Release of Cuban Five Opens New Chapter in Cuba-U.S. Relations
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- Published on Saturday, 03 January 2015 21:00
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A Socialist Project e-bulletin .... No. 1064 .... January 4, 2014
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Release of Cuban Five Opens New Chapter in Cuba-U.S. Relations
Richard Fidler
The release December 17 of the remaining three of five Cubans held for 15 years in U.S. prisons is an historic victory for the Cuban people, their government and supporters around the world. Ramón Labañino, Geraldo Hernández and Antonio Guerrero joined Fernando González and René González, released earlier, in an emotional reception in Havana with President Raúl Castro.
The five were arrested in 1998 while working in Miami to uncover terrorist plots against the people of Cuba being masterminded by anticommunist extremists in Florida. In a 2001 report to the United Nations, the Cuban government catalogued 3,478 deaths on the island as a result of terrorism, aggression, acts of piracy and other... actions. Many of these actions were attributed to operatives of the CIA.
Announcing the release of the Cuban intelligence agents, U.S. President Barrack Obama acknowledged that his country's half-century attempt to defeat the Cuban Revolution had failed. He said Washington would now move toward normalizing relations with Cuba, beginning with establishment of embassies by both countries.