2011: The Work for the Freedom of the Cuban 5 Grows

Greetings to all our members and friends,

At the Sixth International Colloquium held last November in Holguin, the International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban 5 pledged to intensify our work to free the five compañeros who have been unjustly incarcerated inside the United States for the past thirteen years.  

In order to successfully undertake these many important projects we have planned for 2011, we need the expanded involvement and financial support of all of our members and friends inside the United States and around the world. All our projects urgently need economic resources to cover travel and accommodation expenses, venue rentals, publicity, printing materials, etc.

One of our immediate projects will be helping launch the new documentary Will the Real Terrorist Please Stand Up, directed by Saul Landau.  This documentary will be an important tool to explain the historical background about the reasons why men like the Cuban 5 had to monitor terrorist groups in Miami.  The film is about 50 years of hostile US-Cuba relationships and includes remarkable interviews with leading Cuban exile terrorists, former FBI agents and Gerardo Hernandez, one of the Cuban 5. The first presentation will take place on April 16, at the Brava Theater in San Francisco that has a capacity of 350 seats.   

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USP Victorville, H. Nordelo 2011

Another important project is to sponsor the premiere tour of an exhibit of Gerardo Hernandez's political cartoons, Humor from my Pen,  to venues across the United States.  Gerardo's satiric and witty cartoons will introduce a wide American audience to his striking visual talents and his sharp political messaging. On June 4th, coinciding with Gerardo's birthday we will have an opening of his cartoons at Social Public Art Resource Center (SPARC) gallery in Venice, California. The gallery is only 100 miles away from where Gerardo is serving his long and unjust sentence.

 Other ongoing projects include: 

    * Organizing a conference in Washington DC with the participation of national and international personalities including intellectuals, artists, Nobel Prize recipients, legal experts, etc to call the attention about this case in the heart of the US.  This conference was one of the many projects included in the final declaration of the Sixth International Colloquium in Holguin last November;

    * Lobbying campaign directed at members of the U.S. Congress utilizing the recent report by Amnesty International on the 5 as well as other relevant materials;

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    * Organizing a tour in several US cities with the internationally known National Children's Theater Company of Cuba, La Colmenita (The Little Beehive) with their latest play that will be able to reach out to a wide audience and touch people's heart; and

    * Placing ads in Google, Yahoo and other social media networks.

We are reaching out to you now to become an active contributor to these strategic projects for 2011.  The International Committee is a grassroots organization that depends entirely upon the contributions of its members and friends to launch our programs into action. By becoming a monthly donor you will help make these projects a reality.

You can write a tax-deductible check made out to the International Committee and mail it to:
International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban 5
P.O. Box 22455
Oakland, CA 94609

If you want to send a wire from another country, please write to us at info@thecuban5.org and we will send you the information on how to do the transaction.  

We promise to keep you posted throughout the year about the development of our work.  With deep appreciation of your commitment to End the Injustice and Free the 5 Now!

International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban 5
For updated information about the case visit:   www.thecuban5.org

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