Vol. 71/No. 43      November 19, 2007

The five were framed up and are serving long sentences, accused of “conspiracy to commit espionage” and other charges, because of their role in providing revolutionary Cuba with information on rightist groups operating in Florida that have carried out violent attacks on Cuba.

Playing at a youth cultural center, three bands performed in front of a large banner with pictures of the Cuban Five, as they are known.

Most of those in the audience were new to the cause. One of them, Irene Larsson, said she passed by a literature table at the train station an hour before the concert and decided to go. “I didn’t know anything about the case of the five before, but I thought it was interesting.”

The concert was organized by the Committee for the Five and the band Black Carlota. It was moderated by Filip Tedelund, a member of the Young Socialists.

“The five are not victims but revolutionaries,” Tedelund said. “They are not unique in Cuba, which has a long tradition of revolutionary fighters acting selflessly to defend their country and revolution, and to go on international missions of solidarity with oppressed peoples.” He noted that 300,000 Cubans volunteered to fight in Angola in the 1970s and ’80s to help defeat invading South African troops. Today tens of thousands of volunteer Cuban doctors are serving in countries throughout the world.

Tedelund said the campaign to win the release of the Cuban Five has made progress, and “now we are planning to get out to schools to get the truth out.”

Caridad Pérez González, from the Cuban embassy in Stockholm, participated in the event and helped answer some of the questions about Cuba that some of the young people had in informal discussions.

A number of people signed up to help with the defense campaign.
 
 
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UN vote calls for an end to U.S. embargo against Cuba  
 
 
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