Seán Haughey (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)

I thank Deputy Chris Andrews for raising this matter and both Deputies for their contributions. I am taking this Adjournment debate on behalf of the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Martin.

The case to which the Deputies referred relates to five Cuban citizens, namely, Gerardo Hernández, Antonio Guerrero, Ramón Labañino, Fernando González, and René González, known as the Miami Five. They were arrested in September 1998 following a two-year FBI surveillance operation in the state of Florida. The five did not deny that they were working for the Cuban Government and stated that they had infiltrated and monitored the actions of anti-Cuban Government groups in Miami to prevent those groups from committing crimes of terror.

The five men were convicted in Miami in 2001 on charges ranging from espionage to first degree murder. The appeal against their convictions was heard in March 2004 in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, Georgia. The basis of the appeal was that given alleged pressure exerted on jurors from the Cuban-American community in Miami, the trial venue did not allow the accused to enjoy their right to an impartial and fair trial. On 9 August 2005, the court found in their favour and ordered a new trial. Following this ruling, the Miami District Attorney duly filed an appeal. Subsequent to an appellate hearing on 14 February 2006, a ten to two decision to uphold the 2001 convictions was issued on 9 August 2006.

On 4 June 2008, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, Georgia, issued its judgment on appeals lodged on behalf of the five. The court concluded that the appellants' arguments, which centred on the suppression of evidence, sovereign immunity, discovery, jury selection and the trial itself, were without merit and that there was sufficient evidence to support each conviction. The sentences of two of the defendants were affirmed, while the remaining three men were sent for re-sentencing and were given slightly reduced sentences.

The defendants' legal counsel lodged a petition with the US Supreme Court on 30 January 2009 requesting that it review their convictions on the basis that the five did not receive a fair trial because of strong anti-Castro sentiment in Miami. On 16 June 2009, the Supreme Court refused this request and upheld the convictions. The Minister for Foreign Affairs has told the House, most recently on 3 December, that the Government has no standing in this matter, which is a bilateral consular question between the US and Cuban authorities.

With regard to the question of family visits, visas have been issued to a number of family members in past years but have not been granted to the wives of two of the convicted men on the stated grounds of US national security. I am not in a position to assess the justification for this decision.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs discussed this matter with the then Foreign Minister Perez Roque during his visit to Cuba in February of last year, during which the latter stressed to our Minister, Deputy Martin, the importance the Cuban Government attaches to the release of the five.

These events must be seen against the backdrop of the bilateral relationship between Cuba and the US. While the US embargo on Cuba, first introduced in 1962 and repeatedly condemned by Ireland and the EU, continues to have a considerable impact on the social and economic development of Cuba, there are signs that the US is beginning to respond to calls from the international community for the normalisation of relations between the two countries, as evidenced by a number of steps taken by the US since the inauguration of the Obama Administration. These include the lifting of travel and remittance restrictions and the resumption of migration talks. I hope that these are but the first steps towards the ultimate resumption of friendly relations and a broader normalisation of contacts between the two neighbouring countries.

Ireland, together with its EU partners, is engaged in developing dialogue and co-operation with Cuba on a broad range of areas, these being political, including human rights, economic, social and cultural. Following the visit of the Minister, Deputy Martin, to Cuba last February, the first by an Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs, we are now examining how we might strengthen our bilateral relationship with Cuba. Work is being taken forward with the Cuban authorities on that basis. Moreover, at the most recent EU foreign affairs Council discussion on Cuba in June 2009, foreign Ministers reaffirmed the Council's determination to pursue a result-oriented comprehensive dialogue with the Cuban authorities as well as with representatives of civil society and the peaceful pro-democracy opposition.

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