Cuban Five: a Cruel and Bizarre Decision

[Judi Lynn]

September 19, 2011
7Judge Lenard Order's René González to Live in Miami on Supervised Release
Cuban Five: a Cruel and Bizarre Decision
by JOSÉ PERTIERRA

On Friday, September 16, a federal district court judge made a bizarre ruling concerning one of the Cuban Five defendants who completes his jail sentence on October 7. Judge Joan Lenard ruled that René Gonzalez, who has already served thirteen years in a federal penitentiary for being an unregistered agent of the Cuban government, will be forced for the next three years to live in Miami on what is called “supervised release.”

Mr. Gonzalez had asked the Court to allow him to return home to Cuba to be with his wife, Olga, and his two daughters, Ivette and Irma. Several years ago, the Department of State decided to permanently bar Olga from getting a visa to come to the United States. She has been able to visit her husband only once, during the last thirteen years. A cruel and unusual punishment for any prisoner.

Although born in the United States, Mr. González grew up in Cuba. He returned to this country—at the behest of the Cuban government—to monitor the activities of extremist groups in Miami who were carrying out terrorist attacks against Cuba’s civilian population from their safe havens in southern Florida. But because he did not register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) and inform the Department of Justice of his activities here, he violated the law. The Miami-based terrorists he was monitoring, conversely, have never been prosecuted and remain free and protected in Miami.

What possible interest would the United States government have in further punishing a person whose only crime is fighting terrorism? Why force him to remain in Miami, a hotbed of anti-Cuba terrorism, for the next three years? Doesn’t it matter that Miami-based terrorists have murdered 3,478 Cubans and incapacitated 2,099 more during the past five decades? Furthermore, how can Mr. González be expected to comply with the terms of his supervised release in Miami?

More:
http://www.counterpunch.org/2011/09/19/cuban-five-a-cruel-and-bizarre-decision/

Editorials:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x627625