On Wednesday, June 4, 2008 the Atlanta-based 11^th Circuit Court of Appeals, in a disgraceful re-affirmation of injustice, upheld the original frame-up convictions. The Appeals Court panel did, citing errors in the original trial, vacate the sentences of three of the defendants, including the life sentences of Ramon Labanino and Antonio Guerrero, remanding those for re-sentencing by Judge Joan Lenard, the Miami judge who sentenced the Cuban Five in the first place. The Court did not vacate the two life sentences of Gerardo Hernandez.

The truth is that the Cuban Five infiltrated ultra-right Cuban-American organizations, with a clear history of terrorist attacks organized on US soil against the sovereign Cuban state in violation of US law. Over 3,500 Cuban citizens have died in such attacks since the Cuban Revolution triumphed against the Batista dictatorship in 1959. Many tens of billions of dollars worth of damage have been done to the Cuban economy. These attacks stepped up in the 1990s as the Cuban economy reeled from an economic depression. Tourist hotels were bombed resulting in death and destruction. Low flying planes – originating from US territory in violation of US law – repeatedly violated Cuban airspace. Only after the Cuban government presented clear evidence of such terrorist and criminal activities and repeatedly implored, to no avail, the Clinton Administration to do something about it did the Cuban Five carry out its courageous and dangerous work which the record shows saved lives in Cuba.

To mark the 10^th Anniversary of this travesty of justice, The September 13 Free the Cuban Five Coalition has been formed and is calling for a united, national demonstration in Washington, DC on Saturday, September 13, 2008. Our Coalition was formed at the initiative of the National Committee to Free the Cuban Five, the International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban Five, the National Network on Cuba, the US/Cuba Labor Exchange, IFCO/Pastors for Peace, and the Venceremos Brigade. The call for the September 13 demonstration was endorsed by a regional Working Conference to Free the Cuban Five that was attended by 150 activists on June 14, 2008 at Hostos Community College in New York City.

The September 13 Free the Five Coalition aims to bring together Cuba, Venezuela, and Latin American solidarity organizations, trade unionists, students and youth, political prisoners and prisoners of war movement, communities of faith, defenders of Constitutional rights and civil liberties, organizations and activists fighting to bring US troops home from Iraq, African-American and Latino activists and organizations, fighters for women’s rights, gay and lesbian rights organizations, and all who are or will be moved by the case and example of the Cuban Five and are willing to unite in a powerful witness for justice on September 13, 2008. We say, in a united voice: ENOUGH IS ENOUGH, FREE THE CUBAN FIVE!

The trial of the Cuban Five did not produce a single page of classified information showing evidence of espionage or any action directed against the US government. The frame-up charges were packaged as a necessarily vague “conspiracy” to, as the prosecutor actually put it to the jury, “destroy the United States of America.” In the period of 17 months between arrest and trial, the five Cubans were subjected to brutal conditions of solitary confinement and near-total isolation to hinder the preparation of their defense. This psychological torture was aimed at breaking their will, in blatant violation of their rights under US law. The hope was to break their spirit and force “confessions” to the trumped-up “conspiracy” charges. But this failed and the trial was finally held in November 2000. They were convicted in June 2001.

In August 2005 a panel from the 11^th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled, in a stunning decision, to overturn the original trial verdict on the grounds that there could not be a fair and impartial hearing in the hostile climate of Miami, Florida. This ruling was subsequently reversed by the full court under heavy pressure from the Bush Administration’s Justice Department.

Around the world, and increasingly inside the United States, the case of the Cuban Five, stands as one of the most brutal and outrageous injustices in modern history. As the facts have emerged and the truth about the Cuban Five becomes more known and publicized, Committees to support the Cuban Five have spread all over the world. Their incarceration continues under brutal conditions that have included solitary confinement and denial of family visitations and other violations of US laws.

Washington is paying an increasing political price as this ongoing travesty of justice enters its second decade. In May 2005, the Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions of the Human Rights Commission of the United Nations issued a stinging exposure of the arbitrary and iniquitous nature of the trial and conviction. The UN body emphasized that the Cuban Five were held in solitary confinement for 17 months, weakening their ability to mount an adequate defense; that most of the evidence against them was withheld from their attorneys, undermining an equal balance between the prosecution and the defense; and that the trial was held in Miami where it was impossible to select an impartial jury in a case linked with Cuba.

In January 2006 Amnesty International condemned the Bush Administration and US authorities for the treatment of the Cuban Five, specifically for the denials of family visitation rights for some of the Cuban Five prisoners.

An international call for world protests in solidarity with the Cuban Five in September and October 2008 has been issued. Now is the time for all supporters of the Cuban Five and all supporters of civil liberties and justice to step up our work on their behalf. Supporters of the Cuban Five begin by demanding that US authorities comply with US law and allow family members to visit their loved ones. Now is the time to reach out to broad layers of the US population, whatever their political views in general and on the Cuban Revolution in particular. In this Presidential and Congressional election year we aim to raise the issue of the Cuban Five.  

Enough is Enough, Free the Cuban Five!