US Hides the Truth on Cuban Five Case

Saturday 22nd September
12 noon
Piccadilly Gardens

Hands off socialist Cuba!
Free the Cuban 5!


see www.manchesterfrfi.co.uk/events.htm

Little simon… and what about this?


'US remains the one country in America that represses nearly all forms of political dissent. President Bush, during his years in power, has shown no willingness to consider even minor reforms. Instead, the US government continues to enforce political conformity using criminal prosecutions, long- and short-term detentions, mob harassment, police warnings, torture, surveillance, house arrests, travel restrictions, and politically-motivated dismissals from employment. The end result is that USamericans are systematically denied basic rights to free expression, association, assembly, privacy, movement, and due process of law.'

… That’s of course the most undeniable truth everyone of us knows.

'US remains the one country in America that represses all forms of social, economical and political dissent. President Bush, during his years in power, has shown no willingness to consider even minor reforms. Instead, the US government continues to enforce political conformity using intervention, open, economical and/or secret war, criminal prosecutions, long- and short-term detentions, death penalty, mob harassment, police warnings, torture, surveillance, house arrests, travel restrictions, deportations and politically-motivated dismissals from employment. The end result is that USamericans are systematically denied basic rights to free expression, association, assembly, privacy, movement, life and due process of law.'

have lots of comments gone from this post? The main page says 11 comments. Where are they?


Cuba has


no free elections,
no free press,
no free trade unions,
no free association,
no free speech

and ONE legal political party - the Communist Party.

Espinoza, you are an apologist for a disgusting, undemocratic regime. Be ashamed.

“Free and democratic trolls revolted around the world against Cuba” must of course show their sympathy with terrorist regimes “around the world”, included those from the EU that hypocritically speaks about ”freedom and democracy”… but opts by the bombing of civilian targets in the so named “darks corners” of the real world, now defined as terrorists sanctuaries only for the oil purpose. Meanwhile, Reporters Without Borders (Reporters without shame: extraneous NGO that belongs entirely to the USamerican government) maintains extraneous silence about the human suffering of these peoples involved while claiming for monetary help to foster the counterrevolution in Cuba… jajajajaja.
Among their lies, they even invoke Martin Luther King concepts! Really they play with the scarce intelligence of our trolls!

Little Simon, of course I understand that you are not “posting here to tell everyone how wonderful the US is”: As a troll you have just a unidirectional and hypocritical sight pointed only to that zone of the Caribbean Sea named Cuba. The rest of the world doesn’t counts for you.
Of course I unterstand also that a “few pictures of US policemen tussling with someone” aren’t going to alter your special perception of reality; even when there are no “pictures of cuban policemen tussling with someone”, you prefer to believe and repeat what’s commonly repeated by Cuba’s detractors instead of seeking the truth that’s simply in front of you. (And you thinks that’s freedom of thinking and expression?)
If you were a consequent person that sincerely defends the concepts of freedom and democracy you repeat on this site, you would obviously have to manifest the same social and political interest you utilize regards to Cuba… regarding the US and everywhere; and evidently, if you do that, you would realize that the US regime is the paradigm “of a disgusting, totalitarian” one, as the troll “cj” recognizes.
Our little island -that’s a place for cubans to experience Freedom, Justice, Dignity and Solidarity- is also an example to other peoples of the world; Cuba doesn’t have it’s “policemen tussling with someone”, nor bombs someone, nor kills or torture someone in the name of “freedom and democracy”, but saves lives all over this planet: Cuba’s struggle is for Life.

Of course we have also elections jajaja (now in october…), and they are very free and participative as everyone that goes to Cuba can testify. To understand our “cuban way of living” you would have to visit Cuba, there’s no other way with hypocritical trolls like you jajajaja.
If you know a little spanish you can read a little about “cuban elections” in:

 http://www.granma.cubaweb.cu/secciones/elecciones/index.html

 http://www.ain.cu/elecciones2007/principal.htm

Or in the site:

 http://www.cubainformacion.tv where that’s one of the topics

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IPS: Cuban Five Get Another Day in Court


Jonathan Springston

2007-08-22

ATLANTA, Aug 21 (IPS) - A federal appeals court here heard arguments Monday in a case that has sparked wide debate about the right of a country to defend itself against perceived "terrorists".
Known as the "Cuban Five", Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon Labanino, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando Gonzalez and Rene Gonzalez are collectively serving four life sentences and 75 years in U.S. prison.
The men were arrested in 1998 and accused of espionage, conspiracy to commit murder, and other illegal activities committed in the United States. They were convicted of all charges in 2001.
One member, Gerardo Hernandez, had infiltrated the Miami-based anti-Castro group Brothers to the Rescue, which Cuba charges is a terrorist group whose planes have made dozens of incursions into Cuban territory.
The U.S. government claims Hernandez sent information back to Cuba that led to two of those planes being shot down by the Cuban air force in 1996, after repeated warnings to turn back.
But backers of the five argue that the men were simply involved in monitoring the actions of Miami-based exile groups, in order to prevent attacks on their country. A 2001 report submitted by Cuba to the United Nations documents 3,478 deaths as a result of "terrorism", "aggression", "acts of piracy and other actions" against the socialist island over the last 40 years.
This is the third time in three years the Eleventh Circuit in Atlanta has heard appeals in the case.
Observers from the United States, Cuba, Latin America and Europe, including notables like Chilean Jurist Juan Guzman and former U.S. Attorney-General Ramsey Clark, jammed the court to observe government and defence attorneys deliver arguments. Each side had only 30 minutes apiece to explain the most important points of a trial that lasted seven months.
Defence attorneys argued that the evidence brought by the government before a Miami jury was insufficient to sustain the five's convictions and final arguments made by the prosecution to the jury "were outside the evidence that were presented" and "outside the bounds of proper arguments," Leonard Weinglass, the attorney for Guerrero, said Sunday.
"Our trial was converted into a propaganda campaign by the prosecutors, stirring up prejudices against Cuba among the jurors, to achieve a conviction," Rene Gonzalez said after the original trial.
"Over-hyperbolic describes this prosecution," the defence argued Monday. "[Their case] doesn't add up."
Defence attorneys pointed out that the government admitted previously it never had enough evidence to support counts of conspiracy to commit murder and espionage. Authorities had seized at least 20,000 documents from the computers of the five men and not one of them was classified.
The Pentagon issued a statement at the time of the arrests that said national security was never in danger and the Justice Department issued a statement admitting the five obtained no secrets, Weinglass said Sunday.
At Monday's hearing, prosecutors insisted that the Cuban Five were sophisticated spies in the United States illegally to steal military secrets and overthrow the government. Pointing to volumes of documents on a table before the panel, U.S. Attorney Carolyn Miller said, "I ask this court to plunge into the record. There are examples supplied in those documents that show the defendants' hatred of the United States."
Miller argued the five were able to steal secrets by infiltrating military installations and that the men knew about and had a hand in the Feb. 24, 1996 shooting down of the two airplanes that killed four men.
However, Judge Stanley Birch raised questions about the right of Cuba to defend itself against aircraft entering its airspace. "A shoot down over sovereign airspace is not murder," he said.
Judges Birch and Phyllis Kravitch, who have heard arguments in this case before, peppered Miller with questions about what evidence the government had to support its claims.
Miller appeared to dodge these questions by continually discussing the differences between "reasonable" and "plausible." She argued the government only had to convince a jury of the "reasonableness", not the "plausibility", of the charges.
Charging "conspiracy" allows the prosecution to use more hearsay and circumstantial evidence to prove its case.
Defence attorneys also argued prosecutorial misconduct prevented the five men from receiving a fair trial. During the prosecution's final argument to the jury during the original trial, the defence registered 34 objections, which were sustained 28 times.
"I find that number troubling," Judge Kravitch said.
Not everyone in the courtroom Monday was there to support the Cuban Five.
Frank Calzon, executive director of the Washington-based Centre for a Free Cuba, believes the original trial was fair. "Advocates say the court is unfair... yet this is the third time at appeals," he said.
Those on hand to support the government's position included some relatives of the four men killed. There were no demonstrations, outbursts, or confrontations between the two sides before, during, or after the hearing.
It is up to the court now to decide who is right, even though the case has been at this point before.
The first three-judge panel to hear this case threw out the verdicts in August 2005 because of prosecutorial misconduct and the inability of the five to receive a fair trial in Miami, a hotbed of anti-Castro sentiment.
The Eleventh Circuit full panel reinstated the sentences and agreed to hear an appeal from U.S. prosecutors in October 2005. Judges Birch and Kravitch wrote dissenting opinions strongly in favour of the Cuban Five.
The Eleventh Circuit full panel, in an "en banc" hearing, affirmed in August 2006 the refusal of the U.S. district court in Miami to change venue (the defence filed motions for a change of venue five times during the original trial) and denied the five a new trial.
"This is an emotional case [for] both sides," Judge Birch said Monday. "We will look at this and do the best we can."
"There is no evidence linking any of the five men to the shoot down of those planes," Weinglass told reporters after the hearing. "The court is having difficulty with this."
Weinglass said if the court is convinced prosecutorial misconduct took place, the counts of conspiracy to commit espionage and murder could be set aside and there could even be a new trial.
But the court could also decide that evidence presented by the government is overwhelming enough to sustain convictions for these counts.
The defence is prepared to take the case to the Supreme Court if necessary, but they remain optimistic.
"I think this court is primed to do the right thing," Weinglass said. "I'm very hopeful and optimistic."
Judge Birch warned that it could take months before the panel issues a decision.
"We are not going to depend on this decision to decide whether we will continue the struggle for the five," Gloria La Riva, national coordinator for the San Francisco-based National Committee to Free the Cuban Five, said Sunday. "I know that we will all be committed to fighting for them until they are free."







More evidence of the political manipulation in the Cuban Five case


Prensa Latina
2007-08-18


Cuban Parliament President Ricardo Alarcon said Wednesday in Havana that Washington is hiding the truth about the trial and appeal proceedings in the case of the Cuban Five, unjustly incarcerated in US jails for nearly nine years.

Alarcon spoke on the subject during the launching of a magazine of the Organization of Solidarity with the Peoples of Africa, Asia and Latin America (OSPAAL) dedicated to the five Cuban men. He pointed out that case clearly demonstrates the support the White House has given Florida-based terrorist groups.

Although Alarcon emphasized that to some extent the wall of silence has been broken on the irregularities surrounding this case, he added, "We are still far from achieving full public awareness of what occurred."

Alarcon said that two other recent trials constitute, at the same time, proof of the US government’s political manipulation in this case and of its hatred toward Cuba.

In one of them, an Iraqi citizen living in Chicago Khaled Abdel-Latif Dumeisi, accused of being a member of Sadam Hussein’s intelligence service and of monitoring the activities of exiled Iraqis in the United States, was sentenced to three years and ten months in prison for the charge of act as a non- registered foreign agent. He was not charged with espionage, because the US prosecutors recognized that he was seeking information not from the US government, but from the exile groups opposing Sadam Hussein government. In the middle of the war with Iraq, the US government could differentiate between the actions of this man and espionage.
This contrasts with the 15-year sentence imposed on Rene Gonzalez, one of the Cuban Five, for a similar charge - act as a non- registered foreign agent. Gonzalez was only monitoring Cuban exile groups and trying to prevent terrorist actions against Cuba.

In the second case, Leonardo Aragoncillo, a former FBI intelligence analyst who worked under two vice presidents, whom the FBI said had in his possession 736 secret documents belonging to the White House, the Pentagon and the State Department, and whom it accused of espionage in favour of Phillipines government – not of conspiracy to commit espionage, was sentenced to a ten-year prison term.
Meanwhile, three of the Cuban Five were given life sentences for conspiracy to commit espionage, without any evidence against them or any witnesses that could say they were spying on the US government.

Apart from this, a series of violations of US laws has characterized the case from the moment the Cuban Five were arbitrarily arrested on September 12, 1998, Alarcon said.

He pointed out that initially they were placed for 17 months in "the hole," a special unit of solitary confinement, although the law stipulates a maximum of 90 days and only in cases of highly dangerous detainees.

Alarcon noted that among the many irregularities that have taken place in this case are the refusal to give the defense team access to documents relating to the case; the addition, seven months later, of the charge of first-degree murder against Gerardo Hernandez without providing any evidence; and the refusal to hold the trial outside of Miami.

Alarcon cautioned not to expect immediately anything from the hearing to be held on August 20, in which only 30 minutes will be allowed to the defense and the prosecution for their arguments. He also noted that the panel of judges has no time limit to rule on the appeal.

The Cuban parliamentarian said that the decision to ban the five Cubans —once they have served their sentences ranging up to two life sentences— from the areas where the terrorist groups carry out their activities against Cuba, is proof of the official protection the US affords to terrorism.

"Someday the truth will prevail; meanwhile, we must persevere in our struggle to make the case known," concluded Alarcon.





Terrorist conspiracies could help case of the Five

• According to Los Angeles Times article


BY JEAN-GUY ALLARD—Special for Granma International—

THE most recent revelations about conspiracies by anti-Cuban counterrevolutionary groups in the United States could help the case of the Cuban Five, according to a U.S. newspaper, the Los Angeles Times.
The article in the important California daily notes that Gerardo Hernández, Fernando González, Antonio Guerrero, Ramón Labañino and René González were sentenced five years ago and "fought the federal charges of conspiracy to commit espionage during their 2001 trial by arguing that they were here to infiltrate radical Cuban exile groups that had devised and executed dozens of missions to topple the Communist government in Cuba..."
In an article titled "Anti-Castro Disclosures Could Help Case of ‘Cuban Five,’"
Carol J. Williams, staff writer for the state’s largest-circulation daily, writes that the revelations related to terrorists Toñin Llama, Robert Ferro and Santiago Alvarez could help lead to a new trial for the Five.
The article refers to the case of the yacht La Esperanza, seized in Puerto Rico with armaments on board as it was heading for Isla Margarita to assassinate Fidel. It also notes that recently in Miami, José Antonio Llama admitted that he "financed a 1997 mission to kill Castro for which he had already been tried and acquitted."
It also cites the case of Californian Robert Ferro, who "said in April that he collected 1,500 guns and grenades for an assault on Cuba."
The article’s author notes that the trial of Santiago Alvarez on charges of trying to organize "an attack on Castro" begins next month.
"We are following these new developments and when we feel we are closer to having the full story, we will be bringing it to the Court's attention," attorney Leonard Weinglass told the daily.

 http://www.granma.cu/miami5/ingles/458.html





RICARDO ALARCON TALKS ABOUT THE FIVE ON MSNBC

Even the judge complained!

"HOW could they pretend that it was possible to bring together an objective and impartial jury in Miami when even the judge complained of inappropriate behavior?" asked Ricardo Alarcón, president of the Cuban Parliament in an interview granted to the U.S. TV channel MSNBC.
"At a certain point, she (Judge Lenard) even went to ask the police to protect the jury members from demonstrators surrounding the building," he added, on answering questions put to him by journalist Mary Murray in what constituted an unexpected breach of in the wall of silence that surrounds the case of the Five in the U.S. media.
Noting that the case is far from being over, Alarcón stated that the possibility of taking the latest decision by the Atlanta Court of Appeals to the highest court in the United States is being considered, "Even the two dissident judges suggested that this is a case that merits a ruling from the Supreme Court," he commented.
Reiterating that the Five were working against terrorism, he emphasized that "from the beginning" this has "clearly been a political case."
"We are not discussing a technicality concerning juries or procedures in a court in Scandinavia. No, we are talking of something that took place in Miami, in Dade County – that same city where notorious terrorists can appear on local television and detail their exploits."
Alarcón recalled the case of José Antonio Llama, alias Toñín, former head of the Cuban-American National Foundation, who boasted to the local press of having given $1.5 million to that organization to purchase explosives, a helicopter, speed boats and 10 remote-controlled aircraft. "He told the press that the plan was to attack Plaza de la Revolución in the middle of a public event. There was no attack and that’s why he wanted his money back…"
"Mr. Llama can show his cancelled checks, talk openly of bombs on Miami TV and nothing happens!" exclaimed the parliamentarian.
The evidence presented during the trial of the Five includes messages between Gerardo Hernández and Havana that detailed this plot. "Instead of pursuing the conspirators, the U.S. government ran after the people who revealed the plot," he said.
"That government protection is the reason why individuals like Mr. Llama believe that there is nothing wrong in buying arms and explosives and making the Cuban government a target for acts of terrorism."
Referring to the decision of the Atlanta Appeals Court, Alarcón stated that he wasn’t really surprised because this court is famed for generally favoring the federal prosecution. "What did surprise me was the tone – how one side just rubber stamped the original of the Miami Court when the two dissident judges had devoted the same space to criticizing the opinion of their colleagues."
In response to a question from the journalist as whether he believed that the Five would not be incarcerated today if the trial had taken place outside of Miami, the Cuban leader said: "Any other jury in any other city" would have thrown out the whole case, "especially after hearing that these men had spent 17 months of their detention in solitary confinement."
"Any other court outside of Miami would have thrown out the case just on those violations," he added, noting that a UN judicial panel concluded that the detention of the Five was arbitrary and illegal. (JGA)

 http://www.granma.cu/miami5/ingles/462.html






AT THE APPEALS COURT IN ATLANTA

Five’s defense team exposes errors and intimidation of the jury during the Miami trial
ON August 20, the 11th Circuit Appeals Court in Atlanta heard convincing allegations by the legal team defending the five Cuban anti-terrorist fighters imprisoned in the United States.
The defense lawyers submitted that the prosecution committed serious procedural errors and used intimidation to pressure the jury of the initial trial, which took place in Miami in a climate of apparent hostility toward the five heroes.
For the first time eminent foreign legal professionals were present at the hearing of the case of Gerardo Hernández, Fernando González, Ramón Labaniño, Antonio Guerrero and René González, known as the Five in the international campaign for their release.
Alicia Jrapko, a member of the International Free the Five Committee, told the Cuban radio and TV Roundtable program over the phone that the presence of prestigious international lawyers was much larger than before and signified strong backing for the Cuban anti-terrorist fighters.
Juan Guzmán, the Chilean attorney who brought charges against the ex-dictator Augusto Pinochet, was present and informed the Roundtable program (again by phone) that the U.S. government was unable to refute the defense truths, as reflected in the international media.
Guzmán appreciated the questions put by the sitting judges and stated that there is really no evidence to justify the charges of espionage against the prisoners, nor that of "conspiring to commit murder," brazenly brought against two of them.
It was also abundantly clear that Miami was not an appropriate venue for the original trial, where the Five were handed down sentences ranging from 15 years’ imprisonment to two life terms, because the jury was intimidated, a point firmly established by the defense appeal, Guzmán added.
The Chilean legal professional thought that the defense achieved its main objective: to communicate the poor conduct of the U.S. government and the shortcomings of the jury selected for the Miami trial.
"In line with my legal experience, my impression was that those who have knowledge of this case would have to rule in favor of the five Cubans," Guzmán affirmed.
The multinational TV networks Telesur and CNN covered aspects of the hearing and antecedents in the case of the Five.
This September the Cuban patriots will have completed nine years of arbitrary detention in the United States after they were sentenced for crimes that they did not commit in a rigged trial in Miami, lacking in procedural guarantees, as confirmed by UN experts and three judges at the Court of Appeals in the first hearing. (AIN)

Translated by Granma International


 http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2007/agosto/mar21/At-the-Appeals-Court-in-Atlanta.html

Cuba has

no free elections,
no free speech,
no free trade unions,
no free association,
no free travel abroad,
no Indymedia site


and ONE legal political party - the Communist party.



Indymedia seems to have 'lost' coments from this topic.
Indymedia has no Cuba site.
Could it be that Indymedia is complicit in the promotion of a communist regime?

Communism is evil and has caused millions of deaths. Anyone who associates themselves with any communist regime is as disgusting and evil as those who deny the Nazi genocide of the Jews in the last century.

Why is there no Cuba Indymedia site?