U.S. says no prisoner swap

The Miami Herald has published the text of a letter from the U.S. Departments of State and Justice to Rep. Lincoln Díaz-Balart (R-Fla.) regarding rumours the Cuban government might be willing to exchange an American contractor it is holding in exchange for members of the Cuban Five. The letter: Dear Congressman Díaz-Balart: Thank you for […]

11/06/2010
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More details emerge of Hernandez's time in the 'hole'

Gerardo31 “[Gerardo] Hernández’s sister Isabel first learned that he had been put in the ‘hole’ … when she went for a visit at the U.S. maximum security prison in Victorville, California, July 24. She was only allowed to talk to him by phone, separated by a thick glass partition, while he was kept handcuffed… “Hernández […]

08/07/2010
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The 'Gordito' Connection

Francisco Chavez Abarca Francisco Chavez Abarca—the Salvadoran man arrested at Caracas International Airport on Thursday (July 1, 2010) and accused of plotting to “provoke violence and destabilization” in the lead-up to Venezuela’s legislative elections in September—was one of the keys player in the 1997 Havana hotel bombing campaign orchestrated by anti-Castro militant Luis Posada Carriles. […]

07/05/2010
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Another of Five moved to medium security

Ramón Labañino, one of three members of the Cuban Five whose prison sentences were reduced last fall, has been moved from a maximum security prison in Kentucky to a medium security institution in Jesup, Georgia. Ramón Labañino Labañino, 46, had been serving a sentence of “life plus 18 years” following his 2001 conviction for espionage […]

06/27/2010
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Venezuela renews call for Posada extradition

On June 15, 2010—five years to the day after it first asked the United States government to extradite anti-Castro militant Luis Posada Carriles to face charges in Venezuela in connection with the deadly bombing of a Cubana Airlines plane in 1976—Venezuela’s National Assembly renewed its demand this week. The Cuban-born Posada, who returned to the […]

06/18/2010
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Hernandez's lawyers file habeas corpus petition

Gerardo Hernandez In a last-ditch, no-more-cards-to-play legal effort, lawyers for convicted Cuban Five spy Gerardo Hernandez this week (June 14, 2010) filed what is called a collateral appeal—or writ of habeus corpus—in Miami Federal Court claiming it has new evidence the court should have aware of before letting a jury decide the fate of the […]

06/15/2010
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Posada trial date set

The trial of Luis Posada Carriles will begin Jan. 11, 2011. Following a much-delayed scheduling hearing in El Paso, Texas, yesterday (June 2), U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone made it clear she does not want any more delays in the case. Luis Posada Carriles Although Posada is alleged to have been responsible for blowing up […]

06/03/2010
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U.S. made more than $70,000 in secret payments to journalists

Five American journalists who wrote inflammatory articles about the Cuban Five during their detention and trials received more than $70,000 in secret payments from the U.S. government between November 1999 to December 31, 2001. Details of the payments, which were uncovered as the result of a freedom of information request, were revealed during a Washington […]

06/03/2010
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Did U.S. government pay journalists to write "incendiary stories"?

Members of the "Cuban Five" The U.S. National Committee to Free The Cuban Five has called a press conference for June 2, 2010 in Washington to reveal what it says is “new evidence that the U.S. Government has covertly paid tens of thousands of dollars to Miami journalists working for major media outlets” to publish […]

05/28/2010
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Hernandez to file new motion

Gerardo Hernandez Lawyers for Gerardo Hernandez, one of the Cubans serving time in American prisons in connection with the Cuban Five affair, will return to court in June 2010—nine years after his original conviction—to present a writ of habeas corpus, asking the judge in the case to reconsider his sentence. Three other members of the […]