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Hearing tomorrow
for the Five
 THE
case of the five anti-terrorist Cubans imprisoned in
the United States enters a critical stage tomorrow
in Miami, with a hearing before three judges from
the Atlanta 11th Circuit Court of Appeal.
Prensa Latina reported that the
defense attorneys are to focus their arguments on
the absence of an impartial jury, given that Gerardo
Hernández, Ramón Labańino, René González, Antonio
Guerrero and Fernando González were brought to trial
in Miami, bulwark of the Cuban-American ultra-right.
For that same reason, the lawyers
will insist tomorrow on a retrial in a different
venue outside of that city. They will also argue
that there was a lack of evidence to prove the
charges of conspiracy.
According to jurist Rodolfo Dávalos,
other points to be made include fraudulent conduct
by the district attorney and lack of instructions to
the jury on the affirmative defense of the state of
necessity.
In that context, presenting a motion
for a new trial, Antonio Guerrero emphasized that
the district attorney distorted the facts and the
law in opposing the defendants’ request to change
the venue for the public hearing.
During their trial, the five Cubans
presented a number of motions to move the trial to
another city, supporting their arguments with
surveys, statements and other legal cases.
According to Lisandro Pérez,
director of the Cuban Research Institute at the
University of Florida, the possibility of selecting
12 citizens from Miami-Dade County who could be
impartial in this case is practically zero.
Within the city, a minority anti-Cuban
group has created a sentiment against Havana that
has made it impossible for artists and athletes from
Cuba to perform or compete there. On two occasions,
the Latin Grammys have even been transferred out of
Miami after threats and outbreaks of violence.
The petition to have a retrial
outside of Miami was based on the case of Pamplin
vs. Mason, in 1966, when a change of venue was
requested given that it was incorrect to try Black
civil rights activists in a racist Texan community.
The Five, as the Cubans are known
around the world, were handed down sentences ranging
from double life to 15 years imprisonment on charges
of conspiracy and acting as agents of a foreign
power without being registered as such.
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New infamy against
our five heroes prisoners of the empire
March 5,
2004
IN the afternoon of February 27, the
head of the U.S. Department of State Cuba Bureau
delivered Diplomatic Note 058/2 to the Cuban
Interests Section in Washington.
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We will carry on fighting to see our
husbands
January
23,
2004
“We
will go through all the necessary procedures and do
whatever we can to demand our rights,” affirmed Olga
Salanueva, René’s wife, thus revealing that she and
Adriana Pérez, wife of Gerardo Hernández, will
continue to apply for U.S. entry visas in order to
visit their husbands despite the persistent ill will
of the U.S. authorities.
--
Additional
punishment for the Five
January
15,
2004
THE U.S. response to
the visa applications of Olga Salanueva and Adriana
Pérez O’Connor, the wives of René González and
Gerardo Hernández, respectively, marks a new stage
in the escalation of the cruelty and hatred against
Cuba on the part of the U.S. government, affirmed
jurists and analysts on a television Roundtable. |
