Why Have the ‘Cuban 5' Not Been Released?

By Bill Fletcher Jr. -Guest Columnist- | Last updated: Aug 17, 2010 - 3:42:29 PM

Bill Fletcher Jr.
Guest Columnist

As someone who loves reading and watching fictional stories about spies, I found myself very intrigued by the recent spy exchange that took place between the U.S.A. and Russia. If you did not follow it the gist of it is this: The U.S.A. captured/arrested a number of individuals that are alleged to have been part of a Russian spy ring in the U.S.A. The Russians, at the same time, had in custody, individuals that are alleged to have been spies for the U.S.A. Within a fairly short amount of time, a spy exchange was arranged and everyone ended up happy.

Yet, while I was watching this I found myself wondering why the same thing was not happening with Cuba. Specifically, the U.S.A. arrested and convicted five Cubans for espionage despite the fact that these Cubans were not spying on U.S. installations, companies or anything of the sort. Instead, they were collecting information on terrorist activities that were being planned against

Cuba by right-wing Cuban exiles based in the U.S.A. The Cuban government felt comfortable enough about this activity that they were prepared to turn over information to the U.S. government in order for the U.S. government to arrest alleged terrorists. After all, the U.S. government, then led by President George W. Bush, had announced a war against terrorism and right-wing Cuban exiles had a very long history of just that—terrorism.

Instead of moving against the right-wing Cuban exiles the U.S. government, in what had all the makings of a show trial, moved against the Cuban agents who had collected the relevant information. Instead of simply expelling the Cubans, the government locked them up and seemed content to let them rot.

There was no real surprise that the Bush administration would take these steps, despite its rhetoric about combating terrorism. After all, hypocrisy was the watchword for that administration. My question concerns the Obama administration. Why have they not released the Cubans?

Within the last few weeks, the Cuban government released several individuals that were allegedly political prisoners. That would have been an excellent time for the Obama administration to have released the Cuban 5. It would have been an excellent symbol of an effort to effect an improvement, if not normalization, of relations between the two countries. This, unfortunately, did not come to pass.

The Obama administration all too often seems more afraid of the threats from the political Right—which will never support him even if the sky opened and a voice from the heavens proclaimed the sincerity of this administration—than it is of doing the right thing, no pun intended. Here was an opportunity to repudiate the disingenuous policies of the Bush administration, and the Obama administration seems to have taken a pass.

Those of us looking for more consistency and justice in U.S. policy should not remain silent. It is time to speak up to the Obama administration and demand the release of the “Cuban 5” and normalization of relations with Cuba.

(Bill Fletcher, Jr. is a Senior Scholar with the Institute for Policy Studies, the immediate past president of TransAfrica Forum, and the co-author of “Solidarity Divided.” He can be reached at [email protected].)

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