CUBAN TRANSITIONS

Even before our arrival in Cuba, there were already several images that I expected to come across during our trip. For the unaware outsider, vintage cars, Cuban cigars, and Che are just a few of the symbols that have come to represent an otherwise mysterious place. However, the one image that I was not prepared to see was that of the Cuban 5. From the moment we touched down in Havana, we instantaneously became acquainted with the faces of the five men who were unfairly punished for trying to protect Cuba (or so say the Cubans). Their pictures can be seen everywhere from billboards to bus stops to murals and graffiti.

During our meeting with ICAP (the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples), we were informed that one of the organization’s three main goals is to oversee the release the Cuban 5. After a brief video narrated by Danny Glover, we learned that the Cuban 5 are five men who were convicted of espionage in the United States more than a decade ago. According to ICAP, these men were agents, not spies, who were just doing their duty to protect Cuba from terrorist attacks. Ever since then, the Cuban 5 have become a powerful symbol around which the nation has banded together to fight injustice and call attention to the unfair treatment of Cubans.

As a result of all the attention and respect these men are given, I found myself more and more curious to learn about them from an American perspective. What exactly were the charges brought against them? Why is it that almost no Americans (myself included prior to the trip) have ever heard of them? Do people outside of Cuba even really care?

One of the first steps I took when conducting my research was to dig up old information pertaining to the case. According to an article published by the New York Times in June of 2001, the Cuban 5 “were convicted of operating as foreign agents without notifying the government and conspiracy. Three of the group were convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage for their efforts to penetrate military bases even though they obtained no United States secrets.”[i] Because I first learned about the case from a Cuban, and not American perspective, I find it difficult to reconcile this description with all that I witnessed and was told during our trip. Whereas the American judicial system branded these men as potentially dangerous anti-American spies, Cuban citizens tout them as brave patriots that should be celebrated, and not condemned. Moreover, in what I take to be a subtle, but nonetheless striking blow to the characters of the convicted, the paragraph concludes by sharing that “the men showed no emotion as the verdict was read.”

Skipping ahead a few years, the New York Times revisited the Cuban 5 in a 2007 article entitled “Fate of 5 in U.S. Prisons Weighs on Cubans’ Minds”.[ii] As can be deduced by its title, the article talks a bit about what we experienced quite vividly firsthand- the ways in which the Cuban 5 have achieved a celebrity, hero-like status in Cuban society. In an attempt to avoid actually taking a stance on the issue, the reporter, James C. McKinley, Jr., sticks to presenting a very general, vague account of the case. Quite simply put, from a Cuban perspective these individuals are nothing more than “brave men who tried to ferret out right-wing terrorists determined to hurt Cuba while sheltered in the United States.” Although the article spends a great deal of time showing the Cuban perspective on the case, it does not really address how the US has responded to these claims (furthering the image that what is considered a major wrongdoing to Cuban citizens does not even register as something worthy of attention for many Americans). Through this article the reader gets a sense that Cubans do not agree with the verdict, but does not learn much about whether or not the complaints have any validity.

Nevertheless, while many Americans remain oblivious to the story of the Cuban 5, that does not mean that there is nothing being done. Websites such as http://www.freethecuban5.com/, http://www.freethefive.org/, and http://www.thecuban5.org/wordpress/ are all dedicated to informing the public about the situation at hand and soliciting individuals towards action.

Not only do these websites aim to explain the case and why it should be overturned, but also give a face to the men who have been wronged. As we saw all throughout Cuba, attaching faces to the Cuban 5 helps individuals identify more with them, and feel that it is their responsibility to help.

Overall, I think the plight of the Cuban 5 is highly indicative of the greater relationship between the United States and Cuba. From a Cuban perspective, the Cuban 5 and the blockade are major events that have indelibly shaped Cuban society and everyday life. However, on the flip side, most Americans are completely oblivious to the role our government has played in either of these events. As a US citizen, I feel a bit guilty that I have been so ignorant about incidents that others treat as monumental, especially when my own nation has played such a central role in their outcome.

As a final aside, more recently the Cuban 5 has secured a small victory in that one of the convicted, René González, has secured permission to return to Cuba to visit his ailing brother. González was released from federal prison last fall and is on probation in Miami. His is under strict instructions to return within two weeks of his departure.[iii]