Cuban 5

This September will mark 13 years of unjust imprisonment of five men; Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon Labanino, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando Gonzalez, and Rene Gonzalez, known as the “Cuban Five,” after their frame-up on federal charges here in the United States.

It is important to know the role that the U.S. government has played in supporting anti-Cuba terrorists, in attempting to subvert Cuban society. In 1959, after U.S. supported Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista was overthrown, Miami became a base of C.I.A. operations against Cuba and its revolution.

Many of Batista’s tyrannical police and army torturers took refuge in Miami. The C.I.A. recruited and trained 4,000 Cuban right wing exiles to impair the Castro administration and terrorize the Cuban people. Cuba’s numerous appeals to Washington regarding this matter were ignored. Consequently, the Cuban Five infiltrated Cuban exile terrorist organizations in Miami, which had carried out attacks on Cuba for decades so that they could stop them.

After their arrests, the Five were illegally held in solitary confinement for 17 months before trial, and the judge denied their request to move the trial out of Miami. The Cuban Five were convicted on June 8, 2001 and sentenced from 15 years to double life. Although their convictions were overturned in federal appeals in 2005 the Bush administration appealed, and the trial was upheld.

LEARN MORE: www.freethefive.org