Danny Glover Wins, FBI Loses 16-Yr Battle

After 16 years as political prisoners in the United States for figthing terrorism and a prosecution and trial that demonstrated gross corruption of justice, the remaining three of the undercover agents known as the Cuban Five were released Tuesday, a major feat for actor and humanitarian Danny Glover, who has led a crusade for the five.

Political prisoners Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon Labanino, and Antonio Guerrero are going home to Cuba.

“This is a testament to the fight by the people in the United States and around the world demanding justice and a new day in U.S.-Cuba relations. Now is the time to turn the page.,” Partnership for Civil Justice Fund (PCJF) stated today in a written statement.

Danny Glover, along with PCJF, has spent over a decade battling for justice for the five falsely imprisoned persons (FIPs). He has spread the untold truth about the five. He taught about the injustice by urging people to imagine a boat load of explosives heading your way, five people risking their lives to stop it and save thousands of lives, so were arrested.

“The U.S. must end the blockade against Cuba,” PCJF said today.

PCJF filed a federal lawsuit in addition to its multi-year investigation uncovering thousands of pages of documents related to a U.S. government operation in which it funded Miami “journalists” who presented themselves as independent reporters and who also saturated the Miami media with false, inflammatory and hostile stories during the prosecution and trial of the Cuban Five. This conduct, which would have influenced the jury pool and the un-sequestered jury, violated the fundamental right to a fair trial. 

The presence of Miami journalists on the U.S. government payroll, who purported to report as “independent” press, goes to the heart of the unjust conviction of the Five. The Five were not only victims of a politically-motivated prosecution, but a government-funded propaganda operation as well. This corruption of justice became a central part of the pending habeas petitions.  

With public financial support, the PCJF  was able to conduct this work pro bono.

“Working together, we can make a difference,”PCJF stated in a written statement released Wednesday.

For more on the 16 years of corruption of justice in the case of the Cuban Five, see here..

Background on the Five

In 1998, five Cuban men were arrested by the U.S. government and tried in Miami on charges of conspiring to commit espionage on the United States. Their primary mission was to stop terrorism that had claimed the lives of dozens of innocent people. The five men’s mission also included keeping watch on Miami’s ultra-right extremists to prevent their violent attacks against Cuba.

“The Cuban Five” were convicted after repeated denials by the judge to move the trial venue out of Miami. The U.S. government insisted that they be tried in Miami. Lawrence Wilkerson, chief of staff for Colin Powell when he was Secretary State from 2001 to 2005, commented about the inability of the Cuban Five to receive a fair trial in Miami:

When the case came to trial, a change of venue was warranted and asked for because no Miami court was going to give the Cuban Five a fair trial, since the city is largely in the hands of some of the very Cuban-Americans and their supporters who’ve allegedly perpetrated these atrocities on the Cuban people and are prepared to invade the island. But the change of venue motion was denied. And of course the five were convicted.