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JUDGMENT NUMBER TWELVE OF TWO THOUSAND THREE (12/003) PRESIDENT: In Havana, on the seventh of April two JOSE UBALDO IZQUIERDO HERNANDEZ, a Cuban citizen, 37 years of age, a native of the Municipality of Güines, Province of Havana, the son of Ubaldo and Paula, married, with a high school education, unemployed, with Legal Identity Card No. 65110632081, a resident of Avenida 83 No. 3006 between 32 and 34, Finca Cruz, Municipality of Güines, Province of Havana, in provisional custody for this cause, and represented by designated defense counsel attorney Orlando Bello Fernández. HECTOR RAUL VALLE HERNANDEZ, a Cuban citizen, 34 years of age, a native of the Municipality of Guanabacoa, Province City of Havana, son of Nivaldo and Martha, married, with a twelve grade level of education, unemployed, Legal Identity Card No. 68052901367, a resident of Calle 40 No. 6123 between 60 and 65 Municipality of San José de las Lajas, Province of Havana, in provisional custody for this case and represented by designated defense counsel attorney José Antonio Dueñas Hernández. Acting as Prosecutor Attorney Patricia María Rizo Cabrera BEING THE PRESIDING JUDGE Msc. TATIANA BEHAR PANTALEON. FIRST ULTIMATE FACT: Proven that since the very triumph of the Cuban Revolution in January of 1959, the different American administrations have thought up different policies with the only intent of ousting our revolution, and the very person of its maximum leader Fidel Castro Ruz. To that effect, they have established different variants in accordance with the different conditions and historical junctions existing in the internal plane as well as the international one, that have gone from sabotages, the economic blockade, and the military organization of invasions, although without refraining from utilizing more subtle methods as that of promoting internal subversion. Nevertheless, during more than forty-three years, all its efforts have resulted in failures. In the development of these plans many citizens who were born in Cuba have played a predominant role. They emigrated to the United States of America, where they created numerous organizations and groups located, in their majority, in the city of Miami, state of Florida, all of a counter-revolutionary nature, and they have been financed by the successive administrations of the United States of North-America, so that they may subsidize not only their requirements, but citizens that, although residents inside the Cuban territory, were nonconformists and in opposition to the political, economic and social system chosen by the immense majority of its citizens, who from Cuban territory, betraying the country where they were born and their own people indistinctly, have offered information that go from bringing to light our economic plans to supplying data on our institutions and leaders, as it were the case, information that almost always with a marked malicious intent is distorted in consonance with the purposes that they pursue. This behavior became even more viable with the opening of the Office of the Interests of the United States of North-America in Cuba and later in the nineties, after the fall of the USSR and of the socialist block, since the United States of North-America considered that the difficult economic situation that we were going through, aggravated even more by the tightening of the blockade that almost since the beginning of the Revolution the U.S. Government has imposed on us, and with the new policies they implemented and whose fundamental objectives were expressed in the Torricelli Law and the Helms-Burton Law, would achieve a peaceful transition toward democracy, and to accelerate it, they decided to fortify the elements of the internal opposition, making them believe they would be the future leaders in Cuba. Going along with the U.S. government of North-America, with the Cuban-American mafia located in MIAMI and with the support of the Office of the Interests of the United States of America located in the City of Havana, the defendant MIGUEL GALBAN GUTIERREZ, a Cuban citizen , resident in the Municipality of Güines, Province of Havana, who did not share the ideas and principles of the majority of the Cuban people, and who since October of one 1994, and until 1996, had carried-out counter-revolutionary activities with the counter-revolutionary organization called College of Engineers and Architects, led by the citizen Orfirio Garcia Quesada, but that he abandoned to dedicate himself -taking advantage of the kindnesses offered by our society-, first to study for a master’s degree, and later to recover from an operation in his arm due to an injury he suffered in an automobile accident, and that was performed for free, he then resumes these counter-revolutionary activities in the month of August of the year 2001, through the Cuban citizen Jadir Hernández Hernández – who later abandoned Cuba in a legal way, and who was also a resident of the Municipality of Güines, who at the time functioned as president of the Alternative Commission of Studies –organization that is not registered by the Office of Associations of the Cuban Department of Justice. Later, the defendant GALBAN GUTIERREZ, together with the citizen Hernandez Hernandez, participated in the creation of the illegal organization called “Commission Cuba,” which was dedicated to the search of information on our political, economic, and social system so that it could be later disseminated in illegal pamphlets, of which he became its national coordinator. In the same manner, the defendant was a member of other counter-revolutionary organizations existing in his municipality, such as the movement “10 of December” and the “Veterans Center pro Democracy”. In the month of September of the same year 2001, all the opposition groups that existed n the Municipality of Guines became unified, with the creation of the organization Civic Coordinator Havana South Coordinator (CCHS) and later the Cuban Civic Alliance (ACC), of which not only the defendant GALBAN GUTIERREZ and Jadir Hernandez were members but also other people, among who was the comrade Noel Ascanio Montero, agent “Abel” to the Cuban State Security, who infiltrated the; being a source through which many of the activities conducted by these individuals became known. Later, the defendant GALBAN GUTIERREZ established links with oppositionists belonging to other counter-revolutionary organizations located primarily in the province of the City of Havana, among them Roberto de Miranda, Carlos Rio (sic) Otero, etc. who are also being tried at this moment for similar acts[1].
The activities the defendant GALBAN GUTIERREZ developed in these illegal organizations became his way of life, in such a manner that on March 15, 2002, he decided to quit the job he had held until then, dedicating himself wholeheartedly to his work in opposition to the Cuban government. At the beginning of his counter-revolutionary activity, the defendant GALBAN GUTIERREZ became a fervent listener to the ill-called Radio Martí, station that is dedicated to propagate false news on facts supposedly occurring in Cuba, and others which are true, but distorted; as well as to try to defame the figure of our leaders, but later, as part of the policies implemented by the U.S. Agency for International Development of Latin America and the Caribbean (USAID) that in order to achieve the goals of Section one hundred and nine of the Helms – Burton Law to encourage the creation of independent journalists, the defendant GALBAN GUTIERREZ, who, as we have already explained, was able to acquire a high cultural level graduating from a university as a mechanical engineer, later receiving a master’s degree thanks to the Revolutionary State, started to supply information to the said radio station through the Agency Havana Press which is not recognized by the Union of Journalists and Writers of Cuba, and of which he self-appointed himself as an “independent” reporter or journalist in spite of the fact that he is not, information that he obtained from third parties or that he thought up personally with malicious purposes to discredit the institutions of the Cuban Government, to misinform about our reality, to subvert the internal order, to contribute to the creation of an environment of conflict, to disseminate news about false violations of human rights, and to incite to civil disobedience, in order to generate situations that favored conditions for a so-called “humanitarian intervention” if the international junction was given that would permit it. Thus among many others, for example, he disseminated a news item dated June 5, 2002, news item number sixty-eight where he reported about an alleged riot that occurred at the prison of Melena 2, located in the municipality of the same name in the Province of Havana on May 25 of that same year, alleging that the more than one hundred inmates belonging to company number five had rebelled, burning mattresses, destroying beds, producing a short circuit, and other damages [1] Roberto de Miranda was tried and convicted, however, Carlos Rios Otero was not. whose amount he claimed were unknown, demanding that their leader not be transferred to another jail in the interior of the country; reason why the inmates had been brutally beaten with wooden clubs by a military force ten times larger than the number of inmates, and that it had been necessary to neutralize them with water hoses, with the action having to be suffocated, action he termed as of “of civic resistance”, by the riot control corps of the Department of the Interior, and airborne forces, police and firemen from three municipalities; news that he said had been provided to him by the Director of the Center For Liberty and Democracy Marta I. Horta Pupo – organization that is not registered with the Office of Associations of the Department of Justice of Cuba – and that the most important thing is that it was exaggerated to laughable extremes. That in the same manner, playing along with the USAID, that among its main functions included the publication of articles of the so-called “independent journalists” in the Internet, to then distribute copies in Cuba, and since the defendant GALBAN GUTIERREZ did not have a computer in his residence, and since he did not have employment with the Cuban State, he did not have access to the computers existing in many work centers[1], he began to visit the headquarters of the Office of Interests of the United States of North America, located in the Capital of the country on a weekly basis with this office allowing him to surf the net for two hours, place where he re-established contacts with Hernandez Hernandez after the latter established residence in Miami, and established links with the Cuban American Foundation with the defendant receiving from Hernandez Hernandez many e-mails where he encouraged the defendant to continue his links with the SINA, to continue carrying-out counter-revolutionary activities, and promised financial assistance for the purchase of the equipment necessary for the transmission of the information, and as payment for the same, being proven that the assistance did materialize; and also suggested the creation of Bulletin to publicize their ideas and couter-revolutionary activities taking place in the Province of Havana – recognizing that the project would be financed by the FNCA[2]. In addition, he asked for a telephone number so that members of that organization could contact him to start the plan -, its first number was published between the months of November and December of the same year 2002, and was called “Rio Arriba”, the voice of the Mayabeque[3], and of which the defendant GALBAN GUTIERREZ was named director, since he wrote the majority of the news items published there, although there were also some by the co-defendant JOSE UBALDO IZQUIERDO HERNANDEZ, who had also been authorized, although for a lesser period of time, to utilize the computers of the SINA and navigate the Internet; besides maintaining communications with the magazine “CUBANET” – dedicated to the disclosure of supposed violations of human rights in Cuba, - with a group called “Decoro”, whose objectives were likewise to falsify and distort the testimonies and information received in order to discredit the Revolution and its institutions; offering said reports, in spite of the fact that he lacked the qualifications and knowledge for the activity, news items that were taken by Hernández Hernández and included in the bulletin “Rio Arriba” the voice of the Mayabeque that this latter published in the United States of North-America, and then sent back so that it would be distributed among the counter-revolutionaries in the Province of Havana. Starting with this project, and in the same month of August of the year 2002, similarly to the defendant GALBAN GUTIERREZ, IZQUIERDO HERNANDEZ quit the job he had maintained up to that moment, completely dedicating himself to his subversive work. Of the bulletin “Rio Arriba” only four numbers or editions were published and distributed, and in the last one, dated March 4, 2003, there was published a news item written by the defendant IZQUIERDO HERNANDEZ that stated that in the municipality of Güines, between February 2 and 9, five hundred people had presented symptoms of hepatitis “C” or viral, the diagnosis being confirmed in almost the totality of the tests practiced; adding that this illness was due to the contamination of the water supply located in the town of Catalina of Güines, and also that another appearance of the same illness had occurred in the same municipality in the year 2001, that had resulted in the emergency closing of all gastronomic units, both state and private; adding that the information had been supplied by a doctor on duty at the municipal hospital, and that it was confirmed by official statements, when the truth was that from January 31 until March 4, 2003, the existence of two hundred and ninety-six cases of viral hepatitis A had been confirmed due to damage to the network of water mains in a specific point of the municipality located some nine kilometers from the place where the defendant IZQUIERDO HERNANDEZ had located it, when he gave his information all of which was confirmed by the Municipal Director of Hygiene and Epidemiology of the Municipality of Güines. Another of the news items offered by the defendant IZQUIERDO HERNANDEZ was supplied by the co-defendant HECTOR RAUL VALLE HERNANDEZ who is also in opposition to the Government, member of the Confederación de Trabajadores Democráticos de Cuba (CTDC), an illegal organization of which VALLE HERNANDEZ was the vice president, in spite of the fact that he had not worked for five years, which, in synthesis, referred to the alarm among the neighbors of the municipality of San Jose de las Lajas located in the province of Havana and where the defendant resides, due to the increase of the cases of robbery by force in dwellings and work centers during the year two thousand and two, giving a figure of over a hundred and where he criticized the police when he stated that, even though the crimes were reported, the police did not respond to the calls, specially if they occurred at night; linking this information to another of the same slant supplied by VALLE HERNANDEZ to another self appointed “independent journalist” and which was published in the Project Cuba Prensa Libre where he stated that the residence of VALLE HERNANDEZ had been the object of a robbery with force that had remained in the degree of tentative, but that the police, even though it had been notified, had not gone to the place because the victim was in opposition to the government, to whom the leader of the Municipal Unit had reported that there had not been time for it, because crimes committed at state centers had priority, when it was verified that the crime had not been officially reported, but that in spite of that the operating guard had gone to the place on the request of the defendant Under the information reported by the defendant IZQUIERDO HERNANDEZ appeared the logo Bobliotecas Cívicas Sebastian Arcos since this person who up to the year two thousand manifested himself in favor of the revolution, belonged to its social and mass organizations, as well as being a member of the organizations of vanguard of the Cuban youth and of its working class, occupying responsibilities in the first one at the municipality level, as well having worked the Company of Commerce and Services as a clerk first and then as an Administrator, in the year two thousand began to turn around in his conduct and joined the counterrevolutionary Comision libraries in the residences of some of the members of the counter-revolutionary groups who for that purpose received supplies of books, bulletins and pamphlets through the Office of Interests, created in his dwelling located in the Eighty-third Avenue, number three thousand and six, between thirty-second and thirty-fourth, Finca Cruz, Municipality of Güines, Province of Havana, an “Independent” library which he called “Sebastián Arcos” – in remembrance of the Cuban citizen of that name that died in a Prison Establishment while he served a sentence for counter-revolutionary crimes and who is considered by the opponents of our social system as a fighter on behalf of human rights, library that was not legalized and for which reason it did not receive books from the Cuban state but that was a vehicle for the SINA that was conducted by an official of Cubalse, named Ricardito, of whom any other particulars are unknown, on a monthly basis he delivered books, pamphlets and magazines, among them the bulletins “Rio Arriba” (Upriver) of which eleven were confiscated, bulletins of the Cuban Project “Yo demando” (I Demand), a survey on ecological themes, the pamphlet “Palabras Nuevas” (New Woeds), pamphlets of El Disidente (The Dissident), issues of the magazine Cubanet, documents that contain social, political, and economic information and whose circulation could only constitute a stimulus to gain followers to the capitalist ideology, since lack literary and cultural values, and he also received in this way sheets of papers, pens and pencils. As far as the defendant VALLE HERNANDEZ, it was also verified that he started in the counter-revolutionary activities in one thousand nine hundred ninety-two in the party Pro Derechos Humanos en Cuba (For Human Rights in Cuba) and that he joined the CTDC in one thousand nine hundred and ninety-five, year in which he tried to emigrate to the United States of North-America reason why he visited the Office of the Interests Section of said country in Cuba, place where an official took interest in his political position and the opposition groups to which he belonged. In the year two thousand two he returned to said diplomatic mission where counter-revolutionary propaganda was delivered to him and which he took to his municipality of residence San José de las Lajas, where he distributed it. He has utilized his residence in the execution of counter-revolutionary activities such as fasts for the freedom of the counter-revolutionary “political” prisoners, meetings, etc. It was evident that the defendant GALBAN GUTIERREZ, as well as IZQUIERDO HERNANDEZ received money for their counter-revolutionary work at least during the last semester of the year two thousand two and until their arrest on March eighteen of the two thousand three and that they made a living of that with it being a tangible evidence an e-mail communication that in the month of December of two thousand two sent Hernández Hernández to the former informing him of remittances of money in the last five months, detailing for him the amounts to be distributed and the names of the persons to whom they were directed, besides other mail in which he told him that he had obtained two quotas of thirty dollars, one for him and the another for another person and committed himself to send him aid to buy a typewriter and a photographic camera, originating from members of the FNCA, among other messages of support and solidarity of that same organization. The three defendants were arrested as a result of this process on March eighteen of two thousand three and searches were conducted at their domiciles with the confiscation of goods, objects and documents that give evidence the counter-revolutionary activities to which they were dedicating themselves: from GALBAN GUTIERREZ abundant documentation, forty dollars, a survey to report on Radio Martí, a programming of Radio Martí, containing the numbers of the frequencies, the times and days of the week of broadcast of their programming, three hundred ninety-eight documents or pamphlets removed from Internet by the SINA, eighteen packages of pamphlets removed by the same way, eleven yellow envelopes that contained pamphlets removed by the same way, thirteen yellow envelopes with literature, press and culture of the SINA, twelve envelopes of the Office of Press and Culture of the SINA addressed to their names, two envelopes with documents of the Bulletin “Rio Arriba”, a Remington typewriter, a placard that said “Municipal City Hall of Guines” and another that said “We Condemn the Terrorism of the State”, a TECSUN radio, as well as other documents and goods. From IZQUIERDO HERNANDEZ it was confiscated another TECSUN radio, important documentation that vouches for the information that through the SINA is sent toward the United States of North-America to be utilized in detriment of the Government of Cuba, two envelopes with e-mails of Hernández Hernández, two envelopes with handwritten documents of Press and Culture of the SINA, an envelope with news manuscripts of Radio Martí, an envelope with documents on journalistic basis, eleven issues of the magazine “Rio Arriba”, thirty-seven pamphlets of the magazine Cubanet, four placards one of which says “Commission Cuba” celebrates… and a little flag of the United States of North-America, among others goods. Besides with the help of this defendant another five radios of the same brand name could be confiscated that he himself delivered to other five residents in the same Municipality of Güines, at the request of Héctor Palacios. In the case of the defendant VALLE HERNANDEZ there were confiscated another TECSUN radio, a Pan-American democratic letter, three documents of the platform of the Project “A Friendly Hand”, three placards with slogans of human rights, two photographic cameras, a passport with his name, as well as a motorcycle MZ model 150 CC of the year one thousand nine hundred and sixty-four, with engine number 6120855, body 9151410, color black and green and registration and plate number HRR974 with this last one being left in deposit.. That during the investigative process it was learned that seven TECSUN radios were delivered to the defendant VALLE HERNANDEZ in order that he could distribute them to other persons, so that they could easily listen to the subversive station wrongly called Radio Martí. As for the conduct of the defendants it was proven that MIGUEL GALBAN GUTIERREZ, of the afore mentioned particulars that are given as reproduced, who has a high professional level since he is a university graduate in mechanical engineering, besides a master’s in sciences, when the facts occurred he was unemployed in spite of being psychically apt for it and also physically, since although he has an affliction to his hand and arm as a consequence of an automobile accident, this does not incapacitate him to work. He has developed for an important number of years activities in organizations opposed to the revolution, as a result of which he has been cited and encouraged by officials of the Department of the Interior, and he has not had stopped his behavior and he does not have a prior criminal record. JOSE UBALDO IZQUIERDO HERNANDEZ, of the other general particulars documented before and that are given as and who until the year two thousand two belonged, first to the organization of vanguard of the Cuban youth and then to that of its working class, having occupied in the first one of them responsibilities to the municipal level; who labored until the month of August of two thousand two in the Company of Commerce and Services of his municipality of residence where he had administrative responsibilities; and who later gave a turn around to his conduct since he joined counter-revolutionary organizations which motivated that even his wife and mother of his small children separated of him; has been warned in numerous opportunities for his actions by members of the Department of the Interior and revolutionaries of his place of residence, but has maintained the same posture and activities and he does not have a prior criminal record.
HECTOR RAUL VALLE HERNANDEZ, of the other afore mentioned particulars that are given as reproduced, for more than five years does not have a job being his last work center the Factory of Paintings of the Municipality of San José de las Lajas, where he had serious problems of missing days of work, has a low cultural level having reached only a ninth degree education, is dedicated to illicit business and collaboration with counter-revolutionary organizations to which he belongs, has a comfortable standard of living, does not belong to any political organization neither to organizations of masses and does not have any prior criminal record. SECOND ULTIMATE FACT: That the Court arrived to the conviction that this was it and not another the form of occurrence of these facts, considering the extensive arsenal of evidence shown in the act of the oral trial. In the fundamental, as far as the responsibility of the defendant GALBAN GUTIERREZ in these facts we kept in mind the testimony of the witness Luis Torres Armenteros who despite the fact that he had friendly relations with the defendant that date back to their earlier age referred he testified that he noticed that the defendant participated in activities of counter-revolutionary character, as much inside as outside of his residence, as well as having seen one one opportunity, on January twenty-eight of two thousand three a car with plate of the Office of Interests of the United States of North-America leaving him a package, recognizing that the defendant it showed him books, pamphlets and documents with his name, although he said that he did not know about their content, as well as that the defendant showed him a small radio and that he stated had been given to him in that same diplomatic mission of the United States of North-America in Cuba so that he could listen to the news that were transmitted by the wrongly called Radio Martí, where the defendant told him that he sent information as a journalist, inviting him to listen that a new item he was reporting on the first of May, although it seems that the information was not broadcast on that date. All of which could be corroborated in the first place with the result of the confiscation that took place in the residence of GALBAN GUTIERREZ of a large number of magazines, pamphlets, and sheets that were not printed in Cuba, and many of the envelopes in which he had received this material in which the SINA appeared as the sender among them those pertaining to the four issued or editions of the Magazine “Rio Arriba” in which the defendant appears as its director and in which are published many articles under his despite the fact that it was learned through the Union of Journalists of Cuba that said defendant is not a member of that organization. Nevertheless, it was also documented by the Center of Monitoring and Analysis of the Enemy Radio of the Cuban Institute of Radio and Television that several news items were transmitted between the month of January and March eighth of two thousand three by the defendant GALBAN GUTIERREZ to Radio Martí, with it being verified that one of the news he reported, that is to say, that of a supposed riot in the prison of Melena Two turned out to be exaggerated; since the inmates that belonged al group number five of said establishment named Alexis Ibáñez Cagigal and Adrian Marichal Edge on the date on which it is stated that the facts occurred, that is to say, May twenty-four of the two thousand two, vouched that although an incident occurred because the inmates did not want that the inmate chief of said group be transferred to another prison in the interior of the country as they knew would happen, the truth is that the only thing that happened was that the beds were placed against the doors of the cells and that the inmates asked to speak with a supervisor, with their demands being attended by the General National Chief of Prisons, but turning out to be false that there were damages to the property, short circuits, and a even a great deal less that the police, firemen or other forces in the area had to go to the prison since there was no need for it because of the small magnitude of the event, all of which allowed it to be known that the news he offered pursued, among some of its objectives, to discredit our institutions although there appear in the summary many of the news items that he offered and that are of the same nature. . On the other hand the same defendant, making use of the right that the law confers upon him admitted part of his responsibility in the facts, first because he self-appointed himself an “independent” journalist, in spite of the fact that he recognizes that he is university graduate and has a master’s in sciences, but in Mechanical Engineering, as well as having developed counter-revolutionary activities from October of one thousand nine hundred and ninety-four to one thousand nine hundred and ninety-six and from August second two thousand and two, as well as having belonged to several organizations of this same character such as the “Association of Engineers and Architects” and the “Commission Cuba”, both not register, as is documented by the Director of the Registration of Associations of the Department of Justice of Cuba, in the last of which he not only helped in its creation, but occupied posts at the national level. In the same manner, he acknowledged that he visited the Office of Interests of the United State of North-America in Cuba and that there he navigated Internet, he communicated with Jadir Hernández Hernández – who was documented as having abandoned the country finally in the year two thousand and two- and he received magazines, pamphlets and other publications, all which could be corroborated with the confiscation of a large number of mail sent by Hernández Hernández to him. That the fundamental thing that encouraged him to continue his “journalistic” work were his links with the SINA , that vouch for the fact that he received payment for these “services”; as well as the links, more or less direct or indirect, of the citizen Hernández Hernández to the Cuban American Foundation located in Miami, and that the money that he sent originated in part from them, as well as that he sent him money for the purchase a typewriter, typewriter that was confiscated from the defendant. Also acquired veracity other information given by the witness Torres Armenteros, because it not only turned out to be true that the defendant GALBAN GUTIERREZ gave information to the ill-called Radio Martí as he himself acknowledged it; but that the radio with which he listened to it, and that was confiscated from him, that appears photographed in photocopy that is enclosed, and then sent to undergo expert examination is not commercialized in the commercial network of our country; was in good technical state, had a high sensibility over that of any radio receiver that can be acquired in Cuba[1] and the twenty frequencies employed by the subversive radio station from South Florida can be received by it. In the same manner, the authorities confiscated a list of programming of the multi-mentioned mentioned radio station, containing the days and hours of of their broadcasts, and placards, and propaganda of a counter-revolutionary character, that are enclosed in the photo charts, besides photos also appearing in photo charts about his participation in subversive activities, since aggressive texts against the figure of the Commander in Chief Fidel Castro Ruz can be observed. It was impossible to obtain more information about the links of the defendant with Hernández Hernández, and with counter-revolutionary organizations located abroad, since as it was well referred by the Instructor, First Lieutenant José Luis Curbelo Cardentey who not only offered elements about his prior conduct, and the investigations conducted, but besides the attitude the defendant maintained during the process of instruction, stating that he did not cooperate efficiently, since he did not supply the pass code for his e-mail, and this prevented the authorities to have access to his correspondence on Internet which was what fundamentally maintained all the framework of his relations. In the case of the defendant IZQUIERDO HERNANDEZ, the same witness Torres Armenteros deposed that he learned not only that he had bonds of friendship with GALBAN GUTIERREZ but that he saw him participate, together with him, in counter-revolutionary activities, a fact that was ratified by the witnesses Rene Rivero Páez and Héctor Bacallao Díaz, both neighbors of this defendant, the first, member of the vanguard organization, and also the secretary of the nucleus of retired persons of the zone of residence of the defendant, and the Second honorary official of the DSE[2], who also asserted that many of those activities were held at the very residence of the defendant, and that they, from time to time, admonished him for his behavior, because this incensed the neighbors. Both witnesses vouched that the defendant had abandoned his job and they testified they had seen, at least on one occasion, and they also knew from references fro othe people that on several occasions, the defendant was visited by a vehicle of the SINA which left correspondence and packages for the defendant, as well as that it was of the knowledge of all his fellow citizens that he listened to the ill-called Radio Martí, besides disseminating its ideas. Also, Bacallao Díaz said that he read the Bulletin “Rio Arriba”, and to have seen that many news items that appeared in it were reported by the defendant and that they were slanted against the revolution. All these allegations were acknowledged by the defendant who, according to the opinion of the Instructor Curbelo Cardentey, was one of the defendant who cooperated most with the process of instruction, although almost all the elements offered already were of the knowledge of the DSE[3], since their activities had been investigated for some time and for which he had been cited and warned, but that he had ignored the warnings. The witness Pedro Piloto Lombillo, also a neighbor of IZQUIERDO HERNANDEZ testified that he knew directly that he had asked for his termination from the vanguard organization of the Cuban workers and the execution of at least one counter-revolutionary activity at his residence where he made, in his presence, acts disrespectful of the Cuban flag, as well as that on that same [1] Of course, because as mentioned before, the Cuban government prohibits the sales of short-wave radios in fear the people will hear international radio stations and find another version to the stories fed to them by the regime. date he made, in his presence statements of a subversive character since he said that “at some moment they would take the streets…”.
In the same manner, he vouched that he had participated as a witness in the search conducted at the domicile where a small radio was confiscated, and that he described, which is of the same brand name and identical to the one confiscated from the defendant GALBAN GUTIERREZ, and has the same characteristics of power. Also many books and a placard that read rural civic library “Sebastián Arcos”, which appears in photos that are attached and a little flag of the United States of North-America all of which coincided with what was deposed by the witness Pedro Pablo Abreu Garcia, who was honorary official of the DSE; being documented by certificate issued by the Municipal Office of Culture of Güines that the defendant was not a library technician.
Of special significance was the intervention in the act of the oral trial of the Director of Hygiene and Epidemiology of the Municipality of Güines, who appeared as a witness in order to disavow one of the pieces of information reported by the defendant IZQUIERDO HERNANDEZ, since although she clarified that, due to the infrastructure of the supply of water and sewers of the Municipality, cases of hepatitis are reported with a certain frequency, although always of hepatitis “A” and not “C”, as the defendant reported, with the information being evidently manipulated, since the first one is viral and much more benign, has a shorter period of incubation, and its transmission is always by liquids (water, urine, and fecal sediments), besides that their evolution is almost always satisfactory; the second on the contrary, is transmitted by blood, vaccines, injections, tattoos, etc.), has a reserved prognosis and can become chronic, existing therefore many possibilities of death. That it is true that at the time in which the news were given there was an outbreak of hepatitis “A”, but there were only two hundred and ninety-six, and not over five hundred the patients, and the fact had occurred nine kilometers from where it was reported. All of which appears certified in the summaries. In the same manner, the defendant acknowledged that he operated as an “independent” journalist, in spite of the fact that it was vouched by the Union of Journalists of Cuba that he was not a member of that organization, appearing a certificate from the Center of Monitoring and Analysis of the Enemy Radio, under the ICRT[1] that stating that from January to March 8, 2003 he sent to Radio Martí information that was enclosed, but also, that he did not have the proper qualifications, since he only had a twelfth grade education, and he belonged to the organization “Commission Cuba” where he performed responsibilities at the municipal level, as well as having received from the Office of Interests, bibliography for the library that he created, and surf the Internet at the said office, besides the fact that he communicated with Hernández Hernández via internet, all that was proven by the seizure of a placard prepared by members of the organization, declared as illegal by the Director of the Registry of Associations of the Department of Justice, which appears in the photo attached to the summary, as far as the bibliographical material seized, the agencies CUBANACAN, CUBAPACK and CUBAPOSTAL, worldwide messenger services, certified that they did not deliver them, and besides the envelopes in which some of them they came, with the SINA being the sender, were seized, as well as appearing a certification by the Unit of Protection of Diplomatic Missions that [1] Instituto Cubano de Radio y Television. the defendant went on the November 13, 2001 to the Office of Press and Culture of that diplomatic mission, and on January 17, November 18, and December 10, 17, 30, 2002, and the February 24, and 1, 2003 to navigate the Internet. This defendant acknowledged having received money for his work as an “independent” journalist, and although it is evident that at the moment he requested the information he did not any have pending balance, he received 545 dollars through the agency TRANSCARD between November 16, 2002 and March 17, 2003 at the rate of between 60 to 120 dollars per month. He did not acknowledged being the second chief of the Bulletin “Rio Arriba”, fact that could not be proven, but it was proven that much of the information he sent to the magazine CUBANET was placed in this magazine with his consent, because he also acknowledged his links with Hernández Hernández that could be verified through the e-mails that were sent between both of them and that were seized. In the same manner, it was considered that IZQUIERDO left his job just as he began to receive money from the United States of North-America, and it was verified in the photo chart in which he appears in the counter-revolutionary activities of counter-revolutionary elements of the Municipality of Güines and carrying counter-revolutionary signs. Also, this defendant acknowledged having received information from the defendant VALLE HERNANDEZ and to have paid for them, with the falsehood of one and the report of the other being verified since, although it is true they tried to break in at his place of residence, it is false that he denounced it officially which was certified by the competent authority, but besides this did not give him the authority to disseminate lies about an increase of this type of crimes in his territory of residence, since when it was demonstrated that he had not worked for more than five years, and his scarce educational level it is possible to deduce that he had no access to that information.
The truth is that he claimed he did not receive money for the information that he sent, and there are no elements to doubt his statements, but he did admit that he belonged to counter-revolutionary organizations, that he visited the SINA twice, that he interviewed in that office, a long time ago, with an official of said office to whom he gave information on his activities and that in the second visit he received subversive literature that he then distributed, with the witnesses Miguel Doma Vasallo and Carlos Alvarez Gonzalez appearing in the oral trial and testifying on the counter-revolutionary activities in which the defendant participated at his place of residence, as well as in public, stating that the defendant is a faithful listener of Radio Martí and the anxiety that those activities have generated among the neighbors. Moving and very eloquent were the testimonies of the couple Yamila Reyes Pérez and Noel Arcadio Montero, who during eighteen years respectively penetrated the groups to which the defendant GALBAN GUTIERREZ and IZQUIERDO HERNANDEZ belonged, acting for the DSE and they related the activities the defendant developed, their responsibilities inside these groups, the financing they received from the FNCA, and the purposes they pursued.
SECOND CONSIDERING: That the defendants are guilty of the referred crime in direct concept as authors, for having carried it out by themselves, as prescribed in article eighteen, sections one and two, subsection a) of the Penal Code. THIRD CONSIDERING: That in the commission of these actions concurs and is worthy of consideration the modifying circumstance of aggravation prescribed in article fifty-three, subsection b) of the Penal Code for GALBAN GUTIERREZ and IZQUIERDO HERNANDEZ, since they committed the actions for profit, not thus for VALLE HERNANDEZ since it has not been verified that he received any money from officials of the SINA of the American Government or the Cuban counterrevolutionary organizations in the United States of America for the development of these activities, neither was considered in regards to the defendants the modifying circumstance, this one of attenuation, prescribed in article fifty-two, subsection ch, of the same Law, and entered by the defense attorneys of the defendant, since although they acknowledged their actions, and there were against them sufficient elements to incriminate them, reason why their statements cannot be considered as spontaneous, and in the case of GALBAN GUTIERREZ he did neither show repentance for his acts, since he withheld some information to clear all of his acts, considering the Court that their actions are moved by the interest of seeing their sentences reduced, sentences that can be imposed for these actions.
FOURTH CONCLUSION OF LAW: That the conviction of guilt carries with it the civil obligation of compensating for losses and damages produced by the action, which is not applicable in this charge.
JUDGEMENT: The defendants are sentenced as authors of a crime of Acts Against the Independence or the Territorial Integrity of the State, to: MIGUEL GALBAN GUTIERREZ, TO 26 YEARS INCARCERATION. JOSE UBALSO IZQUIERDO HERNANDEZ, TO 17 YEARS INCARCERATION. HECTOR RAUL VALLE HERNANDEZ, TO 12 YEARS INCARCERATION. Sanctions that all the defendants will serve in the Penal Institution that the MININT appoints to those effects, serving them, as credit to the imposed sanction, the time served in provisional custody. Likewise, it is imposed on them, as an accessory sanction the deprivation of rights that comprise the loss of the right to the passive and active vote, as well as the right to occupy positions of management in the entities corresponding to the political-administrative activity of the State, the state economic units and in mass and social organizations, by a term equal to the main sanctions. It is ordered that the forty dollars ($40.00 USD) confiscated from Miguel Galban Gutiérrez be retained and that they go to the funds of the Box of Confiscations. It is ordered that the three hundred ninety-eight pamphlets downloaded from the INTERNET, the eighteen packages of pamphlets also downloaded from the INTERNET, the sixteen applications for the Commission Cuba, the eleven yellow envelopes containing pamphlets downloaded from the INTERNET, the thirteen envelopes of literature, press, and culture, the twelve envelopes of the Office of Press and Culture of the SINA addressed to the defendant Galban Gutierrez, the yellow envelope with trlrgrams to State institutions containing documents, the envelope with a letter to the President of Mexico Vicente Fox; the envelope with letters to the Department of Refugees of the SINA, the envelope with documents on Cuban Laws and Codes, an envelope containing conferences of the center of social studies, the envelope with documents, letters and conferences to different groups, the envelope with documents of the Union (International Confederation of Work), the envelope containing news headlines, the envelope with documents of the Bulletin “Rio Arriba” , the envelope with lists of the staff of the City Hall of Güines, the envelope with illegal documents and bulletins, the envelope with a document entitled “pepito denounces,” an envelope with a document from the Project Bables Red[1]; an envelope with religious propaganda, and envelopes from the Project Varela, twenty-two negatives of photos of [1] Should be Biblio-Red. elements opposed to the revolutionary process in different places; one hundred forty-four copies of literature, eighty-five American newspapers, a placard that says “Municipal City Hall of Güines” and another that says “We Condemn the Terrorism of the State,” an almanac with the picture of José Martí that reads “The Country Is For All,” four cassettes, three Kodac(sic) rolls of film, four applications for the Engineers and Architects Association of Cuba, a photographic roll of film with twenty-three exposures, with two fragments of two photos and another three photos, another fragment with eight photos, an ink pad for rubber stamps, eleven rubber stamps, two digital battery chargers, two mini recorders with two cassettes, a TECSUN radio, seven cassettes, two grocery supply booklets, from previous years,[1] and a Remington typewriter confiscated from GALBAN GUTIERREZ, four metallic gray battery chargers with yellow and blue labels located in the upper part, where it reads DIGITAL, and in white letters CAMERA RAPID CHARGER with a transparent plastic cover over the opening where you can see the batteries, four black TECSUN radios with gray speakers, a chromium portable antenna, with green and gray color bands and the shade with the contours in black and serial numbers OAM 2020108858 and OAM 2000205000364, in good operating condition, four black, fine cables of a meter and three meters and ninety centimeters in length, with a plug at each end, four blue Digitalis batteries, in regular state of operation, and two small blue and green Vidal batteries, in regular state of operation, a pamphlet whose front page reads “pastoral letter”, There is no Country Without Virtue, a pamphlet entitled Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a pamphlet that contains the statements in the University of Havana by president Jimmy Carter, a pamphlet that contains the Project Varela, a transparent nylon with green, red, yellow, and blue stars delivered voluntarily by the citizens Alejandro Vicente Rodriguez Ramos, and Onelia Sigler Sarmiento, Juan of Dios Cárdenas Hernández, and Noel Ascanio Montero; a black pamphlet that contains the Constitution of the United States of America; a business card in the name of Licenciado Reinaldo E. Cosano Alen, a ten by fifteen centimeters color picture of a group of people with two posters behind them with counterrevolutionary messages, also a Cuban and an American flag, a twenty-three by fifteen centimeters fragment of paper containing handwriting in ink, voluntarily delivered by the citizen José Dulce Orta Acosta, a small gray and blue TECSUN radio with two batteries, in its black case in good condition, a gray Quartary battery charger with three batteries confiscated from the defendant Valle Hernandez, as well as a black power source in its nylon, a black cable belonging to the radio in its nylon, a black KODAK photographic camera with serial number 4817095 in its black case, a KODAK photographic camera, six VHS video movies in its boxes, eighty-nine Universal Declarations of Human Rights, a Pan-American Democratic Letter, three documents of the Platform of the Project “A Friendly Hand,” three placards with slogans about human rights, eleven handwritten documents with a list of the serial numbers of U.S. bills, a passport with his name with serial number 142915, an old legal identity document with his name, the eight color photos, the thirteen accusations, the one hundred sheets of accusations, the seventeen communiqués and minutes of meetings, the eighteen citations of the PNR, the two vouchers from the Project Varela, the fifty-eight vouchers from the CTDC, PPDHC and Mothers For Amnesty, the correspondence sent by the SINA giving answer to a request to leave the country, a newspaper clipping with the image of María del Carmen Carro, other documents that constitute guarantees, two unused notebooks and a Universal Declaration of Human Rights confiscated from Jaime Antonio Castillo Peraza, the TECSUN radio, the DIGITAL battery charger with two batteries, the battery charger lacking a [1] Every Cuban family has a so-called Supply Booklet, and an assigned place where they can purchase the two or three items offered, such as rice, sugar, salt, in fixed quantities for each family member. brand name, a case for a radio, fourteen envelopes from the office of press and culture, two cases with sheets with news and accusations, two envelopes with e-mails remitted by Jadir Hernández, an envelope with handwritten documents, an envelope with news of Radio Martí manuscripts, an envelope with documents of journalistic fundamentals, eleven bulletins of the magazine “Rio Arriba,” fourteen Cuban bulletins of the Project “I Demand,” six surveys of Commission Cuba on Violence, six pamphlets with interviews about ecological themes, a black diskette on administration of small businesses, fourteen bulletins of “New Word”, two envelopes with various documents, seventy newspapers “The World,” fifteen magazines “Alma Mater,” thirty-seven pamphlets CUBANET, three envelopes with magazines “Vitral,” seven pamphlets entitled “Without Censorship,” five magazines Geomundo, eight pamphlets of the Project “Varela,” one hundred and sixty-eight literatures of different themes delivered by the SINA, four religious literature books, four placards, a poster, a business card with the name of Alejandro Vicente Domínguez Ramos, one hundred and eighty-four books on different themes, four magazines “Union”, three pioneer books, a Havana magazine, two newspapers, a postage stamp album, and a small flag of the United States, confiscated from the defendant IZQUIERDO HERNANDEZ, to be placed at the free disposition of the Direction of the Department of Security of the State of Havana, so that they can give this material the pertinent destination. In relation to the six photos presented in the act of the oral judgment by the Prosecutor, where two of the witnesses appear, and the defendants are seen in front of placards with counter-revolutionary slogans, Cuban flags and making the sign of Victory and the document issued by the Office of Security for the data processing networks, place together with the writs, as well as the cassette with the voice of the defendant GALBAN GUTIERREZ giving counter-revolutionary news. Regarding the documents that appear attached to the file such as mail, the program USAID FOR Cuba (operation liborio)[1], the information transmitted by Radio Martí, New Cuban Press by CUBANET INDEPENDIENTE, the bulletins “Rio Arriba,” CUBANET pamphlets, the photocopied listings of the persons that visited the SINA, the magazines Without Censorship, the Dissident, the document that vouches for the deposits in Cuba in the Agency TRANSCARD under the name of the defendant IZQUIERDO HERNANDEZ, the interview with James C. Cason (Chief of the SINA) by the journalist Ambrosio Hernández of Channel 51 in the program Behind the News on the twenty-first of December of the two thousand and two, the biographical notes on some groups and organizations, a manuscript of accusations given by VALLE HERNANDEZ to Galbán Gutiérrez, a Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a certificate that vouches that VALLE Hernández was a member of the CTAC, a meeting of this organization, the project “A Friendly Hand,” four manuscripts by VALLE Hernández for comparison and report, a cardboard with counter-revolutionary slogans and a photo chart with ten photos, remain attached to the summary and another manuscript by IZQUIERDO Hernández where he asks a friend to collect the radios that the had delivered and the names to whom they were delivered. The black green 1964 Motorcycle MZ Model one hundred fifty c.c, with engine number six, one, two zero, eight, five, five, body number nine, one, five, one, four, one, zero, registration dated March 5, 2003, private, with registration HRR nine hundred seventy-four, that was confiscated [1] Operacion Liborio is an independent operation run by Enrique Blanco from Puerto Rico and has nothing to do with USAID. from the defendant VALLE HERNANDEZ, but that is in deposit as personal property and is to be delivered to DIVEP-SIME. It is ordered that, once the judgment is signed, the preventive measures of pre-trial detention of the defendants be without effect. Notify this resolution to the parts advising them that since it is a summary proceeding this judgment is susceptible to an appeal before the Criminal Court of the Popular Supreme Court in a term of THREE WORKING DAYS, after their notification, and remit copies of the sentence to the interested entities and institutions. This by our judgement, we pronounce it, order it and sign it. |