letter of july to Obama

Mr President Obama

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue N.W.

Washington DC 20500

Mr President,

It has now been five years since the terrorist Posada Carriles has been freed from any consequences of his sentence, whereas the five Cubans, Gerardo Hernández, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando González, Ramón Labañino and René González, they who were fighting against terrorism, have still not been freed.

Mr President, we have here a flagrant example of double moral standards in politics that does no honor to your country and that soils its justice system.

In May 2005, the three judges of the Atlanta Appeals Court charged with the case of the five Cubans quashed the Cuban Five’s sentences and ordered a new court case outside of Miami. These judges, who had a high opinion of their office, concluded their decision in these terms:

« The Cuban- American community is a bastion of the traditional values that make America great. Included in those values are the rights of the accused criminal that insure a fair trial. Thus, in the final analysis, we trust that any disappointment with our judgment in this case will be tempered and balanced by the recognition that we are a nation of laws in which every defendant, no matter how unpopular, must be treated fairly. Our Constitution requires no less. ».

The Bush administration had lodged an appeal to this decision of the three Atlanta Appeals Court judges, displaying thusly its despise for the constitutional requirement for a fair sentencing.

At the same time, in September 2005, the DHS (Department of Homeland Security) decreed that the interview of Luis Posada Carriles and of Orlando Bosch, carried out in 1977 by the North-American reporter Blake Fleetwood, should never be utilized. This interview had been done in the prison at Caracas where the two terrorists were locked up since the Cubana Airlines plane had been blown up, causing the death of 73 persons.

According to Blake Fleetwood, he learned in this interview how the CIA had hired Luis Posada Carriles for $300 a week plus expenses. Posada Carilles then explained how the CIA helped him to create his detective agency, from which his “actions” were planned out, as well as many other details likely to be of interest to the United States. In doing this interview, the reporter put his life in danger, as the president of Venezuela at the time had ordered the DISIP (Direction of Intelligence and Protection Services) to capture him.

Several years later, in 2006, the North American reporter Ann Louise Bardach revealed that Luis Posada Carriles’ case file, which was kept in the Miami FBI vaults, had been shredded in 2003 when this terrorist was in prison in Panama. Five cases of original documents destroyed by Hector Pesquera’s son! These documents concerned the ties between different criminal acts and Posada Carilles.

Hector Pesquera – this name is not unknown to us – is the ex-head of the South Florida FBI, the one that arrested the five Cubans in 1998.

It was also during this year of 2006 that we learned how newspaper reporters had been paid by the Florida federal government to create a hostile atmosphere towards the Cuban Five during their court case, so as to influence the decisions of the jury members.

Mr President, everything is clear. Terrorists who direct their actions against Cuba are protected by the highest entities, while all is orchestrated so that the five Cuban agents are heavily condemned. A classic example of double moral standards in politics.

When you came into the government we had hoped for a little raising of moral standards in the political goings-on in your country. We are alarmed to see that you have just named Ricardo Zuñiga as head of Western Hemisphere Affairs for the U.S. This nomination will certainly not help to improve relations between your country and Cuba. As a matter of fact, Zuñiga became well-known around ten years ago as a champion in interfering in the interior affairs of Cuba during his “humanitarian mission”. He was at the time responsible for the “subversion and financing dissidents” sector of the North American interests section in Havana. It is certainly not Zuñiga who will incite you to render justice to the Cuban Five.

We are hoping in spite of all that you will find a way to solve this painful problem as quickly as possible, for example in the form of a humanitarian exchange between Alan Gross and the Cuban Five.

The lawyer Roberto González, brother of René has just died. He fought with his utmost energy for the cause of the Five. He died in sorrow at not seeing René, Antonio, Fernando, Gerardo and Ramón set free.

Please receive, Mr President, the expression of my most sincere humanistic sentiments.

Jacqueline Roussie

Translated by William Peterson

Copies sent to: Mrs. Michelle Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton, Kathryn Ruemmler, Janet Napolitano, to Mr. Harry Reid, Eric Holder, John F. Kerry, Pete Rouse, Donald, Rick Scott, and to Charles Rivkin, United States Ambassador in France.