The National Committee to Free the Cuban Five issued this statement on Jan. 14. The National Committee to Free the Cuban Five has issued a call for international “Day After” actions, immediately upon the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals decision. We urge supporters to organize press conferences and/or rallies at government offices in the United States, and at
U.S. embassies or other U.S. symbols abroad, and to promote a massive letter-writing campaign to the U.S. President and U.S. Attorney General.
Photo: Bill Hackwell
We also ask that organizations mobilize in larger numbers and intensify the support in the days and/or weeks following the court ruling.
Demand: free the Five now! No more U.S. government appeals!
The new decision of the three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit on nine key issues of appeal for the Five could come at any time. It may take weeks, months or even a year or more. Nobody will know the date of the court opinion until it is issued, but we can prepare ahead of time to act immediately when the ruling comes.
History has shown that political cases are won with the people’s support and by exposing the truth. The struggle of the Cuban Five is no exception.
If the court decides favorably for the Five on any of the appeals issues, the U.S. government will likely try to appeal to the full panel of 12 judges of the 11th Circuit. We need to tell Washington with a united voice: stop delaying the Five’s freedom!
To the extent that pressure is brought to bear on Washington, and to the degree that the people are made aware of the U.S. government’s persecution of the Five, much will depend on the coordinated, united and determined will of the Cuban Five’s supporters.
Background to the call
On Aug. 9, 2005, the Cuban Five won an historic victory on their appeal before the three-judge panel of the federal 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta.
The panel ordered a new trial for the Five and overturned their convictions.
If a new trial for the Five had been held in another city in the United States, with the experience of the defense team, with the discovery of even more terrorist plots in Miami since the first trial, we are very confident that the Five would have been exonerated.
In fact, by law a new trial would have already taken place before February 2007.
But the U.S. government fought against a new trial for the Five, because it is the U.S. government’s policy of terror against Cuba that would have been on trial.
What happened to the Five’s victory? Disgracefully but not surprisingly, the U.S. government, through U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and the Miami U.S. Attorney’s office, appealed the 2005 decision of the three-judge panel.
Exactly one year later—in what could only have been a political decision, on Aug. 9, 2006—the full panel of 12 judges in an extremely conservative court ruled 10 to 2 to deny a new trial. The en banc panel reinstated the convictions and sentences of the Five. It was a cruel and very bitter blow to our brothers—Gerardo, Ramón, Antonio, Fernando, and René—who have had to suffer more years of imprisonment.
Worldwide mobilizations for the Five will be critical
The U.S. government has a double standard, which allows terrorists like Orlando Bosch and Luis Posada Carriles to go free in Miami, while the Five were arrested, tried and convicted in the midst of Miami’s anti-Cuba hysteria.
The U.S. policy of supporting the terrorists and imprisoning the Five, has convinced virtually all who learn of their case, that the Five have been subjected to a great injustice and it must be reversed.
Coordinated rallies and/or press conferences for both the day after the court decision and larger mobilizations in following weeks will help expose this hypocrisy and show broad support for the Five’s freedom.
Let us remember that when the Five’s supporters have come together we have achieved our goals: from the New York Times ad in 2004, to the emergency response that helped free the Five from the cruel isolation cells in March 2003.
Suggested Plan of action
1. Decide gathering place, and time (e.g., 5:00 p.m. on a weekday, 12 noon if the action is a weekend) and begin to publicize.
2. Produce a flyer [download sample flyer below] that you can distribute at political events and to the contacts in your area; create a special list serve of new supporters you meet who want to be notified of the emergency actions.
3. Send us details of your planned actions to [email protected]. We will post them on freethefive.org and help publicize them.
4. Do outreach to the media in your area ahead of time so they are aware of the case, the pending decision and your plans. Send a press communique as soon as court decision is issued with news of the decision, the demand for the Five’s freedom and details of your event(s). We will hold a telephone press conference immediately after the court decision is announced and disseminate that information right away.
5. As soon as the court opinion is announced, we will launch a letter-writing campaign to the U.S. president and U.S. attorney general, demanding the Five’s freedom and no more government appeals against them.
Together we can do it: free the Cuban Five now!
