4-22-05, 10:48 am

Despite the Bush administration’s claim that Cuba supports terrorism, Cuba has been on the forefront of the struggle to end terrorism. The case of the Cuban Five anti-terrorist fighters is an example. The Cuban Five is a group of men who came to the United States in the early 1990s in response to the waves of terrorism directed at Cuban civilians by mercenary terrorist groups from the Cuban exile community in southern Florida. The names of the Cuban Five are Gerardo Hernández, Antonio Guerrero, Ramón Labañino, Fernando Gonzáles and René González.

This writer became more familiar with their plight through correspondences with one of these men, Antonio Guerrero. Through these letters a friendship has developed. The US government sent Guerrero to one of the harshest prisons in the country with the intention that he would be mistreated by the other prisoners. But like Nelson Mandela, he has managed to become admired by his fellow inmates and has inspired many, both within the confines of his walls and without. Antonio is a teacher within the prison and once when he was in solitary confinement, his students went on strike to protest his confinement.
The Cuban government sent Guerrero and his comrades to the United States armed with neither malice toward the United States nor its people. Although they have not harmed anyone, they are in prison, while the anti-Cuban terrorists whom they tried to stop are free. Their sole purpose was to infiltrate the network of terrorist groups that had been attacking Cuba since the victory of the Cuban revolution. The Five were successful in infiltrating the Cuban-American groups and reporting the warnings to the Cuban government of the plans being developed to attack Cuban civilians.

The five Cubans were convicted in US federal court on June 8, 2001 in a politically charged trial. The government of the United States claimed they were engaged in espionage on US military bases and threatened “national security.” The espionage charges – and related charges – were completely without foundation. In 14,000 pages of transcript, there was no espionage evidence ever introduced. These five men are imprisoned in federal penitentiaries for simply defending their homeland from terrorist acts by Cuban-American groups within the United States. Three were sentenced to 15 years, and two received life sentences.

They were prosecuted on charges such as conspiracy to commit espionage as well as failure to register as foreign agents. This is interesting because this was the very same charges leveled at Communist Party members and was the reason why communists were imprisoned until about the mid-1980s. When the Soviet Union was still around, communists were also required to register as agents of a foreign power. Many comrades were jailed for conspiracy to commit espionage. Gus Hall, former chair of the Communist Party, USA and one-time presidential candidate, said that he was jailed for “thinking about teaching dangerous thoughts.”

Traditionally, prosecutors use a conspiracy charge in political cases. The legal definition of conspiracy is: “an agreement between people to commit a substantive crime.” Conspiracy is an undeveloped crime (such as “attempt” or “solicitation”), so making the agreement is enough to be held criminally responsible, even if the crime agreed to is not committed. By using the charge of conspiracy, the government, in essence, relieves itself of the burden of proof. Once the burden of proof is lifted, all the government has to prove to a jury is that there was an agreement to do the crime. Anyone charged with conspiracy would be convicted even if the crime were never actually committed.

In the case of the Five, the Miami jury was asked to find that there was an agreement to commit espionage. The government never had to prove that espionage actually happened. It could not have proven that espionage occurred. None of the Five sought nor possessed any top-secret information or US national defense secrets. Yet, three of the Five were convicted of entering into an agreement to commit espionage. And that is what the government sought to convince a jury drawn from Miami: “Although we can’t prove it, there certainly must have been an agreement to do it.”

The sentence for the conspiracy charge is the same as if espionage were actually committed and proven. The other defendants were convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage, despite the fact that the US government itself admitted during the trial that there was no proof whatsoever of espionage.

Ordinarily, if five people caught in the US were working for another country, they would simply be returned to their home country. This is especially true if, like the Five, they were not armed and did not inflict injury or property damage. However, in this instance three of the Five are doing life and two are doing very long prison terms. That kind of hostile treatment is reserved solely for the Cuban Revolution.

Daily we are bombarded on television with news report on the “war on terror.” We are led to believe that that this is a battle over our very souls, a battle of good versus evil. We are told: “our great nation is leading the way for the world to follow ‘democracy and freedom.’” How can we claim to laud freedom? These reports would allow ourselves to believe that we are freedom’s guardian. We need to understand that there is a double standard regarding terrorism here in the United States.

The Cuban people have been victims of terror attacks by Miami-based terrorist organizations, many of whom came from the wealthy class that left Cuba after the popular overthrow of dictator Fulgencio Batista, while others within the movement were former police thugs within the Batista regime.

Let us take a quick moment to review the history of terrorism against Cuba, which will help to put the case in perspective. In 1976 there was the bombing of a Cuban civilian plane that killed 73 innocent people, including Cuba’s entire Olympic fencing team. In 1977 there was the bombing campaign in Havana, which involved 10 bomb attacks aimed at civilians in places of international tourism. An Italian tourist was killed as were several others injured. Raul Cruz-Leon, a Salvadoran national was convicted and confessed the Cuban-American National Foundation paid him, the sum of $3,000 for each bomb he planted. Equally well known was the attempt to assassinate Cuban president Fidel Castro in an auditorium filled with university students in Panama on November 18, 2000.

These actions and hundreds of similar attacks by groups like Alpha 66, Brigada 2506, Brothers to the Rescue, Comandos F4, Cuban-American National Foundation and Omega 7, since 1959, have conducted bombings, assassinations and other sabotage and have caused the deaths and injuries to literally hundreds of innocent people. Clearly the Cuban government had no alternative but to try and stop these attacks, which was precisely the Cuban Five’s mission.

Months before the arrest of the Five, the Cuban government turned over to the FBI, a dossier summarizing evidence gathered on the Miami-based 40-year campaign of murder, bombings, arson and other attacks against Cubans. At an historic meeting in Havana, the Cubans pleaded with US law enforcement officials to act on that evidence to end the terrorism. The FBI promised it would help. Instead, in 1998, the FBI arrested the source of the information, the five Cubans, rather than going after the perpetrators or those funding terrorist activities.

Miami TV Channel 41 broadcast a show in which known paramilitaries, including Rodolfo Frometa, leader of the infamous Florida-based Comandos F4, openly spoke of their preparation for an attack on Cuba and their efforts to bring down Venezuela’s President Chávez by force. Oscar Asa, the nephew of former Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista, hosted the program. Batista was responsible for the murder of thousands of Cubans until revolutionary forces in 1959 forced him out.

This program re-aired in Cuba under the name Round Table and was hosted by Randy Alonso who requested viewers to form their own opinions after viewing the program. Alonso remarked that the message that Frometa gave was clear: “his paramilitary organization was ready and trained – it just needed the money.” Alonso continued, “The money is there – $36 million recently earmarked by the US government to support such groups.”

It is illegal in the US to defend terrorist actions on television or radio. The promotion of the assassination of another nation’s leader is also illegal under the US Neutrality Act. Nonetheless, commented round table participants, these men were able to flagrantly sit in a studio dressed in military fatigues and discuss the different armaments they were using to train paramilitaries to attack Cuba.

To make matters worse, family visits are complicated for the Five. To have to be separated from loved-ones is heart-wrenching; combine that with the isolation of being in incarcerated in a country that is not even your own. The United States government is prohibiting the wives of two of the Cuban Five entry into the United States to visit their husbands. Olga Salanueva, wife of René González, and Adriana Pérez, wife of Gerardo Hernández seek entry into the US only for family visits.

“The children are extremely anxious to see their father. They are growing up quickly without sharing enough time together. All summer long they waited to see him, and now school has started. I can’t tell you how sad they were not to visit him,” said Elisabeth Palmeiro wife of Ramón Labañino. Since Labañino’s imprisonment, the United States has granted the family permission to visit him only four times in six years. She and their children have waited almost a year to be granted a new entry visa.

René González’ six-year-old daughter Ivette has not seen her father in four years. Ivette is a US born citizen, but because her mother Olga Salanueva is denied entry, she is also unable to see her father.

The situation is continued with all four of the surviving mothers of the Cuban Five. It took one solid year before Irma Sehwerert, the mother of René González, received her visa to visit her son in September 2004. Mirta Rodríguez, mother of Antonio Guerrero, has been waiting for almost a year for the US Interests Section in Havana to grant her permission to see her son. One can only imagine the loneliness and sense of despair that can happen when one feels isolated.

For Christmas, this writer sent Antonio Guerrero an artist’s sketchpad. One of the guards obviously showed some mercy and allowed him to receive it, as they are not allowed to receive presents from the outside world. For me, that was the best Christmas present ever – it gave me more pleasure to give it and greater joy knowing how much my friend appreciated it. It taught me that the amount of money one spends on a gift does not determine its importance, for that gift only cost about five dollars. The lesson that this writer learnt from my friend is the value of giving, that it truly is more blessed to give than to receive, and for that lesson, this writer is truly grateful.

If you are wondering what you can do, you can write and show your solidarity. For the price of a 37¢ stamp you can enrich the lives of two people, yours and someone else’s. You can write to each prisoner at the addresses listed below.

Expressions of solidarity with the Cuban Five can be sent to: 1. RENÉ GONZALEZ SECHWERET Reg. #58738-004 P.O. Box 725 F.C.I. Edgefield Edgefield, SC 29824 2. ANTONIO GUERRERO RODRÍGUEZ #58741-004, U.S.P. Florence, P.O. Box 7500, Florence, Co 81226 3. GERARDO HERNANDEZ NORDELO #58739-004 U.S.P. Victorville P.O. Box 5500 Adelanto, CA 92301 4. FERNANDO GONZALEZ LLORT (Note: Please address envelope to Ruben Campa and the letter to Fernando) Rubén Campa #58733-004 F.C.I. Oxford P.O. Box 1000 Oxford, WI 53952-0505 5. RAMÓN LABAÑINO SALAZAR (Note: Please address envelope to Luis Medina and the letter to Ramón) Luís Medina #58734-004 U.S.P. Beaumont P.O. Box 26030 Beaumont, TX 77720-6035