University Ministry sponsored a Soup for Substance event Feb. 9 that brought a presentation to campus on behalf of the Wisconsin Coalition to Normalize Relations with Cuba and the National Commission to Free the Cuban Five. The presentation was in reference to a group of men known as the "Cuban Five" who were arrested and found guilty of charges ranging from conspiracy to commit espionage and agent of a foreign power without disclosure to conspiracy to commit murder. The presentation was sympathetic toward the "Cuban Five" referring to them as political prisoners and victims of the American judicial system and is actively pursuing the release of these men from prison.
In reality, these men are spies employed by the Cuban government working in the United States. The actions of these men led to the attacks on two unarmed Brothers to the Rescue civilian planes on Feb. 24, 1996 by the Cuban government over international waters. Brothers to the Rescue is a humanitarian organization based in Miami, that conducts air patrols over the waters between the United States and Cuba looking for Cuban rafters. When the Cuban rafters are located by the organization's planes, they relay the location to the United States Coast Guard so they can provide assistance to the rafters.
Gerardo Hernandez, Antonio Guerrero, Ramon Labanino, Fernando Gonzalez and Rene Gonzalez, who are now referred to as the "Cuban Five," were Cuban spies who received orders from Havana to infiltrate the Brothers to the Rescue organization. Gerardo Gonzalez, the leader of the group, obtained the flight times and patrol areas of the Brothers to the Rescue missions for the day of the attacks and relayed them to the Cuban government. He also alerted the other four spies to make sure they were not taking part in any of the Brothers to the Rescue flights on that day. Using the information that the Cuban government received from Gonzalez, two Cuban fighter planes shot down both unarmed American civilian planes over international waters, killing all four American citizens on board. Both President Clinton and the United Nations condemned the hostile military attacks on the civilian aircraft. On Sept. 12, 1998, the "Cuban Five" were arrested for their involvement in the attacks and later put on trial in Miami. The men were found guilty and sentenced to varying sentences based on the crimes they were convicted of.
The presentation given Wednesday was flawed in many ways. It portrayed these men as people that were trying to protect the sovereignty of their nation instead of as the spies and murderers that they are. These five men contributed to the murder of four American citizens who were innocent and just trying to look out for the lives of their former countrymen. The "Cuban Five" were prosecuted just like any other foreign spies or murderers would be with a fair trial by jury in our court system. The organizations involved in the presentation gave out flyers on how to help save these men whom they called "antiterrorists."
The presenters included a Cuban film director and an Irish journalist who works for Radio Havana Cuba. Their presentation and film are heavily advertised in the Party for Socialism and Liberation's web site. These organizations and the presenters clearly sympathize with a Cuban communist government.
As a Cuban American from Miami, I witnessed these events as they occurred and am extremely disappointed with the lies and propaganda that were handed out at this presentation. I also wondered why University Ministry was even involved in this presentation when their job on this campus is to coordinate religious services and help students with religious questions that they encounter, not try to sympathize with radical left-wing and socialist organizations that seek the release of convicted felons.
Alexander Parets is a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences.
This article appeared in The Marquette Tribune on Feb. 22 2005.