Olga Salanueva and Adriana Pérez from Cuba are visiting the Labour Party Conference to break the media silence about their husbands, two of the 5 Cubans imprisoned in the USA

Their mission was to stop terrorism against Cuba from which more than 3,000 Cubans have died. They infiltrated terrorist organisations in Miami to collect evidence, which was presented to the FBI but instead of arresting the terrorists the FBI arrested the Cuban 5. They remain in maximum-security prisons despite a successful appeal.

Olga and Adriana will also speak at the Convention of the Left, Friends Meeting House, Mount St Manchester on Monday 22 Sept at 5.00pm along with Rob Miller, Director of the Cuba Solidarity Campaign.

For more than 40 years, right wing Cuban exile groups based in Miami have killed almost 3,500 people in terrorist attacks against Cuba, with the complicity of the CIA and US government.

The US government repeatedly failed to act against the perpetrators of such crimes, including the blowing up of a Cuban airliner in 1973 (killing 76 people) and a bombing campaign against Cuban tourist hotels in the 1990s (killing an Italian tourist).

To save lives, the Cuba sent five men to Miami to infiltrate and monitor the groups. At the request of the US government, this information was passed to the FBI in 1998.

But instead of arresting the terrorists, the FBI used the information to identify and arrest the Five anti-terrorists on September 12, 1998 in Miami, where they were illegally held in solidarity confinement for 17 months.

A miscarriage of justice

The trial began in November 2000 in Miami, a hugely hostile environment where the anti-Castro Cuban-American community wields enormous political influence.

Defence attorneys’ motions for a change of venue were denied five times by the judge, although it was obvious that a fair trial was impossible in the city.

During the trial, the judge, prosecution and US government officials suppressed defence evidence and ensured key witnesses would not testify.

Despite, intimidation of witnesses by the press and testimonies by prominent US officials that the Five had not accessed any classified documents, the jury reached a unanimous guilty verdict on all charges, without once seeking clarification of any evidence.

The Five were convicted on charges ranging from being foreign agents to conspiracy to commit murder, and sentenced to between fifteen years and double life.

Families torn apart

On top of the severe sentences, the Five are denied regular family visits. The US infrequently grants visas to close family members.

Two of the prisoners wives, Olga Salanueva and Adriana Pérez, have been refused visas nine times and have not seen their husbands for 8 and 10 years.

Human rights organisations have condemned the trial and the treatment of the families and Amnesty International has expressed grave concern at the impartiality of the judicial process and described the treatment of the Five as ‘contrary both to the standards for the human treatment of prisoners and to a states’ obligation to protect family life."

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