Vol. 75/No. 1      January 10, 2011

Known as the Cuban Five— Fernando González, Gerardo Hernández, Antonio Guerrero, Ramón Labañino, and René González—were convicted on frame-up charges including “conspiracy to commit espionage.” The five had been monitoring the activities of right-wing Cuban exile groups in Florida that have a history of carrying out violent attacks on Cuba with the complicity of the U.S. government.

The meeting reviewed the fight to free the five. In 2008 a federal appeals court ruled that the sentences for three of the five were excessive. Labañino's life sentence plus 18 years was reduced to 30 years. Fernando González’s sentence of 19 years was reduced to 17 years plus 9 months. Guerrero’s sentence of life plus 10 years was reduced to 21 years and 10 months. The court did not reduce René González’s 15-year term or Hernández’s double life sentence plus 15 years.

Hernández filed a federal habeas corpus appeal on June 14 requesting a new trial. The trial of all five was marked by violations of their democratic rights. Their request for a change in trial venue from Miami, where counterrevolutionary Cuban American groups are based, was denied by the trial judge.

Gloria La Riva of the National Committee to Free the Cuban Five gave an update on the legal appeals. She said contributions are being collected to place a full-page ad in the Washington Post to demand freedom for the Cuban Five.

The meeting also gave tribute to Tony Llansó, who passed away December 6 in Cuba after a long struggle with cancer.

Llansó was active in building and defending meetings in Miami to support the Cuban Revolution. He helped organize protests against U.S. government restrictions on the right to travel to Cuba and against the U.S. embargo. For the last two years Llansó was president of the Alianza Martiana in Miami, an alliance of organizations in solidarity with Cuba and opposed to U.S. attacks on the island.

Andrés Gómez, national coordinator of the Antonio Maceo Brigade, told the meeting that Llansó often accompanied the family of René González on their visits with René in Marianna prison in Florida.

“Tony became a political leader. He became a man of consequence, a disciplined leader. On behalf of the Antonio Maceo Brigade he helped the families of the Cuban Five,” said Gómez.
 
 
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