The 10th International Colloquium on the case of Cuban Five convenes today in Havana, Cuba to urge an immediate end to persecution of these heroes of the fight against terrorism. It is now 16 years – 5840 days – since September 12, 1998, the date in which the United States government decided to punish these brave men for their attempt to prevent terrorist and criminal acts of counter-revolutionary groups against Cuba.  During this period, the steadfast resistance of these heroes in face of a wide range of inhuman pressures of the United States government aimed at breaking their wills, as manifested in their unwavering defense at the 6 months long trial and as shown in their high morale despite the prison hardships. This, together with the persistent international campaign in their defense has proved key facts in their favor, including:

– The charge of “the crime of conspiracy to commit espionage” against the Cuban Five is totally unfounded, as no evidence exist to support such accusation and as stated in the court by many witnesses, including three retired US Army generals.  In fact, the actual mission of the Cuban Five in the United States was to monitor the activities of the groups and organizations responsible for violent activities against Cuba.

– The Cuban Five were not only mistreated in United State jails – placed in solitary confinement and isolated from all other inmates for an entire period of 17 months – but were also denied a impartial jury and a fair trial.  Such mistreatment has been denounced by many organizations and namely, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.  After reviewing the arguments advanced by the families of the Cuban Five and the US government, the Working group concluded that, based on the facts and the circumstances in which the trial was held, the nature of the charges and the severity of the convictions, the imprisonment of the Five violates Article 14 of the International Convention on Civil and Political Liberties.

The facts in favor of Cuban Five are not limited to those stated above and indeed not much effort is needed to prove that the hostility and inhuman behavior against these selfless freedom fighters contradicts the so-called anti-terrorist stand of the US government.  If the Empire was true with its claim of fighting terrorism, why should it provide outright support to terrorist gangs responsible of killing 3,478 and injuring 2,099 Cuban citizens?  Why has the US supported vicious terrorists who have in their record killing of above 16,000 of men and women in Iran? How could a government pretend to fight terrorism and meanwhile provide arms and financial and logistical supports to terrorist organizations responsible for destroying Libya and killing tens of thousands of people in Iraq and Syria?  Well, it is all understandable and there is no need for question marks: the anti-terrorist claim of the US government is fake, totally fake.  Here is the logic of the shameful hypocrisy: declaring something and doing exactly the opposite.  Just like claiming to defend human rights and violating the same rights at the same time, or raising the banner of peace while carrying on with wars and genocides.  This is how it goes.

The only way to expose such hypocrisy is to bring the truth out and inform public opinion about the truth.  The hegemonic powers rest on false propaganda, misinformation, and disinformation.  To confront these main pillar of imperialist domination, we have no alternative but to stand with the truth and spread it widely and persistently.   That is how the international campaign to defend the Cuban Five has grown during the past 16 years, attracting the support of numerous freedom-lovers all over the world – among them Nobel laureates, distinguished peace and human right activists and member of parliaments, including the parliament of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the base country of House of Latin America (HOLA).

The above-mentioned orientation, i.e. mobilization of public opinion, has proved to be fruitful and we should keep on walking on the same path.  Now that two of the Cuban Five, Fernando Gonzalez and René González have been freed and returned home to Cuba, we shall continue our defense campaign to make sure that the same thing will happen as soon as possible to the other three Cuban heroes – Gerardo Hernandez, Ramón Labañino, and Antonio Guerrero – who are still spending unjust prison terms in US jails.

House of Latin America (HOLA)

September 11, 2014