Printed below is an excerpt from a letter to the Militant editor by René González, one of the five Cuban revolutionaries framed up and convicted last June in a U.S. federal court. They were convicted of a series of conspiracy charges, including conspiracy to act as an unregistered agent of a foreign power, to commit espionage, and, in one case, to commit murder. The other four prisoners are Fernando González Llort, Antonio Guerrero, Ramón Labañino Salazar, and Gerardo Hernández.

The five were given sentences by the federal judge ranging from 15 years in prison to a double life sentence. They explained, as has the Cuban government, that they were carrying out a revolutionary mission to defend their country by gathering information on the activities of counterrevolutionary groups that function on U.S. territory and organize to carry out violent attacks on Cuba. These groups have a long record of such activity, perpetrated with the complete knowledge and complicity of the U.S. government.

The addresses for the five are listed below. The U.S. government refused to recognize the names of Fernando González Llort and Ramón Labañino, so correspondence to them should be sent under the names Rubén Campa and Luis Medina respectively.
 

Dear Greg McCartan,

Thank you for sending me the issues of the Militant. It’s been a great source of encouragement to know that some Americans have been able to overcome so many years of propaganda and such a sophisticated deception machinery to go to the bottom of the current issues that affect humanity nowadays. I read all of your articles and there is always somebody else who wants to read the magazine after me, so the message is reaching other people here.

As for us we’ll make every effort possible for our beautiful island to remain out of this madness. It is much better to export doctors, teachers, and medicines just for the sake of doing something good than to deliver explosives right and left all around the planet, sowing hate and death all over the world in exchange for markets, oil, or raw materials.

So if we have to remain in an American prison because of that so be it. Others will take our place as long as it is necessary to keep our people safe in order for them to keep building that future of love and peace that we all dream of for Cuba and for the world.

Hasta la victoria siempre (Ever onward to victory).

s/ René González

p.s. I’m sending the slip of paper enclosed to all our friends as an example of the hypocrisy displayed at our trial. It is self-explanatory and shows the double standard that drives the sense of justice of a U.S. federal judge.

[The attached note quotes Federal District Judge Joan Lenard as saying, before sentencing González to 15 years in prison, that "whether terrorism is committed against innocents in the United States or Cuba, Israel or Jordan, Northern Ireland or India, it is evil and it is wrong; but the terrorist acts by others cannot excuse the wrongful and illegal conduct of this defendant or any other."]
 

Ramón Labañino Salazar (Luis Medina), Reg. #58734-004, USP Beaumont, P.O. Box 26035, Beaumont, Texas 77720-6035  
 
 
 
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