Unbelievable we are almost at the end of another year and it is time to farewell the brigadistas again. It's a good opportunity as well to take time out to have an informal get together to finish up another busy year. This year the branch has decided to have a breakfast on the foreshore at the end of the South Perth Esplanade at 9:30am on Sunday 28th November. Look at the attached link - east of the Mends Street Jetty where there are BBQ's and a playground. Look for the Cuban flag.

ACFS will provide eggs, bacon, chorizo, buns and more. You are welcome to bring a drink or something to share and bring your families. We look forward to seeing you all there. Please RSVP to this email to help with catering.

In Friendship

Elizabeth

Map reference:

http://maps.google.com.au/maps?hl=en&q=mends+street+jetty+south+perth+esplanade&safe=off&ie=UTF8&ll=-31.972661,115.855905&spn=0.003968,0.009602&z=17

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Dear ACFS supporters,

I would like to share this news with you. It is the first time AI backs up the case of the Cuban Five. An opportunity to lobby AI Australia to follow suit.

In solidarity,

Vinnie Molina

http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?id=ENGUSA20101013001&lang=e

http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/AMR51/093/2010/en/9911673a-a171-49db-b757-581f2fbdfe11/amr510932010en.pdf

Amnesty International Seeks Review of Case of the ‘Cuban Five’

Human rights organization calls on US government to review case and mitigate any injustice

Contact: AIUSA media relations office, 202-509-8194

(Washington, D.C.) In a report released today, Amnesty International outlines its concerns with the fairness of the trial of five men convicted in 2001 of acting as intelligence agents for Cuba, among other charges. The five men are serving terms ranging from 15 years to life in US federal prisons.

In a letter sent to United States Attorney General Eric Holder on October 4, Amnesty International noted doubts about the fairness and impartiality of the trial which have not been resolved on appeal. The human rights organization has not taken a position on whether the five men are guilty or innocent of the charges against them.

The five -- Cuban nationals Fernando González, Gerardo Hernández and Ramón Labañino, and US nationals Antonio Guerrero and René González -- were tried in Miami and convicted on various counts, including acting and conspiring to act as unregistered agents of the Republic of Cuba, fraud and misuse of identity documents and, in the case of three of the accused, conspiracy to transmit national defense information. Gerardo Hernández was further convicted of conspiracy to murder, based on his alleged role in the 1996 shoot-down by Cuba of two planes operated by a US anti-Castro organization, Brothers to the Rescue, in which four people died.

Amnesty International’s report said holding the trial in Miami, given the pervasive hostility to the Cuban government in that area, along with media and other events before and during the trial were factors that made it impossible to ensure a wholly impartial jury.

Other concerns included questions about the strength of the evidence to support the conspiracy to murder conviction in the case of Gerardo Hernández, and whether the circumstances of the pre-trial detention of the five men, in which they had limited access to their attorneys and to documents, may have undermined their right to defense.

Amnesty International has called on the government to review the case and mitigate any injustice through the clemency process or other appropriate means, should further legal appeals prove ineffective.

Amnesty International has also reiterated its concern about the repeated denials by the US government of temporary visas to allow the Cuban wives of two of the prisoners, René González and Gerardo Hernández, to visit their husbands. The organization is concerned that such a blanket or permanent bar on visits with their wives constitutes additional punishment and is contrary to international standards for the humane treatment of prisoners and states’ obligation to protect family life. Amnesty International continues to urge the government to grant the wives temporary visas on humanitarian grounds.

Amnesty International is a Nobel Peace Prize-winning grassroots activist organization with more than 2.8 million supporters, activists and volunteers in more than 150 countries campaigning for human rights worldwide. The organization investigates and exposes abuses, educates and mobilizes the public, and works to protect people wherever justice, freedom, truth and dignity are denied.

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Video by Zeb Parkes

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Perth ACFS Newsletter 14-9-10

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12 September 2010: Around 25 gathered at the Wesley Church corner in Perth city to mark the 12th anniversary of the unjust incarceration of the Cuban Five. Shoppers were told about the 3,400 people who have been brutally murdered by the actions of terrorist groups based in Miami.

Speakers spoke about the injustice against these 5 Cuban Heroes who harmed no one but were imprisoned after giving information they had collected about these terrorist groups operating against Cuba from U.S. soil to the U.S. government, hoping the U.S. would live up to its rhetoric against terrorism and intervene to jail the terrorists. Many shoppers stopped to find out more and to sign a petition for the freedom of the Five.

Following speeches the rally marched through the Hay Street Mall handing out leaflets to interested shoppers, calling for Obama to exercise his power to rectify the grave injustice of this politically motivated attack on Five brave men who were fighting against terrorism.

Written by Elizabeth Hulm. Photos by Alex Bainbridge. Video by Zeb Parkes here.

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The Australia-Cuba Friendship Society, ACFS is organising the 28th Australia-NZ Southern Cross Work-Study Brigade to Cuba. 

We organise the Southern Cross brigade as the best way for people to see for themselves what the Cuban revolution has been able to provide to its people in the way of free access to education and health, housing and jobs.

This is the 28th Brigade which is the very same number of years since the friendship societies were established in Australia.

We work closely with the Cuban Institute for Friendship with the Peoples, ICAP which has links with friendship organisations in over 120 countries.

As part of our solidarity work we organise educational forums and exchange information about Cuba and its revolution. We also sponsor health, education and other projects in Cuba. Currently we are funding the reconstruction of a school for children with special needs in the province of Las Tunas. Brigadistas as we call people travelling with the Southern Cross Brigade will carry and hand in the monies collected throughout
the year for the above mentioned project.

So far we have a number of people who have expressed interest in attending the brigade from Perth. Rhonda Andrews is the National Brigade coordinator who can give you more details of the number of people attending from Perth and other parts of Australia and NZ.

ACFS Perth will run an information session for people interested in the brigade on Sunday 19th September from 3-5pm at the Activist Centre 15/5 Aberdeen Street East Perth, information attached.  Visit: www.cubabrigade.org.au

The sessions are good because you get to meet others who have been on previous brigades and to ask questions etc.


If you would like to have a chat please feel free to call 0419 812 872 anytime or contact Rhonda Andrews on 92472731 after 6pm or by email: bowgadabird1@hotmail.com

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As you might be aware the Australia Cuba Friendship Society (ACFS) has organised a rally to protest the incarceration of Five Cuban anti-terrorists known as "The Cuban Five". They have been in US prisons for 12 long years for no crime ever committed.

Join us on Sunday 12th September from 12:30pm at the Wesley Church grounds for a peaceful protest rally, calling for freedom of the  Cuban Five.

The Cuban Five are five Cuban men serving four life sentences and 75 years collectively in US prisons, after being wrongly convicted in the US federal court in Miami, on June 8, 2001. They are Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando González and René González.

The Five were falsely accused by the US government of committing espionage, conspiracy against the United States, and other related charges. But the Five pointed out vigorously in their defence that they were involved in peacefully monitoring the actions of Miami-based terrorist groups, in order to prevent terrorist attacks on their homeland Cuba.

For more than 40 years, Cuba has been the target of terrorist attacks by anti-Cuba terrorist organizations based in Miami. Such groups operate with complete impunity from within the United States to attack Cuba—with the knowledge and support of the FBI and CIA.
More than 3,000 Cubans have died as a result of these terrorists’ attacks.

But instead of arresting the terrorists, the FBI arrested the Cuban Five anti-terrorists on September 12, 1998. The Five were illegally held in solitary confinement for 17 months in a Miami prisons.

The campaign for the release of the Cuban Five has been supported by declarations from hundreds of parliamentarians in Britain, Italy, and the European and Latin American Parliaments. The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions, with five judges, ruled that there were irregularities in the Five’s trial and arrest, effectively denying them a fair trial and calls on the US government to remedy this injustice.
Around Australia, Australia-Cuba Friendship Societies have been working hard to raise awareness about their case. The rally we will hold on September 12, will be a peaceful assembly and distribute fliers to raise awareness of the case.

More information on the campaign can be found at http://www.freethefive.org.

FREE THE CUBAN FIVE!

Yours in solidarity,

Vinnie Molina
Branch President
Australia Cuba Friendship Society

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