Father Geoffrey Bottoms is the coordinator of the British "Free the Five" campaign and is currently in Havana to give his impressions of the appeal hearing for the five Cuban political prisoners in the United States, which took place on March 10th in Miami. During his visit Bernie Dwyer interviewed him for Radio Havana Cuba. During the interview Fr. Bottoms remarked that although the appeal hearing can be viewed as a window of opportunity, he would urge restraint, as there is still a long way to go in reaching a happy ending to the case of the five Cubans.
[Bernie Dwyer] Welcome to Havana again, Fr. Bottoms. You are here on a special visit. What exactly brings you here this time?
[Geoffrey Bottoms] I've come here following my presence at the appeal hearing of the Cuban Five on the 10th of march in Miami and I have had meetings with the families of the five men, with the Cuban Institute for Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and I also have a meeting with Ricardo Alarcón, President of the Cuban parliament to give him an account of the appeal from my point of view.
[BD] it really seems as if we have made a breakthrough with the media on the subject of the five Cuban political prisoners. Not so long ago, there was little or nothing, now we can hardly keep up with all the publicity and news stories. Even your local paper, the Gazette, has done a story on your involvement with the free the five campaign. How did they find out about your work?
[GB] This came about because I wrote a letter to my local newspaper about the five and the appeal and my involvement in the campaign hoping it would be published on the 10th of March when I was in Miami. When I returned to England, the letter hadn't been published but I received a telephone call from the journalist of the local newspaper, the Blackpool Evening Gazette, who said: "My editor doesn't want to publish your letter; he wants to do an article on you instead. Can I have an interview?"
So I gave an interview. I also emailed her some background information to the case because it is very complex. The next thing I knew is that they sent a photographer around and there was a full-page article in full color on the case of the five and my involvement in that campaign to win their release. This is interesting because, even if it's only in a small way, we have broken the media silence back in England and sometimes local stories feed into the national press and who knows, we may even find that the case of the five is brought to the attention of the British public eventually.
[BD] Do you see the main role of the campaign in England as one of bringing the case to the attention of the British public?
[GB] It is indeed because we want to build on the New York Times advertisement and also on the Fox television interview which broke the media silence in the United States and I know that there are now plans to place more advertisements in newspapers throughout the United States and we hope that we will be able to take advantage of that in Britain and in Europe and get the truth out to the people on the other side of the Atlantic as well.
[BD] There has been a lot of analysis of the appeal hearing on the 10th of March in Miami and also of the attitudes of the judges. After the initial euphoria I think we are now finding that the best approach is that of cautious optimism. Would you go along with that?
[GB] I would certainly use that expression. I think it is a very good one to describe the situation we are now in because I do think that a window of opportunity is open and the scales of justice have tilted slightly in favor of the five. We are in a different situation to before the appeal hearing but I would caution a restraint because I think that we still have a long way to go. I still think we are dealing in matters of years rather than weeks and months. Anything can happen in this election year in the United States and no matter what we felt at this appeal hearing, we do know that this is a political trial and that no matter what the judges decide, the administration could intervene and the five might not get the justice they were hoping for.
But on the other hand, the eyes of the world are now focused on this case and I think that the United States might be sensitive towards how the world perceives their justice system. And I do believe that their justice system does have the capacity to deliver justice for these five. I hope that one way or another; it will be a step closer to bringing the five back home to Cuba.
[BD] What I think is quite extraordinary is, that in spite of the blanket of silence in the media, how widespread the actual campaign is to free the five and how it reflects the huge amount of solidarity that exists for the Cuban Revolution around the world. How would you explain that?
[GB] I think Cuba is receiving this international solidarity in return for the solidarity that Cuba has shown the rest of the world: in helping to bring down apartheid in South Africa, sending out medical brigades, educating people from the rest of the developing world here. They have the Latin American Medical School here. There are so many things that Cuba does in solidarity with the rest of the world. And now, it's the world's turn to be in solidarity with Cuba. There are nearly 250 Free the Five committees around the world campaigning vigorously on behalf of the five and their families.
We must realize that while we are fighting for the freedom of the five, we are also fighting to win visiting rights for Olga and Adriana, the wives of René and Gerardo, who have been refused visas to enter the US to visit their husband whom they haven't seen for, in the case of Olga, three years and five years in Adriana's case. This is in breach of their human rights and I think that we must work for their cause and also for the cause of the Cuban consular officials who are restricted to four visits a year instead of twelve and who are not allowed to accompany the families on their visits. I think all this is part and parcel of the campaign to win and justice and freedom for our brothers in US prisons.
[BD] As well as the obvious miscarriage of justice suffered by the five Cubans, there are also other injustices involved such as the other case of five year old Ivette who hasn't seen her father, René González, since she was five years old. We mustn't forget that as well as the families having their rights denied, there are also the rights of the prisoners themselves. Surely they have a right to see their family too?
[GB] Yes, the conditions under which they are being held are unlike those of most other prisoners. For instance they have spent time in solidarity confinement for periods ranging from a week to a month to 17 months in Miami. There are restrictions on Ramón Labañino who has to report to a report to a prison guard every two hours during his waking hours for the whole time that he is in prison. When you think of these restrictions that are placed on them, not only are the five themselves being punished unjustly but so are their families. This is a double punishment for the five Cuban heroes.
{BD] Thank you very much, Fr. Bottoms and I know that your own work and solidarity are appreciated by all those concerned here in Cuba and especially by the families of the five Cuban political prisoners.
This interview was aired on Radio Havana Cuba on Tuesday, 23 rd March.
WHO ARE THE MIAMI FIVE?
Five Cubans who were trying to stop Miami based terrorist groups from carrying out violent actions against the people of Cuba. They were found guilty of charges ranging from murder to espionage by a court in Miami which relied on the evidence of convicted terrorists. All are innocent of the charges brought against them. Extensive intimidation of jurists by these same terrorists was a feature of the trial. They are currently appealing their convictions.
CAMPAIGN AIMS
The release and exoneration of the five victims of this obvious miscarriage of justice.
CAMPAIGN DEDICATION
The campaign is dedicated to the memory of the 3,478 Cubans killed and 2,099 maimed at the hands of US-based terrorists groups since 1959.
CONTACTS
Campaign Chairperson: Eleanor Lannigan
POST: 282 Clontarf Road, Clontarf, Dublin 3
PHONE: 833 9766 / 087 - 6182124
E-MAIL: freethefive@eircom.net
WEB SITE: freethefive.org