Free the Cuban Five

CUBA SOCIALISTA. Theoretical and Political Magazine. Edited by: Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba

THE INCREDIBLE STORY OF FIVE MEN IMPRISONED IN THE UNITED STATES FOR FIGHTING AGAINST TERRORISM

Who are the Five Cuban Heroes jailed in the U.S.?

Five young professionals who decided to devote their lives, away from their homeland, to fighting against terrorism in the city of Miami, the hub of most aggressions against Cuba.

They are:

Antonio Guerrero (Miami, 1958) engineer in Aerodrome Building, poet, father of two sons. Fernando Gonzalez (Havana, 1963), married, a graduate of the Institute of Foreign Relations (ISRI) at Cubaï¿½s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Gerardo Hernandez (Havana, 1965), married, a graduate of ISRI, cartoonist. Ramon Labaï¿½ino (Havana, 1963), married, father of three daughters, degree in Economics at Havana University, and Rene Gonzalez (Chicago, 1956), married, father of two daughters, pilot and flight trainer.

What were they in the United States for?

They headed for the United States to obtain information about the hostile plans of terrorist organizations that have long been based in the city of Miami, including the Cuban-American National Foundation (CANF), the Cuban Freedom Council (CFC), Brothers to the Rescue, the Democracy Movement, Alpha 66 and many others with long records of criminal activities under their belts.

Among the actions carried out by those Miami-based groups against Cuba, there are sabotages and aggressions with a notorious toll of thousands of people killed and injured, huge economic damage, smugglings of weapons, drugs and people, and even hundreds of plots to murder Cuban President Fidel Castro. They have also conducted terrorist actions on U.S. soil and in third countries.

Assessments of the due process

The five men were put on a manipulated trial in Miami, a completely hostile city dominated by a Cuban-origin mafia, where no fair and impartial trial was possible in keeping with U.S. and international laws. Anti-Cuban sectors in Miami unleashed a fallacious and intense propaganda campaign aimed at pressing the public opinion in Florida and the judicial process, a situation that was repeatedly denounced by the defense attorneys who filed a motion requesting a change of venue that was eventually turned down.

The aforesaid rejection is a violation of the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution that reads, ï¿½ï¿½ nobody will be deprived of his or her freedom without a due legal processï¿½,ï¿½ while the Sixth Amendment states, ï¿½ï¿½ in every criminal lawsuit, the defendant will have the right to be quickly and publicly tried by an impartial juryï¿½.ï¿½

During the entire lawsuit, authorities hampered the efforts of the defense attorneys by either delaying or blocking access to documents suspiciously classified as secret, and letting them see only a fifth of all evidence. Even five years later, these lawyers are banned from looking at those thousands of documents to make their appeal case.

What were they charged with?

Conspiracy to commit murder in the first degree

Gerardo Hernandez was the only one charged with this count for allegedly helping in the February 24, 1996 shootdown of two Brothers to the Rescue aircraft. Indeed, he didnï¿½t have the slightest linkage to the flight of those airplanes that had repeatedly violated Cubaï¿½s airspace and even flown over the city of Havana, or with the sovereign decision of the Cuban government of shooting them down after countless warnings to U.S. authorities and to that terrorist organization itself.

Conspiracy to commit espionage

Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon Labaï¿½ino and Antonio Guerrero were found guilty of this count. None of them conducted espionage activities against the United States because, as the U.S. law states, a spy is a person who steals or obtains government secrets to hand them over to a foreign government.

During the trial, several experts and authorities ï¿½like Generals Charles Whilhem and Edward Atkinson, Admiral Eugene Carol and Colonel George Buckner- testified that the defendants had no access to classified information. Even James Clapper, former chief of the Pentagonï¿½s Intelligence Agency and a witness of the prosecution, stated that the defendants had not been involved in any espionage activities against the United States. However, their testimonies were not duly taken account of, an attitude that lays bare the arbitrariness of a highly-politicized and fraudulent trial.

The five Cuban men had the exclusive mission of getting information about the plans of terrorist groups based in South Florida that, beyond the folly of the judicial process itself, are not part of the U.S. government.

Conspiracy to commit crimes against the United States

The five Cubans were charged with this count when, indeed, they were exclusively trying to find out information about the plans that Miami-based terrorist organizations were piecing together. Under no circumstance whatsoever, the five Cubans were after any kind of information that could pose a threat to the national security of the United States, a truth that was proved by the defense attorneys and upheld by many a witness during the trial.

Use of false identity and documentation

In order to infiltrate and deal with these organizations' plans, three of the five anti-terrorist fighters were forced to hide their true identities.

There's a doctrine in law called State of Necessity asserting that in order to prevent the commission of a more serious crime -like murder or terrorist actions- people are justified to commit lesser crimes or misdemeanors, such as the use of false identity and documentation, in an effort to protect their activities and lives, taking into account that the five young fighters were supposed to act inside groups of notorious murderers and terrorists.

Unregistered agents of a foreign government

Taking into account the goals of their work and the dangers that it posed, it was impossible for the five Cubans to be registered as agents of the Cuban government because their mission had nothing to do with the national security of the United States. Itï¿½s well known that these terrorist groups and their ringleaders act with total impunity in Miami and have the protection of U.S. authorities. For instance, the chief of the FBI Miami Bureau stated that the leaders of the Cuban-American National Foundation and the Cuban Freedom Council are respectable and absolutely trustworthy people, thus stressing that the FBI will never open an official investigation about the activities of those who sponsor and finance terrorist actions against Cuba.

The rule of law stipulates the doctrine of the State of Necessity whereby, and in order to prevent the commission of a higher offense such as murders and terrorist activities, defendants commit such misdemeanors as use of false identity and documentation in an effort to protect their activities and their own lives, taking account of the fact that the five Cuban youngsters were supposed to operate inside groups teeming with infamously known murderers and terrorists.

Unfair and excessive sentences

Following an illegitimate trial, the judge ï¿½who had overruled the extenuations presented by the defense attorneys and sustained instead all aggravating circumstances wielded by the prosecution- handed down excessive and unfair sentences, applying the maximum sentence in each and every case and even despite the fact that the main charges were never proven. Her rulings are blatant violations, among others, of Article 14 of the United Nations International Treaty on Civil and Political Rights that says, ï¿½ï¿½ every person will have the right to be publicly heard and with all due legal warranties by a competent, independent and impartial juryï¿½.ï¿½

	Gerardo Hernandez, sentenced to two life imprisonments for conspiracy to commit murder in the first degree and conspiracy to commit espionage, respectively. In addition, he was sentenced to 15 years in jail for conspiracy to commit crimes against the United States, for using false identity and documentation, and for acting as a foreign agent without making a registration before the U.S. Attorney.
	Ramï¿½n Labaï¿½ino, sentenced to life imprisonment on the charge of conspiracy to commit espionage, plus 18 years in jail for the counts of conspiracy to commit crimes against the United States, for using false identity and documentation, and for acting as a foreign agent without making a registration before the U.S. Attorney.
	Antonio Guerrero, sentenced to life imprisonment for conspiracy to commit espionage, plus 10 years in jail for the counts of conspiracy to commit crimes against the United States and for acting as a foreign agent without making a registration before the U.S. Attorney.
	Fernando Gonzalez, sentenced to 19 years in prison for conspiracy to commit crimes against the United States, for using false identity and documentation, and for acting as a foreign agent without making a registration before the U.S. Attorney.
	Rene Gonzalez, sentenced to 15 years in prison on the charge of conspiracy to commit crimes against the United States and for acting as a foreign agent without making a registration to the U.S. Attorney.

Other Human Rights Violations

The U.S. government has hindered on a regular basis the visits of the prisonersï¿½ mothers, wives and children, an attitude that doles out additional punishment for both the five men and their loved ones. Adriana Perez and Olga Salanueva, the wives of Gerardo Hernandezï¿½s and Rene Gonzalezï¿½s, respectively, and Ivette Gonzalez ï¿½Reneï¿½s little daughter- havenï¿½t been able to visit them for over four years. Moreover, U.S. authorities have also raised hurdles for both defense attorneys and Cuban consular officers stationed in the United States to visit the prisoners, a fragrant violation of Article 37 of the Minimum Regulations for the Treatment of Inmates that goes, ï¿½ï¿½ inmates are authorized to periodically communicate, under proper surveillance, with their relatives and friends of good reputation through both mail and visits.ï¿½

Separated in prisons that are far away from one another, the five men have been subjected to harsh punishments in an effort to break their psychical and physical integrity, held in solitary confinement (punishment cells called holes) for periods of up to 17 months and 48 days, without even having committed any fault whatsoever and in spite of the U.S. Prisoners Bureau Guidelines that state, ï¿½ï¿½the maximum time for prisoners to be held in solitary confinement should not exceed 60 days,ï¿½ and Article 7 of the International Treaty on Civil and Political Rights that says, ï¿½Nobody will be submitted to torture, or to cruel, inhumane or degrading sentences and treatmentï¿½.ï¿½

The five Cubans have been treated as common criminals and forced to get by among those convicts in their penitentiaries in clear violation of Article 8 of the Minimum Regulations for the Treatment of Inmates that reads, ï¿½Inmates labeled in different categories should be lodged in different establishments or in different sections inside those establishments according to sex and age, criminal backgrounds and reasons for their detention....ï¿½

What are the defense attorneysï¿½ arguments before the Appeals Court?

Taking account of the antecedent of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the Pamplin vs. Mason case, in which the highest justice courthouse ruled that no one should be tried in a venue where there are clear and present prejudices against the defendant, the defense attorneys are requesting the trial to be nullified and a change of venue for a new trial outside the city of Miami, where everybody knows there is profound hostility toward Cuban revolutionaries, as in the case of the five imprisoned young men.

If the Atlanta Court of Appeals annuls the former trial and orders a new one to be held outside the city of Miami, the defendants could count on an impartial and politically unbiased jury free of any kind of pressure whatsoever, a situation that would allow the courthouse to find the five Cuban youngsters not guilty of the serious crimes they are now charged with.

Let truth and justice prevail

On March 10, defense attorneys made their case in the Miami courthouse before the Appeals Court. As we wait for the Appeals Court to hand down its ruling ï¿½a decision that could take several months- we call on all dignified people of goodwill to join the increasingly larger movement of solidarity with the Five Cuban Heroes who are now political prisoners in the United States.

These young fighters against terrorism must be acknowledged as Human Rights Advocates, a status instituted in the Declaration on Human Rights Advocates passed in 1998 by the UN General Assembly and bestowed on those who, like them, fight against Human Rights violators, organized crime and terrorists.

Please, let others know about this information. The relatives of the five Cuban fighters against terrorism are suffering as millions of honest people from around the world who are familiar with the case.

CUBA SOCIALISTA. Revista Teï¿½rica y Polï¿½tica. La Habana. Cuba
2003 - 2004

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