[NYTr] RHC Analysis: 2007 - The Case of the Cuban 5 in US Prisons Date: Tue, 25 Dec 2007 18:49:01 -0600 (CST) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit Radio Havana Cuba http://www.radiohc.cu/ingles/portada.htm Annual Report 2007: The Case of the Five Cuban Heroes Incarcerated in US prisons by Bernie Dwyer Radio Havana Cuba As the 10th year of incarceration in US prisons approaches for the Cuban Five, it would be easy to feel disheartened about the progress towards freeing the Five Cuban Heroes. Fernando Gonzalez, Antonio Guerrero, Ramon LabaC1ino, Rene Gonzalez and Gerardo Hernandez are still locked up and the family members are still being treated in a hostile manner when they apply for visas to enter the US to visit their loved ones in US penitentiaries. However the hope and spirit of those fighting for their release has increased. The Five imprisoned Cubans themselves are as strong in their convictions as ever and remain an inspiration for all of us struggling for their liberation. The three most significant events during the year were: 1. The oral hearing at the 11th Circuit Court of Atlanta on August 20th 2. Fernando Gonzalez's move from Oxford FCI in Wisconsin to Terre Haute 3. The development of the two-pronged approach to the campaign: (a) the release of the Five (b) the granting of the visas to Olga and Adriana to visit the US to see their husbands in prison on humanitarian grounds 1. The oral hearing at the 11th Circuit Court of Atlanta on August 20th We are still waiting for the decision of the three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals after the August 20 court hearing. The main issues put forward by the Five's legal team were the length of sentences passed down on the Five without admissible evidence and the conviction of Gerardo Hernandez on a count of conspiracy to commit murder in the first degree, again on the evidence of a received telephone message on his answering machine. There were a number of high profile international observers from the human right and civil rights world including the Chilean Judge, Juan Guzman who was responsible for convicting the late Dictator Pinochet. 2. Fernando Gonzalez's move from Oxford FCI in Wisconsin to Terre Haute Without any prior warning or obvious reason, Fernando Gonzalez, a model prisoner serving his 19 year sentence in Oxford FCI in Wisconsin was moved in September to FCI Terre Haute in Indiana. Although Fernando accepts the move without protest, it is a big blow to the loyal group of followers in Wisconsin who made Fernando a cause celebre calling him "Wisconsin's very own political prisoner". It also means that the support that his mother, Magaly and wife, Rosa Aurora had in Wisconsin has to be built up again in Indiana. 3. The development of the two-pronged approach to the campaign: (a) the release of the Five 2007 was a year of increased solidarity and perhaps even more importantly, increased media coverage. This was due in no small part to the work of the US Free the Five Campaigns. There were several very important tours in the US to publicize the case with a view to gaining support for the campaign to free the five. It is generally accepted that the main thrust of the information campaign is aimed at the ordinary citizen of the US as the US government to date has not shown any interest in correcting the blatant miscarriages of justice that have been carried out at all levels against the Five. In recent months there has been a significant rise in news coverage of the Cuban Five case by major media. CNN's The Situation Room aired a 13-minute segment. BBC and Reuters conducted radio interviews with Gerardo HernC!ndez. An important article appeared in The New York Times, National Public Radio broadcast a recent segment, and the Associated Press story on the Aug. 20 oral argument hearing was picked up by almost 100 U.S. daily newspapers. All of this coverage is easily accessible on the website: freethefive.org. It was also a year of travel for the indefatigable family members of the Five. As well as trips to Europe, this year Fernando's mother Magaly went as far as the African continent to bring the story of the Five's plight to garner solidarity from all corners of the world. Cuban Parliament President Ricardo Alarcon de Quesada, whose office's role is to coordinate the campaign on the Five here in Cuba, used every national or international forum in 2007 to bring up the case of the five Cubans held as prisoners in US jails since September 12, 1998. For more than nine years he has dedicated considerable effort to explain the details of the case and build support for the struggle to free Fernando, Antonio, Ramon, Rene, and Gerardo. His highlighting of the contradictions apparent in the treatment by the US courts in the case of the Five illustrates the on-going travesty of justice perpetrated against the Five. According to an interview with Alarcon published in Granma, the most recent example took place in June of this year: the case of a Mr. Aragoncillo, a Philippine born man. He was an FBI officer assigned to the offices of Vice President Richard Cheney. He worked in the White House. He was also tied to the executive mansion back when Al Gore was the vice president. The court record states that from that office he obtained 733 secret documents. When he left the White House, he went to work with the FBI in New Jersey. It was then that they discovered the fact and they brought Aragoncillo to trial. He was found guilty and sentenced to ten years in prison. As Alarcon points out, he received ten years in prison for real, substantive espionage. Meanwhile, the Cuban Five, who never obtained even one piece of paper, were accused of conspiracy to commit espionage without being accused of espionage itself. A long list of high level US authorities paraded before the court in Miami testifying that "there was absolutely nothing pointing to espionage." However, the prosecution managed to convince a Miami jury and they were harshly sentenced to terms including four life sentences and 75 years in prison. (b) Campaign for the granting of visas on humanitarian grounds to Olga and Adriana to visit the US to see their husbands in prison For the eighth time, the US authorities have denied a visa to Olga Salanueva and Adriana Perez, the wives of Rene Gonzalez and Gerardo Hernandez, to visit their imprisoned husbands. The denial of visas for family members to visit the Cuban Five is totally arbitrary. And not only arbitrary, but also in violation of international and United States norms. All people in prison have the right to receive visits from family and even other persons. The case of the Five is a special situation because the prisoners are in one country and their relatives in another. Normally when the United States has dealt with this type of situation a resolution has been found even in more problematic cases. However the treatment given to the relatives of the Five is obviously outside of the norm. The process to request a visa lasts months: The US Interests Section grants an appointment, you go there, they give you forms to fill out, and these are submitted to the US consul. Then you have to waits, sometimes several months wait until they call you and say yes or no. In practice this has meant that for those who have been able to travel it has been at most once a year. However in the case of Olga Salanueva and Adriana PC)rez respectively, they have not been allowed to visit their husbands for 7 and 9 years. This past September 12th marked the 9th anniversary of the arrests of the Cuban Five and on that day the U.S. Government once again denied visas for Olga and Adriana to visit their husbands in prison. On 8 separate occasions they have applied for a visa and each time they have been denied for a different reason without real justification. On one occasion Adriana was given a visa, but the treatment was even crueler because when she arrived in Houston they wouldn't let her stay in the US and she was returned to Cuba. Olga was also given a visa once that was later revoked. Since then it has been all negative replies. They have said "No" to eight consecutive requests. On the 7th of December this year, the International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban Five launched an International Commission for the Right of Family Visits on Behalf of Family Members of the Cuban Five Held in U.S. Prisons The Commission will base its demand on the humanitarian right for families to visit their loved ones in prison based on The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Convention against Torture. This Commission will take into consideration the opinion of the United Nation Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions of May 27, 2005, statements on behalf of Olga and Adriana from Amnesty International, as well as supporting statements from the European Parliament. Personalities from around the world include Adolfo Perez Esquivel, Nobel Peace Prize from Argentina, Rigoberta MenchC:, Nobel Peace Prize from Guatemala, Danielle Mitterand, former First Lady of France, and many others. Here in the United States a number of personalities have agreed to be part of the International Commission including Bishop of Detroit, Thomas Gumbleton, Angela Davis, UC Santa Cruz Professor, Dr. Joan Brown Campbell, Former General Secretary of the National Council of Churches, actor Danny GloverB-, writer Alice Walker, linguist Noam Chomsky, historian Howard Zinn, former US Congressman Esteban Torres, Wayne Smith former Chief of the US Interests Section in Havana Cuba, and Michael Parenti, author and scholar. The National Committee to Free the Cuban Five is launching an exciting new campaign for the next stage of the struggle, with two components: 1. A Billboard Campaign to raise public awareness and support for the Five in Washington DC, Los Angeles and other cities, with Billboards and Transit Shelter ads. The Billboard Campaign has the potential to bring the case to the attention of hundreds of thousands or millions of people. The scope of the campaign will depend on the funding. 2. An International and US "Day After" mobilization and Week of Action immediately upon the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals decision. Regardless of the outcome of the court decision, it will be vital for all supporters of the Five, organizations and individuals, to respond the day after. We are calling for press conferences, emergency rallies in front of government offices in the U.S. or U.S. embassies and consulates abroad, and a massive letter-writing campaign to the President and Attorney General. Another significant and successful event at the end of 2007 was the premiere of film "The Trial" in Hollywood Los Angeles organized by the US Committee to Free the Five. With a sold-out theater at 7:30 pm and a second 9:30 pm show added the Hollywood premiere of "The Trial: The Untold Story of the Cuban Five" in December was a great success. Film star Danny Glover took time from his busy filming schedule to open the premiere at the Laemmle's Sunset 5 Theater complex. There was great excitement among the theater-goers by his presence, and for his support for the Five. In his talk, Glover said, "Who are the Five? Not only were they saving Cuban lives by opposing terrorism in Miami, they were in the service of all humanity. Three of the Cuban Five served in Angola against South Africa's invasion. If you know the role that the Cubans played against apartheid, you can appreciate how truly heroic the Five are. Cuba, through its history and internationalism, supported African and Latin American countries, and countries all over the world, to enable the people in those countries to free themselves and decide their own destinies." The defense team for the Five had a full year of legal work putting together their papers and files to present at the oral hearing I Atlanta on 20th August. They also have to wait for the decision of the court to see what the next steps will be in the legal battle. Leonard Weinglass, the well-known civil rights attorney and member of the defense team, traveled around the US and Europe to explain the intricacies of the case against the five and especially the legal irregularities they encountered and are still suffering. As 2008 approaches it behoves us all to put even more time and effort into this worldwide campaign to free the Cuban Five. Let's give it the final push to get these men out of prison. It is of enormous benefit to them to know that we are remembering and supporting them through all these years. * ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us Our main website: http://www.blythe.org List Archives: http://blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/ Subscribe: http://blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr =================================================================