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Sept.
12 will mark nine years since the Cuban Five—Gerardo Hernández,
Fernando González, Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero and René
González—were arrested and sent to jail. After a politically biased
trial in Miami, in which the Five were convicted of being unregistered
foreign agents, a judge in 2001 ordered long sentences for the Cubans.
Three of the men, convicted of “conspiracy to commit espionage” and
related charges, were sentenced to life imprisonment.
An
August 2005 ruling by the federal appeals court in Atlanta overturned
the convictions and ordered a new trial—but it was later reversed. Now,
after a rehearing before the appeals court last month—in which defense
attorneys presented evidence of misconduct by the prosecution—the Five
are awaiting another ruling, which could allow them to receive a new
trial or to be released.
The
Cuban Five are considered heroes in Cuba. They had been assigned by the
Cuban government to infiltrate Miami-based ultra-right groups that were
planning and conducting terrorist actions against Cuba. The Cubans
shared with the FBI the information the Five had uncovered—including
indications that the terrorist groups were planning new attacks.
In
normal circumstances, when foreign nationals in the U.S. are found to
be working undercover for their government, they are simply returned to
their home country. No other penalty is applied. In this case, however,
the U.S. government and courts sought to clamp down on the Five quickly
and with maximum severity. The men were denied due process rights to
adequately consult with their lawyers, while the trial was allowed
little mainstream publicity.
Leonard
Weinglass, an attorney for defendant Antonio Guerrero, has pointed out:
“The trial was kept secret by the American media. It is inconceivable
that the longest trial in the United States at the time it was taking
place was only covered by the local Miami press, particularly where
generals and an admiral as well as a White House advisor were all
called to testify for the defense. Where was the American media for six
months?”
There
is no doubt that the U.S. government was justifiably afraid of the
consequences if the facts about its own role in aiding and abetting
terrorist acts against Cuba were given a wide public hearing.
The
president of the Cuban national assembly, Ricardo Alarcón, speaking on
Havana television on Sept. 5, said that the possibility of having the
Five released from prison depends very much on the support they receive
from the American people: "The first step is to let that
people know the truth. This is what we need to keep on demanding.”
Alarcón
commented that the U.S. government is aware of the effect that the
support of the American people could have on international opinion. For
that reason, he said, the U.S. media has been instructed to refer to
the Cuban Five only as "spies."
On
Aug. 16—four days before the Atlanta appeals court reheard the
case—Alarcón stated that Washington’s persecution of the Cuban Five
shows that U.S. claims that it is carrying out the war in Iraq in the
name of anti-terrorism are a farce, since the U.S. government
manipulates and violates its own laws when it suits its interests.
"Evidence
of that,” he said, “was their immediate imprisonment, without right to
legal defense, which is a constitutional right, and also that they were
placed in solitary confinement for 17 months, although the law says
that the solitary confinement period can not exceed 90 days."
"This
obstructed their communication with their families and their defense
attorneys and thus obstructed the legal process, in which all the
evidence of the defense has not been presented yet," he added.
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