Supporters of Cuban Five redouble their efforts
By
Cheryl LaBash
Atlanta
Published Feb 23, 2006 8:00 PM
Cuban Five defense attorneys
delivered a solid argument for justice and freedom on Feb. 14. The full
13-member 11th Circuit Court heard lawyers Leonard Weinglass and Rich ard Klugh
defend the unanimous decision of a three-judge panel that overturned the unjust
convictions of the Five.
Leonard Weinglass, lawyer for the Cuban Five.
WW photo: Cheryl LaBash
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In August 2005 that ruling found that a fair and
impartial trial had been impossible in the center of the CIA-backed, anti-Cuba
mercenaries: Miami, Fla.
The U.S. prosecutor, on the other hand, decided
to prolong what a United Nations Commission has termed an “arbitrary
detention.” The prosecution has not abided by the August 2005 decision for
a new trial in an impartial location. Nor has it repatriated the Five to their
homes and loved ones in Cuba. Instead, the Five—Gerardo Hernández,
Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, Fer nan do González and
René González —have been imprisoned since 1998 in the United
States. They are unjustly behind bars for working in this country to prevent
terrorist attacks against Cuba.
Following the hearing, the National
Committee to Free the Five (NCFF) organized a media conference and a community
meeting at Spelman College. The events highlighted supporters who had traveled
to Atlanta to support the Cuban Five from across the United States and around
the world.
A U.S. media blockade prevents most people in the United
States from learning how Washington protects admitted anti-Cuban terrorists like
Luis Posada Carriles and Orlando Bosch. Yet at the same time it persecutes these
five men who merely monitored violent plans against their homeland Cuba.
However, international observers at the hearing demonstrated wide
knowledge and support for freeing the Cuban Five.
Gloria La Riva,
coordinator of the NCFF, introduced these distinguished observers. They included
Kurt de Loor, a member of the Flemish Parliament in Belgium, who is responsible
for a new declaration on the violation of human rights in the case of the Cuban
5. The declaration was signed by 32 Belgian MPs, the members of the Flemish
Parlia ment, the Belgian parliament, the House of Representatives and the
Senate, and one member of the European Parliament.
Additional
international supporters included Eberhard Schultz, who is from the Berlin Bar
Association, the International League of Human Rights in Berlin and the
Republican Lawyers Guild; Edith Flamant, a Belgian attorney; Father Geoffrey
Bottoms, leader of the British Cam paign to Free the Cuban Five, who is touring
the United States with the film “Mission Against Terror”; Bernie
Dwyer, from Ireland, who is co-director of the documentary; Fabio Marcelli, an
Italian attorney representing the International Associ ation of Democratic
Lawyers; Judge Claudia Morcom, a long-time civil rights activist from Detroit
and judge of Wayne County Circuit Court from 1983 to 1998; and Carlos Zamorano,
a well-known and distinguished attorney from Argentina.
Stop
terrorism—made in USA!
Speaking at the media
conference, Andres Gomez—director of the Antonio Maceo Brigade in
Miami—demanded “the end of U.S. support for terrorist organizations
of the Cuban right wing that, from U.S. soil, have planned and conducted
terrorist attacks against the Cuban people on the island for the last 47 years,
and have also been responsible for assassinations and other terrorist attacks
against those that oppose your methods and political aims in the United
States.”
Gomez also directs Areíto Digital magazine and is
one of the leading activists of the Alianza Martiana, an alliance of Cuban
organizations in Miami. He stated, “The Cubans and Cuban Americans in
Miami are the first victims of terrorism conducted by extreme right-wing
organizations. They are unable to pronounce themselves freely on subjects
related to Cuba because of the threat of violence against them. This is not a
supposition. Hundreds of terrorist acts have been committed by those
organizations in the United States, specifically in Miami.”
Free the
Five committees—from Los Angeles, New York City, Louis ville and
Detroit—the National Net work on Cuba and the Inter national Action Center
all participated in the Atlanta support actions. Family members of the Cuban
Five expressed their deep gratitude for the solidarity and support.
Leonard Weinglass, attorney for Antonio Guerrero, concluded, “The
last time we argued this case before a panel of this court, three judges in a
unanimous 93-page decision found that the case would have to be reversed because
the case represented a perfect storm of prejudice against the Five Cubans who
were charged.
“I believe that this court will not convert that
perfect storm of prejudice into a bright and sunny day of neutrality in Miami,
because anyone examining the 119 volumes of transcript, in what was the longest
trial in the United States at the time that it occurred, plus the 800 exhibits,
over 20,000 pages, will reach the same conclusion.
“This case has
been examined not only by three judges of the circuit who reached that
conclusion, but by five judges of the United Nations Work ing Group on Arbitrary
Deten tion. Those five judges in May of this year [2005] also found that the
Five did not receive a fair trial in Miami. In other words, this case has been
reviewed by no fewer than eight judges, three in this circuit, five in the UN.
All eight agreed unanimously that the Five did not receive a fair
trial.
“So as we stand now before 13 judges, which includes two of
the original judges, we feel hopeful and even optimistic, that finally, finally
after seven years, there will be a recognition that the Five did not have a fair
process, and that their convictions will be reversed.”
Organizations
are redoubling their efforts to mobilize support to free the five heroes in the
months before the 11th Circuit Court decision. The Five Freedom Fund is raising
$250,000 for a New York Times ad and other publicity to break the media
blockade.
For more information contact: www.freethefive.org,
www.antiterroristas.cu, www.freethefiveny.org, www.cubasolidarity.com.
Articles copyright 1995-2012 Workers World.
Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved.
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