International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban 5
13 years in which Gerardo, Ramon and Antonio have served over a decade of time in high security prisons. 13 years where Rene and Gerardo were unable to see their wives. 13 years where the Five have been forced into isolation cells for more than 635 days.
13 years of pain for five Cuban families who have seen their children grow up without the presence of their fathers. 13 years of having to say goodbye to their loved ones without the embrace of their children. 13 years of not knowing when they will receive the next "blessed authorization" to see their relatives again.
13 years of shame for the justice of a country that pretends by lecturing the world about human rights!!!!!
On behalf of the memory of all of those who have suffered death and wounds by the actions of terrorist groups based in
We demand President Obama to put an end to this injustice and order the freedom of the Five Cuban Patriots Now!
Cuba’s National Assembly agreement on the Five
• Demands that
FOR many people, the summer period is one of vacations. However, we must intensify, and right now, our systematic and consistent work to put into practice the agreements of the 6th Congress of the Communist Party and the decisions of this Assembly and government to update and improve Cuban socialism.
Similarly, we need to take onto a higher plane the struggle for the liberation of Gerardo Hernández Nordelo, Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando González and René González.
Now is the time to redouble our actions to demolish the wall of silence which allows
The next few weeks are decisive for the conclusion of Gerardo’s habeas corpus proceedings and, as has happened on previous occasions, he is confronting new and serious obstacles in addition to his very difficult prison situation and which constitute a clear violation of his rights and
During this crucial stage additional difficulties have been placed in the way of Gerardo’s communication with his legal team and Cuban consular officials; his access to correspondence, including that of a legal nature and related to his case, is being restricted or prevented.
The National Assembly of People's Power demands that
We commit ourselves to this struggle without losing a single day. Hasta la victoria siempre.
Case of the Five censored in
•WASHINGTON, June 23.— The International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban 5 today gave an example of
A journalist from the CNN network was interested in covering Gerardo Hernandez's exhibit of cartoons he created in prison, Humor from my Pen and set up an interview, as a communiqué from the group notes, as reported by PL.
The interview took place on June
"We did not know just how much the journalist knew about the case of the Cuban 5 but after more than 3 hours she learned not only about the artistic talents displayed in Gerardo's cartoons but also about the deep injustice that he and his four brothers have been enduring for 13 years for defending their country, Cuba, against terrorism," the communiqué continues.
The journalist did not know how long it would take before the Committee would know if the interview was going to be aired but mentioned that her editor wanted to find someone with a different "point of view" to "balance" the story. Their surprise about the interview was even greater when they were told that the "balanced" segment was complete and going to be aired on a program of CNN called "Encuentro" on Wednesday, June 15 at 2pm PST.
However, it was not broadcast because of "an ’executive decision’ not to air the segment." This reveals the persistent attitude of the
The communiqué emphasizes, "So many times we hear about freedom in the
Where is this free media when it comes to covering the case of the Cuban 5? •
Cuban Parliament Protests Mistreatment of Gerardo Hernandez
Aug. 1, 2011 HAVANA, Cuba, Aug 1 (acn): The Cuban National Assembly of People's Power (ANPP) held the U.S. government responsible for "the health and physical integrity of Gerardo Hernandez," one of the five Cuban antiterrorist unjustly imprisoned in that country.
The ANPP accused the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for the unjustified sending of Hernandez to the "hole" where he has been submitted to temperatures above 35 degrees Centigrade since July 21, despite being ill.
Throughout the long process against the Cuban Five, the
At the opening of the ANPP plenary session, its president, Ricardo Alarcón, briefed the deputies on the visit to Hernandez made by his lawyer, Leonard Weinglass, along the president of a major Human Rights Committee in
During the 12 years since his arrest the
He guessed that the top American authorities might not have full knowledge of the inhumane treatment Gerardo is suffering from, and asked them to flood Obama´s offices with letters and to encourage everybody to write "without offending" on that issue.
Statement from the International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban 5 about Gerardo Hernandez' Legal Situation
August 12, 2011
The coming weeks will be critical in the upcoming closure of the Habeas Corpus process for Gerardo Hernández Nordelo, condemned unjustly to two life sentences. The
On April 25,
New evidence has emerged that the Miami journalists who demonized the five in their coverage leading up to and during the trial, thus creating bias and influencing the jury, received a quarter of a million dollars from the U.S. government. This obstruction of justice by the government is one of the arguments Gerardo plans to present at the hearing.
For the past 12 days the Cuban Parliament has denounced the
Together with 10 Nobel Prize winners, thousands of artists and intellectuals, parliaments and governments (paraphrasing recent statements by Obama) we say: It is time that Gerardo Hernández and his four compañeros are freed. Even if just for humanitarian reasons, after 15 years of unjust imprisonment, it is time that the Five be freed. We do not expect something different from
Obama can use his executive powers outlined in the U.S. Constitution to liberate the Five. It's time for him to listen to international demands and end this injustice.
Please send telegrams, faxes and e-mail to the White House and all
Talking about Supreme Court, how about a little history. On June 15, 2009 the US Supreme Court announced its decision to reject the request for a revision of the Cuban Five case. This demand for a review was carried out by millions of people from all walks of life around the world, a record number of “Friends of the Court” petitions and thousands of personalities and elected officials from every continent. Many of these pleas also came from within the
The
This has obviously been a political case right from day one. It is even further revealed by the Supreme Court’s decision and the shameless refusal of the judges to publicly explain to the world the basis of their ruling. Of course the judges are not obliged to divulge it according to the American legal system. However, in a case such as this one which the whole world and many governments are watching, a public explanation was necessary. We are perhaps witnessing one of the greatest ironies in the current international political scene. The Cuban Five are cruelly and politically persecuted for their peaceful anti-terrorist motivations and activities. The reason? They are acting on behalf of and supporting the Cuban government.
One of the main charges that Washington levies against Cuba is lack of democracy, that it is does not, amongst other characteristics exhibit a political system similar to the American one which would include checks and balances. The Cuban system is in fact one unified revolutionary peoples’ political power, from the top down and from the bottom up including the judiciary, each enjoying its own respective fields of competence. The relationship and inter-action of all the different Cuban state levels between themselves including the judiciary and all of these institutions in turn with the citizens, is a feature of the Cuban type of democracy. There is no need to get into a debate as to whether the Cuban system is more democratic than the American model. However, if one takes into account this latest Supreme Court episode of
PRESS RELEASE
Last 1 August the Cuban National Assembly denounced the arbitrary treatment Gerardo Hernandez is being subjected to by hindering or preventing access to legal documents pertaining to his case.
Ten days have elapsed and the situation remains the same. As the
We must demand once again that the
National Assembly of People’s power
Jimmy Carter's
Mar. 30, 2011
Before concluding his three-day visit to
Carter said the
He told the reporters that he had met with President Raul Castro and with Fidel Castro, whom he saw enjoying good health; he also met with some groups that criticize the Cuban governme'snt and he added he hoped that some of their complaints will receive a response from the Cuban authorities in the future.
As to the case of the five Cubans incarcerated in the United States since 1998, the former US president said that their imprisonment make no sense since American courts have shared doubts about it, as have human rights organizations around the world. They have been in jail for 12 years now, he said and added he hoped that they can be released in the near future. Carter also met with two of the mothers and three of the wives of those Cubans imprisoned in the
He explained that on Wednesday morning he was able to meet with Alan Gross, a man he thinks is innocent of posing a serious threat to the Cuban people and government and that Gross was sentenced to a long prison term. He said he hoped he will soon be released too.
Carter stressed that there are many things both countries can do to improve relations and have normal links in all possible ways. And he reiterated his gratitude to Raul Castro and other government officials for having allowed him to visit and talk with them.
During the Q/A Session Carter replied to an AP question about the possibility that he could take Alan Gross back to the
Responding to a question by Associated Press Television about a meeting with Obama after this trip to
Referring to what each country could do to improve relations, Carter said he wished that
He also said he personally wished to see the complete abolishment of the Helms-Burton Law because in his opinion the approval and signing of it by former President Bill Clinton was a serious mistake.
As to other actions, Carter hopes that Mr. Gross be released and that the five Cubans return home.
Any effort on the part of the
As to the congress people of Cuban descent he said they are acting in a very counterproductive manner by trying to blame or punish the Cuban government, when in fact they are punishing the people of
To the question that if he would agree to be a mediator between the two countries, Carter replied that there is little chance that he would be asked to take part in that kind of service, though he would be happy to help.
Carter also told reporters that he believed
And responding to BBC if he tackled issues like the freedom of expression, the freedom to travel, the economic changes to be analyzed by the upcoming Communist Party Congress, during his meetings with Raul Castro and leader Fidel Castro, Jimmy Carter recalled that when he visited Cuba nine years ago he addressed the people on TV and on the radio and that the Granma newspaper published his statements just as he made them, which expressed his wish about those topics and carried his recommendations.
He said that although he was not very familiar with the details or aspects of the text to be analyzed by the Communist Party Congress, he was informed that some 8 million Cubans gave their opinions on the document. Carter added that the Cuban foreign minister told him that thousands of amendments were proposed to the text and that over 65 percent of the paragraphs had been modified on the basis of such proposals.
Finally, Carter said that the members of "dissident groups" he met in the morning told him that many of them had abstained from expressing any requests on personal liberties, because they did not want to be linked to the procedure, since they are in disagreement with its integrity.
| Danny Glover and Saul Landau Visit Gerardo Again
6:50 a.m. Plane leaves 8:05 a.m. Plane lands in Ontario, California, wait for the rent-a-car bus, pick up the rental and drive northeast toward Las Vegas (how else to explain heavy traffic on Saturday morning?). 9:30 a.m.We step from the air-conditioned rent-a-car into the burning sun of the Mojave Desert, the landscape for the US Correction Complex in The guard at the desk gives us forms. We fill out forms and wait with several women in the waiting room. There’s a sign missing in the gray metal room: “Unfriendly.” 10:30.a.m. Saul asks the desk guard how much longer we’ll have to wait. “They’re counting the prisoners,” he replies. 11:30 a.m. A guard calls our numbers. We pass metal detector and pat-down tests. A guard stamps our forearms. We are only permitted to carry quarters in our pockets; nothing else – the coin accepted by the venomous food machines in the visiting room. A handle-less door opens. Danny, Saul and five women enter another chamber. An unseen prison guard inside a heavily sealed, thick glass office electronically closes the heavy metal door; another guard passes an ultra violet light machine over the invisible stamp on our arms. We wait. Moments later the invisible guard electronically opens another solid metal door. The visitors stand outside in a naked passageway between grey concrete bunkers and enough barbed wire to seal some national borders. The scorching desert sun alerts us to the surroundings and the contrast between what the prison architect has done and the landscape on which the immense concrete bunkers got built: brooding mountains, desert, cactus, and unseen bones of dead pioneers and Indians. One electronically sealed chamber later, we enter the visiting room – and wait. Noon: We sit on miniature plastic chairs even Kmart wouldn’t sell. A door opens; Gerardo Hernandez emerges. In the 1990s, Cuban intelligence sent him to run an infiltration group in south Bombs in hotels and restaurants don’t exactly draw vacationers and Gerardo’s predecessors began infiltrating such groups before he was born. In 1959, former Batista officials and other anti-revolutionary exiles started their Florida-based air attacks against Three plus decades later, Jose Basulto formed Brothers to the Rescue to spot rafters miles between The Cuban infiltrators also discovered that Basulto had developed some weapons he planned to drop. Gerardo, This dashing young pilot had fooled the Brothers to the Rescue and the Bureau. He also became the darling of ultra right Congresswoman Ileana Ros Lehtenin (a photo shows her slightly more than casual interest in Roque). Shortly after Roque’s press conference, Basulto announced his intention to fly over Cuban territory. A White House official and the FAA knew of the plans, but the government eventually charged Gerardo as Havana’s source of the Brothers’ flight plans – three planes -- that allowed Cuban MiGs to shoot down two of them on February 24, 1996. Basulto’s plane returned to After Roque had revealed his true identity, The “Why,” asked Gerardo, “would the During the trial extremist exiles had photographed 2:54 p.m. The loudspeaker declares visiting hours have ended. For three hours, guards had observed the visiting process. One inmate with his back to Danny had complimented him on his acting. Danny turned his head to thank him. A guard appeared. “Sorry, sir, you’re not allowed to turn around and talk to other inmates.” Gerardo shrugged. A sign in one sealed chamber called the Victorville Prison a “humane, correctional” institution. At least the sign didn’t claim pigs could fly. Gerardo wanted to see Saul’s new film, “Will The Real Terrorist Please Stand Up.” His voice, recorded during a phone conversation, appears in the documentary, as does Danny. The prison does not permit him to receive dvds; he can see dvds from the prison library, which is unlikely to acquire it. Each day the guards go home. Gerardo stays. The sun sets over desert mountains, and over the mountains of concrete, steel and barbed wire. Danny and Saul sigh. Gerardo, smiling, holds his fist high in a triumphal salute. Danny Glover is an activist and actor. Saul Landau’s WILL THE REAL TERRORIST PLEASE STAND UP premieres at the Laemmle's Monica 4-Plex, 1332 2nd St., Santa Monica, July 26, 7 p.m. and at Washington DC’s West End Cinema (23rd and “M” NW) at 7:30. |
European Deputies Ask Obama to Release the Cuban Five
July 12, 2011
Twenty seven deputies from different nations, most of them with the friendship-with-Cuba group of the European chamber, signed the letter, among them Miguel Angel Martínez, president of the group and Willy Meyer, vice president.
This is not the first time members of the European Parliament take action in the fight for the freedom of the five Cuban men, as stated in the letter sent to Obama, according to a report at www.cubaminrex.cu, the Cuban Foreign Ministry’s website.
Fernando Gonzalez, Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon Labañino, Rene Gonzalez and Antonio Guerrero –known as the Cuban Five- were arrested in
The European deputies make reference to the international campaign in favor of the case, which has been joined by prestigious legal, religious and human right organizations, as well as 10 Nobel Prize winners.
The signatories of the letter said even former American president James Carter stated publicly in March that the imprisonment of the Cuban Five has no sense and he expected Obama to pardon them.
The European deputies asked Obama to make use of his power granted by the
Truth Held Hostage
by Ricardo Alarcón de Quesada
July 20, 2011
“There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known.” (Luke 12:2)
To start out, from a juridical standpoint the case of the Cuban Five has run its course. We’re now turning to an extraordinary proceeding called Habeas Corpus, which is an opportunity that is available only once to convicted persons after they have exhausted all appeals. Here we have to take into account that historically the chances of our compañeros being freed this way are extremely remote.
However, we’re taking this step for two basic reasons. First of all, it’s a matter of principles: We have to wage this battle on every front that we can, because these are five innocent men who are suffering cruel and unfair imprisonment. Second, because only in the case of judicial decisions has it become possible, even partially and in a limited manner, to break through the iron-clad censorship that the mass media have imposed on this case.
I could have also begun this talk by saying that the present situation of the Five is identical to that which they faced thirteen years ago. There’s no news about them. They are suffering a double imprisonment: That imposed by their jailers, and that imposed by journalists.
The first thing we have to ask is why the media silence? Is it that
The truth is that the Five are completely innocent and are literally, without exaggeration, heroes who have sacrificed their lives to save ours, showing an unsurpassed altruism. This is not an exercise in rhetoric.
This truth is proven in official
The big problem that we face is that the Empire has managed to keep this information from reaching the people. Its success has been remarkable. They have been able to hijack the truth with impunity. I’m not talking about secret texts or confidential documents. I’m talking about documents which have been and are available to anyone who goes to the official website of the
The general public finds out about what happens in the court system through whatever versions the so-called “news media” want to give. And about this trial, the longest Federal trial in the history of a nation that has, among other things, several TV channels dedicated exclusively to the courts, nothing was said outside the city of
As I said, right now we’re engaged in the Habeas Corpus petition. The most difficult case is that of Gerardo, to which I’ll refer later.
But there is a common element in all their appeals, regarding the conduct of the press. While in the rest of the world it was completely ignored, in
The following year, in 2006, it came out that these
Against Gerardo there was an additional charge, an infamous slander for which he was sentenced to die twice in prison: They accused him of “conspiracy to commit first-degree murder.”
However, here I have a document dated May 30, 2001 from the U.S. Attorney’s office. Here they state that the charge could not be proven, and therefore they requested to withdraw it at the last minute. In spite of this, Gerardo was found guilty of a non-existent crime that was impossible to prove, and moreover, for which he was no longer accused.
But, what does it matter that this document exists if nobody talks about it?
Gerardo was falsely accused of having participated in something that he had absolutely nothing to do with: The Feb. 1996 downing of 2 aircraft over Cuban waters, belonging to a terrorist group which systematically dedicated itself to violating Cuban territory, announcing each violation and shamelessly bragging about it in the
In order to claim legal jurisdiction over the incident, the
Information is key to freeing Gerardo Hernández Nordelo, Ramón Labañino Salazar, Antonio Guerrero Rodríguez, Fernando González Llort and René González Sehweret. In order to win this battle we need to mobilize many people, millions of people, and deploy a truly broad-based and effective solidarity movement
Yet any even minimally objective approach to this problem must recognize that we are still very far from this goal.
It is a proven fact that the giant media corporations have imposed an absolute silence around this case, that is especially rigorous within the
To hope that these censors will change their attitude is senseless illusion and would be an exercise in self-deception. To denounce them over and over is right but it is not enough, because our repeated denunciations have barely had any effect at all.
But there is much, much more that we can and must do.
First of all, we have to objectively take into account the reach that it has today - what we should call by its proper name: the global media tyranny.
We’re not only talking about what leading newspapers say or cover up, the big TV networks or the news agencies that decide what news will be broadcast around the world. All of them, united in enormous monopolies, control and manipulate information and their influence even extends to would-be alternatives to this global dictatorship, including media that defines itself as revolutionary.
There are many people in this world who strive to speak out and to be heard with very limited resources, and who have occasionally penetrated the wall of disinformation and deception. Our resources are much greater, those of the Cuban universities, the professors and students.
Let’s do as the children of “La Colmenita” (“The Little Beehive,” a Cuban fairy-tale) and ask “What more can we do?”
A talk delivered at the
More than 2,200 pages of documents obtained through FOIA
Government-funded propaganda operation in
by Gloria La Riva and Benjamin Becker
More than 2,000 pages of contracts obtained by Liberation newspaper — between U.S. propaganda stations Radio and TV Martí and Miami journalists posing as independent press — reveal a close partnership between the U.S. government and extreme rightwing Cuban-exile reporters in Miami.
The Cuban Five are Cuban nationals who were on a mission in
With the discovery — after the trial — of the U.S.-paid Miami journalists, the National Committee to Free the Cuban Five, Liberation newspaper, and the legal civil-rights organization Partnership for Civil Justice Fund began an investigation into how the anti-Cuba climate in Miami is financed and fostered by the U.S. government, even though it is barred by law from engaging in domestic propaganda.
The organizations have documented extensive media coverage by the government-paid reporters.
Some of the
ENRIQUE ENCINOSA
Enrique Encinosa, who advocates the bombing of Cuban hotels, was employed by the
During the Cuban Five prosecution, Encinosa broadcast news regularly on
Encinosa boasted in an Internet radio interview: “I arrived in the
Earlier, in
While the Five were monitoring the
The Five were engaged in an anti-terrorist mission and never possessed a weapon in
In an interview several days after the Cuban Five’s arrest, published Sept. 21,
JULIO ESTORINO
Julio Estorino’s history includes membership in Junta Patriótica Cubana, which was formed in the early 1980s. It advocated the violent overthrow of the Cuban government.
Estorino’s resumé — from the BBG documents obtained by Liberation newspaper — shows his
His resumé states clearly: “Employer: U.S. Government, Office of
During the same period that Estorino was employed by the
Since 1997, he has been a regular columnist for the
In an article on Sept. 18, 1998, headlined, “The spies of
Throughout [Fidel Castro’s] lengthy reign of terror, many have known and almost all have assumed that certainly in this country and in Miami, amongst us, there are Castro agents moving about and performing different missions, none of which we can say are any good.”
When the Cuban Five were arrested on Sept. 12,
From the time of the Feb. 24, 1996, shoot-down until the indictment of one of the Cuban Five, Gerardo Hernández, on May 8, 1999, on false charges of “conspiracy to commit murder,” the
Some of the reporting also cast a guilty net over all the Cuban Five.
Estorino wrote in an article published in the Diario Las Américas on May 14, 1999, titled “With Malice Aforethought”:
The
All this should be proven and it shouldn’t be very hard to do it. …
The Cuban exiles have waited forty years for the beginning of a recognition, even an implicit one, that their denunciations about the vile and wicked nature of Fidel Castro and the system of government he has imposed on our people, have not been exaggerations, mistakes, or lies. This vileness and wickedness has already reached
It's time for justice to be done.
ALBERTO MÜLLER
Alberto Müller left
Müller was caught and convicted of terrorist attacks. After serving 20 years in prison and being exiled to the
The BBG contracts obtained by Liberation newspaper show government payments to Müller of $38,571 from Oct. 1, 2004, to March 31, 2010. Earlier, during the Five’s trial, he wrote incendiary articles about the Cuban Five and the BTTR plane shoot-down.
The BBG has so far failed to release information relating to its employment of
On Feb. 20, 2001, Müller wrote a particularly venomous article titled “Assassins” in Diario Las Américas:
The last minutes in the life of four pilots downed in international waters by Castro's MiG planes were filmed and recorded for posterity.
What we needed to hear ... live ... shamelessly uninhibited, accented with bloody premeditated calculation ... the subordinates asking the commander in chief for the go-ahead to pulverize the defenseless airplanes of Brothers to the Rescue with a Soviet missile ... Five years have passed since the horrendous crime committed over international waters. That's why the matter should be put to the legal and humanitarian powers of every organization of human justice, from the International Criminal Court at
The Criminal Confession ... in the very voice of the underling executioner ... we have finally heard it with absolute clarity ... during the trial of Castro's spies who infiltrated
No crime should remain unpunished ... but one that is executed in the open skies ... against defenseless human beings who were flying over international waters in search of Cuban rafters on the high seas deserves the strictest and unmistakable repudiation by all of humanity ... due to its filthy genocidal character. [Editor's note: Ellipses included in the original]
...
The act is so despicable by its nature as a crime against humanity that it suggests the accused should be in the dock, whether they are subordinate executioners or executioners am
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