The 8th International Colloquium for the Release of the Cuban Five convicted in the United States is the most impressive of all held here, due to the amount of participating delegates and countries, said activist Graciela Ramirez.
In an interview with Prensa Latina after the start of the forum today, running until Saturday, December 1, the coordinator of the International Committee to Free the Five stated that this edition brings together more than 320 delegates from nearly 50 nations, with the aim of articulating new strategies, campaigns, and initiatives to achieve the return of the antiterrorists.
She added that this will require many hours of discussion, and the coordination of thoughts, idiosyncrasies, and different ways of work will be needed, but all with an element of cohesion: the love for Cuba and the Cuban Five, as Ramon Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, Rene Gonzalez, Gerardo Hernandez and Fernando Gonzalez are known internationally.
The antiterrorist fighters were arrested in the United States in 1998, for monitoring violent groups based in Miami, and after a trial held between 2000 and 2001, they received unjust convictions and harsh sentences, as Ramirez described them.
The Argentine activist recalled that the colloquium has been held annually since 2006 with one point in common from the first meeting: "on one hand the satisfaction of having had such a noble cause, and on the other, the outrage of having spent 14 years denouncing that atrocity."
The coordinator of the International Committee to Free the Cuban Five also thanked the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples, as well as the government and people of the eastern Cuban province of Holguin for hosting the colloquium over the past eight years.
When damages caused by Hurricane Sandy in this province and other eastern Cuba regions were generally known, participants feared it would not be possible to hold the forum in Holguin, but local authorities told them the meeting would continue anyway, she said.
"Winning does not mean having them return home when they have served their sentences; winning means having them return home now, this year. We do not want to hold a ninth colloquium. We would prefer to meet a ninth time to talk about poetry, about solidarity in fighting the blockade, but not to continue talking about this terrible injustice," Ramirez concluded.