[act-ma] 8/20 Support the Cuban 5 on the day of their hearing

[July 26th Coalition]

Demonstration to protest double standard of U.S. "war on terror"
Organizers call on U.S. to release anti-terrorist Cubans held in U.S. 
prisons
(also see the cultural event later that night below)
 
Monday, August 20th, 2007

4:30 to 6:00 p.m.

Park Street Station T-Stop, Boston

 -- Representatives from several organizations in solidarity with
Cuba are expected to rally in front of the Park Street Station subway stop
in Boston, to demand the release of five Cuban anti-terrorist fighters
unfairly imprisoned in the United States.

The informational picket line will take place during rush hour (between 4:30
and 6:00 p.m.) on Monday, August 20, to coincide with oral hearings on the
case occurring that day in Atlanta, GA before the 11th Circuit Court of
Appeals. There, the Five's attorneys will make arguments in this, the third
oral argument hearing granted since their appeals began in 2003.

Participants in the informational picket will hold placards and banners
while distributing information on the case and details of the hearing to
passers-by.  The background follows:

Cuban émigré terrorists from Miami have killed more than 3000 innocent
Cubans. The Cuban Five were infiltrating these terrorist groups in order to
inform the Cuban government of planned attacks against their country.
Fernando Gonzalez, Antonio Guerrero, Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon Labanino and
Rene Gonzalez have been imprisoned in the U.S. since 1998 on the charge of
"conspiracy" to commit espionage although they were never accused of
stealing any U.S. military secrets. The trial took place in Miami, a city
where anyone accused of being an agent of the Cuban government could not
have a fair trial. In 2005, a three judge appeals panel reversed the
convictions concluding that the Five did not get a fair trial in Miami. But
the full Circuit reviewed the decision and in August, 2006 that decision was
rejected by the majority who sent the matter back to the panel where further
appeals will be argued on August 20th.

The defense team confirmed that they will denounce the political
manipulations of the case during the oral hearing before a panel of the 11th
Circuit Court of Appeals. Attorney Leonard Weinglass, the legal
representative of Antonio Guerrero, said the defense will allege that the
evidence in this case is insufficient from the legal point of view and they
will focus on the misconduct of U.S. attorney John Kastrenakes during his
final speech before the jury representing the prosecution.

Protesters at the Park Street Station T stop will also call attention on
August 20th to the fact that as additional punishment, the U.S. government
has denied Adriana Perez, wife of Gerardo Hernandez, and Olga Salanueva,
wife of Rene Gonzalez permission to visit their husbands in prison. Both
women have requested visas on seven occasions and each time they have been
denied visas without justification.
International support for the Five continues to grow. In April, historian
Howard Zinn called their imprisonment: "an unforgivable act of cruelty."

nancybkohn at gmail.com