Cuban Five Defense Attorney Criticizes Article in Miami Daily “Erroneous and Unfounded”

The defense attorney for Cuban hero Gerardo Hernandez Nordelo, one of the Cuban Five imprisoned in the United States, denied having entered an appeal that contradicted the version given by the government in Havana concerning the downing 14 years ago of two small planes belonging to an exile group in Miami that left four dead.

The US lawyer, Richard Klugh, called an article published last week in the Miami daily El Nuevo Herald “erroneous and unfounded.”

According to the article, Gerardo Hernandez had stated in a “surprising about-face” that the incident took place over international waters and not in Cuban airspace as authorities on the island had claimed.

“The statements made in the article are the result of the well-known efforts of the newspaper to act tactically toward Cuba.

It is a complete distortion of the real request made by Gerardo,” said the Miami resident, an expert in criminal law adding “His personal faith in his government cannot be questioned,”’ the attorney said.

Hernandez, 45, is one of the five Cubans arrested in Miami in 1998 and sentenced in 2001 to lengthy prison terms stemming from charges related to espionage. He is serving the longest sentence of two life terms: one for conspiracy to commit murder in connection with the on February 24, 1996 downing of 2 airplanes belonging to the organization “Brothers to the Rescue”.

With habeas corpus, the defense hopes for a new trial. It is the most recent attempt since the US Supreme Court refused in June 2009 to review the case, which thus remains closed.

Radio Havana Cuba