Solidarity Demonstrations with The Cuban Five in US, Spain

Solidarity demonstrations in support of the Five Cuban anti-terrorist Heroes, three of whom are still held in US prisons, took place last weekend in Washington and several cities of Spain.

On September 13th, the headquarters of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), in Washington D.C., was the venue of a night of solidarity with the Cuban 5.

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Antonio Guerrero’s painting exhibition “Acquitted by Solidarity” (“Absueltos por la Solidaridad”), was shown for the first time in the United States. The paintings describe the endless seven months that the trial lasted.

The program was started with the performance of the DC Labor Chorus, and young rappers Elpj and Tom Kat recited a poem they both wrote for to the Cuban anti-terrorist fighters.

Two leaders of SEIU welcomed the participants and expressed their commitment towards the struggle for the freedom of the Five. A three-minute video on the Cuban Five case was shown, while messages from Gerardo Hernandez and Father Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann were read.

Cuban ambassador José Ramón Cabañas inaugurated the painting exhibition, followed by speeches by panellists Yeidckol Polenvsky, Piero Gleijeses, and Canadian author Stephen Kimber. Due to personal reasons, former Colonel of the USA Army, Ann Wright, could attend the ceremony, but send a message that was read to the public.

This event closed the week of activities organized in Washington DC by the International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban Five, to commemorate the 16^th imprisonment anniversary of the Five, which included over 20 visits to the Capitol Building, and a rally outside the White House.

Outside the US Embassy in Madrid

Once more, the members of the Madrid Committee for the liberation of the five Cuban men imprisoned in the USA for fighting terrorism, gathered on September 12^th outside the Yankee embassy to demand the immediate liberation of The Five.

Over a hundred people, most of them juveniles, chanted slogans if favour of the liberation of The Five, against the blockade, and demanding President Obama to immediately stop their unjust incarceration. The hypocrite US government keeps self-confessed terrorist Luis Posada Carriles free, while the Cuban anti-terrorist fighters are still in jail.

In Andalucia and Sevilla

On Saturday, two rallies also took place in front of the US consulates in Fuengirola (Málaga) and Sevilla, to call for the freedom of the 5 anti-terrorist fighters, political prisoners in the USA.

During the demonstrations, the participants shared information about the Five case, and the necessity that President Obama sets them free. On the other hand, a statement was addressed to the US diplomatic representations in Andalucia, and Fuengirola.

Catalan Solidarity

The members of Defensem Cuba gathered outside the US Consulate in Cataluñe, to demand the liberation of Ramón, Gerardo and Antonio, unjustly imprisoned in the USA for defending Cuba and its people from real terrorists who are free in Miami.

Euskadi-Cuba Association

On September 12th, the Euskadi-Cuba Association ornamented the façade of the building in Bilbao with a huge yellow ribbon, the symbol of the struggle for the freedom of the Cuban Five. Three of them are still in prison, and solidarity mobilizations are being carried out these days in 38 countries.

Solidarity in Alicante and Palmas de Gran Canarias

People summoned by the “Miguel Hernández” Association of Friendship with Cuba, from Alicante, got together to denounce the unfair situation of the Five Cuban Heroes.

At the end of the rally, a communiqué was read with a summary of the events of these 16 years.

In Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, 16 posters were exhibited by 16 personalities from different social fields, and the Cuban Consulate in the islands.

The gathering took place on the centrally located Triana Street, next to the sculpture of Canary Island artist Martín Chirino, a few meters away from where Carmen Nordelo, mother of Gerardo Hernández Nordelo, used to live.

Finally, the Canary Island Platform of Solidarity with the People issued a communique denouncing the imperialist interference in Cuba, and demanding Obama the release of the revolutionary Cubans still kept in prison.

 

Taken from Cubadebate and translated by Escambray.