 Speakers at June 2 press conference (l to r): Gloria La Riva, Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, Heidi Boghosian and Brian Becker PSL photo |
A press conference held June 2 at
the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., attended by a variety of national
and international media, revealed new evidence uncovered by the National
Committee to Free the Cuban Five that the U.S. government has covertly paid
tens of thousands of dollars to Miami journalists working for major media
outlets who, during the federal government’s politically charged Miami
prosecution, published often incendiary stories about Cuba and the five Cubans.
The men, known as the “Cuban
Five,” are serving sentences varying from 15 years to double life, after
being convicted of charges including espionage conspiracy.
The press conference revealed
names of journalists and payment amounts, and made available notebooks
highlighting articles and propaganda by supposedly independent journalists who
were covertly on the payroll of the U.S. government.
Gloria La Riva, coordinator of the
Cuban Five committee, who opened the press conference, said, “Many of the
articles and commentaries by the government-paid journalists were highly
prejudicial and biased, with the obvious aim of negatively influencing the
Miami public and the jury pool, convicting the Cuban Five, and depriving them
of the fundamental right to a fair trial.”
New nationwide campaign
Brian Becker, national
coordinator of the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism), stated that the case of the Five had entered a new stage and announced that a coalition of organizations is
initiating a nationwide campaign that will call on U.S. Attorney General Eric
Holder to take immediate action to provide remedy and relief to the Cuban Five
based on the U.S. government’s misconduct and covert operations, which deprived
the Five of their fundamental right to a fair trial.
Also speaking at the press
conference was Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, an attorney with the Partnership for
Civil Justice Fund, which has filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of the National
Committee. The litigation filed by the PCJF asserts that the Broadcasting Board
of Governors and its Office of Cuba Broadcasting are withholding information that
will show that they have engaged in activities in violation of federal law,
specifically the Smith-Mundt Act, which prohibits the BBG from seeking to
propagandize the U.S. public, and may be continuing to do so.
According to the lawsuit,
“The public has an immediate right to know about matters involving
improper domestic propaganda as well as whether the U.S. Government compromised
the fundamental right to a fair trial of the Cuban Five. These journalists
engaged in repeated publications of purportedly independent articles. The
articles include many that were highly incendiary, included false information
and poisoned domestic public opinion during the prosecution, trial and
conviction of the Cuban Five.”
‘A concerted plan existed to
taint the judicial proceedings’
Heidi Boghosian, executive director
of National Lawyers Guild, another speaker at the press conference, stated: “The
timing of the paid-for journalism suggests that a concerted plan existed to
taint the judicial proceedings and tilt the outcome of the trial toward guilty
verdicts, depriving the defendants of the cherished Sixth Amendment right to a
fair trail by an impartial jury. There can be no doubt that misleading and
disparaging articles written by reporters paid by the government had a direct
impact on public opinion, the trial court, and the full 11th Circuit Court of
Appeals in the case of the Five.”
In January 2009, the National
Committee issued a Freedom of Information Act request to the Broadcasting Board
of Governors seeking information on U.S. government payments to supposedly
independent journalists. Key information initially released by the BBG to the
committee made clear that the amount of covert government payments to
journalists was substantial—however, the agency is refusing to hand over
critical underlying documents to the National Committee and is fighting to keep
this information from becoming subject to public scrutiny.
Click here to send your own letter
to Eric Holder demanding justice for the Five, and click here so that you or
your organization can be listed as part of the coalition calling on Holder to
free the Five.
Demand justice for the Cuban Five!
For more information on the
campaign to free the Cuban Five, audio and video from the press conference,
links to media coverage and additional details about these new revelations, go
to freethefive.org.
