OpEd: Have we forgotten the ‘other’ Cuban five?

BY CHRISTOPHER SZABO     

Digital Journal

Jan. 28, 2015

Havana - In the midst of rejoicing at the re-opening of ties between the US and Cuba, the US has not demanded minimum standards of human rights from the Communist state, and the case of five men languishing in jail is forgotten my the mainstream media.

The term “Cuban Five” was used for years by organisations trying to free them, claiming that they were “unjustly” arrested by the FBI, like this webpage.

However, the “Five” were actually intelligence agents, sent to the American state of Florida to spy on émigré groups whose parents had fled the Communist regime. They were later exchanged for the American aid worker, Alan Gross, a contractor for USAID. Later, 53 unnamed political prisoners, many of them pro-democracy activists, were released under a deal with the US.

But the much-touted deal, while offering “normalisation” of relations with the US, did not include demands from the US that Cuba should introduce basic reforms, such as independence of the judiciary or basic guarantees of human rights.

The Cuba Archive, an organisation committed to the memory of the victims of the Castro regime, says 45 people have been killed in Cuba by the authorities in 2014 alone. The organisation says there are another “Cuban Five”. These are not intelligence agents. They are simply young men who tried to get to the US for a better life, as tens of thousands of Cubans have done in the past.

But in today’s Cuba, leaving the county is a crime.

The forgotten “Cuban Five” are: Harold Alcalá Aramburo, 35, Yoanny Thomas González, 36, Maikel Delgado Aramburo, 40, and Ramón Henry Grillo, 40. They are in prison for life.

Their crime was to try to get to the US and live a better life there. The way they did it was reminiscent of attempts to flee the East Bloc in the years 1945-1990. They attempted (and failed) to hijack a passenger ferry and force it to head to the US.

For this, the Other Cuban five were given life sentences, while the masterminds of the plan, Enrique Copello Castillo, 23, Bárbaro, Leodan Sevilla García, 22, and Jorge Luis Martínez Isaac, 40, were executed (by firing squad) on 11 April, 2003. The sentences were handed down five days after the incident.

Cuba Archive reports that no one was hurt, but the incident is treated as a “very grave act of terrorism.” (Interesting, considering the fact that Cuba is considered a “State sponsor of Terrorism” by the US State Department.)

This listing is contested not only by the Cuban government, but also by lobbyists in Washington, who argue the country hasn’t actively supported Communist terrorist movements since the end of the Cold War. Well and good, but they did do it, so morally they are hardly in a position to take the high ground in the face of five young men who merely wanted to live in freedom.

Just as in former East Germany, where hundreds died trying to cross the Iron Curtain and the Berlin Wall, Cuba Archive has documented these deaths among people who wished to emigrate without the requisite documents (which are not normally forthcoming):

“14 executions, 9 forced disappearances, 62 extrajudicial killings, 6 killed by mines, and 977 drowned, killed, or missing in escapes by sea or air. Thousands more deaths are estimated that are not properly documented.”

It could be argued that Cuba Archive is made up of enemies of the Cuban state, so its reports are suspect. But they are not alone in their assessment.  Human Rights Watch has strongly criticised Cuba’s behaviour, listing arbitrary arrest, lack of freedom of speech, and many other rights taken for granted in democracies. The report says:

“The government controls all media outlets in Cuba and tightly restricts access to outside information, severely limiting the right to freedom of expression.”

The report argues that Cuba has forced-labour camps (GULAGs) and says:

“Prisons are overcrowded, unhygienic, and unhealthy, leading to extensive malnutrition and illness. More than 57,000 Cubans are in prisons or work camps, according to a May 2012 article in an official government newspaper.”

Surely, the very least the US, and indeed the international community, can do is to do is demand that in return for US diplomatic recognition and eventual raising of sanctions, Cuba be made to adhere to international norms of human rights?

This opinion article was written by an independent writer. The opinions and views expressed herein are those of the author and are not necessarily intended to reflect those of DigitalJournal.com