Vol. 75/No. 24      July 4, 2011

The five—Gerardo Hernández, René González, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando González, and Ramón Labañino—are Cuban revolutionaries who were framed up by the U.S. government and jailed since 1998. What was their “crime”? They accepted assignments to keep the government of Cuba informed about activities of counterrevolutionary organizations based in southern Florida. Tacitly backed by the U.S. government, these groups have a long history of assaults and acts of sabotage against Cuba.

The five were convicted in 2001 on trumped-up “conspiracy” charges, including conspiracy to commit espionage and, in the case of Hernández, conspiracy to commit murder. They are serving sentences ranging from 15 years, for René González, to a draconian double-life plus 15 years for Hernández. Supporters of an international defense effort are campaigning for their freedom.

René González, a U.S. citizen, is scheduled to be let out of prison in October this year on “special conditions of supervised release.”

The conference, hosted by the Union of Young Communists (UJC), included panel presentations, discussions, and workshops. It drew some 180 young people, including 140 from outside Cuba. Participants came from 33 countries, from as far as Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and North America. The majority came from South and Central America. Also participating were students from other countries who study medicine and other subjects in Cuba.

“We need to strengthen the solidarity movement,” Leira Sánchez, member of the National Bureau of the UJC, told the Militant.

“We have no confidence in the courts of the U.S. because of 13 years of deception and lies,” said Rosa Aurora Freijanes, wife of Fernando González, in a panel discussion featuring the families of the five. “We have to make this a political fight.” The U.S. government trampled on constitutional rights from the very beginning, she noted.

The FBI repeatedly broke into the homes of the five, tapped their phones, and took computer data, family photos, personal correspondence, and other belongings as it prepared the frame-up. Denied their request for a change of venue, the five were tried in Miami, where they faced an atmosphere of bias against the Cuban Revolution. The trial itself was marked by the use of secret “evidence” and other violations of basic democratic rights. As part of the U.S. government’s efforts to break the five, they were subjected to long periods of solitary confinement, up to 17 months at a stretch. And Washington has denied visas for Olga Salanueva and Adriana Pérez, wives of René González and Hernández, respectively, to visit their husbands in prison.

“We know what it’s like to have political prisoners,” said Alberto Rodríguez Rivera, a Puerto Rican medical student in Cuba and part of the Hostosian Movement for National Independence of Puerto Rico, during discussion at the conference. He pointed out that a political defense campaign won the release of Puerto Rican independence fighter Carlos Alberto Torres last year after 30 years in prison. “We link our cause with that of the five,” he said.

“The frame-up of the five represents part of the deepening assault on the rights of working people in the U.S.,” said Harry D’Agostino from the Young Socialists in the United States. “The same methods will increasingly be wielded against other working-class militants as the crisis of capitalism deepens.”  
 
‘The five are example for workers’
“The five’s strength of character is an example for workers and students alike,” said Julián Gutiérrez Alonso, of the José Antonio Echeverría Polytechnical Institute (CUJAE), at a workshop on using the Internet to campaign for their release. Gutiérrez pointed to the courage and moral integrity the five have demonstrated both in undertaking their mission to defend the Cuban Revolution and in their conduct since their arrest. The U.S. authorities have failed to break them, he noted.

Also speaking at that workshop was Carlos Serpa Maceira, who, as an undercover agent for Cuba’s State Security, infiltrated counterrevolutionary groups operating in Cuba by posing as an “independent” journalist who wrote fake stories to tarnish Cuba’s image. “The U.S. keeps the five locked up to punish Cuba for having made a revolution,” he stated.

“The five sacrificed their lives in prison helping Cuba fight imperialism,” said Mohamed Abu Srour, a Palestinian medical student in Cuba. “They did their mission. Our mission is to help win their freedom. It’s a circle of solidarity. Like you in the UK, U.S., Cuba, and around the world support us in Palestine, we also need to help others.” Abu Srour was one of dozens of participants who bought copies of the Militant or books on revolutionary working-class politics.

A number of participants expressed illusions or hopes that President Barack Obama can be morally convinced to use his executive power to release the five.

Members of the communist movement from the United States and United Kingdom spoke at the conference about the increasing opportunities to win a hearing for the case among working people in those countries, whose lives are being shaken by the crisis of capitalism. Many are becoming more open to consider the need for a revolutionary struggle for workers power, of which the Cuban Revolution provides a living example.

The final declaration of the conference called for days of action on the fifth of every month and an international month of action from September 12 to October 6.

Jacob Perasso and Harry D’Agostino contributed to this article.
 
 
Related articles:
‘Need to fight for workers power is inescapable’
Message to framed-up Cuban Five revolutionaries held 12 years in U.S. prisons  
 
 
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