[NYTr] World Campaign for Cuban Five Begins on Wednesday
 
Date: Tue, 11 Sep 2007 14:41:51 -0500 (CDT)

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Agencia Cubana de Noticias (ACN)
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World Campaign in Favor of Cuban Five begins on Wednesday

Havana, Sept 11 (acn) Solidarity Committees and friends of Cuba from
all over the world have confirmed their participation in a worldwide
campaign in solidarity with the five Cuban political prisoners in the
United States that begins on Wednesday, September 12, and will run 
until October 8th.

Gerardo Hernandez, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando Gonzalez, Ramon LabaC1ino
and Rene Gonzalez, internationally known as the Cuban Five, were
detained in 1998 for infiltrating right-wing anti-Cuba organizations
based in Florida, which have organized numerous terrorist actions
against the island over the last 45 years causing death and huge
material damage.

According to Granma news daily, solidarity rallies have been planned
for cities from Mexico to Canada, from Chile to Argentina, from Namibia
to South Africa and, of course, in Cuba and all over the United States.

On Wednesday, coinciding with the first day of the campaign and also
with the ninth anniversary of the arrest of the Cuban Five, one of the
members of their defense team, Leonard Weinglass, will speak at Howard
University in Washington, where he will give details of the
manipulations and violations committed during the process against the
Five.

Weinglass will be the special guest for the Rector's Lecture at the
Faculty of Law of the university. Participants will also watch a video
message sent by actor and peace activist Danny Glover in favor of the
release of the five Cuban heroes.

Meanwhile, mayors from 13 cities of the US state of California have
sent a letter to the US Attorney General asking, on humanitarian bases,
that Washington grants visas to Adriana Perez and Olga Salanueva, wives
of Gerardo Hernandez and Rene Gonzalez, respectively.

Perez and Salanueva have repeatedly been denied visas to visit their
husbands. Gerardo Hernandez is at the federal prison of Victorville,
California, while Rene Gonzalez is at the federal penitentiary of
Marianna, Florida.

In their letter to the Attorney General, Mayor Gayle McLaughlin, of
Richmond, and her counterparts sustain that there is no reason to
obstruct these family visits. Adriana and Olga have not been able to
visit their husbands in the last nine and seven years, respectively.

"I'm deeply saddened because our federal government has not allowed
these two women to visit their husbands in the United States. We hope
this issue is favorably resolved so that they receive the visas to do
it," said McLaughlin.

The other signatories of the letter are Robert Lieber, Mayor of Albano;
Sam Pierce, of Sebastopol; Emily Reilly, of Santa Cruz; Dennis Donohue,
of Salinas; Mary Craton, of Canyon Lake; Maricela Morales, of Port
Hueneme; Elba Guerrero, of Huntington Park; Felipe Aguirre, of Maywood;
Tom Bates, of Berkeley; Larry Bragman, of Fairfax; Bill Bogaard, of
Pasadena; and Woody Fridae, of Winters.

Copies of the document were sent to Paul D. Clement, who will
temporarily hold the post after the resignation of Attorney General
Alberto Gonzalez; Secretary of State Condolezza Rice; the Speaker of the
House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi; and to California senators
Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer.

 
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