• THE U.S. government has flagrantly violated the Constitution and the law to ensure the unjust conviction the Cuban Five, who will soon complete 14 years of arbitrary and illegal imprisonment. This was not an isolated event, but rather a systematic effort carried out over the course of the prosecution of the Five, which cost millions dollars of public funds. There is very limited information available about the operation, its duration, the amount of money utilized, persons involved, and other important aspects.

Given that these actions should oblige authorities - both judicial and executive - to immediately release the Five, Washington has also conspired to hide what it did, thus committing an additional crime: obstruction of justice.

This is the essence of the affidavit submitted recently to South Florida District Judge, Joan Lenard, by Martin Garbus, Gerardo Hernández Nordelo’s lawyer. The document supports Gerardo’s previous request to vacate his conviction or, as an alternative, requests that the judge order discovery of all evidence the government is hiding and convene a hearing.

Although there are many other violations in the appeal process cited - in this last, extraordinary stage - the document focuses on the government’s conspiracy with Miami media to convict the accused beforehand and make a fair trial impossible.

The substantive nature of the conspiracy was to use these media to unleash an unprecedented propaganda campaign of hatred and hostility. To this end they used a number of "journalists" - in fact undercover government agents - who published articles and commentaries over and over, day and night, to produce a veritable barrage of misinformation. Between November 27, 2000 – when the trial began - and July 8, 2001 -when they were found guilty- The Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald alone published 1,111 articles, an average of more than 5 per day. The Diario de Las Américas published a similar number, completely saturating the printed press.

The "journalists" were paid by Radio and TV Martí, in other words with funds from the federal budget. These individuals did additional work for the two stations and their views were disseminated in the Miami area where both anti-Cuban outlets had, at that time, and still have, direct broadcasting, and were also reproduced by local media. (This is another violation of U.S. law which prohibits official propaganda within U.S. territory.)

This wasn’t just Radio and TV Marti and the daily newspapers. These so-called journalists used local English and Spanish language radio and TV stations as well, and other publications distributed in the area, some free of charge.

It was impossible to avoid this barrage of propaganda anywhere in South Florida.

But the criminal behavior of the "journalists" - and the government which paid them - went far beyond propaganda. During the trial, the defense denounced on several occasions that these journalists were attempting to influence the jury by divulging material, some of which the judge had specifically excluded and which, obviously, they could only have received from the prosecution.

As if this were not enough, the "journalists" harassed witnesses and jurors, as well. The jury complained to the judge saying they were frightened, that they had been followed with cameras and microphones. This was acknowledged several times by Judge Lenard who asked the government - obviously without success - to help her avoid situations that tarnished the image of the U.S. judicial system. (See Official Record of the Trial, pages 22, 23, 111, 112, 625, 14644-14646).

In August 2005, a three judge panel of the Court of Appeals unanimously declared a mistrial because the Miami proceedings had taken place within what they described as "a perfect storm of prejudice and hostility", created by the local media. When the three judges rendered their historical ruling, neither they, or anyone else, could have known that the District Attorney’s Office was responsible for this perfect storm, openly violating its constitutional obligation to abide by the law and guarantee a fair trial.

The first reports of the government’s conspiracy with its "journalists" emerged a year later in September, 2006. Since then the government has opposed efforts by U.S. civic organizations to force disclosure of the payments and contracts, in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The District Attorney’s Office has also opposed requests included in the extraordinary appeals by the Five and has threatened to resort to "executive privilege" and "national security" justifications to maintain the cover up.

The case of the Cuban Five has a strange link to the press and media professionals. In Miami the media were decisive in their conviction. Outside of Miami the Five were punished with silence.

The irrefutable document submitted by Martin Garbus poses a challenge to professional journalists. Will they let the facts be covered up again and become accomplices of those who have tarnished their noble profession? Or will they attempt to preserve the honor of their profession by demanding that the charlatans be unmasked and that truth and justice prevail?