Cheering The Freedom of the Cuban Five
“Viva Cuba!” echoed around the 24th street BART plaza Thursday evening as a small gathering of those dedicated to securing the release of the Cuban Five celebrated the return Wednesday of three remaining Cuban intelligence agents held by the United States since 1998. It also underscored the Mission’s continued identity as the San Francisco neighborhood where victories in Latin America become a cause for celebrations here.
The release was part of a prisoner exchange announced on Wednesday when President Barack Obama ordered the restoration of diplomatic relations with Cuba, an island 90 miles from Miami that has been isolated by a trade embargo for 54 years.
“Cuba has been constantly under attack, but even under those conditions they managed to bring the U.S. to the negotiating table,” said Frank Lara, a teacher and activist in the Mission. Secret negotiations between the two countries had been going on for some 18 months, according to news reports.
Added Nathalie Hrizi, “It’s pretty amazing that the five are all in Cuba. This is a celebration of their sacrifice, and that of the people working to win their freedom.”
The ANSWER coalition and the National Coalition To Free The Five organized the rally and celebration to mark the release. It was part of an exchange that also included Cuba freeing Alan P Gross, a government contractor who has been in a Cuban jail since 2009 when he was arrested on espionage charges.
Joel Britton, who once ran for governor with the Socialist Workers Party, also attended the rally at the BART plaza.
He and the party have been “very much a part of this fight,” Britton said. “We’re going to savor this moment.”
He and the party have been “very much a part of this fight,” Britton said. “We’re going to savor this moment.”
Britton praised the devotion of the Five to their cause and to their ideals, citing their refusal to take a plea bargain as evidence of their conviction.
Gloria La Riva, director of the National Committee To Free The Cuban Five, was also a California gubernatorial candidate in 1998 with the Peace and Freedom party as well as a presidential candidate for the World Workers Party in 2008. She also praised the Five’s dedication to their principles and recalled the scene of their return to their families in Cuba.
“People in Havana were spontaneously in the streets,” La Riva said and added jokingly, “They will not leave those men alone for a long time.”
“This is a wonderful, wonderful evening,” said Tomás Moran, a Cuban native who grew up in Puerto Rico and lives in San Francisco. His two daughters, he said, have never been to Cuba and may still have to wait some time to do so, since travel restrictions have yet to be lifted and the Republicans in Congress are threatening to retain the embargo. But the President’s sweeping order for full diplomatic relations with Cuba and his intention to open an Embassy on the island, makes it all the more likely that many U.S. citizens will soon be visiting Cuba.
“We should invite Cuba to come help us with our healthcare,” Moran said. He himself works in healthcare and said Cuban practitioners might be able to help the U.S. improve its system for the disenfranchised.
La Riva, addressing the gathering, had to correct herself as she began to chant:
“Free the F…Wait no! We gotta start thinking differently now,” she said. Then she started a chant that her audience picked up: “The Five Are Free! The Five Are Free”
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