Vigil hosted by the Free Cuba Foundation at the main fountain at Florida International University between 3:21pm and 3:27pm the times that two Brothers to the Rescue planes were destroyed by air-to-air missiles fired by Cuban MiGs as they flew through international airspace searching for rafters.
Family members and friends of Carlos Costa, Pablo Morales, Mario De La Peña and Armando Alejandre Jr. will be in attendance. This event is for FIU students and members of the FIU Community and has been held annually since 1996.
For more information on what happened 17 years ago visit here, here and here.
"Yes, Oswaldo Payá and Harold Cepero were killed, they were victims of
an attack that cost them their lives and this we know from the first
day by the reports that both victims and witnesses made reached their
friends in and out of the island." - Regis Iglesias, February 19, 2013
Take action and join the petition drive requesting an international investigation into the deaths ofOswaldo Payá Sardiñas and Harold Cepero Escalante and ask other people of good will to do the same.
Meanwhile remind the world with a hash tag campaign
over twitter on the seven month anniversary of these
crimes that truth and justice are still needed.
Three important dates are approaching: Friday, February 22nd, Saturday, February 23rd, and Sunday, February 24th
Seventeen
years ago on February 24, 1996 at 3:21pm and at 3:28pm two Brothers to the Rescue planes were shot down with air to air missiles in
international airspace extra-judicially executing Carlos Costa, Pablo
Morales, Mario De La Peña and Armando Alejandre Jr in an act of state
terrorism.
Three years ago on February 23, 2010 at 3:00pm Cuban prisoner of conscience
Orlando Zapata Tamayo died (or was extra-judicially executed) after 83
days on a water-only hunger strike. During the strike prison officials
denied him water contributing to his death which constitute both torture
and murder.
The Free Cuba Foundation today February 7, 2013 is calling on people of good
will to join us in fasting and prayer for Orlando Zapata Tamayo, Carlos
Costa, Pablo Morales, Mario De La Peña and Armando Alejandre Jr. on
February 23 and to then organize vigils and moments of silence between
the times when both Brothers to the Rescue planes were shot down at
3:21pm and 3:28pm on February 25.
Now we are announcing activities taking place in Miami, Florida and
invite you to send us news about actions that you are carrying out
around the world. Please come back to this page. We will be adding
photos and images that you can use for your own event(s).
February 22
24 hour truth squad for Oswaldo and Harold
Twitter campaign with hash tags #JusticeforHaroldandOscar #HCE #OWP #RememberHCEandOWP #JusticeForHCEandOWP to remind world on seven month anniversary of this crimes that truth and justice are still needed.
Petition drive requesting an international investigation into the deaths ofOswaldo Payá Sardiñas and Harold Cepero Escalante.
February 23
3:00pm 24 Hour Fast for Orlando Zapata Tamayo Location: Francisco Human Rights Park
9445 SW 24 Street (Brothers to the Rescue Martyrs Blvd), Miami, FL
February 24
3:00pm Mass for Carlos
Costa, Pablo Morales, Mario De La Peña and Armando Alejandre Jr.
St. John the Apostle Catholic Church 475 E. Fourth Street Hialeah, Florida
February 25
3:00pm Silent Vigil for Justice Location: Main Fountain Florida International University
11200 South West 8th Street, Miami, FL
“There is an indefinable mysterious Power that pervades everything. I feel it though I do not see it. It is this unseen Power which makes itself felt and yet defies all proof, because it is unlike all that I perceive through my senses.” - Mohandas K. Gandhi
Mohandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. and Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas
I've seen too much hate to want to hate, myself, and every time I see it, I say to myself, hate is too great a burden to bear. Somehow we must be able to stand up against our most bitter opponents and say: We shall match your capacity to inflict suffering by our capacity to endure suffering. We will meet your physical force with soul force. Do to us what you will and we will still love you... Martin Luther King Jr., A Christmas Sermon for Peace on Dec 24, 1967
The first victory we can claim is that our hearts are free of hatred. Hence we say to those who persecute us and who try to dominate us: ‘You are my brother. I do not hate you, but you are not going to dominate me by fear. I do not wish to impose my truth, nor do I wish you to impose yours on me. We are going to seek the truth together’. - Oswaldo Paya, December 17, 2002
Arun Gandhi, Mohandas Gandhi's grandson, began the Season for Non-violence in 1998 at the United Nations observing the 64 days on the calendar between the January 30, 1948 assassination of Gandhi and the April 4, 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
Fifteen years later it is still observed and open for all to take part. Participants are asked to take a pledge of nonviolence which involves respecting yourself and others, communicating honestly, listening, to engage in forgiveness, respecting nature, playing creatively, and to be courageous. The Free Cuba Foundation, a student movement founded at Florida International University, observed the first and tenth Season for Non-Violence with essay contests, panel discussions and films on Gandhi, King and Jose Marti. Unfortunately, the untimely death of Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas, on July 22, 2012 lifted him into the pantheon of martyred advocates of nonviolence.
Three things you can do right now in solidarity with Oswaldo, Harold and the Christian Liberation Movement:
1. Sign the petition and let others know about it. (Its in English and Spanish)
3. Generate your own blog entry about Oswaldo and Harold and send us your ideas for future nonviolent actions.
Over these 64 days take a moment each day to reflect on both your power and the power of nonviolence and what you can do to make the world a better place. First, sign the pledge, print it out and keep it where you can see it each day as a reminder.
"Those who remove and crush freedom are the real slaves." - Harold Cepero Escalante
"We offeredallthe sacrifice ofthe Mass foryou.Harold, your friendsmiss you, we honor you,hopefullywe will follow your example"...Rosa María Payá Acevedo
"Tribute from the MCL and friends for Harold Cepero Escalante. God be with you and your family." - Rosa María Payá Acevedo
"Dream until your dreams come true! Harold Cepero Anniversary 33. Young leader of MCL, martyr for the freedom of Cuba ."-Rosa María Payá Acevedo
"The
fraudulent change that Oswaldo Paya and the Christian Liberation
Movement (MCL) denounced has three key factors: the military-economic
oligarchy, the Catholic hierarchy and some Cuban exile entrepreneurs.
This denouncement made by Oswaldo was what triggered the final order to
end his and Harold's lives." - Christian Liberation Movement, January 29, 2013
"There is no forgiveness for acts of hatred. Daggers thrust in the name of liberty are thrust into liberty's heart." - José Martí "One revolution is still necessary: the one that will not end with the rule of its leader. It will be the revolution against revolutions, the uprising of all peaceable individuals, who will become soldiers for once so that neither they nor anyone else will ever have to be a soldier again." - José Martí
José Martí
José Martí Cuban statesman, poet, and journalist was born one hundred and sixty years ago today in Cuba. His ideas remain as relevant today in the struggle for a free Cuba as ever.
The following are two reflections from past presidents of the Free Cuba Foundation on the words of José Martí.
"It is terrible to speak of you, Liberty, for one who lives without you. A wild best does not bend its knee before its tamer with greater fury. One discovers the depths of hell, and from there looks up at freemen with their sun-like arrogance. One bites the air, like a hyena biting the bars of its cage. One's spirit writhes inside the body, like a man who has been poisoned. The wretch who lives without freedom feels like dressing in the mud from the streets Those who have you, o Liberty, do not know. you. Those who do not have you should not speak of you, but win you." - José Martí
"There are men who live contented through they live without decorum. Others suffer as if in agony when they see around them people living without decorum. There must be a certain amount of decorum in the world, just as there must be a certain amount of light. When there are many men without decorum, there are always others who themselves possess the decorum of many men. These are the ones who rebel with terrible strength against those who rob nations of their liberty, which is to rob men of their decorum. Embodied in those men are thousands of men, a whole people, human dignity." - José Martí
"If what we do for Cuba, we do not do for love, better not do it." - Bishop Agustin Roman
"Forty Ladies in White marched through the Fifth avenue promenade in Miramar, Havana and dedicated the march to Jose Marti and Mohandas Gandhi." - Angel Moya, January 27, 2013
Both in 1998 and 2008 the Free Cuba Foundation organized gatherings and activities to reflect on the shared values and ideals of Mohandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and Jose Marti. At first blush it appears that Marti would be the odd man out who died in battle on horseback in the 19th century fighting for Cuban independence, but then we read his words and the life that he lived and realize that he rejected hatred and saw violence as a last resort not to be entered into lightly.
An essay published in Spanish in the El Nuevo Herald by a La Salle student outlined the lives of the three men. It is in
José Martí's writings that the reader finds a man who loved freedom,
rejected hatred -even of one's enemy- and only embraced violent conflict
as a last resort. One wonders if instead of riding into battle on
horseback if he would've been the trailblazer of nonviolent resistance. What
would have Cuba's political culture been like if as in the case of
Havel the Cuban poet and writer would've lived to have been president
and guide the new republic in the first years of its existence?
Its been said that when a friend betrayed him to the police José Martí sent him the following poem:
Cultivo una rosa blanca
En julio como en enero,
Para el amigo sincero
Que me da su mano franca.
Y para el cruel que me arranca
El corazon con que vivo,
Cardo ni ortiga cultivo,
Cultivo una rosa blanca.
It translates to English as follows:
I cultivate a white rose
In July as in January
For the sincere friend
Who gives me his hand frankly.
And for the cruel person who tears out
The heart with which I live,
I cultivate neither nettles nor thorns:
I cultivate a white rose.
The Season for Non-Violence spans the 64 days on the calendar between the martyrdom of Mohandas Gandhi on January 30, 1948 and Martin Luther King Jr.'s on April 4, 1968. For Cubans this period of time is also particularly impacting because one day earlier, January 29 marks the birth of Harold Cepero and in late February the anniversary of the birth of Oswaldo Paya, the deaths of Orlando Zapata Tamayo and four members of Brothers to the Rescue. All of these men are nonviolent martyrs who struggled for freedom with love and without hatred. Let us join in honoring them over these next 64 days.
