The American People Need to Know the Truth of the Cuban Five

HAVANA, Cuba, July 22 (ACN) We are convinced that if US public opinion knew about the injustice committed against these men, the American people would take sides with us in our struggle to bring them home, said deputy foreign minister Ana Teresita Gonzalez referring to the case of the five Cuba anti-terrorist fighters held in the U.S. since 1998, in a meeting with the Parliament Foreign Affairs Commission.

The parliamentarians addressed the need to raise awareness on the case among the American people as crucial factor to achieve the return to Cuba of the five heroes.

The Parliament, the Foreign Ministry and other Cuban institutions have as major objective in their agendas their actions to break the wall of silence raised in the world and particularly in the United States to prevent the truth of the Cuban five case from being known, said the government official.

Gerardo Hernandez, Rene Gonzalez, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando Gonzalez and Ramon Labañino were given extremely long sentences after they monitored US-based ultra-right organizations that have undertaken terrorist actions against Cuba over the past 50 years.

Rene Gonzalez, was released from prison after having met his 12-year sentence but he has been forced to stay under a three-year probation in the United States, despite his family is in Cuba.

We have witnessed the clear intention to prevent anybody from knowing who these five men are and why Cuba needed to have them there, said the deputy foreign minister and went on to add that achieving their return home is a priority of Cuban foreign policy.

Later, In statements to reporters, deputy minister Gonzalez insisted that the foreign press and particularly the US media keeps silent about the sentences given to the five Cubans. “We are working hard to have this case known,” she pointed out.

The Cuban government official referred to the work of supportive parliamentary groups, organizations and lawmakers from other nations, whose actions have yielded results.

The Cuban Foreign Ministry is making efforts through its embassies in different countries to promote the truth of the case and explain about the unfair incarceration of the antiterrorist fighters.

These efforts are being joined by committees for the release of the five heroes and the Cuban Friendship Institute, she said and noted that “when we gain this battle over the mainstream media, particularly in the U.S.,  which is silencing the case today, we will achieve the return of our heroes.”

CUBAN NEWS AGENCY