The World Demands Freedom for the Cuban Five
Elio Delgado Legon
HAVANA TIMES — The Eighth Colloquium for Freedom for the Cuban Five and Against the Blockade was recently held in the city of Holguin, Cuba.
The participation of 333 delegates from 44 countries shows that the world is demanding the release of the five Cubans who were wrongly convicted in the United States for monitoring terrorist activities against Cuba, an action that saved many lives.
Among those who participated in the symposium was Dolores Huerta, a social activist from the US who President Obama awarded the Medal of Freedom.
Speaking to the press, Huerta said the people of the United States would support this cause if the message could be gotten out to everyone, because Americans have good hearts. Addressing the women and mothers present, she expressed confidence that these Cuban fighters would one day return home.
The five Cubans were convicted of charges that were not proven; rather, the jurors responded to constant pressure and intimidation by terrorist groups based in South Florida. For this same reason the five were sentenced to unreasonably long sentences, ones ranging from 15 years to two life sentences plus 15 years.
They were accused of spying yet they didn’t infiltrate any government agency. Instead, they managed to penetrate operations that were preparing terrorist actions against Cuba.
Therefore the questions is: Why did the US government accuse them of being spies if they infiltrated terrorist groups?
Is it that these terrorist groups are part of the government itself? I remember former President George W. Bush’s words that, “People who are willing to harbor a terrorist or feed a terrorist… are just as guilty as the terrorist.”
Therefore, if the US government protects these terrorist groups, and at the same time keeps the five Cuban fighters in prison for the sole crime of preventing violent actions against their country and against the United States, what can one think of that government?
Gerardo Hernandez, Antonio Guerrero, Ramon Labañino, Fernando Gonzalez and Rene Gonzalez didn’t deserve to be convicted; indeed they should have been decorated. American actor Danny Glover believes that if the very same thing had been done by US citizens, they would have been honored.
However these were Cubans, and the US government wanted to lash out at them with all its rage for not having been able to destroy the Cuban Revolution.
Why did the Supreme Court refuse to consider the case if it’s very clear to everyone that this was the longest trial ever conducted in the United States and all types of violations of the law were committed in it?
Why did the jury find them guilty of charges that weren’t substantiated and others that had even been dropped by the prosecution for not having a shred of evidence?
Why did Judge Joan Lenard’s sentences go beyond all rational logic?
Why hasn’t President Barack Obama — knowing all this background and having received millions of letters, cards and emails asking for the freedom of the Cuban Five — why hasn’t he decided to release them?
All those questions are being asked today by hundreds of thousands of people worldwide, including eleven Nobel Prize laureates and many parliamentarians and political leaders – including ones in the United States.
All of the so-called “mainstream press” has been effectively ordered not to publish anything related to the case of the Five, although journalistically it’s a case that could provide many interesting stories to American readers and those in other parts of the world. The problem is that no one wants the American people to know what’s happening.
Not a single line was line was published outside of Cuba about the recently held Eighth Symposium.
Keeping the case a secret has been the strategy to avoid mass protests. Nevertheless one day the truth will come out and then the people of that country themselves will demand freedom for the Cuban Five.
Just as the world demands the US end its economic, commercial and financial embargo against Cuba — which is a genocidal act of terror — people are also calling for an end to the injustices committed against the five Cubans who were convicted more than 14 years ago only for fighting against terrorism.
More evidence that Lawrance W was right about you.
“Some of these organizations had carried out terrorist actions against Cuba, some of these organizations were involved in more benign projects (…)”
Oh come on?! Are you fucking kidding me?!
The “Americans” believe that they should be in jail or does the media makes “their” mind? Even so, I don’t think everybody in the US thinks like you.
Grady,
You should read Brian Lattel’s book, “Castro’s Secrets”. He describes the history of Cuban espionage against the USA (as well as US espionage against Cuba). Perhaps the most shocking revelation in the book is the fact that US agencies, such as the FBI, the CIA and the Pentagon’s intelligence agency, all thought so little of Cuba’s ability to spy on the US that they assigned nobody to counterintelligence to defend against Cuban spies in the US. That was a stunning mistake on the part of the US to so stupidly underestimate their adversary. All the American counterintelligence agents in the 1960s, ’70’s & 80’s were assigned to cover spies from the KGB, Russian & East Bloc agents. This left the back door open to Cuban intelligence, who by the way, made a nice business selling information they were able to obtain, to their Russian allies.
This eventually proved to be a colossal mistake when a senior Cuban intelligence agent, Florentino Aspillaga, who defected in 1987. Aspillaga revealed the extensive network of Cuban DGI spies in America, including agents inside the FBI, the CIA, the Pentagon, some working as congressional aids and in academia & the media. The American intelligence officials were stunned to learn how they had been “had” by Castro, who had run rings around them. Lattel, who had worked for the CIA as an analyst, estimated Fidel Castro to be the most brilliant spymaster of the era.
Now why would Fidel Castro do this? To defend his revolution, of course. He knew the US was plotting against him from very early on. He figured the best defence was a good offence. Consequently, he sent trusted agents to the US along with the first wave of refugees. Many more were to follow over the years. They were able to penetrate the organizations planning & preparing for what would be the Bay of Pigs invasion. Castro knew it was coming because he had outfoxed the CIA.
In this context, it was not surprising he sent a network of agents, of which the Cuban Five were but a small part, to spy on Cuba-American organizations. Some of these organizations had carried out terrorist actions against Cuba, some of these organizations were involved in more benign projects, but to Castro, they were all “gusanos”. That the agents might be caught was considered an acceptable cost.
Luis, who said anything about corporate ideology? I am responding to the author’s claim that the major media sources are “ordered” to suppress the news. As Griffin states in his comment, the Cuban spies have been covered. What more do you want? Americans believe these men should be in jail. We can debate the severity of their sentencing but no one should claim they are innocent. You clearly have a anti-US bias that colors your perspective. There is no “world” demand for freeing the Cuban spies.
Go ahead an search the NYT or CNN or Washington Post or any other major US mainstream media outlet. You will find dozens of reports and op-eds on the Cuban Five. To say there is a political directive to not cover the story in the US is absurd.
Yes, Elio, the people of the world–at least, those whose minds have not been “washed” by the monopoly capitalist, bank-owned media–demand freedom for the Cuban Five. Thank you for a fine article.
What I still find hard to understand however is why Fidel, knowing the heart and history of the US government, would expose the anti-terrorist patriots to US authorities.
Why the hell did he do that?
Perhaps there’s something I don’t know. Could you, or someone else out there explain it?
The fact is that the Cuban Five and the blockade isn’t just a matter of Cuba and US propaganda machines – it’s a matter of justice.
“So who exactly orders the New York Times, The Washington Post, the LA Times, and so on? What a ridiculous thing to write.”
Ridiculous is one who tries so hard to see any ideological difference between those and ignore the corporate power influence on the media.
When George W Bush declared “War on Terror”, he should have declared war on the United States itself and on Israel, by far the biggest terrorist countries on Earth.
Elio’s assertion that there’s some sort of order to the US media not to mention The Cuban Five is ridiculous. I went to the New York Times website and did a quick search of their archives for articles about the Cuban Five. I got 62 reports or articles from the New York Times. A search of CNN reveals 11 stories. All of the mainstream media sources in the US have covered the story. Most Americans are perfectly comfortable with the convicted spies serving time in jail for breaking US laws.
It is absurd to think that agents of the Cuban intelligence agency can go to the US, use false identities, get work at US government and military installations, collect classified information and pass it back to Havana …and NOT be charged with espionage. The most serious charge, of course, being that the information provided by the Cuban Five, was about the Brothers to the Rescue mission who’s airplane was shot down over international waters by the Cuban airforce.
For a more balanced account of the Cuban Five, their activities in the US and their trial:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Five
Elio writes “The participation of 333 delegates from 44 countries shows that the world is demanding the release of the five Cubans who were wrongly convicted in the United States for monitoring terrorist activities against Cuba, an action that saved many lives.” The WORLD? Not really. That is part of the problem. Sure, the usual cabal of leftist regimes and their sympathizers have answered the call to arms but the story of the five Cuban spies has not yet risen to the level that captures the attention of most Americans. We are too busy focusing on ending the slaughter of Syrian civilians by the Assad dictatorship (Castro BFF). The line forms behind the economic crisis in Europe and the unrest in the Sudan. Elio also writes “All of the so-called “mainstream press” has been effectively ordered not to publish anything related to the case of the Five…” Really? So who exactly orders the New York Times, The Washington Post, the LA Times, and so on? What a ridiculous thing to write. This is not Cuba. The story of the Cuban spies has had its day. The attention span of the American public is short and inundated daily with tragedies from around the globe. The alleged injustice of these foregn agents from a small poor country just doesn’t have the “legs” to stay on the front page.