Havana conference mobilizes solidarity for Cuban 5

Solidarity with the Cuban Five and determination to win their freedom was the focus of an international youth conference from April 29-30 in Havana, Cuba. The conference was organized by the Union of Young Communists (UJC) and included representatives from more than 35 countries around the world.

The Cuban Five—Gerardo Hernández, Antonio Guerrero, Ramón Labañino, Fernando González and René González—are political prisoners held in the United States. They have been collectively sentenced to four life sentences and 75 years for infiltrating CIA-backed right-wing terrorist organizations in order to monitor and stop attacks on Cuba from U.S. soil.

Participants at the conference pointed out the hypocrisy of the U.S. government, which imprisons these men while committing atrocities in Iraq, Afghanistan and beyond under the guise of a “war on terror.”

Concurrent with this hypocrisy, and a major focus of the conference, is the case of Luis Posada Carriles—an admitted terrorist who, along with other bombings and assassination attempts, masterminded the bombing of Cubana Airlines Flight 455 in 1976 that killed all 73 passengers and crew onboard. Activists worldwide are demanding the extradition of Posada to Venezuela to face trial for his role in the airliner bombing. Posada escaped from prison in Venezuela before returning to the United States.

Posada was expected to face trial in El Paso, Texas, on May 11, not for acts of terrorism but for “illegally” entering the United States. In fact, the prosecution had attempted to silence any mention of Posada’s terrorist actions or connection to the CIA during the trial.

Three days before the trial was to be held, however, a U.S. judge dismissed all the charges against him and set him free, on grounds that the case was based on statements made by Posada under false pretenses. (Reuters, May 8)

Worldwide actions on May 11 will condemn U.S.-sponsored terrorism and demand justice in the cases of the Cuban Five and Posada Carriles.

Conference participants—including family members of the Five as well as family members of passengers aboard Flight 455—raised that were it not for Posada and allied terrorists, who continue to receive impunity from the U.S. government, there would have been no need for the Five to travel to the United States in defense of their country.

These cases were the focus of the annual May Day march in Cuba as well. A large UJC contingent followed the international conference delegation and closed out the march, carrying large photos of each person killed on Flight 455.

At a closing ceremony for the conference on April 30, Cuban National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcón told participants, “Tomorrow, our people will gather in every square in the country and will show their unanimous and strong will to struggle for justice until we have it. We will show Bush, and little by little show others the truth. Little by little the people of the United States, who do not deserve the terrorist regime that makes them suffer, will be the ones to find the key to those jails.”

For more information on the case of the Cuban Five, visit www.freethefive.org or www.freethefiveny.org.

LeiLani Dowell represented Fight Imperialism, Stand Together (FIST) at the Havana conference.

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