"13 de Marzo" massacre

[ReD_ReBeL]

i want an intelligent answer not just some1 slating this as 'US propaghanda but a full explanation please. I have found this article on loads of sources and if this is true, it is utterly dissgusting.
This is just a short article but if you want to look it fully just type it in google.


In the early morning hours of July 13, 1994 the tugboat "13 de Marzo" was attacked by agents of the Cuban government. They repeatedly rammed the tug, used high pressure water hoses on the victims, and sank the ship killing at least 41 men, women, and children seven miles off the coast of Havana, Cuba.

Nearly two years later on October 16, 1996 the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights concluded that the Cuban government was responsible for the deaths of the 41 people shipwrecked on the tug "13 de Marzo", the emotional trauma of the relatives of the victims and survivors who lost loved ones. The Commission also noted that the Cuban government had refused to recover the bodies or allow others to recover them for proper burial by their families.

[ReD_ReBeL]

come on 29 views and no reply, can anybody give me a logical explanation of this so called "13 de marzo" massacre?

[Andy Bowden]

The Cuban Govt maintains that it was dockworkers - and not the coastguard - that attacked the stolen Tugboat 13 de Marzo. The only evidence for a conspiracy comes from 2 survivors - one who remained anonymous, who was picked up by the assailing boats who maintains the crew were not dockworkers as some of them were "seasick", and another Sergio Perodin Perez, who said he believed that tugboats were being coordinated "by radio" - quite how he found that out is a mystery. :blink:

In any case, a few days after the incident the Cuban Govt stopped intercepting any escaping boats making an alleged attack on the 13 de Marzo by them pretty pointless.

The most likely explanation is that after the 13 De Marzo was stolen, the dockworkers pursued it and were far too heavy handed in trying to stop it.


The Cuban Govt has arrangements with the USA for legal emigration from Cuba, it is the US that has not provided visas in sufficient quantities - encouraging illegal acts like this as prelude to any possible hostility against Cuba.

[Atlas Swallowed]

All that I have seen has been the testimony of one survivor. If the plan was to murder them, why were any rescued? Would it not be more effective just to shoot them? Sounds more like incompetance as opposed to murder?

[Andy Bowden]

This is a good point AS, the witnesses say high-powered hoses were used - if the plan was to kill them all to dissuade Cubans, surely gunboats or attack helicopters would have been more efficient?

[metalero]

I just read the file case (http://www.cidh.oas.org/annualrep/96eng/Cuba11436.htm) against the Cuban state in the Interamerican comission of human rights office of OAS (Organization of American States, historically used by US to fullfill imperialist agenda on Latin America through buorgoise law). At the end, unsurprisingly, they held Cuba responsible for the "massacre" of the "13 of marzo" tugboat, but it is really interesting to analyze the arguments from both parties, judge by yourself:

Petitioners:

"On July 13, 1994, at approximately 3:00 a.m., 72 Cuban nationals who were attempting to leave the island for the United States put out to sea from the port of Havana in an old tugboat named "13 de Marzo". The boat used for the escape belonged to the Maritime Services Enterprise of the Ministry of Transportation.
According to eyewitnesses who survived the disaster, no sooner had the tug "13 de Marzo" set off from the Cuban port than two boats from the same state enterprise began pursuing it. About 45 minutes into the trip, when the tug was seven miles away from the Cuban coast--in a place known as "La Poceta"--two other boats belonging to said enterprise appeared, equipped with tanks and water hoses, proceeded to attack the old tug. "Polargo 2," one of the boats belonging to the Cuban state enterprise, blocked the old tug "13 de Marzo" in the front, while the other, "Polargo 5," attacked from behind, splitting the stern. The two other government boats positioned themselves on either side and sprayed everyone on deck with pressurized water, using their hoses.
The pleas of the women and children on the deck of the tug "13 de Marzo" did nothing to stop the attack. The boat sank, with a toll of 41 dead. Many people perished because the jets of water directed at everyone on deck forced them to seek refuge in the engine room. The survivors also affirmed that the crews of the four Cuban government boats were dressed in civilian clothes and that they did not help them when they were sinking.
Later, Cuban Coast Guard cutters arrived and rescued 31 survivors. After being rescued, the survivors were taken to the Cuban Coast guard post of Jaimanitas, which is located west of Havana. From there, they were taken to the Villa Marista Detention Center, which also serves as State Security Headquarters. The women and children were released and the men were held. "

Cuban State:

They tried to prevent the departure, and the boat they took, the stolen boat even collided with one of the boats that was trying to prevent it from leaving, there at the entrance to the bay, and this tug and the others kept trying somehow to stop the tug, to prevent it from being stolen. The Coast Guard, informed later, received instructions to go to the place were these events were taking place, but it all happened very quickly.
We know exactly what happened: one boat positioned itself in front to try to slow the speed, another boat positioned itself behind, and another boat went to the side, but none of the crews had the intention of sinking that boat. They were attempting something very difficult, actually, that is, to stop a boat. All of this happened at night, on a dark night, in rough seas; in these conditions there were trying to stop it until the Coast Guard patrol boats arrived. This is how the accident happened: the one that went behind collided with the stern--and sailors and everyone who knows anything about the sea will realize that this is perfectly possible--of the stolen tug, the one that had been taken, with the 13 de Marzo, and that is how the collision occurred that led to the sinking; that's how it was; it was really an accident, and this was thoroughly investigated by the authorities, the Ministry of the Interior investigated and there was not the slightest intention to sink the boat. What are we going to do with those workers who did not want them to steal their boat, who made a truly patriotic effort, we might say, to stop them from stealing the boat? What are we going to say to them? Listen, let them steal the boat, don't worry about the boat, and they went out to try--even though it was not their job--to keep them from stealing the boat.
The Coast Guard had nothing to do with it, they arrived there a few minutes after the accident. The tugs that were trying to stop the robbery threw them the lifesavers they had, a few lifesavers. They had boarded a tug that had at least one leak, in very poor condition for doing that; it was tremendously irresponsible, that tug would have sunk even if there hadn't been a collision.
The Griffing patrol ships arrived with a lot more equipment, many more lifesavers, much more experience, and pulled 25 people from the water; between the tugs and the patrol ships they pulled 31 people from the water. But it was all a deplorable, grievous, unfortunate accident. We are all distressed that it happened.
However, the tug accident became the raw material for a terrible campaign against our country; it became the raw material for a campaign of disgusting slander, truly disgusting, and the United States Government was a willing participant, because, without finding out what happened and how it happened, it blamed the Cuban authorities for sinking the boat. With incredible perfidy, it said: 'Government ships.' In a socialist state everything belongs to the State: buses, trains, boats, merchant ships, tugs, but they are operated by civilians, and the authorities were represented there essentially by the Coast Guard patrols.
It was revealed, they not only launched a libelous campaign but also wanted to take the matter to the United Nations as part of the scheme and the strategy they were formulating, because they want to intervene in other countries through these international organizations. The idea is clear, the intentions, starting that way, and to continue agitating."
The Coast Guard received a complete explanation from the Ministry of the Interior about what to do to avoid accidents, to avoid the use of weapons if at all possible; they actually told them: 'Do not use any weapons.' But, in fact, for a patrol boat to stop a ship at night, when things have already reached a certain point, is practically impossible." "The Coast Guard crew received numerous instructions about how to handle this problem, and besides, what for?--because we don't have any special need to stop a departing boat."
(...) There will always be time in history to hold each individual responsible for his actions. To demand investigations! When we investigated ourselves first, without anyone demanding it, and no one can demand it, because only our conscience, our duty, and our sense of responsibility can demand and do demand that we conduct an investigation in any case of this type; but, then, to demand investigations!"
How do they reward our effort to obey the law every time an accident occurs, by accusing us of being murderers, accusing us, even, of stowing corpses? They spread gossip, rumors that corpses were stowed away, they accuse us of being keepers of corpses." "What they did because of the accident of the tug 13 de Marzo was to give the order to steal as many boats here as can be stolen."

Organized gusano mafia in Miami pays some people in Cuba who work as leaders of traffick networks of people that want to leave Cuba illegaly since US doesn't follow the bilateral agreements on inmigration and visa issuing. Cuba tug workers tried to prevent the robbery of their working property, an irresponsible act perpretated by miami sponsored pirates who risked the lives of women and children to be claimed as heroes when they get to US land while the same US government insist on denying visas to people to encourage illegal emigration from Cuba and this kind of sad events.