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FREE THE CUBAN FIVE Who Are the Cuban Five? Canadian MPs Demand Freedom for the Five Canadian MPs Demand Freedom for the Five Letters From the Cuban Five Letters From the Cuban Five Canadian Federation of Students Call for Freedom for the Five 500,000 Canadian Students Want the Five Freed Response To The Atlanta Appeals Court Ruling By The International Committee For The Freedom Of The Cuban Five June 6, 2008 Click here to see the latest news from the Atlanta Appeals Court. Press Release by the lawyers of the Cuban Five August 21, 2007 Click here to see the latest news from the FTF legal team. Time to End the U.S. Double Standard on Terrorism Dr. Tim Bood - Halifax Herald Op-Ed, Oct. 22, 2003 A Daughter's Journey (Fall 2003) Free the Five Toronto: www.freethecubanfive-toronto.com Who are the Cuban Five? They are five Cuban men who are in U.S. prison for simply defending their country of Cuba from terrorist acts by extremist right-wing groups in Miami. They were sentenced from 15 years to two life sentences. They never harmed anyone, yet they are in prison while the anti-Cuba extremists whom they tried to stop are walking freely in Miami. How did the five Cubans try to stop them? By monitoring the terrorists' actions and informing Cuba of impending attacks by those extremist groups. The five Cubans are Gerardo Hernández, Antonio Guerrero, Ramón Labañino, René González, and Fernando González. They were convicted in U.S. federal court on June 8, 2001 in a politically-charged trial: the U.S. government claimed they were engaged in espionage on U.S. military bases and threatened "national security." The espionage charge - and related charges - are a complete fabrication. In 14,000 pages of transcript, no espionage evidence was ever introduced. The five Cubans were strictly involved in monitoring the actions of terrorist right-wing groups in Miami. These groups - such as Omega 7, Alpha 66, Brothers to the Rescue, Brigada 2506, and Comandos F4 - have caused the deaths and injury of hundreds of people in Cuba and other countries. Some of their leaders were directly implicated in conspiring to try to prevent Elián González from returning home to his father in Cuba. For more than 40 years, anti-Cuban right-wing groups in Miami have engaged in countless terrorist activities against Cuba, against Cuban-Americans and anyone who calls for a normalization of relations between Cuba and the U.S. Those organizations were established with the financing, training and backing of the C.I.A., in the early 1960s. Their sole aim was to sow terror and violence against the people of Cuba, after they had successfully ousted hated dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959 and began to build a new society. For example, notorious anti-Cuba terrorists Orlando Bosch and Luís Posada Carriles conspired in the planting of two bombs on a Cubana Airlines plane on October 6, 1976. In the horrific explosion that occurred midflight from Barbados to Cuba, 73 innocent people died. Orlando Bosch and Luís Posada Carriles are longtime CIA agents trained in assassination and sabotage. After a few years in prison, Bosch was allowed to re-enter the U.S. in the 1980s. When the Justice Department moved to deport him in 1989 for a series of violent actions, then-president George Bush pardoned him. Today, Bosch lives in Miami freely, although he is responsible for the deaths of over 80 people. Because of the repeated failure - and indeed refusal - of the U.S. government to act against known criminals whose sole aim is to cause death and destruction on the Cuban people, Cuba found it necessary for its self-defense to send in these five brothers to prevent future attacks by monitoring the groups' actions. Gerardo, René, Antonio, Fernando, and Ramón are innocent and should be free. Their actions required a great deal of sacrifice and personal risk to infiltrate such organizations. They are heroes, not criminals! Support the call for their freedom! Publicize their case in your community, organization or school (videos, speakers and literature are available) Learn more about their case - contact us: exec@freethecubanfive-toronto.com Send a letter to the Prime Minister: Here is a sample letter that you can download, sign, and mail (no postage necessary). Free the Cuban Five Committee - Toronto P.O. Box 743, Stn. F, Toronto, Ontario M4Y 2N6 Web: FreeTheCubanFive-Toronto.com [Download this page in PDF format for easy printing] UPDATES On March 8th, 2008, in commemoration of International Women's Day, the International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban Five will dedicate its new page www.thecuban5.org to the families of Gerardo Hernández, René González, Ramon Labañino, Fernando González, and Antonio Guerrero. And especially to the women of these families, who have been in the forefront of the struggle for the freedom of their loved ones and the right to visit them in US prisons. Send Letters to the Five International Front for Human Rights Declares Support Mumia Abu-Jamal on the Cuba Five Update: 11 Dec. 02 Update: 6 Nov. 02 Interview with Olga Salanueva, wife of Rene González with comments from Ricardo Alarcón, President of the Cuban Parliament. Amnesty Speaks Out on the Cuban Five back to: Documents index