Vol. 72/No. 24      June 16, 2008

Gerardo Hernández, Antonio Guerrero, René González, Ramón Labañino, and Fernando González have been fighting for their freedom for 10 years now. They are serving long sentences on false charges such as “conspiracy to commit espionage” and, in the case of Hernández, “conspiracy to commit murder.”

Their frame-up, unfair trial, and harsh treatment in prison have led growing numbers of people to demand their release. They have become an example to others fighting for justice, from meat packers jailed for working without proper papers, to supporters of the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador, threatened with federal prosecution if it does not register as an “agent of a foreign principal.”

The conference will hear presentations by Leonard Weinglass, a member of the Cuban Five legal team; a representative of the Cuban mission to the United Nations; and Gloria La Riva, a leader of the defense campaign, who will outline some of the fall activities to broaden out support for the five. A new short video documentary will be shown that includes interviews with the wives of four and the mother of one of the Cuban Five.

Workshops will offer an opportunity to exchange experiences on how to reach out for support among Black and other community groups, students, unionists, civil libertarians, religious organizations, and others.

The conference will project a stepped-up campaign to win visas for Adriana Pérez, the wife of Hernández, and Olga Salanueva, the wife of René González, who have not been allowed to visit their husbands for 10 and 8 years, respectively. Other proposed fall activities include a petition campaign, campus and other speaking engagements, a September 13 national demonstration in Washington, D.C., and a national conference in October.

People are planning to come to the conference from New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Philadelphia, Boston, Miami, Washington, D.C., and other areas, mostly from the East Coast.

In New York, several university and high school students plan to participate in the conference, including students at Hunter College, where meetings on the campaign to free the Cuban Five and Puerto Rican independence fighters have taken place.

“I’ve been talking to people at my school to make them aware of the defense campaign,” reported Harry D’Agostino, a student at Elizabeth Irwin High School who is building the June 14 conference.

Activists in New Jersey have sent out a mailing about the conference to a range of academics in the region who are supporters of civil liberties and oppose U.S. policies toward Cuba.

In Texas, two students, Aron Duhon and Shannon Kitchen, are planning to attend the June 14 conference. They are planning a showing of The Trial, a documentary on the Cuban Five, at Lamar University in Beaumont. “It doesn’t make sense that they’ve been in jail almost 10 years,” said Duhon. “We need to let people know about this. They need to be free.”
 
 
Related articles:
Free the Cuban Five Working Conference leaflet
New Zealand meeting held on Cuban 5  
 
 
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