The Cuban Five:
Forbidden Heroes
Justice in Wonderland
By RICARDO
ALARCÓN de QUESADA
“It
takes all the running you can do,
to keep in the same place”
Through the Looking Glass, Lewis Carroll
Remember
Elian?
The case
of Elian González, a six year-old boy forcefully retained by his unknown
great-uncles against the will of his father and in clear defiance of US
law and decency was widely reported by media around the world. Miami,
the place of the kidnapping, became a kind of secessionist city in North
America when the Mayor, the chief of police, the politicians, every
newspaper and local radio and TV broadcasters, together with religious
and business institutions, joined with some of the most notorious
terrorist and violent groups in opposing the courts' and government's
orders to free the boy.
It was
necessary for a Special Forces team sent from Washington DC to launch a
surreptitious and swift operation to occupy several houses, disarm the
heavily armed individuals hidden there and in the neighborhood to save
the child and restore law.
Everybody followed that story. Day in and day out.
But
practically nobody knew that, at the very same time, in exactly the same
place--Miami--five other young Cubans were arbitrarily deprived of their
freedom and subjected to a gross miscarriage of justice.
Gerardo
Hernández, Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando González and René
González were detained in the early hours of Saturday September 12th,
1998, and locked for the next 17 months in punishment cells, in solitary
confinement. The main accusation against them--as recognized by the
prosecutors and the judge from their indictment to the last day of the
trial--was that they had peacefully, with no weapons, penetrated ant-Cuban
terrorist groups with a view of reporting back to Cuba about their
criminal plans.
Was it
conceivable to have a fair trial in Miami for any Cuban revolutionary
facing such an accusation? Could that happen while the kidnapping of
Elian was going on with its surrounding atmosphere of violence, hatred
and fear?
According to the prosecution it was perfectly possible. In their words
Miami was “a very large, diverse, heterogeneous community”
capable of handling any sensitive issue, even those involving the Cuban
Revolution. The prosecutros repeated that line when rejecting the more
than ten motions presented by the defense lawyers requesting a change of
venue before the start of the trial.
The same
government that was obligated to deal with Miami as a sort of rebel city
and to secretly send there its forces to restore legality, lied
repeatedly about the venue issue, denying the defendants a right so
cherished by Americans, and refused to move the proceedings to the
neighbouring city of Fort Lauderdale, half an hour away from Miami.
Ironically, a few years later, in 2002, when the government was the
object of a civilian complaint of an administrative nature, of far
lesser significance--later resolved by an out of Court settlement--and
only indirectly related to the Elian case, they asked for a change of
venue to Fort Lauderdale, affirming that “anything related to Cuba”
was impossible to get a fair trial in Miami. (Ramírez vs. Ashcroft,
01-4835 Civ-Huck, June 25, 2002)
Such a
flagrant contradiction, a clear proof of prosecutorial misconduct, of
real prevarication, was one of the main factors leading to the unanimous
decision of the Court of Appeals panel, in 2005, to vacate the
convictions of the Five and order a new trial. (Court of Appeals for the
Eleventh Circuit, No. 01-17176, 03-11087). That historic decision was
later reversed by the majority of the entire Court under pressure from
Attorney General Alberto González in an action that went contrary to the
normal US legal practice. Mr. González's successful move, a
manifestation of his peculiar legal philosophy, foreclosed the
possibility of a just resolution of this case in a manner that would
have honoured the United States.
The
panel decision, an exceptionally sound and solid 93 pages document,
including irrefutable facts about the half century old terrorist war
against Cuba, remains an outstanding moment in the best American
tradition and will continue to be a text to be analyzed with respect by
scholars and law school students.
But
that’s another chapter in the long saga of the Cuban Five.
Elian
Elian González now is about to finish High School and continues to
attract the attention of foreign media and visitors who keep going to
Cardenas, the beautiful town where he lives. When travelling towards
Elian’s home they will be surprised by billboards demanding freedom for
five youngsters they never heard off before.
In
Leonard Weinglass words:
“The
trial was kept secret by the American media. It is inconceivable
that the longest trial in the United States at the time it was
taking place was only covered by the local Miami press, particularly
where generals and an admiral as well as a White House advisor were
all called to testify for the defense. Where was the American media
for six months? Not only was this the longest trial, but it was the
one case involving mayor issues of foreign policy and international
terrorism. The question should be directed to the American media,
with continues to refuse to cover a case with such gross violations
of fundamental rights, and even violations of human rights of
prisoner”. (www.antiterroristas.cu
September 12, 2003).
Elian
was saved because Americans knew about his case and got involved and
made justice prevail. The Five are still incarcerated--it will be 11
years next September--victims of a terrible injustice, because Americans
are not permitted to know.
The Five
are cruelly punished because they fought against terrorism. They are
heroes. But forbidden heroes.
Ricardo Alarcón de Quesada is president of the Cuban National
Assembly. |
