Vigil for the Cuban Five outside the White House

WASHINGTON.—A vigil outside the White House has been convened for September 12, the 15th anniversary of the incarceration of the five Cuban anti-terrorist fighters sentenced in a rigged trial in Miami.

 The peaceful vigil is to call on President Barack Obama to return to their homeland Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero and Fernando González, still incarcerated in federal prisons, states a communiqué from the International Committee for the Freedom of the 5, which is sponsoring the initiative.

People participating will carry slogans such us Enough is Enough, End the Injustice, No More Impunity and Free the 5 Cubans Now, in order to call attention to the case.

Moreover, International Committee members and other friends in solidarity with the cause are to visit Congress to follow up on meetings with a number of legislators in June, during the program of activities for the second 5 Days for the Five Cubans in Washington DC, this past June.

The author Stephen Kimber is also to participate in seven public meetings on the U.S. east coast to talk about his recent book, What Lies Across the Water: The Real Story of the Cuban Five, the communiqué adds.

Kimber will appear with the eminent U.S. linguist, philosopher and political scientist Noam Chomsky in Boston, Massachusetts and with Martin Garbus, a member of the Five’s legal team in New York City.

The book is the result of extensive research, which included a review by the author of more than 2,000 pages of court records of the longest case in U.S. history.

Legal experts have noted the irrationality of the sentences handed down to Hernández (double life plus 15 years), Labañino (30 years), Guerrero (21 years, 10 months and five years of supervised release) and González (17 years and nine months).

Meanwhile René González completed 85% of the sentence of 15 years handed down in 2001, was subsequently under the regime of supervised release and is now in Cuba after a process which involved his loss of U.S. citizenship.

The International Committee has repeatedly noted that actions for the liberation of these men must be increased. “We cannot wait until they come out of prison having completed their sentences, as one of them, Gerardo, has no date on the calendar.”

In May 2005, the UN Panel on Arbitrary Detention questioned the legality of the illegal and arbitrary detention of the Cuban anti-terrorists, with a historic finding which proposed an immediate remedy to this situation, while the United States has done nothing to date to rectify it. (PL)

GRANMA

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