The Cuban Five, as they are known, were carrying out an internationalist mission to gather information on ultrarightist organizations with a record of violent attacks on Cuba carried out from U.S. soil with Washington’s complicity. They were arrested by FBI agents in 1998. Each was charged with “conspiracy to commit espionage” and “conspiracy to act as an unregistered foreign agent.” Hernández was also charged with “conspiracy to commit murder.” Convicted in a federal court in Miami in June 2001, they were given sentences from 15 years to a double life term, and locked up in five federal prisons spread out across the country.

On February 28 each of the five men was thrown into solitary confinement—“the hole”—after a Justice Department order charging that the extensive solidarity they had received in the form of correspondence and the few visitors they were allowed made them a “national security risk.” An international campaign of protests was launched against this unsuccessful attempt by Washington to break them. They were released from the hole a month later.

The translation of Guerrero’s letter from Spanish is by the Militant.

Reason and solidarity have won. We’ve left the total isolation imposed on us for four weeks in the cells of the so-called hole. We were not given even a single letter or a single newspaper. They did not permit us to have a radio. They did not authorize us to make telephone calls. They did not grant us visits from our consular representatives. After two weeks of total isolation, some of us were able to see our lawyers, under very adverse conditions, but we never had access to our legal papers. This greatly hurt the preparation of our appeal. I think you are aware of these and many other details of this cruel injustice.

We knew that together with the entire people of Cuba, our friends in solidarity throughout the entire world raised the demand for an end to these arbitrary measures. We were being told this by the knowledge that there are men and women in the world who fight every day for a future of peace and justice. We were being told this by the growing solidarity with the Cuban people and with our cause....

I received the books Marianas en combate and Malcolm X habla a la juventud in both languages, Spanish and English. A number of us have already read them, and they’re magnificent. I’ve also been receiving the Militant and Perspectiva Mundial, as well as Granma Internacional and several copies of Cuba Socialista and La Gaceta de Cuba. All of that is of great importance for keeping us up to date on what’s happening in Cuba and the world, with a different and broader viewpoint than what’s in the usual newspapers and magazines that circulate here. I always share all these materials with a group of individuals interested in getting a different view of the world and of the Cuban reality. I will tell you that there are many here who would be interested in any book on the life and works of Che Guevara. If at any point you may have any of these available, I would be pleased to receive it.

I’m attaching a poem I wrote, dedicated to the First of May, the date on which the Cuban people reaffirmed their total support to the revolution and to the just cause of the proletarians of the world.

I repeat our total conviction that reason and solidarity will win!

Antonio Guerrero
U.S. Penitentiary
Florence, Colorado

Eight-hour day?
With the new concession contract many United Airline workers are being forced from full-time to part-time employment. The other “option” is to be laid off. For those who take part-time, overtime pay for more than eight hours per day is abolished. Now it’s possible for someone to work up to 16 hours in one day without overtime pay, as long as your weekly total is not over 40 hours.

Rick Young
Chicago, Illinois

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Please keep your letters brief. Where necessary they will be abridged. Please indicate if you prefer that your initials be used rather than your full name.

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