Rainbow Solidarity for Cuban Five spans the planet

More than 800 lesbian, gay, bi, trans (LGBT) and other activists fighting oppression based on sex, gender and sexuality have already signed on to the call for Rainbow Solidarity for the Cuban Five, first issued on Jan. 7. Updated lists of signers can be viewed at www.freethefiveny.org—look for the rainbow.

The collective sentencing of these five U.S.-held political prisoners—Gerardo Hernández, Antonio Guerrero, Ramón Labañino, Fernando González, and René González—to four life sentences and 75 years reveals in stark relief that U.S. imperialism’s “war on terror” is a pretext for war for empire.

The five Cubans are in prison merely for having infiltrated CIA-backed right-wing terrorist commando organizations in order to monitor and stop attacks on Cuba from U.S. soil.

The struggle to win freedom for these five political prisoners held in U.S. prisons has galvanized a broad united front among those who battle oppression based on their gender expression and/or sex and who they love.

Individuals and organizations have signed on from 45 countries, from every continent and from virtually every state in the continental U.S.

Volunteers have translated the introduction to the Rainbow Solidarity initiative and the call itself, so that it is now available in Spanish, English, simplified and traditional Chinese, Farsi, Turkish, Greek, Portuguese, Japanese, Italian, French and German.

The Croatian translation will be posted on the www.freethefiveny.org website soon. Croatian feminist and LGBT activists are circulating the call.

ASWAT—the Palestinian lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersexual organization—is in the process of translating the introduction and call into Arabic.

Filipino activists are working on the Tagalog translation.

Recent organizational signers include the national Lavender Caucus of the Green Party USA; Bus Riders Union/Labor Community Strategy Center, Los Angeles; Canadian Union Of Postal Workers (CUPW), Calgary, Alberta, Canada; Canadian Union Of Public Employees, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Hospital Employee’s Union of British Columbia; Greek Homosexual Community, Athens, Greece; Committee To Defend Palestinian Human Rights, Sterling, Mass.; Cuba Education Tours, Vancouver, B.C., Canada; Fairness Campaign, Louisville, Ky.; Freedom Tracks Music/Records, Nashville, Tenn.; Welfare Warriors, Milwaukee, Wis.; Queertoday.com, Boston, Mass.; Winona Gender Mutiny Collective.

Among recent signers are individuals and organizations whose activist work includes the struggle against women’s oppression: Brenda Stokely, a leader of the Million Worker March Movement and NYCLAW; Sara Flounders, co-director of the International Action Center; Women’s Fightback Network, Boston, Mass.; League of Women Voters in Montenegro; and Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Washington, D.C.

Solidarity, loud and clear

The Rainbow Solidarity initiative is also giving voice to individuals who are eloquently registering their outrage at the continued imprisonment of the five Cubans and at Washington’s economic and political blockade of Cuba and other illegal and covert acts of war.

Niloufer Bhagwat, from the International Association of Democratic Lawyers in Mumbai, India, writes “The Cuban Five were taking legal measures to prevent criminal attacks on Cubans and are innocent of the crimes they are charged with.”

Richard Carlson from Wappingers Falls, N.Y., states, “It is wrong, it is immoral and unjust what the U.S. is doing to these five men.”

Sandy Shevack from Paterson, N.J., says, “This is a miscarriage of justice.”

Dr. Zak Cope, from Belfast, Ireland, adds, “If the U.S. government was concerned with the rule of law, the brave actions of the Cuban Five would have been completely unnecessary.”

Jay Mitchell, from Shrewsbury, England, emphasizes, “It’s about time they were out of there and back home.”

Rebecca Starr writes from San Diego, Calif., “Free the Cuban Five!! No more political prisoners!”

Richard Palmer, in Jacksonville, Ill., says “Close Guantánamo, human rights are for humans everywhere.”

Marcos Quintero writes from Bielefeld, Germany, “Free the 5 Cubans now, stop the war on Cuba and the rest of the world!”

Adela Brent, from the Zig Zag Young Women’s Resource Centre Inc. in Queensland, Australia, states “I want to express my solidarity with the Cuban Five and the Cuban people and Fidel.”

‘Get the word out to keep up the pressure’

T. Dorsey, from Santa Margarita, Calif., comments, “These five men, fighting against terrorism, have been imprisoned by the U.S. government—‘MY’ government! Jailing heroes and supporting terror, while pretending to do the opposite, is sadly all the public can count on from ‘our’ hypocritical, double-speaking, global corporate-run excuse for a ‘by and for the people’ government.”

Brian Perkins states from Newport, Ore., “I am enraged by the hypocrisy of five innocent men being held in prison under harsh circumstances while known terrorist Luis Posada Carriles goes scot-free. While Bush and cronies spout off that no nation that harbors terrorists will be tolerated with one face, they set a convicted terrorist murderer of at least 73 innocents free with the other, while holding five innocent men in prison.”

Melinda Clark, a local co-founder of Code Pink in Willits, Calif., says of the Cuban Five: “Thank you to all who have been fighting for their survival and publicity. They will be freed.”

Robert Taylor, from the Bus Riders Union/Labor Community Strategy Center, writes from Los Angeles, “Let’s keep the fight on to free the Cuban Five from jail!”

Monty Lish, from Jamul, Calif., stresses, “Please get the word out to keep up the pressure.”

Translations and downloadable leaflets and petitions are constantly being updated on the www.freethefiveny.org web site.

Readers are asked to circulate the call—which can be found at www.freethefiveny.org—far and wide. Those with ideas about wider distribution of the call are encouraged to email rainbowsolidarity4cuban5@gmail.com.

More information about the case of the Cuban Five is available on www.freethefiveny.org or at www.freethefive.org.