Tag Archives: Cuban Five

Cuban Revolution, The Cuban Five

FREE THE CUBAN FIVE Columbia University 2013

Dear Friends of Cuba and Supporters of the Cuban Five

Sisters and Brothers,

The July 26 coalition want to apologize to all that were not let into the Cuban Five event on Friday March 29th. We don’t blame each and everyone one of you for being disappointed and it is impossible that anyone would be more disappointed than the entire July 26 coalition group. We were originally informed that, based on Columbia’s very restrictive and rigid bureaucratic rules and procedures, which are especially enforced for “controversial” “political” (read left-wing) events organized by student groups like the one’s that initiated this event, that we would be allowed 200-250 non-Columbia-Barnard students to attend and that a formal list of attendees would have to be provided 72 hours before the event. This was after the original flyer and card had been printed without indicating that a formal RSVP was required. We immediately sent out to all the groups and individuals and listserves of friends and supporters of the Cuban Five invitations formally asking for an RSVP, because this was required by University rules. RSVPs started coming in and were confirmed and put on a master list. Three days before the event the Columbia cops, called “Public Safety,” which would not do so acting on their own, argued at an “Events Review Board’ meeting with the students that the students were “in breach” of Columbia rules because of outside “advertising” for the event, citing ridiculous “safety” considerations and threats of “disruption.” They threatened that they could shut it down altogether, but were, nice guys that they are, instead restricting the non-student participation to “15 or 20.”

The students immediately went on a big campaign, enlisting faculty and other student support, and succeeded on Thursday to get the original numbers restored. We were given a 7:00 PM Thursday deadline to submit a “final” list. We worked frantically to supplement the existing list and get people to submit their names. The process had been on hold while the meeting was under direct attack and we were discussing other options with the students. Unfortunately, a good number of names were submitted after 7:00 PM. There were also at least 40 names that were submitted right before 7 which the Administration claimed they didn’t get, even though we showed them the timeline on one of our comrade’s Iphone documenting the fact. But they were very rigid at the door. Many more people RSVPs on Thursday night and Friday all day past the “deadline.” Our phone and emails were ringing and pinging off the wall; we emailed and spoke on the phone to as many people as humanly possible giving the objective facts, which were that it was very unlikely that they would get in and that the students and we would fight to get everyone in that we could and the choice of whether to risk it by coming was a decision individuals would have to make. We did manage to get in quite a few but, many were turned away despite our and the students efforts. In addition to the 100 or so turned away, many of whom had been confirmed at the last minute before the arbitrary deadline (the injustice of which was further underlined by the last-minute attempt to minimize the event) there were many, many more who wanted to come and had submitted their names, until they heard of the bureaucratic labyrinth they faced and stayed home.

Nevertheless, 200 people or more were finally in attendance, and by all accounts it was an excellent program and event. But we are very certain it would have been perhaps the largest event ever in the US for the Cuban Five. The entire event was videoed and we will post it on our website july26coalition.org; we will send an email once the video has been posted on the site.

Again we are very upset and aggravated by the inconvenience and really insulting treatment given to people honestly and sincerely attempting to attend a free-speech forum. We hope with this minor problem that occurred on Friday, March 29th will not affect our movement to continue to DEMAND the release of the CUBAN FIVE.

Sincerely and in solidarity,
July 26 Coalition

Cuban Revolution, The Cuban Five

What is the U.S. Government Afraid of ?

hernandez

In 2001 Gerardo Hernandez was condemned to two life sentences, one of them for conspiracy to commit murder for the shooting down of two planes of Brothers to the Rescue. Gerardo had nothing to do with the shooting down of these planes on February 24, 1996 and the U.S. Government could present no evidence to the contrary. That was a decision of the Cuban Government in defense of its sovereignty after 26 violations of Cuba’s airspace by this group.

Despite the fact that Gerardo had nothing to do with this incident, the proof of the place where the planes fell holds the key information to this unfortunate episode caused by Brothers to the Rescue. The evidence of NASA satellite images from that day could exonerate Gerardo. Well within his rights, he has requested the U.S. government to present evidence for which he was condemned by that false charge. To this day the U.S. has refused to do so.

Why is it that the U.S. government continues to hide such crucial evidence? It alleges that the aircraft fell in international waters. Cuba has reiterated with sufficient evidence before international organizations that the aircraft fell in waters within Cuban jurisdiction.

If the US government had the basis to indict Gerardo, why is it hiding the satellite images after 17 years? What is the United State governments afraid of?

Satellite Images Demand Goes to Reluctant Circuit

Friday, January 11, 2013

By MATT REYNOLDS

PASADENA, Calif. (CN) – There is no reason for the U.S. government to shield the existence of satellite images showing the Cuban government shoot down airplanes, a group told the 9th Circuit.

In 2010, the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law filed a federal complaint under the Freedom of Information Act against NASA and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA). The group wants access to any satellite pictures taken on Feb. 24, 1996, of an area near the north coast of Cuba, where Cuban MiGs shot down two aircraft flown by Cuban exiles in the group Brothers to the Rescue, killing four U.S. citizens. The center believes that such information is critical to a Habeas Corpus petition for Gerardo Hernandez, who is serving life in prison based on charges that he fed Cuba the information that led to the 1996 shooting.

Hernandez belongs to a group of Cuban men known as the Cuban Five, detained for spying on Brothers to the Rescue on American soil. After Hernandez was found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder, an appeals court briefly overturned the convictions against him and his compatriots. The full 11th Circuit eventually reinstated the convictions, and the U.S. Supreme Court refused to grant certiorari.

The Center for Human Rights said confirmation of the satellite images would help it determine where the shoot-down occurred to undermine Hernandez’s conviction. But the NGA refused even to confirm or deny the existence of the records or images that the group seeks. Refusing to acknowledge the existence of an item requested under FOIA is known as a Glomar response, named after the Hughes Glomar Explorer, a ship used in a classified CIA project to raise a sunken Soviet submarine from the Pacific Ocean. Responding to the center’s lawsuit, NGA director Barry Barlow explained the reasoning behind the agency’s decision in a declaration to the court.

U. S. District Judge Margaret Morrow in Los Angeles found this explanation credible and granted the government summary judgment in 2011.

“The court holds that the NGA has met its burden of showing that it acted permissibly in determining that acknowledging the existence or nonexistence of records responsive to plaintiffs’ request might disclose sources or methods of foreign intelligence and harm national security,” Morrow wrote. Represented by its executive director, Peter Schey, the Center for Human Rights & Constitutional Law urged the 9th Circuit on Wednesday to revive the case. Schey said this case represents the “very first time” an intelligence agency had taken the position that it would apply a Glomar response to every Freedom of Information Act request. Confirming the existence of the images would only confirm what the world already knows: that America gathers foreign intelligence, he argued. Skeptical, Judge Margaret McKeown told Schey: “That hardly trumps the view that there’s a significant national security interest.” Schey insisted that Barlow’s declaration was inadequate, calling it a “cookie cutter” affidavit that the agency could wield to deny all future requests for satellite images under the Freedom of Information Act.

Judge Milan Smith seemed convinced by Barlow’s declaration. He noted that the plaintiffs had a mountain to climb because of lack of case law. Matters of national security are an “area of expertise” for the government, not the courts, he added. In response, Schey questioned NGA’s authority to deny the request at all. He argued that the director of national intelligence, not the NGA, must protect intelligence sources. But Justice Department attorney Thomas Byron said the agency was “authorized” to use a Glomar response. He also disputed the notion that all future requests of a similar nature would be denied using the same exemption.

Chief Judge Alex Kozinski asked Bryon why it would threaten national security to confirm the existence of the images. “I’m not sure how saying that we have a picture at a particular time and place reveals anything at all,” the chief said.
Bryon stuck to the line that America’s enemies might gather information on U.S. intelligence-gathering capabilities and limitations, even if the agency did no more than confirm or deny the existence of the images. He said foreign spies could track where the satellites operate, and glean intelligence from the resolution of the image, and the angle at which a picture was taken. Kozinski pressed for an answer as to whether the agency would use an exemption to deny all Freedom of Information Act requests for images.
After some back and forth, Bryon conceded that, when it came to images taken at a certain time and place, the exemption could apply. The attorney also said that the agency was happy to provide the court with more detail in camera, but argued that such an examination should be a “last resort.”
“I’m not asking to see the pictures,” Kozinski said to chuckles from the courtroom. “I have enough trouble with the fact that you can see my house on Google maps. If you look close enough, you might see me sunbathing on the patio.”
The Cuban Five

FREE THE CUBAN 5 AND THE PUERTO RICAN POLITICAL PRISONERS

Cuba_PR

Saturday January 5, 2013

@ 6pm (Reception) 7pm (Cultural program) Casa de las Americas
182 E. 111th St.
(Btwn. Lexington Ave. and 3rd Ave.)

Dos Alas 2013 A cultural/political evening of celebration and solidarity presented by
The ProLibertad Freedom Campaign and Casa de las Americas! Dedicated to the
FREEDOM OF THE CUBAN 5 AND THE PUERTO RICAN POLITICAL PRISONERS!

Join us as we celebrate the 54th anniversary of the Cuban revolution anniversary and the 70th Birthday of Puerto Rican Political Prisoner Oscar Lopez Rivera!

• Keynote address by the new Cuban Ambassador to the United Nations
• Boleros: Abram Alberto
• Poetry: Bobby Gonzalez and Rafael Landron

Cuban Revolution, The Cuban Five

Save the Dates: Second “5 Days of Actions for the Cuban 5″ in Washington DC May 31-June 5, 2013

International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban 5

In the Final Declaration of the “8th Colloquium of Holguin for the freedom of the Cuban Five and against terrorism” held from November 28th to December 1st, more than 300 delegates from all over the world agreed to work on a number of actions over the coming year.

In the third point of the declaration delegates at the Colloquium approved to “support a second series of actions in Washington DC “5 days for the Cuban 5″ and that during these days, committees from all over the world will hold demonstrations in front of U.S. embassies. Also people from other countries will adapt the poster “Obama Give me Five” and post them all over their cities during these 5 days, among other activities”.

The International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuba 5 has set the dates for the actions in Washington DC from May 31st to June 5th.

Among the various activities that will take place during these days, on Saturday June 1st there will be a rally held in front of the White House to demand that Obama immediately free the Cuban 5. Also the committee is planning to organize two days of lobby in Capitol Hill as well as public meetings.

We make an appeal to the entire solidarity movement with Cuba and the Five in the U.S. and all over the world to join and support these days of actions in Washington DC.

TOGETHER WE CAN DO IT!!!