Our dead and survivors, and the relatives of the victims of this crime demand a fair verdict in this hearing; not only that the ruling erases the deportation but also another type of accusation against a man whose only crime has been DEFENDING THE FREEDOM OF CUBA (if this accusation can be called a crime). A man who speaks perfect English and has lived in the country since 1967, who has been denied residence by the immigration authorities 56 times.
I ask those who by law have the responsibility to settle this case:
1- Is it fair to accuse a civil rights leader of being a terrorist?
2- If convicted, is it fair to impose the punishment of deportation?
3- And if he is deported, is it fair to send him to Cuba; a country whose doctrine is to practice TERRORISM in all its forms; a country that is on the black list of the United States, precisely for practicing and supporting terrorist countries?
Honorable gentlemen of the Court, judges, prosecution and members of the jury, the omens point to a crooked ruling that turns the justice system of the United States of America upside down. The request made by the tax party is totally INFAMOUS in front of the North American justice codes. The balance of the law should never be weighed in favor of deporting Ramón Saúl Sánchez. If this were to happen, we would be witnesses to an episode of the Roman circus whose argument for deportation is nothing more than applying a surreptitious death sentence to a leader of the Cuban community in exile; a personality similar to that of Mahatma Gandhi.
On behalf of the 37 dead and 31 survivors; on behalf of the relatives of the victims in the sinking of the tugboat March 13; a crime against humanity committed by the Cuban dictatorship seven miles from the Havana Malecón during the early morning of July 13, 1994. In the name of this commemorative event, I ask those who make up the legal arbitration that will judge “Ramoncito” to their garments of wisdom and excellence do not fade. Do not forget that the toga, which you wear today, is the clothing of authority and impartiality. And it stands for equality before the law and neutrality in the judicial process. That human being unfairly sitting in the dock deserves the NOT GUILTY ruling and the right to permanent residence in the United States of America.
From now on I call for a universal prayer for God to nestle in the consciences of the lawyers, so that they find a just ruling and free Ramón Saúl Sánchez from the just sword that for many years has been a threat in front of his chest. In the same way I invite the souls of our dead, whose proximity to God is notorious, to intercede in favor of his innocence.
For this reason, by pinning this document, I am full of euphoria for the opportunity that life gives me to do something for Ramoncito, in order to compensate for the innumerable gestures of denunciation, support and solidarity towards the families involved in the crime of the tugboat. March 13. This patriot who defends the Cuban cause, embraced the peaceful struggle under the banners of peace, and aboard the Democracy Yacht and its flotillas full of people, never hesitated when paying tributes at sea to those killed in the tugboat massacre. March 13 for 29 repeated joules.
Although, despite the time that has passed, the tears continue to slide down my face and the precariousness of my health threatens to extinguish me, I leave you the promise that as long as I live I will continue insisting on a claim for my dead.
A final aphorism for my brother Ramoncito: “I hope that lawlessness never clouds your path and that a blue sky continues to flutter your hair” Jomás
Jorge A García, lost 14 family members in the tugboat crime.
Open letter
When Justice stumbles, the fate of the innocent is in danger
To whom it May concern:
I write these lines in order to prevent chance or the actions of some “black hand” from damaging the destinies of a leader or taking away his well-earned right to live in freedom.
I am a victim of the Cuban regime that bears the pain for the loss of 14 relatives savagely murdered in a crime without punishment, the sinking of the tugboat “13 de Marzo”, an act perpetrated by the government hordes, during the early morning of July 13 from 1994 to seven miles from the boardwalk in Havana; whose corpses I still hope to give them a Christian burial.
This crime, of global knowledge, qualifies me to obtain the right of Asylum and in May 1999 I arrived in the United States with my wife and daughter. Already on American soil, among the people who come to receive me, the image of someone I had previously seen on television stands out, I mean Ramón Saúl Sánchez, a leader who from the first moments shows his endearing solidarity with our dead. Naturally, this is where my adherence to him is born, an attachment that grows to the extent that we internalize fraternally. I immediately joined his healthy and mournful activities in order to commemorate each anniversary of the sinking of the tugboat on March 13. Thus, since 1999 I have not missed any of these appointments; an endorsement that allows me to speak properly about the life and actions of Ramón Saúl Sánchez, a good man, a great friend; a leader of crowds embraced and loved by the Cuban community in exile.
The pointing finger of Fidel Castro, in particular, and the Havana regime, in general, always accuses Ramón Saúl Sánchez of being a “terrorist”. To my astonishment, today I see that the American Courts also echo these false accusations and are hastily preparing for a Process whose purpose is to deport him.
I think that the courts barely know the nature and actions of Ramón Saúl Sánchez, it is enough to treat him for one to realize his human lineage. God knows what evil voices are whispered in the ears of these lawyers to persuade them to take a verdict of condemnation; In my opinion, a wrong decision by the court, even more so at a time when Havana is negotiating dark treaties with Russia, China and Iran that threaten the security of the United States and the return to an edition of the Cold War, similar to the one that took place during the sixties.
I have known Ramoncito for more than five decades and I am confused by the similarity of the name TERRORIST” many times vaunted by the dictatorship now also on the lips of the jurists of the Immigration Courts who will assume the embarrassing decision to try him:
A TERRORIST is one who fights for the civil rights of an oppressed people for more than sixty years?
A TERRORIST is one who pays tribute to the innocent victims of a political crime consecutively for 29 years?
A TERRORIST is the one who summons the FLOTILLAS where a group of civilian ships armed with flowers participate, and financed by the pocket of each one of the participants?
A TERRORIST is one who offers his life in HUNGER STRIKES in order to resolve the rights taken from other innocents?
TERRORIST is that unarmed person who wields the weapon of PRAYER before carrying out a call for TRIBUTE or other activities?
Until today my concept of TERRORIST preserves very little or no similarity with the label they want to hang on my friend Ramoncito.
TERRORIST: is the one who practices TERRORISM or exercises a succession of acts of violence to instill terror with criminal actions carried out many times by organized gangs that repeatedly and indiscriminately break social peace.
I am forgiven for the cunning or ignorance of some; but in Ramón Saúl Sánchez there is a man of faith, a soul willing to selflessly help others, even giving his own blood and his life for a just cause. He is not a man who wields arms for his personal defense or for his other purposes. Neither does he fly political flags to win lawsuits. And he did not stop repeating that those naive or ill-intentioned who try to give him a false image are wrong.
Finally, and with the right that assists me to be Cuban and American citizen at the same time and to serve as a spokesperson for the family members of the victims, the dead and survivors in the sinking of the tugboat March 13, I request:
• To the members of the Court (Judge, Prosecutor, Jury and Defense) to the Immigration authorities, in particular, to carry out a fair process that corners the shadows of lawlessness and prevents the appearance of a deportation against Ramón Saúl Sanchez.
If the opposite were to happen, we would be seeing what rarely happens in a democratic society, an unjust verdict from the American Courts that violates the right to Asylum and places life in the jaws of the enemy; at risk a peaceful fighter champion of peace and nonviolent struggle.
With me they have a witness at hand who, when the time comes, can put their grain of sand on the life and work of Ramón Saúl Sánchez, an esteemed human being.
Jorge A. García, who lost 14 family members in the sinking of the tugboat 13 de Marzo.
“Every time a man stands up for an ideal or acts to improve the lot of others or fights against injustice, he sends out a little wave of hope.” Robert F Kennedy.
