The featured speakers were Irma González, a university student and daughter of René González, one of the five prisoners, and Aleida Guevara March, a Cuban doctor and daughter of Ernesto Che Guevara. Che was a leader of the Cuban Revolution who was murdered in 1967 by Bolivian troops during an internationalist mission there.

The Toronto meeting launched a two-week national speaking tour by the two Cubans.

René González, Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, and Fernando González were arrested by U.S. cops in 1998 and held in solitary confinement for 17 months. In late 2001 a Miami court convicted them of a number of “conspiracy” charges and imposed jail sentences ranging from 15 years to a double life term. They were dispersed to five different maximum security prisons across the United States. Millions of Cubans have demonstrated in solidarity with them and an international campaign is under way to fight the frame-ups.

The five prisoners explained in court that they were in Florida to gather information on plans by right-wing counterrevolutionary organizations based in the United States to carry out terrorist attacks against Cuba. Such assignments, they said, are elementary measures of self-defense by the Cuban government.

“The people of Cuba support my dad and the others who have been jailed,” said Irma González. “We need international solidarity to put pressure on the U.S. government.” Earlier in the day she and Guevara March had been warmly received by 150 students who attended a meeting at George Brown College.

The U.S. government “is afraid that the example of Cuba could be multiplied throughout Latin America,” said Guevara March. “There is always economics behind it. They fear the loss of their control over natural resources if other nations follow the example of Cuba.

In response to questions, González and Guevara March talked about recent actions by the Cuban government to defend Cuba against U.S.-sponsored subversion, the activities of the Cuban Five in the U.S. prisons, and the situation facing the Cuban Revolution today.  
 
Ideas more powerful than weapons
“For us, ideas are more powerful than weapons,” said Guevara March. “Through what we call the ‘Battle of Ideas’ we are fighting to prepare a new generation of Cubans who did not participate in the revolution itself. They were born with the rights already established by the revolution. We can’t offer them designer clothes or good shoes and we can’t isolate them from the world in which we live. We can offer them the principles of the revolution.

“There are a few in Cuba who accept the U.S. lies about Cuba and are dedicated to overthrowing the revolution in collaboration with Washington,” Guevara March said. “But anyone who tries to threaten Cuba’s sovereignty or the lives of Cubans will be dealt with under Cuban law. Cuba is a country at war. The U.S. blockade is an act of war. We need and have a legal system that defends us.”

Asked her views on the international campaign led by Washington to condemn Cuba for the recent conviction and execution of three persons who hijacked a ferry in April, endangering the lives of crew and passengers, Guevara March said: “I can assure you if the United States ends its blockade, and if it ends its aggression against us, that day we will drop the death penalty.”

“My Dad and the other prisoners are respected by the prison population,” González said. “After their trial when they went to prison, they were applauded. They have made friends. They are teaching people to read and write. They are doing a beautiful job winning respect for Cuba. The other prisoners know they are not there because of criminal activity. One drug dealer said he would never sell drugs in Cuba because he supports Fidel.”

Participants in the meeting noted the connections between the fight to free the five Cubans and other struggles for justice, including the one to free the 21 Pakistani and Indian immigrants jailed in Toronto on August 14 without charges on suspicion of being threats to “national security.”
 
 
Related articles:
Jailed Cuban revolutionary: ‘U.S. gov’t can’t break us’  
 
 
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