An interview with Leonard Weinglass

Bernie Dwyer, Radio Havana Cuba
Antiterroristas
2004

Leonard Weinglass, the well-known civil rights lawyer from New York joined the legal team of the five Cuban political prisoners a couple of years ago, replacing Antonio Guerrero's previous lawyer who had to leave the team because of illness. Since then Leonard Weinglass has worked tirelessly on the legal aspects of the case, especially the appeal to the 11th circuit court of appeals in Atlanta, presented on March 10th this year. He has also campaigned for justice for the Five, speaking at numerous events and meetings both in the United States and Europe.

Bernie Dwyer, Radio Havana Cuba, had the opportunity to interview Leonard Weinglass by telephone at his office in New York Thursday 3rd June.

[Bernie Dwyer]: Good to speak to you again, Mr. Weinglass. You have been traveling quite a bit lately as a guest of various groups of lawyers and political activists to speak about the case of the five Cuban political prisoners in the US. In April you traveled to Europe.

[Leonard Weinglass]: Yes, I was in Berlin and Antwerp. Actually in Germany, I was invited by a number of groups but I was specifically invited by a group of attorneys and judges who practice law and hold court in Berlin.

[BD]: On a professional level, how do you think that the legal people you spoke to would analyze the case of the five?

[LW]: From the distance of Europe they see the case in political terms. They are generally aware of the four-decade history, they are aware of the aggressive actions and the military actions against Cuba and they are not surprised, but I would say somewhat shocked, by the
circumstances of the five. They feel at the outset, given the history, the prosecution is unjust and certainly the sentencing of the five is excessive and unjustified.

[BD]: Would they have any idea of the influence that the anti-Cuban right-wing groups have in Miami and how that could affect a court decision?

[LW]: I found them surprisingly well-informed about the nature of the Miami venue. They were not surprised at all as I described Miami. They seemed to know it. They seemed to know the connection between the extreme right-wing in the United States and the right-wing in the exile community in Miami. They are very aware of these factors and therefore were very open to my discussion of the way it actually happened.

[BD]: How did the ordinary people who came to listen to you react? Were the Europeans reactions different to those in the US?

[LW]: The groups that came to hear me speak when I spoke publicly were, by and large, people who had genuine concern for Cuba and a better knowledge than most Americans about the history. I found them to be much more receptive. The questions were much more political in nature than legal or technical. They were very glad to have more specific information about the case than they had up to that point I time.

[BD]: May 20th you shared a meeting in San Francisco with Alice Walker; what kind of audience attended and how did they react?

[LW]: The audiences in San Francisco were mixed. There were both people who had information and there were people who were new to the case. But I must say this, those who had information about the case had the most general impressions about the case and if I could speak unequivocally about any reaction, the reaction was they were pleased to have more specific information to use so they could generate more
interest in the case in their areas. So I was pleased to talk to them about specific aspects of the case.

When people heard the story I tell about Orlando Bosch and his being permitted to live in the United States after the Department of Justice deemed him the most notorious terrorist in the Western Hemisphere, there was a great deal of interest in that particular story. A lot of people who are close to the Democratic Party wanted to know more about that, which I have been providing them and they certainly want to encourage, in this particular campaign, more discussion of the connection of the Bush family to the terrorist network in the Miami area. So, there's been a lot of back and forth and follow-up with respect to Orlando Bosch.

[BD]: I can imagine that the Five are anxiously waiting for the result of the appeal?

[LW]: Of course they are. I have heard from several of them and everybody wants to be notified immediately and I, probably after the decision comes down, will be traveling to see, I hope, all of them and go over the decision with them because there are steps ahead of us and we have to analyze and see what steps are necessary from this point forward.

[BD]: As a result of the atrocities in the Abu Ghraid prison in Iraq, there have been lots of articles now on conditions in US prisons. Would say that one or all or any of the Five have been at the receiving end of that kind of mistreatment?

[LW]: Of course, a little over a year ago, they were all on the receiving end of putting them into isolation punishment cells. That was, however, an official administration action from Washington and not the product of anything related to their inter-personal relationships with the guards. I am not aware of any abusive treatment on that level.

However I must say, while we are talking, that one of the chief suspects in the torture scandal in Iraq is a correction officer by the name of Graner, and I know that officer very well because he was an officer at the same prison that Mumia Abu Jamal is being held at in Pennsylvania and as a matter of fact, he was fired from that prison because of his abusive behavior. He was also divorced because of his abusive behavior.

So, there exists in official records a clear record of his abusive treatment of his wife and of prisoners. And it was with that record in mind I believe that he was sent to Iraq and ended up in the Abu Ghraid prison. So I find the connection to Mumia's imprisonment with that very
interesting.

[BD]: Olga Salanueva, wife Rene Gonzalez and Adriana Perez, married to Gerardo Hernandez, are still requesting visas to go to the United States to visit their husbands. Is there a move on the part of US immigration to allow them enter the US?

[LW]: There is no news that I am aware of. However, with respect to an international campaign where Amnesty International has deemed the treatment of Rene and Gerardo as being tantamount to torture, because of being deprived visits by their spouses and in Rene's case, infant
daughter, the allegation that this is a form of torture now finds more credibility in the international community because of the revelations from Iraq and Afghanistan.

I hate to say this and it isn't something that gives me any pleasure, but the fact that these scandals are now internationally known give more resonance to the claim being made on behalf of Rene and Gerardo that they also subject to a form of torture inside a US prison.