The New York Times

Dear Friends in my Cubalists,

Len would be amused that I would interrupt my hiatus to bring attention to an error about the case of the five Cuban heroes in his New York Times obituary this morning, an error frequently made by the media and frequently corrected by Len. He would have wanted this error to be corrected right away. Len worked constantly for justice and he will always be our treasure. He combined brilliance about legal issues with his sweet generosity of spirit, a magnificent combination.

This morning I called Bill Keller’s office at The New York Times and someone there returned my call and said she will report my remarks and someone will get back to me.  So perhaps the error will be corrected soon. Perhaps not, so I want to correct it here.

In the obituary, Bruce Weber writes that “the Cuban 5…were convicted in 2001 of espionage against the United States”. There was never a charge of espionage against any of the Cuban Five. There was a charge of “conspiracy to commit espionage” against three of the heroes.

Here is what Leonard Weinglass said about the use of the conspiracy charge in the case of the Cuban Five:

“Conspiracy has always been the charge used by the prosecution in political cases. A conspiracy is an agreement between people to commit a substantive crime. By using the charge of conspiracy, the government is relieved of the requirement that the underlying crime be proven.  All the government has to prove to a jury is that there was an agreement to do the crime. The individuals charged with conspiracy are convicted even if the underlying crime was never committed. In the case of the Five, the Miami jury was asked to find that there was an agreement to commit espionage. The government never had to prove that espionage actually happened. It could not have proven that espionage occurred.  None of the Five sought or possessed any top secret information or US national defense secrets.”

Please help keep that charge straight when speaking and writing about the Cuban Five. Please see below for the obituary.

My best,
Jane
janefranklin.info

On the afternoon of March 23rd, the same day he marked 78 years of an exemplary life, Leonard Weinglass’s heart stopped beating.

He’d suffered a terrible illness that since January had brought him to a critical and especially painful phase of his life, yet he never stopped working for even a moment. During the last months of his life, as he struggled heroically against illness and physical pain, he dedicated himself body and soul to the preparation and presentation of a Habeas Corpus appeal for Gerardo Hernández Nordelo and for Antonio Guerrero, without stopping to work on the appeals for the rest of the Five.

Just before entering the hospital where he would undergo an urgent operation, he put the final touches on the appeals for Gerardo and Antonio and turned the rest over to other colleagues who were to do the same while he was in recovery.  Only then did he agree to take care of himself.

And that’s how he always was.  While still a very young man, he joined a firm that, under the direction of Victor Rabinowitz and Leonard Boudin, waged countless battles on behalf of the unions, civil liberties and justice in the United States. With his brilliant defense in 1968 of the Chicago Eight, Lenny began an uninterrupted and admirable career that included the cases of Jane Fonda, Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, Angela Davis, Mumia Abu Jamal, Amy Carter, Kathy Boudin and many others, up to and including the Five Cuban anti-terrorist fighters, and his most recent collaboration with the defense attorneys for Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks. The story of the struggles of the North American people cannot be written without the name of Leonard Weinglass being highlighted on each page.

Now and forever, our homage and gratitude go with him.

The loss of Lenny is a difficult blow for Gerardo, Ramón, Antonio, Fernando and René.  He was their best and most tireless defender, someone who dedicated all his energy and talent to their cause, and struggled for them until the end, amidst his own suffering and agony, until his last breath.

The struggle for the liberation of our comrades must continue, in conditions that are now even more difficult than before, without Lenny.  We renew our commitment to move forward until we achieve freedom for all of them.  Let’s do it ceaselessly, without resting.  It’s the least that we could do for the tireless fighter, the selfless and lucid combatant who was always our dear comrade, Leonard Weinglass.

Translation: Machetera

Dear friends:

Last night our attorney and beloved friend Leonard Weinglass died. The notice reached me this morning through various messages of friends and families.

This is one of those occasions where there are no words to express the profound sorrow that one feels for the loss of such a beloved comrade in the struggle. Nothing could prepare us for this moment. Just as Len himself showed me many times, my thoughts were always of hope, a hope that he would overcome such a sudden illness.

Today I am remembering many shared moments with him.

One of those, that day of my re-sentencing in the Miami court, where Weinglass hoped that it would just be a matter of a process and that I would receive the least sentence possible, for which he had worked without rest. We all know what finally happened. But there was a very critical moment when the judge scolded the prosecutor about the things that she had argued eight years before, to urge a life sentence that was imposed on me in 2001. I was at Len’s side and I could see his disturbed reaction and surprise, and he looked at me and said, “What’s is this?” And I told him: “Don’t worry, tell her all you want to say, I confide completely in you.” And Len found the precise words, because his heart harbored only the strength of justice and the purity of truth.

We are in the midst of what is considered our last legal recourse, the habeas corpus. With an iron will during those difficult days Len wrote in his bed a memorandum that strengthens our irrefutable arguments. It is difficult to think that now he will now no longer be physically with us, but Len will always be accompanying us. His work and example will serve every step of the way as a guide and stimulus for all the lawyers who will continue defending us honorably and for all the friends who make up the unstoppable solidarity that will bring us home.

Thinking of Weinglass makes me think of Marti:

“Death is not real when one’s life’s work is done well.”

“Even in death, certain men radiate the light of an aurora.”

Five embraces.

!Venceremos!

Tony

FCI Florence

March 24, 2011

Leonard Weinglass

Not that long ago Len came to visit me and we worked for several hours preparing  for the next step of my appeal. I noticed at the time that he was tired. I was worried with his advanced age that he was driving alone after a long trip from New York. The weather was bad and the roads from the airport up to Victorville wind through the mountains surrounding the high desert. I mentioned my concern to him but he did not pay it any attention. That was the way he was, nothing stopped him.

When we would meet the same thing would always happen. At some point in our conversation, while listening to him talk, my mind would separate from his words and I would focus on the person. I would realize that here is this great man, the tremendous lawyer, the legendary fighter for justice, right here in front of me. I told him that I had seen images of him in documentaries on TV dedicating himself to important legal
cases that he had participated in from a very young age. With pride I would tell people watching, “that is the lawyer of the Five”. It did not matter how much I read or heard about Len I knew through his humility and modesty that there was a lot I still had to discover about this man who had dedicated his life to his profession.

Len always insisted that our case, like the others that he had dedicated lots of his time to, was essentially a political one. He cautioned us from the start that this struggle would be long and difficult.  His experience with the “system” had taught him that. For our part, beyond the professional relationship we had, we always thought of him as one compañero in the battle for justice.

Len leaves us at an important moment, but he leaves us prepared to carry on the path. On more than one occasion he expressed his admiration and respect for the other lawyers on our legal team, and I think that he has left confident that our case is in good hands.

Like other people, who during these years have accompanied us in our struggle to make justice prevail, he will not be with us to see the inevitable triumph. We are confident that day will arrive and to Len, and to all the others, we will pay them a well deserved tribute in our homeland.

On behalf of the Cuban Five, and our families, and from the millions of Cubans, and brothers and sisters from all over the world who trusted and admired him, we send our most sincere condolences to Len’s family and friends.

Leonard Weinglass, Presente!

Gerardo Hernandez Nordelo

USP Victorville, California

March 23, 2011

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Leonard Weinglass

Leonard Weinglass, was a restless fighter for the cause of five Cubans who have been in US prisons since 1998, internationally known as the Cuban Five. He died on the same day he was born back in 1933.

Weinglass would have turned 78 today, since he died on the same day he was born back in 1933.

The outstanding lawyer graduated from Yale´s Law School in 1958. Some of his cases are still being studied in all American law schools at present.

He became a renowned law professional because he has represented defendants in the most spectacular judicial processes in the United States, from the Chicago Eight to Jane Fonda, from Angela Davis to the kidnappers of Patty Hearst, from Daniel Ellsberg to Amy Carter.

Weinglass became a well known lawyer after the trial of the Chicago Eight, demonstrators against the Vietnam War who were arrested during protests at the Convention of the Democratic Party in 1968 and were charged with conspiracy, inciting to riot and other charges. Among his clients were Abbie Hoffman; Tom Hayden, a political activist, and other civil rights activists.

Weinglass also defended Daniel Ellsberg, a man who, in 1971, leaked some Pentagon documents about the secret history of the Vietnam War to the press. The documents served as an instrument to force President Nixon to step down from power. The case is compared to Wikileaks.

In an interview granted by Weinglass to cubadebate, the lawyer explained why he accepted to defend Antonio Guerrero and support the cause of the five Cubans held in US jails.

He said “I had never worked as a lawyer with the aim of making money, or in litigations for money…Since I studied at the university and we were taught that being a lawyer entails a commitment to justice, I assumed it as such, with absolute passion. Since that point in time I have been involved in cases where justice has been denied, or in cases with political nature because I understand politics—a commitment to those whom are denied justice everyday-. I have also been in processes that have acquired international character in the United States. In this particular case, these three elements are combined, though there is something else: we are representing five exceptional human beings. For me Antonio is not just another defendant. Being his lawyer is more than that. It simply is an honor.

(Con información de Cubadebate)