[antiwar-van] The Cuban 5 Peoples’ Tribunal & Assembly - Toronto, Ontario, Canada (September 21-23, 2012)

[Tamara Hansen]

Vancouver Communities in Solidarity with Cuba (VCSC) is
proud to endorse the Cuban 5 Peoples’ Tribunal & Assembly happening this
September in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. We would like to encourage our members
and supporters to attend this important event.

*****
 
Breaking the Silence:
Justice for the Five
Peoples’ Tribunal & Assembly
September 21-23, 2012
Toronto, Canada
http://www.freethe5peoplestribunal.org
 
Almost 14 years ago, the Cuban Five – René González, Gerardo
Hernández, Antonio Guerrero, Ramon Labañino and Fernando González – were falsely
charged and wrongly convicted in a Miami courtroom of “conspiracy to commit
espionage” against the U.S. on behalf of the Cuban government. Ever since the
unjust conviction, the five Cubans have been held in separate U.S. prisons,
often in solitary confinement.
 
In fact, the politically-motivated trial and conviction of
the Cuban five had nothing to do with threats to U.S. security.  The Cuban Five never conspired to commit
espionage. They were on a mission to monitor and report on violent groups in
Miami that are well known by the U.S. government to be responsible for
terrorist acts against the Cuban people.
 
For more than 50 years, hundreds of attacks have been
launched against Cuba by these extreme right-wing groups, whose aim is the
violent overthrow of the Cuban government. Their campaign of bombings,
assassinations and other attacks has left 3,478 Cubans dead and 2,099 seriously
injured.
 
The Cuban Five were peacefully trying to do what U.S. law
enforcement authorities have refused to do – prevent terrorism.
 
This horrific injustice against the Five has provoked an
unprecedented campaign in the U.S., Canada and around the world to demand that
their convictions be overturned and that they be granted immediate release.
 
As part of this international effort to achieve the freedom of
the Cuban Five, a number of trade unions and solidarity groups from across
Canada, in coordination with the Canadian Network on Cuba and La Table de
concertation de solidarité Québec-Cuba, are convoking a Peoples’ Tribunal &
Assembly on September 21-23, 2012 in Toronto, to shed new light on this egregious
injustice and to build a broad public campaign to demand their freedom. 
 
The Peoples’ Tribunal & Assembly aims:
- to act as a forum for education and for launching an
appeal to get justice for the Cuban Five;
- to break the silence of the mainstream media about this
case; and
- to map out the next steps of a broad and united campaign
on the Cuban Five in Québec and across the rest of Canada. 
 
The Peoples’ Tribunal, composed of prominent Canadian and
international panelists, will hear from expert witnesses before rendering a
ruling. Although the Tribunal’s ruling will not be legally or judicially
binding, it will carry moral force and suasion of the outrage of concerned people
across Canada and internationally.

Witnesses will testify to the suffering caused to the Cuban people and to
others as a result of all the terrorist attacks against Cuba and Cuban
interests.  They will testify to the
unjust trial in Miami, the U.S. government’s covert payments to journalists
covering the trial, the horrendous sentences given to the Cuban Five and the
violation of international law by the United States government regarding the
inhumane treatment they have endured, the denial of visitation rights to family
members and the U.S. government’s harbouring and protection of self-confessed
anti-Cuban terrorists. 

The Peoples’ Assembly will serve to develop and adopt an extensive
plan of action to pressure the Canadian government to join the international
demand urging U.S. President Obama to use his authority to immediately release
the Cuban Five and allow them to return to their homeland.

Guests and participants include:

• Family members of the “Cuban Five” • Livio Di Celmo, a victim of terrorism
against Cuba, Montréal, Québec • Danny Glover, actor, U.S.A. • Gloria La Riva, National
Committee to Free the Cuban Five – U.S.A. • Cindy Sheehan, anti-war activist,
U.S.A. • Libby Davies, NDP MP, Vancouver East • Rodolfo Dávalos Fernández,
lawyer, Havana, Cuba • Tony Woodley, UNITE trade union, UK • José Pertierra, lawyer,
Washington, D.C. • Denis Lemelin, National President, Canadian Union of Postal
Workers • Marie Clarke Walker, Canadian Labour Congress • Isaac Saney, professor,
Dalhousie University, Halifax • Arnold August, writer, Montréal, Québec •
Raymundo Navarro, Central de Trabajadores de Cuba (CTC) • Bernie Dwyer, documentary
film producer, Ireland • Dra. Digna Castañeda, Cuba • Julian Rivas, journalist,
Venezuela • Wes Elliott, Grand Chief, Grand River Territory • Keith Bolender, journalist
and author, Toronto • Richard Klugh, lawyer for the Cuban Five, U.S.A. • Ken
Neumann, National Director for Canada, United Steelworkers • Stephen Kimber, professor
of Journalism, University of Kings College, Halifax • Alicia Jrapko, International
Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban 5, U.S.A. • William Sloan, civil rights
lawyer, Montréal, Québec.

For more information about the Peoples’ Tribunal & Assembly, and to find
out details about registration, go to http://www.freethe5peoplestribunal.org or
contact the Organizing Committee at tribunal.five at gmail.com