On September 11, the U.S. marked the fifth anniversary of the day that "terrorism" became a common part of the American vocabulary. On September 12, five Cuban men -- Fernando González, René González, Antonio Guerrero, Gerardo Hernández, and Ramón Labañino, collectively known as the "Cuban Five" -- will begin their ninth year in U.S. prisons for the "crime" of attempting to put a stop to terrorism.
How can you be imprisoned for opposing terrorism? It's simple. You just have to oppose terrorism that originates in the United States, and is directed at Cuba, or at any other country on the U.S. "regime change" list.
And the terrorists? Incredibly, one of those who the Five were attempting to thwart, Orlando Bosch, is walking the streets of the U.S., having been pardoned by President George H.W. Bush. Another, Luis Posada Carriles, is currently in jail on minor immigration charges, but the United States refuses to extradite him to Venezuela to stand charges for the murder of 73 people, and is actually considering granting him citizenship!
How can known terrorists walk the streets of America as free men? Again, they simply have to be terrorists who directed their actions against the "right" country, such as Cuba.
TODAY'S OUTRAGE: U.S. CONSIDERING RELEASING THE TERRORIST POSADA CARRILES
And now, today, September 12, the 8th anniversary of the incarceration of the Cuban Five, brings yet another outrage -- a federal magistrate in Texas has recommended that Posada be released from immigration custody, so that he can join his fellow terrorist Bosch in walking the streets, and plotting more acts of terrorism.
A national March on Washington will be held on September 23 to demand freedom for the Cuban Five. Come join us in Washington. In the meantime, there's an even more pressing campaign -- join me today in demanding that the U.S. not release the terrorist Luis Posada Carriles, and demand that they extradite him to Venezuela instead. ANSWER has all the facts of the case, along with an "easy-click link" to send a letter to the government to join in the demand. Do it today.
A HISTORY OF U.S.-BASED TERRORISM AGAINST CUBA
Since the Cuban Revolution in 1959, right-wing, anti-Cuban groups based in Miami have carried out literally thousands of acts of terrorism (An excellent summary can be found here). Led by notorious terrorists Bosch and Posada, and working hand-in-hand with the U.S. government and the CIA, these groups have conducted dozens of bombings, assassinations and attempted assassinations (more than 600 against Fidel Castro alone), plane and boat hijackings, and attacks from the sea. Because so much of this has been "below the radar" in the United States, most people are surprised to learn that this anti-Cuba terrorism has caused the deaths of almost 3,500 Cubans, more than the number of people killed on 9/11. Nor is this terrorism confined to the island of Cuba -- dozens of bombings and assassinations have been perpetrated in Miami and other U.S. cities by anti-Cuba terrorist groups.
Al Qaeda was hardly the first to involve airplanes in acts of terrorism. On October 6, 1976, Cubana Airlines flight 455 was blown out of the sky on a flight from Venezuela, killing all 73 people on board. It is this crime for which Venezuela is currently demanding the extradition of Posada. Car bombs too were used long before the words "war on terror" were spoken. September 21st will mark the 30th anniversary of the 1976 assassination of former Chilean diplomat Orlando Letelier and US activist Ronnie Moffit in a massive car bombing on the streets of Washington, D.C. Both of these acts of terrorism were organized by Bosch and Posada.
Nor are these acts of terrorism confined to the distant past. In 1997, a series of hotel bombings in Havana, again organized by Posada, killed an Italian tourist, Fabio Di Celmo. In 2000, four men led by Posada were captured in Panama with 33 pounds of C-4 explosives while engaged in an attempt to kill Cuban President Fidel Castro. Convicted in 2004, they were pardoned under intense pressure from the United States after just four months. Three of them, all known terrorists, were immediately welcomed in Miami as heroes, demonstrating rather strikingly the collusion between the U.S. government and these terrorist groups.
THE CUBAN FIVE ATTEMPT TO PUT AN END TO IT
It was against this backdrop that the Cuban Five were sent to Miami to infiltrate and peacefully monitor the workings of the terrorist network. At great risk to their lives, they succeeded in collecting evidence of ongoing plots, and thwarted a number of them. But after informing Cuban and U.S. authorities of what they had learned, the FBI moved not against the terrorist groups, but against the Five! They were arrested and prosecuted on sensational and false charges of espionage conspiracy, failure to register as foreign agents, and other crimes.
After the judge refused to allow a change of venue, the trial took place in Miami in the face of intense anti-Cuba sentiment. The jury was intimidated, witnesses were bullied by the prosecution, and defense lawyers were denied access to evidence on the spurious grounds that the information was classified. The Five were convicted and collectively sentenced to four life terms and 75 years in prison.
In prison, the outrageous treatment of the Five continued. They were separated into five different prisons to break them psychologically, repeatedly held in solitary confinement despite being model prisoners, and illegally deprived of visits from their wives and families for years at a time.
The trial of the Five was so much outside acceptable norms that in May, 2005, the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions declared the convictions of the Five to be "arbitrary and in violation of international law." On Aug. 9, 2005, a three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, citing the failure to grant a change of venue, overturned the convictions and ordered a new trial. But the U.S. government refused to release them, and appealed. On Aug. 9, 2006, in what can only be described as a politically-motivated decision, the full Court denied the Five a new trial.
Every day of the continued imprisonment of the Cuban Five is an injustice. Terrorists like Bosch and Posada are the ones who should be in prison, and five men who dedicated their lives to opposing such heinous acts should be free.
LA LUCHA CONTINUA
The struggle is far from over. New defense appeals are planned, and a public march and forum, organized by the National Committee to Free the Cuban Five, will be held in Washington, D.C. on September 23. Also that week, the national coordinator of the Committee, Gloria La Riva, will be speaking at Camp Democracy at noon on Sept. 18, and there will be a press conference at the National Press Club at 9 a.m. on the morning of Sept. 21. More information about the case of the Cuban Five can be found at www.freethefive.org.