The Militant (logo)  
   Vol. 71/No. 5           February 5, 2007  
 
 
Build actions to free the Cuban Five
(editorial)
 
The widest possible support is needed for the international youth campaign, launched on January 10, calling on the U.S. government to release five Cubans imprisoned for the past eight years: Gerardo Hernández, Fernando González, René González, Antonio Guerrero, and Ramón Labañino. They were framed up by the FBI on charges of conspiring "to commit espionage” and "to commit murder.” Their “crime”? Informing Cuba of the activities of ultrarightist groups that, with Washington’s complicity, have a history of launching bombing attacks against Cuba from U.S. soil.

The campaign also demands the U.S. government grant visas to relatives of the Cuban Five, ending its inhuman refusal to allow Gerardo Hernández and René González to see their loved ones.

Spearheaded by Cuban youth organizations, the campaign appeals to young people worldwide to organize demonstrations, educational events, and other broadly sponsored activities to get out the truth about the Cuban Five and expand support for demanding their release. Youth groups are urged to build the International Youth Solidarity Meeting in Havana April 29-30, the culmination of the four-month campaign.

The April 7 national actions in the United States, planned for New York and Los Angeles, will contribute to the success of this worldwide effort. Other such activities in North America include: A January 26 public forum at the Thurgood Marshall School of Law in Houston; a January 30 panel of speakers at the Suffolk University Law School in Boston; a picket line at the U.S. consulate in Vancouver the same day; and a February 25 buffet and cultural evening in Montreal.

The facts about the unjust imprisonment of the Cuban Five, from their unfair trial to their jailers’ failed attempts to isolate them and break their morale, can win support among broad numbers of workers, farmers, and democratically minded people.

The lifelong record of these five militants also shows what the Cuban Revolution is about. It shows why the wealthy U.S. rulers are so determined to stamp it out—and why they will continue to fail. Three of the five were among the 300,000 Cubans who volunteered to fight in Angola and helped defeat invasions of that country by the racist South African regime, contributing to apartheid’s demise. And all five put their lives on the line to carry out their mission in the United States in defense of their country's sovereignty.

This selfless international solidarity, which Cuba has offered to those resisting imperialist domination the world over, is the result of the socialist revolution Cuba's working people made 48 years ago. They took power, overturning the political and economic rule of the capitalist class and beginning to reorganize society in the interests of the vast majority. For workers, farmers, small traders, and all exploited producers, as well youth in other countries fighting the brutal effects of capitalism, the Cuban Revolution is a living example that such a road is possible and necessary today.
 
 
Related articles:
April 7 actions to demand: ‘Hands off Cuba, Venezuela! Free Cuban 5!’
Int’l youth campaign calls for release of framed-up Cubans in U.S. prisons  
 
 
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