(December 17, 2014)

Fellow countrymen,

Since my election as President of the State Council and Council of Ministers I have reiterated in many occasions our willingness to hold a respectful dialogue with the United States on the basis of sovereign equality, in order to deal reciprocally with a wide variety of topics without detriment to the national Independence and self-determination of our people.

This stance was conveyed to the US Government both publicly and privately by Comrade Fidel on several occasions during our long standing struggle, stating the willingness to discuss and solve our differences without renouncing any of our principles.

The heroic Cuban people, in the wake of serious dangers, aggressions, adversities and sacrifices has proven to be faithful and will continue to be faithful to our ideals of independence and social justice. Strongly united throughout these 56 years of Revolution, we have kept our unswerving loyalty to those who died in defense of our principles since the beginning of our independence wars in 1868.

Today, despite the difficulties, we have embarked on the task of updating our economic model in order to build a prosperous and sustainable Socialism.

As a result of a dialogue at the highest level, which included a phone conversation I had yesterday with President Obama, we have been able to make headway in the solution of some topics of mutual interest for both nations.

As Fidel promised on June 2001,when he said: “They shall return!” Gerardo, Ramon, and Antonio have arrived today to our homeland.

The enormous joy of their families and of all our people, who have relentlessly fought for this goal, is shared by hundreds of solidarity committees and groups, governments, parliaments, organizations, institutions, and personalities, who for the last sixteen years have made tireless efforts demanding their release. We convey our deepest gratitude and commitment to all of them.

President Obama’s decision deserves the respect and acknowledgement of our people.

I wish to thank and acknowledge the support of the Vatican, most particularly the support of Pope Francisco in the efforts for improving relations between Cuba and the United States. I also want to thank the Government of Canada for facilitating the high-level dialogue between the two countries.

In turn, we have decided to release and send back to the United States a spy of Cuban origin who was working for that nation.

On the other hand, and for humanitarian reasons, today we have also sent the American citizen Alan Gross back to his country.

Unilaterally, as has always been our practice, and in strict compliance with the provisions of our legal system, the concerned prisoners have received legal benefits, including the release of those persons that the Government of the United States had conveyed their interest in.

We have also agreed to renew diplomatic relations.

This in no way means that the heart of the matter has been solved. The economic, commercial, and financial blockade, which causes enormous human and economic damages to our country, must cease.

Though the blockade has been codified into law, the President of the United States has the executive authority to modify its implementation.

We propose to the Government of the United States the adoption of mutual steps to improve the bilateral atmosphere and advance towards normalization of relations between our two countries, based on the principles of International Law and the United Nations Charter.

Cuba reiterates its willingness to cooperate in multilateral bodies, such as the United Nations.

While acknowledging our profound differences, particularly on issues related to national sovereignty, democracy, human rights and foreign policy, I reaffirm our willingness to dialogue on all these issues.

I call upon the Government of the United States to remove the obstacles hindering or restricting ties between peoples, families, and citizens of both countries, particularly restrictions on travelling, direct post services, and telecommunications.

The progress made in our exchanges proves that it is possible to find solutions to many problems.

As we have reiterated, we must learn the art of coexisting with our differences in a civilized manner.

We will continue talking about these important issues at a later date

Thank you.

At 12:00 noon, the Cuban television and radio shall broadcast the address by the President, which will be broadcast by Cubavisión Internacional, Radio Habana Cuba and digital media sites in the Island.

It’s a true chronicle that brings us closer to the great deeds of five young people who sacrificed their lives to save their people. The author dedicated countless hours to researching, studying thousands of pages, interviewing many people, and worked hard for many months to write it.

Gerardo, Ramón, Antonio, Fernando and René appear as they are: heroes in flesh and bones, with their full human dimension always close to the reader.

In the next few days the first North-American edition will be released, and this will be a very important contribution for the struggle to liberate our comrades.

I will not elaborate on the content of the book. I invite you to read it. When you start you will not be able to stop until the end, being trapped in the magic of an exceptional artist. However, always remember that nothing is fiction here.

Fernando did not need this book. He is one of the most successful writers, published worldwide, translated into all languages, his writings, also transferred to films, reach millions of people.

He did not require it to establish his fame. It’s the opposite. The Five essentially needed this book to advance the truth, to increase solidarity, for the day of freedom to be nearer.

Fernando embarked on the monumental task to write it because above all he is a great comrade, who has never failed our peoples, and has always placed his immense talent on the side of justice.

This book is a challenge to readers. After reading this story of altruism, love and giving to others, no one decent can be left with crossed arms. Its pages are a call to action that young people have to respond to.

According to José Martí “students are the pillars of freedom and their firmer army”. So it has been throughout Cuba’s history. That glorious tradition, uninterrupted, poses a clear challenge to today’s university students in regards to the case of our comrades, forged in our classrooms, who will soon reach fifteen years of unjust imprisonment for defending all Cubans from terrorism promoted by Washington against this island and its people.

How can you truly be a bastion and army in the battle to free Gerardo, Ramón, Antonio and Fernando? First you have to objectively appreciate the situation, accurately evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the contenders, design an appropriate strategy, and above all struggle consistently until the victory.

Our main strength is the complete innocence of our comrades, and the complicity with terrorism that those who accused and convicted them, in a judicial farce, which only purpose was to justify terrorist actions against Cuba and to openly defend terrorists. Everything is perfectly registered in official documents that you can read in the file titled “United States v. Gerardo Hernandez et al.” of the Federal Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Our main weakness, and the most obvious, is that only a few in the United States know of what I just talked about. And it is not by accident. The government of that country has covered up the case of the five through heavy censorship. It does so because if the U.S. people were to know the truth they would discover that those who govern them are accomplices of terrorism, and if they had access to that truth a really broad and powerful solidarity movement would emerge that would obligate them to free our comrades.

So, what to do? How do we pierce the wall of silence surrounding this case?

There isn’t enough time to refer to the countless violations and numerous concealments that have accompanied this endless judicial process, which includes the longest trial in the history of the United States. I will focus on some key aspects.

Gerardo, Ramón, Antonio and Fernando are waiting for Judge Lenard, the same one who initially sentenced them, to rule on extraordinary appeals or habeas corpus, the last legal recourse available to them. It is a complex, difficult, and impossible battle to win if it is not accompanied by solidarity, if it is not fight also outside the courtrooms, if we, those of us who are not prisoners, do not participate.

The common element of the four appeals is the government conspiracy with the local media and “journalists” from Miami, who they funded and directed to spark an intense hate campaign against the defendants, pressing and threatening jurors to render a fair trial impossible. This environment was characterized in 2005 by a panel of the Court of Appeals in Atlanta as “a perfect storm of prejudice and hostility” that led them to call a mistrial.

In 2006 it was discovered that the action of those “journalists” was the work of the government. Since then, seven years ago, civil society organizations are calling on the U.S. Government to reveal the extent of the conspiracy. The same requirement underlying the habeas corpus. The government stubbornly insists on its cover-up. And the press, in silencing this bid, becomes an accomplice of the conspirators.

Gerardo’s Habeas corpus also includes other issues of particular importance. On one hand the issue of the concealment is reiterated, as is the manipulation of the evidence presented against him to falsely accuse him of “conspiracy to commit murder in the first degree”, the infamous slander for which he was sentenced to die in prison. It is not the first time that the defense requests access to the alleged “evidence”. It has done so for 15 years, since the trial commenced in Miami. Now it is also requesting that Gerardo be granted a hearing so he can directly refute the lie leveled against him.

His petition also includes a demand for the government to provide images taken by its space satellites of the 24th February, 1996 incident, an event that was maliciously used to fabricate the “conspiracy to murder”.

Whether the government itself was forced to acknowledge that it had no evidence to link Gerardo to that incident, Washington’s refusal to show the images is very enlightening. Since 1996 no one has been able to see them. It has refused the International Civil Aviation Organization, the UN Security Council, and the Court of Miami. It has rejected the various gestures made by prestigious North American institutions. How do you explain such stubbornness? The only possible explanation at this point, 17 years after the fact, is that the incident occurred in Cuban territory, and therefore the U.S. court never had jurisdiction regarding this.

Washington can behave like this because it always had the complicity of the media.

Now, instead of showing the evidence that they are hiding, the prosecution has called for the elimination of the matter from the appeal presented by Gerardo. But this unusual action has not been either newsworthy.

So, what to do?

To wait for the big media corporations to divulge the truth would be, to say the least, naïve. Or we, the ones who are committed with this cause, do it, or nobody else will do.

How?

Using all the tools at our disposal, the traditional ones and the ones offered by new technologies, to spread the truth and explain it beyond the rhetoric, with clear and direct language, and with arguments understandable to anyone.

The most convincing ones, ones that no one can refute, those that prove the terrible injustice done to our colleagues, are contained in official documents of the U.S. authorities themselves. Let’s use them.

These documents show that the Five did not commit any crime and that the process used against them had a single purpose, which was to support the terrorists whose criminal actions our brothers had tried to deter. Prosecutors, witnesses, experts and judges said it over and over again in their own words.

Where and how did they say it?

Let’s recall some especially enlightening moments:

1) The indictments presented by the prosecution. In the first one the incident with the planes on the 24th of February 1996 is not mentioned. In the second one, seven months later, they add the infamous and blatant slander against Gerardo. Both indictments state that the FBI knew of Gerardo’s activities several years before that incident and, therefore, they knew that he had nothing to do with that matter. That vulgar hoax was incorporated arbitrarily at the specific request of the terrorists, who unleashed an intense smear campaign with the government-paid “journalists”.

2) The declarations and motions from the prosecution. Since its initial presentation at the opening of the trial until their requests on sentencing, and throughout the court sessions, the prosecution expressed many times their determination to protect the terrorists and harshly punish the defendants for their peaceful unarmed struggle against these groups.

3) Statements by the judge. On several occasions the judge acknowledged the existence of terrorist groups in Miami and that the “crime” of the accused was their action against these groups, and acceded to the government request, not only imposing the most severe penalties, but also imposing other special conditions so that, after serving their prison terms, the defendants could never attempt anything against the terrorists. Such an unusual condition was reiterated by the Judge to René González as he left prison in October 2011.

4) Statements by witnesses and experts. There were several witnesses and experts, some offered by the Government, who testified under oath that the defendants had done nothing against the national security of the United States, and that in this case there had been no attempted espionage. They were generals, admirals and other retired senior officers of the U.S. armed forces. One of them, Colonel Bruckner, proposed that the satellite images of the incident on the 24th of February 1996 be presented, which was vigorously rejected by the prosecution with the support of the judge. Another was General Clapper who is now, nothing more and nothing less than the Director of National Intelligence, the highest government authority in this regard.

5) Emergency Motion to amend Count Three. The Prosecution filed this in late May 2001 when the trial was coming to a conclusion, recognizing it was taking an unprecedented step in the U.S. jurisprudence. In essence they asked to substantially modify Count Three (“conspiracy to commit murder in the first degree”) because “in light of the evidence presented at the trial it is an insurmountable obstacle for the prosecution that may lead to its failure.” Despite that, Gerardo was convicted and given the maximum penalty possible for an alleged crime he did not commit, and for which he was not charged. This result is an irrefutable proof that he was already condemned and that it was impossible for him and his comrades to have a fair trial in Miami.

6) Decision by the panel of the Court of Appeal in 2005. It was a unanimous decision of the three judges. It contains extensive information on the terrorist activities against Cuba, and has a solid analysis of the atmosphere created by the local media in Miami that they described as “a perfect storm of prejudice and hostility” that led them to call a mistrial. Although, with pressure exerted by the W. Bush regime, this decision was cast aside in a split vote by the full court, it is an exceptionally important document that is being studied in several law schools of U.S. universities.

7) Decision of the Court of Appeals in 2008 annulling the sentencing with respect to Count Two (“Conspiracy to commit espionage”) and ordering the resentencing of Ramon, Antonio and Fernando. Although Gerardo was arbitrarily excluded, while recognizing that it was also applicable to him, this paper is important because it reiterates, on several occasions, that in this case there was nothing threatening the national security of the United States, that there was no attempt of espionage and that the original sentences were excessive and issued contrary to the law.

8) The prosecution’s requests of sentences. In addition to ask, in all cases, for disproportionate and illegal terms of imprisonment, as it was later determined by the Court of Appeals, the prosecution insisted on something they said was as important to them as the terms of imprisonment. This refers to the “incapacitation clause”, the measures to be imposed on defendants to ensure that on completion of their prison sentence, upon being free they cannot attempt anything to damage the terrorists. Such a clause was included in all sentences, including those who were sentenced to life imprisonment. In the case of Antonio and René, who were U.S. citizens by birth, the judge expressed it in these terms: “As a further special condition of supervised release the defendant is prohibited from associating with or visiting specific places where individuals or groups such as terrorists, members of organizations advocating violence, and organized crime figures are known to be or frequent.” As noted above, this amazing restriction was reiterated to Rene on his release from jail in October 2011.

9) The dissenting vote of Phillys Kravitch irrefutably argued against Count Three, insisting that the government presented no evidence to prove Gerardo had any connection with the incident of the 24th February, or anything like that.

10) The recent government motion to remove a substantial part of Gerardo’s habeas corpus. The prosecution intends to remove the declaration by its attorney, Martin Garbus, and the annexes with substantial information on government paid journalists. In its brief the Prosecution recognizes that its request is very unusual, but preferred to avoid a discussion on the merits of the defence approach.

These ten aspects are conspicuous by their absence in the media. It is rare to find them in the so-called alternative media, even in areas that are supposedly dedicated to the Five.

We must honestly ask ourselves if we have done everything in our power to allow North Americans to access to these truths that are jealously guarded by Washington. Let us try to answer the question asked by the children of the Colmenita “Now what else can we do?”.

Havana, 4th June, 2013

Words in the ceremony held at the Polytechnic Institute

“Jose Antonio Echeverria” in the Campaign Five days for the Five.

The video includes interviews with renowned international artists such as Danny Glover and Peter Coyote speaking about the injustice committed against the Cuban patriots, detained in Miami in September 1998.

Thousands of people in the United States and the world have seen the videos, and important websites such as Facebook and Twitter, where many supporters of the Cuban cause have joined the struggle, have re-posted those videos.

The International Committee stated in a press release that the organization continues to work in a series of community activities in Washington DC, New York and San Francisco, to denounce the 14 years of unjust prison of the Cuban antiterrorists.

Cuban emigrant organizations in Miami called yesterday for a conference to analyze the special appeal currently underway for four of the Cuban five sentenced in 2001 in the United States.

The meeting was suggested by the Marti Alliance, Antonio Maceo Brigade, Jose Marti Association, the Bolivarian Circle of Miami, and the Association of Christian Women in Defense of the Family, among other nongovernmental groups in solidarity with Cuba.

Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando Gonzalez and Rene Gonzalez, internationally known as the Cuban Five, were detained in 1998 in this country for monitoring anti-Cuban terrorist organizations located in Florida.

Rene was released from prison on October 7, after having completed his prison term. He was forced to remain in U.S. territory for three more years under supervised release.

In a biased trial in the city of Miami in 2001, the Five were condemned to long sentences in prison ranging from 15 years to double life imprisonment plus 15 additional years.

Radio Havana journalist from Ireland tells of plight of jailed counter-terrorism agents

Date: 30 May 2012

http://www.anphoblacht.com/contents/21932

A CALL has gone out for more people in Ireland to become active to `Free the Cuban 5′, the five men jailed in the United States for monitoring right-wing exiles plotting terrorist acts against the Caribbean island.

Bernie Dwyer, an Irish journalist working for Radio Havana, and Sinn Féin Foreign Affairs spokesperson Pádraig Mac Lochlain TD addressed a Sinn Féin Ard Fheis fringe meeting on the Cuban 5 attended by 70 people in Killarney last weekend.

In September 1998, five men – Gerardo Hernandez, Ramón Labañino, Fernando Gonzalez, Antonio Guerrero and René Gonzalez – were arrested by the FBI in Miami and accused of conspiracy to commit espionage. The five had been sent to Miami by the Cuban Government to report on the activities of Florida-based terrorist gangs operating against the Cuban Government.

Since 1959, these groups and others have carried out thousands of acts of terrorism, leaving more than 3,400 people dead and thousands wounded. Less than a year before the arrest of the Cuban 5, these gangs killed an Italian tourist and wounded a dozen other people when they bombed the Hotel Copacabana in Havana. These and other attacks on hotels in the 1990s were aimed at destroying the tourist trade in the country.

Bernie Dwyer highlighted the irony of the US Government imprisoning and locking-up anti-terrorist officers who were attempting to disrupt terrorist activities being planned from US soil.

“The US Government was doing very little about these acts of terrorism being planned in their territory and in some cases the individuals were being financed and trained by the CIA,” Bernie said. “So the group of five went to infiltrate these groups. They were unarmed and simply reporting on their activities.”

The five were sentenced to a total of four life sentences plus 77 years. They have been imprisoned in five separate maximum-security prisons spread across the US. Their sentences were later reduced after the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention ruled that their imprisonment violated Article 14 of the International Convention on Civil and Political Liberties.

Bernie Dwyer said most Americans were unaware of the plight of these men, claiming that some journalists from mainstream US newspapers were paid by US Government sources to write what she described as “scurrilous articles” about them. Dwyer also called on more people to become involved in the `Free the Cuban 5 Campaign Ireland’ saying: “If anything is going to happen, it will only happen if there is a groundswell in public opinion for their release.”

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn spoke on the wider issue of Cuba and the ongoing economic blockade of the country by the US, which he described as “an outrage”. “The international community want the blockade to end and want Cuba to have a chance to breathe,” he said.

He went on to describe the ongoing imprisonment of four of the men as a disgrace. “Here we have five men who went to Florida to protect their people from terrorism, and this is real terrorism, right-wing terrorism, which is directed at people who have built an equal state and taken out a dirty, rotten regime.”

The Free the Cuban 5 Campaign Ireland has called on people in Ireland to get active on the issue and is looking for activists who are willing to help out in any way. The campaign can be contacted by emailing freethecubanfiveireland@gmail.com and regular updates can be found on their Facebook page: `Free the Cuban Five Campaign Ireland’.

ANTI-CUBA terrorists are suspected of the firebombing of the Airline Brokers’ offices in Coral Gables, Florida, on 27 April, the first anniversary of the death of terrorist ringleader Orlando Bosch.

Bosch and his CORU group have been responsible for hundreds of bombings and attacks across Cuba, the Caribbean and Miami, including the bombing of Cubana Flight 455 in October 1976 in which 78 people died.

© 2012 An Phoblacht.

Sean Clancy for Cubadebate

It was during the 7th colloquium in Holguin, Cuba for the liberation of the 5 Cuban patriots unjustly imprisoned in the US for their counter terrorist activities that friend – a well-known comrade, veteran campaigner and documentary film-maker- explored concepts of what heroism in the 21st century might mean. We were in Bayamo on a fringe meeting about media and tactical economic shock warfare and we were in the company of Cuban and international men and women of considerable courage and experience. As our meeting began news was filtering through about the first incidents of US backed imperial aggression against Syria in the present ongoing regime change intervention.

One member of the Lebanese resistance with our group, inspired by el Che and his older brother had, at the tender age of seventeen survived a gun battle with the invading Israeli armed forces in which three of his comrades had fallen dead. Alone he took out four of the Israeli troops including their battalion officer but was later captured when his escape was hampered by a bullet wound he had received. He subsequently spent 17 years in prison without medical treatment or even one visit from family and were it not for being “fostered” by the mother of a Palestinian prisoner he would have been even more desperately alone and isolated. The tale and circumstances that lead to his eventual release are equally enthralling, as is his present serene and almost spiritual disposition, but those tales are for another day.

My interest in and knowledge of the Case of the Cuban 5 increased and developed in tandem with my knowledge of and interest in the country itself and by the time I had become active in a campaign for their liberation, albeit in a somewhat isolated and limited way, I was for all intents and purposes living here in Cuba. There are many Irishmen and women who identify with prison struggles and savage miscarriages of justice.

I have been in communication with the 5 since 2007 and as my activity and comprehension increases with time so does my regard for each of these individually and collectively remarkable and magnificent men (amazingly despite their absolute isolation from each other consistent with Guantanamo torture manual guidelines). I am at ease with my understanding of true heroism in this regard.

It will be hard be hard to communicate so in words, perhaps even harder to conceptualise it without some direct experience, but the following might give some idea as to what I mean.

It is heroic to volunteer for national service in times of conflict and need and to willingly and comprehensively prepare yourself for whatever you might be called upon to do.

Fully briefed and aware of the risks, it is heroic to undertake dangerous missions behind enemy lines and to infiltrate hostile terrorist cells selflessly in the service of your homeland to protect her citizenship from attack.

It is heroic to respond with dignity, clarity, patriotism and unflinching courage to unjust and horrendously excessive political sentences, despite understanding what they will mean to family and personal life. The dock speeches of each of these five patriots are moving and profoundly insightful and important. Gerardo Hernandez’s words, that his only regret was that he had only one life to offer in the service of his homeland, ring as true today as they did then. Throughout the years and at regular intervals all the sentiments expressed at those first sentencing hearings have been heroically reiterated and reinforced without the slightest hint of dilution or disillusionment.

It is heroic to not be even slightly bitter or pessimistic despite being victims of unspeakable injustice, abuse, torture and imprisonment for in excess of 13 years.

It is heroic and patriotic to emerge from a prolonged spell of solitary confinement in the “hole” in Victorville high security penitentiary and say that, despite being physically ill at the time this arbitrary punishment was imposed without reason, it was worth it simply to have heard your Commander in Chief speak on your behalf.

It is heroic to not have cried when faced with the deportation of your beloved wife, unable to embrace or console her despite her being almost within your grasp but to have shed tears openly and unashamedly when in the presence of the children’s theatre group who performed about and for you.

It is heroic to have expressed for Valentines Day 2012, in a surprise TV programme for your respective wives or mother true, profound, tender, romantic and enduring love of a type it would be easy to be cynical about had it not been so undeniably moving and authentic to the many fortunate enough to have witnessed its beautiful expression.

It is heroic to unceasingly resist the most powerful, evil and harmful empire humanity has ever confronted with smiles, poetry, paintings, learning, political cartoons, self-development, love, truth, insight, teaching, graduation and potent writings through which the truth does indeed set yourself, spiritually, if not physically free.

It is heroic to dedicate a life to the right of nations to be sovereign, independent and free to exercise their chosen systems of governance and rule.

It is heroic to stand up, cost what it may, for what you know and believe to be good and true and it is heroic also to never speak of or advocate vengeance or armed reprisal despite suffering cruel oppression and incarceration.

It is heroic to face daily sacrifice, struggle and hardship with manly and patriotic stoicism and strength.

Heroism is not a word that, outside of Hollywood or Marvel Comic books, ought be used lightly or thoughtlessly. But it is a word that ought be uttered when it is what only and best describes remarkable acts of courage, decency and dignity in the face of unimaginably dangerous and hostile odds and circumstances. It is a word that rightly belongs with the names of Ramon, Rene, Gerardo, Antonio and Fernando. It is an honour and a privilege to have been present to know of and act for such men, whose greatness and heroism is often manifest in humility, normality and dignified silent fortitude.

VOLVERAN.

END.

Dear Friends:

A couple of days ago a person who is known here came and brought me an article published in a newspaper of his town that talked about Cuba and specifically about the explorations by petroleum platforms on the coast of our island.

I glanced at the article and I noticed without reading much of it, what the double intention of it is, which is basically, continue the propaganda against the Revolution.

This person, who had read the article, begins to tell me that in Cuba there are many things that have to change. To back his claim he made reference tosome “opinions” that the author of the article picked up “on the Cuban streets.”

That’s how I got wrapped up in a conversation with him about the works created by our people. But at a certain point I realized that my arguments about our education and free medical care, about our electoral system, about our process of current changes in the context of the complex world that we live in, nothing could change his mind to realize that it is one thing what a Miami Herald reporter says and another what the Cuban reality is.

In that precise instant I asked him: Have you ever gone to Cuba? Of course the answer was no. I said to him frankly: Look, I have not lived the Cuban reality for more than 20 years, although I keep up-to-date about it. But I invite you to go to Cuba one day and compare it with what the newspaper tells you and what is truly the essence of our people.

I told him, I wish you could be there this May first. You would realize how many millions of men, women and children there are who love and will do what is necessary to defend the Revolution, in spite of its virtues and defects.

I looked at his eyes and said: Do you know why this government doesn’t permit free travel of all U.S. citizens to Cuba? And I answered him: Because they are afraid they will learn about the Cuban reality, they don’t want them to see with their own eyes what has been built in more than 50 years of socialism. They don’t want them to sense the security that the tourist experiences in our island, and the generosity and hospitality of our people.

That’s how the issue ended.

Long Live May 1st!

Five embraces

My new address is:

Antonio Guerrero

#58741-004

Quarters: APACHE A

FCI Marianna

P.O. box 7007

Marianna, FL 32447-7007

By the National Committee to Free the Cuban Five

All across Washington D.C. and the surrounding region, readers of the Washington Post will open the Monday, Apr. 30 edition of the Post to see a dramatic full-page ad demanding freedom for the Cuban Five, political prisoners unjustly held in United States for almost 14 years.

The ad is an effort spearheaded by the National Committee to Free the Cuban Five and supported by more than 325 organizations and individuals who raised the funds to publish the ad.

Prominent political leaders and human-rights organizations are quoted in the ad, including: Lt. Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, former Chief of Staff for Colin Powell during his tenure as U.S. Secretary of State; former U.S. president Jimmy Carter; 10 Nobel Prize recipients; former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark; Miguel D’Escoto, U.N. General Assembly president from 2008 to 2011; Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alice Walker; Amnesty International; and the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions.

The U.S. government’s misconduct in the political prosecution of the Five is exposed in the ad as well. Unknown to the Cuban Five and their defense team during trial, Miami reporters were secretly on the government payroll while demonizing the Five in the media, which “goes to the heart of the unjust conviction of the Five.”

Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino, Antonio, Fernando González and René González were arrested on Sept. 12, 1998 by the FBI, and subjected to a politically-motivated U.S. prosecution that has been condemned worldwide. Their trial took place in the virulently hostile environment of Miami, despite defense motions to change the venue.

Although public awareness of the Five has grown since their arrest, their case is still far from being widely known in the United States.

“Every inch of newspaper coverage, every minute of television and radio coverage about the Cuban Five’s anti-terrorist mission and the campaign for their freedom has been a struggle.

The National Committee published its first full-page ad in The New York Times on March 3, 2004, in what was up to that point the biggest exposure of the Five’s case in the media. Since then, it has helped to publish other ads, and conducted numerous press conferences as part of a much larger media strategy designed to break through the wall of silence surrounding the case.

The Post is the most read newspaper in the Washington, D.C., “beltway” with the 6th largest reach in the country. Daily print circulation is 545,345 and estimated readership is 1,080,000. According to the Nielsen Ratings company, it is the most read newspaper in Congress and the Executive branch, and the only newspaper that political leaders in Washington read on a busy day.

“Letting the people of the U.S. know about the wrongful imprisonment of the Cuban Five is the most

Lesbia Vent, Maruchi, Mirtha and Choco.

London, April 23: Beyond the Frame, an exhibition featuring contemporary Cuban art plus artworks by British and Irish artists with paintings and drawing by two of the Cuban Five, opened Monday April 23^rd in the Gallery 27, Cork Street, London.

The launch of the exhibition was attended by several Cuban artists and the mother and sister of Antonio Guerrero, one of the Cuban Five whose works is on display in the gallery.

Antonio’s mother, Mirta Rodriguez, expressed the pride she feels for her son that his “humble” art work is being shown alongside the work of such internationally acclaimed artists.

The exhibition includes painting, drawing mixed media, prints and photographic all available for sale. All proceeds go the UK campaign for justice for the release of the Miami Five, five Cubans unjustly imprisoned in the US.

A programme of special events with talks by visiting Cuban artists Choco, Lesbia Vent Dumois and Gustavo Diaz Sosa will take place during the show in the London gallery.

Beyond the Frame, which presents fresh and diverse work by many of Cuba’s leading artists never before seen in Britain, will continue at Gallery 27 in London until April 28^th and will also be shown at The Lighthouse Gallery in Glasgow, Scotland 7-13 May 2012.