Free the Cuban Five

I was not able to attend last night's address by Leonard Weinglass in Madison, the famed civil rights attorney, addressing the case of the Cuban Five.

The Capital Times ran a letter by Robert Kimbrough publicizing the event.

For those not familiar with this case, Kimbrough's letter provides an excellent introduction. [For more information, see the National Committee to Free the Cuban Five.]

The facts of the case represent an all-too-common occurrence in America under the Bush regime: Innocent people brutalized, and due process and fair hearings prevented by a corrupt U.S. Attorney.

Writes Kimbrough:

On Sept. 12, Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, for many years the chief aide to Colin Powell and former faculty member at many U.S. military "colleges," attended a lecture at Howard University's Law School (Washington, D.C.). The speaker was Leonard Weinglass; his subject was "The Cuban Five."

Wilkerson had never heard of the Cuban Five. He said he "was stunned by what counselor Weinglass revealed." But he was not surprised. After "four years inside the Bush administration," he knew "the depths to which our government is capable of sinking." He concluded that "this case is truly the bottom of the pit."

If highly placed Wilkerson did not know about the Cuban Five, surely a massive number of Madisonians remain equally uninformed. ...

Weinglass is a most accomplished U.S. criminal defense attorney and a preeminent civil rights lawyer known for his defense of high-profile political clients. Among those he has defended are Angela Davis, Daniel Ellsberg, the Chicago Seven and Mumia Abu-Jamal.

Weinglass is currently counsel to one of the Cuban Five, Antonio Guerrero, and he is the lead lawyer among the team of all the lawyers working on behalf of each of the Five. We in the United States have not seen such a famous lawyer on the left since Clarence Darrow.

The Cuban Five are Gerardo Hernandez, Antonio Guerrero, Ramon Labanino, Rene Gonzalez, and Fernando Gonzalez. They are in five separate U.S. prisons for simply defending Cuba from acts of terrorism carried out by extremist right-wing groups in Miami. Rene was sentenced to 15 years, Fernando 19 years, Ramon and Antonio for life, and Gerardo two life sentences plus 15 years. On Sept. 12, 2007, they began their 10th year of incarceration.

The Cuban Five never harmed anyone, were not destructive, did not try to gather state secrets, and were never a threat to the security of the United States.

On the other hand, confessed anti-Cuba terrorists walk freely in Miami. For example, Orlando Bosch and Luis Posada Carilles, longtime CIA agents, openly brag that they masterminded the Oct. 6, 1976, explosion of two bombs planted on a Cuban airline flight from Barbados to Cuba, killing all 73 aboard.

Noam Chomsky has said: "It's an amazing case! Here are Cubans who are infiltrating illegal, terrorist organizations in the U.S. But the infiltrators are arrested, not the terrorists. It's astonishing!"

For complete information and documentation on the Cuban Five: (Link to) http://www.freethefive.org/.

Robert Kimbrough is a member of the Free the 5 Madison Committee, Veterans for Peace, Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice, Madison Area Peace Coalition, and Socialist Party of Wisconsin

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