Press Release: 500,000- Strong Student Movement in Canada Demands: Free The Cuban 5 Now!
By Noah Fine
June 12 2008
During the May 2008 Semi-Annual
General Meeting of the Canadian
Federation of Students (CFS) the
following motion was passed:
“Be it further resolved that a letter
be written to U.S. President George
W. Bush, Condoleezza Rice, Barack
Obama, Hilary Clinton, and John
McCain demanding immediate
freedom for the ‘Cuban 5’.
The Cuban 5ive are five Cuban
men who were sent to Miami to
investigate terrorist groups which
have committed countless acts of
terror against Cuba, including the
mid-air bombing of a Cuban airliner
which killed all 73 people on board.
The 5ive gave the information
they had collected over to the U.S.
government who then, instead of
charging and jailing the terrorists,
jailed the Cuban 5ive anti-terrorist
Heroes. The U.S. government has
since charged and convicted these
5ive brave men with “conspiracy
to commit espionage” and
“conspiracy to commit murder”.
The 5ive will have been in prison
for ten years this September. For
more information on the case of
the 5ive Cuban Heroes please
visit: www.vancubasolidarity.
com/freethefivevan.html, www.
canadiannetworkoncuba.ca, and
www.freethefive.org.
The Canadian Federation of
Students represents over half a
million students in Canada and has
a membership of over 80 college
and university students’ unions.
In this time when the criminal U.S.
government is trying to close the
case of the 5ive in their favour and
hold them indefinitely in prison, it
becomes so much more important to
spread the word and cry of injustice
in the case of our 5ive brothers.
This is a great step forward for the
movement to free the 5ive as the
weight of half a million students in
Canada is added to the international
movement to free the 5ive.
The letter written to the U.S.
Government on behalf of the
Canadian Federation of Students
appears on this page.
Free the Cuban 5ive Now!
June 9, 2008
President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Dear President,
The Canadian Federation of Students is Canada's national students' organization representing more than
one half million students across Canada. At our May semi-annual general meeting, students' unions passed
a resolution calling on the Government of the United States for their immediate release from prison.
The Cuban Five are five Cuban men currently serving four life sentences in a U.S. prison after being
unjustly convicted in a U.S. federal court in Miami, on June 8, 2001, a decision that was upheld by the 11th
Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, Georgia on June 4, 2008. It is our understanding that these five men,
Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando González and René González, were
falsely accused by the U.S. government of committing espionage against the United States, and other
related charges. Upon their arrest the "Cuban 5" were kept in solitary confinement for 17 months without
access to legal representation or information about the charges to be laid against them.
On May 27, 2005, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention ruled that the detention of the
five Cuban political prisoners is arbitrary and in violation of international law. The UN ruling also found
that the Cubans were denied access to the totality of the evidence against them and that their lawyers were
also denied access to the information needed to defend their clients adequately. In addition, Adriana Perez
and Olga Salanueva, wives of prisoners Gerardo Hernández and René González, have been denied entry
into the United States to visit them in jail, violating their human rights, international conventions and
treaties, and the U.S Constitution. In a report released on May 28, 2008, Amnesty International also
denounced the delay in the appeal process, the lack of evidence against the Cuban 5 and the prosecution's
improper conduct.
The ruling of the United Nations and Amnesty International confirms that the case of the Cuban 5 is a
highly political trial that was thoroughly unfair and unjust. As such, we urge you to act immediately to
allow visitation rights to the family of the Cuban Five and to release them from jail without delay.
Sincerely,
Katherine Giroux-Bougard
National Chairperson
c.c. Secretary Condoleezza Rice, Department of State
c.c. Senator Hillary Clinton, New York
c.c. Senator Barack Obama, Illinois
c.c. Senator John McCain, Arizona
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