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The Case of the Miami 5 Time to End the U.S. Double Standard on Terrorism. by Tim Bood Hardly a day goes by without a news report on the so-called "War on Terrorism". From Iraq to Afganistan, from Indonesia to the Phillipines, we’re told it's a battle between good and evil and the United States is leading the way. Yet there seems to be a double standard regarding terrorism, one for the US, another for the rest of the world. The story of the trial and senfencing of the Miami 5 is a case in point. In December of 2001, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando González, Gerardo Hernández and Ramón Labanino were given life sentences in addition to prison terms of 10 to 19 years. Their crime? The infiltration of extreme right-wing anti-Cuban organizations with the sole aim of frustating terrorist attacks on Cuba as planned by Miami's Cuban-American mafias. In fact, these courageous men freely acknowledged this was their purpose from the time they were arrested. Why are they in prison? A look at the history ot terrorism against Cuba, helps to put the case in perspective. Some of the best known examples: The 1976 bombing of a Cuban civilian plane which killed 73 civilians, including Cuba's entire Olympic fencing team. The 1997 bombing campaign in Havana involving 10 bomb attacks all at international tourism installations. An Italian tourist was killed and several others wounded. Raul Cruz-Leon, a Salvadoran national was convicted and confessed he was paid 3000$ for each bomb he planted by the Cuban-American National Foundation (NYT 7-12-97). The attempt to assassinate Cuban president Fidel Castro in an auditorium filled with university students in Panama, November 18, 2000. These actions and hundreds of similar attacks by groups like Brigada 2506, Omega 7, comandos F4, have caused the death and injury of hundreds of individuals. Clearly the Cuban goverment had no alternative but to try and stop these attacks, hence the mission of the Miami 5. Just months before the arrest of the 5, the Cuban government turned over to the FBI, a dossier summarrizing evidence gathered on the Miami-based 40-year campaign of murder, bombings, arson and other attacks against Cuba. At a historic meeting in Havana, the Cubans implored the U.S. law enforcement officials to act on that evidence to end the cycle of terror. The FBI promised it would help. Incredible as it may seem, the FBI arrested the source of the information, the five Cubans, rather than going after the perpetrators or those funding terrorist activities. The arrests were all carried ont without incident, and there was no suggestion that any of the defendants had weapons or were anything but peaceful members of their communities. In spite of this, they were not only denied bail, but each one was kept in solitary confinement for 17 months. Gerardo Hernandez was convicted of conspiracy to commit premeditated murder in the shooting down of the 2 "Brothers to the Rescue" planes over Cuban territory in Feburary 1996. Given that the planes were over Cuban territory, their flight plans were submitted to Cuban autorities by the FAA and the fact that Mr.Hernandez had nothing to do with the decision to shoot down the planes, the charges made no sense. He was convicted nonetheless. The other defendants were convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage. This, despite the fact that the U.S. government itself admited during the trial that there was no proof whatsoever of espionage. Here's an example of the information that was sent back to Cuba. "On March 16th, Andrés Alvarino, who works in the prisons and is a member of the National Guard in Miami, told me about having a project with the Cuban American National Foundation to form a group of forty men with professional military experience, persons on active duty in the military branches, or ex-military personel, in order to execute paramilitary missions against Cuba. It would be a force of mercenaries without ties to any other counter-revolutionary group of Cubans, and which they consider to have been penetrated. They would be paid commissions and they would have life insurance policies of $100,000 US for their families." This is what formed the basis of the espionage counts, reporting on terrorist operations within the U.S., which are of course violations of U.S. neutrality laws. Adding to this the fact that the defendants had no hope of a fair trial in the virulently anti-Cuban atmosphere of Miami, one can truly say these five men were victims of a kangaroo court. The movement to free the Miami 5 is growing. It has the support of people around the world who are interested not only in correcting this great injustice being perpetrated against these men, but also in exposing the fact that the U.S. has been the host country to groups of terrorists and has even moved to protect these terrorists by accusing these five people who were tryng to stop them. Is there really a war against terrorism? How can it be furthered by the imprisonment of those who fought to stop terrorism? It is time for the United States government to clarify its stand on this issue. More information on the Cuba Five can be found on this page. back to: Documents index  |  Cuba Five