THE CUBAN FIVE : WE DEMAND THEIR FREEDOM !

repost from realcuba

National Committee To Free The Cuban Five

On the 13th Anniversary of the unjust arrest of the Cuban Five:
We demand their freedom!

Today marks the beginning of the 13th year of the unjust imprisonment of five heroic men, five men who risked their lives to protect their country from acts of terrorism, five men who were wrongly accused and unjustly convicted. Gerardo Hernández, René González, Fernando González, Antonio Guerrero, and Ramón Labañino – the Cuban Five. We in the National Committee to Free the Cuban Five, along with hundreds of other committees and thousands of activists around the world, have been working since the day of their conviction to reverse that injustice and see the Five returned to their homes and their loved ones in Cuba, and we will continue those efforts until they are free.

This morning we held a press conference, which allowed the media access to attorneys for the Five – Richard Klugh, co-counsel for Gerardo, William M. Norris, attorney for Ramón, and Phil Horowitz, attorney for René. Gerardo and Ramón (as well as Fernando and Antonio) are in the process of filing appeals, and their attorneys discussed those appeals, which are based in part on the work done by the Committee and others in uncovering secret payments from the U.S. government to Miami journalists covering the trial of the Five.

René’s sentence ends on Oct. 7 and he will at long last be free, even while his brothers remain in jail. His attorney explained how he has filed a motion for René to be allowed to serve his three years’ probation in Cuba, but the government has opposed that motion and is currently demanding that René serve his probation in Florida, where he has no family. You can listen to the entire press conference by clicking the link below.

Ramón, Antonio, and Gerardo have all sent messages to their supporters on this day; you can read them by clicking the link below.

Soon we will be placing a full-page ad in the Washington Post, urging President Obama to use his power to immediately end the injustice and free the Five – all of them. This ad has been made possible by generous contributions from supporters around the world. If you haven’t contributed yet, and would like to help us with this important effort at raising public awareness of the case, please click the link below to contribute. We very much appreciate your support.

The struggle continues until the Five are free!
MP3 audio of press conference
Messages from the Five

Contribute to the Washington Post ad
Contact us: info@freethefive.org
Or call: 415-821-6545
Web: http://www.freethefive.org
http://www.facebook.com/FreeTheFive Free the Cuban Five Now!
Allow the families’ visits!
Grant entry visas to
Adriana Pérez and Olga Salanueva!

America Clamors for Freedom for the Cuban Five

Repost from realcuba

By realcuba

Social movements around the Americas stepped up actions to free five Cubans who have been unjustly held in US prisons for 13 years for their work to stop terrorist attacks against Cuba, being carried out by radical anti-Cuban factions based in the United States.

Canadian solidarity groups met in Lanaudiere, Quebec during the Alternatives 2011-Quebec Gathering 10 years later: Anti-neoliberal Revolutions with the participation of the Social Movements of the Americas. Participants agreed to be present at the launching of the Community of Latin-American and Caribbean States (CELAC) that will take place December 3, 2011.

The new entity will bring together all Latin American and Caribbean countries with the purpose of promoting political dialogue and cooperation for development. CELAC will include the 33 countries from Latin America and the Caribbean.
The organization is defined by Argentine diplomacy as an initiative to address and coordinate the different integration processes and regional development policies. The different organizations participating in CELAC include Mercosur, Aladi, Sela, Caricom and Sica.

James Cockcroft, from the Quebec Citizens Committee 10 years after, told Juventud Rebelde via internet that during the event that took place from August 19 to 21 several important resolutions and agreements were signed to boost citizen struggles to carry out during the second decade of the 21st century.

Cockcroft said that it is time to put an end to the unjust imprisonment of Gerardo Hernández, Ramon Labañino, Fernando González, Antonio Guerrero and René González, also known as the Cuban Five. The Cuban Five — Gerardo Hernández, Ramon Labañino, Fernando González, Antonio Guerrero and René González— were given harsh sentences ranging from 15 years to double consecutive life terms plus 15 years in a trial plagued with irregularities and held in a highly biased Miami court.

The five Cubans were working to uncover information about terrorist activities being planned and carried out against Cuba by ultra-rightwing organizations based in southern Florida with a long record of terrorist actions against Cuba and the Cuban people. When they turned their information over to authorities they were arrested and have been in jail ever since.

In May 2005, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention adopted an opinion on the case in which it concluded that US government had failed to guarantee the Cuban five a fair trial under Article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), a treaty the USA has ratified.

Amnesty International released a special report on the case of the Cuban Five in 2008. The report states that “having reviewed the case extensively over a number of years, [Amnesty International] believes that there are serious doubts about the fairness and impartiality of their trial which have not been resolved on appeal.

The Cuban Five have also received wide-reaching international support of other organizations and individuals. The petition for a Writ of Certiorari (leave to appeal) to the US Supreme Court was supported by amicus curiae briefs submitted on behalf of numerous organizations and individuals, including 10 Nobel prize winners, the bar associations of various countries and other legal bodies, including the International Association of Democratic Lawyers, the Ibero-American Federation of Ombudsmen, the International Federation of Human Rights and the National Jury Project offices of California, Minnesota, New Jersey and New York. Most of the amicus briefs focused their concerns on the right of criminal defendants to an impartial jury and the prejudicial impact of the trial venue in this regard. Several of the briefs made specific mention of the operation of anti-Cuba groups in Miami in the decade before the trial and the numerous hostile actions and attacks on individuals and organizations seen as pro-Cuban, and to pressures experienced by members of the jury at certain points during the proceedings.

During the Alternatives 2011-Quebec Gathering 10 years later: Anti-neoliberal Revolutions gathering, participants also agreed to attend the Rio+20 Summit to promote actions agreed upon 20 years ago at the Earth Summit in Brazil; and to participate in 2015 in Mar del Plata, Argentina, in celebrations for a decade after defeating the Free Trade Area of the Americas Agreement (FTAA).

The group of social organizations also emphasized the importance of adding their voices to those who demand an end of the US blockade of Cuba and that Cuba be taken off the US list of so-called terrorist countries, and to promote the world campaign to gather signature in favor of the liberation of the Cuban Five.

 

 

UN High Commissioner Updated on Case of Cuban 5

The UN high commissioner for human rights, Navi Pillay, was informed on Friday about the situation of five Cuban antiterrorists held in U.S. prisons. Ambassador Rodolfo Reyes, Cuba’s permanent representative to the UN, sent a letter to Pillay about the case of Antonio Guerrero, Fernando Gonzalez, Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon Labanino, and Rene Gonzalez, known as the Cuban Five.

The five men have been held in U.S. prisons for the last 13 years, after an unjust, arbitrary trial full of legal violations and arbitrariness, soley for their efforts to prevent terrorist acts against Cuba.

According to Reyes, the letter also included other details, specifically regarding the case of Gerardo Hernandez, who is currently involved on a habeas corpus appeal.

Opinion No. 19/2005 of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention described the case of the Cuban Five as “arbitrary”, Reyes noted.

The Cuban ambassador also sent letters to various UN Human Rights Commission officials, including the special rapporteurs on the independence of judges and lawyers; torture and other cruel treatment, and the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.

(Prensa Latina)

http://en.cubadebate.cu/news/2011/09/09/un-high-commissioner-updated-on-case-cuban-5/

Example of Cuban Five Extolled in Holguin

Educators and students from the municipality of Calixto Garcia extol the Cuban Five’s example

By Roxana Hechavarría Torres / editorweb@radioangulo.icrt.cu / Tuesday, 06 September 2011 13:07

The example of the Cuban Five was extolled during the opening event of the new school year in the municipality of Calixto Garcia, in Holguin province, for the courage shown for almost 13 years of cruel and unfair imprisonment.
Mexico / Justice for the Cuban Five

While addressing the audience, teacher Jose Sanchez Mora meant the teachers’ commitment of training the present-day generations, who are inspired on the example of the Cuban Five, their humane feelings, their love for the Homeland, solidarity, among other values present in the also called the Miami Five.

The students from the Juan Carlos Batista polytechnic school are trained in 12 different specialties, and once they graduate as technicians and skilful workers they have a post guaranteed to round up their technical training.

During the new school year that has just begun the Cuban Five activists from the municipality of Calixto Garcia will continue demanding the release of these youths, as part of the drive in favor of justice, and will welcome as well other proCuban Five’ fighters from Cuba and abroad that will share with them during the celebration of the International Colloquium to be held in Holguin province next November. / Source – Radio Juvenil / Translated by Radio Angulo

http://www.radioangulo.cu/en/supplements/the-cuban-five/12386-example-of-cuban-five-extolled-in-holguin.html

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Thirteen Years of Injustice for the Cuban 5

International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban 5   September 5th for the Five       Thirteen Years of Injustice for the Cuban 5   Photo: Bill Hackwell   As we build the pressure on the Obama Administration to free the five heroes of Cuba this September 5 we have to remember that September has a special meaning in the struggle against terrorism. September 4th marks the 14th anniversary of the brutal terrorist bombing of the Copacabana Hotel in Havana that ended the life of Fabio Di Celmo, the Italian youth who today would have been 46 years old, the same age as Gerardo Hernandez. If the US government would of stopped the plans of international terrorist Luis Posada Carriles, who organized and paid mercenaries to plant bombs in Cuban hotels, Fabio would be alive today and the Cuban 5 would never have had to go to the US.   It was 35 years ago on September 21, 1976 that a terrorist bomb destroyed the life of former Chilean Minister of Foreign Affairs Orlando Letelier and his North American secretary Ronny Moffit on a Washington DC street. The US freed two of the terrorists responsible for this bombing after only 7 years.   While protecting and sheltering terrorists the US continues to incarcerate the anti terrorist Cuban 5. Five innocent men who have now served 13 years of unjust punishment for defending their country.   This September 5th, once again, we ask President Obama to Free the Cuban 5 and to extradite the criminal Luis Posada Carriles to Venezuelathe country that has asked for his extradition for 6 years. TO COMMUNICATE WITH THE WHITE HOUSE   By phone:             202-456-1111         If calling from outside the United States, dial first the International Area Code + 1 (US country code) followed by             202-456-1111       By Fax: 202-456-2461   If fax is sent from outside the United States, dial first the International Area Code + 1 (US country code) followed by             202-456-2461         To send an electronic message write to: HTTP://WWW.WHITEHOUSE.GOV/CONTACT To send a telegram   President Barack Obama The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, NW Washington, DC 20500 EE.UU.           International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban 5 To learn more about the Cuban 5 visit:   www.thecuban5.org