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Vigil for the Cuban Five outside the
White House
WASHINGTON.—A vigil outside the White House has been
convened for September 12, the 15th anniversary of
the incarceration of the five Cuban anti-terrorist
fighters sentenced in a rigged trial in Miami.
 The
peaceful vigil is to call on President Barack Obama
to return to their homeland Gerardo Hernández, Ramón
Labañino, Antonio Guerrero and Fernando González,
still incarcerated in federal prisons, states a
communiqué from the International Committee for the
Freedom of the 5, which is sponsoring the
initiative.
People participating will carry slogans such us
Enough is Enough, End the Injustice, No More
Impunity and Free the 5 Cubans Now, in order to call
attention to the case.
Moreover, International Committee members and other
friends in solidarity with the cause are to visit
Congress to follow up on meetings with a number of
legislators in June, during the program of
activities for the second 5 Days for the Five Cubans
in Washington DC, this past June.
The author Stephen Kimber is also to participate in
seven public meetings on the U.S. east coast to talk
about his recent book, What Lies Across the
Water: The Real Story of the Cuban Five, the
communiqué adds.
Kimber will appear with the eminent U.S. linguist,
philosopher and political scientist Noam Chomsky in
Boston, Massachusetts and with Martin Garbus, a
member of the Five’s legal team in New York City.
The book is the result of extensive research, which
included a review by the author of more than 2,000
pages of court records of the longest case in U.S.
history.
Legal experts have noted the irrationality of the
sentences handed down to Hernández (double life plus
15 years), Labañino (30 years), Guerrero (21 years,
10 months and five years of supervised release) and
González (17 years and nine months).
Meanwhile René González completed 85% of the
sentence of 15 years handed down in 2001, was
subsequently under the regime of supervised release
and is now in Cuba after a process which involved
his loss of U.S. citizenship.
The International Committee has repeatedly noted
that actions for the liberation of these men must be
increased. “We cannot wait until they come out of
prison having completed their sentences, as one of
them, Gerardo, has no date on the calendar.”
In May 2005, the UN Panel on Arbitrary Detention
questioned the legality of the illegal and arbitrary
detention of the Cuban anti-terrorists, with a
historic finding which proposed an immediate remedy
to this situation, while the United States has done
nothing to date to rectify it. (PL)
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