Worldwide campaign reduces sentences for Cuban heros

In the Miami courtroom where they were unjustly convicted, extreme prison terms for three of the Cuban Five -- including two with life-plus-years – were reduced to the sentencing guideline minimums. To protect their homeland, the Cuban Five conducted observations of Florida-based paramilitary organizations planning attacks on Cuba.

The Five were convicted in a Miami trial that even U.S. judges termed “a perfect storm of prejudice,” sparking a broad active international campaign to free them. The U.S. government continues to prevent family visits by denying visas for Olga Salanueva and Adriana Pérez, spouses of René González and Gerardo Hernández, imposing additional extrajudicial punishment and hardship on their families. A double life sentence for Gerardo Hernández was not modified.

In a statement on their resentencing, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando González and Ramón Labañino said: “While still facing long imprisonment, it is significant that the U.S. government, for the first time in 11 years, was obliged to recognize that we did not cause any damage to its national security.

“Also, for the first time, the prosecutor publicly recognized the existence of a strong international movement in support of our immediate freedom, a movement that affects the image of the U.S. judicial system in the eyes of the international community. Once again the absolute political character of this process is confirmed.

“We, the Five, are punished for accusations that never have been proved. Although three of our sentences were partially reduced, the injustice remains for all of us.”

Just days before the resentencing hearing for Fernando González and Ramón Labañino, an international event supporting the Cuban Five took place in the Mexican city of Tijuana, the largest border entry point into the U.S.

The Dec. 4 event opened the Sixth Cuba/Venezuela/Mexico/North American Labor Conference, organized by the U.S./Cuba Labor Exchange, which brought together union representatives from Latin America, the Philippines, Canada and the U.S.

The Cuban Five solidarity event started with messages of solidarity from the families of the Cuban Five and an update of the case by Silvia García, representing the Cuban National Assembly of the Peoples Power. Carmen Godinez from the Confederation of Cuban Workers (CTC) talked about the support for the Cuban Five within the organized labor movements worldwide. Claudia Morcom, a retired Michigan judge, showed how the compelling story of the Cuban Five sparked a community art project by an internationally known Detroit artist.

Alicia Jrapko from the International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban Five presented a short video featuring Alice Walker that brought tears to the eyes of many in the audience. Jrapko talked about the expanding worldwide solidarity campaign to free the Cuban Five heroes as well as the struggle to gain visitation rights for their spouses.

The event received considerable media coverage that helped raise awareness about the case of the Cuban Five, including interviews on four radio stations and three television channels. On Dec. 3 a press conference held in Mexicali, Mexico, brought the information to a wide audience in cities across Baja California as well as on the other side of the border. KPFK Pacifica in Los Angeles featured a program with updates on the case and announced the events in Tijuana.

Two Mexican members of the International Commission for the Right of Family Visits, Cuauhtémoc Amescua Dromundo, professor of Political Sciences of the Autonomous University of Mexico and Hilda Venegas Negrete, sent solidarity messages to the event. Venegas, a member of the National Council of the Union of Jurists of Mexico and the League for the Defense of Human Rights, concluded her message with a saying from a sacred book of the Mayan people, “They ripped out our fruits, they cut off our branches, they burned out the trunks of our trees, but they could not kill our roots.”

The Tijuana event for the Cuban Five was organized by the U.S./Cuba Labor Exchange and the International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban Five. Visit www.thecuban5.org.