Toronto meeting set to ‘break the silence’ on Cuban 5

“Breaking the Silence: A solidarity conference for the Cuban Five” will take place on Nov. 9 and 10 in Toronto. Jointly organized by the Canadian Network on Cuba, La table de concertation de solidarité Québec-Cuba and the National Network on Cuba (U.S.), this event could not be held within U.S. borders. The brutal 47-year blockade of the island neighbor south of Florida restricts Cuban representatives from entering the U.S.

The Cuban Five—Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, René González, Gerardo Hernández, and Fernando González—are heroic men falsely imprisoned in the U.S. since Sept. 12, 1998. For peacefully monitoring the actions of paramilitaries who prepare terrorist attacks on Cuba from Florida, these men were branded in the media as spies, tried in Miami in what Federal appellate court judges called “a perfect storm of prejudice,” and sentenced to a total of four life terms and 75 years in prison.

Since 1959 more than 3,200 Cubans have been killed as a result of terrorist attacks organized from Miami, including the very first midair bombing of a passenger plane, Cubana 455, as it took off from Barbados on Oct. 6, 1976. Seventy-three passengers and crew were killed, but the planner, an ex-CIA operative, Luis Posada Carriles, walks free in Miami today. Venezuela’s request to extradite Posada to stand trial for actions in Venezuela leading to the Cubana bombing has been ignored by the U.S. State Dept.

Although much hard work has been done inside the U.S. over the past nine years by the National Committee to Free the Five and many others, the Cuban Five are still better known around the rest of the world than they are here. They are loved and supported throughout Cuba, where the entire population has resolved not to rest until “the Five” are returned home.

At the upcoming Toronto conference, Cuban Five family members, activists and prominent figures in the struggle for constitutional and human rights will present their experiences and ideas including discussion of outreach steps and coordination between Quebec, Canada and the U.S., and linking the movement to other movements to further “break the silence.” Attorneys who are fighting on the appeals in federal court and others will update the legal situation. Notables like author Alice Walker, former U.S. attorney general and international human rights attorney, Ramsey Clark, professor and author Isaac Saney, representatives from Cuba and more will participate.

The prosecution and continued imprisonment of the Cuban Five is part of the war by U.S. imperialism to deny the Cuban people their right to choose their own path. The terror bombing of Cuban tourist hotels and civilian aircraft, chemical and biological warfare, the economic blockade, the travel ban to prevent U.S. citizens from seeing the reality of socialism in Cuba, the theft of well-known Cuban brand names for rum, cigars and coffee, the extraterritorial sanctions to prevent businesses from other countries from exchange with Cuba are all intended to impose starvation and hardship on Cuba from the outside to try to weaken the deep support for the socialist revolutionary process.

In Cuba’s report to the United Nations General Assembly in July 2007, Cuba points out this starvation policy was directly proposed in a 1960 State Dept. discussion memo declassified in 1991. For fifteen years the U.N. General Assembly has voted nearly unanimously to end the U.S. blockade of Cuba.

The observations by the Cuban Five enabled Cuba to block attacks before lives were lost. Such losses would create concerns for safety among potential tourists and reduce hard-currency income from tourism needed to buy essentials on the foreign market.

But the continued imprisonment of the Cuban Five, who peacefully prevented terror attacks, is daily evidence that the much touted “war on terror” emanating from Washington is self-serving and false. It’s an excuse to pursue economic and military domination of the world, to destroy Iraq, invade Afghanistan, install military bases in Africa and curtail civil liberties in the U.S.

The conference in Toronto will equip and organize an expanded effort to free these five brothers. On Friday, Nov. 9, registration begins at 10 a.m. All events, including a press conference, plenary session and public meeting will be held at the Toronto City Hall on Nathan Phillips Square, 100 Queen St. W. (at Bay). On Nov. 10 all events will be at the Steelworkers’ Hall, 25 Cecil St. The three sponsoring organizations will hold separate meetings on Nov. 11, when the National Network on Cuba (U.S.) will hold elections for three co-chairs.