Alarcón on the
“Roundtable” program
We have to keep up the fight for the
release of the Five
BY ROBERTO PEREZ
BETANCOURT
THE
battle for the release of the five Cuban
anti-terrorist fighters, political prisoners in the
United States, continues to be active in order to
inform people of the truth about a case in which the
U.S. government and authorities involved in it have
perverted the course of justice, affirmed Ricardo
Alarcón, president of the National Assembly of
People’s Power (Cuban Parliament).
The likewise member of the
Political Bureau of the Party exposed the
pettifogging activities of the U.S. government via
the district attorney’s office and other
governmental agencies, and offered current details
on the appeal process during the Cuban TV and radio
“Roundtable” program this Thursday, which also
included contributions by other experts.
On July 24, the defense lawyers
presented their arguments against the ruling of last
June 4 and 5 by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in
Atlanta, which ratified the guilty verdicts against
the Five.
This authority revoked the
sentences handed down to Fernando González (19
years), Ramón Labañino (life plus 19 years), and
Antonio (Tony) Guerrero (life plus 10 years) and
returned their cases to the trial judge, that is to
say, Judge Joan Lenard of the Miami Dade Federal
District, in order to pronounce new sentences.
Likewise, the aforementioned
court maintained the sentences previously handed
down to René González and Gerardo Hernández.
Alarcón specified that the crime
of corruption is evident, given malicious failure to
comply with the law or culpable ignorance of public
functions, as well as the fraudulent justice meted
out by the judge, all of which can be appreciated in
relation to the officials who have been involved in
the case of the Five since they were first
imprisoned in the United States in 1998.
Regarding the latest denial of
visas to Olga Salanueva (wife of René González), and
Adriana Pérez (wife of Gerardo Hernández) by the
U.S. Interests Section in Havana, Alarcón explained
that the former has received notice that she is
“ineligible” after having been expelled from the
United States, and that Adriana had been refused a
visa on eight previous occasions.
He mentioned the case of Tony
Guerrero and how, during a recent visit from his
sister and his son, the authorities closed the
prison and they were unable to complete their
visits. They now have to wait for another visa to be
granted, something he described as the imposition of
additional and illegal punishment for the prisoner
and his relatives, toward whom the authorities have
acted in a mean and base fashion.
The deliberate actions of the
district attorney’s office and other U.S. government
agencies were exposed throughout the duration of the
program, which also included testimonies from lawyer
Roberto González, brother of René, and Leonard
Weinglass, the U.S. defense lawyer, who gave a
report during a video linkup of the latest steps in
the appeal process.
Weinglass explained that they had
requested a new hearing on the basis that the
decisions adopted by the appeal court on June 4 & 5
were based on erroneous information and pure
fiction, not real facts, and also on a defective
application of law.
He went into detail about the
trial and affirmed his expectation that the new
court ruling will take only a few weeks, and not
months.
Lawyer Roberto González explained
that they are appealing the decision to ratify the
charge of conspiracy to commit murder against
Gerardo Hernández, on which the three appeal judges
had ruled differently. He also explained operational
and legal details.
The program also included a clip
of statements by the prestigious Chilean Judge Juan
Guzmán who, after attending the aforementioned
hearing where he listened to judges and lawyers –
both prosecution and defense – reached the
conclusion that the Five are innocent and deemed
that the government of the U.S. has a political
interest in condemning them.
During the broadcast, presenter
Randy Alonso recalled that July 31 is the second
anniversary of President Fidel Castro’s declaration
to the Cuban people, where he called for the nation
to continue forward with the Battle of Ideas. A clip
of his appearance was broadcast and, among other
denunciations, he cited the complicity of the U.S.
Federal Bureau of Investigations in protecting the
mafia in that country.
Journalist Arleen Rodríguez
discussed the contents of the book La mala
conducta, inspired by Fidel and based on a
public meeting on the case of the Five held on
August 20, 2007, which was attended by prominent
jurists from all over the world. •