Vol. 75/No. 17      May 2, 2011

“This documentary will be an important tool to free the Cuban Five,” Alicia Jrapko, of the International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban Five, told the crowd. She introduced the filmmaker Saul Landau.

Gerardo Hernández, Antonio Guerrero, Ramón Labañino, Fernando González, and René González—known as the Cuban Five—were framed up and railroaded to prison by the U.S. government for monitoring the activities of paramilitary groups in South Florida that have carried out violent actions and sabotage against Cuba. The five have spent more than 12 years in U.S. prisons.

The 80-minute film depicts the more than 50 years of U.S. efforts to overthrow the Cuban Revolution, including an interview with longtime CIA operative Luis Posada Carriles. He was indicted in both Cuba and Venezuela for the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner that killed all 73 people on board, and boasted to the New York Times that he masterminded hotel bombings in Cuba in 1997. Never charged with these crimes, Carriles was recently acquitted of perjury charges in a U.S. federal court.

The film includes an interview with Hernández, falsely charged with “conspiracy to commit murder” for the Cuban government’s decision in 1996 to shoot down two aircraft of the counterrevolutionary Brothers to the Rescue group from South Florida that had provocatively and repeatedly invaded Cuban airspace. He is currently serving two life terms plus 15 years.

Well-known actor Danny Glover, who has visited Hernández in prison, is in the film. He urged the audience to support the fight to free the five.

The Cuban Cowboys performed the theme song “El Danzón de Noventa Millas,” which they wrote for the documentary.
 
 
Related articles:
Cuban revolutionary veteran tours UK, Ireland
Fight against U.S.-backed bandits in Cuba
What the enemy thought would be a den of thieves became bulwark of revolution’  
 
 
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