Worldwide demands to Free the Five

NEW YORK.—Fourteen years after five Cuban patriots who were fighting against terrorism in the United States were unjustly imprisoned, international solidarity with their cause has become practically worldwide.

Countless petitions have been sent to President Barack Obama to use his constitutional authority to end the injustice committed against Gerardo Hernández, Fernando González, Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero and René González.

In New York, various solidarity organizations, such as the International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban 5 called for justice in their case during an event in the emblematic Riverside Church in Manhattan, PL reported.

In Canada, the Vancouver International Free the Five Committee organized a vigil outside the U.S. consulate, dedicated to those fighting against and the victims of Washington-backed terrorism, while other solidarity groups had a meeting in Montreal calling for liberation of the five Cubans.

Political, social and human rights organizations convened by the Argentine Committee for the Freedom of the Five and the Argentine Solidarity with Cuba Movement (MasCuba) marched to the U.S. embassy in Buenos Aires.

There the work of youth from El Dorado (Misiones) in publicizing the case at the Iguazú Cataracts was acknowledged, as well as that of the motorbike group in the Buenos Aires municipality of La Matanza.

Also considered of significance were the decrees, resolutions and ordinances in favor of the Five issued by the Council and Municipal Councils of Rosario, Necochea, Morón and La Plata.

In Guatemala, the Solidarity with Cuba and the Peoples Coordinating Committee, meeting at San Carlos University, emphasized the need to end the injustice, noting the two life sentences plus 15 years handed down to Gerardo.

The Dominican Solidarity with Cuba Campaign presented a letter to President Obama at the U.S. embassy in Santo Domingo, asking him to pardon the Cuban anti-terrorists.

"We call on you to order, through a pardon, the release of Gerardo Hernández, Fernando González, Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero and René González, so as to restore the sense of justice," the text reads. The letter also refers to the situation of René González, imprisoned until October 7, 2011, who is currently serving three years of supervised release in the United States and whose personal safety is more threatened on the street than behind bars.

From Haiti, the Granma daily correspondent reported that the Friends of Cuba Club in Darbonne commune demanded the immediate release of the anti-terrorist fighters with a political-cultural gala, in which they called for solidarity and the need to break the information blockade around the case of the Five.

The gala, attended by officials from the Cuban embassy in Haiti and collaborators on the Sugar Mission, also celebrated the six years of the club’s existence. It currently has a membership of 65 people.

An ecumenical celebration was held at Managua Church as part of the international campaign for the Five. Eduardo Martínez Borbonet, the Cuban ambassador in Nicaragua, affirmed that the celebration brought together evangelists, Catholics and atheists, demanding justice in one of the most illustrative cases of the political vendetta against the Cuban Revolution.

In Asunción, Ligia Prieto, general secretary of the Paraguayan Movement Toward Socialism Party and president of the Paraguayan Pro-Freedom for the Five Committee, affirmed that these fighters represent the example of Cuba and the desires of the whole world.

A panel on important aspects of the trial and sentences handed down to the Five was organized in La Paz with Cuban collaborators and diplomatic personnel in Bolivia, who sent a message of solidarity from that county.

In a joint statement published in Lima, eminent intellectuals, artists, writers, social scientists and other Peruvian figures, and including writers Arturo Corcuera, Hildebrando Pérez and Winston Orrillo, called on the U.S. President to release the anti-terrorists.

From Moscow, Lena Loshkina, coordinator of the Russian Solidarity with the Five National Committee, affirmed, "The most important direction of our work is to break the information blockade in the central media."

In Russia, solidarity with the Five is active at different levels, including within the Duma, in which two resolutions for the Five were unanimously approved, "and we have government support in this undertaking," Loshkina explained.

In May of 2005, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found that the imprisonment of the Five was arbitrary and urged Washington to adopt the necessary measures to rectify this injustice, a call to date ignored by the U.S. Department of Justice. (SE)

GRANMA