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   Vol. 71/No. 4           January 29, 2007  
 
 
New York event: 'Free the Cuban Five!'
(feature article)
 
BY WILLIE COTTON  
NEW YORK, January 13—“Cuba has the right and the duty to protect itself,” which is what the Cuban Five were doing when they were arrested and framed-up by the FBI, said Rodrigo Malmierca, Cuba’s ambassador to the United Nations, at a meeting here tonight. Some 120 people attended the “Three Kings Party for the Cuban 5,” held at the main auditorium of Service Employees International Union Local 1199.

The event was part of a stepped-up campaign to educate and win support for the release of the Cuban revolutionaries, known as the Cuban Five (for the names of the five and details on their case see Young Socialists in Action column).

“Nothing and nobody will make the five give up,” said Malmierca.

A new 12-minute Cuban documentary Five Men, One Story premiered here tonight. It pointed to the Aug. 9, 2006, decision of the 12-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals that reversed an earlier ruling of a three-judge panel of the same court and upheld the convictions of the five. The three-judge panel had thrown out their convictions and ordered a new trial, on the basis that holding the trial in Miami prejudiced the jury.

“Neither mistreatment, the frenzied manner in which they were tried, nor the separation from their loved ones has diminished the very high morale of our heroes,” Malmierca said.

During the program people from the audience read poems and statements from the Cuban Five and their relatives. These expressed the determination of the five to continue fighting for their release and in defense of the Cuban Revolution.

Sponsoring organizations included Casa de las Américas, Cuba Solidarity New York, IFCO/Pastors for Peace, New York City Jericho, New York Committee to Free the Cuban Five, Party for Socialism and Liberation, Popular Education Project to Free the Cuban 5, ProLibertad Freedom Campaign, Socialist Workers Party, Venceremos Brigade, Workers World Party, and Young Socialists. From donations collected at the door, organizers made $100 contributions toward the commissary expense account of each of the five imprisoned revolutionaries.  
 
 
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