Cuban Five suffer more injustice

On Oct. 13, a 21-year-plus-10-month prison term was imposed on Antonio Guerrero Rodríguez by the same Florida U.S. District Court that initially condemned him to a life sentence plus 10 years. The steadfast support of the Cuban people and government, amplified with worldwide solidarity, forced the U.S. government to back off some of the unjust and wildly excessive life sentences imposed on Guerrero, one of the revolutionary heroes known as the Cuban Five.

Resentencing of Ramón Labañino Salazar and Fernando González Llort is postponed while defense attorneys battle for the right to see U.S. national security damage assessments in the Cuban Five cases. These documents—or lack of them—bolster arguments for reduced prison terms. The prosecution presented no evidence of damage to the U.S. or possession or of transfer of classified material during the six-month trial held in Miami.

The 1998 original trial was so biased that a three-judge panel of the U.S. 11th Circuit Court called it a “perfect storm of prejudice” when it ordered a new trial. Although that decision was later overturned by the entire 11th Circuit Court, it documents in detail a major injustice in their conviction. Even a former National Security Advisor for Latin America during the Carter administration declared it was impossible for the Five to receive a fair trial in Miami. (http://tiny.cc/crVC4)

Gerardo Hernández Nordelo’s life sentence was not remanded. Further appeals are planned. He is serving two life terms plus 15 years at the federal prison in Victorville, Calif. The U.S. government refuses to allow his life partner, Adriana Perez, to enter the U.S. to visit him. An international campaign is exposing this cruel act that violates U.S. law and international standards and inflicts additional pain and suffering above the legal sentence. Olga Salanueva, spouse of René González Sehwerert, is also refused entry to visit her loved one.

Nothing less than immediate freedom for the Cuban Five is acceptable. Antonio, Ramón, Fernando, Gerardo and René are innocent and should never have spent one day deprived of liberty. They have been imprisoned since 1998—more than 11 years—for trying to prevent bombings and other terror attacks on Cuban hotels, airlines and other civilian targets that were planned and launched from Florida.

The struggle to free the Cuban Five is growing inside the U.S. For more information visit www.antiterroristas.cu, www.thecubanfive.org or www.freethefive.org.