FRFI 177 February / March 2004
The Miami 5, five Cubans given sentences ranging from 15 years to life imprisonment on trumped-up spying charges in the United States, will have their appeal heard from 10 March onwards. But the appeal will be held in Miami where the original trial took place in an atmosphere of anti-Cuban hysteria and political pressure. The fact that a fair hearing for the Cubans was impossible in such a hostile environment forms one of the 24 grounds for their appeal.
Among other grounds for appeal is the argument that the activities of the Miami 5 were aimed at preventing acts of violence, planned by the Miami mafia against Cuba, and that such acts could have had negative consequences for the US. In the original trial, the judge had refused to allow evidence showing the Cubans had acted out of ‘necessity’. The defence will also argue that the prosecution evidence was inadequate, that they were not allowed to present a proper defence, and that the defendants were mistreated by being held in solitary confinement for 17 months before their trial and having their documents confiscated.
Meanwhile, the torture and mistreatment continue. Since their original trial, the Cuban political prisoners have been held in separate prisons spread across the US and are unable to contact each other. During the war on Iraq, they were kept in solitary confinement. The US administration has denied their families visas to travel to the US or moved the prisoners at short notice to prevent relatives from visiting them.
If this appeal fails, the Miami 5 could ask for an ‘en banc’ hearing in front of all the 14 to 16 11th Circuit judges. After that, their only further course of action is an appeal to the Supreme Court, a body loaded with right-wing supporters of George Bush.
Cuba has lowest infant mortality rate in Latin America
In 2003, Cuba attained a rate of 6.3 infant deaths per 1,000 live births as an international measure of health and, in particular, of maternal-infant care. This makes Cuba the Latin American country with the lowest infant mortality rate.
According to the State of the World’s Children published by Unicef, the United States registers 7.0 (a figure which masks the increasing disparity between the death rates for white infants on the one hand and black and hispanic infants on the other). Cuba’s figures are broadly uniform across the country, with the poorest region, rural Guantanamo, having a figure of 8.6, with other provinces ranging from 4.2 to 6.0.
Many developing countries have figures as high as 60 deaths per 1,000 live births; the least developed have rates of 100.
Cuba’s impressive figure reflects the priority given to health care within the country, its universal accessibility and the training and commitment of its health professionals.
