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Trio Executed in Cuba
Aired April 11, 2003 - 13:36 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: I want to immediately go to our John Zarrella, our Miami bureau chief.
John, we just reported that three individuals, three men, convicted of hijacking a passenger ferry in Cuba on only April 2nd have now been executed.
Tell our viewers what's going on.
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf.
Cuban TV is reporting at this hour that three hijackers -- it's believed, there may have been up to 10 -- three hijackers were executed by firing squad today, by the Cuban government, of course, and that was for the hijacking last week -- you can see the ferry boat there. The ferry boat had up to about 50 people on it. It ran out of gas when the hijackers tried to make it to the United States, ran out of gas about 30 miles off the coast of Havana. It was towed back in, brought to the port of Mariel (ph). You can see people jumping out the windows.
Now this videotape is from last Thursday, and it's just before Cuban special forces moved in and took over the ferry boat and captured the hijackers. None of the 50 hostages were reportedly injured in the incident.
But, again, you can see there are people jumping out the windows. Again, this is last week. Now the hijackers were taken into custody.
Even President Fidel Castro came to the scene and urged the hijackers at one point to surrender, to give up. They had knives to some of the hostages' throats. They would not. And now we hear from the Cuban government they have been executed, at least three of possibly 10 hijackers.
Now all this come in the wake of two hijackings of airplanes out of Cuba in recent weeks, and the arrest of 75 dissidents who have been sentenced to terms now up to 27 years, Wolf, and a lot of what we're hearing now is that this crackdown in Cuba on civil liberties, on the dissidents, is coming at a time when the Cuban government is using the U.S. and the world's attention being focused on Iraq as a smokescreen to crack down on civil liberties in Cuba.
So some serious things going on in Havana right now and in the Cuban capital of Havana, and in Cuba itself. Again, three hijackers, executed by firing squad. In fact, the U.S. interests section has come out with a statement in the last week, urging people in Cuba not to take extreme measures like hijackings of airplanes or boats to try to come to the United States, warning that if they did, and if they did make it to the United States, they would, in fact, be imprisoned here in the U.S. -- Wolf.
BLITZER: John, we know they have the death penalty in Cuba, that's obvious. But a swift summary trial like this, if there in fact, was a serious trial, April 2nd, a week or so later, the execution of these three individuals, these three men -- how extraordinary, how unusual is this, within Cuba?
ZARRELLA: Well, it is fairly rapid, no question about it. It seems it follows also very closely to what are being termed the kangaroo courts that were held for the dissidents. Their trials were held behind closed doors. Nobody was allowed into those trials. And in fact, they were all convicted and sentenced within a matter of days, again, totally behind closed doors.
So this is not anything new in Cuba. These kinds of trial goes on, and certainly, these kinds of executions. The rapidity with which this sentence was carried out is something that is very, very unusual, and it may well signal that the Cuban government wants to clamp down very, very quickly and make a very strong point to people that hijackings will not be tolerated in that country. It may be that they are seeing signs that things may be getting a bit out of hand and that this is one way, certainly a very extraordinary way, to make their point very quickly, that hijackings will not be tolerated -- Wolf.
BLITZER: CNN's John Zarrella, our Miami bureau chief, monitoring the situation in Cuba. John, thanks very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired April 11, 2003 - 13:36 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: I want to immediately go to our John Zarrella, our Miami bureau chief.
John, we just reported that three individuals, three men, convicted of hijacking a passenger ferry in Cuba on only April 2nd have now been executed.
Tell our viewers what's going on.
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf.
Cuban TV is reporting at this hour that three hijackers -- it's believed, there may have been up to 10 -- three hijackers were executed by firing squad today, by the Cuban government, of course, and that was for the hijacking last week -- you can see the ferry boat there. The ferry boat had up to about 50 people on it. It ran out of gas when the hijackers tried to make it to the United States, ran out of gas about 30 miles off the coast of Havana. It was towed back in, brought to the port of Mariel (ph). You can see people jumping out the windows.
Now this videotape is from last Thursday, and it's just before Cuban special forces moved in and took over the ferry boat and captured the hijackers. None of the 50 hostages were reportedly injured in the incident.
But, again, you can see there are people jumping out the windows. Again, this is last week. Now the hijackers were taken into custody.
Even President Fidel Castro came to the scene and urged the hijackers at one point to surrender, to give up. They had knives to some of the hostages' throats. They would not. And now we hear from the Cuban government they have been executed, at least three of possibly 10 hijackers.
Now all this come in the wake of two hijackings of airplanes out of Cuba in recent weeks, and the arrest of 75 dissidents who have been sentenced to terms now up to 27 years, Wolf, and a lot of what we're hearing now is that this crackdown in Cuba on civil liberties, on the dissidents, is coming at a time when the Cuban government is using the U.S. and the world's attention being focused on Iraq as a smokescreen to crack down on civil liberties in Cuba.
So some serious things going on in Havana right now and in the Cuban capital of Havana, and in Cuba itself. Again, three hijackers, executed by firing squad. In fact, the U.S. interests section has come out with a statement in the last week, urging people in Cuba not to take extreme measures like hijackings of airplanes or boats to try to come to the United States, warning that if they did, and if they did make it to the United States, they would, in fact, be imprisoned here in the U.S. -- Wolf.
BLITZER: John, we know they have the death penalty in Cuba, that's obvious. But a swift summary trial like this, if there in fact, was a serious trial, April 2nd, a week or so later, the execution of these three individuals, these three men -- how extraordinary, how unusual is this, within Cuba?
ZARRELLA: Well, it is fairly rapid, no question about it. It seems it follows also very closely to what are being termed the kangaroo courts that were held for the dissidents. Their trials were held behind closed doors. Nobody was allowed into those trials. And in fact, they were all convicted and sentenced within a matter of days, again, totally behind closed doors.
So this is not anything new in Cuba. These kinds of trial goes on, and certainly, these kinds of executions. The rapidity with which this sentence was carried out is something that is very, very unusual, and it may well signal that the Cuban government wants to clamp down very, very quickly and make a very strong point to people that hijackings will not be tolerated in that country. It may be that they are seeing signs that things may be getting a bit out of hand and that this is one way, certainly a very extraordinary way, to make their point very quickly, that hijackings will not be tolerated -- Wolf.
BLITZER: CNN's John Zarrella, our Miami bureau chief, monitoring the situation in Cuba. John, thanks very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
