The three will be resentenced,  presumably to shorter prison terms.

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Justice for the Cuban Five. NY Times Op-Ed.

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Bill Paparian was there on Monday for the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals hearing for the Cuban Five.

The defense attorneys told the appeals panel that prosecutors had made improper statements and the evidence used to convict was insufficient. “Every type of prosecutorial misconduct ever identified in case law occurred here, in some cases repeatedly so,” said defense attorney Brenda Byrn. The Cuban 5 “were never directed to obtain espionage-level information,” defense attorney Richard Klugh said.

Let’s keep mobilizing  and organizing until they are freed.

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After a two-year battle with immigration authorities, Cuban exile militant Luis Posada Carriles arrived in Miami shortly before 5 p.m. Thursday after being released on $350,000 bond by a federal court in El Paso, Texas.Posada’s release is sure to unleash a firestorm in Venezuela and Cuba, where leaders accuse Posada of masterminding the bombing of a civilian jetliner that killed 73 people in 1976, among other alleged terrorist acts.

Gloria La Riva, coordinator of the National Committee to Free the Cuban Five, said, “The release of Luis Posada Carriles is an absolute outrage, and George W. Bush is directly responsible. He is fully aware that Posada has murdered dozens of people, from the 1976 mid-air plane bombing which killed 73 people, to the torture and murder of Venezuelan citizens, to the bombing of Havana hotels in the late 90s which took the life of Fabio di Celmo. Bush has never uttered a word to denounce Posada’s presence in the United States.” La Riva added, “Posada Carriles’ associate Orlando Bosch was being monitored by the Cuban Five to prevent further acts of terrorism. It is Posada and Bosch who should be in prison, not the Cuban Five.”

“On May 11, when his trial on the ridiculously minimal charge of immigration fraud takes place, many organizations and churches will hold a national demonstration in front of the courtroom in El Paso. We call on people in cities across the country and around the world to protest on that day, and demand that justice be done.”

Brian Becker, national director of the ANSWER Coalition, said, “The people of the United States are being subjected to an Alice in Wonderland world; everything is turned upside-down. Bush refuses to characterize Posada as a terrorist and he walks the streets free, while the Cuban Five who fought terrorism, languish in U.S. prisons. We are demanding that Luis Posada Carriles be extradited to Venezuela to stand trial for his monstrous crimes.”

On May 11 there will be protests worldwide when Posada faces trial.

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For lying, not for terrorism. And he could still walk. But this is still a welcome development, as it’s the first indictment inside the US for this self-admitted terrorist.

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Lefti on the News, who is deeply involved in the Cuban Five struggle, details how a small, highly vocal group of people made so much noise about Posada that the government was forced to keep that terrorist (he’s admitted to blowing up planes) in prison.

This is an excellent example of how people in the streets can and do influence events. True, the government is just keeping Posada in prison until they find a country to deport him to (ignoring that Venezuela wants to try him for murder), further proof on US government complicity in anti-Cuba terrorism, but still, this is a victory.

FreeTheFive has worked tirelessly on the Posada case and has lots on Pasada and the Cuban Five.

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600 marched in DC on Saturday in support of the Cuban Five. The Five were unjustly imprisoned here because they infiltrated right-wing Cuban exile groups in Miami, groups whose members have bragged about committing serious violence, including murder, in Cuba.

This was an important demo. It drew people from 30 cities. The ANSWER Coalition was one of the primary organizers.

Building a movement isn’t just about big demonstrations and protests, it’s about the smaller ones too. You need to organize on multiple issues. People start to see the linkages between the issues, they join forces, and then the movement gets bigger. When ANSWER started organizing against the then impeding Iraq invasion, the protests were small. But they grew. Some of them have drawn hundreds of thousands of protestors. Before the war started, an antiwar stance was considered radical, now it’s mainstream. ANSWER hasn’t changed, the rest of the country did.

Would it be the Democrats understood this. The way to build opposition is by opposing, not by being tepid clones of those you pretend to oppose. But then, except for a few social issues, there is little difference between the parties. Certainly not on the war(s), Democrats, with few exceptions, have cheerleaded for war, torture and spying as much as any right-wing Republican. That they are out of touch with an increasingly antiwar populace shows their class arrogance and complicity with imperialist warmongering.

US intelligence agencies are now saying it has all backfired, with the US more in danger, not less, since the the invasion of Iraq. Well, duh. Blowback can be a bitch. Yet legislators continue to sleepwalk in D.C. isolated in their protective wealthy bubbles, clueless and uncaring about what is happening in the real world.

That’s why we need to build a movement. They can not and will not do the right thing. We the people must do it instead.

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There will be a nationally organized and coordinated march and rally in support of the Cuban Five tomorrow in D.C.

Lefti on the News is there, helping to organize it, with on the ground blog coverage. Several ANSWER LA organizers are there too.

The Free the Five website has complete details, with press conference coverage, photos, and more.

A well-attended press conference held today [9/21] at the National Press Club in Washington, D..C., sponsored by the National Committee to Free the Cuban Five, heard powerful testimony from a number of important speakers, calling for freedom for the Cuban Five and the extradition of Luis Posada Carriles. The press conference took place on the 30th anniversary of the car-bombing assassination of Orlando Letelier and Ronni Moffitt on Embassy Row, Washington DC, Sept. 21, and the 30th anniversary of the blowing up of Cuban Airlines flight 455, that killed 73 people on Oct. 6. Posada and his accomplice Orlando Bosch are widely known as the architects of the plane bombing.

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March to White House. Sat. Sept.23

The Cuban Five received grotesquely long sentences for infiltrating right wing Cuban exile groups. They did not infiltrate or spy on the US government, only on private groups who have boasted of committing violent crimes in Cuba.

The trial was Orwellian. The government said they were ’spying’ because they took photos of planes taking off from a military base (they wanted to see if any of the planes were private, and thus paramilitary.) However, they took the photos on a platform outside the base specially designed for people to take photos of the base! For defending their own country against right wing thugs (who work hand-in-hand) with allies in the US government, some of them received life sentence.

Next Saturday, there will be a nationally coordinated march and rally in DC to demand they be freed. This miscarriage of justice needs to be reversed.

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The L.A. Times today has a quite favorable article on the Cuban Five, who have been unjustly imprisoned here for spying on the US even though there was no proof they did so. Recent disclosures have shown there were, and are, serious threats to Cuba from anti-Castro Cubans and the right, thus bolstering the Five’s contention they were protecting Cuba from violence.

Among the developments is the admission by Jose Antonio Llama, a 75-year-old exile, that he financed a 1997 mission to kill Castro for which he had already been tried and acquitted.

In addition to Llama’s admission, Robert Ferro, a Cuban exile in Upland, Calif., said in April that he collected 1,500 guns and grenades for an assault on Cuba during U.S. military exercises in the Caribbean in May. Ferro was charged with illegal weapons possession. And trial begins next month in the case of Miami developer Santiago Alvarez on charges of amassing guns last year for an attack on Castro.

“The Five should never have been arrested. They were fighting terrorism,” said Gloria La Riva, committee coordinator. “New terrorist plots have been revealed since their convictions in Miami which give further weight to the arguments that Miami was a place where they should never have been tried.”

[Richard Klugh, who represents Fernando Gonzalez] points out the five were convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage without ever having spied. No evidence was presented suggesting any of the five had obtained classified information.

“Were they here to hurt the United States, or were they here to protect Cuba from crime and violence?” Klugh asks of the five. “It really goes to the core of the case.”

You can get more information at Free the Five who are currently organizing a march in D.C. on Sept. 23 and fund-raising for the next round of court battles in the eight years since the Five were imprisoned.

This case is a grotesque micarriage of justice. Again, no proof was ever given that the Five did any spying or got any classified information. Yet they are doing long prison terms and aren’t even allowed visits from family.

[tags]Cuban Five[/tags]

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From the Free The Five listserv (it’s not their home page yet)

Atlanta Court acccepts the US Government’s appeals

Yesterday, October 31, 2005, the Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit accepted to consider the US Government’s appeals against the decision, unanimously taken by a panel of judges of the same Circuit on August 9, 2005, which revoked all the convictions of the Cuban Five and remand for a new trial.

The Court approved by a majority vote the rehearing of this case en banc (the all 12 judges in active service).

In other words, the decision by a three judge panel of the same court ordering a new trial has been voided.

More as I know more.

Update: From the Miami Herald

Appellate court reinstates convictions of the Cuban Five

An appellate court has reinstated the convictions of five accused Cuban spies, who were found guilty in a 2001 Miami federal trial.

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals late Monday vacated the August appellate ruling by a three-judge panel in that court that had overturned those convictions.

That means the appeal process starts all over again. This time, a majority of the 12-member appellate court has agreed to rehear the so-called Cuban Five’s appeal, which leaves the case in limbo for months.

More later…

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The decision from the judges was unamimous. This was the first time ever that a verdict was voided and a new trial ordered based on the refusal of the original court to permit a change of venue.

This is a spectacular victory. A lawyer active in the Free The Five campaign told me months ago the appeal was a long shot and they didn’t expect to win because, well, no such appeal had ever won before.
Until now, that is! Congratulations to lead attorney Leonard Weinglass (yes, he was a defense lawyer for the Chicago Seven in the 60’s) and to the thousands of others across the globe who have mobilized and worked tirelessly to free the Cuban Five.
From the concluding paragraph (pdf) of the Cuban Five decision:

In light of the foregoing discussion, the defendants� convictions are
REVERSED and we REMAND for a new trial.
One of our most sacred freedoms is the right to be tried fairly in a noncoercive atmosphere.
Thus, in the final analysis, we trust that any disappointment with our judgment in this case will be tempered and balanced by the recognition that we are a nation of laws in which every defendant, no matter how unpopular, must be treated fairly. Our Constitution requires no less.

From the News Dissector

The appeals judges savaged the prosecution, noting: “He may prosecute with earnestness and vigor — indeed, he should do so. But, while he may strike hard blows, he is not at liberty to strike foul ones. It is as much his duty to refrain from improper methods calculated to produce a wrongful conviction as it is to use every legitimate means to bring about a just one.” (Words that should be posted on the wall of every prosecutor in the country!)

Two of the Cuban Five were born in the U.S. Thus, they can’t be deported if/when they are finally freed.
Plus, I assume they will be released from prison very soon because their guilty verdict was voided.
Free The Five

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Breaking News - Cuban Five Win a New Trial!
Announcement from the National Committee to Free the Cuban Five

From ANSWER LA via the Free The Five committee.

The impossible has happened, the Cuban Five, arrested and imprisoned on bogus charges, will have a new trial. The new trial was ordered based on the refusal of the courts and government to allow a change of venue outside of the obviously biased Miami. Such appeals, I was told, practically never work. But this time, it did. Wow. A whole lot of people have worked tirelessly for years to make this happen.

Today, August 9, after more than one year of weighing the evidence, the 11th Circuit Court of a Appeals vacated the trial court’s ruling against the Cuban Five and ordered a new trial with a change of venue. This is a sensational victory for the Five, the Cuban people, and the international people’s movement that supports them! The Five will now receive a new trial in a place other than Miami. This blow to the U.S. government undeniably was made possible by the hard work and growing support of progressive, justice-loving people in the U.S. and all over the world.
The National Committee to Free the Cuban Five is holding a telephone press conference today with the Five’s attorney, Leonard Weinglass, the coordinator of the National Committee to Free the Cuban Five, Gloria La Riva, A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition Coordinator, Brian Becker, and other activists and legal experts to discuss this landmark victory. We will send more information as soon as we have it. In the meantime, call 323-464-1636 with questions. A.N.S.W.E.R. has been a leading supporter of the Cuban Five since the beginning of the case.
Volver�n! They will return!
National Committee to Free the Cuban Five
http://freethefive.org/

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Los Angeles premiere of the new documentary film, Mission Against Terror, on the Cuban Five, Feb 26, 2005.
Speakers:

Ian Thompson - Committee to Free the Five.
Father Geoff Bottoms: Awarded Cuban Friendship Medal, Cuba solidarity organizer in England
Bernie Dwyer: Co-director of film, Reporter with Radio Havana

The film features interviews with former CIA agent Phillip Agee, Cuban Five attorney Leonard Weinglass, Cuban National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcon, family members of the Cuban Five, Miami Cuban progressive activist Andres Gomez and others.

MP3 (9.5 MB, 27:09 min.)

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Father Geoff Bottoms, Cuba solidarity organizer in England, and filmmaker Bernie Dwyer, who co-directed Mission Against Terror, a documentary about the Cuban Five, answer questions from the audience after the Los Angeles premiere of the film on Feb. 26, 2005.
MP3 (12.45 MB, 35:25 min.)

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Ian Thompson of the National Committee to Free the Cuban Five speaks about their case, the appeals, and the new documentary “Mission Against Terror. The Case of the Cuban Five.”
The Cuban Five are serving grotesquely harsh prison terms in the US. Why? They bravely infiltrated private terrorist groups in Miami, groups that have been responsible for attacks and bombings in Cuba. When the Five found enough evidence, they went to the FBI and said, we can prove these groups are planning terrorist attacks. For their efforts, they, not the terrorist right wingers, were arrested.
A judge refused to move the trial out of the obviously highly biased Miami area. Retired US military testified the Five broke no laws and compromised no national security. Yet they were sentenced to very long prison terms anyway, put in solitary, and not even allowed to have their families visit them.
One member of the Cuban Five was convicted of murder because Cuba shot down three invading planes sent from US terrorist groups, planes that had been repeatedly invading Cuban airspace, buzzing over homes, and ignoring direct commands by Cuban military to turn back. These planes were repeatedly warned to stop, they refused, and were shot down. The U.S. notified Cuba the planes were coming, yet one of the Five was convicted of murder because he supposedly told Cuba the planes were coming and thus was guilty of murder! And, of course, any sovereign state has the right to shoot down invading planes that refuse orders to not invade their airspace.
The Cuban Five are national heroes in Cuba, everyone knows who they are. A recent New York Times ad by the Free the Five Committee greatly increased their visibility here. They broke no laws, they should be freed. and this travesty of justice reversed.
Free the Five
MP3. 13 minutes. 4.6 MB. 2/8/05

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The Cuban Five
Excerpts from a speech by Ian Thompson of the National Committee to Free the Five. Ian, a lawyer, has spent countless hours working pro bono on this case, and is a friend and fellow ANSWER LA volunteer.

“<The Cuban Five> were sent to the United States by the Cuban government in the early 1990’s to monitor the violent anti-Cuba terrorist network based in Miami, which the U.S. government allows to operate, and even run open terrorist training camps on U.S. soil. The Cuban Five legally gathered evidence about Miami’s right-wing terrorist network and turned it over to the FBI. But instead of arresting the terrorists in Miami, the FBI rounded up the Cuban Five.
Were they arrested because they were Cuban spies? No, they were not spying on the US government. They were arrested because the Five posed a threat to the US policy of destabilizing Cuba by any means possible, including the encouragement and funding of violent attack and invasion. After their arrest, the Five were tried in the only US city where they could certainly NOT receive a fair trial - Miami - and were promptly convicted and sentenced on trumped-up charges of conspiracy to commit espionage.
The case of the Five represents a grievous miscarriage of justice. It makes a mockery of the US justice system, the US Constitution, and International Law. It also presents numerous violations of basic human rights.
70 committees to free the Five exist in the US alone, along with over 200 worldwide. Over 100 British Members of Parliament have signed a letter requesting a new trial. Support for the Five is growing daily. However, the Cuban Five will not have the justice they deserve until they are free and have returned safely to their homes and families in Cuba.”

Free The Five

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