NEW YORK, February 21—”Stop the slanders! Stop the lies! Freedom for the Cuban 5!” chanted two dozen picketers outside the New York Times Building this evening, as they protested the refusal of the paper to cover the case.

The Cuban 5—Antonio Guerrero, Ramón Labañino, Gerardo Hernández, René González, and Fernando González—are revolutionaries framed-up eight years ago and serving draconian sentences in U.S. jails on charges that include “conspiracy to commit espionage” for Cuba. They were in Miami to gather information on activities of Florida-based ultrarightist groups with a record of violent attacks on Cuba carried out from U.S. soil with Washington’s complicity.

Organizers of the protest said they plan to continue gathering petitions and seeking letters to the Times from prominent individuals. More than 500 signatures on petitions have already been submitted to the paper demanding the Times break its news embargo on the case.

—SALM KOLIS