Vol. 76/No. 31      August 20, 2012

The evening of food, film and discussion, conducted in Spanish with English translation, took place on the 59th anniversary of the 1953 attack led by Fidel Castro on the Moncada and Bayamo army garrisons. That action opened the armed struggle against the U.S.-backed Batista dictatorship in Cuba, which culminated five and a half years later in its January 1959 revolutionary overthrow.

The meeting was organized to focus attention on the struggle to free Antonio Guerrero, Fernando González, Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino and René González—known internationally as the Cuban Five. The five Cuban revolutionaries accepted assignments during the 1990s from the Cuban government to gather information on the activities of Cuban-American counterrevolutionary groups operating in South Florida.

These paramilitary outfits, organizing on U.S. soil with virtual impunity and the complicity of Washington, have a long record of carrying out bombings, assassinations and other deadly attacks, both in Cuba and against those in the United States and Puerto Rico who oppose Washington’s efforts to overthrow the Cuban Revolution.

The five were arrested by the FBI in 1998. They were framed up and convicted on a variety of charges, which included acting as unregistered agents of the Cuban government, possession of false identity documents, conspiracy to commit espionage and conspiracy to commit murder. They were given prison terms of up to double life plus 15 years.

The political cartoons of Hernández are currently on exhibit at Centro Autonomo.

Peggy Valdes and Pedro de la Riva welcomed those in attendance on behalf of the Chicago Cuba Coalition and Centro Autonomo, the sponsors of the event.

After a delicious meal prepared by members of Cleaning Power, a women’s house-cleaning cooperative headquartered at Centro Autonomo, those in attendance viewed the 2004 documentary Mission Against Terror, many for the first time.

Following the film Jesús Rodríguez-Espinoza, Venezuelan consul general in Chicago, spoke about solidarity between the peoples of Cuba and Venezuela today. “Cuba and Venezuela,” he said, “share important values, like sovereignty and self-determination.”

Chicago Cuba Coalition activist Steve Eckardt updated the meeting on the fight to free the five and urged all those in attendance to help get out the word about the frame-up and become involved in future activities in their defense.  
 
 
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