13) TORONTO TRIBUNAL TO DEMAND JUSTICE FOR CUBAN FIVE

     Danny Glover is just one of many prominent public figures who will attend a major Cuban Five solidarity event in Toronto later this month, according to organizers of the "Breaking the Silence People's Tribunal & Assembly."   

     Almost 14 years ago, the Cuban Five - René Gonzalez, Gerardo Hernandez, Antonio Guerrero, Ramon Labanino and Fernando Gonzalez - were wrongly convicted in a Miami courtroom of "conspiracy to commit espionage" against the U.S. on behalf of the Cuban government. The five Cubans have been held in separate prisons, often in solitary confinement.

     Yet the Cubans never threatened U.S. security, and 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.

     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. authorities have refused to do ‑ prevent terrorism. This horrific injustice has provoked an unprecedented campaign around the world to demand that their convictions be overturned and that they be granted immediate release.

     As part of this international effort, 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 the Peoples' Tribunal & Assembly on September 21‑23, at Toronto City Hall.

     The Tribunal will launch an appeal to win justice for the Cuban Five, and attempt to break the silence of the mainstream media about this case. Delegates will also map out the next steps of a broad and united public campaign.

     Actor, producer and humanitarian, Danny Glover has been on screen, stage and television for more than 25 years. He appeared in the blockbuster Lethal Weapon sequels, the critically acclaimed feature, Dreamgirls and Po' Boy's Game and may be seen in Honeydripper and Be Kind, Rewind. He has gained respect for his community activism and philanthropy, serving as a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations. He earned Emmy nominations for his performances in Mandela, Lonesome Dove, and Freedom Song.

     Other participants from the U.S. include Saul Landau, a scholar, author, commentator whose films have won numerous awards, and Cindy Sheehan, who became an internationally known peace and social justice activist after her son Casey was killed in Iraq in 2004.

     From Cuba, the conference will hear from two relatives of the Five. Adriana Pérez, the wife of Gerardo Hernandez, has not been allowed a U.S. visa for the last thirteen years of her husband's imprisonment. Elizabeth Palmeiro is the wife of Ramon Labanino, who has been denied a retrial and remains in a U.S. jail after his life sentence was vacated and replaced by a sentence of thirty years.

     Other Cuban delegates will include Rodolfo Davalos Fernandez, member of the National Union of Jurists of Cuba and a renowned human rights lawyer; Raymundo Navarro, a medical doctor who is also a leading member of the Cuban Confederation of Trade Unions (CTC), and an elected deputy to the National Assembly (the Parliament of Cuba); and Esperanza Luzbert, Director-North America for the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP).

     Other guests and participants will include:

* Livio Di Celmo, a victim of terrorism against Cuba (Montréal)

* Gloria La Riva, US National Committee to Free the Cuban Five

* Libby Davies, NDP MP, Vancouver East

* 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

* Bernie Dwyer, documentary film producer, Ireland

* Dra. Digna Castaneda, 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, USA

* 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, USA

* William Sloan, civil rights lawyer, Montréal

     For more information, including details about registration, go to www.freethe5peoplestribunal.org or contact the Organizing Committee at tribunal.five@gmail.com.

(The above article is from the September 1-15, 2012, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1).