2024-07-09 15:49:00
The exiled Cuban general Rafael del Pino published a an open letter to Venezuelan civilians and military with views of the presidential election which will take place in that country next July 28.
In the letter, he claimed that he always was closely followed the situation in Venezuela and what he saw with him”deep shame” as the the dictatorship of the Castro brothers maintained and continues to support the Nicolás Maduro’s regime. However, he was optimistic about the future: “Everything points to the bells ringing again across the country and this time, just as happened a year after the liberation of Venezuela, Cuba will follow your example and achieve its freedom too”, he hoped.
“I have always followed the situation in Venezuela. Firstly, because I was a witness of the days of the glorious popular and military uprising that ended in the overthrow of the dictator Marcos Perez Jimenez. Second, because I saw with deep shame as the the dictatorship of the Castro brothers maintained and continues to support the Nicolás Maduro’s regimesmearing blood on the soldiers we had in their torture centers and advising the suppression of these brave people,” began del Pino.
And continued: “Since Fidel Castro and his brother Raúl took control of Venezuela, that country has presided over the same disaster that they brought to Cuba.. Our home country and Venezuela, together with Argentina, became the three most developed countries in Latin America. See what we have today. In three weeks, on July 28, elections can save Venezuela from the mafia state in which they turned that great nation into an ally of Cuba, Russia, Iran, China and transnational organized crime.”
He then pointed out The armed forces must prepare to enforce their constitutional commitment and not allow the current ruling mafia to get away with changing the election results or creating the dangers of foreign violence to justify the suspension of those elections. “Those politicians or military leaders who order them to shoot against their people are traitors to the Constitution, which demands respect for the election result,” he opined.
“Venezuelan officers, ranks and soldiers should not follow orders from foreign military forces or allow them to act against their people. Their army must be – today more than ever – at the service of the Venezuelan nation, the peoplenot from Cuba, from Russia, from Iran, from China or from those corrupt politicians and commanders from Venezuela who handed the country over to them,” he said.
The general emphasized: “Maduro knows that he lost the elections to the opposition led by María Corina Machado and Edmundo González. That makes it more dangerous.. “A man of little understanding and spirit who is obedient to Havana and its foreign allies, he could be tempted to make a serious mistake that would not save him from defeat, but would make the democratic transformation of the country more painful and expensive.”
“Dictatorships cannot withstand a general uprising in the population supported by honorary soldiers. who refuse to submit to tyranny. If, under these circumstances, the corrupt leadership oppressing the great nation of Venezuela chooses to embroil itself in violence, the results will be disastrous for the oppressors and even their families. Maduro’s allies must finally realize that their time is up and they had better agree to relinquish power through these elections and a non-violent democratic transition,” he said.
Finally, he pointed out, “in these fateful days“, remember January 21, 1958 when throughout Caracas “the church bells began to ring and the cars occasionally honked their horns, which created an incredible euphoria that energized the most peaceful citizens, who ordered them to take to the streets.”
“Everything points to the bells ringing again across the country and this time, just as happened a year after the liberation of Venezuela, Cuba will follow your example and achieve its freedom too“, he said.
Rafael del Pino was born in Pinar del Río, Cuba. At the age of 11 he made his first flight alone at a local airport. At 17 he joined the rebel ranks of the civil war in the ’50s and joined the air force in December 1959, where he served as combat pilot achieve the highest responsibilities in that military body.
During the missile crisis of 1962 he shared the bunker of the Fidel Castro as assistant to the air force question. At the end of that crisis, the USSR High War Academy He was later appointed head of the Air Defense and Air Force of the eastern region of Cuba. He spent more than 9,000 flight hours as a combat pilot in Cuba and other countries.
In 1983 he was promoted to Brigadier-General and named deputy chief of the Cuban Air Force and Air Defense. In 1987 he broke with the regime and escaped with his entire family in a two-engine Cessna 402 flying to the United States. Del Pino is the highest official who broke with Fidel Castro. He has published three autobiographical books and two on Cuban military history under the Castro regime, including the 1962 nuclear missile crisis and Cuban military interventions in Africa. Inside the Castro bunker (Amazon.com 2012) y The war years (Amazon.com 2014).
Since 2021 it has been a prominent part of the Conscientious Objector of Militant Movement (MOC) who often demanded the military and the police, as well as judges and prosecutors, not to be accomplices of the repressive machinery in Cuba.
#letter #Cuban #General #Rafael #del #Pino #Venezuelans #view #elections #bells #ring