Detroit City Council joins Michigan campaign to ‘Free the Cuban Five!’

In a unanimous and historic vote on March 29, the Detroit City Council called “for Freedom for Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando González and René González— the Cuban Five.” The resolution was submitted as part of a statewide push to pierce the curtain of silence that has clung stubbornly to this case since the “Five” were arrested in 1998. The Michigan Campaign to Free the Cuban Five project of the Jus tice for Cuba Coalition organized a public meeting featuring noted attorney Leonard Weinglass and Rev. Dr. Joan Brown Camp bell, a fundraiser netting at least $1,000 for the Freedom Fund and state wide showings of the joint Cuban/Irish video production “Mission Against Terror.”

Judge Claudia Morcom and a representative of Canadian Cuba Friendship. WW photos: Dave Sole

A cover letter from retired Judge Clau dia Morcom submitted the resolution and displayed the wide support the Five are receiving in this area, from City Council representatives and the ACLU to Michigan Welfare Rights and anti-war organizations. Morcom herself, a veteran civil and political rights advocate, traveled to Atlanta to witness oral arguments on February 14 and presented the violations of the rights of the Cuban Five to the United Nations on March 13.

Not only did the City Council call for freeing the Five, the resolution also demanded “an end to the blockade of Cuba” as well as “restoring the right of U.S. citizens to freely travel and exchange with the people of Cuba.” Several cases are pend ing against Michigan residents for travel to Cuba including two health care workers from Port Huron and the U.S./Cuba Labor Exchange, that has been threat ened with a $27,000 pre-penalty notice.

Rev. Dr. Joan Brown Campbell, religious director of the Chautauqua Institution, and attorney Leonard Weinglass.

Extradite Posada Carriles!

Most important in this statistically poorest major city in the United States, “the City of Detroit calls on the U.S. government to extradite Luis Posada Carriles to the sovereign country of Venezuela without further delay so he may stand trial for the 1976 bombing of Cubana airlines resulting in the deaths of 73 people.”

The phony U.S. “war on terror” wrings national resources out of local and state budgets to shower destruction on Iraq, but terrorists plotting in Miami are handled with kid gloves.

These anti-Cuba terrorists themselves are enmeshed with U.S. government covert aggression throughout Latin America, Cen tral America and the Caribbean. The CIA trained Luis Posada Carriles, who is presently detained in El Paso, Texas by U.S. immigration authorities. Bolivarian Venezuela is demanding his extradition because the 1976 Cubana airline bombing over Barbados was planned in Venezuela.

His partner Orlando Bosch, one of the leading terrorists in the Western Hemisphere, was also involved in the bombing of the airline. The first President Bush granted Bosch resident status despite a Justice Department report recommending denial. “Bosch lives a normal life and is often granted a place of honor at presidential speeches,” Weinglass said, and “the lawyer who introduced Bosch to Jeb Bush is named Batista, the son of the former dictator, who is now on the Florida Supreme Court.”

The ‘Brothers to the Rescue’ aircraft that was used to overfly Cuba was formerly flown by the CIA-backed Contras, who waged an illegal war under the direction of and funded by the United States against Nicaragua during the 1980s. The Miami terrorists have been involved in countless covert actions, from the Iran-Contra deals with Oliver North in the 1980s to Nixon’s Watergate burglars in the 1990s.

Cuban Five legal victory
invigorates struggle

In August 2005 a unanimous decision of a three-judge panel from the 11th Circuit Court overturned the convictions of the Cuban Five. The 93-page decision concluded that a fair trial was impossible in Miami. Nonetheless, the U.S. attorney gen eral decided to prolong the unjust imprisonment of the Five heroes by asking an en banc review by the entire 11th Circuit Court. A reinvigorated international campaign to free the Cuban Five is underway to counteract the stalling and build support leading to a new trial or their release.

The Detroit public meeting held at Wayne State University Law School Partrich Auditorium included a special presentation by Ignacio Meneses, co-chair of the National Network on Cuba, recognizing retired Council President Maryann Mahaffey for her steadfast support and assistance in solidarity with Cuba, and a message from the Cuban interests section that also recognized her.

Weinglass and Campbell’s spellbinding presentations revealed in detail nearly half a century of aggression and intrigue that is being brought to public view through the struggle to free these five courageous men.

Although the case of the Cuban Five involves civil liberty and human rights issues, it also goes to the heart of the historical aims of U.S. imperialism in the Americas. This imperialist domination through neoliberal policies, kidnappings and coups is being rolled back throughout Latin America and bitterly fought in Haiti. A demonstration called for May 20 to demand “Hands off Cuba and Venezuela!” is being built hand in hand with Free the Cuban Five efforts.