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Cuban Five

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"Wasp Network" redirects here. For the film, see Wasp Network (film).

A poster in front of Plaza de la Revolución, Havana, calling for the release of the Cuban Five.

The Cuban Five, also known as the Miami Five,[1] are five Cuban intelligence officers (Gerardo Hernández, Antonio Guerrero, Ramón Labañino, Fernando González, and René González) who were arrested in September 1998 and later convicted in Miami of conspiracy to commit espionage, conspiracy to commit murder, acting as an agent of a foreign government, and other illegal activities in the United States.[2] The Five were in the United States to observe and infiltrate the Cuban-American groups Alpha 66, the F4 Commandos, the Cuban American National Foundation, and Brothers to the Rescue.[3] They were part of La Red Avispa (lit. 'The Wasp Network') composed of at least 27 Cuban spies.[2]

The Cuban government acknowledged that the five were intelligence agents in 2001, after denying it for three years. It said they were spying on Miami's Cuban exile community, not the U.S. government.[4] Cuba says that the men were sent to South Florida in the wake of several terrorist bombings in Havana organized by anti-communist terrorist Luis Posada Carriles, a former Central Intelligence Agency operative.[4][5]

The Five appealed their convictions, and concerns about the fairness of their trial received international attention.[6] A three-judge panel of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta overturned their convictions in 2005, citing the "prejudices" of Miami's anti-Castro Cubans, but the full court later denied the five's bid for a new trial and reinstated the original convictions.[4] In June 2009 the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the case.[7] In Cuba, the Five are viewed as national heroes and portrayed as having sacrificed their liberty in the defense of their country.[8]

René González was released from prison on October 7, 2011, having completed thirteen years of his sentence, with three years of probation in the U.S. remaining.[9] He was allowed to return to Cuba for his father's funeral on April 22, 2013, and a federal judge allowed him to stay there provided that he renounce his United States citizenship.[10] Fernando González was released on February 27, 2014.[11] The remaining members were released on December 17, 2014, in a prisoner swap with Cuba for an American intelligence officer, identified by a senior American as Rolando Sarraff Trujillo.[12] The exchange of prisoners coincided with Cuba's release of American contractor Alan Phillip Gross, although the governments characterized the release of Gross as being unrelated to the prisoner exchange. Some observers saw these events as a first step in the easing of political relations between the United States and Cuba, known as the Cuban Thaw.[13]

Background

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In 1960s and 1970s, there were several attacks against Cuban civilians by U.S.-based exile groups such as Coordination of United Revolutionary Organizations (CORU), Alpha 66, and Omega 7. In a 2001 report by Cuba's Permanent Mission to the United Nations, the Cuban government cataloged 3,478 deaths as a result of "terrorism", "aggression", "acts of piracy and other actions".[14] The events cited span the course of four decades and pertain to attacks such as the bombing of Cubana Flight 455 by men trained by the Central Intelligence Agency, the CIA-supported Bay of Pigs invasion, and the Escambray Rebellion between the government and anti-communist rebels in the Escambray Mountains (see also Operation Mongoose). As a result, the Cuban government had long sought to combat these groups. Their efforts include the use of spies sent to operate in the U.S.[15] The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and other U.S. organizations had been monitoring the activities of Cuban spy suspects for more than 30 years.[16]

History

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Activities

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The "Cuban Five" were Cuban intelligence officers who were part of "La Red Avispa", or Wasp Network, which the FBI dismantled with 10 arrests in 1998.[17]

The court found that they had infiltrated Brothers to the Rescue, a Miami-based organization that flew small aircraft over the Florida straits in efforts to rescue rafters fleeing Cuba, and had on some flights intentionally violated Cuban airspace and dropped leaflets.[3] On February 24, 1996, two Brothers to the Rescue aircraft were shot down by Cuban military jets in international airspace while flying away from Cuban airspace, killing four U.S. citizens aboard.[3]

The U.S. government also accused the remaining four of lying about their identities and sending 2,000 pages of unclassified information obtained from U.S. military bases to Cuba. The network received clandestine communications from Cuba via the Cuban Atención numbers station.[18]

U.S. government organizations, including the FBI, had been monitoring Cuban spy activities for over 30 years, but made only occasional arrests.[16] However, after the two Brothers to the Rescue aircraft were shot down by Cuban MiGs in February 1996 and four U.S. citizens were killed, on the basis of information sent to Cuba by an infiltrator of the group, the Clinton administration launched a crackdown.[16] According to U.S. attorney José Pertierra, who acts for the Venezuelan government in its attempts to extradite Luis Posada Carriles, the crackdown was aided by the cooperation of the Cuban authorities with the FBI in 1997. The Cubans provided 175 pages of documents to FBI agents investigating Posada Carriles's role in the 1997 bombings in Havana, but the FBI failed to use the evidence to follow up on Posada. Instead, they used it to uncover the spy network that included the Cuban Five.[19][additional citation(s) needed] He was not arrested until 1998.

At least two of the agents formed romantic relationships during their deployments.[2] One married an American woman, while another proposed during a relationship that lasted at least a decade.[2] After the agents were exposed, the spouse in the first case sued the Cuban government for rape on the basis that sexual intercourse had been procured by fraud.[2]

Arrests, convictions and sentences

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All five were arrested in Miami on September 12, 1998 and were indicted by the U.S. government on 25 counts, including charges of false identification and conspiracy to commit espionage. Seven months later, Gerardo Hernández was indicted for conspiracy to commit murder in connection with the shoot-down of the Brothers to the Rescue aircraft.[citation needed]

The trial began in November 2000 in the U.S. District Court for Southern Florida in Miami and lasted seven months. In June 2001, the jury returned verdicts of guilty on all counts, including the charge of first-degree murder against Hernández.[citation needed]

In December 2001, the members of the group were sentenced to prison terms: two life terms for Hernández, to be served consecutively; life for Guerrero and Labañino; 19 years for Fernando González; and 15 years for René González. In addition, the prosecution sought the post-release deportation of the three Cuban-born members, and for the two US-born members, a post-release sentence of "incapacitation", imposing specific restrictions on them after their release, which would be enforced by the FBI. The restrictions would prohibit them from "associating with or visiting specific places where individuals or groups such as terrorists, members of organizations advocating violence, and organized crime figures are known to be or frequent."[citation needed]

In 2011, NPR reported some of the people associated with this group were imprisoned in a Communication Management Unit, a section within a federal prison that restricts and monitors all external communications.[20]

Appeals

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A billboard for the Cuban Five in Santa Clara. The number "5" with a star and a Cuban flag, shown in the picture, is used as a logo for the cause of the Five.
Sign supporting the "Cuban Five" in Varadero, Cuba

After the arrests, motions by the defense for a change of venue, on the basis that Miami was a venue too associated with exile Cubans, were denied, despite the fact that the trial began just five months after the heated Elian Gonzalez affair.[21] The jury did not include any Cuban-Americans but 16 of the 160 members of the jury pool "knew the victims of the shootdown or knew trial witnesses who had flown with them."[22] On August 9, 2005, a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in Atlanta unanimously overturned the convictions and sentences of the Cuban Five and ordered a new trial outside Miami, saying that the Cuban exile community and the trial publicity made the trial unfavorable and prejudicial to the defendants.[22] This was the first time a Federal Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a trial court's finding with respect to venue.[23] However, on October 31, 2005 the Atlanta court agreed to a U.S. government request to review the decision, and in August 2006 the ruling for a new trial was reversed by a 10–2 vote of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeal sitting en banc. Charles R. Wilson wrote the opinion of the majority.

On June 4, 2008, a three-judge panel of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the convictions of the "Five" but vacated and remanded for resentencing in district court the sentences of Guerrero, Labañino, and Fernando González. The court affirmed the sentences of Gerardo Hernandez and Rene Gonzalez.[3][15] The court held that the sentencing judge had made six serious errors and remanded the case back to the same court. The decision was drawn up by William Pryor.[24] In January 2009, the Five appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.[25] Twelve amicus curiae briefs were filed.[26]

In May 2009, in response to the request for Supreme Court of the United States review of the panel decision by Judge Pryor, Solicitor General Elena Kagan, on behalf of President Barack Obama, filed a brief asking that the petition for a writ of certiorari be denied.[27] On June 15, 2009, the Supreme Court denied review.[7]

On October 13, 2009, Antonio Guerrero's sentence was reduced to 21 years and 10 months.[28] On December 8, 2009, Ramón Labañino and Fernando González's sentences were reduced to 30 years and to 17 years and 9 months, respectively.[29]

Plans for appeal

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Cuban Five defense lawyer Leonard Weinglass died on March 23, 2011. Following his death, civil rights lawyer Martin Garbus took over the case.[30] On June 13, 2012, Garbus held a press conference where he revealed a new strategy based upon proof that the United States government had paid numerous reporters and press outlets to create media pressure on the jurors to convict.[31]

International criticism of the convictions, and U.S. response

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Holding a trial for five Cuban intelligence agents in Miami is about as fair as a trial for an Israeli intelligence agent in Tehran. You'd need a lot more than a good lawyer to be taken seriously.

—Robert Pastor, President Jimmy Carter's national security adviser for Latin America[32]

Following their conviction, there was an international campaign for the case to be appealed. In the United States, the campaign was most conspicuously represented by the National Committee to Free the Cuban Five[33][34] which was represented in twenty U.S. cities and over thirty countries.

On May 27, 2005, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights adopted a report by its Working Group on Arbitrary Detention stating its opinions on the facts and circumstances of the case and calling upon the U.S. government to remedy the situation.[35] Among the report's criticisms of the trial and sentences, section 29 stated:

29. The Working Group notes that it arises from the facts and circumstances in which the trial took place and from the nature of the charges and the harsh sentences handed down to the accused that the trial did not take place in the climate of objectivity and impartiality that is required in order to conform to the standards of a fair trial as defined in article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which the United States of America is a party.

Amnesty International criticized the U.S. treatment of the Cuban Five as "unnecessarily punitive and contrary both to standards for the humane treatment of prisoners and to states' obligation to protect family life", as the wives of René Gonzáles and Gerardo Hernández were denied visas to visit their imprisoned husbands.[36]

The U.S. Government has responded to these claims,[37] stating that the prisoners have received over a hundred visits from family members granted visas. The government contends that the wives of González and Hernández are members of the Cuban Intelligence Directorate, and thus pose a risk to the national security of the United States:

Consistent with the right of the United States to protect itself from covert spies, the U.S. government has not granted visas to the wives of two prisoners. Evidence presented at their husbands' trial revealed that one of these women was a member of the Wasp Network who was deported for engaging in activity related to espionage and is ineligible to return to the United States. The other was a candidate for training as a Directorate of Intelligence U.S.-based spy when U.S. authorities broke up the network.

Sign on a street in Varadero, Cuba

Eight international Nobel Prize winners filed an amicus brief with the National Committee to Free the Cuban Five in 2009.[38][39]

In the United Kingdom, among other actions, 110 Members of Parliament wrote an open letter to the U.S. Attorney General in support of the Five.[40][41][42]

In April 2009, a Brazilian human rights group, Torture Never Again, awarded the Five its Chico Mendes Medal, alleging that their rights had been violated, declaring that "their mail is censored and their visiting rights are very restricted."[43]

In 2011, Brazilian writer Fernando Morais wrote The Last Soldiers of the Cold War, about the Cuban Five. The book is based on over 40 interviews and documents of the governments of United States and Cuba. Martin Garbus, the attorney representing the Cuban Five, has released a book about the case titled "North of Havana, The Untold Story of Dirty Politics, Secret Diplomacy, and the Trial of the Cuban Five".[44]

Release

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René González was put on parole for three years starting 2011. He was allowed to return to Cuba for his father's funeral on April 22, 2013, with the understanding that he would return to Florida to fulfill his three years of probation, but on May 3 a federal judge ruled that he could remain in Cuba provided that he renounce his United States citizenship.[10]

In May 2012, it was reported that the U.S. had declined an exchange of prisoners proposed by the Cuban government, that would have seen the Cuban Five returned to Cuba in exchange for USAID contractor Alan Gross, imprisoned in Cuba for illegally distributing communications equipment.[45] American officials did not consider Gross, whom they viewed as unjustly detained for a comparatively minor offense, equivalent to spies, one of whom had been convicted of murder.[46]

Fernando González was released on February 27, 2014.[47] He returned to Cuba and campaigned for the release of the remaining three.

As secret negotiations toward an exchange of prisoners proceeded, U.S. Senator Patrick J. Leahy, while on a trip to visit Gross in prison, met with Adriana Pérez O'Connor, whose husband Hernández was in prison for life. She asked him to arrange a way for her to become pregnant by her husband. Leahy made her case to U.S. officials, who arranged for Hernández to provide his sperm for artificial insemination. When Pérez became pregnant, officials negotiating the prisoner exchange worried that her pregnancy would make their dealings public before they were ready to announce a deal. Leahy reported that prison conditions for Gross improved after he had assisted Pérez and Hernández.[46]

The prisoner exchange took place in December 2014 as part of a broader agreement to move toward the normalization of Cuba–United States relations.[48] In addition to the three remaining Cubans who were returned to Cuba, Rolando Sarraff Trujillo, a Cuban who had worked as an agent for American intelligence until his arrest in November 1995 was returned to the United States. Sarraff was described as a key figure in Cuban intelligence, a cryptologist who provided the Central Intelligence Agency with information that helped the CIA arrest Cuban spies long after Sarraff's arrest and imprisonment.[49][50] The exchange of prisoners coincided with Cuba's release of American contractor Alan Phillip Gross, jailed in Cuba since December 2009, although both governments characterized the release of Gross as unrelated to the prisoner exchange.[13]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Miami Five wives again denied visas to visit their husbands". Amnesty International. March 26, 2009. Archived from the original on December 5, 2011. Retrieved May 1, 2012.
  2. ^ a b c d e "The agents who were too tired to spy". The Guardian. March 6, 2001.
  3. ^ a b c d June 4, 2008, United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, D. C. Docket No. 98-00721-CR-JAL. Archived February 21, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ a b c "Havana Complains About Conditions for Cuban Spy in U.S. Jail". International Herald Tribune. August 4, 2010. Archived from the original on December 11, 2020. Retrieved August 4, 2010.
  5. ^ Campbell, Duncan (January 9, 2008). "'Society has become more punitive'". The Guardian.
  6. ^ Denny, Pat (November 17, 1993). "United States: Cuban Five ruling a "travesty of justice"". Green Left Online. No. 680. Archived from the original on December 4, 2007.
  7. ^ a b "Top court won't review case of five Cuban spies". Reuters. June 15, 2009. Archived from the original on September 12, 2020. Retrieved June 30, 2017.
  8. ^ Roig-Franzia, Manuel (June 3, 2006). "Cubans Jailed in US as Spies Are Hailed at Home as Heroes". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on July 14, 2017. Retrieved August 26, 2017.
  9. ^ "Cuban spy free from Florida jail but must stay in U.S". Reuters. October 7, 2011. Archived from the original on May 18, 2021. Retrieved July 5, 2021.
  10. ^ a b Cave, Damien (May 3, 2013). "Judge Says Cuban Who Spied on U.S. Can Stay in Cuba". The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 5, 2013. Retrieved May 4, 2013.
  11. ^ "U.S. News - National News". ABC News. Archived from the original on February 27, 2014.
  12. ^ "Journey to Reconciliation Visited Worlds of Presidents, Popes and Spies" Archived September 29, 2023, at the Wayback Machine, The New York Times, December 17, 2014
  13. ^ a b Labott, Elise (December 17, 2014). "Cuba releases American Alan Gross, paves way for historic easing of American sanctions". CNN. Archived from the original on December 20, 2014. Retrieved August 27, 2022.
  14. ^ "Informe de Cuba al Comité Antiterrorismo del Consejo de Seguridad en virtud de la Resolución 1373(2001)". Cuban Ministry of Foreign Relations (in Spanish). 2001. Archived from the original on June 23, 2007.
  15. ^ a b "U.S. court upholds conviction of Cuban spies". Reuters. June 4, 2008. Archived from the original on September 12, 2020. Retrieved June 30, 2017.
  16. ^ a b c "Couple accused of reporting to two Cuban spies". The Miami Herald. September 2, 2001. Archived from the original on September 27, 2007.
  17. ^ Nieves, Gail Epstein (September 14, 2001). "Lawyer: Accused spy to plead guilty". The Miami Herald. Archived from the original on October 13, 2006. Retrieved April 21, 2007.
  18. ^ Sokol, Brett (February 8, 2001). "Espionage Is in the Air". Miami New Times. Archived from the original on February 21, 2001.
  19. ^ "FBI probes Cuban's possible links to 1997 Havana bombing: report". RawStory. AFP. May 3, 2007. [dead link]
  20. ^ Williams, Margot; Hurt, Alyson (March 3, 2011). "DATA & Graphics: Population of The Communications Management Units". NPR. Archived from the original on March 7, 2011. Retrieved March 4, 2011.
  21. ^ Richey, Warren (June 15, 2009). "Convicted 'Cuban Five' spies lose bid for new trial". The Christian Science Monitor. Archived from the original on October 26, 2012. Retrieved August 27, 2022.
  22. ^ a b Sutton, Jane (August 9, 2005). "U.S. court reverses Cubans' spying convictions". Reuters. Archived from the original on September 29, 2007. Retrieved August 27, 2022.
  23. ^ Webb-Pullman, Julie (August 24, 2005). "United States: Cuban Five convictions reversed in landmark decision". Green Left Online. No. 639. Archived from the original on August 3, 2012. Retrieved August 27, 2022.
  24. ^ Weinglass, Leonard (September 23, 2008). "Chronicle of an injustice: Summary of the case of the Cuban Five". Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal. Archived from the original on December 11, 2008. Retrieved August 27, 2022.
  25. ^ Robinson, Circles (January 31, 2009). "Cuban 5 Case at US Supreme Court". Havana Times (Op-ed). Archived from the original on August 27, 2022. Retrieved August 27, 2022.
  26. ^ "US Embassy Refuses Letter From MPs. Crs. Unionists" (Press release). NZ Committee to Free the Cuban Five. April 6, 2009. Archived from the original on May 10, 2010. Retrieved August 27, 2022 – via Scoop.
  27. ^ Office of the Solicitor General (May 2009). Brief for the United States in Opposition (Report). Supreme Court of the United States. 08-987. Archived from the original on August 27, 2022. Retrieved August 27, 2022, in Campa et al. v. U.S., 459 F.3d 1121 (11th Cir. 2006)..
  28. ^ Brown, Tom (October 13, 2009). "U.S. jail term reduced to about 22 years". Reuters. Archived from the original on September 12, 2020. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
  29. ^ "Judge reduces sentences of two Cuban spies". Reuters. December 8, 2009. Archived from the original on February 24, 2016. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
  30. ^ Garbus, Martin (November 13, 2012). The Cuban Five: Justice or Injustice? (Speech). Free the Cuban Five forum at the Howard University School of Law. National Committee to Free the Cuban Five. Retrieved February 11, 2013 – via YouTube.
  31. ^ "Martin Garbus speaks on new motion for the Five" (Press release). National Committee To Free The Cuban Five. June 13, 2012. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved February 11, 2013 – via July 26th Coalition.
  32. ^ Burk, Martha (May 25, 2011) [April 7, 2010]. "Obama and Castro: Sparring Over Human Rights". The Huffington Post Blog. Archived from the original on June 7, 2011. Retrieved August 27, 2022.
  33. ^ Langeland, Terje (April 10, 2003). "Stinging Back: Antonio Guerrero claims he fought terrorism. John Ashcroft says he's a dangerous spy". Colorado Springs Independent. Archived from the original on March 19, 2012.
  34. ^ Putnam, Walter (June 4, 2008). "Court rules on sentences of 'Cuban 5'". Fox News. Associated Press. Archived from the original on October 23, 2012.
  35. ^ Opinions adopted by the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, Opinion No. 19/2005, pp. 60–65. Archived September 26, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  36. ^ Amnesty International, January 26, 2006, "Five Cuban Prisoners – Antiterroristas.cu – Cuba vs Terrorism". Archived from the original on June 9, 2007. Retrieved June 5, 2006.
  37. ^ "The "Cuban Five"". IIP Digital. United States Department of State. July 12, 2007. Retrieved November 20, 2013.
  38. ^ Mears, Bill (January 30, 2009). "'Cuban Five' file appeal with Supreme Court". CNN. Washington, D.C. Archived from the original on May 10, 2010. Retrieved October 14, 2009.
  39. ^ Brief of amici curiae Jose Ramos-Horta, Wole Soyinka, Adolfo Perez Esquivel, Adine Gordimer, Rigoberta Menchu, Jose Saramago, Zhores Alferov, Dario Fo, Gunter Grass, and Mairead Corrigan Maguire in support of the petition for writ of certiorari (PDF) (Amicus brief). Supreme Court of the United States. March 5, 2009. 08-987. Archived (PDF) from the original on May 10, 2010. Retrieved October 14, 2009 – via National Committee to Free the Cuban Five, in Campa et al. v. U.S., 459 F.3d 1121 (11th Cir. 2006)..
  40. ^ Hallmark, Stephen (December 8, 2007). "Leonard Weinglass Interview". Znet. Archived from the original on February 9, 2008.
  41. ^ "Hilton Hotels and discrimination against Cuban Nationals". Cuba Solidarity Campaign (Briefing Paper). March 2007. Archived from the original on August 27, 2022. Retrieved August 27, 2022.
  42. ^ "Nobel prize winner and 110 British demand the Cuban Five's liberation". Antiterroristas.cu. February 9, 2006. Archived from the original on June 11, 2008 – via Cuban Ministry of Foreign Relations.
  43. ^ Associated Press, April 5, 2009, 'Cuban Five' Receive Brazilian Human Rights Medal.[dead link]
  44. ^ Garbus, Martin (2019). North of Havana: The Untold Story of Dirty Politics, Secret Diplomacy, and the Trial of the Cuban Five. The New Press. ISBN 978-1620974469.
  45. ^ Robinson, Circles (May 11, 2012). "US Says NO to Alan Gross-Cuban 5 Swap". Havana Times. Archived from the original on January 4, 2015. Retrieved February 18, 2016.
  46. ^ a b Davis, Julie Hirschfield; Baker, Peter (August 13, 2015). "A Secretive Path to Raising U.S. Flag in Cuba". The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 20, 2016. Retrieved February 17, 2016.
  47. ^ "Jailed Cuban spy Fernando Gonzalez freed from US prison". BBC. February 27, 2014. Archived from the original on March 12, 2016. Retrieved February 18, 2016.
  48. ^ "Cuba libera a Alan Gross y EE UU a los 3 espías" (in Spanish). CubaNet. December 17, 2014.
  49. ^ Mazzetti, Mark; Schmidt, Michael S.; Robles, Frances (December 18, 2014). "Crucial Spy in Cuba Paid a Heavy Cold War Price". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 18, 2014. Retrieved December 19, 2014.
  50. ^ Goldman, Adam (December 18, 2014). "U.S. spy freed by Cuba was longtime asset". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved February 18, 2016.

Further reading

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