Cuban President Fidel Castro delivers a speech in front of portraits

of the 'Five Heroes,' Cubans convicted in Miami of espionage. …

Tomado De Hoy, Dominican Republic

The Miami Five: Explaining

Things to a Precocious Child

"Grandpa, this can't be true. Why would a man who plants bombs be free, and the Five who want to stop people from planting bombs be in jail?"

By Hamlet Hemann

Translated By Halszka Czarnocka

October 25, 2007

Dominican Republic - Tomado De Hoy - Home Page (Spanish)

[Editor's Note: This article is about the "Miami Five," Fernando Gonzalez, Antonio Guerrero, Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon Labanino and Rene Gonzalez were dispatched by the Cuban government in the early nineties. Their task was to infiltrate the anti-Castro Cuban exile groups in Miami, who were believed to be engaged in acts of sabotage against Cuba.  Their case has taken on the same national significance in Cuba as did that of Elian Gonzalez ].

If you want to put your mastery of a subject to a test, simply try explaining it to a child. I had this experience a few days ago, when my little grandson interrupted us adults with a question: "Grandpa, who are these Five people that you're talking so much about?" I looked down and saw an eager little face; he didn't bat an eyelash and was calmly waiting for my response. "Well … those gentlemen are five Cubans who are imprisoned in the United States and …" Before I could complete my sentence, the boy's factory of "whys" went into full production.

"And why are they prisoners?"

"They are prisoners because they found out who the people were, that were being sent from the United States to plant bombs and kill people in Cuba."

"And why didn't the American police catch the people who were planting bombs in Cuba and put them in prison? If they kill people they are bad, and the American police should put the bad ones in prison."

"I really don’t know why the good ones are imprisoned and not the bad. The truth is that sometimes to try and prevent them from doing more harm, the Cuban government informs the American government about the activities of the "bad ones" in the United States. But The U.S. seldom takes notice of it."

My grandson's eyes continued wide open, but his lips were pressed together; evidently, he was ready to ask another question as soon as I shut up.

"You see, before you were born, there was a president in the United States named Ronald Reagan. A bunch of bad guys wanted to kill him when he went to a place called North Carolina. Some good Cubans told the American police about it and they managed to catch the bad guys. And at that time, they forgot to say thank you to those who saved the life of the American President ".

"There is another case," I went on. "In Cuba they have published details about who participated in the murder of another President of the United States, who was called John Kennedy. And those who govern there never showed any interest."

But the boy wouldn't let go.

"And how can Cubans in Cuba learn things about the United States that the American police don't know?"

"Well, perhaps some of those American policemen know what's really going on, but aren't interested in investigating these things themselves. Look, here's an example: there's a very bad kind of man that has placed bombs on Cuban planes and killed many people [Luis Posada Carriles ]. Everyone knows how bad he is, and they also know that he has always worked for the United States government. Well you see, he isn’t a prisoner, but walks freely in the streets in that country without any bother."

"But Grandpa, this can't be true. Why would a man who plants bombs be free, and the Five who want to stop people from planting bombs be in jail?"

"Ah! That's the question! It's the United States government that has permitted such bad people to plant bombs and kill people. They must fear that if they were put in prison, they would tell the whole world who aid them to do it."

"But that's not right. The teacher told us in school that the bad people should be punished and the good ones rewarded." There was silence in the room and then the little voice sounded again:

"But you haven’t told me how long those who found the bad people who set up bombs are going to stay in prison."

"Oh, well, my boy, it's unlikely that under a government like that of Bush, the Five will be released. The United States legal system has violated all accepted norms by keeping those gentlemen in prison. They have even denied some of the family visits. Such is the hatred in those who are protecting criminals.

"Now, my boy, it is important that we never fail to denounce such abuse - punishing innocents while protecting criminals. That is why we talk so much about the Five: so that memory doesn't fail us and we never forget that injustice cannot be tolerated from anyone, no matter how powerful they may be."

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