Castro’s ‘Spies’

by Jayatilleke de Silva

On December 14, 2014 it was with joy and disbelief that the world heard the dramatic announcement in Washington and Havana that the United States and Cuba have decided to establish full diplomatic relations after five and half decades of hostility. It was a sequel to 18 months of secret negotiations between the two countries through the mediation of Pope Francis and several others.

On December 17 three Cubans who were serving long and unjust prison sentences in the United States returned home to Cuba. Earlier two of their colleagues had returned after serving their prison sentences over 15 years.

Their return was also a discreet affair organised perfectly with military precision and efficiency that according to one of them even those released were unaware of what was happening until their arrival at an insignificant airport prior to their departure for Cuba.

The five identified by the United States media as “Castro’s Spies” were actually not spies but anti-terrorist fighters who had gone to the United States under cover to investigate the terrorist mafia in Miami, Florida that were responsible for numerous acts of terrorism including bomb blasts, murder and blowing up of a Cuban passenger plane in the skies over Barbados islands et al. Their sole aim was to gather information and evidence about their future terrorist actions in order to prevent them.

Subservience

The United States and world media in subservience to those in power either kept a virtual silence or published hostile reports about them by journalists some of whom were later found to be on the pay roll of the CIA according to declassified official information of the United States.

Thought they are released and the matter is officially closed now, it would be still appropriate to recall, albeit in brief, the sequence of events that constitute the ordeal of these five persons better known as the Cuban Five. They are Rene Gonzáles, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando González, Gerardo Hernández and Ramón Labañino. By profession, the first two were a pilot and a construction engineer respectively. The next two were graduates in International Political Relations while the last was a cartoonist and a graduate in Economics.

Conspiracy

Their “crime’ was to collect information about the criminal plans of the Miami mafia and inform their country - Cuba. The latter officially submitted all the information and evidence received to the United States in good faith.

However, instead of prosecuting the alleged criminals it arrested the informants in one sweep in the early hours of September 12, 1998 and detained them for 17 months in solitary confinement in a Special Housing Unit also known as The Hole under very inhumane conditions.

Massive propaganda was released prior to their appearance in the Miami Court and the story circulated was that for the first time Castro’s Spies were arrested. Demonstrations around the Court premises and hordes of photographers and media men invading the jury made the trial one under intimidation in which the hostility to the accused was shown openly by both the jury and the judges.

Twenty six charges were fabricated against them, the main ones among them being conspiracy to commit espionage against the United States, committing espionage and acting as foreign agents without registering with the Attorney-General of the United States. In addition, Gerardo was charged with conspiring to commit murder relating to the shooting down on February 24, 1996 two aircraft belonging to Brothers to the Rescue organisation that violated the air space of Cuba.

This was despite his complete innocence in the matter. The prosecution failed to submit to court the maps relating to the flying trajectory of the aircraft despite repeated requested by the attorneys for the defence.

Not an iota of evidence was presented against the accused incriminating them in charges of espionage of any other crime except the fact that they entered the United States under false identities. However, under the law called the State of Necessity it is admissible to commit lesser crimes to prevent the commission of more serious crimes such as murder and terrorism. They were all unarmed despite the fact they were infiltrating murderous criminal gangs.

Sentences

Under a politically motivated judicial process that cast a slur on the US Judicial system, they were found guilty on all counts and sentenced to prison terms of 15 to 20 years and Gerardo was given two life sentences in addition.

This was following the failure of the US authorities to persuade them to confess guilt promising very lenient sentences. Even after torture they did not surrender. As Gerardo after recalled the words of Nathaniel Hale, eminent patriot of the United States the “word surrender does not exist in the dictionary of a revolutionary”.

As Fidel Castro predicted way back in 1998 freedom for the Cuban Five had to be obtained outside the judiciary. It had to be won in the political arena. That’s how it actually happened.

What brought the change of heart of the United States authorities and more particularly that of President Obama? First and foremost it is the public opinion in the world and in the United States itself.

The world-wide solidarity movement demanding Freedom for the Cuban Five took such massive proportions that on 21st September 2014 more than 400,000 marched in New York City in solidarity with the cause.

Dozens of Nobel laureates as well as Parliaments around the world demanded their freedom. Public opinion amongst the Cuban-Americans, descendants from those who fled Cuba with the victory of the Cuban Revolution changed in favour of normal US - Cuba relations.

The might of the United States, especially economically too weakened and businessmen in the US were demanding closer relations with Cuba.

Pitfalls

As regards US - Cuba relations a new and more conducive chapter has just begun. Yet many challenges and pitfalls still remain. The blockade imposed by the United States against Cuba is still in force. Its removal will be an uphill task in the US Congress. More daunting would be the challenge to overcome the possible negative inter-action of economic, cultural and ideological influences that reconciliation would bring.