This article is part of the discussion leading up to the Communist Party USA’s 29th National Convention May 21-23, 2010. CPUSA.org takes no responsibility for the opinions expressed in this article or other articles in the pre-convention discussion. All contributions must meet the guidelines for discussion. To read other contributions to this discussion, visit the site of the Pre-Convention Discussion period.

All contributions to the discussion should be sent to discussion2010@cpusa.org for selection not to the individual venues.For more information on the convention or the pre-convention discussion period, you can email convention2010@cpusa.org.

Because I agree with its contents, I submit for discussion my translation of an appeal that a Cuban doctor made for the freedom of the five Cuban anti-terrorists that our government has held as political prisoners for more than eleven years, denying them basic human rights.

This appeal was not addressed to Communists, but to the workers and people of the United States. I am distributing it widely and include this discussion site because I think it important that the Communist Party conduct a vigorous campaign for the freedom of the Cuban Five. I think that other parties, also, and thousands of people’s organizations need to speak out to bring an end to this injustice. I agree with the author of the appeal that we need to bring the truth about the five Cuban heroes to the consciousness of millions in our country and mobilize these millions to demand that President Obama free the Five.

The appeal starts “Dear John Stanford,” but my name is only a hook the appeal was hung on. The first sentence makes clear it is addressed to me only because I live in the United States.

The Confederation of Cuban Workers (CTC) issued a call inviting leaders and trade union organizations and all honest people who fight for justice and equality to take part in a forum “For the release of the five Cuban Antiterrorist prisoners” as an action to greet May Day. I registered for the forum, said I lived in San Antonio, Texas, and asked some questions about how the forum would be conducted. Ashamed that we had done so little here to free the Five heroes, I did not otherwise participate; but I read the forum online after it was over.

I noticed posts from Cuba, Colombia, China, Ukraine, Peru, Guatemala, Timor-Leste, and Australia. I may have missed some other countries. My letter of inquiry was the only post that could be identified as coming from the USA. That is why my name became a hook for this appeal.

I found the forum very moving. Mothers and wives of the imprisoned Cuban heroes took part in the forum and agreed with the positions taken in this appeal.

I think the Communist Party should have at its convention a special panel on Cuba that will discuss concrete ways to built a movement that will win freedom for the Cuban Five before the end of 2010.

Dear John Stanford,

I want to share this with you especially because you live in the United States. I remember that Commander in Chief Fidel, when referring to the United States, has always taught us to respect the people of North America; and the Cuban people have stood with him on that.

To win this battle that we’re in, it’s necessary to inform the people where you live of the truth about our five brothers in the United States.

Some months ago there was the re-sentencing trial of three of our five brothers, which resulted in modifications to their sentences. In this trial something of vital importance happened; and that was that the government of the United States recognized the existence of an international movement of solidarity with the Five that obliged it to want to show flexibility. That permitted the elimination of the life sentences that had been imposed on Ramón and Antonio.

With that recognition under international pressure in favor of the Five added to the fact that on the juridic plane the struggle for justice for our Five compatriots has come to an end, all possibility for finding a solution within the North American judicial system has been exhausted.

Now is the moment, therefore, that it is necessary to undertake all over the world specific actions of solidarity for their liberation; and we ask that you do so from within your country, and that all those who from other latitudes accompany us in this struggle do so through their friends in the United States. Let us undertake joint actions, such as:

• For me, what’s most important is breaking through the curtain of silence. We need to mobilize the opinion of the North American people. We are sure that many honest persons in your country do not know the facts about our five brothers. For that reason we need to continue making efforts to put out more information. Let us not think that the truth is now known because of much work that we have already done to spread the word. It is still not enough. And now is the time for a major battle to break the silence.

• Presenting in all activities, meetings, or events documents of solidarity, for the immediate freedom of the five Cuban prisoners in the United States, offering concrete information about them.

• Asking your North American colleagues to intercede with the President of the United States, asking him to free the Five.

• Looking for every way that we find possible to make the truth about our five brothers reach the North American people, so that they will join with us in our actions. We need to add more voices to our effort. We have faith in the people of North America, in the honest persons who fight for justice faith that on making a cause their own, they will get involved and will triumph.

On the other hand, during all these years of unjust imprisonment the delay in granting visas to the families is inhuman. The result has been, in the majority of cases, that the families have been able to visit only once a year on an average, even when in conformity with the regulations of the respective prisons they could have visited monthly, but that is not enough.

Two of the Five, Gerardo Hernández and René González, have been refused visits by their respective spouses, Adriana Pérez and Olga Salanueva, who have been repeatedly and systematically denied permission to enter United States territory to have such visits. As a result of these denials, Adriana and Olga have not been able to see their husbands for eleven and nine years respectively.

Aside from the human insensitivity of those who permit acts like these to take place, the denial of visas to Adriana and Olga is a violation of the human rights so promoted by that Empire. As the doctor that I am, I appeal to that human sensibility that millions of us in the world profess.

In the face of this fact, the government of the United States is indifferent; and indifference to a human being is the worst enemy of human sensibility.

It is for that reason that I appeal to you, and to the workers and people of North America, to all women and all men – join our cause. It is time for international unity.

As a Cuban I am grateful to all who join with our people in this struggle. We have learned that we Cuban revolutionaries do not have a debt . We have commitments to humanity. And this is a cause that deserves everyone’s commitment, since to struggle for the freedom of our brothers is to struggle for humanity, for justice.

Fraternally,

Dr. Raymundo Navarro Fernández

Comments