British MP writes on Miami Five

Ian Gibson, MP

 

I have been thinking a lot about double standards. About how Guantanamo Bay, Abu Ghraib, and British soldiers beating unarmed Iraqi teenagers have exposed our thinly disguised contempt for justice. And the depths to which we are prepared to plunge when we believe we are in the right or when we pursue our wars on terror.

Such contempt is nowhere more evident than in the treatment of five Cuban men accused of espionage in the United States, or the ‘Miami five’ as they are more commonly known. In 1998, Rene Gonzalez, Fernando Gonzalez, Antonio Guerrero, Ramon Labanino and Gerardo Hernandez were arrested and charged because they were collecting information on the activities of right wing Cuban exile groups who were suspected of carrying out terrorist offences in Cuba.

The Cuba Solidarity Campaign estimates that in the past 40 years Cuba has suffered more than 691 recorded terrorist acts which have resulted in 3,478 deaths and 2,099 injuries to Cuban civilians.

The trial of the men in 2000 was highly biased, and despite lack of evidence and testimony from US military officials that no espionage had taken place, the men were given long sentences ranging from between 15 years to two life sentences. Since 1998, these men have endured periods of solitary confinement and two of them have been denied the right to see their families.

The fact that these men were arrested and charged with spying because they infiltrated US-based groups carrying out terrorist attacks on Cuba exposes the double standards of the US ‘war on terror’.

In August 2005, an appeals court in Atlanta overturned the first trial and ordered a retrial. In May 2005, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions, expressed concern about the legality of their convictions. Yet the men still await a retrial and remain in prison despite the nullification of their sentences. And this is justice? This is what we in the west have to teach the rest of the world?

In December last year, an extraordinary woman visited parliament. Olga Salanuevea, the wife of Rene Gonzalez told parliamentarians with great dignity about the plight her family were in. Olga was accompanied by her seven year old daughter Ivette. Both have not seen Rene for the past five years because the US refuses to grant Olga a visa, accusing her of being an agent for Cuban intelligence, despite presenting no evidence to substantiate such claims.

Olga’s visit prompted 110 of my colleagues to send an open letter to the US Attorney General which called for the immediate release of the Miami five. Harold Pinter also added his name to the letter alongside 15 trade union general secretaries and thousands of individuals.

We are constantly told that we are fighting for a safer world, one in which the rule of law, respect for human rights, recognition of the rights and freedoms of the individual are upheld. A veritable list of values, a list of what we believe we are, or at least aspire to be.

I know that it is now a bit of a cliché to state that there is a discord between what we believe ourselves to be and how we actually behave. The fact that this is now almost received wisdom is depressing to say the least. However, the tremendous international support shown towards the Miami five, the growing international demands for the closure of Guantanamo Bay, and the disgust shown over the abuse of Iraqi teenagers by British soldiers, means that all is not lost. Justice may not disappear into an elusive, vague concept that we once used to believe in.