&host=rt.com&uri=/usa/news/cuban-five-sentence-reduced/&via=(none)&ua=CCBot/1.0 (+http://www.commoncrawl.org/bot.html))
Sentence for one of Cuban Five reduced
Published: 15 October, 2009, 02:28
Edited: 03 January, 2010, 19:53
One of the members of the so-called Cuban Five spy ring has been handed a reduced sentence of 22 years instead of his original life term.
50-year-old Antonio Guerrero was convicted of espionage in the US in 2001. His sentence was reduced, as no state secrets were stolen.
The five Cuban intelligence officers were arrested in Miami in 1998. In 2001 three of them were sentenced to life terms.
The Cuban government has lobbied for the release of the five, arguing that they were not spying on the United States so much as trying to ferret out right-wing anti-Castro terrorists determined to hurt Cuba.
Last year a court of appeals discharged sentences for three of them, finding the punishment too harsh because the government had never proved that they had traded in “top secret” intelligence.
The case strained relations between the US and Cuba for more than a decade.
Brian Becker, from the Answer Coalition, an advocacy organization, says the original sentences were outrageously long.
“There is a great deal of injustice in the campaign, and there is a growing chorus not only to reduce the sentence but to set these men free,” Becker said.
15.10.2009, 02:22
Barack Obama inherited capability for global nuclear strikeA system developed under George Bush gives the Pentagon the capability to carry out pre-emptive nuclear strikes against countries with WMDs, says Ivan Oelrich from the Federation of American Scientists. |
15.10.2009, 03:12
5 comments
“Less US casualties in Iraq drag media attention away, but the war isn't over"The first official US report on the death toll in Iraq claims nearly 85,000 people were killed 2004-2008, but that number doesn’t reflect the real death figures, argues Iraqi activist and blogger Raed Jarrar. |
As I recall, these people were unarmed, spying under cuban murderers, in Miami. They uncovered a plot to kill castro with a 200 pounds bomb, during a conference with 400 students in Panama city. So, they saved the lives of 400 innocent people. In the mean time there are dozens of armed Americans, looking for a terrorist in Afghanistan, killing and murdering innocent children with cluster bombs etc., and they still have not found the terrorist.
It sounds we should release these men, tell them not to send more agents and to take back any already over here, and then work with the Cubans to carry out the counter-terrorist activities in Florida. Whether or not we like Castro's government, that is no excuse for allowing innocent civilians to be vainly killed. Regarding the embargo, Obama made it clear that the US will grant Cuba closer relations and will lift the embargo if Cuba improves its human right record, particularly as regards free speech and democratic government. The Cuban government basically responded by saying they were willing to talk about these issues with us, but were not willing to do as we required. So, them having unfortunately refused our terms, Obama moved to other issues. Obama broached his offer with a mild concession in allowing increased discourse between Cuban-Americans and their Cuban-Cuban relatives. He also removed an electronic billboard from our Havana interests section that spouted anti-Castro messages. We are talking with the Cubans now, just as we are talking with everyone due to Obama's diplomatic philosophy, but basically there isn't much momentum towards huge changes with Cuba because they were intransigent.
To William, Wow man, you sound so ridiculously self righteous like Uncle SAM itself. What logic is it that America rides on which arrogates it the right to sustain a blockade against Cuba for over half a century unless it is based on outright breach of international Law? Isn't it shear brigandage to continue the systematic sponsoring of sabotage and acts of terrorism against Cuba from the renegade Florida community of Cuban immigrants and CIA agents the way the USA has been doing? A worthy position for Obama should have been the unconditional release of the Cuban Five who rightly went into that Community in Miami for the Purpose of scuttling their terrorist plots against Cuba. That Obama is reluctant to normalise relations with Cuba shows him up for what he is- a demagouge who serves the same interests as Bush did, not the man for Change as he claimed. The Cubans deserve your undestanding and support not the scorn of the typically brain washed victims of the American Media!