Supporters of Cuban Five redouble their efforts

Feb 23, 2006

Cuban Five defense attorneys delivered a solid argument for justice and freedom on Feb. 14. The full 13-member 11th Circuit Court heard lawyers Leonard Weinglass and Rich ard Klugh defend the unanimous decision of a three-judge panel that overturned the unjust convictions of the Five.

Leonard Weinglass, lawyer for the Cuban Five. photo: Cheryl LaBash

In August 2005 that ruling found that a fair and impartial trial had been impossible in the center of the CIA-backed, anti-Cuba mercenaries: Miami, Fla.

The U.S. prosecutor, on the other hand, decided to prolong what a United Nations Commission has termed an “arbitrary detention.” The prosecution has not abided by the August 2005 decision for a new trial in an impartial location. Nor has it repatriated the Five to their homes and loved ones in Cuba. Instead, the Five—Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, Fer nan do González and René González —have been imprisoned since 1998 in the United States. They are unjustly behind bars for working in this country to prevent terrorist attacks against Cuba.

Following the hearing, the National Committee to Free the Five (NCFF) organized a media conference and a community meeting at Spelman College. The events highlighted supporters who had traveled to Atlanta to support the Cuban Five from across the United States and around the world.

A U.S. media blockade prevents most people in the United States from learning how Washington protects admitted anti-Cuban terrorists like Luis Posada Carriles and Orlando Bosch. Yet at the same time it persecutes these five men who merely monitored violent plans against their homeland Cuba.

However, international observers at the hearing demonstrated wide knowledge and support for freeing the Cuban Five.

Gloria La Riva, coordinator of the NCFF, introduced these distinguished observers. They included Kurt de Loor, a member of the Flemish Parliament in Belgium, who is responsible for a new declaration on the violation of human rights in the case of the Cuban 5. The declaration was signed by 32 Belgian MPs, the members of the Flemish Parlia ment, the Belgian parliament, the House of Representatives and the Senate, and one member of the European Parliament.

Additional international supporters included Eberhard Schultz, who is from the Berlin Bar Association, the International League of Human Rights in Berlin and the Republican Lawyers Guild; Edith Flamant, a Belgian attorney; Father Geoffrey Bottoms, leader of the British Cam paign to Free the Cuban Five, who is touring the United States with the film “Mission Against Terror”; Bernie Dwyer, from Ireland, who is co-director of the documentary; Fabio Marcelli, an Italian attorney representing the International Associ ation of Democratic Lawyers; Judge Claudia Morcom, a long-time civil rights activist from Detroit and judge of Wayne County Circuit Court from 1983 to 1998; and Carlos Zamorano, a well-known and distinguished attorney from Argentina.

Stop terrorism—made in USA!

Speaking at the media conference, Andres Gomez—director of the Antonio Maceo Brigade in Miami—demanded “the end of U.S. support for terrorist organizations of the Cuban right wing that, from U.S. soil, have planned and conducted terrorist attacks against the Cuban people on the island for the last 47 years, and have also been responsible for assassinations and other terrorist attacks against those that oppose your methods and political aims in the United States.”

Gomez also directs Areíto Digital magazine and is one of the leading activists of the Alianza Martiana, an alliance of Cuban organizations in Miami. He stated, “The Cubans and Cuban Americans in Miami are the first victims of terrorism conducted by extreme right-wing organizations. They are unable to pronounce themselves freely on subjects related to Cuba because of the threat of violence against them. This is not a supposition. Hundreds of terrorist acts have been committed by those organizations in the United States, specifically in Miami.”

Free the Five committees—from Los Angeles, New York City, Louis ville and Detroit—the National Net work on Cuba and the Inter national Action Center all participated in the Atlanta support actions. Family members of the Cuban Five expressed their deep gratitude for the solidarity and support.

Leonard Weinglass, attorney for Antonio Guerrero, concluded, “The last time we argued this case before a panel of this court, three judges in a unanimous 93-page decision found that the case would have to be reversed because the case represented a perfect storm of prejudice against the Five Cubans who were charged.

“I believe that this court will not convert that perfect storm of prejudice into a bright and sunny day of neutrality in Miami, because anyone examining the 119 volumes of transcript, in what was the longest trial in the United States at the time that it occurred, plus the 800 exhibits, over 20,000 pages, will reach the same conclusion.

“This case has been examined not only by three judges of the circuit who reached that conclusion, but by five judges of the United Nations Work ing Group on Arbitrary Deten tion. Those five judges in May of this year [2005] also found that the Five did not receive a fair trial in Miami. In other words, this case has been reviewed by no fewer than eight judges, three in this circuit, five in the UN. All eight agreed unanimously that the Five did not receive a fair trial.

“So as we stand now before 13 judges, which includes two of the original judges, we feel hopeful and even optimistic, that finally, finally after seven years, there will be a recognition that the Five did not have a fair process, and that their convictions will be reversed.”

Organizations are redoubling their efforts to mobilize support to free the five heroes in the months before the 11th Circuit Court decision. The Five Freedom Fund is raising $250,000 for a New York Times ad and other publicity to break the media blockade.

For more information contact: www.freethefive.org, www.antiterroristas.cu, www.freethefiveny.org, www.cubasolidarity.com.