South African Mineworkers Support Cuban 5's Visit

Pretoria, Jun 8 (Prensa Latina) The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) of South Africa joined during the holding of its 15th Congress, to the international rejoicing over the recent release of the Cuban Five, a statement says today.

According to the text, to which Prensa Latina had access, NUM celebrates along with the Cuban people and the rest of the world the release in December 2014 of Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon Labañino and Antonio Guerrero, who along with Fernando Gonzalez and Rene Gonzalez, are internationally known as The Cuban Five.

About 850 delegates attending the event, held from June 3 to 6, applauded the upcoming visit to South Africa of Gerardo, Fernando and Rene, in compliance with an invitation by the African National Congress (ANC).

NUM welcomed this initiative (shared with the South African Communist Party, SACP, and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) to invite "the Cuban heroes to the country of Nelson Mandela," the statement says.

The Congress also made a call to the U.S. government to lift "unconditionally the economic blockade on the revolutionary Cuba."

The Cuban heroes will travel to South Africa from June 21 to July 3, where they will comply with an extensive program of visits and meetings in several African provinces, and later will go to Namibia and Angola.

Gerardo Hernandez, Fernando Gonzalez and Rene Gonzalez gave their internationalist contribution in the liberation war in Angola, where they served as fighters side by side with their African brothers and sisters.

The Five were detained on September 12, 1998 in the U.S. city of Miami, while complied with the mission to warn their country from violent plans organized by Cuban-origin extremist groups settled in southern Florida.

During a legal trial full of irregularities, they were condemned in 2001 to long and disproportionate sentences.

PRENSA LATINA

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