Vol. 73/No. 49      December 21, 2009

Known internationally as the Cuban Five, the prisoners have been jailed on frame-up charges since their arrest in 1998. They were working in the United States to monitor counterrevolutionary groups with a history of armed attacks against Cuba, carried out with Washington’s complicity.

The decision by the courts to reduce the sentences of three of the five represents an important victory that can be built upon.

This concession by the U.S. government is due to the growing support the case of the five has gained internationally, which the prosecution for the first time acknowledged during the resentencing of Antonio Guerrero in October.

With this important development on the legal front, supporters of the Cuban Five are in a better position now to win broader support among working people the world over for the release of all five.

Gerardo Hernández, jailed on charges that include “conspiracy to commit murder” and “conspiracy to commit espionage,” still faces two life sentences plus 15 years. The reductions won so far also puts supporters of the five in a stronger position to fight Hernández’s outrageously severe punishment.

Working people and supporters of democratic rights everywhere—especially in the United States—have a direct stake in this fight. At every stage their case has been characterized by gross violations of workers rights, including unwarranted searches by the FBI, use of secret “evidence,” spying and wiretaps, use of “conspiracy” charges, and the denial of a change of venue for the trial, despite a hostile environment where any semblance of a fair trial was not possible.

The U.S. rulers have stepped up attacks on democratic rights and civil liberties as they prepare for battles with working people that will emerge from the deepening capitalist crisis.

The Cuban Five case is a purely political one. The U.S. government is not persecuting the five for the results of their actions while in the United States. Washington has even admitted that their actions did not represent a compromise to “national security.”

They are being punished for being proud soldiers of the Cuban Revolution, where working people have taken political power, transformed society for the benefit of the toiling majority, and defended their gains in the face of U.S. imperialist aggression for more than five decades.

Let’s take the victory we have won and use this momentum to extend the gains.

Build the campaign to free the Cuban Five now!
 
 
Related articles:
Cuban 5 win 2 more reduced sentences
‘Mobilize workers to support Cuban Five’
Cuban Five: ‘We will continue until victory’
N.Y. pickets: ‘Free Cuban Five now!’  
 
 
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