|
The freeing of our Five Brothers unjustly imprisoned, is a task that will require the effort of millions of men and women around the world. We have to break the wall of silence that the US government has placed on the case. The American people are just and good people, but their government has gone to great lengths to keep them the most uninformed people on the planet. Our mission has to be to get to every person in the U.S. so that he or she can understand what really happened with this case. We think that after they learn about the case, they too will demand the freedom of the five Cuban patriots, who are "political prisoners of the empire." We
should fight to achieve real justice and to demand a new trial for
our brothers outside of Miami. At the same time, we should vigorously
denounce violations of international laws, the U.S. Constitution,
and basic human rights. This has been a consistent pattern of harassment
that affects the visits of the families that continues to this day. We have to raise the recent irregularities as an immoral decision of Judge Lenard. Now the next step is the appeal process of the 11th Court Circuit of Atlanta that has established the 7th of April as the day when the lawyers will present their appeals. In the next few months it is very important that we reach millions of people in the U.S. We need to raise awareness that not only the case of the 5 is a grave injustice but that there is something we can do about it. Their freedom will be the real victory and that will be possible if we work together and if we unify our campaigns. The wall that we have to break through is huge, and the challenge ahead of us is great, but nobody should doubt: !!! TOGHETER WE CAN ACHIEVE OUR GOAL!!! International
Coordinated Actions for the Freedom of the Five agreed upon in Porto
Alegre In
April the defense lawyers will present their appeals in Atlanta,
and it is very important to have gathered as much support amongst
the American public as possible to pressure the court. At this point
only a small portion of U.S. society knows about the case, primarily
those in the progressive movement. A lot of this is because of the
media blockade. The idea of the ad is to get people to start asking, "Who are these five Cubans who have so much support and why are they in prison." During the Social Forum we were able to make some contact with known personalities and we received encouraging support. We have to expand this to get signers worldwide and we need to start it now. The Committee in the United States has agreed to open a bank account to centralize the funds, and they will also write the text of the ad. Once this is completed all the committees can send it out to solicit donations. Fundraising events and individual donors should be encouraged. We also agreed to call the campaign 1x5; one dollar for the freedom of the five. Collections for the ad should be included in all the Free the Five activities as an urgent priority. 2-
To give continuity to the case and to inform
the American people on an expanded level we have agreed to launch
a massive campaign of e-mailing. We need hundreds of compañeros
to help to find or buy addresses via the Internet. This action would be from March 30 to April 7, as a way to support the presentation of the appeals. In that week of struggle we ask that in all parts of the world there are diverse activities such as demonstrations and coordinated actions take place in as many countries as possible. During the day of international coordinated actions, on September 12, 2002, we were able to unite 24 countries and together we yelled FREEDOM!!!! This next time we have to multiply the actions to ensure that the courts hear our demand for justice. The National Committee in the U.S. will mobilize between the 5th and the 7th of April in Atlanta In other parts of the world we should demonstrate in front of as many US embassies as possible as a way to support the five and the National Committee in the US. The European committees working on the five, are planning to march to the Human Rights Commission of the UN on March 30 when this organization begins to deliberate. The committees in Europe are planning to bring the issue of the five there. The idea is that this time, the coordinated actions last an entire week so we can get media attention for a longer period of time. Also this allows each country more freedom to organize their own activities, but it would be good for those, who are able, to prolong these activities. IT IS IMPORTANT TO PUT PRIORITY ON APRIL 7 BY DEMONSTRATING THAT DAY IN FRONT OF US EMBASIES IN OUR RESPECTIVE COUNTRIES. 4- CALL ON LAWYERS AND LAW SCHOOL STUDENTS TO GET INVOLVED IN THE CASE AND TO LOOK FOR SUPPORT FROM COLLEAGUES FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD. From the beginning of the appeals on April 7 until the sentences we have a precious little time, we should not waste it. It is important for sympathetic lawyers and law students all over the country to become involved by writing letters to the court calling this a travesty of justice. We should contact universities and lawyer associations, to ask them to send letters demanding a reversal of this injustice, to the prosecutors, to the Atlanta Court and to the U.S. government. We should publish and disseminate all these letters and declarations as far and wide as possible. 5-MAKE
PRESENTATIONS AT AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL IN EACH COUNTRY: 6-
ASK NATIONAL PARLAMENTARY OFFICIALS TO WRITE
TO THEIR COUNTERPARTS IN THE UNITED STATES. The motion expressed the concerns that the trial in Miami of the 5 was carried out in an atmosphere of extreme hostility and intimidation. The motion also requests that the visitation rights of the families be ensured. If this could be done in other national parliaments and legislative bodies it could really bring attention to the case, broaden support and put pressure on the government of the U.S. as the case enters the Appeal process. Inviting family members of the five, or lawyers from the legal team, to meet with members of Parliaments has proved to be very effective. 7-CONTINUING WITH THE WORLDWIDE PETITION CAMPAIGN: In April, the National Committee in the U.S. will make public and present the first group of thousands of signatures gathered from all over the world. This will coincide and be in support of the Appeals. The idea is to present all of the petitions collected from around the world. All committees should continue gathering signatures and periodically send them to the National Committee in the U.S. You can find the petitions on www.freethefive.org as well as the address where to send them. !!! VENCEREMOS!!! International Network of Committees for the Freedom of the Five Cuban Patriots. We welcome your input. Let's start working in this International Campaign that includes proposals sent to us by several committees from around the world, previous to the Porto Alegre Social Forum.
claudia_camba@elbolson.com
|
