We the undersigned request that an article on the Cuban 5 be published in the New York Times.
The Cuban 5, Fernandez Gonzalez Llort, Ramon Labañino Salazar, Antonio Guerrero Rodriguez, Rene Gonzalez Sehweret, and Gerardo Hernandez Nordelo, were arrested and then charged by the U.S. government with threatening national security and engaging in espionage against U.S. military bases.
In actuality, the Cuban 5 infiltrated Cuban-American right-wing terrorist organizations based in Miami to monitor their actions. The Cuban 5 infiltrated these organizations to protect the national sovereignty of their homeland Cuba and to safeguard the American populous from terrorist actions within the United States. The Cuban 5 shared the information with U.S. officials when dangerous actions were planned by these terrorist organizations.
For the past 8 years an international movement of support, comprised of Nobel Laureates and leading human rights activists, has developed to demand the release of these five innocent men. In fact the Working Group on Arbitration Detentions of the U.N. Human Rights Commission adopted a resolution in which they concluded that the Cuban 5’s incarceration was arbitrary and recommended the U.S. government rectify the situation. On August 9th, 2005, a three judge panel of the 11th circuit court of appeals overturned their convictions and called for a retrial. Unfortunately, a year later on August 9th, 2006, the full 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, Georgia, with two judges dissenting, rejected the decision made by the three judge panel.
For the past eight years, the issue of the Cuban 5 has been ignored by the U.S. media, with the exception of articles written by the Washington Post (May 2006), L.A. Times (August 2006), and The Daily News (September 2006).
President Ricardo Alarcon, of the Cuban Parliament, called for the period of time between December 12th-27th to be a time to raise awareness around the case of the Cuban 5. An article in The New York Times would help educate thousands of people about these innocent men.
The New York Times never responded to the letter writing campaign we sponsored in September, during the first internataionl period of time to raise awareness from September 12th-Oct.6th, or to the Picket we organized on November 1st in front of the New York TIme sBuilding.
Again, we are asking reporter of the New York Times contact a representative of The Popular Education Project to the Free the Cuban 5, a New York based initiative in support of the Cuban 5, at 718-601-4751 and conduct an interview; the Project will also provide additional contacts for interviews.
The Cuban 5 is far too important of an issue for the New York Times to CONTINUE ignore.
