Vol. 77/No. 22      June 10, 2013

Hundreds of workers, unionists, students, academics, artists and others are coming together to demonstrate in front of the White House June 1 and to take part in “5 days for the 5” events May 30-June 5 in Washington, D.C., to protest the U.S. government’s frame-up of the Cuban Five and build the growing movement pressing for their freedom.

The Five are Cuban revolutionaries who volunteered for an assignment to keep the Cuban government informed about the activities and plans of counterrevolutionary paramilitary groups based in the U.S. with a long record of murderous assaults on Cuba and supporters of the Cuban Revolution in the U.S., Puerto Rico and elsewhere — groups that for decades have operated on U.S. soil with impunity and the tacit backing of Washington.

Among the targets have been Cubans in the U.S. and Puerto Rico who support the Cuban Revolution like Carlos Muñiz Varela, Cuban and Chilean diplomatic personnel, members of the Socialist Workers Party, and even opponents of the Cuban Revolution who dared criticize the assassinations and bombings.

The propertied rulers in the U.S. look for ways to smear the accomplishments of Cuban workers and farmers in power, hoping to place barriers in the way of toilers here following their example. This is one of the reasons they maintain a list of so-called state sponsors of terrorism and keep Cuba on it. This list should be abolished.

The Five Heroes, as they are known in Cuba, are an example of dignity, integrity and steadfastness for the tens of millions of workers in the U.S. who are beginning to look for ways to fight effectively against growing attacks by the bosses and their government. And the fight to free them will be an integral part of sharpening class battles in the years to come.

The frame-up of the Five resonates with the experience of millions of workers with the U.S. “criminal justice” system. The Five have won the respect and admiration of fellow inmates as they fight side by side with other workers behind bars, some 2.3 million today. And their struggle is of increasing interest to millions more caught up in “stop and frisk” or the plea-bargain frame-up system, tossed into solitary confinement or otherwise “educated” in a prison setup designed to demoralize and degrade working people.

As Puerto Rican independence fighter Rafael Cancel Miranda said last year: The fight to free the Five “is a fight for ourselves. We are not doing them a favor, we are doing ourselves a favor.”  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home