Committee for Cuban Five sends letter to Pope

The International Committee for the Freedom of The Five sent a letter to Pope Francis on behalf of the three Cuban antiterrorists still incarcerated in the United States. The organization confirmed this by communique on Friday.

In audience with the Supreme Pontiff, Father Antonio Tarzia, of the Cassiodoro Association, and Professor Luciano Vasapollo, a professor with La Sapienza University, both members of the International Committee for the Freedom of The Five, submitted the letter requesting that Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino and Antonio Guerrero, be returned to their country as soon as possible, according to a report published in Cubadebate.

The group’s representatives urged the pope to assist in resolving the case involving the three Cubans imprisoned in the United States, the statement said.

A global campaign on their behalf has been ongoing and will continue until October 6. Support for their release has been echoed in more than 40 countries, including 32 Latin American parliamentarians.

Five antiterrorists were arrested September 12, 1998 during an operation of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in Miami, while monitoring the ENTITIES plan which was being hatched by criminal organizations in South Florida to carry out terrorist attacks against Cuba. They were accused of conspiracy to commit espionage, but not of actual espionage. Nor could the U.S. government verify that any real acts of espionage had been carried out.

Cuba stated to the Latin American Herald Tribune that the men were sent to South Florida to monitor terrorist activity against their country rather than spy on the United States. This followed several terrorist bombings in Havana masterminded by anti-communist Luis Posada Carriles, a Central Intelligence Agency operative. In 1997, Posada was implicated in a series of bombings in Cuba intended to deter the growing tourism trade on the island.