US asked to free the "Cuba Five"

Accra, Sept. 12, GNA - As international campaigners garner support to press the United States to free the five Cubans it jailed nine years ago, a Ghanaian human rights forum, the Cuba Solidarity Campaign (CSC), has demanded the unconditional release of the five, saying their incarceration impinged on their rights.

The five Cubans- Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon Labanino Salazar, Rene Gonzalez Sehwereret, Fernando Gonzalez and Guerrero Rodriguez- were arrested by the US government on September 12, 1998 and charged with espionage and murder.

Mr. Kwesi Pratt, a member of the CSC at a press conference in Accra on Wednesday said the five were true heroes in the global struggle against terrorism and abuse of the rights of the meek by the powerful. He said the US could not credibly claim to be participating in that struggle as long as it continued to "victimise" the five, whose only crime was to blow the whistle on the real terrorist and their sponsors within the US government.

Giving a background to the issue, Mr. Pratt said Cuba had suffered repeated terrorist attacks from Cuban exiles in Miami, Florida since the 1959 revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power.

He said the exiles repeatedly invaded Cuban airspace, poisoned livestock and soils, planted bombs, hijacked planes, sabotaged vital economic infrastructure and carried out assassinations among other things accounting for the death of over 3,000 Cubans.

Cuba, he said, complained about this directly to the US and at international forums over many years. This led to Cuba infiltrating the ranks of the Miami Mafia in the early 1990's in order to develop the evidence that would compel the US to take action.

Mr. Pratt said in June 1998, Cuba invited the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) to that country and presented it with concrete and comprehensive documentary proof of the international crimes of the Miami-based terrorists.

The US government, he said, however arrested the five Cubans for espionage and murder instead of acting against the Miami terrorists. After a trial, which the judge admitted, that there was no evidence that the five had intended to commit violent acts nor sought to acquire US government secrets, the jury convicted them on the charges.

Gerardo Hernandez received two life sentences and 15 years. Ramon Labanino received a life sentence and 18 years. Antonio Guererro received a life sentence and 10 years. Fernando Gonzalez received 19 years and Rene Gonzalez 15 years.

Mr Pratt said it was obvious that the US legal system, which is dominated by agencies like the FBI and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) that were complicit in crimes against Cuba could not deliver a just result for the five unless subjected to public pressure.

He said as the world marked the ninth anniversary of the Cubans imprisonment, the CSC was proud to join like-minded people and groups around the globe to demand that the Bush administration freed them. Mr. Pratt said the CSC would hold an exhibition from September 24 to 28, on the global struggle for the freedom of the "Cuba five" at the Freedom Centre to create broader awareness, and then screen a film on the "five" at the Centre on September 29.

He said on October 8, 2007, the CSC would hold a public solidarity meeting and collect signatures for a message that would be delivered to the US embassy in Accra for transmission to the US government. "Our message is simple", he said, "It is time to set things right. It is time for leadership. Do the right thing! Give the five justice! Set them free today".