On December 10, International Day of Human Rights, let's raise our voices for the Cuban Five Heroes

SIGN THIS PETITION BELOW and CONTACT THE WHITE HOUSE demanding their freedom (click HERE)

We would like to, once again, bring to your attention the injustice inflicted upon five young Cuban men -Antonio Guerrero, Ramon Labañino, Gerardo Hernández, René González and Fernando González- incarcerated in U.S. prisons since Sept. 12th, 1998. Their "crime":  monitoring and infiltrating U.S.-based terrorist organizations that have caused the deaths of 3,478 people and permanent injuries to thousands more on the island of Cuba, where some one million people from across Canada go annually to enjoy a safe and secure holiday.

 One of the self-confessed and convicted terrorists is Luis Posada Carriles who masterminded the blowing up of a Cubana airliner in 1976 which killed all 73 people aboard.  He also paid mercenaries and masterminded the bombing of hotels and restaurants in Havana in the summer of 1997 which resulted in the death of Fabio Di Celmo, a permanent resident of Montreal , while he walks freely in the streets of Miami , Florida . In an outrageous gesture, the University of Miami recently honoured Orlando Bosch -Posada's cohort- for his "services to the community" which brought about the indignation of imminent intellectuals and academia (please see the attachments).

 For the past 12 years, the five Cuban heroes (in fact “heroes of humanity”, in the words of Ramsey Clark, the former U.S. Attorney General) have found themselves unjustly imprisoned.  The Cuban nation has been writing glorious pages in the history of humanity by dispatching thousands upon thousands of her sons and daughters to faraway lands, in order to provide health care and education to those in need and, in particular, to earthquake-, hurricane- and now cholera-ravaged Haiti. In addition, the first young student from Toronto is studying medicine in Cuba free of charge and Cuban educators are assisting their native brothers and sisters in learning how to read and write in their native languages!

 And for the past 12 years, tens of thousands of ordinary people from around the world; parliamentarians from all continents including 56 from Canada; trade unionists from Africa to Asia to North America including the Canadian Labour Congress; to artists/actors; 10 Nobel Prize winners and... have joined the fight for justice and human rights of the Cuban Five.

 So, it is incumbent upon all of us who favour a culture of peace and justice, to raise our voices against the injustice imposed on the Cuban Five and on the Cuban nation, thus allowing them to mobilize their human resources for saving lives when humanity calls, rather than having to focus on defending themselves against U.S.-based terrorism.

 This is why we raise our voices to demand:

·        The immediate freedom for the Cuban Five, two of whom have not been granted visitation rights with their wives.

·        The immediate extradition of Luis Posada Carriles to Venezuela, where he hatched the plot to bomb the Cubana airliner and many other terrorist acts, so that he can face justice there and/or his immediate arrest and trial in the United States for his terrorist crimes.

 Now … we have a choice:  IF WE DO NOT DEMAND FREEDOM FOR THE CUBAN FIVE AND THE EXTRADITION OF LUIS POSADA CARRILES TO VENEZUELA TO FACE JUSTICE, WE ARE IN FACT CHOOSING TO SUPPORT INJUSTICE AND THE HARBORING OF TERRORISTS. 

WE MUST ACT NOW!

For more information please check:

www.freethefive.org or www.antiterroristas.cu

Sincerely yours, Morteza Gorgzadeh for Toronto Forum on Cuba

[email protected] 

[email protected]

Toronto Forum on Cuba is a member of the Toronto Coalition to Stop the War and of the Latin American and Caribbean Solidarity Network

Attachments:

December 10, International Day of Human Rights:  “5 DAYS FOR THE 5”

Amnesty International Seeks Review of Case of the "Cuban Five" – Read the Amnesty Report

U.S. Intellectuals and Academia speak out

Artists and Actors for the Cuban Five

***PLEASE SEE THE ORIGINAL PETITION PUBLISHED ON DEC. 10TH, 2007 BELOW***

Honourable Members of Parliament,
Federal Parties of Canada,
Media Journalists and Intellectuals,
and All Honourable People Living in Canada

 THE PROOF IS IN THE PUDDING

SUBJECT: THE CUBAN FIVE

versus

U.S.-SPONSORED TERRORISM (the case of Luis Posada Carriles)

 Justice and peace, or violence and terrorism?

We would like to bring to your attention the injustice inflicted upon five young Cuban men -- Antonio Guerrero, Ramon Labañino, Gerardo Hernández, René González and Fernando González -- incarcerated in U.S. prisons since Sept. 12, 1998. Their “crime”: monitoring and infiltrating U.S.-based terrorist organizations that have caused the deaths of 3,478 people and permanent injuries to thousands more on the island of Cuba (see attached resolutions passed by National Lawyers' Guild in the U.S. and the Law Union of Ontario).One such self-confessed and convicted terrorist is Luis Posada Carriles who masterminded the blowing up of a Cubana airliner in mid-flight in 1976 which killed all 73 people aboard. This is just one of the many crimes that Posada Carriles and his partner, Orlando Bosch, have confessed to in interviews; and are documented in recently declassified Central Intelligence Agency documents (see attached testimonies and link to National Security Archives).

In an interview with New York Times in September 1998, Luis Posada Carriles admitted to having paid mercenaries to plant bombs in Havana hotels which caused the death of Fabio Di Celmo, an Italian resident of Montreal, in August 1997 (see attached testimony of Fabio Di Celmo's brother).  The targeted hotels and restaurants are frequented by tourists from Canada.
How is it that the government of Canada sends the sons and daughters of this land to faraway places to supposedly fight terrorism but supports Luis Posada Carriles?  The representative of Canada at the Organization of American States (OAS) summit in May 2007 helped to quash a resolution demanding the extradition of Luis Posada Carriles to Venezuela to face justice and/or his being put on trial in the United States (see attached document for news coverage of OAS).

These two acknowledged terrorists, Luis Posada Carriles and Orlando Bosch, are free in Miami; the same city where the Cuban Five were tried and given sentences ranging from 15 years to two life terms plus 17 years for reporting about impending violent attacks against Cuba and other nations (see attached statements by former U.S. Attorney General and by the former associate U.S. Attorney General).
That is why we call on all members of parliament, intellectuals, journalists and all who live in Canada to raise their voices and to right this wrong by demanding:

1) Immediate freedom for the Cuban Five, two of whom do not have visitation rights with their wives, and no exception is made, not even during the Christmas season (see attached links to statements issued by Mr. Kenneth V. Georgetti, President of CLC, by Mr. Lawrence Wilkerson, former Chief of Staff to US General Colin Powell and documents signed by Nobel prize winners from all continents and other internationally recognized personalities).  

2) Immediate extradition of Luis Posada Carriles to Venezuela to face justice, and/or his immediate arrest and trial in the United States for his crimes (see attached statement by National Security Archives Senior Analyst, Peter Kornbluh).

We trust that you and all fair-minded people, like tens upon tens of thousands of people around the world, will join us in this declaration in the spirit of justice and peace for humanity. We will be holding press conferences to disseminate this declaration and related information to inform everyone of the truth in order to expose this double standard at work in this case.Now we have a choice and THE PROOF IS IN THE PUDDING: DEMAND FREEDOM FOR THE CUBAN FIVE and the EXTRADITION OF LUIS POSADA CARRILES TO VENEZUELA TO FACE JUSTICE

                                                                        or

SUPPORT INJUSTICE AND THE HARBOURING OF TERRORISTS. 

For more information please check:  www.freethefive.org or www.antiterroristas.cu

Sincerely yours,

Morteza Gorgzadeh for Toronto Forum on Cubat[email protected]

December 10th, 2007 

The Toronto Forum on Cuba is a member of the Canadian Network on Cuba (CNC) www.canadiannetworkoncuba.ca   The CNC endorses this letter.