Vol. 71/No. 11      March 19, 2007

BY JACOB PERASSO  
HAVANA—The Cuban Five “are uncompromising revolutionaries, like many Cubans you meet on the street every day, who are willing to give their lives to defend Cuba,” said Ernesto Fernández, a national leader of the Union of Young Communists (UJC), to a February 9 meeting of about 100 high school students at the José Martí Polytechnic Institute.

The Cuban Five—Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino, Fernando González, Antonio Guerrero, and René González—are Cubans who were living in Florida to gather information on ultrarightist organizations with a record of violent attacks on Cuba carried out from U.S. soil with Washington’s complicity. They have been locked up since 1998, sentenced to long prison terms for “conspiracy to commit espionage” and other frame-up charges.

Fernández, UJC director of international relations, was accompanied by Patricia Flechilla, president of the Federation of Secondary School Students, and by three members of the Young Socialists—Maura DeLuca and Jacob Perasso from the United States and ólöf Andra Proppé from Iceland. The UJC invited the YS members to participate in a morning of activities at the school, including a meeting that was part of a nationwide effort by the UJC to involve youth in the campaign to free the Cuban Five.

The day’s activities began with a morning assembly of 700 students. After performances by a student flamenco dancer and a reggaeton group, the three Young Socialists were asked to say a few words. They explained that YS members around the world defend the Cuban Revolution and have joined the January-April international campaign initiated by Cuban youth organizations on behalf of the Cuban Five.

The students continued discussions in their classrooms, with each of the Young Socialists going to a different one. Students asked questions about the United States and Iceland, and how revolutionaries there carry out their work.

Proppé pointed to some of the realities in imperialist countries, such as the fact that the school system is not designed to educate, but to regiment youth into accepting the system of class exploitation. She pointed to the brutal conditions facing construction workers and many others on the job in Iceland. She also described the working-class resistance, such as the massive mobilizations in the United States last year demanding full legalization for all immigrants.

Afterward, DeLuca, Proppé, and Perasso spoke along with Fernández on the Cuban Five before the group of 100 students. If the appeals process for the Five continues at its current pace, Fernández said, it may not be exhausted for at least 24 years. The only way to hasten their freedom is to step up the international campaign of protests, he said.

Fernández noted the conditions the prisoners have been held in, including their initial 17 months of confinement in “the hole” and Washington’s repeated denial of visits by family members. He said the refusal of the five Cubans to be broken has won the respect of fellow inmates.

DeLuca said, “We are taking this campaign to student groups, unions, and others to work wherever possible on organizing educational meetings and public demonstrations.”

“The Five are on the front lines of the class struggle in the United States. They are doing political work among workers and farmers behind bars,” said Perasso. “The capitalist class in the United States hates and fears the example of the Cuban Revolution, and is trying, unsuccessfully, to break the five revolutionaries because of the example they set.”

Proppé described how “Young Socialists, from Iceland to Australia to the United States, campaign with the Militant at factory gates, colleges, and working-class neighborhoods. Through this work we help bring the truth about the Five to a broader number of workers and students who have never heard of them,” she said.

A similar exchange was held the following week with a group of young teachers at a regional vocational school on the outskirts of Havana. One teacher asked whether the Young Socialists integrated defense of the Cuban Five with defense of the Cuban Revolution.

“For youth who are open to revolutionary ideas, these five militants can show what the Cuban Revolution is all about,” Perasso replied. “But to defend the Cuban Five, it is essential that we reach out as broadly as possible, among all those who will take a stand against the injustices being done to them.”
 
 
Related articles:
An exchange with workers at Havana garment plants
Contribute to cover costs of ‘Militant’ reporting team to Cuba  
 
 
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