Women demand freedom for Cuban 5

Women are stepping up the struggle to free the Cuban Five. On Sept. 23, a delegation of women traveled from New York, Detroit and San Francisco to demand from Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez freedom for the Five and visitation rights for their families.

Women’s delegation holds news conference at Dept. of Justice, Sept. 23.

The Cuban Five—Antonio Guerrero, Fernando González, Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino and René González—have been incarcerated in maximum security prisons for the past seven years for having defended their country against the well-documented terrorism of right-wing Cuban American groups in Miami. In addition, visas have been denied family members of the Five, preventing them from getting visits.

On Aug. 9, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta declared null and void the decision that had condemned the Five to prison. Their sentences had earlier been declared illegal by the Working Group on Arbitrary Deten tions of the Human Rights Com mis sion of the United Nations.

Despite these rulings, the Five are still being held in prisons throughout the United States.

Teresa Gutierrez of the New York Committee to Free the Cuban Five, organi zers of the delegation, said the group had gathered an impressive list of national and international signers to a letter requesting the meeting with Attorney General Gonzalez.

Despite this letter and repeated calls to the attorney general’s office, a meeting was denied. The women were instead met in front of the Department of Justice by a representative from the Public Affairs office, who said he would bring the information the women brought on the Five to the attention of the attorney general.

Besides Gutierrez, the delegation included Nellie Hester Bailey of the Har lem Tenants Council, Ellen Bernstein of IFCO/Pastors for Peace, Julie Fry of FIST (Fight Imperialism, Stand Together), Deirdre Griswold of Workers World newspaper, Gloria La Riva of the National Com mittee to Free the Cuban Five, Cheryl LaBash of the U.S./Cuba Labor Exchange, and Brenda Stokely of the Million Worker March Movement.

These women held a media conference afterwards denouncing the imprisonment of the Five, as well as the decision of the attorney general to ignore their delegation. They vowed to continue to apply pres sure on his office until the Five were free.

On Sept. 25, the International Demo cratic Women’s Federation (FDIM), made up of women from five continents, called for the release of the Cuban Five and condemned the U.S. economic, commercial and financial blockade against Cuba.