Int'l CommITTEE Projects

latest and past PROJECTS OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE FOR THE FREEDOM OF THE CUBAN FIVE

Since 2006, the International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban Five has worked on a number of projects to reach out to a wide audience in the United States.

October 2006: Organized National speaking tours in the U.S. with Salim Lamrani, the editor of Superpower Principles and Arnold August, a Canadian writer and scholar. Those who spoke during these tours include personalities such as Howard Zinn, Noam Chomsky, Wayne Smith, Piero Gleijeses, Saul Landau, Michael Parenti and others;
March 2007: Provided logistical help to former Congressman Esteban Torres to visit Gerardo Hernandez and Bishop Thomas Gumbleton to visited Fernando Gonzalez;
July 2007: Organized the presence of the Cuban Five at the Atlanta Social Forum in 2007 including a workshop on the Cuban Five with Leonard Weinglass, and Marjorie Cohn, President of the National Lawyers Guild;
August 2007: Participated at the appeal hearing of the 11^th Circuit Court of Appeal in Atlanta;
September 2007: In collaboration with Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin, conducted a campaign that included 13 Mayors in California who sent a letter to then Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to grant visas to Olga Salanueva and Adriana Perez;
September 2007: Placed an ad in El Diario La Prensa on the 9^th anniversary of the arrest of the Cuban 5.7
October 2007: Organized the presence of the Cuban Five at the Second and Third Latino Congreso in Los Angeles , including a workshop with Len Weinglass, Jose Pertierra, Marjorie Cohn, Delvis Fernandez and Lucius Walker, where delegates passed two resolutions calling for the freedom of the Five and for the extradition of Posada Carriles;
October 2007: Participated in the Braking the Silence Conference in Toronto, Canada.
In its November-December 2007 issue, published an ad at NACLA to defend the right of Adriana Perez and Olga Salanueva to visit their husbands, Gerardo Hernandez and Rene Gonzalez, respectively.
December 2007: Helped in the creation of the International Commission for the Right of Family Visits which includes 170 personalities from 27 countries to demand visas for Adriana and Olga;
December 2007: Organize the presence of the Cuban Five at the US/Cuba Labor Exchange annual conference in Tijuana, Mexico with participation of family of the Cuban 5.
March 2008: Helped organize the celebration of International Women’s Day events in Richmond, in 2008, 2009 and 2010, bringing the issue of visitation rights for the families of the Five;
April 2008: A week-long tour in northern and southern California with Canadian researcher Arnold August held seven events in five days, with hundreds of people participating. Three radio interviews were aired reaching thousands of people not only in California, but in other parts of the USA.
April 2008: Worked closely with students from Sonoma State University to include an article of the case of the Cuban Five in Project Censored 2008;
September 2008: Organized the first concert in the United States for the tenth anniversary of the arrest of the Cuban Five with recognized international musicians Danny Rivera, and Victor Victor. The Concert was entitled “Five Stars and one Song” and was held at the Hostos College in New York. Despite threats by right wing Cubans and a demonstration in front of Hostos College, more than 600 people attended including a number of UN Ambassadors. Telesur broadcasted the concert that aired twice all over Latin America;
December 2008: Helped organize the presence of the Cuban Five at the US/Cuba Labor Exchange annual conference in Tijuana, Mexico, with family members of the Cuban 5.
January 2009: Made a presentation at the ILWU board meeting resulting in the President of the Local 10 sending a letter to President Obama asking him for the release of the Cuban Five and the right of family visits;
February 2009: Organized two postcards campaign; one directed to then US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to demand visas for Adriana and Olga. Printed 60,000 postcards and 20,000 posters with the photos of Adriana and Gerardo and Olga and Rene. More recently launched an international postcard campaign SI SE PUEDE directed to President Obama, Eric Holder, and other elected officials calling for the freedom of the Cuban 5. Distributed 50,000 in the US and in 30 other countries;
March 2009: Contributed to the production of the documentary “InjerenCIA”, Chapter on Posada Carriles;
April 2009: Made an “international call for humanitarian visas for Adriana Perez” denouncing the cruelty of such new denial by the US State Department. In response to the call, Melvin MacKay, President of the ILWU Local 10 sent a letter to Hillary Clinton in support of Adriana Perez visitation rights;
April 2009: Worked closely with City Council of Richmond California to unanimously pass a resolution calling for the release of the Cuban Five, the right of family visits and the normalization of relations between Cuba and the U.S;
June 2009: Collaborated with KPFK host of Cantos sin Fronteras in Los Angeles to dedicate programs to Gerardo Hernandez who listens from his cell in Victorville;
Jan. & Feb. 2009: Worked with lawyers to help on gathering information for the Amicus presented to the US Supreme Court;
July 2009: Reproduced brochures and buttons, distributed books, and participated in national and international events and sent letters and documents to the White House, the US State Department, the United Nation Human Right Commission, and others;
August 2009: Organized an art exhibit “From my Altitude” of original paintings of Antonio Guerrero, one of the Cuban Five. The opening took place At La Pena and had the participation of poet and writer Alice Walker.
August 2009 Produced a 7 minutes youtube with Alice Walker talking about the case of the Cuban 5;
October 2009: Work on the passing of a resolution at the City Council of San Pablo;
October 2009: Work closely with a teacher of the American Federation of Teacher Local 2121 that resulted in the passing of a Resolution asking for the Freedom of the Cuban 5 and the right of family visits;
October 2009: Work closely on the passage of resolution in support of the Cuban Five and the right of family visits by the San Francisco Labor Council.
November 2009 workshop and literature table at the gate of Fort Benning Georgia protest to close the School of the Americas;
November 2009: Participated in the 5^th International Coloquium in Holguin, Cuba in support of the Cuban Five;
January 2010: New postcard campaign asking Obama to join 10 Nobel Prize winners to call for the freedom of the Cuban Five. Printed 50,000 in English, Spanish, and French. Were reproduced in other languages (Arab, Portuguese and others) ;
January 2010: Participated in the re-sentencing of Antonio, Fernando and Ramon in Miami;
January 2010: Participated in the Congreso Latino in El Paso, TX and passed two resolutions;
March 2010: Participated in International Women’s Day in Richmond, CA and showed Alice Walker video about the Cuban Five;
March 2010: A letter from the International Commission of US members was sent to Hillary Clinton and Janet Napolitano asking for visas for Adriana and Olga;
March 2010: Led workshop on the Cuban 5 at Central Connecticut State University in New Britain, CT at “Cuba & the USA – Time for a Change” conference;
May 2010: Organized art exhibit “From my Altitude” at Social Public Art Resource Center (SPARC), in Venice, with the participation of Ed Asner and a message from Danny Glover;
May 2010: organized an event with Dolores Huerta at SPARC;
May 2010: Produced three youtubes with Danny Glover;
June 2010: Participated in the U.S. Social Forum in Detroit speaking in a number of workshops;
June 2010: Organized an art exhibit at Virgil H. Carr Cultural Arts Center in downtown in Detroit, during the US Social Forum;
July 2010: Organized Send-off of Pastors for Peace caravan to Cuba; showed Alice Walker youtube on the Cuban Five to participants.
August 2010: Launched an emergency appeal to get Gerardo Hernandez out of “the Hole”
In the last 5 years, members of the committee participated in Pastors for Peace caravan distributing hundreds of postcards, and speaking in a number of cities where the caravan made a stop.