Judge imposes 22-year
sentence on Antonio Guerrero
•
THE United States District Court for the Southern
District of Florida imposed a new sentence on
Antonio Guerrero, unjustly imprisoned for more that
11 years in Florence, Colorado, a prison dubbed by
the Guinness World Records as the most secure prison
in the world, with inmates isolated in solitary
confinement for the majority of the day. It is
labeled by some as the "Alcatraz of the Rockies" and
has been called "a living tomb."
As it is known, Antonio had been initially
sentenced by that same court to a life sentence plus
10 years. That sentence was considered excessive,
contrary to the legal rules currently in force, and
was thrown out by the Eleventh Circuit Court of
Appeals, which decided that the defendant did not
gather or transmit any information related to U.S.
national security.
The new sentence of 262 months (nearly 22-years)
of prison time is the result of international
solidarity movements and tenacious efforts by his
defense counsel, Leonard Weinglass, and although it
is not as absurdly excessive as the previous one, it
is also unjust. It is time to intensify the struggle
for the immediate freedom of our five compatriots.
This episode is one of many pieces of evidence
confirming the absolute injustice of the process
faced by these men, imprisoned in the United States
only and exclusively for fighting anti-Cuban
terrorism promoted by U.S. authorities. The
irrational disproportion of the originally imposed
sentences was one of the issues revisited by the
defense, and in this respect, it was possible to
reach a partial, limited and contradictory
accomplishment. In 2008 the Court of Appeals in
Atlanta ratified the unfair guilty verdicts of the
Five, annulled the sentences of Antonio, Ramón and
Fernando and remanded them for re-sentencing.
As an expression of the strange way of doing
justice in that country, the Court of Appeals
recognized the fact that, although Gerardo Hernández
Nordelo deserves to be re-sentenced, they decided
not to do just that and instead upheld his cruel
sentence of two life sentences plus 15 years.
Gerardo, Ramón, Antonio, Fernando and René are
innocent and should never have been deprived of
freedom. Every day that they remain in prison will
be a shameful confirmation of the U.S Administration.’s
complicity with terrorism.
Translated by Granma International
