A one -legged man in an ass kicking competition

 By Peter Polack

I first came into contact with Rafael Marques when I began research on my book Last Hot Battle of the Cold War which was originally entitled Black Stalingrad about a major battle during the Angolan civil war.I found him to be receptive and courteous. My poor Portuguese and his good English made our brief exchanges comfortable.

The recent lawsuit brought against him by certain powerful but annoyed generals left him victorious in battle but the war continued.

Now the brave Rafael stands alone in a court room having to face the music of a distorted band.

The international community should press for his release. The rule of law is not a rubber band to wrap the desires of petty and grand dictators with a thin veneer of respectability.

Those who wish to bully him may wish to review my own book and allegations against generals. They are invited to try their posturing in the independent courts of the Cayman Islands. I promise a level playing field but no more.

I am puzzled why Rafael has to stand alone. All the brave men of Angola could not have been killed during the civil war.

END

Peter Polack was born in Jamaica in 1958 where he attended various schools including Jamaica College until 1972 when he went to Denstone College boarding school in England. He is a proud graduate of the University of the West Indies and Norman Manley Law School. Whilst at UWI he was co-founder of the Amnesty International campus group and a member of the Union of Democratic Students. A criminal lawyer in the Cayman Islands since 1983,he resides there with his wife and two daughters. He was a former rapporteur of the International Bar Association, Co-Founder and first Treasurer Caymanian Bar Association. His only hobby but not a current interest is combat pistol shooting. In July 2005 he organized a Cuba relief shipment after Hurricane Dennis from generous donors of the Cayman Islands. Research on his first book, Last Hot Battle of the Cold War led to the first international release of Cuban casualties of the Angola War published in the Miami Herald 20 February 2010. Inspired by the book and experiences with youthful offenders the exhibit of his first work as an artist entitled The Confinement Assemblage was displayed at the Cayman Islands National Gallery in May 2013.The exhibit is now on permanent display at HM Prison Northward in the Cayman Islands. In 2014 he became a part time reporter for Reuters News Agency reporting on the Cuban refugee crisis in the Cayman Islands. He was a contributor to the Encyclopedia of Warfare recently published by Amber Books His most recent article, Syria: The Evolution Revolution was published in the U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center magazine June 2014.He is a part time reporter for Reuters News Agency in the Cayman Islands.

Publications

The Last Hot Battle of the Cold War: South Africa vs. Cuba in the Angolan Civil War, Casemate, December 2013  

Encyclopedia of Warfare, Amber Books, 2013

Jamaica, Land of Film, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, July 2017

Voice of America Portuguese Service interview 25 February 2010.https://www.voaportugues.com/a/1257947.html

Op-Ed: Remember Cuito’s Fallen, South Africa Times 28 March 2010.http://www.mercenary-wars.net/angola/angola-86-89/remember-cuitos-fallen.html

First international release of Cuban casualties of the Angola War Miami Herald 20 February 2010.

Syria: The Evolution Revolution U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center magazine June 2014. http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/aulimp/citations/gsa/2014_208638/208611.html

Syria: Where have all the Birds Gone, The Cayman Reporter,22 December 2015.http://www.caymanreporter.com/2015/12/22/syria-birds-gone/  

https://www.amazon.com/Peter-Polack/e/B00BX13VUQ

IMAGE: From Cayman Compass