Cuban Five: Fernando Gonzalez Arrives in Cuba
HAVANA TIMES — Former Cuban intelligence agent Fernando González arrived in Havana on Friday, one day after being released by US authorities after more than 15 years in prison, reported dpa news.
Gonzalez, one of the “Cuban Five” arrested in 1998 and sentenced for conspiracy to commit espionage to long prison terms in the United States, came to the island around noon, according to the official Granma website.
Gonzalez, 50, declared a “hero” by the Cuban State along with his four companions, was received at the airport by his mother. He is expected to make a public appearance later, although no time was given.
Upon his release on Thursday from his Safford, Arizona prison, the former agent was handed over to immigration authorities for deportation to Cuba.
The Cuban Five were sentenced in 2001 to long prison terms after a prolonged trial. One of them, Gerardo Hernandez received a double life sentence for the added charge of conspiracy to commit murder.
Cuba has always maintained that the agents of the Cuban intelligence’s “Wasp Network” were operating in the US to thwart radical Cuban exile attacks against the island.
René González was the first of the Cuban Five to be released. He completed his prison sentence in October 2011 and after a parole period was allowed to return to live in Cuba since May of last year.
The case of the Cuban Five is one of the thorniest issues in the difficult relations between Washington and Havana.
Another is the case of Alan Gross, a highly paid US operative who was sentenced to 15 years in Cuba for endangering the island’s national security.
Gross was working for Development Alternatives Inc., a US-AID contractor. When arrested he claimed that his illegal activity was part of a humanitarian mission.
Feral Capitalism ? No such thing in America. We do have too many out of work citizens. Mostly because they have not prepared themselves. Some adjustments are needed to safety net to motivate productive contribution and support skill development.
The problem with coercive liberalism is that the price of equality is a shared misery. The nirvana you write about is often promised and not delivered. I prefer to take my chances in an open economy, even with it’s many faults.
I need a good laugh. Please remind us again of your concepts of totalitarian systems.
Mr. Goodrich:
You are a troll who sings the same song over and over again. Get some new material – you are boring.
And fyi, Pink Floyd said “Is there anybody out there?”
Sheeze!
RWS
With capitalism going downhill for the working class in the U.S., the old freedom to raise one’s standards no longer exists and some 50 million Americans or about 17% live in OFFICIAL poverty .
Yes, In the U.S. with capitalism heading into the crapper anyone can become successful but not that 50 million and increasingly not millions and millions more each year .
This is not our parent’s economy . This is capitalism on the downhill slide into oblivion and the jobs are not there and won’t be there. At present there are 3-4 people looking for every available job and this will worsen exponentially in the next 10-15 years such that unemployment will reach past the 40% level worldwide.
Like the freedom of the press and freedom of speech and that bullshit about the pursuit of happiness , those freedoms exist only if the opportunity to avail oneself of those freedoms exists to begin with and unless you own a media outlet or are wealthy these freedoms are chimerical/ fleeting/ untouchable at best for the vast majority of us.
Adam Smith is about as relevant in today’s feral capitalism as is much of Karl Marx .
Capitalism and the state effectively ended democracy hundreds of years ago ( Kropotkin, Bakunin)
Terry,
Don’t make the mistake of thinking that Moses cares about the people in Cuba .
Moses is focused on opposition to the socialist aspects and POTENTIAL of the Cuban economy and would starve and kill Cuban babies if it would return capitalism to Cuba .
He is 100% totalitarian by his own admission and democracy for him is an alien concept often mentioned but never practiced in his real life.
He cannot SAY he is a totalitarian because that is socially unacceptable . He must say that he favors democracy for the Cuban people and avoid mentioning his totalitarian preferences.
He is in the uncomfortable position of claiming simultaneously that Cuba’s autochthonous socialist-style economy is a fore-doomed failure but that the U.S. embargo is necessary to crush it .
You cannot take him too seriously or hope for any effect in appealing to logic, historical fact, morality , international law when debating him.
If he weren’t so ineffective I would swear he was a paid poster such is his consistent willful ignorance of fully documented facts and a simultaneous and ever deeper retreat into previously believed fallacies .
Arguing/debating with Moses It is analogous to praying at the Wailing Wall .
It’s exactly like talking to a fucking wall .
This is all just my opinion . and does not represent the management of Havana Times nor its huge and exceptional editorial staff .
Moses,
As a total supporter of:
1) capitalism
2) the U.S. oligarchic-plutocratic government
3) organized religion and
4) the nuclear family
all of which are totalitarian and all of which provide the base for your very existence, how can you even think about saying that it is CUBA which needs democratization ?
You need to think about the contradictions between your words in favor of democracy and your actual totalitarian preferences..
( I have detailed why these four institutions are indeed totalitarian on several occasions and will do so again if you need reminding -let me know. )
Seriously, your central belief systems are all totalitarian and can you not see this ?
As Pink Floyd would put it:
“Is there anybody in there’
Adam Smith, Wealth Of Nations. Economic freedom is precursor to emergence of self governance. For the common man, personal freedom is about ability to raise one’s standard of living by one’s effort. Wether the wealthy are such because they are owners of capital or because they are members of the political cabal makes little difference.
Moses, how do you know there won’t? Nobody truly knows what future awaits Cuba after the lifting of the economic embargo. It’s all speculation on both sides, but to keep it in place because one is convinced it won’t bare any positive fruit…is a defeatist attitude.
You write, “it would be better for the people if the easing of tensions and trade supported Raul’s reforms”. Really? How do you know that? Until there is democracy in Cuba, how do you or anyone else really know what the Cuban people want, let alone need?
Time for an exchange to conclude this chapter and move the relationship along. Although it won’t do for the Castro haters, it would be better for the people if the easing of tensions and trade supported Raul’s reforms. A gradual opening up of the economy would be preferred to a failed state. Let the people drive the change versus imposing through coercive measures.