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Cuba Demands Release of 5 Cubans Arrested by U.S.
Cuban leader Fidel Castro headed Friday a demonstration in Havana, demanding the release of five Cubans arrested in September 1998 in the United States as presumed spies.
The demonstration, in which nearly 40,000 people participated, took place in front of the U.S. interests office in Cuba.
The United States accused the five Cubans, Rene Gonzalez, Ramon Labanino, Fernando Gonzalez, Antonio Guerrero and Gerardo Hernandez, of gathering military information, involving in murder cases and endangering the country's security.
The Cuban government describes the five Cubans as "heroic patriots" who gathered information on U.S.-organized terrorist activities by individuals opposing the socialist regime in the island.
One of the defense counsels said the five Cubans, who have been imprisoned for 17 months, were sent to isolated prison cells last Tuesday.
In a massive protest last Saturday, Castro said the defense of the five Cubans will be a long and tough battle. The U.S. authorities will have no other choice but to rectify, "for they will not be able to afford the political and moral cost of holding to such accusation," he added.
The case has turned into a new confrontation between Washington and Havana, almost one year after the return of boy Elian Gonzalez to Cuba.
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