Conghaileach
27th March 2003, 18:05
Who Exactly are "The Cuban Five"?
by Simon Wollers
In June of 2001 five Cubans were found guilty of a number
of offences by a United States federal court in Miami,
Florida. These offences were:
- Conspiracy to commit espionage
- Conspiracy to commit murder
- Conspiracy to act as an unregistered foreign agent
- Possession of false ID
Nobody pretends that these five men were not working for
Cuban interests. However, they were certainly not "foreign
agents" in the "spy" context understood by US law - as the
espionage charge would have you believe - nor were they, by
any stretch of the imagination, murderers.
They had been sent by Cuba - tired and mutilated by
decades of terrorist attacks against its people - to
monitor the organizations that perpetrated these attacks.
They did not engage in any espionage activities against the
U.S. government; nor armed forces, nor projects of national
security concern, nor secret scientific research. Rather,
they simply kept track of the activities of Miami-based
right-wing groups that are mainly made up of Cuban-
Americans who seek the destruction of Cuba's socio-economic
and political system.
Hardly the evil spies the United States government would
have everyone believe.
As you read on and, we hope, adjust the initial thought
of : "Well, they were engaged in subterfuge and secrecy, so
in a way they deserve what they got", we ask you to think
upon the relationship of Washington with Havana over the
past four decades. A relationship in which the world's most
powerful nation allows and even partially funds groups of
fanatics to organize and attack a foreign nation - a
neighbor island of 11 million people - from its territory.
We ask you to consider: What would the United States
government have done if the roles had been reversed?
Indeed, what would any of us have done?
On June 8, 2001, Gerardo Hernández Nordelo, Ramón
Labañino, and Antonio Guerrerro Rodríguez were convicted
of "conspiracy to commit espionage" and "conspiracy to act
as an unregistered foreign agent"; Fernando González Llort
and René González Sehwerert were convicted of "conspiracy
to act as an unregistered foreign agent" and - to
especially appease the cries for blood from the politically
powerful Cuban-American extreme right in Miami - Gerardo
Hernández Nordelo was also convicted of "conspiracy to
commit murder" in the deaths of 4 pilots belonging to the
right-wing Cuban American group, Brothers to the Rescue.
We underlined "politically powerful" just now. This is
the essence of the case against these five men. They fell
victim to an enormously powerful segment of Florida society
to which President George W Bush and his brother Florida
Governor Jeb Bush owe their current employment. This is why
we refer to these five men as "political prisoners". For
their trial, conviction and sentencing had all been
arranged from the outset. It was Washington's way of
saying "Thank You" to the folks in Miami whose money and
influence buy power in the White House.
"If preventing the deaths of innocent human beings,
defending our two countries from terrorism, and preventing
a senseless invasion of Cuba are the reasons I am being
sentenced today, then I welcome that sentence ... this has
been a political trial and therefore we are political
prisoners."
What did Ramón Labañino mean when he made that statement
to the court before sentencing? Why "our two countries"?
Weren't these five men just defending Cuba?
The answer is no. Very few know that the many of the
findings these men uncovered in their work among the
dangerous terrorist groups they had infiltrated, were
shared by the Cuban government with the United States' FBI.
There was good reason to do this. Miami New Times reporter
Jim Mullin compiled a list of terrorist acts perpetrated in
Miami alone. He uncovered a total of 68 separate instances
of bombings, attacks and vandalism that go on and on. And
these were only the attacks in Miami.
Cuba has a long list of its own - including the bombing
of a Cubana airliner in 1976 with the loss of everyone on
board, and the deliberate introduction of a strain of
Dengue Fever by the CIA in 1981, which killed 158 Cubans -
most of them children.
In 1994 human rights organizations issued a report
stating that Miami exiles do not tolerate dissident
opinions, that Spanish-language radio in Florida promotes
aggression, and that local government leaders refuse to
denounce acts of intimidation.
So. Back to the question. What would any of us have done
to defend our people from the killers that launched so many
attacks from a nation governed by successive governments
willing to either turn a blind eye or actively support the
shedding of Cuban and - as we now see - US blood?
The sharing of information with the FBI - information
uncovered by infiltrating openly terrorist organizations
such as CORU, Alpha 66, Omega 7, Brothers to the Rescue,
and the Cuban American National Foundation - brought
charges against these five Cubans in a betrayal that, given
the harm these organizations do to the United States, can
only be seen in political terms.
The Cuban government has a sovereign right - no, an
obligation - to defend its people from the criminals that
operate out of Florida. It has not done this through
reciprocal acts of sabotage and murder but by sharing
information with US authorities in an attempt to prevent
the killing and maiming of both peoples. Cuba is entitled
to obtain such information to protect itself. We have seen
to what lengths Washington will go to protect itself - as
the suffering peoples of Iraq and Afghanistan will testify.
There is no mistake that these men are five political
prisoners in every sense. Before he was brutally sentenced
to two life terms plus 15 years for warning his country
that well-known terrorist José Basulto intended to fly over
Cuba and perhaps drop bombs out of the plane's window,
Gerardo Hernández said:
"Your Honor, the prosecution considers, and has
requested, that I should spend the rest of my life in
prison. I trust that if not at this level, then at some
other level of the system, reason and justice will prevail
over political prejudices and the desire for revenge, and
it will be understood that we have done no harm to this
country that deserves such a punishment."
These men were not spies, they were patriots in the true
meaning of the word - not the meaning bandied about by
President Bush desperately seeking a "patriotism" that will
justify his bombings. And we honor them as such and will
continue to seek their release from the five different
prisons in which they have been so ruthlessly tossed in the
United States of America.
(Fuente: www.antiterroristas.cu (http://www.antiterroristas.cu))
by Simon Wollers
In June of 2001 five Cubans were found guilty of a number
of offences by a United States federal court in Miami,
Florida. These offences were:
- Conspiracy to commit espionage
- Conspiracy to commit murder
- Conspiracy to act as an unregistered foreign agent
- Possession of false ID
Nobody pretends that these five men were not working for
Cuban interests. However, they were certainly not "foreign
agents" in the "spy" context understood by US law - as the
espionage charge would have you believe - nor were they, by
any stretch of the imagination, murderers.
They had been sent by Cuba - tired and mutilated by
decades of terrorist attacks against its people - to
monitor the organizations that perpetrated these attacks.
They did not engage in any espionage activities against the
U.S. government; nor armed forces, nor projects of national
security concern, nor secret scientific research. Rather,
they simply kept track of the activities of Miami-based
right-wing groups that are mainly made up of Cuban-
Americans who seek the destruction of Cuba's socio-economic
and political system.
Hardly the evil spies the United States government would
have everyone believe.
As you read on and, we hope, adjust the initial thought
of : "Well, they were engaged in subterfuge and secrecy, so
in a way they deserve what they got", we ask you to think
upon the relationship of Washington with Havana over the
past four decades. A relationship in which the world's most
powerful nation allows and even partially funds groups of
fanatics to organize and attack a foreign nation - a
neighbor island of 11 million people - from its territory.
We ask you to consider: What would the United States
government have done if the roles had been reversed?
Indeed, what would any of us have done?
On June 8, 2001, Gerardo Hernández Nordelo, Ramón
Labañino, and Antonio Guerrerro Rodríguez were convicted
of "conspiracy to commit espionage" and "conspiracy to act
as an unregistered foreign agent"; Fernando González Llort
and René González Sehwerert were convicted of "conspiracy
to act as an unregistered foreign agent" and - to
especially appease the cries for blood from the politically
powerful Cuban-American extreme right in Miami - Gerardo
Hernández Nordelo was also convicted of "conspiracy to
commit murder" in the deaths of 4 pilots belonging to the
right-wing Cuban American group, Brothers to the Rescue.
We underlined "politically powerful" just now. This is
the essence of the case against these five men. They fell
victim to an enormously powerful segment of Florida society
to which President George W Bush and his brother Florida
Governor Jeb Bush owe their current employment. This is why
we refer to these five men as "political prisoners". For
their trial, conviction and sentencing had all been
arranged from the outset. It was Washington's way of
saying "Thank You" to the folks in Miami whose money and
influence buy power in the White House.
"If preventing the deaths of innocent human beings,
defending our two countries from terrorism, and preventing
a senseless invasion of Cuba are the reasons I am being
sentenced today, then I welcome that sentence ... this has
been a political trial and therefore we are political
prisoners."
What did Ramón Labañino mean when he made that statement
to the court before sentencing? Why "our two countries"?
Weren't these five men just defending Cuba?
The answer is no. Very few know that the many of the
findings these men uncovered in their work among the
dangerous terrorist groups they had infiltrated, were
shared by the Cuban government with the United States' FBI.
There was good reason to do this. Miami New Times reporter
Jim Mullin compiled a list of terrorist acts perpetrated in
Miami alone. He uncovered a total of 68 separate instances
of bombings, attacks and vandalism that go on and on. And
these were only the attacks in Miami.
Cuba has a long list of its own - including the bombing
of a Cubana airliner in 1976 with the loss of everyone on
board, and the deliberate introduction of a strain of
Dengue Fever by the CIA in 1981, which killed 158 Cubans -
most of them children.
In 1994 human rights organizations issued a report
stating that Miami exiles do not tolerate dissident
opinions, that Spanish-language radio in Florida promotes
aggression, and that local government leaders refuse to
denounce acts of intimidation.
So. Back to the question. What would any of us have done
to defend our people from the killers that launched so many
attacks from a nation governed by successive governments
willing to either turn a blind eye or actively support the
shedding of Cuban and - as we now see - US blood?
The sharing of information with the FBI - information
uncovered by infiltrating openly terrorist organizations
such as CORU, Alpha 66, Omega 7, Brothers to the Rescue,
and the Cuban American National Foundation - brought
charges against these five Cubans in a betrayal that, given
the harm these organizations do to the United States, can
only be seen in political terms.
The Cuban government has a sovereign right - no, an
obligation - to defend its people from the criminals that
operate out of Florida. It has not done this through
reciprocal acts of sabotage and murder but by sharing
information with US authorities in an attempt to prevent
the killing and maiming of both peoples. Cuba is entitled
to obtain such information to protect itself. We have seen
to what lengths Washington will go to protect itself - as
the suffering peoples of Iraq and Afghanistan will testify.
There is no mistake that these men are five political
prisoners in every sense. Before he was brutally sentenced
to two life terms plus 15 years for warning his country
that well-known terrorist José Basulto intended to fly over
Cuba and perhaps drop bombs out of the plane's window,
Gerardo Hernández said:
"Your Honor, the prosecution considers, and has
requested, that I should spend the rest of my life in
prison. I trust that if not at this level, then at some
other level of the system, reason and justice will prevail
over political prejudices and the desire for revenge, and
it will be understood that we have done no harm to this
country that deserves such a punishment."
These men were not spies, they were patriots in the true
meaning of the word - not the meaning bandied about by
President Bush desperately seeking a "patriotism" that will
justify his bombings. And we honor them as such and will
continue to seek their release from the five different
prisons in which they have been so ruthlessly tossed in the
United States of America.
(Fuente: www.antiterroristas.cu (http://www.antiterroristas.cu))