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U.S. Trade Unionists: Free the Cuban 5

Washington, Jul 22. -Representatives of U.S. and British labor movement will meet in Los Angeles, California, in solidarity with the cause of the five Cuban antiterrorist fighters unjustly held in U.S. prisons since 1998.The event will be held on August 13, the same date as the birthday of Rene Gonzalez, one of the Cuban Five, according to a press release from the International Committee to Free the Five.

Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando Gonzalez and Rene Gonzalez were detained on September 12, 1998 in Miami while gathering information on anti-Castro actions organized in Florida.

Tony Woodley, former president of UNITE, the largest union in the United Kingdom, and a leader of the movement in support of Cuban Five among British unions, will attend the meeting.

Others to attend include Cristina R. Vazquez, a member of the Western States Regional Joint Board of Workers United, and Alicia Jrapko, coordinator of the U.S. Free the Five Committee.

An exhibit of political cartoons by Gerardo Hernandez, another of the Cuban Five, sentenced to a double life term plus fifteen years, will be open to the public after touring other U.S. cities.

A video about the cause of the Five by actor Danny Glover will be screened.

The mission of the Five "was to infiltrate and monitor activities by anti-Cuban groups based in Florida, responsible for the deaths of nearly 3,500 Cubans since 1959," the press release said. (Prensa Latina)