New film on Cuba-U.S. relationship

Who or what exactly is the “Cuban 5?” A salsa band perhaps? The fact is most Americans don’t have a clue but the new documentary “Will The Real Terrorist Please Stand Up?” from award-winning filmmaker Saul Landau is a solid attempt to change that.

It’s also a definitive overview of Cuban-American relations since the Revolution in 1959 and highlights the little-known but disturbing criminal activities carried out by extremist exile groups in Florida.

The Cuban 5 are foreign agents from Cuba who in the 1990s infiltrated various exile groups. Cuban Intelligence had contacted the FBI and turned over evidence related to terrorist activities by specific groups. Instead of taking any action, however, the FBI arrested the Cuban spies after two planes flown by an exile group were shot down over international waters after violating Cuba’s airspace.

All were handed harsh sentences in federal prisons across the U.S. and as is pointed out in the film, they stood little chance of having a fair trial. Despite requests for a change of venue, the trial was held in Florida – where exile groups wield significant influence. Later, they won an appeal to have their cases retried, but that appeal was overturned during the Bush Administration.

But it’s the influence over the region and even Washington that the film covers extensively. Landau goes back to the days before the revolution when criminals and torturers within the police thrived under Fulgencio Batista’s dictatorship. After the revolution, many settled in the Miami area and some, along with the CIA, attempted to oust Castro.

Two notable figures interviewed in the film are Orlando Bosch and Luis Posada Carriles, both responsible for the explosion of Cubana Flight 455 in 1976, which killed 73 people – including Cuba’s entire national fencing team. Despite numerous and well-documented criminal acts, they both now live as free men in Miami, where some consider them freedom fighters.

After the CIA moved on from Cuba in the late ‘60s, the exile groups were on their own and some resorted to the political gangsterism they grew up with under Batista. Terrorist threats and acts weren’t just limited to Castro’s Cuba but also to anyone within the exile community with dissenting views or those who wouldn’t fund their cause.

“At one point in the 1970s, Miami was having more bombings than you would have in Belfast or in Beirut,” says Alberto Milian in the film.
Since, the 1980s, the exile groups have grown into a powerful lobby in Washington. In the 90s, Cuba’s burgeoning tourist industry was a target when a hotel lobby was bombed, killing an Italian tourist.

Landau uses archival footage and recreated scenes along with interviews from all sides and perspectives, including a rare interview with Castro himself, within a paced narrative. Interestingly, it’s not just the usual left-leaning activists and progressives, but even retired American military officials who are bewildered and angered by this blatant injustice with the Cuban 5.

Should these men, who infiltrated groups planning terrorist attacks on their country, be in prison? And did they get the trial they deserved? We know the answer, but Landau gives clear context in no uncertain terms.

“Will The Real The Terrorist Please Stand Up?” will be screened at the Brava Theater on April 16 at 7 p.m. Tickets are $15. This event is presented by the International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban 5 that is raising funds for the group. You can learn more at www.thecuban5.org

Read the El Tecolote’s interview with Landau here