Days+of+support+of+the+Cuban+Five,+COSATU+Weekly

From COSATU Weekly, 30 June -6 July 2006
=14. Days of international awareness in support of the Cuban Five=

The President of the Cuban Parliament, Ricardo Alarcón, has urged that a period from 12 September to 6 October be used to break down the silence surrounding the case of the Cuban Five as well as to condemn all terrorism and demand justice for its victims.

The struggle for the release of five Cubans unjustly imprisoned in the United States represents a battle against terrorism and for the truth, said Alarcón before an auditorium composed of representatives from some 70 countries on the last day of the Universidad 2006 conference in Havana.

On 12 September the Cuban Five will have spent eight years behind bars for fighting terrorism. The period suggested by the Cuban Parliament President includes two other key dates: 21 September and 6 October - the 30th anniversaries of the assassination of the former Chilean foreign minister Orlando Letelier and the sabotage of a Cuban civilian airliner off the coast of Barbados, which cost the lives of all 73 innocents on board.

Documents recently declassified by the US authorities prove that not only did two terrorists – Orlando Bosch and Luis Posada Carriles – participate in these terrible acts, but that Washington has since covered up and protected the murderers.

Alarcón called on a massive international mobilisation to condemn the fallacy of the current anti-terrorism crusade that emanates from Washington, and call for an end to the impunity enjoyed by Posada Carriles and Bosch and other internationally known criminals, as well as to demand the immediate release of the five Cubans.

Theirs is an example whereby the truth and the manipulation of information about their case have been constantly hidden – especially within the US.

He said that this fight is over a basic right: that of people getting to know the truth and pointed out that the situation of the Five continued in spite of the fact that two prestigious organizations had determined the illegality of their trial.

On 27 May 2005 the United Nations Human Rights Commission Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions declared that the imprisonment of Antonio Guerrero, Fernando González, Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino and René González was arbitrary and insisted that the government of the US adopt measures to resolve the situation.

Then on 9 August 2005, a three judge panel ruled in Atlanta to reverse the sentences of the Cuban Five and ordered a new trial. The court recognized the right of the five Cubans to be impartially judged in a non-hostile environment as laid out by the US Constitution.

Ricardo Alarcón said that both rulings sought the release of the Five, but that their recommendations had been ignored by the Bush administration above all because it had managed to keep the public misinformed.


 * //COSATU urges all its members to support this important campaign and to discuss it at all the forthcoming pre-congress meetings.//**

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