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U.S. Raises Flag in Cuba After 54 Years, Prisoner Exchanges and "Stork Diplomacy"; Embargo Remains
The United States and Cuba are taking the next step in restoring diplomatic relations with each other as Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Havana Friday to attend a ceremony marking the reopening of the U.S. Embassy there. This comes after former Cuban President Fidel Castro wrote in a newspaper column that the U.S. owes the island country "millions of dollars" as reparations for its decades-long embargo. "The question is what kind of change this represents,” says former Cuban diplomat Carlos Alzugaray Treto. "Is this only a change of tactics to continue trying to overthrow the Cuban government by different means? I call it the Roberta Flack strategy—’killing me softly with your song.’ On the other hand, maybe what we are seeing is an important change of strategy." We also speak with Peter Kornbluh, director of the Cuba Documentation Project at the National Security Archive at George Washington University and co-author of "Back Channel to Cuba: The Hidden History of Negotiations Between Washington and Havana."
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Today, the United States and Cuba are taking the next step in restoring diplomatic relations with each other. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Havana this morning to attend a ceremony marking the reopening of the U.S. Embassy there. Joining him are three marines who lowered the flag at the embassy in 1961, when the U.S. cut off ties to Cuba after Fidel Castro toppled the U.S.-backed government of Fulgencio Batista in 1959. These same marines will raise the flag over the embassy. Ahead of his trip to Havana, John Kerry appeared on the Spanish-language TV network, Univision, and said the United States will continue to push for changes in Cuba.
SECRETARY OF STATE JOHN KERRY: I think that as we begin the process, compared to the 54 years of what has been going on, which is no progress, we will begin to see a transformation take place. More people will travel. There will be more exchange. More families will be reconnected. And hopefully, the government of Cuba will itself make decisions that will begin to change things. And so, I don’t think you can measure a month and a half, since we concluded the agreement to actually open the embassy, to 54 years. That just doesn’t work. Now, our spokesperson for the State Department spoke out publicly from the podium of the State Department criticizing those people, you know, that move on Sunday, and we will continue to speak out. Our preference is obviously for democracy, for a full embrace of the freedom of the Cuban people to choose their future. And that’s what we’re—that’s what we stand for.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Also set to speak at the U.S. Embassy in Havana today is openly gay Cuban-American poet Richard Blanco, who read a poem at President Obama’s inauguration after the 2012 election. Cuban dissidents will not be at the flag-raising ceremony, but Kerry says he will meet with them separately this afternoon. The New York Times reports a second flag raising will take place at this reception, which will take place at the official residence of Jeffrey DeLaurentis, the top American diplomat in Cuba until an ambassador is nominated and confirmed. Republican presidential candidate and Florida Senator Marco Rubio called the decision not to invite dissidents to the embassy a, quote, "slap in the face." He said in a statement, quote, "Cuban dissidents are the legitimate representatives of the Cuban people and it is they who deserve America’s red carpet treatment, not Castro regime officials."
AMY GOODMAN: Meanwhile, on Thursday, Cuban revolutionary leader, former President Fidel Castro celebrated his 89th birthday. He met with two close allies—Bolivian President Evo Morales and the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro—as celebrations were held throughout the country.
SERGIO SUÁREZ: [translated] Our comandante has been a father for Cuba and the entire world. Historically, he has been a man, since he was born. Today he turns 89 years old. He has been an honest man. And all that he has done has been for the social well-being of Cuba and the rest of the world.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, for more, we go now to Havana, Cuba, where we’re joined by Dr. Carlos Alzugaray Treto, a former Cuban diplomat who served as ambassador to Belgium and Luxembourg, and head of the Cuban Mission to the European Union, scholar and writer, former Havana University professor. In Washington, D.C., we’re joined by Peter Kornbluh, who’s director of the Cuba Documentation Project at the National Security Archive at George Washington University, co-author of Back Channel to Cuba: The Hidden History of Negotiations Between Washington and Havana. Mother Jones has just published the epilogue to an updated version of the book, which includes the secret story of how President Obama used back-channel diplomacy to normalize diplomatic relations.
We welcome you both back to Democracy Now! Let’s begin, though, in Havana. If you, Carlos Alzugaray Treto, can talk about the reaction right now in Havana to this day of the U.S. Embassy raising the U.S. flag over the embassy for the first time in more than half a century?
CARLOS ALZUGARAY TRETO: Amy, thank you for having me. It’s great to be once more with Democracy Now!
I think that how we are looking at it is trying to get an answer to—the question is what kind of change this represents. Is this only a change of tactics to continue trying to overthrow the Cuban government by different means? I call it the Roberta Flack strategy—"killing me softly with your song." On the other hand, maybe what we are seeing is an important change of strategy by which the U.S. now is saying, "OK, there is a legitimate government in Cuba. Everybody in the world has normal relation with Cuba. We should go for that, because that’s how we best serve American interests in Cuba in terms of trade, exchanges, and even the interest of the Cuban-American community." I think that the American government, by sending Mr. Kerry to Cuba, who is not—he is an important political figure, to Cuba to raise the flag, I think that they are pointing in the second direction, the direction that they want a normal relationship with the Cuban government. And this is welcome news. I think—I mean, the flag could have been raised on July 20th. That was when the American Embassy started to become an embassy, the interest section became an embassy. They could have sent an undersecretary, but they preferred to say, "OK, let’s wait until Secretary Kerry’s very tight schedule permits for him to go to Havana and do it." And I think we appreciate in Cuba he is doing it.
This is—and I want to address the criticism from Marco Rubio—I think this is an eminently intergovernmental affair. And what this situation represents is that now, with the embassy, the relationship with the Cuban government, the American relationship with the Cuban government becomes at the center stage, which is how it should be with every country in the world. Embassies are accredited to the government of the country, not to the whole civil society. They have the right to talk to the civil society, but they don’t have the right to prioritize civil society, opposition civil society. That’s because, again, here is a difference on why the—how do we perceive civil society. But what is happening now is, in the past, the U.S. prioritized these so-called dissidents—I don’t like the name—and the Cuban government was not a legitimate government. Now, what they are saying: "Yes, the Cuban government is a legitimate government, and we have to talk to them." And that’s reasonable. That’s pragmatic. That’s the way to go, even though the differences will remain there.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Peter Kornbluh, I’d like to ask you—people tend to forget that when President Obama was running for president in 2008, he was criticized then, but talked about the need for the United States to talk with its traditional enemies, to negotiate with them. And now we’ve seen the breakthrough in terms of Iran and of, obviously, the situation in the change of relations with Cuba. You talk in your piece about the back-channel talks that went on, apparently for years, to get to the point that we are now. Could you talk about some of that, especially the role of Pope Francis? And you mention a group called the Trimpa Group that most Americans have not heard about.
PETER KORNBLUH: Well, let me just say, Juan, that I couldn’t agree with Carlos more. He is right on point when he says that John Kerry’s presence in Cuba today is an extraordinary, important gesture by the Obama administration. There’s a little nuance there, which is that Kerry had broken his leg. He had fallen off his bike in Europe and broken his leg, and he wanted to go to Cuba when he could actually walk down the Malecón or on a Cuban street, which he will be filmed doing, I believe, and so there was a delay in his ability to go, beyond his busy, busy schedule, which involved, of course, these very tense negotiations over an accord with Iran. And, of course, Barack Obama ran for president back in 2007, 2008, on a platform of having a dialogue with our closest of enemies, and at that point, Cuba and Iran, North Korea. He was basically saying, "Let’s, you know, engage rather than aggress." And he has really followed through on that.
And the secret history of his efforts to negotiate with Cuba is now coming out. We have an extensive piece, William LeoGrande and myself, in Mother Jones, the issue of September, that’s already arriving at subscribers’ houses and is online now at MotherJones.com. And it really tells the story of a commitment by a president, starting all the way back in 2010, when secret talks began with Hillary Clinton’s staff, two members, her top aides, meeting with Cuban diplomats for a two-year period in bars in New York City and hotels in Santo Domingo and in Haiti to talk about a prisoner exchange, how to deal with the issue of these Cuban spies that were in prison in the United States, how to get Alan Gross, this USAID development contractor, out of a Cuban jail and back to his family in Washington. Those talks did not result in that exchange, but Obama tasked two top aides at the White House in 2013, after he was re-elected, to move forward. These negotiations were deep back channel, and they really did involve some extraordinary kind of creative initiatives, including the artificial insemination of the wife of one of the spies as kind of a tone setter, if you will, to help these negotiations go forward. There was a whole effort—
AMY GOODMAN: This is one of the wives of the Cuban Five.
PETER KORNBLUH: Yes, one of the wives of the Cuban Five, Gerardo Hernández’s wife, Adriana Pérez. And that story hasn’t been fully told. The Cubans actually came to the State Department with a diplomatic note saying, "Could you help this woman get pregnant, as she approaches the age of 40, because we don’t see how her husband, who’s serving two life sentences for spying in the United States, is ever going to get out?" Of course, he did get out. And when he came back to Cuba on December 17th of last year, his wife made a public appearance. She was nine months pregnant. The world saw for the first time what had happened. And the story continues to come out of how the United States and Cuba negotiated that particular aspect of this ongoing dialogue. The pope got involved. The secret communications with him were extraordinary, circuitous. It’s a really fascinating story, but it gets down to one issue: the commitment on both sides to arrive at this point today, in which flags fly above the Cuban Embassy in Washington and the U.S. Embassy in Havana. They fly in what I like to say are the winds of change in the U.S. relationship with Cuba.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Peter, could you talk about the Trimpa Group and its role in this?
PETER KORNBLUH: Well, of course, you know, political change doesn’t come to Washington easily, and there’s all sorts of creative lobbying forces that go on here every day. And unknown to most people, an extraordinary Cuban-American woman, Patty Ebrahimi, who was in Cuba, and she was on a People-to-People delegation, and she was restricted from—she had grown up in Cuba, and she was restricted, even on this delegation, from going around, seeing her old house and going to find her old schoolmates. She happened to have resources and—her and her husband—donated money to the Trimpa Group, which is a Denver-based philanthropical/lobbying organization, which pairs kind of deep-pocketed donors who care about social issues with kind of a political strategy and a political effort to change social policy. And in this case, it was foreign policy. And she set out to support kind of efforts to lift the ban on travel to Cuba, which, by the way, is still in place and still needs to be lifted in its entirety.
And the Trimpa Group came to Washington. They became part of a network of advocacy groups who had been working on to change Cuba policy for many, many years—the Center for Democracy in the Americas, the Washington Office on Latin America, the Latin America Working Group—I mean, organizations here in Washington that have been working conscientiously to change this policy for many, many years. But, you know, with a new kind of player in town, a new strategy, access to the White House that money brings, there was a whole kind of set of initiatives that didn’t really push Obama to change his mind, but gave him the kind of political cover that he believed was needed in order to take this momentous step.
And to the credit of all the players involved—and they all deserve credit, and I hope we all give them credit in the new epilogue of our book, Back Channel to Cuba—this is an extraordinary story. We don’t see changes in intractable foreign policy issues like the one with Cuba very often. And this one is going to go down in history along with China, along with the rapprochement with the Soviet Union and détente with the Soviet Union. Détente in the Caribbean, finally, really marks, in some ways, the end of the Cold War overall, and hopefully a new beginning, not just in U.S.-Cuban relations, but for U.S. foreign policy overall.
AMY GOODMAN: Peter Kornbluh is co-author of Back Channel to Cuba, and we’re going to come back to him, as well as Dr. Carlos Alzugaray Treto, former Cuban diplomat, who is with us from Havana, where at the moment of this broadcast we are just about an hour away from the U.S. flag being raised by the three marines who 54 years ago took that flag down in the early days of the Eisenhower—in the final days of the Eisenhower administration. We’ll be back with them in a minute.
[break]
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González. Our guests on this historic day, when the U.S. Embassy raises the U.S. flag over its Havana embassy, are Dr. Carlos Alzugaray Treto, former Cuban diplomat—he is with us from Havana, and Peter Kornbluh, co-author of Back Channel to Cuba, is with us in Washington, D.C. We want to turn to two former Cuban revolutionary combatants who say socialism will live on in Cuba as the country normalizes relations with the United States.
JOSE BUAJASAN: [translated] We think rapprochement with the U.S. is a success of Cuban policies. They have been unable to destroy us. Now they will use the second lane, as they say. It’s fine. They will come here precisely using the economic problems we have. They will use them. Evidently, they will try to capture people. But we can also teach them many things.
ELADIO AGUIAR: [translated] We are prepared for that, for a long fight, and to finally overcome all these difficulties. Of course, we do not expect the U.S. to become a socialist country in the long run. Nor do we claim that, either. But they should at least learn to live civilly with us, who have never caused any harm to the U.S.
AMY GOODMAN: And former Cuban President Fidel Castro wrote in a newspaper column that the U.S. owes Cuba "millions of dollars" as reparations for its decades-long embargo. Fidel Castro wrote, quote, "Cuba is owed compensation equivalent to damages, which total many millions of dollars, as our country has stated with irrefutable arguments and data in all of its speeches at the United Nations." Let’s go back to Havana right now to Dr. Carlos Alzugaray Treto, former Cuban diplomat. If you can respond to what the former president, Fidel Castro, has said, the issue of reparations, and then the concerns of the former revolutionary combatants in Cuba?
CARLOS ALZUGARAY TRETO: Amy, I would like to pick up, before answering that, pick up where Peter left it. By the way, I congratulate Peter and Bill for their recent article in Mother Jones, excellent, as the book itself. The Obama administration is doing this with a small country, not with a big power like China and Russia. And this is significant. This gives to the Cuban victory a special flavor. We got the United States to accept that a small neighbor deserved to be treated that way. And when people compare previous visits, I was trying to search previous visits of secretaries of states to Cuba, and they’re very few—back in the '40s. It seems that the United States didn't consider Cuba an important diplomatic place where you would send the secretary of state. So, that’s why Kerry’s visit is important. The other point is that the most important American leader that came to Cuba before 1959 was Richard Nixon, when he came to Cuba during Batista’s regime, in practice, to legitimate an electoral fraud that Batista had carried out in 1954 to legitimize his coup d’état in 1952.
Having said that, I think that Fidel is right. I was—even at the beginning, I was one of the officials who was involved back in the 1990s to answer the question, how much the blockade, embargo, economic sanctions have cost Cuba over these many years. And we came up with this figure. I can tell you, the Cuban side has made a very serious study, without—let’s say, without overblowing the data. You must remember that there were 3,000—at least 3,000 Cubans killed by terrorist acts carried out by CIA-trained elements in the '60s. So, Cuba is right in demanding compensation for the damages caused, because, let's face it, the embargo, the so-called embargo, was carried out under the—and this is a direct quote from a State Department document—"to bring about hunger, desperation and the overthrow of the Cuban government," end of the quote. So, Cuba is right when they are demanding—when we are demanding that we be compensated for the damages that the embargo, the sanctions have caused to Cuba. That, of course, is part of something that we have to do when we start negotiating compensation for American properties. That’s our side of the issue.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Peter Kornbluh, I wanted to ask you—one part of this whole equation that’s not been part of the negotiations has been the status of Guantánamo. And the United States kept insisting, according to your article, that Guantánamo was not to be discussed in the process of normalization. Could you talk about Cuba’s position on Guantánamo?
PETER KORNBLUH: Well, if you look at the whole history of talks between the United States and Cuba, going all the way back to secret talks during the Kennedy administration, you see that when the secret negotiations became serious, U.S. officials put issues like compensation for expropriated properties and Guantánamo kind of at the bottom of the list, because they were the biggest and hardest issues to resolve. And during previous talks, there had been an idea that these issues had to be resolved before we could arrive at normal relations and normal diplomatic relations. That would be the ultimate moment after all these other issues were resolved. And to his credit, Barack Obama and his team basically said, "Let’s normalize diplomatic relations. And then, under the realm and under the kind of new umbrella of normal civil relations, let’s address these big issues, such as nationalized expropriated properties, such as Guantánamo." Those are both very difficult issues.
Guantánamo, obviously, will eventually be returned to Cuba, because it is Cuban sovereign property. Some people here in the United States say we should just, you know, leave the base and leave the torture center there and give it to Cuba and let them deal with this problem. They probably will deal with it much more effectively than we have. But Cuba will be returned to Cuba the same way the Panama Canal Zone was returned to Panama. It’s Cuban property. It’s still kind of a sore, festering issue for the region to see the United States occupying that particular part of Cuba. What Raúl Castro has said repeatedly is, "For us to have truly normal relations with the United States, we obviously need to be able to exercise control over our sovereign property of Guantánamo." So, eventually that will happen, but it’s not going to happen anytime soon. I’m glad that the two sides didn’t decide they had to resolve this issue before we arrived at today. And I think it will be easier to resolve over the course of three or four or five years in the future, depending on who the next president of the United States is, under this new kind of regime of better relations that the two countries now have.
AMY GOODMAN: It’s always astounded me that—what the U.S. has done with Guantánamo, because the U.S. has criticized Cuba for not being democratic, and yet they have this sort of beachhead there, and what do they use it for? A showcase of democracy? They use it for more than a decade now to hold well over a hundred—actually, hundreds of men. Many of them have been cleared for release. A number of them have been tortured by U.S. soldiers. That’s what they’re showing the people of Cuba a government should really be doing. It’s quite something.
PETER KORNBLUH: And, of course, Secretary Kerry will raise the issue today when he meets privately with Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez about the situation of human rights in Cuba. And I’m sure that Foreign Minister Rodríguez will say, "Well, there’s a human rights issue right down the road there at Guantánamo, which you’re involved in and you need to address."
But the point is that these discussions are now going to take place in a much more formal way, hopefully under a different kind of framework of relations. And I’m waiting for the day when Carlos Alzugaray and other Cuban officials there are able to basically have the confidence that the United States is no longer involved in regime change efforts towards Cuba. I think that’s going to take time. It depends who the next president of the United States is, how fast that moves forward. But I think that the Obama administration is saying again and again, "We are no longer in the business of regime change in Cuba."
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Carlos Alzugaray, I’d like to ask you about the domestic impact of these changes in Cuba. Obviously, after Raúl Castro succeeded Fidel as president, there was a move toward liberalization of the economy. What do you think you would see as the potential changes in the Cuban revolution and in the Cuban socialist model in the coming years?
CARLOS ALZUGARAY TRETO: I see three major transformations taking place in Cuba at the—right now, at the same time, although the three of them began at different moments. First is the economic transformation, as you pointed out. The economic transformation requires political changes, because you will have decentralization in the economy, in general, and you will have a larger nonstate sector. So these two changes will lead to political changes to adapt the political system to the way that the economy works. But at the same time, Raúl Castro, in different locations, has said, "We have to advance in our democracy. We have to have a better democracy, a more consistent democracy. I invite everybody to disagree." And he has even said the best decision comes out of a broad and profound discussion of different policy options. You cannot have anything more democratic than that. And at the same time, there is this transformation which is the normalization of relations between Cuba and the United States.
But remember—and this is something that people have to not confuse—the political changes in Cuba began before. For example, 2013, there was an immigration reform. The immigration reform allows now every Cuban to travel outside Cuba whenever they want with only a passport. This is a major change, a very important change. Secondly, there is an opening of the public space, the introduction of TeleSUR as one of the television companies that is watched in Cuba, but also Internet. Internet now is—well, the Cuban government has pledged to provide for every Cuban home Internet by 2020 at an affordable price. Now, all these things are happening not because the United States is pushing or pressing Cuba to do that; it’s because there is a political will inside the government to do this. If the government of Cuba would be in a difficult position, it wouldn’t have launched these three major transformations. This is the reflection of a government that is sure of what they are doing. And I think most Cubans are happy with that. We are trying to do it. I work for a journal that has a public debate every month on public issues. We discuss practically everything that is in the minds of Cubans. And if you go to Facebook, you go to Twitter, you have more and more Cubans who are revolutionary, who are socialist, and yet they don’t hesitate to criticize the government for its policies. This is the normal way of doing.
This could not be done in the past, because we were under siege. That siege, I don’t think—and Peter’s and Bill’s book proves it—I don’t think you can ever emphasize how much the United States did to bring about a regime change in the '60s and even in the ’70s. That started to change a little bit with the Carter administration, but the United States was back at it in the ’80s. There was a head of the interest section in Cuba who came here and spent a month meeting with dissidents and people of the opposition—again, I don't like the term—and he didn’t even go to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to introduce himself to the Cuban government. That’s not the normal diplomatic procedure. The first thing that any ambassador or envoy does is go to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and say, "I am here. I am here to work for better relations." That’s what should from now on.
AMY GOODMAN: And, of course, there were the repeated attempts to kill, the U.S. government involved with, the CIA involved with the attempts to assassinate Fidel Castro. Now, Fidel Castro visited the United States in 1959 and actually met with then-Vice President Richard Nixon before diplomatic relations were cut off in 1961. Now, there’s some talk that Fidel’s brother, President Raúl Castro, could come to the United States. And I wanted to ask you: Will he be coming to the United States? There’s talk also that Kerry being in Havana is setting the stage for President Obama to go to Cuba before the end of his term.
CARLOS ALZUGARAY TRETO: I don’t discard that that might happen. I don’t think it will happen soon. But that’s an interesting question. One interesting thing about Raúl Castro is that he doesn’t attend very many international events. He rather likes to be here in Cuba working for the changes that are taking place. He is not a big traveler, if you compare him with Fidel or with some other heads of state who travel a lot. He likes to be here. And that’s good, because the perception is that he’s taking care of the problems we have, which are big.
If President Obama comes to Cuba, I think he will be welcome, as we are welcoming the pope. We have welcomed two popes, and now a third pope is coming in September. The president of France was here. So, that—those are possibilities. But in my view as an—let’s say, an elder diplomat, is that it will take some time. But it would be good for both sides to start normalizing relations, and visits of heads of state are part of a normalized relation, even though, one must say, heads of state visit friendly countries, not unfriendly countries.
AMY GOODMAN: And, Peter Kornbluh, yes, the pope is going to be coming to the United States, but first he’s going to Cuba in September.
PETER KORNBLUH: The pope is going to Cuba. There will be quite a bit of coverage. I think you’re going to get a sense today, of all the coverage of Kerry’s trip, of the visuals that are involved. Then the pope is going, and then it will be massive coverage of that. And he will certainly talk about the embargo and the need to lift the embargo, when he’s in Cuba. But then he’s going to come to the United States, and I’m sure he’ll kind of give his blessing to those advocates who are pushing in Congress to lift the embargo and truly normalize U.S. commercial, economic ties with Cuba.
But I think that on the private agenda of John Kerry in his meeting this afternoon with the foreign minister of Cuba, Bruno Rodríguez, after the flag is raised—I think on that agenda is a discussion of the conditions and circumstances and logistics of a presidential visit to Cuba early next year. Barack Obama has not only made no secret that he’s interested in going to Cuba, but he’s kind of gone out of his way to have his spokesman plant the idea that he wants to go and, in some ways, intends to go. He understands that his going to Cuba would create visuals of normalcy, of diplomatic interaction, of a head-of-state visit, just like Carlos pointed out, like other heads of states go to Cuba, that will consolidate these changes and add momentum and pressure to fully normalize trade relations, lift the embargo, lift the travel ban with Cuba. This is part of his legacy to have a Nixon-in-China moment in Cuba. It will certainly be extraordinary for the Cubans and for the American public to see their president on that beautiful island.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, we want to thank you both for being with us, Dr. Carlos Alzugaray Treto, speaking to us from Havana, Cuba, former Cuban diplomat, and Peter Kornbluh in Washington, D.C., author of Back Channel to Cuba: The Hidden History of Negotiations Between Washington and Havana.
This is Democracy Now! When we come back, the case of Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning. Stay with us.
Britain Challenges Julian Assange's Asylum in Ecuadorean Embassy as Sweden Vows to Continue Inquiry
Britain has announced plans to challenge Ecuador’s decision to provide asylum to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in its London embassy, saying the $18 million price tag for policing the Ecuadorean Embassy during Assange’s residency is "unacceptable" to the British taxpayer. In response, Ecuador’s Foreign Ministry released a statement saying it is saddened Assange’s confinement has lasted so long, adding that its government had offered "31 times" to facilitate an "open judicial process" in Sweden. This comes just a day after Swedish prosecutors dropped part of their sexual assault inquiry against Assange, but the most serious part of the probe remains in place even though he has never been formally charged. Assange has been holed up in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London for three years, where he’s received political asylum. He fears he will be extradited to the United States to face prosecution for his role at WikiLeaks if he leaves the embassy. We are joined by Carey Shenkman, a First Amendment and human rights lawyer. He, along with Michael Ratner and the Center for Constitutional Rights, is representing WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Britain has announced plans to challenge Ecuador’s decision to provide asylum to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in its London embassy. On Thursday, Hugo Swire of the British Foreign Office said in a statement, quote, "Ecuador must recognize that its decision to harbor Mr. Assange more than three years ago has prevented the proper course of justice." Swire also said the $18 million price tag for policing the Ecuadorean Embassy during Assange’s residency is, quote, "unacceptable" to the British taxpayers. In response, Ecuador’s Foreign Ministry released a statement saying it is saddened Assange’s confinement has lasted so long, adding that its government had offered "31 times" to facilitate an "open judicial process" in Sweden. The statement noted, quote, that Ecuador "deplores the continued inaction of British and Swedish authorities over almost 1,000 days."
AMY GOODMAN: This comes just a day after Swedish prosecutors dropped part of the sexual assault inquiry against Assange, but the most serious part of the probe remains in place even though he has never been formally charged. The announcement was made as the statute of limitations ran out on three parts of the investigation. On Thursday, Julian Assange’s Swedish attorney, Thomas Olsson, welcomed the news but criticized how the prosecutors have handled the case.
THOMAS OLSSON: [translated] The decision was expected, since the statute of limitation has run out. But, of course, it’s deeply regrettable that it has come this far, and it raises a whole lot of questions about how the prosecution has dealt with the case. ... The reason we’re in this situation is that the prosecutors haven’t, for several years, accepted Julian Assange’s offer to be interviewed at the embassy, and no reasonable reason has been given for their position. According to the defense, this preliminary investigation should have been closed, in all its parts, a long time ago, and we’re convinced this would have been the case if the prosecutors would have carried out the interrogation and heard Julian Assange’s version.
AMY GOODMAN: Julian Assange has been holed up in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London for more than three years, where he has received political asylum. He fears, though, if he were to return to Sweden for questioning, that he would be extradited to the United States to face prosecution for his role as WikiLeaks founder, if he leaves the Ecuadorean Embassy. Both Ecuador and Sweden accuse the other of delaying a possible Swedish police interview with Assange inside the embassy. Sweden has never charged him with any crime.
For more, we’re joined now by Carey Shenkman, First Amendment and human rights lawyer who, along with Michael Ratner and the Center for Constitutional Rights, is representing WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange
Carey, can you explain the latest? First, that a number of the—you can’t say charges against Assange have been dropped—
CAREY SHENKMAN: Right.
AMY GOODMAN: —because he’s never been charged.
CAREY SHENKMAN: That’s right.
AMY GOODMAN: But that these charges—that the allegations have expired.
CAREY SHENKMAN: That’s right. So, I want to take a little step back, because I think, doing a lot of these interviews—and it’s always tough for us on the legal team to communicate this case because, just as you pointed out, Amy and Juan, it’s so complicated. You have Sweden. You have the U.K. You have Ecuador. You have the United States. You have Assange, who’s been in an embassy for over three years. This situation is completely unprecedented. But I think, actually, this case is very simple. And the reason it’s simple is because Assange has been offering a simple solution for nearly five years. And that is, one, question him. He has been saying for years to the Swedish prosecutor, while in Sweden and then upon going to the U.K., joined now by Swedish courts, U.K., Ecuador, to come question him. So that’s one. Two—
AMY GOODMAN: And these are around issues of allegations of sexual assault. In the case of the allegations of one woman—there were two women—one has been dropped entirely now?
CAREY SHENKMAN: That’s right. That’s right.
AMY GOODMAN: And now, a more serious charge of sexual assault is continuing, the inquiry is continuing, though he has not been charged. I mean, the allegation.
CAREY SHENKMAN: He hasn’t been charged. So, like I said, first, he has been asking to be questioned, and the prosecutor has firmly refused to do so. And second, he has been asking for a simple promise from the U.K. and Sweden: to promise not to extradite him to the United States, where he faces the most unprecedented attempt to prosecute him in U.S. history under the Espionage Act.
Now, yesterday the United Kingdom made a statement criticizing Ecuador, basically blaming them for the situation, which was completely outrageous, because Ecuador has every right to give Assange asylum. The institution of asylum is as old as civilization itself. And the U.K. and Sweden both, in fact, recognize diplomatic asylum, when it benefits them. There’s precedent for this. So it’s outrageous for them to say that they don’t recognize his asylum.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: But what are the implications now for his possible freedom in the future, in terms of this last remaining allegation that still must have a run of its statute of limitations?
CAREY SHENKMAN: Right. Well, our position is—all along has been that this allegation needs to be dropped, once and for all. And it was positive that three of the four dropped yesterday, but that wasn’t because of anything the prosecutor did. It was because the prosecutor was literally forced to. And that’s been the trend in this case. Every bit of progress has been the prosecutor being forced either by a court, now by a time limit. But the Swedish courts were criticizing the prosecutor—that was nine months ago. They were asking, "What are you doing with this case? What are you doing with this case?" That’s when there were four allegations. And now there’s just one.
Ultimately, this case is about the United States. And like I said, there is an active and ongoing national security prosecution against Assange and WikiLeaks on account of publication of classified material since 2010. This was confirmed just in March by a U.S. federal court. And it’s been widely criticized by free speech and human rights organizations. Actually, just this last year, over 50 organizations criticized the Justice Department for continuing the investigation, because it threatens the very freedom of the press. So going after WikiLeaks would set a precedent that would have devastating effects on the newsgathering process and First Amendment freedoms.
Chelsea Manning Faces Solitary Confinement for Having Vanity Fair's Caitlyn Jenner Issue in Her Cell
U.S. Army whistleblower Chelsea Manning could face punishment of indefinite solitary confinement for having an expired tube of toothpaste, an issue of Vanity Fair in which transgender celebrity Caitlyn Jenner describes her new life living openly as a woman, the U.S. Senate report on torture and other "prohibited property" in her cell at the military prison at Fort Leavenworth. Manning is serving a 35-year sentence for leaking U.S. government cables to WikiLeaks. On Thursday, an Army spokesperson said it is committed to "a fair and equitable process" in Manning’s case, which is now pending before a disciplinary board.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: I also want to ask you about U.S. Army whistleblower Chelsea Manning. It was five years ago that she was arrested in Kuwait, charged with leaking classified information. Weeks later, WikiLeaks published tens of thousands of internal logs from the war in Afghanistan. Manning was sentenced to 35 years in jail.
Now lawyers for Manning say she could face punishment of indefinite solitary confinement for having an expired tube of toothpaste and an issue of Vanity Fair that features transgender celebrity athlete Caitlyn Jenner describing her new life as a woman, the U.S. Senate report on torture and other "prohibited property" in her cell at the military prison at Fort Leavenworth. When The Guardian newspaper inquired why these publications are considered violations of prison rules, it received no response. Manning is also accused of, quote, "showing disrespect" for asking to see her lawyer in a discussion with a prison officer. Manning is serving a 35-year sentence for leaking U.S. government cables to WikiLeaks. And on Thursday, an Army spokesperson said it’s committed to, quote, "a fair and equitable process" in Manning’s case, which is now pending before a disciplinary board.
Can you explain? An expired tube of toothpaste—she’s at Fort Leavenworth—and the Vanity Fair issue of Caitlyn Jenner?
CAREY SHENKMAN: It’s really outrageous that Manning is being threatened with what’s been recognized as torture—there’s an international consensus that indefinite solitary confinement is torture—for books and toothpaste. I mean, come on. This is so outrageous. Our hearts go out to Manning. As you pointed out, there’s a review on August 18th, and Manning has an outstanding defense team that can hopefully deal with this, but the fact that this is even being considered is completely unacceptable—and, I think, also confirms the fears all along of Assange being extradited to the United States. I mean, we saw during the court-martial of Chelsea Manning that there were continuous attempts to link Manning to Assange under a conspiracy theory. In fact, Assange’s name was brought up over 20 times in some arguments alone. So, we see this over and over. And Juan Méndez, the U.N. expert on torture, found that Manning was subject to inhumane treatment while in U.S. custody, and Manning actually got a sentencing credit as a result of that.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: I mean, what are the rules, in terms of—especially of literature? I would assume that if literature comes into the prison, it has to be reviewed, if it comes in the mail, by prison authorities before Manning would even get this literature. So, do you know what the rules are?
CAREY SHENKMAN: I mean, based on the reports I’ve read, the Vanity Fair came through like normal mail. There’s no reason, it seemed, to do this. In fact, Manning was asking for a lawyer when these charges happened. So, it’s really unacceptable. This is, like I said—
AMY GOODMAN: Do you see these cases as intimately linked, the cases of Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning?
CAREY SHENKMAN: In the perception of the U.S. government, absolutely. I mean, Manning is an alleged source of WikiLeaks, and one of the major theories in the Manning case was trying to link Assange to Manning. So we see, I think, based on what’s happening now with Manning and a risk of torture, Assange has every right to fear being extradited to the United States.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, Carey Shenkman, of course, we’ll continue to follow both of these cases. Carey Shenkman is a First Amendment and human rights lawyer, working along with Michael Ratner and the Center for Constitutional Rights, representing WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
And that does it for our show. A very fond farewell to our beloved senior news producer Renée Feltz. Her humility, her brilliance, her dogged determination to unmask the truth have made Democracy Now! a better news organization. Renée, we look forward to future collaborations with you sitting at the table bringing us your invaluable reports.
Headlines:
John Kerry Arrives in Havana as U.S. Raises Flag at Embassy in Cuba
Today the United States and Cuba are taking the next step in restoring diplomatic relations with each other. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Havana this morning to attend a ceremony marking the reopening of the U.S. Embassy there. Joining him are three marines who lowered the flag at the embassy in 1961, when the U.S. cut off ties to Cuba after Fidel Castro toppled the U.S.-backed government of Fulgencio Batista in 1959. These same marines will raise the flag over the embassy. We’ll have more on Cuba after headlines.
Greece Passes Terms of Bailout as Dissent Inside Syriza Party Grows
The Greek Parliament passed a $95 billion bailout deal around daybreak this morning after a contentious all-night debate. The draft terms of the agreement include harsh austerity measures. It does not include any debt relief. The program passed by a wide margin. But Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras faced a growing rebellion within his own left-leaning Syriza party, which came to power promising to fight against austerity. Nearly a third of Syriza lawmakers voted against the bill, including former Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, who blasted the vote as "humiliating" and "non-viable." Officials say Tsipras is planning to hold a vote of confidence next week, and some suspect the government could be toppled. One of the dissenting Syriza lawmakers criticized his own party during the debate.
Syriza lawmaker Panagiotis Lafazanis: "And what is the Syriza-Independent Greek coalition government doing? After all the anti-austerity struggles they led, they are now introducing another lovely bailout. So what kind of government is this, where whatever the Greek people vote for, no matter what they fight for, or what the outcome of referendums is, yet still the bailouts always win? It has a name: the annulment of democracy, the dictatorship of the eurozone over the neo-colony called Greece."
Meanwhile, the terms of Greece’s bailout, which will be the third in five years, are also facing growing criticism from European institutions, who say they have "serious concerns" about Greece’s long-term sustainability. In a new analysis, both the European Commission and the European Central Bank advocate for debt relief measures, which have been opposed by Germany.
NYC: Dozens Protest Hedge Funds’ Role in Puerto Rico Debt Crisis
Meanwhile, Nobel laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz has spoken out about Puerto Rico’s debt crisis, as dozens protested in New York City in the latest action against hedge funds that have bought up the island’s debt. In an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, Stiglitz compared the crisis in Puerto Rico to that in Greece, writing, "Greece chose to join the eurozone; Puerto Rico never chose to become an unincorporated U.S. territory. ... [T]he U.S. must take responsibility for its imperialist past and neocolonial present." At a protest Thursday outside the Manhattan offices of hedge fund Paulson & Co., protesters echoed the call for the United States to acknowledge the role of colonialism in Puerto Rico’s debt crisis.
Lurdes Garcia: "Puerto Rico has an economic crisis, with the $72 billion debt that is being charged to Puerto Rico, to the people, despite Puerto Rico being a colony of the United States, and the debt is owed to U.S. corporations. We’re here to protest the actions of shareholders, such as Paulson, who is one of the major shareholders taking money from Puerto Rico today."
Britain to Challenge Ecuador’s Asylum for WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange
Britain has announced plans to challenge Ecuador’s decision to provide asylum to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in its London embassy. On Thursday, Hugo Swire of the British Foreign Office said in a statement: "Ecuador must recognize that its decision to harbor Mr. Assange more than three years ago has prevented the proper course of justice." In response, Ecuador’s Foreign Ministry released a statement saying it is saddened Assange’s confinement has lasted so long, adding that its government had offered "31 times" to facilitate an "open judicial process" in Sweden. This comes just a day after Swedish prosecutors dropped part of their sexual assault inquiry against Assange, but the most serious part of the probe remains in place, although he has never been charged with a crime. We’ll have more on Julian Assange later in the broadcast.
Shinzo Abe Expresses "Profound Grief" over Japan’s Actions in WWII
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has expressed "profound grief" over Japan’s actions in World War II, echoing apologies made by previous Japanese leaders. Abe’s remarks were closely watched by China and South Korea, which endured Japanese occupation and colonial rule. As Japan marks 70 years since its surrender following the U.S. nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Abe pledged Japan would never wage a war again.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe: "We must never again repeat the devastation of war. Aggression, war — we shall never again resort to any form of threat or use of force as a means of settling international disputes. We shall abandon colonial rule forever and respect the right of self-determination of all peoples throughout the world."
Despite his remarks, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has pushed for a rewriting of Japan’s pacifist constitution to allow Japanese troops to fight abroad for the first time since World War II.
Germany Sees Increasing Number of Hate Crimes Against Migrants
In Germany, migrants are experiencing an increasing number of hate crimes. In the first half of this year, the Interior Ministry recorded more than 200 attacks on the housing of refugees, including arson and vandalism. Activist groups say there have also been nearly 50 attacks on individual migrants. Nearly 180,000 people have applied for asylum in Germany this year, many of them Syrians. The interior minister has called the pattern of crimes "unacceptable."
German Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière: "At the same time, we also know that there is a growing number of attacks against asylum seekers and institutions for asylum seekers, less so in Eisenhüttenstadt, but in other places. That is incomprehensible, unacceptable and undignified for our country. We will work against this with all the strength of the rule of law and political power that we have."
Texas: African-American Transwoman Shade Schuler Found Murdered
In news from Texas, police are investigating the murder of Shade Schuler, a 22-year-old African-American transwoman. Her decomposed body was discovered in late July in a field in northeast Dallas. It has taken police two weeks to identify her. Schuler is at least the 13th transgender woman to be murdered this year.
Ohio: Chilling Video Shows Ralkina Jones Before Death in Jail Cell
In news from Ohio, a new video has surfaced of 37-year-old African-American woman Ralkina Jones pleading with Cleveland jail authorities to administer her medication only hours before she was found dead in her cell. Jones was arrested after a dispute with her ex-husband in late July. When she entered jail, she told authorities she needed to take her three medications: the generic version of the sedative Xanax, the ADHD medicine Adderall and an anti-epilepsy drug. She was found dead in her cell two days later. In the video released Tuesday, Ralkina Jones tells a jail guard it’s important for her to have her medication administered correctly because "I don’t want to die in your cell."
Ralkina Jones: "I’m not asking any exception to any rules. But I will tell you this: I don’t want to die in your cell."
Jail authority: "Are you going to have a seizure, or are you taking medication, or what — what’s going on?"
Ralkina Jones: "I haven’t had my medication, one. Two, I have a brain injury."
California Bans Secret Grand Juries and Affirms Right to Film Police
California Governor Jerry Brown has signed into law two measures on police accountability introduced earlier this year. The first measure bans the use of secret grand juries in deciding whether to indict police officers who kill people while on active duty. The second measure affirms people’s right to film the police. Other measures such as the use of police body cameras are stalled in the state Legislature.
Connecticut Supreme Court Rules Capital Punishment Unconstitutional
Meanwhile, the Connecticut Supreme Court has declared the death penalty unconstitutional. In 2012, the governor signed legislation abolishing the death penalty in the state. But the law exempted prisoners who were already on death row. On Thursday, the state’s Supreme Court ruled 4-3 in favor of arguments that executions carried out after the abolition of the death penalty represent cruel and unusual punishment. The decision spares the lives of 11 people currently on death row.
Ecuador: Indigenous Groups Protest President Correa’s 4th Term Bid
In Ecuador, indigenous groups organized nationwide strikes and demonstrations Thursday to protest President Rafael Correa’s efforts to change the constitution so he can seek a fourth term in office. Groups blocked the Pan-American Highway and other major roads, as labor unions refused to work. A leader of the protests spoke out.
Julio César Pilalumbo, president of the Cotopaxi Indigenous Movement: "We will continue to fight indefinitely. We will defend ourselves. This has been resistance. And today we have come together under the flag of struggle, the flag of resistance."
Paraguay: 11-Year-Old Girl, Denied Abortion After Rape, Gives Birth
Meanwhile, in Paraguay, an 11-year-old girl has given birth after she was denied an abortion at 10 years old. Her pregnancy drew international attention after Paraguay, which bans abortion except in cases that endanger the life of the mother, refused to allow her to have the procedure. Her stepfather has been accused of raping the girl, resulting in the pregnancy.
Children’s Show Sesame Street to Air on HBO for Next Five Seasons
Back in the United States, the nonprofit behind the beloved children’s show "Sesame Street" has announced it will be airing the program on the premium cable pay-TV network HBO for the next five years. HBO will exclusively air all new shows for nine months of each year, after which they can be run on PBS, which has been home to the show for the last 45 years. Critics have raised concerns the deal means low-income families without HBO will no longer have the same access to the educational program that has raised generations in the United States.
Former VP Al Gore Considering Possible 2016 Presidential Bid
In news from the campaign trail, former vice President Al Gore is reportedly considering joining the 2016 presidential race. Gore lost the 2000 election to George W. Bush, despite winning the popular vote. The speculation about a potential run in 2016 surfaces as both Democratic and Republican candidates are soapboxing at the Iowa State Fair today and into the weekend.
21 Young People Sue Obama Administration over Climate Change
And 21 young people in the United States have sued the Obama Administration over climate change. The federal lawsuit argues climate change violates the public trust doctrine, which requires the government to protect resources essential to the survival of future generations. In the suit, the 21 youths demand the court order federal agencies to develop a plan to decrease concentrations of carbon in the atmosphere to 350 parts per million by the year 2100. Renowned climate scientist James Hansen, who is a co-plaintiff on the suit, argues that it is essential to reduce carbon levels to this target in order to avoid the most catastrophic impacts of climate change.
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