Vol. 71/No. 19      May 14, 2007

More than 420 people from 49 countries in the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Europe attended the two-day gathering. The largest delegations came from Ecuador (100), Mexico (60), and Cuba (50). The gathering was called by the Union of Young Communists (UJC) and other mass youth organizations here as part of a three-month-long international campaign in solidarity with the Cuban Five. Delegates exchanged experiences in the fight to win public support for freeing the Five, and discussed plans for the ongoing international campaign.

“This is the first international meeting of many more to come,” said Julio Martínez, first secretary of the UJC, in welcoming the delegates and guests.

The Cuban Five—Gerardo Hernández, René González, Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, and Fernando González—were arrested by the FBI in 1998 and convicted in a frame-up trial in Miami three years later of “conspiracy to commit espionage” for the Cuban government, “conspiracy to act as an unregistered foreign agent,” and, in the case of Hernández, “conspiracy to commit murder.” They are serving sentences ranging from 15 years to a double life term. The five men were in the United States gathering information on right-wing Cuban American groups based in southern Florida that have had an extensive record of carrying out violent attacks on Cuba from U.S. soil with Washington’s complicity.

“It’s been almost nine years that my father has been in prison,” Irma González, 22, René González’s daughter, told the delegates. She asked that solidarity be extended to the families of all victims of attacks by Cuban counterrevolutionaries operating from the United States. Relatives of the Cuban Five, as well as of those of the 73 people killed in a midair bombing of a Cuban airliner over Barbados in 1976, participated in the conference.

Panelists and delegates who spoke from the floor protested the recent release from a U.S. prison of Luis Posada Carriles, a Cuban counterrevolutionary and CIA-trained mass murderer. Posada was involved in the 1976 bombing of the Cuban airliner, bombings of Cuban hotels in 1997 that killed an Italian tourist and injured dozens, and failed attempts on the life of Cuban president Fidel Castro. The Cuban and Venezuelan governments have requested Posada’s extradition so he can be tried for these crimes. Washington has refused the request. The final resolution of the conference called for activities to demand Posada’s extradition alongside the campaign to free the Five.

Delegates from the United States pointed to such actions in El Paso, Texas, and other U.S. cities on May 11, the day Posada is scheduled to appear in court for immigration fraud charges.

“The fight to free the Five is a political fight, and it depends on our actions,” said Carolina Contreras, an organizer of the effort in Venezuela. Contreras called for organizing actions on August 20, including in front of U.S. embassies, for the release of the Five. That day, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta will hear arguments by the defense in appealing the convictions of the Five.

“This is a battle of ideas, and part of the fight against imperialism,” said Viet Le Vu Quang, 25, a student from Vietnam studying physical education here.

“Cuba has contributed a lot to my country,” said Mary Orellana, 18, a medical student from Ecuador. “A lot of people don’t know much about the Cuban Revolution and the situation of the Five. We are going back to continue spreading the word about both.”

At the final session, Ricardo Alarcón, president of Cuba’s National Assembly, urged delegates to continue organizing similar activities. “This is the start of an increasingly broader battle,” he said.

Ben O’Shaugnessy contributed to this article.
 
 
Related articles:
Cuban delegate at UN body answers Swedish minister on 'human rights'
Many in U.S., China want to learn about Cuban Revolution'
N.Y. event promotes book by Chinese Cuban generals
More than half a million at May Day in Havana:‘Free Cuban Five! Extradite murderer Posada!’
Free Cuban 5! Extradite Posada!  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home