Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Committee to Stop FBI Repression

Many of the U.S. government’s recent campaigns of repression, including the September 2010 FBI raids, grand jury subpoenas, and ongoing investigation of anti-war and international solidarity activists known as the Anti-War 23, have been pursued under the guise of investigating “material support of terrorism.” The bankruptcy of this rationale is revealed when we look to another ongoing case of political repression by the U.S. government – this time attacking individuals who were actively working to prevent terrorist attacks – the Cuban 5. The FBI targeted these five men because they were monitoring terrorist groups that the U.S. government supports. They were working to defend the country of Cuba from terrorist attacks.

Since the victory of the Cuban Revolution in 1959, Cuba has been the target of more terrorist attacks than any other country in the world. 3,478 Cuban citizens have been killed in these attacks and 2,099 have been injured. The overwhelming majority of the attacks originated in southern Florida. The attacks were launched by groups who have been sheltered and in some cases financed by the U.S. government. Gerardo Hernandez, Ramón Labañino, Fernando Gonzalez, Antonio Guerrero and René Gonzalez, now collectively known as the Cuban Five, were working to monitor the groups who have led and threatened these terrorist attacks. Their work to prevent further acts of terror from being unleashed on the Cuban people led to their arrest by FBI agents in Miami in September 1998.

The U.S. government has kept the Cuban Five imprisoned since September 12, 1998, convicted of “conspiracy to commit espionage.” There is no evidence, nor is there even an accusation, that these men engaged in any actual acts of espionage. They did nothing wrong – they only worked to defend Cuban sovereignty and defend the Cuban people from attacks. Their case has garnered international attention, including from a United Nations working group, which found that the imprisonment of the Five was a case of arbitrary detention and is in violation of Article 14 of the International Convention on Civil and Political Liberties.

The real reason for the imprisonment of the Cuban Five has nothing to do with espionage, just as the more recent acts of repression against international solidarity activists have nothing to do with combating terrorism. These are acts of political repression, plain and simple. Whether for defending Cuban sovereignty and the Cuban people, or for supporting people resisting U.S. wars and occupations in other parts of the world, the Cuban Five and the Anti-War 23 were all targeted for their opposition to the foreign policy aims of the U.S. government.

The Committee to Stop FBI Repression stands in solidarity with the Cuban Five and condemns the ongoing repression against these heroes of the Cuban people. We call for the immediate release of the four of the Cuban Five who remain imprisoned. Defending the Cuban people is not a crime!

Take action for the Cuban 5!

Join the week of action for the Cuban 5 in Washington D.C. from May 30 – June 5, 2013. There will be rally in front of the White House on Saturday, June 1st at 1:00 p.m. Info on the week of actions here: http://www.thecuban5.org/wordpress/2013/01/04/save-the-dates-5-days-for-the-cuban-5-in-dc/

\* One of the five, René Gonzalez, was released from prison on October 7, 2011 but was forced to stay in Southern Florida on probation. He finally won the freedom to return home to Cuba earlier this month.

#UnitedStates #PoliticalPrisoners #Cuban5 #CommitteeToStopFBIRepression #RenéGonzález

Miami, FL – On May 3, René González, one of the Cuban 5, finally won his freedom from the U.S. prison system when a judge ruled that he could move back to Cuba. González had already served an unjust sentence of more than 13 years in U.S. prisons. He was then was forced to stay in Miami another year and a half on parole. González was greeted as a hero on his return to Cuba, which has waged a determined campaign to win freedom for the Cuban 5.

The Cuban 5 are five Cuban heroes – Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando González and René González – who were unjustly imprisoned in the U.S. after being arrested by the FBI on Sept. 12, 1998. They were convicted in a U.S. federal court in Miami in 2001, in a political prosecution by the U.S. government.

René González was the first of the five to be released from U.S. prison, on Oct. 7, 2011. But the court, in a punitive measure, denied him the right to return to Cuba to his family, and instead required him to serve an additional three-year probation sentence in the U.S.

The Five were falsely accused by the U.S. government of committing espionage conspiracy against the U.S., and other related charges. The Five never engaged in, nor planned any, conspiracy against the U.S. government. As the Cuban Five pointed out in their defense, they were on a mission in Miami, beginning in 1990, to monitor the actions of Miami-based right-wing anti-communist groups in order to prevent those groups from carrying out attacks on their country of Cuba. Over the years such groups, based in Miami, have carried out many violent attacks against socialist Cuba. The Cuban 5 never harmed anyone, nor ever possessed, nor used any weapons on their mission. Their objective was simply protecting the Cuban people from the very real threat of the Miami-based anti-communists.

A statement released by the National Committee to Free the Cuban Five said, “We are extremely happy for René, who has, along with his Cuban Five brothers, been unduly punished for being a proud defender of his people, his homeland and the Cuban Revolution. This development must give all the Cuban Five supporters great inspiration to continue the fight so that Gerardo, Ramón, Antonio and Fernando can return home immediately!”

There will be a week of action to continue the struggle to free all of the Cuban 5 in Washington D.C. from May 30 to June 5, including a national protest in front of the White House on June 1. More info at: http://www.thecuban5.org/wordpress/2013/01/04/save-the-dates-5-days-for-the-cuban-5-in-dc/

#MiamiFL #PoliticalPrisoners #Cuban5 #InjusticeSystem #RenéGonzález