9-20-09, 9:17 am

Alliance of Philippine Organizations Sends Message to Bush, and Holds Rally at the U.S. Embassy, Demanding Freedom for the Five Cuban Heroes September 12, 2007, marked the 9th anniversary of the arrest of five Cuban heroes who have since languished as political prisoners in US jails: Fernando Gonzalez (a graduate of foreign relations), Gerardo Hernandez (a graduate of foreign relations, and a cartoonist), Rene Gonzalez (a pilot and flight instructor), Ramon Labanino (an economist) and Antonio Guerrero (an aerodrome construction engineer and a poet). These 5 are true heroes of mankind's real war against international terrorism. Having infiltrated the CIA-backed emigre-Cuban terrorist gangs in Florida, USA, these 5 heroes were able to prevent many terrorist attacks from being launched from the USA against Cuba.

Since the triumph of the revolution in 1959, Cuba suffered from various forms of international terrorism --- invasion, sabotage of commercial ships and planes, arson, the use of vectors to spread human and livestock epidemics, assassinations and other attempts at destabilization, and lately the bombing of hotels and tourist sites. All these terrorist actions --- which left almost 3,500 people dead, over 2,000 maimed or wounded, and incalculable damage to the Cuban economy --- were planned and directed by terrorist gangs in Florida which were organized and directly supported by US intelligence agencies.

These 5 Cuban heroes rendered invaluable services in the global war against international terrorism by helping to foil many terrorist attacks against Cuba. Their feats are in stark contrast to the failure of 'Dubya' Bush --- through incompetence or by design --- to prevent '9-11' in his very own country, for which Bush will always be remembered in history.
Cuba warned the US government, through the FBI in early 1998, about the numerous terrorist plots then being hatched against Cuba by terrorist gangs in Florida. The dossiers included plans to bomb tourist facilities in Havana being organized by CIA-connected individuals who are known friends of the father of Dubya Bush (George Bush, Sr., the former CIA director and later US president). Among the top terrorists involved were Luis Posada Carriles and Orlando Bosch, who gained notoriety for having directed the mid-air explosion of a civilian Cubana airliner in 1976 which caused the massacre of all 73 people on board.

But instead of heeding the Cuban call for resolute U.S. measures to stop these plots and to arrest the terrorists, the Dubya Bush government instead informed the terrorists and conducted operations which eventually led to the arrest of these 5 heroes on September 12, 1998. On May 27, 2005, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention determined that the deprivation of liberty of these 5 was arbitrary, and had violated Article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, of which the USA is a signatory. From the very start, the tracking down, arrest, extended solitary confinement, prosecution, and separate incarceration in distant jails, of these 5 heroes was a whole political process orchestrated by the Dubya Bush administration in coordination with the terrorist gangs in Florida.

To mark the 9th anniversary of the arrest of these 5 heroes, a joint delegation of representatives of the ad-hoc Alliance of Philippine Organizations of Friendship with Cuba --- composed of the Philippine-Cuban Friendship Society (PCFS), the Philippines-Cuba Cultural and Friendship Association (PHILCUBA), and the Philippine-Cuba Friendship Association (AMISTAD) --- delivered a joint letter to the U.S. embassy in Manila on the morning of September 12, 2007, demanding the immediate freedom of the 5 Cuban heroes. The letter was addressed to US Pres. Bush, through the US ambassador to the Philippines, Mrs. Kristie Kenney.

The leaders of the joint delegation --- Atty. Antonio Paris of the PCFS, businessman Ricardo Quiogue of PhilCuba and Secretary-General Norma Binas of Amistad --- delivered the joint letter inside the US embassy compound, while the other members of the delegation started a public demonstration right in front of this embassy compound. Police 'anti-riot' forces immediately came and prevailed upon the demonstrators to move across the street where they negotiated to continue with the public demonstration which lasted an hour.

During the rally, representatives of the 3 organizations of friendship with Cuba took turns in lambasting the hypocritical nature of Bush's alleged 'campaign against international terrorism' --- which is best exemplified by the incarceration of the Cuban-5, even while the real terrorists like Luis Posada Carriles live freely in Miami. The rallyists also invited the public to attend their forthcoming joint activities, the next of which will be a Forum on the Cuban 5 which will be held at the University Hotel of the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City, on September 23, 2007. On October 6, 2007, the 31st anniversary of the terrorist bombing of the Cubana de Aviacion flight off the coast of Barbados, there will be a screening of the documentary film, 'Luis Posada Carriles: Terrorism Made in the USA', at the University of Makati.

Finally, on October 8, the 40th anniversary of the CIA's assassination of Ernesto 'Che' Guevara, there will be a concert in honor of the Cuban-5 at the Cafe Tacio along Anonas Road, Quezon City. This will be a celebration of the ever vibrant revolutionary spirit of Che, which lives incarnate in each of these 5 valiant Cuban heroes languishing in US jails. This concert will be an expression of anti-imperialist commitment, of internationalist solidarity, and of devotion to the cause of socialism which the Cuban-5 exemplify.

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