Free the Cuban Five

The action plan for 2007 was set by lawyer Roberto González, brother of René González, one of the five Cuban heroes unjustly imprisoned for their work to stop terrorist attacks on their beloved homeland, Cuba. He said, “The hope for their release resides in the struggle we all wage non-stop.” (Granma)

The five Cuban men held unjustly in U.S. federal prisons are Antonio Guerrero, Fernando González, René González, Gerardo Hernández and Ramón Labañino.

In 1998 they were ripped from their Cuban homeland while in Florida, thrown into severe isolation solidarity confinement, tried and convicted of “conspiracy espionage” in a trial where there was absolutely no evidence of any espionage and sentenced to from 15 years to double life terms.

The uphill battle to publicize the political nature of their conviction and the double standard by the U.S. government was slow but cumulative.

What sense did it make to imprison anti-terrorists like the Cuban Five when the U.S. spent hundreds of billions of dollars funding a so-called war on terror?

Although the 11th Circuit Court ruling in 2006 reversed the decision of the three-judge panel declaring there was no way for a fair trial to be held in Miami due to the “perfect storm” of prejudice, it also brought an intensification of solidarity with the Cuban Five around the world and inside the United States as well.

A year after their sentencing, December 2002, there were 100 committees demanding the Cuban Five be freed. By December 2006, the figure has reached 290 in 90 countries.

Also in 2006, two international solidarity drives coincided with the date of their arrests in 1998 through the 30th anniversary of the bombing of Cubana Airline 455 by U.S.-based terrorists and in December to mark the fifth anniversary of the draconian sentences. The first national demonstration in the U.S. to Free the Five was held in Washington, D.C. Big media breakthroughs began in large part due to the dogged press work by the National Committee to Free the Five.

While the legal process grinds on, solidarity will continue to expand and reach more sectors in 2007: on campuses; in Black, Latin@ and immigrant communities; in LGBT and women’s movements; in the anti-war/anti-occupation mobilizations; committees to free Mumia Abu-Jamal, Leonard Peltier, the Angola 3, and all political prisoners; in the labor movement; in newspapers; and radio and TV news.

A Jan. 7 call for Rainbow Solidarity for the Cuban Five has already won a swift and enthusiastic response from lesbian, gay, bi, trans and other individuals and organizations fighting sex/gender and sexual oppression. For more information about the call, e-mail Leslie Feinberg at transgenderwarrior@gmail.com.

For more information, organizing tools or organizations near you that are working to Free the Cuban Five, go to: www.freethefive.org, www.antiterroristas.cu, www.freethefiveny.org, and www.cubasolidarity.com or any Workers World Party branch listed in WW newspaper.