Vol. 71/No. 40      October 29, 2007

BY BEN O’SHAUGHNESSY
AND CASEY LOGAN  
ALBANY, New York—Two dozen students attended a meeting here at the State University of New York (SUNY) on “The Cuban Revolution in the World Today.” Sponsored by the student group Fuerza Latina and the Young Socialists, the event was organized as part of a series of campus activities to celebrate Latino Heritage Month.

The October 11 program highlighted the campaign to free the Cuban Five as well as the political contributions of Cuban revolutionary leader Ernesto Che Guevara. Speaking on the panel were Antonio Camacho Negrón, a longtime leader of the struggle for Puerto Rico’s independence and former political prisoner; and Ben Joyce, a member of the Young Socialists and student at the university. Fiorella Leal, president of Fuerza Latina, chaired the meeting.

“The Cuban Five are not victims,” said Joyce. “They continue to be fighters, on the same revolutionary course they’ve been on their whole lives. Now they are fighting on the front lines of the class struggle in the ‘belly of the beast.’”

The Cuban Five are framed-up Cuban revolutionaries in U.S. prisons. They were on an internationalist mission in Miami to gather information on ultrarightist groups that have organized attacks against Cuba from south Florida with the complicity of the U.S. government. They have been locked up since their arrest in 1998 on frame-up charges of “conspiracy to commit espionage” and others. They were convicted in federal court in a show trial in Miami in 2001 and are serving sentences ranging from 15 years to a double life term.

Joyce explained that Che Guevara was a central leader of Cuba’s socialist revolution, from the revolutionary war headed by Fidel Castro that overthrew the U.S.-backed Batista dictatorship, to his role as a political leader of millions of workers and farmers building a society in Cuba based on workers power. Guevara helped lead Cuba’s internationalist missions abroad, from the Congo to Bolivia.

“Che is a clear example of what a revolutionary is,” said Antonio Camacho. “He talked about the ‘new man,’ one who places the interests of society before his own.”

“The prison system is designed to dehumanize people and turn them into animals,” said Camacho. “In the case of the Cuban Five, the system tries to break their will by any means necessary.”

Camacho spent 15 years in U.S. prisons on frame-up charges because of his activity in the Puerto Rican independence struggle, serving out his sentence last year. Like the Cuban Five, he continued to carry out political activity behind bars.

Camacho encouraged students to read Che’s writings to better understand who the five Cuban heroes are.

The presentations were followed by a lively discussion period where students exchanged views on the Cuban Revolution and the fight against imperialism.

“A lot of us don’t know about the Cuban Five,” said Leal. “I think their case shows the double standards and hypocrisy in the United States.”

Joyce announced a North American solidarity conference on the Cuban Five to be held in Toronto November 9-11. He encouraged others to get involved and attend the conference.  
 
 
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