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By Dixie Edith
Another
December gone by. Seven Decembers in jail for Gerardo,
René, Antonio, and Ramón, four of them since the end of
the embarrassing trial in Miami that taints the history
of jurisprudence in the land of Washington, Jefferson
and Lincoln. On the other hand, in 2005, two events
came to the fore – for those who are too blind to see
the truth that Cuba says over and over: the true nature
of this process is not legal, but political.
Last
August 9th, a three judge panel from the
11th
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta declared, the
warped trial that occurred in Miami between December
2000 and June 2001 null and void. This decision was
written by highly regarded federal judges, none of whom
have any links to the Island.
In a tightly worded 93 page decision, the judges
annulled the guilty verdicts that resulted from that
twisted process: alluding to the numerous unheeded
requests made by the
defense
for a change of venue; the three-judge panel emphasized
the evidence offered concerning the
contaminated political
climate in Miami, hazardous to a fair trial and also
mentioned the harassment of jurors who complained that
local television stations filmed during their
deliberations. The judges also remarked on the
unprofessional
behavior
by the district attorneys.
Yet the
Five
remain behind bars, because the U.S. Attorney
successfully appealed for an en banc hearing. Oral
arguments are scheduled for the week of February 13th,
2006.
Prior to the Three-Judge Panel decision, The Working
Group on Arbitrary Detentions of the United Nations
Human Rights Commission declared on May 27, 2005, that
the detention of the
Five
is illegal and violative of International Law.
The U.N. decision is based on three grounds: 1. René,
Ramón, Fernando, Gerardo and Antonio were kept in
solitary confinement for 17 months, making it difficult
for counsel to communicate with them; 2.
Defense
counsel was prevented from complete access to the
evidence, 3. and Miami’s contaminated climate of bias
and prejudice against the accused made a fair trial
impossible.
The United Nations specialists – men and women of
unsurpassed authority on such matters of justice –
concluded that those three considerations “in unison,
are of such significance that they grant arbitrary
character to the incarceration of these five men.” In
consequence, they requested the government of the
United States take the necessary measures to remedy
this.
The White House ignored the U.N. decision despite the
jurisdiction of UN organizations to oversee
international law, irrespective of the peculiarities of
local legal systems. It is so stipulated in article 14
of the International Agreement on Civil and Political
Rights, paradoxically, the only one of the thirteen
legal instruments of the United Nations Human Rights
subsystem that the US government has ratified in recent
years.
Then, why are they still incarcerated?
The issue goes beyond justice. It grows out of the
ancient battle the United States has waged against the
small Island that dares to express its sovereignty
under its very nose. With the
Five,
Cuba is on trial. Any delay is welcome to condemn
rebellion, to satisfy anti Castro extremists in Miami,
and to justify the presence of this tiny country on the
list of presumed terrorist nations threatening the
“free world.” Meanwhile, the United States government
continues to practice terrorism all over the world.
Prisoners are tortured by American troops in Iraq,
Guantanamo and Afghanistan. Others are “rendered” for
torture abroad in clandestine prisons, beyond the reach
of the Bill of Rights. Cruelty has replaced the
Constitution.
Ethics dictates that the Five be freed. Anything less
will bring discredit on the U.S. government.
However with the years in captivity piling up – we
remember Rene’s words a few Decembers ago at his
sentencing-- “we will continue appealing to the
American people’s desire for truth. We will do so with
the patience, faith and courage that falls upon those
of us whose only crime is our dignity.”
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