Ramón Labañino
Biography
Ramón Labañino Salazar was one of the Cuban Five. His life sentence was reduced on appeal to thirty years in 2009, and the prison term was commuted in December 2014.
He was born in Havana on June 9, 1963. Even in primary school he distinguished himself, with responsibility supervising younger students. He graduated from high school in Marianao, Havana, where he earned various distinctions including diplomas as an outstanding and advanced student. In 1986, Labañino graduated as an economist from the University of Havana, graduating with first class honors. At the university, he was very active in all sport activities and participated in the All-Caribbean games. In June 1990 Labañino married Elizabeth Palmeiro Casado, and has two daughters with her, 14-year-old Laura, and 9-year-old Lisbet. He also has another daughter, Ailí, 18, from a previous marriage.
Ramón Labañino Salazar was a senior officer of the Cuban Intelligence Directorate (DI) and a member of the Wasp Network (La Red Avispa) operating in South Florida in the 1990s under the cover identity Luís Medina. The cell gathered intelligence on right-wing Cuban-American exile organizations — Alpha 66, Brothers to the Rescue, Omega 7 — that the Cuban government accused of armed attacks on Cuban tourist infrastructure. Arrested in Miami on September 12, 1998. Tried in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida and convicted in June 2001 of conspiracy to commit espionage and acting as an unregistered foreign agent. Originally sentenced to life plus 18 years; later resentenced on remand to 30 years. Held at USP Beaumont. He was released on December 17, 2014 in the U.S.-Cuba prisoner swap brokered by President Barack Obama and Pope Francis, and returned to Havana as a national hero.
Workers World reports the September 23, 2006 Washington rally for the Cuban Five and marks eight years since their September 12, 1998 arrests. The campaign report does not establish a new detention or alter the five men’s individually different sentences. Workers World, October 5, 2006, vol.48 no.39, original PDF page 3. Source: https://www.workers.org/pdf/2006/ww100506.pdf#page=3
Individually signed clemency warrant
The warrant expressly identifies Luis Medina III as Ramón Labañino, records the December 13, 2001 sentence and December 8, 2009 resentencing to 360 months, and confirms continuous confinement since September 12, 1998. President Obama signed the warrant on December 15, 2014, making the prison term expire December 17 and requiring departure that day. The signing date and ordered expiry are distinct from independent evidence of actual physical departure. Existing admission and release fields remain unchanged; no new custody episode is created.
