Press Conference Discusses U.S. Covert Propaganda and Secret Payments to Miami Journalists who Covered the Detention and Trial of the Cuban Five

At a press conference held on June 2 in Washington DC, the National Committee to Free the Cuban Five and other organizations announced a coalition and national campaign to call on U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to take immediate action for "remedy and relief" by freeing the Cuban Five, based on the government misconduct and covert operations that denied the Five their elemental right to a fair trial.

In the press conference, for the first time, the National Committee presented new evidence that the U.S. government -- through Radio and TV Martí -- had secretly paid tens of thousands of dollars to journalists in Miami, who, during the politically-charged prosecution of the Five, published provocative articles about Cuba and against the Five. The evidence is the result of an 18-month investigation by the National Committee, and two Freedom of Information Act petitions (FOIA). The Committee members are continuing this vital research (see link below).

Besides Gloria La Riva, coordinator of the National Committee, the speakers were Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, attorney and co-founder of the Partnership for Civil Justice (PCJ), Heidi Boghosian, Executive Director of the National Lawyers Guild, and Brian Becker, Director of the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition. The PCJ is pursuing a federal lawsuit on behalf of the National Committee, to force the U.S. government to disclose all the information that it is withholding.

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