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CUBAN AGENCIES
CUBAN FOCUSSED MEDIA
October 28, 29, 30
For three weeks in October and November, Canadians across the country will
have the rare opportunity to hear Dr. Jorge T. Balseiro Estevez speak
on Cuba’s medical mission in Haiti. Dr. Balseiro has led public
health, psychiatric, and disaster services in Africa, Cuba and Haiti. Trained
in Hungary, Mexico, Cuba and Guyana, he served as Director of the Cuban Civilian
Hospital in Angola (1988-89) and, from 2008, of the Hospital de Campana at
Leogane, Haiti, the area worst affected by the great earthquake of 2010.
With him in Haiti worked Cuban technical and medical personnel, joined by
over 50 doctors trained at Cuba’s Latin American School of Medicine
(ELAM). In Cuba he heads the University Psychiatric Hospital of Camaguey.
Dr. Balseiro’s cross-Canada tour begins in Montreal; it includes Ottawa,
Toronto, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Niagara, Hamilton and Windsor. His Vancouver
appearance will take place Friday, October 28 at the Maritime Labour Centre,
1880 Triumph Street near Victoria Drive. Admission will be by donation. Other
B.C. events will be in Nanaimo, Victoria and Sechelt (see below).
The tour is sponsored by the Canadian Network on Cuba (CNC), a national umbrella
group of various Cuba-friendly organizations such as the Canadian-Cuban
Friendship Association (CCFA) and the local Vancouver Communities in Solidarity
with Cuba (VCSC). Its aim is to inform the public about Cuba’s longtime
medical mission in Haiti and to raise funds for it. In under two years,
CNC has raised nearly $300,000 for that mission and plans to continue as
long as needed. For information on CNC, contact Isaac Saney, Chair, at
902-423-4967 or Isaac.saney@dal.ca.
For the Friday October 28 public meeting in Vancouver, contact Ray Viaud , President, CCFA, at 604-253-6442 or l ray_viaud_cnc@yahoo.ca; Roger Annis, Chair of Haiti Solidarity BC, at rogerannis@telus.net or Tamara Hansen, VCSC coordinator, at tamara_hansen01@yahoo.ca.
For the Saturday, October 29th public luncheon meeting in Nanaimo, 12:00 noon in room # 1, Beban Park, 2300 Bowen Rd., contact Sue Creba at 250-755-3371 or Bob Smit at 250-760-0547.
For the Saturday, October 29th dinner meeting in Victoria at 5:30 PM or 7PM public meeting, both at BCGEU Hall, 2994 Douglas Street, contact Randy Caravaggio, 250-743-2994 vicc@telus.net.
For the Sunday, October 30th lunch and public meeting, 1 PM at Sunshine Seniors Center, 5604 Trai Roadl, Sechelt B.C., contact Jef Keighley, 604-885-3390 or Jacquie Shelemy, 604-886-6823.
November 20, 2011
Final Declaration VII Holguín Colloquium
For the seventh time, friends in solidarity from all around the world
are meeting at the Holguín Colloquium to discuss experiences and
the work yet to be done in this tough battle for truth, justice and the
release of the Five.
After 13 years of unfair incarceration, the situation of our Five Brothers
continues to be extremely serious. René González
completed his sentence last October 7th, but instead of being returned to
Cuba, he received new punishment: he is being forced to remain on US territory
for 3 years under supervised liberty, without being able to receive visits
by his wife Olga Salanueva who, until today, has been denied the right to
visit him and at the risk that the terrorist groups who René and his
four brothers in the cause denounced, might try to kill him.
Gerardo Hernández’ situation continues being the most serious
of the Five, with two life sentences plus 15 years of incarceration and systematically
being denied visitation by his wife Adriana Pérez.
The sentences of Ramón, Antonio and Fernando collectively add up to
70 years in prison. They are still awaiting the response from the Habeus
Corpus Resources presented by the defence team of the Five, but we are aware
of the fact that legal channels are running out.
While the Five remain unfairly imprisoned, Luís Posada Carriles who
is responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent human beings went
through a travesty of justice where he was not tried for being a terrorist
and he receives public tributes celebrating his crimes and makes statements
without the least hint of remorse.
The request for extradition of the criminal Posada Carriles to Venezuela
presented by the government of the sister Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela
six years ago has still not been answered. The impunity granted by
the various American administrations and the unfair incarceration of the
Five strips bare the double standard of the US government in its false battle
against terrorism.
Faced with the gravity of this situation it becomes vital to multiply our
work and the need to create the necessary mechanisms for bringing together,
coordinating and following up the actions we are doing in order to better
make use of the enormous energy and arduous work of the committees all over
the world.
We, the 300 delegates from 43 nations attending the VII International
Colloquium for the release of the Five and against Terrorism, call out for:
1. Intensifying actions in the USA and from all countries,
to organize a broad-based permanent denunciation and mobilization in cities
where communications media are located.
Organizing conferences with American intellectuals and with the Network
in Defence of Humanity.
Showing documentaries and videos on the case of the Five and terrorism against
Cuba in open areas, parks and squares. To put up posters and billboards
on the five. Organizing demonstrations in front of the White House,
Department of Justice, Supreme Court and other areas where many people tend
to congregate.
Visits to congressmen and representatives by their counterparts in other
countries. Those unable to travel to Washington will be requested to
send their letters to their counterparts in the Capital.
Organizing a mass letter-writing campaign from around the world. Mobilizing
American and foreign religious organizations so that they join the activities.
Inviting other groups with similar causes - Boricuas, Mumia, Peltier, Lynne
Steward, Jericó, etc- to join forces in the demand for the release
of political prisoners and the denouncing of the American legal system as
a whole.
We propose June 8th, anniversary of the unfair sentencing of the Five, as
the date for starting these days of solidarity.
2-Increasing the solidarity days for the Five on the 5th. Having
this day multiply actions all over the world, delivery of letters to US
embassies in our countries that demand the release of the Five, sit-ins,
telephone calls to the White House, messages to web pages, Faxes or telegrams
to Obama.
3-Demanding respect for the visitation rights of Olga
Salanueva and Adriana Pérez. To take up again the work done by the
International Commission for Family Visitation Rights.
4-Continuing work with parliamentarians, trade
unionists, clergy, personalities and social movements, addressing their
counterparts in the USA.
5-Calling on the youth of the world to
organize concerts during the international solidarity days of September
12th (anniversary of their arrests), to October 6th, “Day of the
Victims of Terrorism”.
6-Requesting well-known artists and intellectuals
for their supportin the making of documentaries and videos and public
messages demanding the release of the Five..
7-Increasing use of social networks such as Twitter, Facebook,
blogs and the internet to distribute and denounce the case. To take advantage
of the possibilities provided us by alternative media.
8-Continuing to appealto creativity and culture
in order to denounce the case, just as the Cuban children of La Colmenita have
done so well with their play "Abracadabra". To sue digital media
to reproduce the graphics made by the Five, the work of Tony and Gerardo’s
cartoons, to do publicity material and set up exhibitions.
9-.Demanding the dismantling of terrorist organizations based in Miami, and
the trial and punishment of the murderers of our peoples.
10- Continuing to distribute the series “The Reasons of Cuba” on
terrorism and the destabilizing actions of the USA towards Cuba and our peoples.
International solidarity and the united action of honest men and women
throughout the world shall be the key to victory in this colossal injustice.
For René, Gerardo, Ramón, Antonio and Fernando
We demand: Freedom Now!
Holguín, Cuba
November 20, 2011
“Year 53 of the Revolution”
October 15
October 5, 7, 11 Vancouver International Film Festival
WILL THE REAL TERRORIST PLEASE STAND UP?
Sponsored by the CCFA
In this film, Emmy- and George Polk Award-winning filmmaker Saul Landau and Oscar-winning cinematographer Haskell Wexler tell the hidden story of 50 years of American terrorism against the Cuban people, presenting the case of the five Cuban anti-terrorists who tried to prevent subversive actions against their country and have been unjustly locked in U.S. jails for 12 years. Interview subjects include renowned terrorists Luis Posada Carriles, Orlando Bosch, José Basulto and others, who freely walk down the streets of Miami, supported and protected by the government of the United States, along with rare footage from the Bay of Pigs invasion.
For a sixteen minute trailer to this film go to http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=148672096837
The 30th annual Vancouver International Film Festival, which runs from September 29 to October 14, will screen WILL THE REAL TERRORIST PLEASE STAND UP? on these dates:
Wed, Oct 5th 6:40 pm at the Empire Granville 7 Theatre #4
Fri, Oct 7th 3:00 pm at the Empire Granville 7 Theatre #4
Tue, Oct 11th 1:30 pm at the Pacific Cinematheque
Full information about the Festival can be found at: http://www.viff.org/festival/
Film listings can be found at: http://filmguide.viff.org/tixSYS/2011/filmguide/
A description of this film and online ticket sales can be found at: http://filmguide.viff.org/tixSYS/2011/films/1466
See a Google Map for proximity to screening venues and special events: http://maps.google.ca/maps/ms?msid=207315203189512313432.0004569a6cd06ca8aabe0&msa=0
SATURDAY OCTOBER 15, 2011
Cuban Consul General of Toronto, Mr. Jorge F. Soberón,
speaks in Vancouver to raise awareness about 5 Cubans unjustly held in
United States jails.
Langara College, 100 West 49th Ave, Vancouver
Auditorium A130 2:00-4:00pm
Organized by Human Rights & International Solidarity
Committees of the Federation of Post-Secondary Educators Mr. Jorge
Soberón, Cuban Consul General in Toronto, will be visiting British
Columbia October 11 to 15, 2011. Mr. Soberón’s visit to British
Columbia comes at a crucial point in the case of the Cuban 5 as September
12, 2011 marked the 13th year of their unjust imprisonment in United States
prisons. Events across the province are being organized by Human Rights & International
Solidarity Committees of the Federation of Post-Secondary Educators (FPSE).
The Honourable Consul General will have the chance to visit 5 different
BC cities, speaking in Castlegar, Kamloops, Nanaimo, Courtenay and Vancouver.
Through this tour, Mr. Soberón will explain the case of Gerardo Hernández,
Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando González
and René González, known as the Cuban 5. These men are currently
serving four life sentences and 75 years collectively in United States prisons.
They were wrongly accused and convicted of “conspiracy to commit espionage” and
other related charges. The Cuban 5 were not spies. They were involved in
monitoring Miami-based terrorist organizations which, since 1959 have been
responsible for the deaths of over 3,400 people in Cuba, including one resident
of Canada, Fabio di Celmo, in 1997. Through their important work, these 5
men were able to prevent further deaths in Cuba. As well as speaking about
the Cuban 5, Mr. Soberón will provide information about Cuba's heralded
Medical Mission in Haiti.
The meeting is endorsed by the Vancouver & District Labour Council, the
Canadian-Cuban Friendship Association (CCFA), Vancouver Communities in Solidarity
with Cuba (VCSC),and the Free the Cuban 5 Committee – Vancouver.
Admission is free. Parking at Langara College is also free on weekends. Donations
will be called for and an evening fund raising $25 a plate dinner of salmon & halibut
and an informal discussion with Mr. Soberon has been organized for 6 p.m.
Anyone interested should call contacts below. All funds donated above tour
expenses will be sent to the Cuban Medical Mission in Haiti.
Contact Charles Boylan, Education & Training Employees
Association (ETEA Local 1, FPSE Local 21)
at 778 772 8550, or Susan Weber – Langara College Faculty Association
(FPSE Local 14), at 604 876 6917
August 1-14: The Dark Secrets Of The White Lady
Esmerelda, the infamous Cilean tall ship will be arriving from Victoria at the North Vancouver Port on Aug. 6, around noon. This is the latest information from the compañeros from Victoria. The boat will be here from that date until the Aug. 10. Chilean and Canadian authorities have organized activites to visit the ship for those dates. Main demonstrations are planned on her arrival August 6 (noon) and Sunday August 7, noon.
See below for the ship's history during the Pinochet years.
On August 1st, 2011, an enchantingly beautiful tall ship bearing
the equally enchanting name "Esmeralda" will enter Canadian waters
to begin a two week visit to the cities of Victoria and Vancouver.
Her four masts and 21 sails stand almost 160 feet above the water.
Longer than a football field and carrying a crew of 390, she is the second
largest sailing vessel still plying the oceans of the world.
A training ship for the Chilean Navy, "La Esmeralda" comes
as a guest of the Canadian Government and the Canadian Navy. And a lot
of Canadians are requesting that both change their minds and order her
to turn back.
For although she is affectionately known as "The White Lady",
Esmeralda has a very dark and horrific past.
From 1973 to 1980, she was one of the primary places where Chilean
political prisoners and innocent civilians caught up in the web of the
dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet were taken to be raped, tortured and
ultimately "disappeared".
Now let's be clear. This magnificent ship had no say in what
happened aboard her. And most of the men who sail in her today weren't
even born when those crimes against humanity were committed.
But more than 30 years after The White Lady's last victim was
slipped over her sides to an unmarked watery grave, no one has been called
to account.
Despite detailed investigations conducted by Amnesty International,
the US Senate, and the Organization of American States, and despite Chile's
own Truth and Reconciliation Commission which all detailed and documented
what happened aboard the ship, the Chilean Navy has refused to acknowledge
having any part in what was done, let alone name which of their officers
and men participated.
At the end of May, despite this continued Naval Blockade of the
Truth, the Chilean Government finally charged 19 retired senior naval
officers. But no one knows when or even if they will ever be brought
to trial.
Last week, the Mayor and City Council of Victoria unanimously
requested that our Federal Government and Navy rescind their invitations
to "Esmeralda" and similar motions are expected from the cities
of Saanich, View Royal and Esquimalt (Home of the Canadian Pacific Fleet)
whose shores the ship will have to pass to reach Victoria's Inner Harbor.
It's the height of tourist season in a part of the country that
thrives on tourism and with massive cruise ships arriving daily no one
wants to wear the stain "Esmeralda" inevitably trails in her
wake.
For if she does arrive, she will be greeted, as she is in virtually
every port, by crowds of Human Rights activists, protesters and vivid
street theatre re-enactments of her past. In Victoria, she will also
be met by several members of the clergy, even the normally straight-laced
Anglican ones, wanting to know the fate of their fellow Episcopal Priest
Father Michael Woodward whose last known whereabouts were in a torture
room below Esmeralda's decks.
Yet, plans are afoot for the usual Pomp and Circumstance. Naval
bands will parade. Ceremonial cannons will fire. And local dignitaries
will go aboard to dine with the Captain.
I don't know if they will visit the rooms where hundreds of young
women, many with no political affiliation whatsoever, were brutalized,
gang raped and murdered. But I do know they'll cross the deck where chained
and naked men were battered by the water from fire hoses until their
flesh was flayed. They'll most certainly get to see the masts around
which others were handcuffed for days, left to the elements and beaten
with rifle butts if they tried to sleep.
Allowing "Esmeralda" to visit a Canadian port on a "Good
Will Tour" is on a par with taking one of the Auschwitz ovens around
the Summer BBQ circuit. And those responsible for that latter obscenity
were at least brought to justice.
Although the Chilean Navy rationalizes the various visits of "Esmeralda" as
an opportunity to move on, the revelations of her past and the work of
those trying to bring her former sailors to account are making that more
and more difficult. She has been banned from several ports already and
unceremoniously escorted out of others "for her own protection".
Maybe we too need to ask "Esmeralda" to go home and
wash the last of the blood from her decks before welcoming her as a guest
in our country.
March 18-20
Including
Sheila Delany of CCF
Sunday February 20, 2011
LA ZUPPA’S ANNUAL CABARET FOR CUBA WILL
BE A HOOTENANY IN SPANISH AND ENGLISH
1544 LONSDALE AVENUE, NORTH VANCOUVER
STANDUP COMICS----STORIES-----SONGS------AND
A SOCKEYE DINNER
7 PM. TICKETS $20
THIS IS A CCFA SPONSORED EVENT WITH
ALL PROCEEDS GOING TO COVER EXPENSES
FOR CUBAN TEACHERS. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, 604-985-6371
Report: CCFA’s Cultural Exchange project
was held at LA ZUPPA restaurant in North Vancouver. There was good
food, good storytelling and, good music.
Mark Dowding and Leah Williams opened with their beautiful
rendition of , “The Coho Flashed Silver All Over The Bay”,
followed by the Mother/Daughter storytelling of Alice and Katalina Bernards
with an amazing love story. More music from Two of Vancouver’s most
loved, most enduring labor minstrels, Tom Hawken and Steve Gidora. Followed
by a new political song written by Steve Gidora who recently returned from
China. Topped of with the beautiful telling of a Cuban story by Vancouiver’s
most revered storyteller/peace activist, Linda Stender. The program ended
with an impovised all in all together version of Guantanamera led by Irish
storyteller, Philomena Jordan.
Duncan Shields.
Alice and
Katalina
Linda
Steve
Tom
Sunday, January 30, 2011 2:00pm
Come celebrate the anniversary of Jose Marti (1853-1895)
Cuban patriot, freedom fighter and poet.
Although he never lived to see Cuba free, he is considered a national hero,
and our celebration
will mirror hundreds of similar events in Cuba.
Peretz Centre
6184 Ash Street
Vancouver
2:00pm
There will a showing of the film Sin
embargo (Nevertheless), a documentary
of the after-effects
of the United States embargo on Cuban people since the 1959 revolution, and
a report on the recent colloquium in Cuba about support for the Cuban Five.
Refreshments will also be served.
November 2, 2010
International Committee
for the Freedom of the Cuban
Honoring the Memory of Mothers and Women like Carmen
November 2nd will mark the one year anniversary since the death of
Carmen Nordelo, mother of Gerardo Hernández, one of the Cuban
5 political prisoners being held in the US for fighting against terrorism.
That morning a year ago, when we learned that Carmen had died without receiving the kiss and the tenderness of her only son we felt a profound pain. We also felt a great sadness for Gerardo who was isolated from the comfort of a love one, something any human being needs at the time of the loss of a mother.
In 1998 just months before the long detention of Gerardo and his four brothers began, his sister died in a tragic accident. Years before his father Gerardo Hernández Martí also died.
The unjust imprisonment of Gerardo, who was only 33 at the time, deeply affected the life of his family and particularly the health of Carmen. Her boy, as she used to call him, was the victim of a colossal injustice and was sentenced without any proof to two life sentences plus 15 years. All the hatred of the terrorist Mafia of Miami and the perversity of a system of justice only in name fell squarely on Gerardo.
For her commitment, along with the mothers of Antonio, Fernando and René, Carmen was awarded the Mariana Grajales order, the highest honor given to a Cuban citizen for heroism. Despite all the blows that she received in her life, Carmen actively participated in the campaign to bring to the world the true plight of her son and his four brothers and to demand their justice and freedom.
"If there is something in me that is noble and good, there is no doubt I inherited it from her" said Gerardo in his book "El Amor y el Humor todo lo pueden". When Carmen was buried Gerardo asked that a ribbon be put around the flowers to be placed on her casket that read "To mamucha, from her little boy".
In May last year, a few months before her death, we visited Carmen at her home. At the time she could no longer speak and was barely able to move her body, but when we spoke to her and told her we were friends of Gerardo a tear came down her face.
During all these years Carmen was only able to see Gerardo a few times thanks to the punitive,restrictive and manipulative way that visas have been granted to the families of the 5 and Carmen's own precarious health. On one of her first visits to see Gerardo after he was sentenced she spoke with a Cuban journalist, "When I first saw him I do not know where I got my strength, but then he told me, "Mami, I am very proud of you". I had to remain strong at that moment because in the conditions he was in if he saw me crying he would worry. In all his letters he would always say to me "Mami, please take care of yourself, the worst that can happen to me here is to find out that something happened to you."*
In April 2002 Carmen was allowed into the US for 10 days and got to visit Gerardo 5 times during that time. "On the last day of the visit when I saw him entering the visiting room in his beige prison uniform I stood up and embraced him with all my strength. When I held his hands on top of the small plastic table that separated us the guards told me that I was prohibited from doing that simple act of affection that a mother naturally shows to her son."
Mother's day was getting closer that year, and when the same journalist asked Carmen what she would tell mothers in the US if she had the opportunity to publish her message in the US media: "First I would greet them for such a beautiful day, as I will do to all the Cuban mothers. And then I would ask them to help us to achieve justice for the 5." *Interview with Carmen, May 12, 2002, Juventud Rebelde
Carmen died without seeing her son and without achieving justice for the Cuban 5. The US corporate media never interviewed her, did not listen to her request and she was never able to deliver her message to US mothers. On November 2, 2009 Gerardo received the worst news of his life absolutely alone, in a maximum security prison, and now a year later he has not been able to bring flowers to the tomb of his mother.
Family members of the Cuban 5 continue to have problems getting regular visas to visit their sons, and husbands in prison. The visas of Adriana and Olga, wives of Gerardo y René have been denied now for more than a decade. Recently Amnesty International denounced this treatment in a letter to US Attorney Eric Holder on October 4, 2010.
The world-wide community asks itself, how much longer are we are going to have to witness such violations to prisoner's rights, the rights of families and human rights in general? Until when do we have to face the double standards of a country that keeps 5 innocent men locked up while sheltering, protecting and financing confessed terrorists such as Orlando Bosch and Luis Posada Carriles?.
On the day after Carmen's death Commander Fidel Castro said, "You cannot deceive an entire people all the time. We not only will bring flowers to the tomb of Carmen Nordelo, we will continue the struggle without resting for the freedom of Gerardo, Antonio, Fernando, Ramón and René, unmasking the infinite hypocrisy and cynicism of the Empire, while defending the truth!"
In
memory of Carmen and all Cuban mothers we demand to Obama:
End the injustice, Free the Cuban 5 Now!
International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban
5
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To learn about the latest developments on the case of the Cuban 5
www.thecuban5.org
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