Latin American and Caribbean Parliamentarians Demand Freedom for the Cuban Five
PANAMA, July 7.— Parliamentarians from 15 Latin American countries and the Caribbean demanded freedom for the five Cuban anti-terrorists prisoners being held in the United States. They also called for an end to the economic blockade imposed by the northern power against Cuba for almost a half century.
During the encounter of solidary on Monday in Panama City, Cuban Parliament President Ricardo Alarcón underlined the fact that one of the most important aspects of the gathering is to break through the wall of disinformation erected around the case by the government of the United States.
Alarcón added that in essence the policy of the Bush administration is evidenced in its aid and protection of terrorism against the island, for which the US government needs to lie and transform the images of the Cuban heroes into common criminals. He pointed to how murderer Luis Posada Carriles and his accomplices live unpunished in Miami, while the Cuban Five—Ramón Labañino, Fernando González, Antonio Guerrero, Gerardo Hernández and René González— were convicted long sentences in American maximum security prisons for informing their country of actions organized by terrorists in Florida.
While the United States claims to combat terrorism in other parts of the world, paradoxically, terrorists are being protected in that very same country, pointed out Pedro Miguel González, president of the National Assembly of Panama.
Honduran Deputy Dilma Quezada proposed the creation of a committee of women parliamentarians to organize solidarity actions along with the mothers and wives of the Cuban Five. Quezada explained that it is important to unite all female parliamentarians on the continent to coordinate actions in defense of the freedom of the Cuban Five and the rights of their relatives – particularly their mothers.
This was also supported by a proposal from Mexican Senator Yeidekol Polensky, who called for visits by legislators to the jails where the Cuban fighters are being held.
Likewise, Polensky highlighted that the parliamentarians should take advantage of their positions to request meetings with United States ambassadors in their respective countries, with the objective of demanding explanations about the outrageous acts carried out against the Cuban Five.
The coordinator of the Haitian Women's Solidarity Movement, Carole Pierre, announced that at the end of this month that organization will hold a day a support for the Cuban Five.
Pierre informed the Prensa Latina news agency that conferences will be held so that the case becomes known in Haiti, because at world level “very little information circulates on the topic; it is necessary to sensitize people about the injustices that are being perpetrated against the men,” she explained.
