STOCKHOLM, Sweden—A spirited protest here December 5 outside the U.S. Embassy called for the release of five Cuban revolutionaries unjustly held in U.S. jails for more than 11 years. The protest took place a few days before the resentencing of two of the Cubans, Ramón Labañino and Fernando González, on December 8. Slogans like “Obama, yes you can, free the Cuban Five” were shouted by the 30 participants. Banners were carried that read “No more injustice to the Cuban Five.”

The protest was organized by the Committee to Free the Cuban Five in Stockholm. Members of “Cubans for Cuba” and others also took part. At the December 8 hearing Labañino’s life plus 18 years sentence was reduced to 30 years. González’s 19-year sentence was reduced to 17 years and 9 months. On October 13 Antonio Guerrero’s life plus 10 years sentence had been reduced to 21 years and 10 months.

Along with Gerardo Hernández and René González, Labañino, Guerrero, and Fernando González were arrested in 1998 and convicted in a 2001 frame-up trial on various charges of “conspiracy.” The five were in the United States monitoring Cuban counterrevolutionary groups that have carried out violent attacks against Cuba from south Florida.

—DAG TIRSÉN