Action Plan for release of the Cuban Five
written by Alex Bainbridge
at Monday, November 30, 2009
Action Plan adopted by participants at the 5th International Colloquium
"For the Release of the Cuban Five and Against Terrorism"
Nov. 21, 2009
The 5th Colloquium held in Holguin is especially relevant after the rejection by the Supreme Court to review the case in June, 2009; the resentencing process of Antonio on October 13th with the unjust sentence of 21 years and 10 months, the next resentencing of Fernando and Ramon dated for December 8th; and the unchanged sentences of Rene and Gerardo, the latter being the most difficult, and the current rejection to grant visas to Adriana and Olga.
This has been a political case, but it was never before required to exert the power of international condemnation and solidarity before Obama´s Administration that has the legal and constitutional power to put an end to this injustice.
All our efforts in the struggle for the release of the Five are intended to influence United States, where the big media continues to ignore the case. The work of more than 300 committees in over 100 countries has begun to bear some fruit. This a fact acknowledged by the prosecution in Miami itself in the view for the resentencing of Tony: "There is much international noise around the case, it is necessary to improve the image of U.S. justice."
Regarding this, we need to set our goals towards strengthening those aspects that we will work harder on.
Main proposals made by participants to attain the release of the Five
1 - Widen working spaces
• Continue spreading the case and demand solidarity among all social movements and broaden the political spectrum of sectors to which we bring our message, mainly governments, parliaments, religious organizations, celebrities, legal organizations, human rights organizations, trade unions.
• Promoting the participation of activists for the freedom of the Cuban Five in the U.S. Social Forum 2010.
• Continue to strongly denounce the double standards of the U.S. government that keeps five innocent people in jail and shelters, self-confessed terrorist like Luis Posada Carriles and Orlando Bosch.
2 - Working with Parliamentarians
• Bond the request of parliamentarians from every country to U.S. Congressmen.
• Favor the visit of activists for the freedom of the Five to U.S. Congressmen and to the Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi herself.
• Bring about the visit of parliamentarians from other countries to the five in their prisons.
3 - Working with Trade Unions
• to have activities organized by or related with trade unions impacting on U.S. counterpart trade union.
• To carry posters of the Cuban Five in the demonstrations to take place coming May 1st in each country.
4 - Expand the use of new ICT (Information and Communications Technology)
• Use youtube to upload videos on personalities that could have an impact in the U.S. audience.
• Improve our websites, bulletins and messages, use the social networks that provide the opportunity to create Blogs, and use Facebook and Twitter.
• Achieve a larger presence in big media, even publishing a page on a national newspaper in the U.S.
• Disseminate www.cubadebate.cu and www.antiterroristas.cu sites as language reference centers on the case of the Cuban Five.
5 - Cultural Resources
• Spread knowledge about the intellectual work and artistic sensibility of the Cuban Five.
• Make use of all cultural events, ranging from concerts to exhibitions, including world known personalities and to strengthen our efforts to bring the case to the media.
6 - Solidarity
• Thousands of people work in the world to lift the genocidal blockade against Cuba, for several reasons not all of them work for the release of the Cuban Five. We must gather the work of all those who are in solidarity with Cuba because demanding the release of the Five is to demand the right of Cuba to live in peace.
7. Nobel Peace Prize for the Five
8. Demand that the U.S. government must grant humanitarian visas to Olga Salanueva and Adriana Perez.
* Take advantage of the existence of the International Commission for the Right to Family Visits, whose members are recognized international figures from 27 countries.
* Carry out actions in every country where there are members of the Commission in order to petition for visas and join with other important personalities who are not involved.
The petitions should be directed to Barack Obama, and other officials of the United States government.
* Take advantage of important dates for families and women: Christmas and New Year’s, Valentine’s Day and International Women’s Day.
9. Continue the support for the legal battle of the case
* Regularly report on developments in the case.
* Publicize the contents of the amicus briefs delivered to the Supreme Court, as well as other published legal documents.
*Continue identifying important figures in the judicial sector in order to involve them in the struggle to free the Cuban 5.
10. Work with Governments
* Obtain statements on the case by heads of state and other high officials of governments
*Ask heads of state to request that Obama commute the sentences of the Five
11. Work with the younger generations
* Prioritize teachers as sources to get out information about the Five
* Use literary work by and about the five to teach young people and reinforce in them ethical and human values
* Produce literature and other educational tools for people of very young age
* incorporate the subject of the Five as a component of community projects
Important dates to Remember:
December 8: Resentencing of Fernando and Ramón
December 10; International Human Rights Day
December 24, 25: Christmas Eve and Christmas
December 31, January : New Years Eve and 51st Anniversary of the Cuban Revolution
February 14; St. Valentine's Day
March 8: International Women's Day
May 1: International Workers Day
2nd Sunday of May: Mother's Day
June 17: Anniversary of the Open Letter to the People of the United States
Participants of the Colloquium for the Freedom of the Cuban 5, Holguin, Cuba
