8-22-06, 9:04 am
Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon Labanino, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando Gonzalez and Rene Gonzalez were arrested in Miami on 12th September 1998 and charged with everything from failure to disclose themselves as foreign agents to conspiracy to commit espionage and even murder. Following seventeen months in solitary confinement and a flawed trial held in the hostile and prejudicial climate of Miami they were sentenced to terms raging from fifteen years to double life and transferred to prisons scattered throughout the United States.
In reality they were infiltrating terrorist groups such as Alpha-66, Omega-7, Commandos F-4 and Brothers to the Rescue that have been engaged in terrorist acts against Cuba with the support of the CIA and complicity of Washington for nearly fifty years resulting in the death of almost 3,500 and the injury of more than 2000 innocent civilians. Havana shared their intelligence with the FBI who pursued their ongoing investigations into the Five among others and used it to build a case against them resulting in their eventual arrest while allowing the real criminals such as arch-terrorist Orlando Bosch to walk free.
With this latest ruling of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeal the decision of the original court in Miami has been ratified in denying motions presented by the defence for a change of venue and a new trial. In an opinion spanning 120 pages the judges were divided 10 – 2 with the majority view expressed in a matter of 68 pages of whitewash by Judge Wilson, a former US Federal Attorney from the State of Florida, who makes no substantial reference to the pre-existing climate of violence and intimidation in Miami.
Two of the three judges who, in their ruling of August 9th 2005, unanimously acknowledged the coercive atmosphere in Miami that has existed against anyone associated with the Cuban government and correspondingly ordered a new trial, opposed the full court's decision. Justices Birch and Kravitch in their 52-page dissent reiterated that this 'was an exceptional case in which a change of venue was imperative due to the latent prejudice of the community which made a fair and impartial trial impossible.'
In their original 93-page ruling, that was challenged in an unprecedented legal act by the US government on September 29th 2005 with a view to delaying justice, the panel of three judges had declared that, 'in this case a new trial was mandated by the perfect storm created when the surge of pervasive community sentiment, and extensive publicity both before and during the trial, merged with the improper prosecutorial references.'
Certainly events in Miami since the oral hearing of February 14th 2006 have served to confirm this opinion with the hoarding of weaponry on both the east and west coasts of the US involving Robert Ferro and Santiago Alvarez for use in the terror campaign against Cuba. Even as recently as June 22nd the Miami Herald reported an extensive interview with Jose Antonio Llama, a Cuban-American living in Miami and former board member of the Cuban American National Foundation, who confessed to having given $1.4 million to a militant group for the purchase of radio-controlled light aircraft, amongst other weaponry, for use against Cuba in the period 1994 – 97. He further named Domingo Sadurni, another Cuban exile living in Puerto Rico, as a contributor of a helicopter and Raul Lopez, an exile in the construction business in Miami, as the provider of explosives, whose activities resonated with a plot uncovered by one of the Five.
Leonard Weinglass, attorney for Antonio Guerrero, stated in a press conference on August 10th following the decision of the full 11th Circuit Court of Appeals that 'this is not the end of the case' and that 'there is a long way to go'. Firstly, there are nine additional issues that are still pending in the three-judge panel before the court including prosecutorial misconduct during the course of arguments before the jury, insufficient evidence concerning the charges of conspiracy to commit espionage and murder, and erroneous application of procedures related to classified information and foreign intelligence surveillance.
Then there is the option of taking the case to the Supreme Court for a review of the pre-trial publicity and anti-Castro sentiment in Miami in the wake of the international custody battle over Elian Gonzalez picked up at sea and kidnapped by his Cuban-American relatives following an unsuccessful attempt to cross the Florida Straits by his mother and partner. If this course is chosen the defence lawyers have 90 days in which to perfect their request for an appeal after which the government has an opportunity to respond. Everything is then left standing pending a decision by the Court.
Meanwhile the Miami Five remain incarcerated in maximum-security prisons characterized by violence and lock-downs while their families continue to experience delays and difficulties in obtaining visas for visits. All too aware of the political nature of their case they know that there are many hurdles yet to be cleared before they receive ultimate justice and that the prosecution will buy as much time as possible while the US administration continues its vendetta against the Cuban people and tries to take advantage of Fidel's incapacity.
The Five are paying a high price for defending their people against terrorism originating in Florida conscious of the hypocrisy of a so-called 'war on terror' being fought across the Middle East at the expense of yet more innocent civilian lives. But President George W. Bush has no pangs of conscience as he breakfasts with well-known terrorists such as Ninoska Perez Castillon and Armando Perez Roura in Miami on a fund-raising trip.
Never has it been more critical for the international solidarity movement to go on the offensive as it will during the coming Month of Action from 12th September, the 8th anniversary of the arrest of the Five, to 6th October, the 30th anniversary of the terrorist bombing of a Cuban airliner over Barbados killing 73 people. Together we will show that a people that is united will never be defeated!
From Morning Star
