It has been said that one Nation’s “terrorist” is another Nation’s “freedom fighter.” Unfortunately our government and others use this label without a great deal of thought. Our government accuses other governments of “supporting terrorists,” and other governments accuse us of doing the same. The accuracy of these claims depends on how you define “terrorist.”
The Irish Republican Army (IRA) was said to be a terrorist organization, because they purposely attacked civilian populations, in order to achieve political results. They justified these attacks as being necessary, to overcome unjust discrimination by the Protestant majority. The IRA was frustrated by the fact that there seemed to be no democratic way to right the wrongs. They reasoned that if they inflicted enough pain, the British would negotiate with them to resolve their grievances. Eventually, that is what happened. The British did not negotiate directly with the terrorists, but they did negotiate with the political wing of the IRA. It did bring peace to Northern Ireland. Gerry Adams, thought by many to be a “terrorist,” still gets a visa to enter the United States.
During the Sandinista Revolution in Nicaragua, [1974-1979] Dora Maria Tellez led a group of Sandinista revolutionaries in the capture of dictator Anastasio Samoza’s handpicked Senate. Her group held the Senate hostage for 23 hours, until the dictator freed a large number of Sandinista supporters he had imprisoned. None of the senators were hurt. Samoza and his family fled to Miami, FL, where the money they had looted from the Nicaraguan treasury was stashed. Our government gave him and his cronies asylum.
Years later, Dora Maria Tellez–an acknowledged expert on Nicaraguan coffee–gave lectures at Harvard University at their request. Then 9/11 happened. President George W. Bush declared war on “terrorism.” Harvard once again invited Dora Maria Tellez to come to the U. S. to speak on agriculture, especially as it pertains to coffee. The Bush Administration denied her a visa. I had traveled to Managua, Nicaragua, to interview Dora Maria Tellez. I wanted to meet this “terrorist.”
Managua has few street signs so I tried a government building. I asked the officer there where I could find Dora Maria Tellez. He responded, “Ah, you are looking for Commandante Tellez! She no longer works here, but I will give you her address.” Armed with this information, I hailed a taxi. Even the taxi had a difficult time finding here home.
Her maid let me in and apologized for the fact that Ms. Tellez was running late. I sat in her library waiting for her and looking over her book collection. She had Nelson Mandela’s autobiography in English on her shelf. I thought I could learn something about her from the books she read. I had never met her or even seen a picture of her. Some 30 minutes later, in walks a spry, almost five foot tall, slender woman with a short haircut. She must have weighed almost 90 pounds. This was the terrorist! The person she most admired was Nelson Mandela. She showed me her letter of rejection from the American State Department–reason for denial: “terrorist.”
Our government doesn’t deal with terrorists. It is 100% against all terrorists, except….Well, yes, there are exceptions, such as when our government–through the C. I. A.–has hired and paid a terrorist. In particular, I am thinking of Luis Posada Carriles, a convicted terrorist who escaped jail and lives in Miami. He was convicted of planting a bomb on a civilian Cuban airliner in 1976 that killed 73 innocent people. More recently, on [Saturday,] April 26, [2014,] the Cuban government arrested Jose Ortega Amador, Obdulio Rodriguez Gonzalez, Raibel Pacheco Santos, and Felix Monzon Alverrez in Cuba for plotting a
terrorist attack. They admitted the plot and said they were directed by Santiago Alvarez, Osvaldo Mitaland, and Manuel Alzugaray–all residents of Miami who are alleged to be funded by the C. I. A.
If our government is serious about ending terrorism, it needs to stop sponsoring it, even when directed at governments we perceive as not being friendly. We should strive to achieve agreement that any individual or group that targets civilians for political reasons, be it the IRA or al-Qaeda, Islamic Jihad, etc., should not be funded or sheltered by any government–including our own.
There is a need for a peaceful resolution of grievances. so that asymmetrical warfare is not a venue to right perceived wrongs. A careful and consistent definition of “terrorist” would be a start.