We cannot remain silent about the injustice committed against the Five

 • CARLOS Alvarado, a member of Panama’s Legislative Assembly, was in the midst of organizing and coordinating the Latin American-Caribbean Parliamentary Conference in Solidarity with Cuba as an expression of his generous and fraternal affection for our people, when he suddenly died. 

As a tribute to this friend, we print below a speech he wrote the night before his death, which, as president of the Cuba-Panama Inter-Parliamentary Friendship Group, he was to give at the July 7 parliamentary event in Panama City expressing solidarity with Cuba and calling for freedom for the Cuban Five:

DEPUTY COLLEAGUES, COMRADES AND FRIENDS ALL:

This event is the fruit of the Panamanian people and Parliament’s heartfelt solidarity with Cuba and with the cause to free the Five. It is the product of those of us who believe that we should defend the efforts of the Cuban people to build a society whose system is in line with the purposes and decisions of the Cuban people themselves.

We all know that Cuba will soon have completed 50 years of profound social changes, and has been suffering an unjust economic blockade for many, many years. The noble Cuban people have suffered for decades from terrorist attacks inside and outside their territory, many of them with the complicity of enemy forces. The Cuban people have had a tenacity that goes beyond heroism, and have continued forward with their process of change despite the adversities. And the thing is, Cuba, in the midst of that whole situation, is demonstrating its solidarity by providing scholarships for young Panamanians who are now studying medicine and other professions in that country. From these friends, we have received technical support in other activities, such as agriculture and sports.

The nobility of the Cuban government and people is a characteristic that is recognized by many people everywhere.

When, as president of the Panama-Cuba Interparliamentary Friendship Group, I met with the president of our National Assembly, Pedro Miguel González, and told him about the idea of organizing this event in Panama, he did not hesitate to support us. Thanks to him, distinguished members of Parliament, we are meeting here in Panama this morning.

In September 1998, five Cuban men were arrested in south Florida and held in isolation cells for 17 months before going to trial. This, distinguished delegates, was when the terrible ordeal of the men known as the Cuban Five began.

The crime they were charged with is conspiracy; in essence, it is what is used under the laws of the United States to describe espionage and other minor crimes.

In December 2001, the Cuban Five were convicted for fighting terrorism, but without clear evidence or really solid evidence from a legal standpoint. Moreover, this trial took place in Miami, Florida, where hostility against anything related to the island of Cuba, post-Revolution, arouses open animosity.

The sentences received by these Cuban patriots add up to 77 years in prison and four life terms, which even in terms of numbers is a sentence that, anywhere in the world, sounds like something ENORMOUS.

Various parliaments in different parts of the world, heads of state, religious organizations, intellectuals and trade unions, among others, have spoken out against this unjust and disproportionate court ruling.

The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention of the United Nations Human Rights Commission declared the sentences of the Five to be illegal.

On August 9, 2005, three judges from the 11th Circuit Court in Atlanta overturned the Florida trial and ordered a new trial to be held.

Recently, on May 4 of this year, the 11th Circuit Federal Court of Appeals in Atlanta, Georgia, upheld the convictions of the five Cubans.

The ratification of these sentences, far from disheartening us, should spur those of us present to continue; we should reaffirm our efforts to free the Five.

Distinguished delegates:

This unjust situation is one of the central axes of this Latin American-Caribbean Parliamentary Conference here in Panama City.

I give my warmest welcome to this event and to everyone present, and I hope that the work that begins today will be fruitful.

No son or daughter of this America of Martí, Bolívar and Omar Torrijos can remain silent in face of the injustice being suffered by these five Cuban patriots.