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CUBA-US: Frosty
Relations No Bar to Communication
By Patricia Grogg
HAVANA (IPS) - Cuba and the United States are
poised to resume talks on migration issues any time
now, although the five Cuban agents imprisoned in
the U.S. remain "a formidable obstacle" to
normalising bilateral relations, according to Cuban
parliament president Ricardo Alarcón.
Their continued detention proves there is still
"official U.S. complicity with terrorism against
Cuba," he said.
"There can be no normal relations between two
countries if one is harbouring and supporting
terrorist activities, on its own territory, against
the other," he added.
In an interview with IPS, Alarcón said U.S.
President Barack Obama, whom he regards as "an
honest person," could solve the case in a number of
ways. "He could reduce their sentences or pardon
them," he said.
"This would greatly benefit the Obama administration
and send a very favourable message to Latin America,
because the message so far has been a continuation
of the policies of his predecessor, (former U.S.
president) George W. Bush (2001-2009), who was
unpopular in the region," said Alarcón.
The head of the Cuban parliament is an expert
negotiator with the United States, and the most
visible government leader in the campaign to free
Antonio Guerrero, Fernando González, Gerardo
Hernández, Ramón Labañino and René González, who
were convicted of spying and are serving long
sentences in different U.S. prisons.
On Jun. 15 the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an
appeal on behalf of the Cuban Five, after the
Atlanta appeals court upheld the sentences of
Hernández, who received two life sentences plus 15
years, and René González, sentenced to 15 years in
prison.
The court in Atlanta also asked the federal court in
Miami to review the sentences of Labañino, given
life plus 18 years, Fernando González, given 19
years, and to Guerrero, sentenced to life plus 10
years. The three are to appear in court for
re-sentencing by Judge Joan Lenard – the same judge
who handed down their original penalties in 2001
after a seven-month trial.
In the appeal, presented in January this year,
counsel for the Cuban Five – as they are widely
known - asked the Supreme Court to pay particular
attention to the life sentence handed down to
Hernández, because it "illustrates the manifest
injustice" of the trial. Hernández had no
supervisory responsibility whatsoever in the small
network of Cuban intelligence agents that monitored
and infiltrated Cuban exile groups in Miami, they
said.
Alarcón insisted that the ruling by the apex court
does not affect President Obama's constitutional
power to withdraw charges against the accused
before, during or after a trial. "In the case of the
Cuban Five he has a moral obligation to do so," he
argued, referring to other instances in which
presidents have intervened.
For example, he mentioned that the U.S. Justice
Department recently dropped charges against Steve
Rosen and Keith Weissman, lobbyists for the American
Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) who were
accused of passing defence secrets to an Israeli
embassy diplomat.
In contrast, the Atlanta appeals court unanimously
found that the sentences of three of the five Cuban
prisoners (Hernández, Labañino and Guerrero) were
not lawful, because they had neither sought nor
passed on any military secrets, nor had they
endangered U.S. national security.
The sentences for this charge were therefore
declared null and void, except in the case of
Hernández who was found guilty of conspiracy to
commit murder, although the prosecution itself asked
to withdraw this accusation in 2001 for lack of
evidence.
That request was denied and the five were convicted
on all charges. In Alarcon's view, President Obama
should withdraw the baseless charge against
Hernández, he said.
Although all possible legal channels will be
pursued, Alarcón believes it has been "a political
trial, from beginning to end," motivated by the U.S.
government's desire to help anti-Cuban terrorist
groups in Miami. It all began in the summer of 1998,
when a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
delegation from the U.S. visited Cuba, he said.
Alarcón, also a member of the Politburo of Cuba’s
Communist Party, said the visitors were sent by then
U.S. president Bill Clinton (1993-2001) to gather
information about the activities of these groups,
which are also a threat to U.S. citizens,
"purportedly to take preventive action against
them."
But the information they were given was transferred
to the FBI office in Miami, penetrated to the core
by the terrorist groups, which are interlinked.
"They saw there was a possibility the two
governments would come to an agreement, so they
decided to strike a blow to keep that from
happening," Alarcón said.
That was when the Cuban agents were arrested in
southern Florida in September 1998. Now the groups'
leaders in Miami are talking openly about their
plans to attack Latin American leaders, Alarcón
warned.
"They feel they have support, and it's not just
terrorism against Cuba they're planning. I'm not
saying this was President Obama's intention, but it
is the consequence" of what has gone before, said
Alarcón. In his view, if Washington wants better
relations with Latin America, it must first mend its
bridges with Havana. "Everyone has been saying
that," he said.
"Besides, Obama won in Florida and in Miami itself
(in the November 2008 elections) without the support
of the Cuban groups engaged in politics. He owes
those people nothing. A principled policy against
anti-Cuban terrorism would earn him support and
recognition throughout Latin America, and also in
the United States," he said.
The Cuban government and defence counsel for the
Five say their mission was to monitor anti-Castro
terrorist groups. According to official sources,
some 681 "proved and documented" acts of terrorism
and aggression on the island have caused the deaths
of 3,478 men, women and children and lifelong
disability for 2,099 people.
Alarcón confirmed that the six-monthly bilateral
talks to review progress on the 1994 and 1995
migration agreements, interrupted by Bush in January
2004, are to be resumed. The forthcoming round will
be held in the United States, which as the host
country will set the start date.
According to Alarcón, the migration talks could be a
framework for the two countries to come closer on
further cooperation in areas like combating
terrorism, drug trafficking and human trafficking.
Cuba proposed these as possible areas for bilateral
discussions in 2001, but to no avail.
"Just because two countries have very bad relations
doesn't mean that they can't communicate. At the
naval base in Guantánamo Bay (in eastern Cuba), the
place that most clearly symbolises confrontation,
there is regular contact, in the interests of both
military establishments," he said.
In his view, such contacts are "an opportunity to
talk to the other side, to find out what they are
thinking.
"Nearly always, ever since the days of (former U.S.
president) John Kennedy (1961-1963), there have been
secret private contacts between both sides. The one
who cut off all communication was Bush."
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