Free the Cuban Five Press Conference

ACTIVISTS IN THE US REAFFIRM SOLIDARITY WITH THE CUBAN FIVE

Aug. 8, 2008
Reprinted from Cuban News Agency

HAVANA, Cuba, Aug 8 (acn) If the American people knew the real mission of the Cuban Five, they would immediately demand their freedom, said Gloria la Riva, coordinator of the US National Committee for the Release of the five Cuban anti-terrorist fighters unjustly held in US jails for nearly 10 years now.

During an encounter in San Francisco California, the activists with the National Committee unveiled a huge billboard, which demands the release of Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, Rene Gonzalez and Fernando Gonzalez, internationally known as the Cuban Five.

La Riva said the Five “are not criminals, they are heroes; they are very courageous and they have never regretted the decision they took over 10 years ago, when they infiltrated terrorist groups based in Miami in an effort to prevent them from carrying out terrorist actions and with it avoid a confrontation between the United States and Cuba.

She recalled that the case is unknown in the United States due to the silence practiced by the US mainstream media. The billboard has been deployed to raise awareness on the case and it will be there during the month of August in the eyes of hundreds of thousands of US citizens traveling along Mission Avenue in S.F. La Riva also denounced the protection given by the Bush administration to renowned terrorists like Luis Posada Carriles, Orlando Bosch, Santiago Alvarez-Magriña and others who keep plotting criminal acts against Cuba.

Meanwhile, Cindy Sheehan, a US anti-war activist who lost her son Casey in the US-led war in Iraq, said that it is really astonishing to see how Washington claims it is fighting terrorism, while the White House supports terrorists.

Sheehan, who also demanded the lifting of the US economic blockade of Cuba, referred to the existence of another billboard on the Cuban Five, which is deployed in Venezuela. The deployment of the billboard in S.F. would not have been possible without the contribution made by other committees in solidarity with Cuba, which are based in Italy, France, the U.K., Germany, Puerto Rico, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Canada, as well as citizens in over one hundred US cities and towns, Gloria la Riva said.

Other speakers during the encounter were Alison Bodine, of Pastors for Peace; Richard Becker, ANSWER coalition coordinator; Tim Paulson, executive director of the San Francisco-based Labor Council, and Tom Lacey, of the California-based Peace and Freedom Party.