CUBAN ANTI-TERRORIST AGENTS IN JAIL | PAROLED PRISONER MADE TO STAY IN FLORIDA

Miami Five still fighting for justice 14 years on

BY SIMON McGUINNESS
National Co-ordinator,
Cuba Support Group Ireland

Simon McGuinness, Eleanor Lanigan, Pádraig Mac Lochlainn TD, Maureen O’Sullivan TD, Finian McGrath TD, Des Bonass, Eddie Glacken, Bernie Dwyer and Eugene McCartan pictured at Leinster House in support of the Miami Five

ON OCTOBER 7th, René González, one of the five men known as the Miami Five or Cuban Five, was released from a federal prison in Florida after more than 13 years in prison. The remaining four members of the Miami Five have just begun their 14th year of unjust imprisonment in US jails, for the sole crime of struggling to prevent terrorist acts against Cuban civilians by Florida-based militant gangs. They did this successfully by infiltrating these gangs and collecting information on their plans.
Their convictions were the result of a manipulated trial and are unsafe. That is the opinion of former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Mary Robinson, along with Amnesty International and the United Nations panel on Arbitrary Detentions. Even the Atlanta District Court of Appeals formed a similar opinion, until its decision was hurriedly revised following pressure from the US Attorney General. The US Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal against the convictions (following pressure from President Obama) in spite of an unprecedented number of international petitions delivered to the court, including one from 54 Irish parliamentarians.
Numerous international appeals from parliaments, government ministers, citizens’ groups, trade unions and legal experts for justice and fair treatment have also been unsuccessful. While in prison, they have been subjected to additional punishment with two of their wives being repeatedly refused visas to visit their husbands — an additional and unnecessary burden described by Amnesty as “a form of torture”.
As a final, last-ditch attempt to have the US legal system deliver some semblance of justice, US lawyers have presented compelling arguments for immediate Habeas Corpus relief. Using the Freedom of Information Act, it was revealed that the US Government had paid thousands of dollars to Miami TV, radio and print journalists to write and print prejudicial and biased articles against the Miami Five at precisely the same time they were conducting a legal prosecution against them in the Miami courts. This delivered a prosecutorial atmosphere described by the US Appeals Court as “a perfect storm of prejudice”.
The case of René González, the first of the Miami Five to serve his full sentence (and who was released on October 7th) is revealing. René was sentenced to three years’ parole after his custodial sentence and is required to fulfil this in the USA, where his life will be at risk from those same militant gangs he infiltrated. In the interests of safety, we ask that he be allowed to return to Cuba and join his family.
We urge you to support the Miami Five at this critical juncture and join us in calling on President Obama to use his Presidential powers to release these men and facilitate their safe return home to their homeland and their families.

Cuba Support Group Ireland
15 Merrion Square, Dublin 2.
Phone 087 678 5842. Text 087 236 0234.
Website www.CubaSupport.com