The statement below was released on October 13 by: The National Committee (US) Committee to Free the Cuban Five; the International Committee to Free the Cuban Five; and the organisations of the Cuban Immigration in Miami involving the Marti Alliance: the Antonio Maceo Brigade, the Alliance of Workers of the Cuban Community (ATC), the Jose Marti Association, and political parties of the US who are part of the Cuban Five solidarity movement.
The Cuban Five, Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon Labanino, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando Gonzalez and Rene Gonzalez, were falsely accused of espionage and conspiracy against the US, among other charges. The Cuban men, who have been imprisoned since 1998, had infiltrated anti-Cuban terrorist groups in Miami in order to prevent terrorist attacks.
On October 13, the US government rejected a negotiated agreement with defence team of Antonio Guerrero, seeking a sentence of 20 years. In the District Court for the Southern District of Florida, Judge Joan Lenard refused to agree to the terms.
After a four-hour session in court, the judge imposed a 21 year, 10 month sentence.
The following is a declaration by the US movement in solidarity with the Cuban Five, confirming an ongoing commitment to fight for the Cuban Five's ifreedom.
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With our declaration, we reaffirm our unwavering commitment to maintain and strengthen our efforts to demand the immediate freedom of our five brothers. They are innocent of the charges that the US government has convicted them of.
On October 13, a hearing was held to reduce the sentence of one of our five brothers, Antonio Guerrero. It is one of three re-sentencing hearings ordered by the Full Panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in September 2008.
The US Federal District Court has not yet set the date of the other two re-sentencing hearings of our brothers Ramón Labanino and Fernando Gonzalez.
In September 2008, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the trial court's previous life sentence imposed on Guerrero and Labanino, and the 19 year sentence imposed on Fernando Gonzalez in December 2001.
The five were convicted in June 2001.
Today the Court imposed a prison sentence of 21 years 10 months on Antonio Guerrero for his unjust conviction of conspiracy to commit espionage.
Independent of the court process and the decisions that are issued by the court, we maintain our steadfast demand for the immediate freedom of the Cuban Five.
The judicial case prosecuted against our five brothers has nothing to do with justice. This is, and always has been, a political case.
Since the triumph of the Cuban Revolution in 1959, every administration of the US government has maintained a policy of permanent aggression against the Cuban people. A fundamental part of this policy of aggression has been the use of violence against the Cuban people.
For decades, the US administrations have been directly or indirectly involved — through terrorist organisations of the Cuban American extreme right-wing in the US — in countless terrorist attacks against the Cuban people, causing the deaths of 3,78 Cuban men, women and children, and injuring 2,099 Cubans.
The peace, security and well-being of the Cuban people have been tragically affected.
In the interest of defending its people — as any other responsible government would do — the government of Cuba assigned to the five the task of infiltrating the terrorist organisations.
Everyone in Miami knows full well that the terrorist organisations have carried out campaigns of death and terror against the Cuban people for decades. Stopping terrorism was the mission of the Cuban Five.
Instead of arresting the terrorists and prosecuting them for their crimes, the US government, participant of these nefarious campaigns of death and terror, arrested the five 11 years ago.
Since then it has kept them arbitrarily imprisoned.
It is for these reasons that today, in Miami, we reaffirm and make known to our five brothers, to their families and all our sisters and brothers in the US and international movement to free the five, as well as the Cuban people, our unalterable decision to continue and strengthen our struggle for their immediate freedom.