Majfud, 21 de setiembre de 2024

1976: The Exile of Terror


On the new anniversary of the assassination of Orlando Letelier and Ronni Moffitt in Washington, we publish this book that details and explains the origin of Cuban paramilitary terrorism in the United States and its political ramifications.

1976 could be defined as a “non-fiction novel” that documents and reconstructs the central events of that year with its epicenter in what the FBI called “The capital of terrorism,” Miami. Organized by months, 1976 begins with the background that explains that year: the Cuban mafia of the 1950s and then focuses on the Miami-Caracas-Santiago axis, which made possible the car bomb attack that ended the lives of Salvador Allende’s minister, Orlando Letelier and Ronni Moffitt in Washington, a few blocks from the White House, and the attack that brought down Cubana de Aviación plane 455 in Barbados, killing 73 people, most of them young athletes.

1976 details the stories forgotten by the American imagination about the role of the CIA in the harassment of the Cuban Revolution and Latin American dissidents, from the failed invasion of the Bay of Pigs to the successive blockades, sabotage, incendiary flights, and the spreading of biological agents over the island. It also exposes the modus operandi of the paramilitary groups in Florida and New Jersey that planted hundreds of bombs in the United States, from Miami to New York, the execution of Cuban exiles accused of moderation, the censorship of their critics, and the role played by the governments of Carlos Andrés Pérez in Venezuela and Augusto Pinochet in Chile in protecting and employing the same Cuban terrorists wanted by the American justice system, such as Orlando Bosch, Luis Posada Carriles, Ricardo Morales, the American Michael Townley among others, today considered heroes of freedom in Miami.

Jorge Majfud, September 21, 2024

Do You Believe in God? Yes or No.

Major religions distribution.

Image via Wikipedia

 

Do You Believe in God? Yes or No.


Jorge Majfud

Lincoln University

Someone asks me whether I believe in God and indicates that a one sentence answer will do. Two at the most. It’s easy, yes or no.

I’m sorry, but why do you insist on subjecting me to the tyranny of such a question? If you are truly interested in my response, you will have to hear me out. If not, good day to you. Nothing is lost.

The question, like so many others, is tricky. It demands of me a clear yes or a clear no. I would have one of those very clear answers if the god about which I am being asked were so clear and well-defined. Do you like Santiago? Excuse me, which Santiago? Santiago de Compostela in Spain or Santiago, Chile? Santiago del Estero in Argentina or Santiago Matamoros?

Okay, look, my greatest desire is for God to exist. It’s the only thing I ask of him. But not just any god. It seems like almost everyone agrees that there is only one God, but if that is true then one must recognize that this is a god with multiple personalities, from multiple religions and with mutual hatred for one another.

The truth is that I cannot believe in a god who inflames the heart for war and who inspires such fear that nobody is capable of making even the slightest change. Which is why dying and killing for that lie is common practice; questioning it a rare heresy. I cannot believe, and much less support, a god who orders people massacred, who is made to the measure and convenience of some nations above others, of some social classes above others, of some genders above others, of some races above others. A god who for his own entertainment has created some men to be condemned from birth and others to be the select few until death, and a god who, at the same time, is praised for his universality and infinite love.

How does one believe in such a selfish, such a mean-spirited god? A criminal god who condemns greed and the accumulation of money and rewards the chosen greedy ones with greater material wealth. How does one believe in a god of neckties on Sunday, who shouts and swells with blood condemning those who don’t believe in such an apparatus of war and domination? How does one believe in a god who instead of liberating subjugates, punishes, and condemns? How does one believe in a small-minded god who needs the minor politics of a few of the faithful in order to gain votes? How does one believe in a mediocre god who must use bureaucracy on Earth to administer his business in Heaven? How does one believe in a god who allows himself to be manipulated like a child frightened in the night and who every day serves the most repugnant interests on Earth? How does one believe in a god who draws mysterious images on dank walls in order to announce to humanity that we are living in a time of hatreds and wars? How does one believe in a god who communicates through street-corner charlatans who promise Heaven and threaten Hell to passersby, as if they were real estate agents?

Which god are we talking about when we talk about the One and All Powerful God? Is this the same God who sends fanatics to immolate themselves in a market, the same God who sends planes to discharge Hell on children and innocents in his name? Perhaps so. Then, I don’t believe in that god. Rather, I don’t want to believe that such a criminal could be a supernatural force. Because we already have our hands full with our own human wickedness. It’s just that human evil would not be so hypocritical if it were to focus on oppressing and killing in its own name and not in the name of a kind and creative god.

A God who allows his manipulators – who have no peace in their hearts – to speak of the infinite peace of God while they go around condemning those without faith. Condemning those who have no faith in that tragic madness attributed every day to God. Men and women without peace who claim to be chosen by God and who go around proclaiming this because it’s not enough for them that God would have chosen them for their doubtful virtues. Those terrorists of the soul who go about threatening with Hell – sometimes softly and sometimes shouting – anybody who dares to doubt so much madness.

A God, creator of the Universe, who must fit between the narrow walls of consecrated homes and buildings uncursed by man, not so that God has a place but so that God can be put in a place. In a proper place, which is to say, privatized, controlled, circumscribed to a few ideas, a few paragraphs, and at the service of a sect of the self-chosen.

Of course, the classic accusation, established by tradition, for all those who would doubt the real attributes of God is arrogance. The furious preachers, in contrast, do not stop for an instant to reflect upon the infinite arrogance of their claim to belong to, and even guide and administer, the select club of those chosen by the Creator.

The only thing I ask of God is that he exist. But every time I see these celestial hordes I am reminded of the story, true or fictitious, of the indigenous chieftain Hatuey, condemned to be burned alive by the governor of Cuba, Diego Velásquez. According to father Bartolomé de las Casas, a priest was present for Hatuey’s final hours, offering him Heaven if he converted to Christianity. The chieftain asked if white men could be found there. “Yes,” responded the priest, “because they believe in God.” Which was sufficient reason for the rebel chief to refuse to accept the new truth.

Then, if God is that being who walks behind his followers in a trance, in all truthfulness, I cannot believe in him. Why would the Creator confer critical reason on his creatures and then demand of them blind obedience, hallucinatory trembling, uncontrollable hatreds? Why would God prefer believers to thinkers? Why would enlightenment mean the loss of consciousness? Could it be that innocence and obedience get along well?