Five Days for the Cuban 5 in Washington
HAVANA TIMES — Public figures from around the globe continue to show interest in supporting the cause of the Cuban Five, and a new campaign the week of June 4-11 on their behalf is being launched by the International Committee seeking the release of the remaining three from prison.
The Committee emphasizes that numerous US jurists believe the Cubans should be decorated for their anti-terrorist work instead of being held in prison with long sentences.
One of them, Gerardo Hernandez has a double life sentence plus 15 additional years for crimes they believe were never proven.
For more information visit the page of the International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban Five.
The Cuban Five were convicted of spying on a US military installation and in the specific case of Gerardo Hernández, conspiracy to commit murder.
Meanwhile in Havana, Allan Gross was given a 15 year sentence for bringing internet connection equipment into Cuba.
Which sentence are you saying is inappropriately long?
…they admit to their spying on the Miami Cubans. Do you suggest that when Americans are caught spying in other countries ( there are very many) that 15 years imprisonment SHOULD be the accepted response? Only a fool and misanthrop would pretend to support this duration of time.
…the released Cubans wish not to be separated in spirit from their 3 imprisoned colleagues I believe and so they will remain the Cuban 5 until such time as all are free…I agree with, can understand and support that sentiment.
The Red Avispa network were agents of the Cuban Directorate of Intelligence, working undercover in the US. By any reasonable definition, that makes them spies. Some of the Cuban agents were working as employees of the airbase of the United States Southern Command where they stole classified information. That makes them spies collecting information from the US military. Any other country in the world would regard a group of agents from a hostile foreign country working undercover as engaged in illegal espionage.
Only a fool would pretend otherwise.
I’m looking forward to going down to D.C. again for the Cuban 5. It is disgraceful that any of the 5 were imprissoned, even moreso that 3 of the 5 are still languishing in federal dungeons. Also, a testament to the vindictiveness of “our” government that they refuse to exchange the remaining 3 for their spy, Grossman. Such is the power of the dynosaurs and trogedlydites in Miami. Meanwhile, Israel often exchanges hundreds of prisoners for one Israeli. This should be fair warning for any future U.S. “contractors.” The Cuban 5 were hardly spies. They were keeping watch not on the U.S. government, but rather on terrorists who were responsible for blowing up a Cuban airliner and bombing several Havana hotels. Then again, we can’t expect justice from a heartless empire (like the early Christians couldn’t expect justice from an earlier evil empire)!
Any folks from the People’s Republic of Vermont going down? Probably won’t drive, since I hate D.C. traffic (went to grad school in a suburb, and it was a nightmare driving the Baltimore-Washington Beltway those two years), but will be taking Amtrak.
Just food for thought: Why would you make a banner to send a message to a US President written in Spanish? Could it be that the real audience is in Cuba? Why line the streets in CUBA with ‘Give Me Five’ billboards? I am suggesting that the whole ‘Free the Cuban Five’ propaganda campaign is just another Castro tool to distract the Cuban people. All the better when the Castros can convince ‘useful idiots’ like former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark and actor Danny Glover to support the cause. The Castros have no real intent to negotiate the release of the remaining three Cuban spies. As long as they are incarcerated, they serve as a rallying post for anti-US protests. If the Castros were serious, they would hire a powerful US lobbyist to persuade Washington insiders to change their position. China makes no qualms about throwing their political weight around Washington to effect favorable US policy. Instead, ‘bitch and moan, bitch and moan’ is the Castro strategy-du-jour.
Good luck finding the material to make the banner. A few years ago when I tried to buy material in Guantanamo to make a large banner for my in-laws anniversary, you’d think I was trying to buy refined uranium. I got asked all kinds of questions. Castro sycophants either fail to see the inequity that your comment exposes or justify the lack of freedoms in Cuba with a flaccid “under siege” argument. There was a ‘Free the Five’ rally in Oakland, California a few years ago and even the Cuban propaganda machine made it seem like it was a huge success, I have seen bigger crowds gather for KMart ‘blue light’ specials. I suspect the DC rally will attract the usual crowd of anti-US types and no one will notice.
‘Free the Cuban Three’ rhymes better anyway.
Two of the spies have been released. Five minus two equals three. Time to update the slogans & posters to: “Free the Cuban Three”
The Cuban Five, (Gerardo Hernández, Antonio Guerrero,Ramón Labañino, Fernando González, and René González) are five Cuban intelligence officers convicted in Miami of conspiracy to commit espionage, conspiracy to commit murder, acting as an agent of a foreign government, and other illegal activities in the United States. The Five were in the United States to observe and infiltrate the United States Southern Commandand the Cuban-American groups Alpha 66, the F4 Commandos, the Cuban American National Foundation, and Brothers to the Rescue. They were part of “La Red Avispa”, or the Wasp Network. There were over 40 members of the Red Avispa network deployed in the US. The FBI managed to arrest ten of them, while the others escaped back to Cuba.
U.S. government organizations, including the FBI, had been monitoring Cuban spy activities for over 30 years, but made only occasional arrests. However, after the two Brothers to the Rescue aircraft were shot down by Cuban MiGs in February 1996 and four U.S. citizens were killed, on the basis of information sent to Cuba by an infiltrator of the group, the Clinton administration launched a crackdown.
No matter how you slice it, the Red Avispa Network were Cuban intelligence agents, illegally operating as spies in the USA. They were caught, charged, tried & convicted for their crimes.
…I wonder, can I go to Cuba and stand on the steps of the Capitolio (I know, it’s a museum now) and unfurl a “free Alan Gross banner”?