The Department of State is prohibiting entry, from Cuba to the US, to two of the wives of the Cuban Five. These women want to visit their husbands incarcerated in US prisons. Olga Salanueva, wife of Rene Gonzalez, and Adriana Perez, wife of Gerardo Hernandez, are law abiding and productive citizens of Cuba who simply want to visit with their respective husbands.
@ 6pm (Reception) 7pm (Cultural program) Casa de las Americas
182 E. 111th St.
(Btwn. Lexington Ave. and 3rd Ave.)
Dos Alas 2013 A cultural/political evening of celebration and solidarity presented by
The ProLibertad Freedom Campaign and Casa de las Americas! Dedicated to the
FREEDOM OF THE CUBAN 5 AND THE PUERTO RICAN POLITICAL PRISONERS!
Join us as we celebrate the 54th anniversary of the Cuban revolution anniversary and the 70th Birthday of Puerto Rican Political Prisoner Oscar Lopez Rivera!
• Keynote address by the new Cuban Ambassador to the United Nations
• Boleros: Abram Alberto
• Poetry: Bobby Gonzalez and Rafael Landron
International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban 5
In the Final Declaration of the “8th Colloquium of Holguin for the freedom of the Cuban Five and against terrorism” held from November 28th to December 1st, more than 300 delegates from all over the world agreed to work on a number of actions over the coming year.
In the third point of the declaration delegates at the Colloquium approved to “support a second series of actions in Washington DC “5 days for the Cuban 5″ and that during these days, committees from all over the world will hold demonstrations in front of U.S. embassies. Also people from other countries will adapt the poster “Obama Give me Five” and post them all over their cities during these 5 days, among other activities”.
The International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuba 5 has set the dates for the actions in Washington DC from May 31st to June 5th.
Among the various activities that will take place during these days, on Saturday June 1st there will be a rally held in front of the White House to demand that Obama immediately free the Cuban 5. Also the committee is planning to organize two days of lobby in Capitol Hill as well as public meetings.
We make an appeal to the entire solidarity movement with Cuba and the Five in the U.S. and all over the world to join and support these days of actions in Washington DC.
TOGETHER WE CAN DO IT!!!
“Karen Lee Wald”
This is what I received, asking us to sign a petition on a White House website, asking the White House “to open an honest dialog with the Cuban government to secure the release of American Operative Alan Gross” I thought it was a put-on. The message read:
The White House has put this petition on its website. It asks the US government to open a dialogue with Cuba for the release of Alan Gross. Your signature is needed. http://1.usa. gov/TyOtlG
WE PETITION THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO:
Open an honest dialog with the Cuba government to secure the release of American operative Alan Gross
Include potential prisoner exchanges, admissions of wrong doing, drop of the embargo as incentives to bring this man home. His employer owes it to him.
When I first received an email urging me to go to the White House site to sign a petition of this nature, I thought it was a spoof or a virus or something — that it couldn’t be serious. So I asked around, and received this explanation:
It’s part of an initiative by the WH to “listen to the people”. So anyone can go there and post a petition. I think in this case it was LAWG/WOLA/ETC. Then if 25,000 sign it within an allotted amount of time, it gets bumped up to a higher level and at some point the most popular petitions get accepted and read by whoever at White House is in charge of this program. Supposedly it is a way for people to organize and be heard by the administration and for the admin to know what is important to large groups of people. Which means we need to get the largest number of people possible to sign this petition, and soon.
Here’s an explanation about how to do it:
Dear friends:
Here is how the White House Petition works. You have to open an account with them first:
1- Click on the link that goes to the petition.
2- There is a blue square that reads “Create an account”. Click on it.
3- Fill in the blanks on the form: e-mail address, name, last name and zip code (optional).
4- Read and type the gibberish they put below [“Captcha” –used on many sites to make sure you are a real person and not a spamming machine. That’s the hard part for me because I often don’t see them in my browser. I’m not sure what you can do if you have the same problem. klw]
5- Click again on the blue square at the bottom “Create an account”.
Take a quick break and go to your e-mail inbox. You are going to have a message from them to confirm that you are in fact a real person.
6- After the first paragraph there comes a long link. Click on it and you have already set up the account with them.
7- After that you have to go back to the original petition:
8- Click on the blue square which says “Sign in” and then fill in the blanks and you are all set. You’ll be immediately notified that your name was registered.
I know this sounds like a lot of hassle, but believe me, people who really want to see improved relations between the two countries believe this could be a very effective tool to get the Administration’ s attention, so it’s worth doing. If you can’t do it right now, don’t delete it — put it in some folder you will go back to when you have the time (I have one like that called “Activities” ) and do it. But don’t wait too long.
Thanks,
Karen
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