A group of FBI agents woke up early last August 26 and headed to Opa Locka airport in the state of Florida. Shortly afterwards, three Cuban-born terrorists who have committed crimes in Mexico, Venezuela, the United States and other countries, arrived there in a small Lear jet. Only a few hours before, then Panamanian president, Mireya Moscoso, had granted a pardon for them and the group’s ringleader, Luis Posada Carriles, who left Panama for an unknown destination. Posada and his accomplices had planned to plant a bomb in the main hall of the University of Panama to assassinate Cuban president Fidel Castro during a visit to the Central American country for the 10th Iberoamerican Summit in 2000. Criminal acts such as the bomb attack against a Cuban civilian aircraft in 1976 that cost the lives of all 73 persons on board – a crime for which Posada still has to answer - confirm the terrorist nature of the group.

In an exclusive interview with Prensa Latina news agency, Alarcón comments about a connection with this case that, oddly enough, the US mainstream media has ignored. It has to do with the so-called “Miami Five”, a group of Cuban men who gathered information from these violent groups in an attempt to obstruct terrorist actions against their people and other countries – such as the case of the Cuban airliner in 1976.While the pardoned terrorists were welcomed under the protection of the FBI, Gerardo Hernández, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando González, René González and Ramón Labañino are serving sentences that range from 15 years in prison to two life sentences plus 15 years.

P.L.: What do you think is the connection between both cases?

R.A.: The connection is clear: terrorism. Because the essence of the case of the Five, the moral viewpoint, has to do with law and Cuba’s necessity to defend itself from the terrorist actions that are organized and carried out from US territory - particularly from Florida. Does anyone still have any doubt that it is a reality after these people – who are not only confessed terrorists, but who have also been convicted as such – arrived in the United States with total impunity? One of them, (Gaspar Jiménez) escaped from a Mexican prison. The other two have committed terrorist crimes in the United States: one was involved in the assassination of Orlando Letelier (a former Chilean ambassador to the US during the presidency of Salvador Allende), and the other in the murder of a Cuban in Miami.According to US regulations, a person suspected of any links with terrorism cannot reside in the United States. But, it appears that the rules do not apply in the case of these gentlemen. It is clear that there is connivance and tolerance with anti-Cuban terrorism in the United States, and Cuba has to defend itself trying to gather information about these plans and the only way – as it can not be through bilateral cooperation with the US government – is through the work and the sacrifice of people like the Five. The biggest difficulty that we face is the silence imposed around this case. A lot is said today about the arrival in Miami of these people but no one thinks of a connection between the two cases.

P.L.: And, what about Luis Posada Carriles?

R.A.: It is said that he never got to Miami - that he stayed somewhere else - but I have no proof of that. He is a fugitive who escaped from a Venezuelan prison after he was convicted for the bomb attack against the Cuban airliner in 1976. He is a man who has even confessed his terrorist activities as he did during an interview published two consecutive days of the front page of the New York Times in 1998.

P.L.: But, if he were in the United States, why would they deny it?

R.A.: Because if he were there they would be against the wall and they would have to comply with the anti-terrorist resolution that they presented and was approved by the United Nations.And in the case of Posada, there is also the accusation for the airliner case, for which he never answered. He “escaped” from a Venezuelan prison and afterwards he began to work directly under the command of Oliver North, who was – from the White House – directing of the Iran-Contra operation. All of that is included in the documents presented in the US Senate. I repeat, I don’t have the slightest idea about the whereabouts of Posada but I am not convinced of the story that he is somewhere else because it can be a strategy so that no one looks for him where he actually may be. Perhaps he is in Central America, as in the 1980s, but protected by the US government.They say he is not in the United States but in the interview with the New York Times he said that he entered and left (US territory) whenever he pleased.Frankly, I don’t have any proof that he is not in Miami because the safest place for him is precisely the United States.I think they also are afraid that there may be a scandal, that someone could cause some trouble with this.

P.L.: What’s the current status of the appeal process of the Five?

R.A: One of the basic technical questions of the appeal is the necessity to have held the trial somewhere else outside of Miami. Does anyone have any doubt that Miami was not the proper place to judge those five men who were there trying to find out what that (anti-Cuban) mafia was planning after these terrorists have arrived there and they were welcome with honors and no one has expressed any indignation?No one has established any connection between both cases because the issue of the Five is taboo. They are trying to keep it in the dark so that no one talks about it.

P.L.: Do you have any predictions about the result of the appeal?

R.A.: We are waiting for the announcement. In the United States all the cases with a political background are not solved just by taking into account the technical matters or the judicial arguments but the denunciation and mobilization of the people also plays a significant role. But there is a big problem: in this case, it practically does not exist if you look at it from the point of view of the mainstream media, in spite of the fact that, usually, judicial issues have the top coverage (in the most popular programs).People know all the details about the rape accusation against basketball player Koby Bryant, however, not a single word has been said about the Five.

P.L.: Nothing at all?

R.A.: Only five minutes in Fox News by a journalist who came here during the visit of the Patriarch Bartholomeu. There was also an article in the New York Times last year regarding the visa denial to the relatives René González and in March they also published an ad paid by a group of people who raised the funds with a lot of difficulty as they were asking for money for a case that people did not know anything about.Then, El Diario/La Prensa of New York did something similar, also with a paid ad. There has been nothing else and the problem is not that the case lacks attraction to the public, educated with a sick taste for judicial issues to which the American journalists dedicate many time and resources.

P.L.: So where is the process right now?

R.A.: That’s a question they always ask me: nowhere, we are waiting for the judges to announce their verdict. If you ask the same in the case of Koby Bryant or other similar cases, the spokesman will always have something new to say. But in the case of the Five, what is there to say? Nothing. Unfortunately, we can’t wait for a logical outcome as the court will announce a decision without a proper awareness of the topic. It is very difficult (to believe) that they will mend a very serious injustice like this case if there is not serious concern, unease or interest in US society.