North of Havana: The Untold Story of Dirty Politics, Secret Diplomacy, and the Trial of the Cuban Five

by Martin Garbus

Overview

From one of America's leading legal minds, a riveting look at the U.S.-Cuban relationship seen through the lens of a nearly impossible case

During his distinguished career, Martin Garbus has established himself as a well-known trial lawyer representing the likes of Daniel Ellsberg and Leonard Peltier. But there is no story Garbus wants to tell more than that of his most challenging case: representing five Cuban spies marooned in the U.S. prison system and his efforts to get them out.

North of Havana tells the story of a spy ring sent by Cuba in the early 1990s to infiltrate anti-Communist extremists in Miami. Erroneously charged by the U.S. government in connection with the 1996 shootdown of two planes circulating anti-Castro leaflets over Havana, the spies—in the absence of evidence—were convicted in 2000 of conspiracy to commit espionage and murder. Caught up in the sweep of history, the Cuban Five, as they became known, played a central role over the next decade in the recent thaw in Cuban-American relations.

Set in Miami and Havana, North of Havana is a mesmerizing tale of international intrigue, espionage, and political gamesmanship that continues to play a shaping role in American foreign policy and presidential elections. In the process, the books shows how the justice system can be, and is, subverted for political purposes and gives readers insight into one of the most fascinating legal cases of our times.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781620974469
Publisher:	New Press, The
Publication date:	06/18/2019
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.60(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Martin Garbus is one of America's top trial lawyers. An expert at every level of civil and criminal trial, and litigation, he has appeared before the United States Supreme Court in leading First Amendment cases. He is the author of Tough Talk: How I Fought for Writers, Comics, Bigots, and the American Way. Garbus lives in New York City.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Part I

1 Do Something!!!! 11

2 The Pilot Had a Mission 22

3 Too Tired to Spy? 34

4 Spy vs. Spy 45

Part II

5 The "Notable" Mas Canosa 51

6 American Plots Against Cuba 60

7 Bring Me the Head of Fidel Castro 64

Part III

8 Arrest 73

9 Indictment 76

10 The Prosecutors 81

11 Elián González 84

12 Change of Venue 87

13 Jury Selection 91

14 The Trial 99

Part IV

15 Garbus for the Defense 113

16 A Tangled, Tortured History of Appeals 118

17 The Bombshell 125

18 Cuban Parliament 129

19 Meeting My Client 144

20 Digging In 156

21 A Sample Visit 166

22 Surprises 173

23 Alan Gross 182

24 Miracle 190

25 A Loud and Useful Prisoner 192

26 The Final Days 198

Epilogue 207

Acknowledgments 215

Timeline 217

Notes 225

Index 247

Editorial Reviews

07/15/2019

In this dramatic history and memoir, trial lawyer Garbus expertly lays out the context surrounding his clients, the Cuban Five. They were part of the Wasp Network, a group of 14 Cuban intelligence officers who set out to penetrate the cohort of anti-Castro Cuban exiles in Florida shortly after the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union, an event which, Garbus recounts, fueled activity by the right-wing Cuban element in Miami. Working ordinary jobs in Miami by day, the Wasp Network’s members exchanged intel during rendezvous in fast food joints. In 1998 their cover was blown; three months later, the FBI took action to break up the network. In 2001, five of them were convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage, among other crimes, and sentenced to varying lengths of time in prison; in 2014, three were released as part of a prisoner exchange with Cuba. Garbus contextualizes the arrests and trial of the five, introducing powerful Cubans in exile, such as millionaire Jorge Mas Canosa, who had direct access to President Clinton; exploring American politicians’ “obsession” with Fidel Castro; and explaining his belief that the five’s “prosecution was politically motivated.” This fearless and essential contribution to understanding relations between Cuba and the U.S. will enlighten readers. (June)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for North of Havana:
"Dramatic history and memoir. . . . This fearless and essential contribution to understanding relations between Cuba and the U.S. will enlighten readers."
—Publishers Weekly

"A quick and vivid read, brimming with political intrigue and lessons about what can happen when law and public opinion are used for political ends."
—Library Journal

"In this quick and impactful read, Garbus tells the story of [the Cuban Five's] odyssey through the U.S. legal system. . . . A lively narrator, Garbus provides explanations of dense legal procedure and precedent that are thoroughly documented yet easily digestible as he fleshes out all the players, exiles and spies alike, to achieve three-dimensional humanity."
—Booklist

"[Garbus's] impassioned book is both an indictment of the legal system and a plea for prison reform. A harrowing chronicle of a fight for justice."
—Kirkus Reviews

"Perfect for an audience that may not be familiar with the Cuban Five (or may have only viewed the trial through the media coverage that Garbus lambasts), North of Havana parses this complicated saga with incredible clarity while providing insight into one of America's great legal minds."
—Survival: Global Politics and Strategy

"Martin Garbus is not only a First Amendment champion but a natural storyteller. This is a remarkable, Kafkaesque tale of a veteran lawyer's efforts to win freedom for his Cuban spy client, who is serving two life sentences for a murder he did not commit. Suspenseful and moving and infuriating. "
—Joseph Finder, New York Times bestselling author of Judgment

"Martin Garbus's natural habitat has always been the courtroom. But this riveting story of one of Garbus's most difficult cases—his effort to free a Cuban spy serving two life sentences for murder—takes places far from the court room as we follow one of America's great legal minds trying to piece together evidence to show that his client was the victim of a political show trial. Garbus's powerful and poignant story of political demagoguery and media manipulation in southern Florida is a masterly portrait of the strengths and weakness of the American legal system."
—Gay Talese

"This book reminds us why the world needs courageous lawyers who will challenge state abuse and fight for justice. Martin Garbus represents the best of the legal profession—brilliant and scholarly, principled and fearless, his fight for his clients is always his highest priority. An inspirational account."
—Baroness Helena Kennedy QC

"Marty Garbus, one of the nation's greatest trial lawyers, tells the tale of one of America's greatest show trials, of the Cuban Five—and of his efforts to achieve justice in a case thoroughly corrupted by politics and international intrigue."
—David Cole, national legal director, ACLU, and author of Engines of Liberty: How Citizen Movements Succeed

"Shines a light on the seamy interaction between American politicians, the Cuban government, and hard-line Cuban emigrés in Florida."
—Burt Neuborne, Norman Dorsen Professor of Civil Liberties and founding legal director of the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law School

"A revealing tale of politicized 'justice,' inhuman prisons and backdoor diplomacy. A fascinating read which is key for understanding U.S. relations with Cuba from Clinton to Trump."
—Peter Winn, Tufts University, author of Americas: The Changing Face of Latin America and the Caribbean

"This haunting story of Cuba-U.S. relationships takes us into the deepest parts of today's American security system and exposes our pseudo-legal judicial process. Today, more than ever, every American must hear what Martin Garbus says."
—Charles Nesson, William F. Weld Professor of Law at Harvard Law School

"[A] meticulous and fascinating account."
—José Manuel Prieto, The New York Review of Books

From the Publisher

2019-03-17
An account of the anti-Castro hatred that infected 1990s Miami.

In 1996, a Cuban jet fighter downed a plane flying over Cuban airspace dropping anti-Castro leaflets, a mission sanctioned by Miami's right-wing Cuban exiles. Immediately, the enraged Cuban community called for justice, and five men—none of whom had been in Cuba at the time—were arrested, tried, convicted for spying, and imprisoned in the United States. One of them, Gerardo Hernández, received 2 life sentences. Ten years later, eminent trial lawyer Garbus (The Next 25 Years: The New Supreme Court and What It Means for Americans, 2007, etc.), after reading more than 20,000 pages of trial transcript and "a mountain of connected documents," decided to represent Hernández to reverse his conviction, convinced that his client was innocent and had been denied a fair trial. By the time he took the case, Garbus already had a distinguished career defending prominent dissidents, including Daniel Ellsberg, Cesar Chavez, and the Cuban poet Heberto Padilla. Although he realized that Hernández's case was "nearly hopeless," he admits that "by psychology, instinct, and training, I respond to injustice by running toward it, to see what I can do to correct it." The trial of the Cuban Five, as the defendants came to be known, was rife with misconduct: an inexperienced judge who rejected six motions for a change of venue, forcing the trial to proceed in a community "actively organized against the defendants"; inflammatory pre-trial publicity that amounted to a "propaganda crusade"; ineffective defense strategy; and an inevitably biased jury. Garbus chronicles his efforts to win justice for Hernández, a combination of dogged work, luck, surprising new evidence, and an evolving political climate in which a thaw in Cuban-U.S. relations seemed possible. He movingly portrays the pain, degradation, and hardship his client experienced as well as his own frustrations with prison officials who "complicated and interfered" with his work in every way possible. His impassioned book is both an indictment of the legal system and a plea for prison reform.

A harrowing chronicle of a fight for justice.

Kirkus Reviews