Raul Castro Attends Gala for the Cuban Five

Havana, Cuba, Sept 12.- With the attendance of Cuban President Raul Castro, a cultural gala dedicated to the five Cuban anti-terrorist fighters was held Wednesday at Havana's Karl Marx Theater.

The event was also attended by the Second Secretary of Cuba's Communist Party Central Committee Jose Ramon Machado Ventura and First Vice-president Miguel Díaz-Canel as well as government and Communist Party officials, relatives of Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino, Fernando González and Antonio Guerrero, and René González, who returned to Cuba after he served his prison sentence in the United States.

Laura Labañino, one of the daughters of Ramon Labañino, said that the past 15 years have been hard and marked by the absence of her father who, like his four compatriots, has been held faraway from his beloved ones for having defended life and the right of the Cuban people to sovereignty.

“It's been 15 sad years, but I have the strength to keep fighting for his return, for his kiss on my cheek, for his hug out of the glances of the prison guards,” she said.

Laura Labañino referred to the health of her father by explaining that he is suffering from a problem on one of his knees, which makes her feel sad and concerned because she cannot admit the idea that his father could end up on a wheel chair.

On behalf of the artists that took part at the Gala, popular actress Corina Mestre sent a message of solidarity to the Cuban Five by assuring that she will see them back home soon.

The artists that performed at the gala included Silvio Rodriguez, Ernesto and David Blanco, the Lizt Alfonso Ballet Company, the Trovarroco Trio, Argentinean Victor Heredia and Puerto Rican singer Danny Rivera.(ACN)