Together with activists who rallied in 113 countries around the world, San Francisco and New York City were the scenes of afternoon protests in the United States demanding immediate freedom for the Cuban Five political prisoners.
In the heart of the Latino Mission district of San Francisco, dozens of friends of the Five held banners, placards and signs, sang songs and gave talks that explained to hundreds of people passing by the huge injustice waged against five Cubans on a mission to protect the Cuban people from terrorist attack. The crowd listened intently, and many signed a petition to President Obama.
Sept. 12 is the day 14 years ago that the FBI violently raided the homes of Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando González and René González in Miami and Tampa, and arrested them on trumped-up federal charges. The Five have been in prison since that day, after a seven-month trial that can only be characterized as a kangaroo court.
Despite Miami’s notorious reputation for glorifying and sheltering anti-Cuba terrorists responsible for murderous crimes, the federal judge Joan Lenard refused to move the trial out of the city. The Five were falsely charged with 26 federal counts, including espionage conspiracy, related crimes and—against Gerardo Hernández, a cooked-up charge of murder conspiracy that took the U.S. government seven months to fabricate.
During the Five’s Miami detention, the climate of media hostility was at a fever pitch against the five men on trial for protecting Cuba from Miami-based terrorists. The jury was unsequestered, a highly unusual situation considering the felony charges and Miami’s hostility. Therefore, the jurors were more likely to be affected by media coverage. Outside Miami the trial was virtually unknown in the United States.
The Five were convicted on June 8, 2001. They were sentenced from 15 years to life, with Gerardo, Ramón and Antonio receiving life sentences. In 2009, Ramón’s and Antonio’s life sentences were reduced to 30 years and 21 years, 10 months, respectively. René González was released on Oct. 7, 2011, but the judge refuses to let him return to his family in Cuba, instead ordering him to serve an outrageous three-year probation in the U.S.
Gerardo remains with a double life sentence, due to the murder conspiracy conviction. That false charge has its roots in the vengeance that Miami terrorists and Washington officials sought after Cuba shot down two planes of Brothers to the Rescue on Feb. 24, 1996. Although BTTR planes had repeatedly invaded Cuban airspace in 1995 and early 1996, even buzzing Havana buildings, the U.S. government refused to rein in the BTTR, whose leader is self-confessed terrorist José Basulto.
On that afternoon, after once again entering Cuban airspace and ignoring Cuba’s warnings, Cuban air force planes shot down two BTTR planes. Four pilots were killed.
Two-and-a-half years later, on Sept. 12, 1998, the Cuban Five were arrested in Miami, and seven months after the arrest, Gerardo Hernández was charged with murder conspiracy. He had no role whatsoever in the shootdown, and during trial even the U.S. prosecutors acknowledged the absurdity of the accusation.
Important new evidence
Today, important new evidence has been uncovered through intensive investigations conducted by the National Committee to Free the Cuban Five. After the Miami Herald reported that 10 Miami journalists were receiving U.S. government money via its propaganda stations Radio and TV Martí, the National Committee filed a Freedom of Information Act petition to see how Miami “reporters” on the government payroll affected the Cuban Five trial. Liberation newspaper, with the help of Partnership for Civil Justice Fund, was able to obtain more than 2,000 pages of contracts, proving some of those payments.
Dozens of “journalists” posing as independent reporters received millions of U.S. government dollars, many of whom wrote highly prejudicial articles and commented on radio and TV, effectively convicting the Five in the media.
Today, the Five are in the midst of their habeas corpus extraordinary appeals. Habeas corpus is a writ ordering a person in custody to be brought before a court. It places the burden of proof on those detaining the person to justify the detention. A major part of their argument for freedom is the government’s illegal media operation.
But limiting the new evidence to the courtroom will not be enough to free them. It is being taken up by international legal entities, Cuban Five support groups and prominent individuals to demand that the U.S. government free the Five and allow them to return home to Cuba.
When the Five were on trial, their case was almost unknown.
Today, some 400 committees and organizations have formed in the United States and worldwide, working actively to free the Cuban Five. Countless actions have been held and thousands of prominent individuals, politicians, jurists and human rights activists proclaim their support.
Sept. 12, saw spirited actions across the island of Cuba and in mass rallies and forums around the globe, in by far the largest show of support internationally for the Five.
Ramón Labañino issued a statement to supporters on behalf of himself and his brothers. It says in part, “Today, Sept. 12, 2012, marks 14 years of unjust imprisonment, and the struggle that we began is now much more intense, stronger and with more solidarity. We have lived truly difficult moments, lockups in cells of hellish punishment for prolonged periods (something that, in spite of being against every human right, is becoming more common in this country), violation of our legal and constitutional rights, lies, distortions, infamies. But always the unity of everyone, human solidarity, the affection of the peoples, the love of humanity, have been our light and strength to overcome every obstacle and continue forward.”
