The Legal Side of the Battle
Members of the Five’s defense team express their opinions. Re-sentencing of Antonio, Ramón and Fernando scheduled for October in Miami.
-Deisy Francis Mexidor

A "No," without any explanation whatsoever, was the response of the U.S. Supreme Court last June 15 to the petition to review the case of Gerardo, Ramón, Antonio, Fernando and René. Yet another insult on the part of Made in USA-justice. Despite the worldwide clamor in favor of the five Cuban anti-terrorist fighters, that country’s highest judicial body turned a "deaf ear" and, loyal to political interests, maintained the government line. But voices continue to cry out against this despicable act. Rafael Anglada, team member.Nor is it the case that "legal avenues" have been closed off, according to Joaquín Méndez who, together with other members of the Five’s legal team, recently held a press conference in Havana. The case is now entering the phase in which on the one hand, we are awaiting re-sentencing of three of the Five: Ramón, Antonio and Fernando and, on the other, an attempt to reopen Gerardo’s case via an indirect appeal, says Méndez, acknowledging that, in all his professional experience he has never had a case that has dragged on for so long. "From the day they were arrested up until today, 11 years later, the case has still not been settled."
BACK IN MIAMI
"We have a date set for October 13," commented Méndez, defense lawyer for Fernando, referring to the day announced by Miami Judge Joan Lenard for re-sentencing, the reason why Tony, Ramón and Fernando are to be transferred to Miami.
(Joaquín Méndez, defensor de Fernando González Leonard Weinglass, abogado de Antonio Guerrero. )
Given the proximity of the event, it would be wrong to create expectations that go beyond the reality that lies ahead and which, as has been demonstrated throughout the years, is extremely complicated and uncertain. Nevertheless, without offering any opinions on what could take place before the same judge who convicted the Five in 2001, the lawyer stated that Lenard will have to take into account the instructions of the 11th Circuit Appeals Court of Atlanta, which noted that "the sentences were incorrectly imposed" and, as a consequence, quashed them. For the re-sentencing, Ramón Labañino’s defense lawyer is hoping that "the government will provide us with the information that we need to adequately prepare for the event."At the same time, Tom Goldstein – the specialist who headed the defense team for the Supreme Court review – believes that, for the re-sentencing, "the judge has to take into consideration the lengthy period that they have been incarcerated, the suffering of both the prisoners and their families, and also the recognition of the international community."Meanwhile, Antonio’s lawyer Leonard Weinglass commented that the life sentences handed down to Antonio and Ramón could be overturned although, "I can’t predict at the current time what the new sentences might be."
(Phillip Robert Horowitz, abogado de René González.William Norris, abogado de Ramón Labañino.)
Weinglass took the opportunity to confirm that the defense team "did not agree with the Appeal Court decision not to send Gerardo for re-sentencing."However, Rafael Anglada stated, "Gerardo is very strong, supreme."On the other hand, "we know what was accumulated in the amicus briefs. It is really is very striking that governments such as that of Mexico, a number of Nobel Prize winners, lawyers’ associations and celebrities throughout the world have affirmed their support for the Five. This has never occurred before in the history of the U.S. Supreme Court," recalls Anglada, introducing the issue of the mitigating conditions that cannot be avoided when it comes to the re-sentencing of Tony, Ramón and Fernando. For example, the lawyer continued, "Antonio has created a chess class and an art class in a maximum security prison, in a penitentiary where typically, a considerable number of inmates are individuals with severe mental health problems" and he asked, "how will the court the receive the list of English and math courses that he gives to other prisoners so that they obtain junior high or high school diplomas through exams?"
THE GREATEST INJUSTICE
They confirmed that Tony, Ramón, Fernando and René are all concerned about Gerardo’s situation, but Goldstein believes that their legal efforts will demonstrate that the conspiracy to commit murder for which Gerardo received one of his life sentences is "totally absurd." Méndez confirmed that within the arbitrary and illegal nature of this case, the treatment meted out to Gerardo remains the greatest injustice.
(Tom Goldstein, lideró el equipo de la defensa ante la Corte Suprema.Richard Klugh, especialista en apelación.)
Nor was René González considered for re-sentencing. Phillip Robert Horowitz maintains that at this stage, his defendant is looking to serve 15 years in prison where, just like the others, he has behaved magnificently. For that reason, he doesn’t conceal his admiration for René who, in spite of everything, "is looking forward to returning home to his wife and daughters." He will complete the sentence handed down to him in "approximately two years time", commented Horowitz. He faces an additional "three years of parole, which is equivalent to bail," he noted. Richard Klugh, a specialist in the appeal courts, summed up by saying that they have never lost hope in an eventual victory, "because we are in the right," but unfortunately, in this case the U.S. judicial system has repeatedly demonstrated that it does not always attach importance to this maxim. The lawyers acknowledge that, "in a modest way," according to Rafael Anglada, "that they are the legal side of this great battle" for justice, and praised the indispensable nature of "that other side: the political battle," which should never be diminished for a single instant.

TERRORISTA BUENO, TERRORISTA MALO
-Autor: Pedro Brenes
Hace más de diez años que permanecen prisioneros en las cárceles de los Estados Unidos los cubanos Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino, René González, Antonio Guerrero y Fernando González. Su delito: infiltrarse en las bandas terroristas del exilio contrarrevolucionario de Miami, para descubrir y frustrar los planes criminales de estos grupos tolerados y protegidos por el imperialismo yanqui.Desde el mismo momento del triunfo de la Revolución cubana los sucesivos gobiernos de los Estados Unidos, a través de agresiones directas e indirectas, de conspiraciones de sus servicios secretos, y por medio de los sectores más reaccionarios y fascistas de los emigrados cubanos, han utilizado el terrorismo como arma principal para combatir y entorpecer el desarrollo del socialismo en Cuba.Sin embargo, con la hipocresía que le caracteriza, el imperialismo norteamericano se atreve a incluir a Cuba en su lista arbitraria de “Estados que apoyan el terrorismo”, mientras tolera, comprende y alienta las actividades terroristas de grupos como la Fundación Nacional Cubano Americana, Alpha 66 o Comandos L, y admite la presencia en su territorio, bajo la protección del FBI y de las instituciones judiciales norteamericanas, de terroristas confesos como Luis Posada, Orlando Bosch o José Basulto.Al igual que Osama Bin Laden era un “buen terrorista” cuando, por cuenta de la CIA, combatía contra la República Democrática antiimperialista de Afganistán, el terrorismo de los grupos fascistas y anticomunistas de los emigrados cubanos en Florida es bien visto y apoyado sin reservas por la prensa y la televisión, que reflejan puntualmente la actitud y la opinión del gobierno, la policía y la judicatura norteamericanas.Pero, a pesar del apoyo declarado de las sucesivas administraciones en Washington, los servicios de inteligencia cubanos han conseguido, durante cincuenta años de enconada lucha contra la CIA y sus lacayos de Miami, grandes éxitos desmontando innumerables planes para atentar contra la economía nacional de Cuba y contra los líderes revolucionarios.En el más absoluto anonimato y jugándose la libertad y aun la vida a cada paso, los agentes cubanos infiltrados en las organizaciones contrarrevolucionarias logran información decisiva sobre los proyectos asesinos de la mafia terrorista y permiten con su arriesgada labor, contrarrestar la actividad criminal de estos grupos y reducir al mínimo las pérdidas y los daños provocados por ellos, a pesar del ilimitado apoyo político, logístico y financiero que el imperialismo les brinda.Cuando exigimos la libertad de los cinco héroes antiterroristas cubanos, no sólo denunciamos una flagrante injusticia, sino que, además, ponemos en evidencia el doble rasero y la doble moral de los imperialistas que pretenden presentarse ante el mundo como los adalides de la lucha contra el terrorismo.Lo cierto es que la “guerra contra el terrorismo”, al igual que la “defensa de la democracia y los derechos humanos”, no es, para los gobiernos de los Estados Unidos, más que una coartada y una excusa que utilizan cuando les conviene para defender sus intereses imperialistas y justificar sus políticas de guerras preventivas y de saqueo de los recursos naturales de otros países.Y no tienen, cuando les interesa, ningún reparo en apoyar a grupos terroristas, oligarquías fascistas y camarillas militares golpistas, cuando se trata de perjudicar a Estados socialistas como Cuba o China (respaldando a organizadores de pogromos racistas como Dalai Lama o Rebiya Kadeer) o a gobiernos antiimperialistas como los de Venezuela o Irán.Los comunistas y todos los demócratas del mundo condenamos la farsa del juicio y el fallo de un jurado totalmente predispuesto y condicionado por el ambiente de la gusanera de Florida en contra de los cinco antiterroristas cubanos.Y denunciamos la política hipócrita del gobierno norteamericano y repudiamos la doble moral imperialista que pretende, a pesar de ser el mayor terrorista de la historia, como ha quedado demostrado en Hiroshima o en Irak, y el principal apoyo de los golpistas criminales negadores de los derechos humanos como Franco o Pinochet, hacerse pasar por;defensor de la democracia y las libertades.

THE EMPIRE AND THE ROBOTS
A short while ago I dealt with the United States’ plans to impose the absolute superiority of its air force as an instrument of domination on the rest of the world. I mentioned the project that by 2020 they would have more than a thousand latest generation bombers and F-22 and F-35 fighter planes in their fleet of 2500 military aircraft. In twenty more years, every single one of their war planes will be robot-operated. Military budgets always count on the support of the immense majority of American legislators. There is hardly any state in the Union where employment does not depend in part on the defense industries. On a global level and with constant value, military expenses have doubled in the last 10 years as if there were no danger at all of any crisis. At this moment, it is the most prosperous industry on the planet.By 2008, approximately 1.5 trillion dollars were invested in defense budgets. The US spends 42% of world expenses in this area --607 billion-- not including war expenses, while the number of people who go hungry in the world has reached the figure of 1 billion.Two days ago a western news dispatch informed that in mid-August the US army exhibited a tele-guided helicopter along with robots capable of working as sappers, 2500 of which have been sent into combat zones.A company marketing robots maintained that the new technologies would revolutionize the manner of directing the war. It has been published that in 2003 the US barely had enough robots in its arsenal and, according to AFP, "today it has 10,000 land vehicles as well as 7000 air devices, from the small Raven that can be hand-launched right up to the gigantic Global Hawk, a spy plane 13 meters long and with a 35 meter wingspan capable of flying at great altitudes for 35 hours." This dispatch lists other weapons as well.While the United States is spending such huge figures in killing technology, the president of that country is sweating buckets trying to bring health services to 50 million Americans who don’t have them. There is such confusion that the new president said that he felt he was closer than ever to achieving reform of the health care system but that the battle is becoming fierce.He added that the story is clear, that every time health care reforms seem closer on the horizon, special interests fight with everything they’ve got applying their leverage, launching publicity campaigns and using their political allies to scare the American people. The fact is that in Los Angeles 8000 people –most of them unemployed, according to the press– turned up in a stadium to receive medical care from a traveling free clinic that provides services to the Third World. The crowds had spent the night there. Some of them had traveled from as far away as hundreds of miles. "’What do I care whether it’s socialist or not? We’re the only country in the world where the most vulnerable people have nothing’, said a college-educated woman from a black neighborhood." According to the report "a blood test can cost 500 dollars and a routine dental treatment more than 1000 dollars."What kind of hope can that society offer the world?The lobbyists in Congress make their profits working against a simple law intended to provide medical care to tens of millions of poor people, mostly blacks and Latinos who lack it. Even a blockaded country like Cuba has been able to do it and is even cooperating with dozens of countries in the Third World.If robots in the hands of the transnationals can replace imperial soldiers in the wars of conquest, who will stop the transnationals in their quest for a market for their artifacts? Just as they have flooded the world with automobiles that today compete with mankind for the consumption of non-renewable energy and even foods converted into fuel, so too they can flood the world with robots that would displace millions of workers from their workplaces. Better yet, scientists could also design robots capable of governing; that way they could spare the US government and Congress that terrible, contradictory and confusing work.No doubt they would do it better and cheaper.
-Fidel Castro Ruz - August 19, 2009