Posada to go on trial… finally

Barring some unforeseen delay or last-minute stall, alleged terrorist Luis Posada Carriles will finally get his day in court a week from today in an El Paso, Texas, courtroom. But he won’t be facing terrorism charges… at least not directly. Luis Posada Carriles Posada, 82—a Cuban-exile militant with a rap sheet that stretches back to […]

01/03/2011
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Day in The Five: Heroes of the Republic

On December 29, 2001, the Cuban Parliament unanimously voted to declare five Cuban intelligence agents—who had been sentenced in Miami earlier that month to prison terms ranging from 10 years to life—“Heroes of the Republic of Cuba.” It is Cuba’s highest honour. The five—Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon Labanino, Rene Gonzalez, Fernando Gonzalez and Antonio Guerrero—were part […]

12/29/2010
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Day in the Five…Whose fair trial?

On December 8, 1998, after a 14-day trial, jurors in Puerto Rico acquitted five anti-Castro exile militants of plotting to kill Fidel Castro. Afterwards, two of the jurors told reporters the verdict was intended to send a “message to the Cuban people that we’re with you.” The jurors then left the courthouse, singing the Cuban […]

12/08/2010
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Day in the Five… The trial begins

Ten years ago today—on December 6, 2000—five Cuban men finally went on trial in a small chamber on the seventh floor of the Miami court building. They were charged with everything from the relatively minor offence of failing to register as foreign agents all the way to conspiracy to commit murder. In his opening statement, […]

12/06/2010
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Day in the Five: CANF leader dies

On November 23, 1997, Jorge Mas Canosa, the most powerful anti-Castro exile leader in America, died. Mas Canosa with Bill Clinton Though he didn’t accomplish his ambition of returning to Havana in triumph as its new American-backed, post-Castro leader, Mas Canosa’s public creation—the Cuban American National Foundation—did become one of the most effective lobbying machines […]

11/23/2010
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Looking for loopholes in El Paso

Cuba’s Granma newspaper says Luis Posada Carriles’ lawyers are trying to use a legal loophole to prevent the court from hearing key evidence in his case. Posada, the alleged mastermind of both the 1976 bombing of Cubana Airlines Flight 455 and also the 1997 Havana hotel bombing campaign, is scheduled to go on trial at […]

11/21/2010
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Day in the Five: Luis Posada arrested in assassination plot

On November 17, 2000, Luis Posada Carriles and three accomplices—including one affiliated with the powerful Cuban American National Foundation—were arrested in Panama in connection with a planned attempt to assassinate Cuban leader Fidel Castro. Officials seized 200 pounds of explosives. All were found guilty and sentenced to prison but then, in August 2004, the country’s […]

11/17/2010
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Terrorism through the eyes of the terrorized

If you’re interested in understanding the broader context of the story behind the Cuban Five and the reasons Cuba sends spies to Florida to infiltrate and disrupt militant anti-Castro exile groups, you should read Keith Bolender’s new book, Voices From The Other Side: An Oral History of Terrorism Against Cuba (Pluto Press). Cuba has publicly […]

11/11/2010
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Day in the Five: The terrorist disconnect

United Nations November 10, 2001 “Some governments still turn a blind eye to the terrorists, hoping the threat will pass them by,” U.S. President George W. Bush admonished his fellow world leaders in a speech to the United Nations on November 10, 2001, two months after 9/11. “They are mistaken,” he declared. “The allies of […]

11/10/2010
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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 […]