New Mexicans: Free the "Cuban Five" Prisoners in the United States

SWOP members joined others from Stop the War Machine this past Friday in front of the Federal Courthouse to demand once again of the Justice Department and Bush Administration that the "Cuban Five" political prisoners be released.

Last week the 11th Circuit Appeals Court in Atlanta, Georgia - in a highly politicized verdict that sounded at times as if it were written by the Bush Justice Department itself - upheld the convictions of the prisoners, who are held in federal penitentiaries throughout the US.

The Five were sent to southern Florida in the 1990s to monitor right wing Cuban exile organizations based in Miami that have engaged in violent acts against Cuba (including murder) and gotten away with it for nearly 50 years. In 1998, information gathered by the Five was turned over to the FBI, which at the time expressed strong interest in the activities of such groups. However, instead of doing anything about the terrorists, the Justice Department instead moved to arrest the Five, accusing them of crimes ranging from failure to declare themselves as "foreign agents" to military espionage and conspiracy to commit murder.

After one of the longest trials in US history, a Miami jury found the Five guilty on all charges, including some for which the prosecution had even stated that there was not enough evidence to convict. The Five were given sentences totaling 75 years and four life terms.

The Atlanta court did find that three of the defendants must be re-sentenced. Below are a statement issued by the International Ctte for the Freedom of the Five and an AP story on the court decision. Keep up to date on the Five at the website of the National Committee to Free the Five.



RESPONSE TO THE ATLANTA APPEALS COURT RULING BY THE INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE FOR THE FREEDOM OF THE CUBAN FIVE

On Wednesday June 4th, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals announced its ruling in the appeal case for the Cuban Five.

In the 99-page opinion, the three-judge panel unanimously upheld the convictions against the Five Cuban Patriots. The court also upheld the sentences given to René González (15 years) and Gerardo Hernández (two life sentences plus 15 years).

The court¹s ruling on Gerardo¹s sentence, however, was not unanimous: 2 to 1. On page 16 of the written opinion, Judge Phyllis Kravitch states that the government did not present sufficient evidence to convict Gerardo of conspiracy to commit murder.

The sentences of Ramón Labañino (life plus 18 years); Fernando González (19 years) and Antonio Guerrero (life plus 10 years) were returned to Judge Joan Lenard's Florida court for re-sentencing. Lenard will need to call for a hearing to issue the new ruling - this is the same judge who imposed the excessive and unjust sentences in 2001.

The Atlanta Appeals Court's written opinion, which employs startling political rhetoric, states that the defense's arguments lacked merit and clearly favors the government.

The court's ruling exposes various contradictions between the opinions of two of the justices and the author of the opinion, Judge William H. Pryor, an ultraconservative appointed to the bench with the help of Republican John McCain despite opposition from the Senate.

The defense attorneys, Weinglass, MacKenna and Horowitz, ensured they will continue the legal battle that began in December 2001 when they were unjustly sentences. There are still some legal avenues open.

Given the United States government's legal ploys to expand the sentences of our Five Brothers, we are not surprised by the judicial ruling. On the contrary, it reaffirms our need to continue fighting tirelessly to denounce this colossal injustice.

Exposed once again is the contempt of the United States government, which yesterday, in another U.S. city, defended the criminal Luis Posada Carriles.

A man who, rather than fittingly declaring him a terrorist for his crimes against humanity and extraditing him to Venezuela where the government has declared Carriles a fugitive and repeatedly demanded his extradition, the U.S. government has granted him full liberty.

Gerardo is not surprised by the ruling. "This is the same system that has unjustly incarcerated Mumia for more than 20 years along with Leonard Peltier and the Puerto Rican political prisoners, he said today.

"We will endure as many years as necessary, 30, 40, whatever it takes. As long as one of you is resisting, we will also resist until there is justice."

Gerardo has asked that we communicate his confidence to all of you, "For anyone who asks, tell them I am fine, strong and always looking forward."

Along with all of our friends around the world we call for mobilizations beginning on the morning of June 6, in front of all headquarters of the terrorist U.S. government - in Europe, Latin America and the U.S. - which holds our Five Brothers imprisoned.

Only solidarity, constant condemnation and international mobilization will secure freedom for the Five.

International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban Five
June 5, 2008


Court rules on sentences of 'Cuban 5'
By WALTER PUTNAM

Associated Press
06/04/08

ATLANTA (AP) - A federal appeals court has again upheld the politically charged convictions of five Cuban intelligence agents accused of spying in the U.S., but vacated sentences of three of them, including two who are serving life terms.

A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals returned those cases to a federal judge in Miami for resentencing based on findings in an opinion filed Wednesday that the spies gathered no "top secret" information.

It was the third time the case had come before the court.

The full 11th Circuit court already upheld the convictions of the so-called "Cuban Five" in August 2006. It rejected claims that their federal trial should have been moved from Miami because of widespread opposition among Cuban-Americans there to the communist Cuban government.

The five have been lionized as heroes in Cuba, while exile groups say they were justly punished.

In the appeal ruled on Wednesday, the five challenged a judge's refusal to suppress evidence from searches conducted under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, sovereign immunity, discovery procedures, jury selection and alleged lack of evidence to support their convictions.

"We conclude that the arguments about the suppression of evidence, sovereign immunity, discovery, jury selection and the trial are meritless, and sufficient evidence supports each conviction," Circuit Judge William H. Pryor wrote.

The latest decision included the life sentence for Gerardo Hernandez, who was convicted of murder conspiracy in the deaths of four Miami-based pilots shot down by Cuban jets in 1996. The panel split 2-1 to uphold Hernandez' life term.

The four slain pilots flew planes that were part of the Brothers to the Rescue organization, which dropped pro-democracy pamphlets on the island.

Hernandez and the others - Ruben Campa, also known as Fernando Gonzalez; Rene Gonzalez; Luis Medina, aka Ramon Labanino; and Antonio Guerrero - were members of what was known by Cuban intelligence as The Wasp Network.

The panel vacated the life terms of Medina and Guerrero and Campa's 19-year sentence, agreeing with their contentions that their sentences were improperly configured because no "top secret information was gathered or transmitted." The judges concurred with Campa that his sentence was too strict because he was not a manager of supervisor of the network.

The five acknowledged being Cuban agents but said they were not spying on the United States. They said their focus was on U.S.-based exile groups planning "terrorist" actions against the Castro government.

After a trial that lasted six months, they were convicted in 2001 of acting as unregistered Cuban agents in the United States and of espionage conspiracy for attempting to penetrate U.S. military bases.

A three-judge 11th Circuit panel overturned the convictions in 2005, saying there should have been a change of venue. But the full court reversed that decision, 10-2.

The National Committee to Free the Cuban Five denounced the decision to uphold the convictions.

"It flies in the face of the truth. The five men are not guilty of any crime," said Gloria La Riva, the committee coordinator. "They were saving lives by stopping terrorism. They never had weapons. They never posed any harm to the people of the United States."