Five young men in jail for fighting terrorism

Jayatilleke de Silva

This is the story of five young men - Gerardo, Ramon, Rene, Fernando and Antonio, all of them Cuban who are languishing in jail in the United States for fighting the terrorist mafia in Miami, Florida.

To a superficial observer of the war on terror, the war declared by the United States itself, this would look strange and incredible.

Yet it is true. A keen observer would see that the US has double standards on terrorism. There are good terrorists and bad terrorists for the US. Sometimes they metamorphose into one another.

For example Osama Bin Laden was a good terrorist brought up by the CIA when he was employed to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan. Now he has metamorphosed into a bad terrorist fighting the United States.

Luis Posada Cariles aka the Bin Laden of Latin America roams free in the United States despite the fact that he is a self-confessed terrorist and is responsible for many a crime including the bombing of a civilian Cuban plane in mid-air in 1974 with 73 persons on board.

The crime committed by these five young men was to enter the United States and infiltrate the terrorist mafia in Miami, find out their plans about terror acts to be committed in the United States and Cuba and inform the authorities. It was a defensive action to safeguard their Motherland from terror attacks.

What made them enter the United States? Ever since the triumph of the Cuban Revolution which chartered an independent path of development for the country, numerous were the threats and attacks against Cuba that emanated from the US soil.

They include attacks on agricultural and industrial projects, attacks on Cuban fishing and commercial vehicles at sea, attacks on Cuban diplomats abroad and on diplomatic offices, over 600 attempts on the life of Cuban Leader Fidel Castro, series of bombings in tourist resorts, biological war, armed invasion at Playa Giron and last not the least the blowing up of a Air Cubana civilian plane with 73 persons on board.

As these terror attacks increased and as it has claimed thousands of innocent lives and damage to property worth millions of dollars the Cuban Government has no alternative other than to learn about the terrorist plans in advance and thwart them. It was this mission that the five young men carried out. In fact, a voluminous dossier of their findings was handed over to the FBI by the Government of Cuba.

The United States, instead of acting against the criminal conspirators arrested the informants in a travesty of justice. If they have committed any crime, it is entering the United States on false pretexts, a crime pardonable according to the judicial Doctrine of Necessity as they did so to prevent a much graver crime.

None of them were armed. Nor could the FBI find any incriminating evidence of espionage against the United States. In fact, high-ranking US military officers testified in Court that they were not spying and no incriminating evidence was found.

After keeping them in solitary confinement for 17 long months in worst jails far distant from one another, they were indicted on false charges in Miami, a city where no fair trial could be held.

The atmosphere in the city was vehemently anti-Cuban as it is the home of Cuban refugees who fled Cuba with the dictator Batista when the Cuban Revolution triumphed in 1959. The Court house was invaded by demonstrators and both judges and the Jury were intimidated.

The defence lawyers were not given access to prosecution evidence material. Gerardo was sentenced to two life terms plus 15 years imprisonment, Ramon to life imprisonment plus 18 years, Rene to 15 years imprisonment, Fernando to 19 years imprisonment and Antonio to life imprisonment plus 10 years.

This was despite a decision by the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Arrest and Detention decision that their arrest was illegal.

The judicial process is still dragging on. After an appeal by the defendants the Atlanta High Court overruled the Miami Court decision. Then the US Government appealed and a full bench of the Atlanta High Court annulled the appeal verdict of the same court. The defendants have appealed to the United States Supreme Court to review the case. The US Government objected to the review and the verdict is expected today.

Whatever the decision may be, it is clear that the decision to release these young men would be a political and not judicial decision just as their arrest was politically motivated.

Though President Barrack Obama has expressed his desire to review the Cuba policy, he cannot be expected to make a radical departure from the old policy due to the powerful Miami lobby.

A solidarity campaign demanding the release of the five young men has swept across the globe, including the United States.

Over 1,000 Parliamentarians including ours, several dozen Nobel Laureates and thousands intellectuals and professionals have demanded their release.

It is time we too add our voice calling for their unconditional release as the Asia-Pacific Cuban Solidarity Conference that met in Colombo exactly a year ago demanded.