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Free the Five action
in
Dominican Republic
BY FELIX JACINTO
BRETON (SNTP-CDP)
 SANTIAGO,
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC.—Five people, handcuffed and
wearing prison uniforms, flanked by young people
carrying placards drawing attention to a rigged tria,
paraded in the closure of the Santiago de los
Caballeros Carnival to call for the release of the
five Cuban patriots incarcerated in the United
States for combating terrorism.
 The
crowd immediately identified with them as they wound
down
Las Carreras Avenue,
the main street here where the final parade of the
Dominican Republic’s
most important carnival took place last Sunday.
Five young people
repeated a scene of last year. Without any resources
other than the hope that upstanding people would
support the cause, these Dominicans thought it up
and finally managed to present it to the thousands
of people who crowded to watch the Carnival parade.
While the Pepineros
and Joyeros, two of the main groups disputing this
street festival, dealt out blows left and right and
others were dressed up as Bin Laden, doctors,
nurses, security corps, police, military, etc. these
preferred to be prisoners.
And not just any
prisoners but five in particular, who are suffering
the rigors of unjust imprisonment for defending
their country from terrorism: Ramón Labañino,
Antonio Guerrero, René González, Gerardo Hernández
and Fernando González.
They were arrested by
the FBI in 1998 and sentenced in partial trials – as
acknowledged by the
U.S.
legal authorities – to terms ranging from 10 years
to life.
Cuba
has always maintained that they were not spying on
the
U.S.
government but confined themselves to compiling
information on terrorist organizations in southern
Florida
responsible for acts of violence against the island.
It was the injustice
committed against these five Cubans, proclaimed
heroes of the homeland, that led these Santiagans to
parade in the Carnival to call attention to their
situation in different
U.S.
jails, where they have suffered all kinds of
humiliation and maltreatment, reiteratedly exposed
by the Cuban authorities.
Each of the five
Dominicans who made up the group of the Five were
handcuffed and in prison garb. Their expressions
were serious, making the harsh situation of the five
Cuban heroes even more graphic
As they wound through
the crowds watching the Carnival they aroused
sentiments of solidarity and, more than once, cries
of “Freedom for the Five” and “Viva revolutionary
Cuba”
could be heard.
One of the placards
referring to the Five read: “The Five infiltrated
Miami
terrorist groups because they
are ant-terrorist fighters.” Another announced:
“Last August 7 the
Atlanta
Appeals Court
declared the Five’s trial null and void.”
And with popular
creativity flying high, another one bore a letter to
the U.S. Attorney General calling for “an end to the
kidnapping of the Five.”
“We did it to call
attention to this case, we wanted to take advantage
of the carnival to raise our voices for the
liberation of these five Cuban brothers,” Carlos,
one of the members of the group said afterwards.
USA
REFUSES
The sentiment of
solidarity with the Five is growing in the world at
point when, in a cable datelined February 26, stated
that the United States is refusing to release the
five Cuban anti-terrorists that they are keeping
unjustly imprisoned for political interests.
On the legal level the
group should have been released a long time ago, as
a panel of three judges from the Court of Appeals in
Atlanta
ordered last August.
At the time of their
arrest by the FBI in 1998, the five were compiling
information on terrorist organizations in the south
of
Florida involved in
acts of violence against
Cuba.
The case ended up
becoming a political trial in which the White House
settled an old debt to a community with which it has
historical links in its war on
Havana.
Even the incident of
the 1994 downing of the Brothers to the Rescue light
aircraft that violated Cuban air space was dragged
into the trial, despite a total lack of evidence.
The Five were
sentenced to harsh prison terms ranging from 15
years to double life.
On September 12, the
group will have spent eight years in prison, during
which they have endured harsh conditions and various
periods in the hole, without any reason.
The five have never
been able to maintain a steady relationship with
their lawyers, which has made the preparation of
their defense, currently at a crucial point, more
difficult.
They have also had to
confront the obstacles imposed by the State
Department, making family visits difficult by
delaying or refusing entry visas for them.
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