Picket the NYTimes for the Cuban 5

The Popular Education Project to Free the Cuban 5
http://www.freethecuban5.com
freethecubanfive@hotmail.com and freethecuban5@gmail.com
Free the Cuban 5 Hotline: 718-601-4751
_______________________________________________________________________________

Sign the NYTimes petition for the Cuban 5; demand an article be published on
the cuban 5:  http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/846703346

WE WANT A THOUSAND SIGNATURES BY NEXT WEEK!!  GET THE PETITION OUT TO
EVERYONE YOU KNOW!!
_______________________________________________________________________________

WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 20TH, 2006 AT 5PM PICKET THE NEW YORK TIMES!!
The New York Times 229 West 43rd St.
(btwn. Broadway and 8th Ave.)

For more info. contact The Popular Education Project to Free the Cuban 5:
718-601-4751 or freethecubanfive@hotmail.com

The New York Times still has not published an article on the Cuban 5!! WE
HAVE TO GO BACK AND DEMAND THAT THE ARTICLE BE WRITTEN!!

For over a month, the New York Times ignored our letter writing campaign
demanding that they publish an article on the Cuban 5; after no response, we
picketed at the
their door and they continued to ignore us!!

President Ricardo Alarcon, of the Cuban Parliament, has called for December
12th-27th to be another period of time to raise awareness for the Cuban 5.

We have to go back!!  We CANNOT allow them to ignore the Cuban 5.  If the
Washington Post, USA Today, The LA Times and the Daily News can cover the
Cuban 5, then so can the New York Times!!

BRING YOUR FLAGS, PLACARD AND NOISEMAKERS!!
______________________________________________________________________________

CELEBRATING FREEDOM AND JUSTICE: Three Kings Party for the Cuban 5
Saturday January 13th, 2007 at 7pm
Martin Luther King Jr. Labor Center
310 W 43rd St. (btwn. 8-9th Aves)

Join us for a night of MUSIC,POETRY, and DANCING!! Dedicated to our brothers
the Cuban 5; five U.S. held Political Prisoners incarcerated for fighting
against terrorism in Cuba!!

PROGRAM:
Speaker from the Cuban Mission to the United Nations

Solidarity Statements from the Cuban 5 and their families

Two Short films; Ivette, a  9 minute film on Rene Gonzalez’s Daughter, and
the new 12 minute film entitled, “The Cuban 5”

The evening will include food, literature tables, drinks, displays/exhibits.
Holiday silk-screen cards will be available for participants to sign to be
sent to the Cuban 5. Donations at the door and for dinner are welcome!!

January 13th Organizing Committee: The Popular Education Project to Free the
Cuban 5, Venceremos Brigade, International Action Center,Workers World
Party, Party for Socialism and Liberation, Socialist Workers Party,
ProLibertad, Casa de las Américas, Frente Socialista de Puerto Rico – Comité
de Nueva York, New York CityJericho, Fuerzas de la Revolución Dominicana,
San Romero de las Americas-UCC/Cuba SolidarityMinistry, the National
Committee to Free the Cuban 5, Latin@s for Mumia, ANSWER, Cuba Solidarity
New York, IFCO/Pastors for Peace, New York Committee to Free the Cuban Five–
List In Formation
_______________________________________________________________________________

The Cuban Five and U.S. Terrorism
By Michael Parenti and Alicia Jrapko
December 12, 2006

December 2006 marks five years since the Cuban Five were sentenced to
prison. In 2001, Fernando González, Gerardo Hernández, Antonio Guerrero,
Ramón Labañino and René González were unjustly convicted of engaging in
“espionage conspiracy” and other charges, and sentenced to terms ranging
from 15 years to double-life. In fact, they committed no act of espionage
against the United States. What they were doing was monitoring Cuban exile
terrorist groups in the USA in an attempt to track and prevent terrorist
attacks against Cuba.

It has been eighth years since the five men were arrested. And through all
that time “anti-Castro” right-wing terrorist groups have continued to
operate with impunity in this country. And the corporate media continue to
hail them as “anti-Castro militants” and “freedom fighters,” while
leaving their nefarious deeds unreported.

Since 1959 Cuba has been subjected to threats, sanctions, invasion,
sabotage, and terrorist attacks upon its soil resulting in 3,478
deaths—all organized from within the United States by terrorist groups
that are financed, organized, and sheltered by the U.S. national security
state.

The U.S. government arrested the Cuban Five for sending to Havana
information about terrorist plots and actions being planned against Cuba.
Needless to say, the United States government wanted these groups to remain
anonymous, free to continue their campaigns of destruction.

The Judge who convicted the Five actually admitted the existence of these
terror groups. On December 14th, 2001, when Judge Lenard sentenced René
González to 15 years in prison, she stated: “As a further special
condition of supervised release the defendant is prohibited from associating
with or visiting specific places where individuals or groups such as
terrorists, members of organizations advocating violence, and organized
crime figures are known to be or frequent.” Acknowledging that the
terrorist groups were part of the established political landscape in
Florida, Judge Lenard did not seem to see a problem. The problem was
Gonzalez’s gathering information on them.

Since December 2001, voices demanding the immediate freedom of the Cuban
Five have been multiplying around the world. The growing international
movement for the freedom of the Five was recently described by Gerardo
Hernández, in a message sent by him to solidarity groups around the world
that were commemorating the eight anniversary of their arrests.

Gerardo, who was sentenced to an outrageous two terms of life-in-prison plus
15 years, wrote in his message, “When I remember back on what happened
that September 12th, the first thing that comes to my mind are the words of
the FBI agent, who in the middle of his efforts to try to turn us into
traitors, said: “Cuba will do nothing for you. Nobody will do anything for
you” How far off were he and his fellow officials to imagine what has
developed over these years in the struggle to free the Five (to be honest,
not even we, the Five, could have imagined!)… I will not have enough time
to tell him about all the examples of support and affection that come to us
from the Cuban people and from all our compañeros from around the world”

In defense of this cause, today there are 288 committees in 97 countries. In
addition, on May 27th, 2005, the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention of the
United Nation Human Right Commission declared the detentions of the five
Cubans to be arbitrary and urged the U.S. government to take immediate
measures to resolve this situation.

On August 30, 2005, six thousand worldwide personalities including 9 Nobel
Prize winners sent an open letter to the United States Attorney General
demanding immediate freedom for the prisoners.

On January 11th, 2006, Amnesty International sent a letter to the government
of the United States stating that the denial to grant visas to Olga
Salanueva and Adriana Pérez, wives of René González and Gerardo
Hernández, was an additional punishment, contrary to proper treatment of
prisoners and their families. The letter also raised questions about the
guarantee of due process in the Miami trial.

Meanwhile, the White House continues to tolerate the existence of anti-Cuban
terrorists on U.S. soil. In March 2005, the well-known dangerous terrorist
of Cuban origin, Luis Posada Carriles, entered the United States illegally.
Today he is detained in El Paso, Texas, not because of the crimes he
committed in several countries, including the United States itself, but only
because of his illegal entry. Posada Carriles and Orlando Bosch, another
terrorist who today freely walks the streets of Miami, are responsible for
the 1976 bombing of the Cuban commercial airliner that killed 73 innocent
people.

In November 2005, Santiago Álvarez and Osvaldo Mitat two confederates of
Posada Carriles who helped him enter the U.S. by boat were arrested. Their
arrest was not for aiding and abetting a terrorist (as it should have been)
but for the lesser charge of illegal possession of weapons.

In June 2006, another scandal came to light in Miami when José Antonio
Llama, a former director of the Cuban American National Foundation (CANF)
threatened several of his former criminal accomplices with legal action,
accusing them of defrauding him. In an open statement to the Miami media,
Llama revealed that in a secret meeting in 1993 in Naples, Florida, the CANF
created a paramilitary group. He accused the group of failing to pay him
back a loan of almost $2 million. The loan was to buy eight ships, one
helicopter, a high-speed motorboat, and ten planes for terrorist acts
against Cuba. Even after revealing this, Llama was not questioned by U.S.
authorities.

In April 2006, Cuban born Roberto Ferro was arrested for illegal possession
of an arsenal of 1,571 weapons at his house in Upland, California. In his
statements Ferro confessed to being a member of the anti-Cuban terrorist
organization Alpha 66. Yet U.S. authorities did nothing to find out why and
for what purpose Ferro had this arsenal in his home. And no investigation
was made of his links to any terrorist organization.

In January 2002, a few months after the September 11 attacks, Bush announced
in his State of the Union address, “First, we will shut down terrorist
camps, disrupt terrorist plans, and bring terrorists to justice. . . My hope
is that all nations will heed our call, and eliminate the terrorist
parasites who threaten their countries and our own.” If the White House
were really interested in fighting terrorism, it would shut down the
anti-Cuban terrorist camps in South Florida and bring Posada Carriles and
his accomplices to justice for the murders they have committed.

Instead the Cuban Five, who have broken no U.S. law, who possessed no
weapons, and who committed no act of terror, sabotage or espionage, are
languishing in prison for defending their homeland by attempting to monitor
U.S. sponsored terrorism.