In the course of delivering his historic speech dramatically altering U.S. Cuba policy, President Barack Obama briefly mentioned that the United States released three Cuban agents. These men are members of the “Cuban Five,” who were imprisoned for gathering information on U.S.-based Cuban exile groups planning terrorist actions against Cuba. Without their release, Cuba would never have freed Alan Gross. And Obama could not have undertaken what ten presidents before him refused to do: normalize relations between the United States and Cuba.
Fighting Terrorism Against Cuba
On June 8, 2001, Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando Gonzalez and Rene Gonzalez were convicted of criminal charges, including conspiracy to commit espionage, and conspiracy to commit murder, in a trial in US district court in Miami. They were sentenced to four life terms and 75 years collectively.
Dalam keputusan setebal 93 halaman, panel tiga hakim di Pengadilan Banding AS Eleventh Circuit dengan suara bulat membatalkan hukuman mereka pada tahun 2005, karena suasana anti-Kuba di Miami, publisitas yang luas, dan kesalahan penuntutan membuat mereka tidak berhak atas persidangan yang adil. . Keputusan panel yang terdiri dari tiga hakim kemudian dibatalkan dengan keputusan seluruh Hakim Sirkuit Kesebelas, yang duduk en banc, sehingga hukuman tetap berlaku.
Namun Lima Orang Kuba dengan tegas menyatakan bahwa mereka tidak bersalah dan terdapat kampanye di seluruh dunia untuk membebaskan mereka. Di Kuba, kelima pria tersebut dianggap sebagai pahlawan nasional.
Since the Cuban revolution in 1959, anti-Cuba terrorist organizations based in Miami have engaged in countless terrorist activities against Cuba and anyone who advocated normalization of relations between the United States and Cuba. Terrorist groups including Alpha 66, Commandos F4, Cuban American National Foundation, Independent and Democratic Cuba, and Brothers to the Rescue, have operated with impunity in the United States – with the knowledge and support of the FBI and CIA.
Salah satu saksi di persidangan bersaksi bahwa Ruben Dario Lopez-Castro, yang terkait dengan beberapa organisasi anti-Castro, dan Orlando Bosch, yang menanam bom di sebuah pesawat Cubana pada tahun 1976, menewaskan 73 orang di dalamnya, “berencana untuk mengirimkan senjata ke Kuba atas upaya pembunuhan terhadap [Fidel] Castro.”
Panel banding yang terdiri dari tiga hakim mencatat, “Bosch memiliki sejarah panjang dalam aksi teroris terhadap Kuba, serta penuntutan dan hukuman atas aktivitas terkait teroris di Amerika Serikat dan di negara lain.” Luis Posada Carriles, orang lain yang bertanggung jawab atas jatuhnya pesawat Kuba, tidak pernah dituntut secara pidana di Amerika Serikat. Dokumen FBI dan CIA yang dideklasifikasi di Arsip Keamanan Nasional menunjukkan bahwa Posada Carriles adalah dalang pemboman pesawat.
Beberapa aksi teroris di Havana didokumentasikan dalam keputusan panel, termasuk ledakan di delapan hotel dan bandara Kuba. Seorang turis Italia tewas dan orang-orang terluka. Posada Carriles telah dua kali secara terbuka mengakui tanggung jawab atas pemboman tersebut.
In the face of this terrorism, the Cuban Five were gathering intelligence in Miami in order to prevent future terrorist acts against Cuba. The men peacefully infiltrated criminal exile groups. The Five turned over the results of their investigation to the FBI. But instead of working with Cuba to fight terrorism, the U.S. government arrested the five men.
Former high-ranking US military and security officials testified that Cuba posed no military threat to the Unites States. Although none of the five men had any classified material in their possession or engaged in any acts to injure the United States, and there was no evidence linking any of them to Cuba’s shooting down of two small aircraft flown by Cuban exiles, the Cuban Five were nonetheless convicted of all charges.
Sebuah jajak pendapat yang dilakukan terhadap warga Kuba-Amerika di Miami mencerminkan ”sikap perang . . . melawan Kuba” yang memiliki “dampak besar terhadap seluruh komunitas Miami-Dade” di mana persidangan tersebut diadakan. Lisandro Perez, Direktur Institut Penelitian Kuba, menyimpulkan, “kemungkinan untuk memilih dua belas warga Miami-Dade County yang bisa bersikap netral dalam kasus yang melibatkan agen resmi pemerintah Kuba adalah nol.”
Panel banding menyimpulkan: “Di sini, persidangan baru diamanatkan oleh badai sempurna yang tercipta ketika gelombang sentimen masyarakat yang menyebar luas, dan publisitas yang luas baik sebelum maupun selama persidangan, digabungkan dengan referensi penuntutan yang tidak tepat.” Meski demikian, kelima pria tersebut tidak pernah mendapat persidangan baru.
Fernando Gonzales dan Rene Gonzales dibebaskan dan kembali ke Kuba setelah menjalani sebagian besar hukuman 15 tahun mereka. Hernandez menjalani dua hukuman seumur hidup. Labanino dan Guerrero masih memiliki sisa hukuman beberapa tahun lagi. Tiga orang terakhir dibebaskan sebagai bagian dari kesepakatan bersejarah tersebut.
Pintunya Sekarang Terbuka
In his speech, Obama mentioned the hypocrisy of the U.S. refusal to recognize Cuba while we enjoy normalized relations with Communist China and Vietnam. He announced several other new measures designed to normalize relations between the United States and Cuba.
But Obama did not lift the US blockade of Cuba, which consists of economic sanctions against Cuba and restrictions on Cuban travel and commerce.
Setiap tahun selama 23 tahun berturut-turut, Majelis Umum PBB meminta Amerika Serikat untuk mencabut blokade yang telah merugikan Kuba lebih dari $1 triliun.
The U.S. trade embargo of Cuba was initiated during the Cold War by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in response to a 1960 memo written by a senior State Department official. The memo proposed “a line of action that makes the greatest inroads in denying money and supplies to Cuba, to decrease monetary and real wages, to bring about hunger, desperation and the overthrow of the [Castro] government.” As Obama stated, that strategy has been a failure.
Selama pemerintahan Clinton, Kongres mengesahkan Undang-Undang Helms-Burton, yang memperketat blokade. Obama berjanji akan mencoba bekerja sama dengan Kongres untuk mencabut undang-undang ini.
Because of the significance of the Cuban exile community in Miami, and the strategic importance of Florida in US elections, no US president has dared to normalize relations with Cuba. As Alice Walker wrote in The Sweet Abyss, “Many of our leaders seem to view Florida’s Cuban conservatives, including the assassins and terrorists among them, as People Who Vote.” Obama has taken a courageous step in shifting US policy toward Cuba.
In their simultaneous speeches today, both Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro thanked Pope Francis for his efforts in helping to engineer the historic deal. CNN reported that bells were ringing in churches all over Havana. This is a wonderful day indeed.
Marjorie Cohn adalah profesor di Thomas Jefferson School of Law, wakil sekretaris jenderal Asosiasi Internasional Pengacara Demokratik, dan mantan presiden National Lawyers Guild (NLG). Pada tahun 2000, ia bergabung dengan 250 anggota NLG dalam demonstrasi jutaan orang di Havana menentang blokade AS terhadap Kuba.
ZNetwork didanai semata-mata melalui kemurahan hati para pembacanya.
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