Five Cuban revolutionaries are currently serving prison terms of between 15 years and a double life sentence after being framed up and convicted in June 2001 in a U.S. federal court.

The five revolutionaries were in the United States on an internationalist mission to defend the sovereignty of their country and the Cuban Revolution.

They gathered information on the activities of counterrevolutionary groups in Florida--organizations with a history of launching violent attacks on Cuba from U.S. soil.

The groups have been able to operate with impunity from Florida, often with the assistance of, training by, and funding from Washington.

Unable to prove any illegal acts by the five men, the federal government pushed through convictions on a series of conspiracy charges, including conspiracy to act as an unregistered agent of a foreign power, to commit espionage, and to commit murder.

The five are René González, Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, and Fernando González.

An international campaign is being waged by various organizations to explain the truth about the cases of the five Cubans and to demand they be released from prison. Extensive information on this fight can be found at themilitant.com.

The Militant is running short biographical sketches of each of the five. The biographies of Gerardo Hernández and René González, Fernando González and Antonio Guerrero have appeared in previous issues. Following is the biography of Ramón Labañino.
 

"It’s not Cuba that has come to the United States for the purpose of an invasion, aggression, or terrorist acts of all kinds. The reality is the complete opposite. Quite simply, Cuba has the basic right to defend itself. That is all we have done, without causing harm to anyone or anything," said Ramón Labañino in his closing statement to a U.S. court on December 13, 2001.

The Cuban revolutionary is serving a life sentence on frame-up conspiracy charges for his activities in defending his country and its revolution.

Born June 9, 1963, into a peasant family in Marianao, Havana Province, Labañino became a member of the Union of Young Communists of Cuba in 1987. The next year he took up duties as an officer of Cuba’s Ministry of the Interior. He has assumed leadership responsibilities in the Communist Party, which he became a member of in 1991.

In the 1980s Labañino studied at the University of Havana, where he graduated as an economist. He was also a successful student in the university’s military faculty.

All his life Labañino has been an enthusiastic participant in, and organizer of, sporting activities. He practices karate and participated in the Caribbean games as a student. At the federal prison in Beaumont, Texas, he has already earned the title of handball champion.

Labañino took up in an internationalist mission in the United States in the early 1990s. As with the other four revolutionaries, Labañino’s assignment was unknown to his relatives. "I never knew of the work he was doing. He never talked to me about it and I never asked. Since he was very young he has always known what to do and has always done the right thing," said his father, Holmes Labañino.

Ramón’s mother, Nereida, who died four years ago, had been a collaborator of the Rebel Army in Oriente province in her youth.

In a letter to his wife after his arrest, Labañino described what the four revolutionaries have been confronted with in the U.S. "justice" system. "As I always told you," he wrote, "here you have to be prepared for everything. There is a lot of manipulation, deceit, and distortion of the facts."

"But we are confident that the truth will come forward," added the imprisoned revolutionary and patriot. "What is important is to fight this fight well, and put our truth on the table.... We will not abandon our defenses no matter who we are dealing with. Our country deserves respect, and whoever it is should understand that." framed and jailed by Washington?
 
 
Related articles:
Read about Gerardo Hernández
Read about René González
Read about Fernando González
Read about Antonio Guerrero  
 
 
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