News
USA Must End with Double Standards, Priest Says in South Africa
The US double-standard policy, especially in issues as antiterrorism and regarding Cuba, was questioned today by a South African personality, who said he still keeps hopes for real change.
Source
Prensa Latina
Date
The US double-standard policy, especially in issues as antiterrorism and regarding Cuba, was questioned today by a South African personality, who said he still keeps hopes for real change.
In an exclusive interview with Prensa Latina, Father Michael Lapsley recalled that during his recent visit to South Africa, U.S. President Barack Obama visited the Robben Island prison, where Nelson Mandela spent 18 of 27 years he was imprisoned.
'He had words of admiration and praise, but neither said anything, and the worst thing, media either mentioned the maintenance in prison of torture in the Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, a portion of Cuban territory illegally occupied,' he argued.
Father Michael, as he is popularly known, was the object of an attack with a letter bomb in 1990 and as a result of that, he lost both hands, one eye was injured, and received severe burns to his body.
His only crime was to support the cause of the African National Congress against the apartheid, for the rights of children in Soweto and for the release of Nelson Mandela.
'After the September 11 attack, U.S. people's rights were extremely limited and the fear of possible terrorist attacks was instilled. With these manipulations, many cases have been handled, including the relationship with Cuba,' the priest said.
He said that he visited in March Gerardo Hernandez, one of the Cuban Five, who remains at a high security prison in the United States, for a crime he did not commit.
Gerardo is an exceptional person, and has spent 15 years in prison with a sentence of two life terms. His companions Antonio (Guerrero), Ramon (Labañino) and Fernando (Gonzalez) continue inmates, while Rene (Gonzalez) was already released, he said.
Lapsley, current director of the Institute for Healing of Memories, an entity devoted to heal the wounds of the South African opprobrious past, stressed that Washington has distorted things not only with the Five, but also with Cuba.
Responding a question from Prensa Latina about the upcoming UN General Assembly that will vote again by an overwhelming majority against the economic blockade imposed by Washington on Havana, the priest said the U.S. isolation is obvious.
In an exclusive interview with Prensa Latina, Father Michael Lapsley recalled that during his recent visit to South Africa, U.S. President Barack Obama visited the Robben Island prison, where Nelson Mandela spent 18 of 27 years he was imprisoned.
'He had words of admiration and praise, but neither said anything, and the worst thing, media either mentioned the maintenance in prison of torture in the Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, a portion of Cuban territory illegally occupied,' he argued.
Father Michael, as he is popularly known, was the object of an attack with a letter bomb in 1990 and as a result of that, he lost both hands, one eye was injured, and received severe burns to his body.
His only crime was to support the cause of the African National Congress against the apartheid, for the rights of children in Soweto and for the release of Nelson Mandela.
'After the September 11 attack, U.S. people's rights were extremely limited and the fear of possible terrorist attacks was instilled. With these manipulations, many cases have been handled, including the relationship with Cuba,' the priest said.
He said that he visited in March Gerardo Hernandez, one of the Cuban Five, who remains at a high security prison in the United States, for a crime he did not commit.
Gerardo is an exceptional person, and has spent 15 years in prison with a sentence of two life terms. His companions Antonio (Guerrero), Ramon (Labañino) and Fernando (Gonzalez) continue inmates, while Rene (Gonzalez) was already released, he said.
Lapsley, current director of the Institute for Healing of Memories, an entity devoted to heal the wounds of the South African opprobrious past, stressed that Washington has distorted things not only with the Five, but also with Cuba.
Responding a question from Prensa Latina about the upcoming UN General Assembly that will vote again by an overwhelming majority against the economic blockade imposed by Washington on Havana, the priest said the U.S. isolation is obvious.