Antiterrorist.cu
2009-01-29
Cuba’s foreign minister has said that his country is disposed to release jailed so-called dissidents in exchange for the return of the five Cubans imprisoned in the US, EFE reported Thursday. The swap was first proposed last month by Cuban President Raul Castro during an official visit to Brazil.
“Each and every one of the words said earlier by Raul remains in effect,” Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque said Wednesday at a press conference in Havana.
While in Brazil, Castro said: “If they want the dissidents, we’ll send them tomorrow, with their families and all, but let them return our five heroes to us.”
He was referring to Gerardo Hernandez, Rene Gonzalez, Antonio Guerrero, Ramon Labañino and Fernando Gonzalez.
The men were arrested more than 10 years ago in South Florida, where they were sent to monitor terrorist organizations in the wake of several terror bombings on the island masterminded by Miami-based anti-Castro militant Luis Posada Carriles.
The five were convicted in a federal court in Miami and given sentences ranging from 15 years to life in prison. Attorneys hired by the Cuban government are trying to get the US Supreme Court to review their convictions.
