Click on the title to link to the website mentioned in the headline for the latest news and opinion from that site.
Markin comment:
On a day, July 26th, important in the history of the Cuban revolutionary movement it is also important, as always, to remember that the defense of the Cuban revolution here in the United States, the "heart of the beast", starts with the defense of the Cuban Five.
Showing posts with label cuban revolution. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cuban revolution. Show all posts
Monday, July 26, 2010
Sunday, March 21, 2010
*The Latest From "The National Committee To Free The Cuban Five"
Click on the headline to link to the "National Committee To Free The Cuban Five" Website.
Markin comment:
As always the defense of the Cuban revolution here in the United States, the "heart of the beast", starts with the defense of the Cuban Five.
Markin comment:
As always the defense of the Cuban revolution here in the United States, the "heart of the beast", starts with the defense of the Cuban Five.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
*Free The Cuban Five Update-In Defense Of The Cuban Revolution
Click on title to link to National Committee To Free The Cuban Five Committee web site for the latest political and legal updates.
The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the sentences of the Five last week (the week of June 1, 2008). As the legendary comic and social commentator Lenny Bruce, no stranger to the American 'justice' system himself, once said- "In the halls of justice, the only justice in the hall". I might only add here, class justice cannot even be found in the halls in this case. Go to the link listed on the right of this page for more details. Remember the defense of the Cuban Five is the concrete manifestation of the defense of the Cuban Revolution. Venceramos! Free The Cuban Five-Ahora!
The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the sentences of the Five last week (the week of June 1, 2008). As the legendary comic and social commentator Lenny Bruce, no stranger to the American 'justice' system himself, once said- "In the halls of justice, the only justice in the hall". I might only add here, class justice cannot even be found in the halls in this case. Go to the link listed on the right of this page for more details. Remember the defense of the Cuban Five is the concrete manifestation of the defense of the Cuban Revolution. Venceramos! Free The Cuban Five-Ahora!
Friday, May 30, 2008
***Free The Cuban Five- Ahora!-In Defense Of The Cuban Revolution
Click on title to link to the National Committee To Free The Cuban Five web site for updates on this important international case.
The following is being passed on from the Partisan Defense Committee (2008). Please note the link to the National Committee to Free the Five below to find more information about the Cuban Five. As always here is a case where defense of the Cuban revolution begins concretely with the defense of the Five- Ahora!
The Cuban Five have now been incarcerated for almost ten years. Three Cuban citizens and two U.S. citizens who infiltrated and monitored violent anti-communist exile groups in Florida in order to stop terrorist attacks against Cuba, these men were arrested in 1998 under the Clinton administration on bogus charges of conspiracy to commit espionage and murder, as well as lesser charges like failing to register as agents of a foreign power. After being tried in Miami, a den of counterrevolutionary gusano (worm) activities, Gerardo Hernandez was sentenced to two life terms plus 15 years; Antonio Guerrero and Ram6n Labanino to life plus ten and 18 years, respectively; Fernando Gonzalez to 19 years; and Rene Gonzalez to 15 years. They are held in federal maximum security prisons, separated by hundreds of miles from loved ones, their lawyers and each other. As Marxists, we demand immediate freedom for the Cuban Five, whose heroic actions were in defense of the Cuban Revolution against U.S. imperialism and its counterrevolutionary agents.
From the CIA-backed invasion at the Bay of Pigs in 1961, to the repeated attempts on Fidel Castro's life, to the ongoing starvation embargo, the U.S. imperialists, under both Democratic and Republican administrations, have never ceased in their drive to overthrow the Cuban Revolution. In 2002, Ana Belen Montes, a Defense Intelligence Agency officer, was sentenced to 25 years for passing military information to the Cuban government.
In their drive to restore capitalism in Cuba, the U.S. rulers have trained terrorists like Orlando Bosch and Luis Posada Carriles, who engineered the 1976 bombing of a Cubana airliner that killed 73 people. In the 1990s, as the Cuban government began to promote tourism, gusano groups launched a campaign of bombings that targeted hotels and airport buses in an attempt to cripple the economy. Posada has admitted to masterminding bombings of tourist spots in Havana in 1997 that killed an Italian businessman. We say: Send Posada and Bosch back to Cuba to be tried by their victims!
It was in the context of such terrorist activity that gusano activities were being monitored by the Cuban Five, three of whom were veterans of Cuba's military campaign in Angola that in the 1970s and '80s fought the U.S.-sponsored invasion by the South African apartheid regime. In June 1998, the Cuban government shared its intelligence on gusano terrorist activity with the FBI. In September of that year, the FBI arrested the Cubans instead of the CIA's "ex"-employees.
The government built its case on "conspiracy to commit espionage" charges, conspiracy charges being the hallmark of political witchhunts when the government has no evidence that an actual crime has been committed. Months after their arrest, "conspiracy to commit murder" was tacked on to the charges against Gerardo Hernandez in connection with the deaths of four pilots from the Brothers to the Rescue gusano outfit. The latter were shot down by the Cuban air force in 1996 after repeatedly and provocatively flying into Cuban airspace in a brazen challenge to the country's air defenses.
Held in Miami, the trial was engulfed in anti-communist hysteria and intimidation of anyone not toeing the gusano line on Cuba. The judge refused five defense requests for a change of venue. During jury selection, potential jurors asked to be excused, fearing the consequences of rendering an "unsatisfactory" verdict. The impaneled jurors' license plates appeared on nightly news broadcasts. The prosecution claimed that Guerrero, who worked as a janitor at the Boca Chica Naval Air Station in Key West, had endangered secret U.S. military plans by watching aircraft take off and land in training exercises. As Guerrero's lawyer pointed out, the information he gathered "could've been published in the Miami Herald." So inflamed was the atmosphere that the jury even convicted Hernandez of conspiracy murder charges that the prosecution itself had already concluded would be an "insurmountable hurdle" to prove!
In 2005, a three-judge panel of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta threw out the 2001 convictions and ordered a new trial in a new venue because of the "pervasive community prejudice" in Miami. The Justice Department under Alberto Gonzales appealed for a rehearing by the full court, which reinstated the convictions in August 2006. Last August, another three-judge panel heard oral arguments in the case that this time focused on the bogus murder and espionage charges and the gross prosecutorial misconduct.
The brutality these five men endure in prison is designed to break them and echoes the treatment of other class-war prisoners like Leonard Peltier and Mumia Abu-Jamal. Before their trial even started, the Cuban Five spent 17 months in solitary. Between their convictions in June and their sentencing in December 2001, they spent 48 days in the hole. In 2003 as they worked on their first appeal, they were sent to solitary and denied communication with the outside world, even their lawyers.
Every family visit involves an arduous and arbitrary visa process. Sometimes a relative waits out the precious time they are allotted and never gets to see their loved one. Adriana Perez, wife of Gerardo Hernandez, has been repeatedly denied a visa. Olga Salanueva, wife of Rene Gonzalez, was deported on phony spy charges in 2000.
In combatting the degenerate end-products of a decaying capitalism, the Cuban Five have performed a service not only in defense of Cuba but for working people throughout the hemisphere and around the world. Free the Cuban Five! Defend the Cuban Revolution
The following is being passed on from the Partisan Defense Committee (2008). Please note the link to the National Committee to Free the Five below to find more information about the Cuban Five. As always here is a case where defense of the Cuban revolution begins concretely with the defense of the Five- Ahora!
The Cuban Five have now been incarcerated for almost ten years. Three Cuban citizens and two U.S. citizens who infiltrated and monitored violent anti-communist exile groups in Florida in order to stop terrorist attacks against Cuba, these men were arrested in 1998 under the Clinton administration on bogus charges of conspiracy to commit espionage and murder, as well as lesser charges like failing to register as agents of a foreign power. After being tried in Miami, a den of counterrevolutionary gusano (worm) activities, Gerardo Hernandez was sentenced to two life terms plus 15 years; Antonio Guerrero and Ram6n Labanino to life plus ten and 18 years, respectively; Fernando Gonzalez to 19 years; and Rene Gonzalez to 15 years. They are held in federal maximum security prisons, separated by hundreds of miles from loved ones, their lawyers and each other. As Marxists, we demand immediate freedom for the Cuban Five, whose heroic actions were in defense of the Cuban Revolution against U.S. imperialism and its counterrevolutionary agents.
From the CIA-backed invasion at the Bay of Pigs in 1961, to the repeated attempts on Fidel Castro's life, to the ongoing starvation embargo, the U.S. imperialists, under both Democratic and Republican administrations, have never ceased in their drive to overthrow the Cuban Revolution. In 2002, Ana Belen Montes, a Defense Intelligence Agency officer, was sentenced to 25 years for passing military information to the Cuban government.
In their drive to restore capitalism in Cuba, the U.S. rulers have trained terrorists like Orlando Bosch and Luis Posada Carriles, who engineered the 1976 bombing of a Cubana airliner that killed 73 people. In the 1990s, as the Cuban government began to promote tourism, gusano groups launched a campaign of bombings that targeted hotels and airport buses in an attempt to cripple the economy. Posada has admitted to masterminding bombings of tourist spots in Havana in 1997 that killed an Italian businessman. We say: Send Posada and Bosch back to Cuba to be tried by their victims!
It was in the context of such terrorist activity that gusano activities were being monitored by the Cuban Five, three of whom were veterans of Cuba's military campaign in Angola that in the 1970s and '80s fought the U.S.-sponsored invasion by the South African apartheid regime. In June 1998, the Cuban government shared its intelligence on gusano terrorist activity with the FBI. In September of that year, the FBI arrested the Cubans instead of the CIA's "ex"-employees.
The government built its case on "conspiracy to commit espionage" charges, conspiracy charges being the hallmark of political witchhunts when the government has no evidence that an actual crime has been committed. Months after their arrest, "conspiracy to commit murder" was tacked on to the charges against Gerardo Hernandez in connection with the deaths of four pilots from the Brothers to the Rescue gusano outfit. The latter were shot down by the Cuban air force in 1996 after repeatedly and provocatively flying into Cuban airspace in a brazen challenge to the country's air defenses.
Held in Miami, the trial was engulfed in anti-communist hysteria and intimidation of anyone not toeing the gusano line on Cuba. The judge refused five defense requests for a change of venue. During jury selection, potential jurors asked to be excused, fearing the consequences of rendering an "unsatisfactory" verdict. The impaneled jurors' license plates appeared on nightly news broadcasts. The prosecution claimed that Guerrero, who worked as a janitor at the Boca Chica Naval Air Station in Key West, had endangered secret U.S. military plans by watching aircraft take off and land in training exercises. As Guerrero's lawyer pointed out, the information he gathered "could've been published in the Miami Herald." So inflamed was the atmosphere that the jury even convicted Hernandez of conspiracy murder charges that the prosecution itself had already concluded would be an "insurmountable hurdle" to prove!
In 2005, a three-judge panel of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta threw out the 2001 convictions and ordered a new trial in a new venue because of the "pervasive community prejudice" in Miami. The Justice Department under Alberto Gonzales appealed for a rehearing by the full court, which reinstated the convictions in August 2006. Last August, another three-judge panel heard oral arguments in the case that this time focused on the bogus murder and espionage charges and the gross prosecutorial misconduct.
The brutality these five men endure in prison is designed to break them and echoes the treatment of other class-war prisoners like Leonard Peltier and Mumia Abu-Jamal. Before their trial even started, the Cuban Five spent 17 months in solitary. Between their convictions in June and their sentencing in December 2001, they spent 48 days in the hole. In 2003 as they worked on their first appeal, they were sent to solitary and denied communication with the outside world, even their lawyers.
Every family visit involves an arduous and arbitrary visa process. Sometimes a relative waits out the precious time they are allotted and never gets to see their loved one. Adriana Perez, wife of Gerardo Hernandez, has been repeatedly denied a visa. Olga Salanueva, wife of Rene Gonzalez, was deported on phony spy charges in 2000.
In combatting the degenerate end-products of a decaying capitalism, the Cuban Five have performed a service not only in defense of Cuba but for working people throughout the hemisphere and around the world. Free the Cuban Five! Defend the Cuban Revolution
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
*A Short Note of Cuban Developments
Click on title to link to Wikipedia's entry for the Cuban Revolution. This link is placed here with the understanding that although for my generation, the generation of '68, defense of the Cuban revolution was a touchstone issue that may not apply to later activists who came to political life under others impetuses. I also do not vouch for the accuracy of all the information in the Wikipedia entry.
Commentary
Defend the Cuban Revolution! U.S. End the Embargoes!
Recently I have been asked by a political colleague, in person not by e-mail or blog comment if one can believe such a phenomena in the digital age, what I made of the situation in Cuba. She had noticed last week, the week of February 18, 2007, that I had not commented on Fidel’s stepping down from most of his political offices, including the presidency. Well, the short answer is that I am waiting for the dust to settle a little before I comment fully on such an event. Moreover, I feel under no compulsion to run out and yell in the streets every time that there is a Stalinist musical chairs change up in the world (although granted, there are fewer occasions for that now).
Apparently, the ‘exiles’ are not dancing in the streets of Little Havana, oops, I mean Miami so that tells one in a very empirical way what this latest turnover is about from that quarter. The changeover from Fidel to Raul Castro, and the apparent ‘revolutionary’ hard line, is on the order of a mini-turn for them, and all of one piece. Strangely, that is the general take on the situation for anti-Stalinist leftists, as well.
The fundamental problem from our leftist perspective in Cuba is, as Leon Trotsky posited long ago, one cannot fully develop a socialist society in isolation- in short, 'socialism in one country' does not work. That is even truer in a small island country that now has no lifeline from other non-capitalist countries, like the ex-Soviet Union. Thus, in the long haul the Cuban situation is dictated by the prospects, or lack of them, for international socialism. But, in the short haul, and this is really my message today, we must gear up to defend the Cuban Revolution, as we have since 1959, tooth and nail, against the imperialists at the door and their agents in Cuba, regardless of which Castro is in charge. More on these developments as we get closer to celebrating the Moncada anniversary in July. Defend the Cuban Revolution!
Commentary
Defend the Cuban Revolution! U.S. End the Embargoes!
Recently I have been asked by a political colleague, in person not by e-mail or blog comment if one can believe such a phenomena in the digital age, what I made of the situation in Cuba. She had noticed last week, the week of February 18, 2007, that I had not commented on Fidel’s stepping down from most of his political offices, including the presidency. Well, the short answer is that I am waiting for the dust to settle a little before I comment fully on such an event. Moreover, I feel under no compulsion to run out and yell in the streets every time that there is a Stalinist musical chairs change up in the world (although granted, there are fewer occasions for that now).
Apparently, the ‘exiles’ are not dancing in the streets of Little Havana, oops, I mean Miami so that tells one in a very empirical way what this latest turnover is about from that quarter. The changeover from Fidel to Raul Castro, and the apparent ‘revolutionary’ hard line, is on the order of a mini-turn for them, and all of one piece. Strangely, that is the general take on the situation for anti-Stalinist leftists, as well.
The fundamental problem from our leftist perspective in Cuba is, as Leon Trotsky posited long ago, one cannot fully develop a socialist society in isolation- in short, 'socialism in one country' does not work. That is even truer in a small island country that now has no lifeline from other non-capitalist countries, like the ex-Soviet Union. Thus, in the long haul the Cuban situation is dictated by the prospects, or lack of them, for international socialism. But, in the short haul, and this is really my message today, we must gear up to defend the Cuban Revolution, as we have since 1959, tooth and nail, against the imperialists at the door and their agents in Cuba, regardless of which Castro is in charge. More on these developments as we get closer to celebrating the Moncada anniversary in July. Defend the Cuban Revolution!
Thursday, January 24, 2008
*Free The Cuban Five-Ahora!-In Defense Of The Cuban Revolution
Click on title to link to the National Committee To Free The Cuban Five web site for updates on this important international case.
Commentary
I have been somewhat remiss of late in talking up the case of the Cuban Five. I have put a link to the website of the National Committee for the Defense of the Cuban Five here for now. I will be dealing with their case more later, especially as their cases rework their way through the federal court system. Free the Five! This is one very important way to defend the Cuban Revolution. Defend those who acted to defend the Cuban Revolution.
Commentary
I have been somewhat remiss of late in talking up the case of the Cuban Five. I have put a link to the website of the National Committee for the Defense of the Cuban Five here for now. I will be dealing with their case more later, especially as their cases rework their way through the federal court system. Free the Five! This is one very important way to defend the Cuban Revolution. Defend those who acted to defend the Cuban Revolution.
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