Cuban 5 still wait for justice / Background information

By Teresa Gutierrez
April 14, 2005

March 2005 marked one year since the filing of the last appeal in the case of the Cuban Five.

The Five are Cubans who were arrested in 1998 in the U.S. The U.S. government charged the Five with engaging in espionage against military bases and threatening "national security." The Cubans were trying to monitor and prevent terror attacks from U.S. soil against their island nation.

They were given unprecedented sentences in correspondence with these charges. Their trial took place in Miami where the anti-Cuban right wing is so strong that a fair trial is impossible.

On March 10, 2004, lawyers for the Five submitted an appeal of the sentences. The lawyers had expected a result by the end of the year, but 2004 came and went with no notice.

The Cuban National Assembly issued a statement on the anniversary.

It read in part: “A year has gone by since the March 10 hearing. In the case of the Five ... the presiding judge should have looked at federal sentencing alternatives. The maximum for their case was 26 years. Nevertheless the judge increased this limit, using factors not presented to the jury, condemning them to serve life terms.”

Antonio Guerrero, Fernando González, Gerardo Hernández, René González and Ramón Labañino continue to wait for justice in five federal prisons throughout the U.S.

The slow movement in the legal channel is one example of the importance of fighting the case politically. The most important thing for Cuban Five supporters and progressives to do is to organize on behalf of the Five.

Struggle grows to defend the Five

In the U.S. and around the world, the movement to defend the Five continues
to grow.

A Cuban website reports that last month members of the newly formed Rus sian Committee for the Liberation of the Cuban Five demanded the release from U.S. jails of these fighters against terrorism.

A statement presented in Moscow declared, “[T]he Cuban government was forced to take measures to defend its sovereignty and safeguard the security of its citizens, owing to constant threats of sabotage and terrorist actions by the U.S.”

In February, the Irish National vowed to take up the case of the Five.

In the Spanish province of Andalusia, Olga Salanueva and Adriana Perez—wives of two of the Five—met with parliamentarians and students in the city of Seville. The Andalusian Parliament presented a motion urging the central government to demand a retrial.

Prensa Latina reports that the Cuban Five were at the center of the Venezuela-Cuba Mutual Solidarity Meeting that took place in Caracas on April 8-10.

Organizers of the committee said that the case of the Five was a main issue for the 400 national delegates at the event and was included in three round-table talks.

Organizers told Prensa Latina before the event, “Defending the cause of the Cuban Five has caused much enthusiasm among Venezuelans. Videos, explanations and experiences will be presented, thus providing an action strategy to continue demanding their liberation.”

Leonard Weinglass, the attorney for Antonio Guerrero, spoke at the University of New Mexico in March on the case.

He pointed out that “although no evidence of espionage was introduced at the trial, the five were convicted on fabricated charges of conspiracy against the national security of the U.S. Their sentences exceeded those of high profile espionage cases in the U.S. resulting in the death of U.S. agents and exposure of life-threatening national security secrets.”

Weinglass points out that the trial was one of the longest in the United States. The record was massive, with 118 volumes of testimony and over 800 documents introduced as exhibits.

A news whiteout occurred during the trial despite the fact that this was a notable trial. Three U.S. military generals, an admiral and a White House advisor to the U.S. testified.

One shocking fact of the case is that the lawyers filing the March appeal were allotted only 15 minutes to argue the case. Lawyers had three minutes to defend each client.

Weinglass says that “if you receive a traffic ticket in New York City and appear in court you will be given at least 15 minutes. My client [Antonio Guerrero] is serving life; I had to review 20,000 pages of documents, 118 volumes of transcripts to present my case in three minutes.”

Last year, right after the appeal was submitted, a Cuban American Republican legislator made a comment that demonstrates why Cuba is forced to monitor the right wing in Florida.

Lincoln Diaz Balart, long known for his rabid anti-Cuba views, proposed on a Miami television program that Cuban President Fidel Castro be assassinated. He said that U.S. spies should infiltrate foreign tourism in order to carry that out.