6 September, 2010 15:39

SOLIDARITY WITH THE CUBAN FIVE – 12TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ARREST AND IMPRISONMENT OF 5 CUBAN PATRIOTS

Auckland: Friday, September 10, 5pm, Info picket, US Consulate, Customs St

Wellington: Friday, September 10, 5.30 p.m. – 7.30 p.m. Cubita Cafe, 101 Courtenay Pl

Christchurch: Sunday, September 12, 12.30pm, Victoria Square

THE CUBAN FIVE ARE POLITICAL PRISONERS serving two life sentences and 98 years collectively Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando González and René González were arrested on September 12th, 1998 by the FBI and locked for the next 17 months in solitary confinement. They were falsley charged with espionage conspiracy. However, their actions were never directed at the U.S. government, they never harmed anyone nor possessed any weapons. Their mission was preventing Miami terrorists from attacking Cuba.

For more than 50 years, the U.S. government has carried out aggressive policies against Cuba, using economic blockade and promoting terrorist organizations—based in Miami—to attack Cuba. Since 1959, more than 3,400 Cubans have died from the terrorists’ attacks.

The trial began November 2000 in Miami, where a virtual witchhunt atmosphere existed because of anti-Cuba prejudice. An unprecedented media campaign was unleashed against the Cuban Five. Their attorneys tried to move the trial to a venue away from Miami, but the judge refused. Now, newly-discovered evidence has revealed that while the U.S. government was prosecuting the Cuban Five, it was secretly paying prominent journalists in Miami to engage in propaganda against Cuba and the five Cubans– through Radio and TV Martí–creating a climate that would guarantee convictions.

The cause of the Cuban Five, who were peacefully defending their homeland from violent attack, has given birth to a worldwide movement to demand their freedom.

http://www.freethefive.org/