adminCuban nationals in the United States.
“Mandela was detained by the apartheid government for 27 years for terrorism, but the apartheid government released him because of international pressure and pressure from within South Africa.
“We know South Africa’s voice is respected all over the world and we ask them to ask the American president to unconditionally release the detained Cubans,” the ambassador said in Johannesburg where he was lobbying for support to free the incarcerated Cubans.
Five Cuban intelligence officers were arrested in Miami on September 12, 1998 on charges ranging from conspiracy to commit espionage, conspiracy to commit murder, acting as an agent of a foreign government and other illegal activities in the United States.
“We know the popular power can assist the Cubans.
“We ask organisations in South Africa to visit the incarcerated Cubans and see their conditions and also to pressurise the American government to release them,” the ambassador said.
The ambassador said popular South Africans and organisations should approach those linked to the American government politically to pressure President Barack Obama to release the five Cubans.
He told Xinhua that they have exhausted all the legal appeal channels in the US to secure the release of the Cubans.
De Cossio said the five Cubans were not justly tried as the judges did not exercise their discretion but were told to convict the five with no evidence.
“Some terrorists who were killing the Cuban people were operating freely in America with American government support,” he said.
The five Cubans entered the US to stop the killing of the Cuban people by the terrorists and also to protect the Cuban interests.
“The five did not target the American security agents or try to destabilise America or harm anyone in America.
“They simply reported back to the Cuban authorities about the impending attack on Cubans.
“Their Miami trial was unfair and unjust.”
The Cuban ambassador said the African National Congress (ANC), the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and the South African Communist Party (SACP) have resolved in the congresses to call for the release of the Cubans. — Xinhua.
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