GRANMA INTERNACIONAL , Havana.  July 30, 2009

Parliamentarians intensify campaign
to free the Five

Juan Diego Nusa Peñalver

THE International Relations Commission of the Cuban Parliament adopted a plan of action yesterday aimed at intensifying the international campaign to free the Cuban Five, the anti-terrorist fighters unjustly imprisoned in the United States.

The plan includes more than a dozen actions to step up pressure on the Barack Obama administration to win the freedom of those patriots.

The U.S. Supreme Court on June 15 decided not to review the rigged judicial process against Gerardo Hernández, René González, Antonio Guerrero, Ramón Labañino and Fernando González, all unjustly given long jail sentences for combating terrorism promoted from within Florida.

With that decision, they ignored the unprecedented number of 12 amicus curiae — friends of the Court briefs — presented by eminent individuals and juridical and parliamentary institutions, including 10 Nobel laureates.

The National Assembly commission's action plan includes promoting close coordination of work with parliaments and parliamentary groups in other countries and sending more statements and resolutions on the case to U.S. congress members, among other measures.

The commission, meeting in a joint session with the Economic Affairs Commission, heard an extensive presentation by Osvaldo Martínez, director of the Center for Research on the World Economy.

Martínez, who chairs the Economic Affairs Commission, explained the consequences of the current global crisis, which originated in the United States, the most serious in the last 80 years.

He pointed out the ineffectiveness of the massive bailout plans implemented by Washington and warned that the danger of a further deepening of this world crisis is latent. (AIN)

Translated by Granma International