Resolution on the Cuban Five political prisoners and Luis Posada Carriles

Resolution on the Cuban Five political prisoners and Luis Posada Carriles
To the People’s Movement Assembly of the First United States Social Forum

  • Whereas, Cuba has been the target of acts of terrorism directed from the United States for over 47 years and
  • Whereas successive US governments have either organized or encouraged such acts, or conversely in other occasions have done next to nothing to prevent them from taking place and
  • Whereas Cuba has repeatedly requested that the US government take measures to put an end to such acts and
  • Whereas right wing Cuban exiles and their organizations, including paramilitary organizations, have come to dominate the Cuban exile community in south Florida and the political, economic and social landscape of Miami and
  • Whereas in the 1990s acts of terrorism planned, directed and/or financed in south Florida by right wing Cubans were once again directed against Cuba and especially Cuban tourism facilities, including bombings that resulted in the death of an Italian tourist and damage to tourist facilities and
  • Whereas the Cuban government sent a group of individuals to infiltrate and monitor Cuban terrorist organizations in south Florida to detect and prevent such acts from being carried out and
  • Whereas instead of acting on information provided by these individuals the US government charged them with multiple crimes including conspiracy to commit espionage and conspiracy to commit murder, and put them on trial in Miami where they would not obtain a fair trial due to the prejudice in the community against Cuba and
  • Whereas Fernando González, Ramón Labañino, Gerardo Hernández, Antonio Guerrero and Rene González never killed, hurt or threatened anyone, nor possessed any US government secrets, nor compromised US national security, they were kept in solitary confinement for 17 months, convicted of multiple crimes and are serving four life sentences and 75 years in US prisons collectively and
  • Whereas the US government has for nine years denied visitation rights to Adriana Pérez, wife of Gerardo Hernández, and has for seven years denied visitation rights to Olga Salanueva, wife of René González and
  • Whereas these five men, in defending Cuba, have committed their lives to the worldwide struggle for social justice and
  • Whereas the US government has made them political prisoners, and thrown them into the ranks of political prisoners of the US and from US controlled territories, and that they are paying the price dictated by the US government for defending the highest principles of social justice and sovereignty and
  • Whereas Luis Posada Carriles, a Cuban national and Venezuelan citizen, was recruited and trained by the US Central Intelligence Agency to engage in acts of terrorism against people and property in Cuba and
  • Whereas Luis Posada Carriles masterminded the bombing in mid-air of Cubana Flight 455 in 1976, killing all 73 people on board including members of the Cuban national fencing team and has engaged in many other acts of violence throughout his life against Cubans and others throughout Latin America and
  • Whereas, in May 2007 the United States Justice Department released Posada Carriles from detention and he is now living freely in Miami and
  • Whereas the government of Venezuela, in accordance with a treaty long ago established with the United States, has demanded his extradition so that he face charges related to the 1976 airliner bombing and
  • Whereas the United States is committing a travesty of justice by allowing the terrorist Posada Carrilles to go free, while it punishes those who were opposing the very terrorism being committed by the likes of of Posada Carriles

Therefore, be it is resolved by the People’s Movement Assembly of the First United States Social Forum in Atlanta, that:

  • The People’s Movement Assembly demands the immediate freedom of the Cuban Five political prisoners in the United States and
  • Pending their release, that the United States government fulfill its obligation to provide for visitation rights by granting humanitarian entry visas to Adriana Pérez and to Olga Salanueva so that they may see their husbands and
  • The United States immediately extradite Luis Posada Carriles to Venezuela so that he may be tried for his crimes.

Sunday, July 1, 2007
Atlanta, Georgia USA

Organizations carrying Resolution:
Southwest Workers Union, San Antonio, TX
SouthWest Organizing Project, Albuquerque, NM

Supporting (Initial List):

Comité de Apoyo a los Trabajadores del Campo, New Jersey

National Committee to Free the Five

National Network on Cuba

People Organized in Defense of Environmental & Economic Rights, San Francisco, CA

Rafael Cancel Miranda, Puerto Rican former political prisoner

United For Peace and Justice

Urban-Rural Mission of the World Council of Churches, Geneva, Switzerland