Students, activists rally for the Cuban 5
Special to Workers World
New York
Over 150 students and activists packed a lecture hall at
John Jay College Nov. 20 to learn about the case of the Cuban
Five political prisoners.
The conference was sponsored by the Puerto Rican/Latin
American Studies Department of John Jay and the New York
Committee to Free the Cuban 5.
Students and others at the opening plenary listened intently
to noted attorneys Leonard Weinglass and Linda Backiel. The two
are part of the legal team working on the case.
"One of the most important victories of this first Cuba 5
teach-in in New York," said Teresa Gutierrez, one of the
event's organizers, "was that a whole new layer of people
learned for the first time not only about the Cuban 5, but
about Cuba."
This is important because of current U.S.-Cuba tensions.
Weinglass noted that there is a "gathering storm" with regard
to Bush policies against Cuba. He said the case of the five has
to be seen in this context.
Students and activists participated and listened throughout
the day-long event. Among others, they heard presentations
about Cuba by former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark and the
Rev. Lucius Walker, both staunch defenders of the five and the
Cuban Revolution.
Clark and Walker moved the crowds with their stirring calls
to do everything possible to defend Cuba and the Cuban 5.
All the speakers put a human face on the comrades who are
held prisoner in five federal prisons throughout the United
States.
The Rev. Luis Barrios, a John Jay College professor and one
of the event's sponsors, brought down the house when he
challenged everyone to see the five "as one of our brothers,
sons, lovers, husbands, friends" and do everything to bring
them home to Cuba.
Barrios made a significant contribution to the case of the
five by making sure that a lot of students came to the event to
learn about the case.
At the end of the conference, organizers presented Barrios
with a Cuba 5 t-shirt and buttons.
Julie Fry from the New York Committee to Free the Five told
Workers World: "All the Cuba solidarity organizations helped
organize for this teach-in, and helped to organize important
workshops such as one on the campaign to win visas for the
families to visit the prisoners. The U.S.-Cuba relations
workshop," she noted, "was very well attended, indicating great
interest about Cuba among the novices attending the
conference."
Fry concluded at the end of the conference "that the five
will be sent home--of that we are confident."
Reprinted from the Dec. 2, 2004, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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