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<font size=4 color="#FF0000"><b><i><u>2 articles follow<br><br>
</u></i></b></font>The Miami Herald<br>
Posted on Thu, Apr. 12, 2012<br><br>
<font size=4><b>Billboard company takes down ad for video that defends
Cuban spies<br><br>
</b></font>By Juan O. Tamayo<br>
jtamayo@ElNuevoHerald.com<br>
<a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/04/12/v-print/2745068/billboard-company-takes-down.html" eudora="autourl">
http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/04/12/v-print/2745068/billboard-company-takes-down.html<br>
<br>
</a>A billboard in Little Havana advertising a video that defends five
notorious Cuban spies was taken down just hours after it went up, amid
anonymous phone threats that a restaurant beneath the sign would be
attacked.<br><br>
Max Lesnick, a Radio Miami commentator who regularly demands the release
of the five spies tried in Miami in 2001 and sentenced to long prison
terms, said the Alianza Martiana paid for the advertisement. Lesnick is
also one of the leaders of the Alianza.<br><br>
The ad went up on a billboard on the roof of a restaurant on the corner
of 1st Street and 17th Avenue SW around noon Wednesday and was already
down by about 7 p.m. , Lesnick said.<br><br>
He and the Alianza were behind two previous ads defending the spies.
Exiles who criticized those advertisements branded them as provocations
and asked if Miami Beach Jews would not force down any billboards
praising Adolf Hitler.<br><br>
“If the Jews do that, it would be wrong, too,” said Lesnick, a Jewish
Cuban. “We will put up our billboard every chance we get because that’s
the right we have” to free speech.<br><br>
Lesnick said the Alianza Martiana paid $3,500 to the Sarasota-based CBS
Billboards for a 30-day display of the ad. There was no immediate word on
whether the Alianza would get its money back, he told El Nuevo
Herald.<br><br>
The ad promoted a video, titled Freedom and available on Radio Miami’s
web page, in which the president of Cuba’s legislative National Assembly
of People’s Power, Ricardo Alarcon, defends the Cuban spies and demands
their return home.<br><br>
On the right side of the billboard was a large “5” — the emblem of the
Cuban government’s campaign to free the spies — and to the left was an
image of an open hand over the words “Give me Five,” in English.<br><br>
Lesnick said the ad originally said “Obama Give me Five,” but CBS asked
that the president’s name be removed to avoid complications with U.S.
advertising regulations in an election year.<br><br>
The billboard’s location in Little Havana — on the roof of a building
that houses a Honduran restaurant, La Casa de las Baleadas — was the only
one available when the agreement was signed, he added.<br><br>
“This is simply an advertisement for a radio program,” Lesnick
claimed.<br><br>
Restaurant owner Liliana Vasquez said she received several anonymous
phone threats Wednesday, including one saying, “We’re going to destroy
your place.” She called police, she said, and a CBS employee visited her
Thursday to apologize for the incident.<br><br>
The five Cubans were convicted in 2001 of conspiring to spy on South
Florida’s exile community, the Pentagon’s U.S. Southern Command in Miami
and U.S. military airstrips in Tampa and the Florida Keys.<br><br>
Four remain in prison, including Gerardo Hernández, serving two life
sentences on a charge of murder conspiracy stemming from his role in
Cuba’s shoot down of two Miami-based civilian airplanes in 1996, killing
all four men aboard.<br><br>
The fifth, Rene Gonzalez, completed his 13-year prison sentence and was
freed, but still must serve three years of probation. A judge recently
gave him permission to go to Cuba for two weeks to visit a brother
reportedly dying from cancer.<br><br>
Havana officials have confirmed the five are intelligence agents, but
claimed they were in South Florida only to spy on radical Cuban exiles
who might be plotting terrorist attacks on the Cuban government.<br><br>
Lesnick and the Alianza Martiana, named after Cuban independence hero
José Martí, have paid for two previous advertisements in defense of the
Havana intelligence agents. Both drew strong complaints from some Cuban
exiles. One was taken down quickly after it appeared on a billboard at
the Miami City Casino, on 37th Avenue and 4th Street NW. The other
appeared about two weeks later on the pages of The Miami Herald and El
Nuevo Herald.<br><br>
<br>
© 2012 Miami Herald Media Company. All Rights Reserved.<br>
<a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/" eudora="autourl">
http://www.miamiherald.com<br><br>
</a>Read more here:
<a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/04/12/v-print/2745068/billboard-company-takes-down.html#storylink=cpy" eudora="autourl">
http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/04/12/v-print/2745068/billboard-company-takes-down.html#storylink=cpy</a>
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<font size=4><b>International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban 5
Announces<br>
</b></font> <br>
The attack on Ozzie Guillen shows the Cuban 5 could never receive a fair
trial in Miami <br>
The avalanche of criticism and complete intolerance surrounding
statements from Florida Marlin's manager Ozzie Guillen in Time Magazine
certainly demonstrates how anyone who says any comment even remotely
favorable to Cuba will be viciously attacked by right wing anti Cuban
circles in Miami. This is a clear example as to why the Cuban 5, who
infiltrated right-wing exile groups in Miami in the mid-nineties to stop
their plans for violence against the island, and who ended up serving
lengthy sentences in U.S. Prisons, couldn't have possibly received a fair
trial in Miami. <br>
<br>
Alicia Jrapko, of the International Committee for the Freedom of the
Cuban 5 stated, "Those groups in Miami, who have made careers out of
howling about the lack of freedom of speech in Cuba, have now fully
exposed themselves in the case of Ozzie Guillen. They have shown that it
is they who will not tolerate a person's opinion if it does not line up
with their backward way of thinking about Cuba. If he could be so
vilified and forced to repent it shows there is no way the Cuban 5 could
receive a fair trial in that city." <br>
<br>
Lawrence Wilkerson, Colonel, US Army (Retired) and former chief of staff
to Secretary of State Colin Powell, wrote, "The only reason there is
such a hue and cry over Guillen's remarks is the deadly stranglehold over
Miami politics maintained by hard-line Cuban-Americans. This same deadly
stranglehold ensured the Cuban Five were railroaded to jail with
sentences their 'crimes' did not in any way warrant."<br>
<br>
The Cuban 5 were arrested in 1998 and although they made no threats or
injury to anyone and there was no transfer of U.S. government documents
or classified material, the Cuban 5 were convicted on conspiracy to
commit espionage charges and sentenced originally to four life sentences
and 77 years in U.S. prisons.<br>
<br>
On August 9, 2005, a three judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of
Appeals in Atlanta commented on the political atmosphere that exists in
Miami: "Here, a new trial was mandated by the perfect storm created
when the surge of pervasive community sentiment, and extensive publicity
both before and during the trial, merged with the improper prosecutorial
references." These federal judges affirmed "the
perception that these groups could harm jurors that rendered a verdict
unfavorable to their views was palpable."<br>
<br>
Activists from around the U.S. and international representatives working
for the freedom of the Cuban 5 are gathering for five days of activities
in Washington, DC next week from April 17th to the 21st. They will demand
that President Obama free the Cuban 5 who have been in U.S. prisons now
for more than 13 years.<br>
<br>
To see the full schedule of events and activities plus a list of
endorsers for 5 days for the Cuban 5 go to
<a href="http://www.thecuban5.org/" eudora="autourl">www.thecuban5.org<br>
</a> <br><br>
<br><br>
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