Nothing could be more natural than that in Cuba, for the forth time, a group of war correspondents gather - because we have been fighting a war here for more than 45 years. In this, the media sector plays a central role.

Noam Chomsky has said that Cuba is possibly the country against which the most acts of terrorism have been directed. He might also have said that Cuba is the country against which the most lies have been told, the most deceit used, and the most disinformation spread.

Along with the economic war, terrorism, mercenary attacks, sabotage, subversion and threats of direct military aggression against Cuba, comes the information war carried out by the mass media in a colossal, systematic and constant fraud in which vast financial and material resources are dedicated.

The basic respect for the truth is related to any information disseminated by the media as well as any information that is hidden with premeditation. Allow me to speak of a particular case that is close to the Cuban heart – that of our five compatriots imprisoned for more than six years in the United States in especially cruel conditions. They have been almost totally ignored by the press and when there is, rarely, any coverage at all, it is enshrouded in a black sea of lies.

Putting aside the local Miami press that carried out a ferocious and distorted campaign to pressure the court and jury into reducing the trial into a grotesque farce, the case was entombed in resounding silence by everyone else.

In more than six years only one article on the Five has appeared in The New York Times, with another in the Atlantic Journal Constitution which, while objective, merely skimmed over the case in a brief and partial manner. The only time the case has appeared on television was in a 7 minute 25 second segment which included a representant of the anti-Cuba terrorist right-wing. Recently, a more complete account was published – but, thanks to capitalism, only due to paid publicity. If you pay the price you can have something commercially published in a newspaper which has hardly written a word on the subject in six years.

This happens in a country that day after day dedicates entire pages of its newspapers and magazines, and, in large part, the programs of its television channels, to issues pertaining to court trials. Remember O.J. Simpson? Who in the United States is ignorant of the judicial processes involving Kobi Bryan or Martha Stewart? To make matters worse, as a consequence of so-called globalization the adventures of such people cross borders and swamp the homes of the globalized elite with these soap operas.

But where is the analysis, the program, the editorial on the case against our five compatriots?

When on occasion they have felt obliged to say something, they falsify the data and carefully smother the fundamental question.

They freely repeat, as the vociferous reactionaries of Miami have done, that these five are “spies”. This is totally false. Why do they call them this if they were not charged as such by the US government? Why do they not read the actual charges by the District Attorney that are a matter of public record? The charge sheet contains 24 accusations in which not a single one refers to actual acts of espionage. In fact, the District Attorney’s office made a point of stressing the fact that no secrets had been obtained and that the accused had in no way damaged the security of the United States. This was also publicly acknowledged by the Pentagon and reiterated under oath by high officials called for their expert testimony.

Three of our compatriots – not all five – were accused of “conspiracy to commit espionage”, which is by no means the same. In the US system, there is a big difference between carrying out something substantive and “conspiracy” to hypothetically carry out something in the future. For the former proof has to be presented, for the latter only a jury open to intimidation by an environment of irrational anti-Cuba hatred is needed. Hatred fed by a campaign of lies and slander by local radio, television, and print media agreeing to any of the prosecution charges. This is exactly what happened. This coarse manipulation of two distinct issues that carry different judicial implications and procedures and the malicious display in the press, achieved their purpose: not only were our compatriots found guilty of the false “conspiracy” charge, but were also excessively given the maximum sentence possible – life in prison which is reserved by law as the harshest punishment for those who have carried out actual concrete acts of espionage. The media thus carried out its task as an instrument to prevent a fair trial from taking place. So why continue this pretence?

The silence and manipulation in this case has had very grave consequences. The explanation is very clear in documents signed by the district attorney, in decisions rendered by the judge, and in acts taken by the court – all of which are public record for those who seek to read them.

This is the truth that these so-called “news providers” attempt to hush. During the entire process from the moment the Five were arrested on September 12, 1998 to this day, the United States government has expressed support for the terrorists that operate against Cuba from US territory. This is evidenced in charges leveled against the men, in the sentencing guidelines requested by the Government, and in the maximum penalties applied for each of the five Cubans, as well as the imposition of an additional sanction to prevent them acting against terrorists upon their release – thereby “incapacitating” them, to use the prosecution’s terminology. Agreeing with this particular petition, the court included in the sentence the prohibition that the accused associate with, or visit specific places where there are known to frequent individuals or groups such as terrorists, members of organizations that advocate violence and organized crime figures.” These words so solemnly pronounced appear in the trial transcript for December 14 and 27, 2001. However, the mass media pretends not to know of these words.

Three months after the atrocious attack on the Twin Towers, the US government acknowledges that terrorists operate on its own territory – but this is hardly news. It acknowledges that it knows who the terrorists are and which places they frequent – but this isn’t news. It acknowledges that far from arresting them, it protects them and prohibits its citizens from harming them – but this isn’t news. Nor is it news that Mr Bush’s government never hesitates to repeat, again and again, without the slightest embarrassment: “those who harbor terrorists are as guilty as the terrorists themselves”.