• MEMBERS of the 3rd Foreign Students’ International Brigade, representatives of the International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban 5 and some of their family members yesterday celebrated the 48th birthday of Fernando González, one of the five Cubans incarcerated in U.S jails. for defending their country from terrorism.

Magalis Llort, Fernando’s mother, expressed her pleasure at the presence of so many young students and passed on a message from her son, "I am very honored that people of different nationalities are coming together to celebrate my birthday."

She added that it gave Fernando added hope to know that so many young people in the world are committed to solidarity and fighting for justice.

The students, from various Havana universities, contributed dances, poems and statements to the event, with calls for the liberation of the Five in different languages.

The participants, who came together in the Julio Antonio Mella International Camp, in Caimito, Artemisa province, were given an update on the unjust and rigged legal proceedings to which Fernando, Antonio Guerrero, Ramón Labañino, René González and Gerardo Hernández have been subjected.

Organized by the Cuban Institute of Friendship among the Peoples (ICAP), Graciela Ramírez, coordinator of the International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban 5 in the United States, was also present.

"Knowing that a court in my country did not act with justice puts us, as citizens, in the same place because if we were to face a similar situation tomorrow, the same fate could await us, and thus the need to change things," U.S. student David Lavender observed.

"We know what they are suffering and, because we have more than 10,000 incarcerated comrades, we feel and will continue supporting this struggle, which we know is for a just cause, and achieving that is in the hands of solidarity and the unity of our forces," affirmed Mohamed Abu Srour, Palestinian representative.