Vol. 75/No. 20      May 23, 2011

The Cuban Five—Gerardo Hernández, Antonio Guerrero, Ramón Labañino, Fernando González, and René González—were framed up and railroaded to prison by the U.S. government. They have been incarcerated since 1998, with sentences ranging from 15 years to double life.

Lacking any evidence of actual or attempted illegal acts, the five were convicted on fabricated “conspiracy” charges, including “conspiracy to committee espionage.” Hernández, who is serving double life plus 15 years, was convicted of “conspiracy to commit murder,” based on allegations that he bore responsibility for the Cuban government’s decision in 1996 to shoot down two hostile aircraft flown by counterrevolutionaries from South Florida that invaded Cuban airspace.

The real “crime” of the five? They had been tracking the activities of Cuban American paramilitary organizations in South Florida with a long history of armed assaults and acts of sabotage against Cuba, groups tacitly backed by Washington for decades.

The government frame-up was marked by numerous violations of constitutional rights. This included use of secret evidence and refusal of defense motions to move the trial out of Miami, where the five faced a particularly difficult atmosphere of intimidation and political bias. The international defense campaign for their freedom has won growing support worldwide.

The stated purpose of the Third International Youth Gathering in Solidarity with the Cuban Five is to “break down the wall of silence that the United States government imposes on public opinion about the case, to denounce the manipulation and the lies of an arbitrary and unfair trial and to demand immediate freedom for our five brothers.”

The two-day International Seminar on the Relevance of Che’s Ideas for the International Youth Movement Today opens June 14, marking Che Guevara’s 83rd birthday. A central leader of the Cuban Revolution in its early years, he was captured and murdered in a CIA-organized operation in Bolivia in 1967.

Both events provide an opportunity for young people to learn more about the Cuban Revolution and its living example, demonstrating that socialist revolution is possible and what working people can accomplish by conquering political power.

Recent changes to U.S. travel laws include certain provisions under which young people may be able to attend these gatherings, despite how these regulations are crafted to restrict people from traveling to the island who simply want to learn more about the revolution, let alone act in solidarity with it.

For more information contact socialists in your area listed on page 8 or email the Young Socialists at youngsocialists@mac.com.
 
 
Related articles:
We build movement in U.S. to emulate Cuba’s example
Message from U.S. socialist leader to Communist Party of Cuba on occasion of its Sixth Congress  
 
 
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