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BBC interview with Gerardo Hernández, one of the Cuban Five<br><br>
BBC World Service<br>
2007/7/2<br><br>
<br><br>
Transcript of
<<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/ondemand/rams/nh27166____2007.ram%3EBBC" eudora="autourl">
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/ondemand/rams/nh27166____2007.ram>BBC</a>
interview with Gerardo Hernández<br>
July 2, 2007<br><br>
<br>
Well next month, a court in Florida is going to hear an appeal in a case
that sums up much about the relationship between the United States and
Cuba. Gerardo Hernández and four other Cubans were convicted in Florida
in December, 2001 on a range of charges including trying to obtain U.S.
military secrets, spying on Cuban exile groups, and, in Mr. Hernández'
case, conspiracy in the deaths of four Cuban-Americans whose planes were
shot down by the Cuban government in 1996.<br><br>
Gerardo Hernández is serving a double life sentence, but he argues that
all he was trying to do was protect Cuba from what he calls
"terrorist groups," anti-Castro organizations based in the U.S.
He and his fellow defendants also argue that their trial was unfair
because of the anti-Castro mood in Florida where it was held.<br><br>
In the first-ever media interview given by any of the five prisoners, I
spoke to Mr. Hernández on the telephone from his maximum security prison
in Victorville, California, and asked him to explain his story from the
beginning. What was he doing in Florida in the first place?<br><br>
Gerardo Hernández: Well in the first place, I was gathering information
on terrorist groups that used to operate in Florida with total impunity.
So at a certain point Cuba decided to send some people to gather
information on those groups and send it back to Cuba to prevent those
actions. In 1998, Cuba passed to the FBI some information regarding those
groups, hoping that the FBI would do something against them. And
unfortunately, what they did was arresting the people that have gathered
that information.<br><br>
But you do acknowledge that you were working as an agent for a foreign
government, and in one of your defense statements you do say that you
were working with false documents, falsee identity documents?<br><br>
GH: Yes, I do acknowlege that. But there is something called
"necessity defense," that says that if in order to prevent
crime you have to violate a law you can understand that. In my case, yes
I have fake I.D., I was working for foreign government, but not to affect
the U.S. interest, but to defend Cuban interests, to defend the Cuban
people from terrorism.<br><br>
And the crime you were trying to stop, what exactly were they, the
crimes?<br><br>
GH: Well, for example, in 1997, a bomb exploded in a Cuban hotel and
killed an Italian tourist. And in 1976, as you know, a bomb exploded in a
Cuban airplane and killed 73 people. And that's only two samples of
terrorist acts committed against Cuba. Anybody who lives in Miami, they
know what Commandos F-4 is, and they know what Alpha 66 is. They've got
training camps in the Everglades, they dress camoflage, and got weapons,
and they train for the day they're gonna' liberate Cuba. They used to go
to Cuba in boats and fire at Cuban buildings and they tried to organize
an internal sabotage and all kinds of actions. Hopefully the U.S.
government and the U.S. authorities will do something, because they say
they have a war against terrorists, but how come you gonna' allow those
terrorists to operate freely in Miami?<br><br>
There is one very contentious charge on which you were convicted and the
reason why you are serving such a long sentence the shooting down by
Cuba of two civilian planes from the United States in 1996. Did you have
any role connected to that?<br><br>
GH: No, absolutely not. I was in Miami and the plane was shot down in
Cuban waters, a long way away.<br><br>
So you didn't pass any information that would have helped the Cuban
government to shoot down the planes?<br><br>
GH: No, of course not. If you go to the records of those times, you will
see that José Basulto announced way before the trip, he said we are going
there on February 24, everybody knew that. And the government charged me
for conspiracy, and they said that is because I knew that the plane would
be shot down, and because I knew that the plane would be shot down over
international waters, which has no sense at all. It's something crazy,
but they need to blame somebody and they chose me.<br><br>
You have an appeal coming up. What will be the grounds for the
appeal?<br><br>
GH: We argue that the trial wasn't fair in Miami. Our trial lasted over
seven months and there were over 100 witnesses. The jury deliberated a
few hours and they didn't ask a single question. They just found us
guilty on every single count, and then the judge gave us the higher
sentence possible on every count.<br><br>
And you say that that is because of the influence of the Cuban exile
community in Florida?<br><br>
GH: Yes, of course. During the trial there were all kinds of
irregularities, to call it like that. People were phoning [?] the jurors,
and following the jurors, the press was following the jurors to their
cars, and there were riots or some kind of contest [?] in front of the
courts, all kind of things.<br><br>
So you think the jury was intimidated, or even tampered with? Was it as
serious as that?<br><br>
GH: I believe the jury was intimidated. Anybody who lives in Miami or who
knows what is going on there would understand that nothing related to
Cuba is normal in Miami.<br><br>
Cuban leader Fidel Castro in the past has taken quite an interest in your
case and he's spoken on your behalf. Have you heard from him directly at
all?<br><br>
GH: Well I had the opportunity to talk to him by phone on his birthday
two years ago.<br><br>
And what did he say?<br><br>
GH: Well he said that he's confident that justice will prevail because he
has always been confident that when the American people find out about
what has been done in our case, when the American people find out the
truth about our case, justice will prevail. Everybody are confident on
that.<br><br>
Gerardo Hernández of the so-called Cuban Five,
<<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/ondemand/rams/nh27166____2007.ram" eudora="autourl">
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/ondemand/rams/nh27166____2007.ram</a>
>on the phone from prison in California.<br><br>
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