On Tuesday evening I had the pleasure of presenting the documentary I made with Cuban television director, Roberto Ruiz Rebo to a group of cross party Irish parliamentarians, amongst others including members of the Irish Free the Miami Five Campaign, in the Cuban ambassador’s residence in Dublin.

“Mission against Terror” is a 48 minute documentary charting Cuba’s struggle against the Miami based terrorism that has continued from the triumph of the Cuban Revolution in 1959 to the present day and the necessity for Cuba to send their own people to infiltrate the right-wing anti-Cuban groups with a view to finding out their plans.

The film shows how on September 12th 1998, five Cuban men were arrested in Miami and after a trial that the well-known criminal lawyer, Leonard Weinglass describes as a “violation” from start to finish, the men were sentenced to a total of four life sentences and 77 years.

The response to the film was very positive with some of those present actually describing it as “fantastic”. (Thanks Dr. David Hickey)

One of the main functions that the work will fulfil is to provide the Free the Five campaigns all over the world with material that explains the case and outlines the legal flaws in the trial.

Simon McGuinness, Irish Campaign to Free the Five:

Simon McGuinness: “It’s going to be a really useful vehicle for us. It puts in one package the whole story about the five, what they were doing; why they were doing it; why it was important to Cuba that they doing that. It brings in the case in a way that leads people to understand that we are dealing with a miscarriage of justice here, an important strand for us in Ireland. It also brings in the solidarity movement around the world and how important it is to support the men’s families as well as the men themselves while they are in jail.

Its also very useful because it has plenty of archival material from the 60’s and 70’s that illustrates the kind of sabotage and terrorism that Cuba has had to endure. I think that the context for the Five to go to Miami to do their work is very clearly explained. I think also it comes across very clearly that what the men were not involved in espionage against the United States as they were not gathering any information that could be construed as a threat to the security of the US.

Eleanor Lanigan, Free the Miami Five Campaign committee member, remarked on how crucial it is to have a human side to the story as well as the political:

Eleanor Lanigan: “ I found it very emotional to see the families; to realise that these men have wives, mothers brothers, children, etc. A lot of people here in Ireland would relate to that because of our own history of political prisoners. Apart from the injustice against the five men, a lot of people are not very aware of people’s lives in Cuba which is touched on in the film. A lot of Irish go there for their holidays but they would not be aware of Cuban people’s lives. I think that it will be an eye-opener for people watching the video that Cuban people are just like us with normal family lives-the only difference being that they live under the threat of terrorism.”

Next stop Brussels and then Luxembourg to present “Mission against Terror” at the European Solidarity with Cuba annual Meeting.