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TechnoratiWives campaign to free Cuban Five from US jail
The wives of a group of five Cubans jailed in the US for conspiracy to commit espionage say their husbands were working to stop Cuban exiles attacking their homeland. They were in Paris Thursday campaigning for the men's release.
“The main charges [against the men] were never proven and the judge that tried them recognised that they were not a threat to the national security of the United States,” Ana Mayra Rodriguez, Advisor to the Cuban National Assembly, told RFI.
She is accompanying the women, as representatives of the National Committee to Free the Cuban Five.
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Cuban officials say the five agents were sent to the US in the mid-1990s to infiltrate US-based Cuban exile groups. By pretending to be staunchly anti-Castro, they gained entry into anti-Cuba organisations with the intention of intelligence-gathering about possible terrorist attacks against their homeland.
The prosecution claimed that the agents also sought to obtain information about US military installations in Florida .
They were ultimately convicted on charges of conspiracy to commit espionage and operating as unregistered foreign agents and sentenced to between 15 years and life imprisonment.
“In the real world they were not able to fulfil their mission in Florida with their own identities because they were working with anti-Cuban groups,” Rodriguez says.
“Even the appeal court recognised that there was no evidence of obtaining or transmitting secret information to Cuba. That’s the reason they were charged with conspiracy to commit espionage".
Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando González and René González have now been behind bars for 12 years.
For 17 months preceding the trial the prisoners were kept in solitary confinement in order to stop them preparing for their defence, Rodriguez says and they were isolated again before the appeal and on numerous other occasions.
The case of the "Cuban Five" is a controversial one, highlighting the bleak relations between the US and its neighbour. In Cuba the men are championed as heroes and are often the focus of rallies and demonstations.
Cuban President Raul Castro has called on US Barack Obama to release them.
A US senator just back from a five-day official trip to Cuba said Thursday he did not believe there was any chance of a prisoner swap between the US and its neighbour.
Senator Christopher Dodd made the trip to try to improve relations between the two nations.
In December, Cuba detained US government contractor Alan Gross, accusing him of spying. His family, however, say he was distributing communication equipment to Jewish groups.
Comments (1)
The bias behind the Cuban Five imprisonment
Washington doesn’t follow a line of core values principles on the handling of the Cuban Five. Few weeks ago, the FBI arrested a supposed network of Russian spies. They were supposed to pose a risk to United States national security but they were quickly released and sent to Russia. Vice President Biden- during an interview on Jay Lennon show answered to question of Jay Lennon that he didn’t know that such a “hot” spy was in USA (referring to the beautiful Russian girl that has a generalized topic in the American media- Biden, responded in a jokingly way: Well, it was not my suggestion to deport her.
This is really a lack of seriousness while dealing with people charged with espionage. I think- based on ethical principle- that the same rule must be applied to the Cuban Five releasing them from prison and send them back to Cuba.
Gualdo Hidalgo
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