New revelations on US campaign against the Miami Five

Documents obtained via the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) constitute overwhelming evidence that the US government paid for a campaign against the Miami Five, five Cuban antiterrorists imprisoned for almost 13 years now.

The campaign involved prominent reporters from the Miami Herald, El Nuevo Herald and the Diario Las Americas newspapers and Miami-based radio and television stations which were on the U.S. government’s payroll during the same period in which these five men were on trial.

The documents were requested by the US National Committee to Free the Cuban Five, the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund (PCJF), and the Liberation newspaper. These documents establish that during the trial the Miami media were saturated with reports that were highly provocative and damaging for the Cuban antiterrorists. The note of the US solidarity organization adds that new appeals to the government by the National Committee, Liberation and the PCJF for the handing over of other documents are still pending, in order to continue exposing – it asserts – the systematic and illegal policy of the US government in the juridical process of The Five.

The Reporters For Hire website presents the information revealed by way of the FOIA at the disposal of the public. It cites as an example the case of Enrique Encinosa, who has defended bombs attacks against Cuban hotels, and was hired by the US government while he was working as “independent” director for news at a powerful radio station. Encinosa boasted in a radio interview on the Internet about having been involved in paramilitary organizations against the Cuban Revolution, and during the trial against the five Cubans he regularly broadcast news at the WAQI ("Radio Mambi") and was a frequent commentator about their arrest and prosecution. He received, according to the FOIA, up to a total of 10,400 dollars for presenting a weekly program in Radio Marti, from October 1st, 2000, to September 30, 2001, a period that covered the trial against Cubans Antonio Guerrero, Ramon Labañino, Fernando Gonzalez, Gerardo Hernandez, and Rene Gonzalez, which lasted from November 27, 2000, to June 8, 2001.