Vol. 77/No. 21      June 3, 2013

PALMERSTON NORTH, New Zealand — May 1, International Workers Day, was celebrated here with the opening of an exhibit of political cartoons by Gerardo Hernández, one of the Cuban Five.

“The Five do not act like victims,” Manuel Sánchez Oliva, the Cuban Embassy’s counselor, told the 40 people present. “They act like the proletarian internationalists they are, as revolutionary combatants who take their places on the front lines of battle.”

The exhibit at Community Arts gallery was initiated by Dion Martin, an organizer for the FIRST Union and coordinator of the Manawatu May Day Coalition. On May 4 the coalition held its annual May Day Concert, attended by more than 400 people, where one of the songs was dedicated to the Five. Concert-goers were able to pick up information about the cartoon exhibit and eight bought copies of The Cuban Five: Who They Are, Why They Were Framed, Why They Should Be Free.

—JANET ROTH