Free The Cuba 5 Picket Action Today!

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Free the Cuban Five Committee-Vancouver
604-719-6947 | cuban5_van@yahoo.com
http://www.vancubasolidarity.com/freethefivevan.html

Friday, February 23, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PICKET ACTION
Free the Cuban 5!
Friday February 23, 2007
3pm-4pm
U.S. CONSULATE, DOWNTOWN VANCOUVER BC ( Pender St and Thurlow St )

Press Contact: Noah Fine – 604-719-6947

14th Consecutive Picket at the U.S. Consulate Demands:
FREE THE CUBAN FIVE POLITICAL PRISONERS IN U.S. JAILS NOW!

Over eight years ago, five Cuban men were swept off the streets of Miami and thrown in prison. After one of the longest trials in United States history, the five men were sentenced to each serve between fifteen years and two life sentences. Today in Vancouver, a picket and protest at the U.S. Consulate will demand their freedom.

The crime of these 5 men? Exposing U.S.-based terrorist organizations, which have killed over 3,500 Cuban people since 1959. Meanwhile, the only charges that anti-Cuban terrorist Luis Posada Carriles faces in the United States are minor and in regard to immigration policy violations. As Posada's trial approaches in May, Venezuela and Cuba are calling for his extradition so he can be tried for the deadly 1976 bombing of an Air Cubana airliner for which he has publicly admitted responsibility.

Noah Fine, coordinator of the Free the Cuban Five Committee – Vancouver noted, “Today, people from around the Lower Mainland will protest the illegal and politically motivated incarceration of the Cuban Five, who were sent to the U.S. only to protect their people from crimes carried out by the likes of Posada.”
Today's protest is the 14th organized by the Free the Cuban 5 Committee-Vancouver in as many months. The protest will be joined by guest speaker John Waller, coordinator of the Pastors for Peace Caravan to Cuba, as well as speakers from the Latin American and Indigenous communities.

"We understand very clearly that the United States is still incredibly hostile to Cuba," continued Fine. "The prosecution even admitted they had no evidence on the charges of 'conspiracy to commit espionage' and 'conspiracy to commit' murder – yet the Cuban 5 were convicted anyway. Therefore, we are back at the U.S. Consulate this month demanding freedom for the Cuban 5."

The protest is part of an international solidarity campaign running from January through April, culminating in a conference in Havana, Cuba. The conference will discuss the worldwide effort to free the innocent Cuban 5. Protestors will be gathering outside the U.S. Consulate on Friday February 23rd from 3pm-4pm to demand: "FREE THE CUBAN FIVE HELD IN US JAILS!"

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