Tag Archives: Cuban Political

Spain Calls for End of US Embargo against Cuba

By EFE

Spain considers it “necessary to end the trade, economic and financial blockade imposed on Cuba by the United States” since it “violates the basic rules of international trade,” the Spanish government said in response to a question posed in Parliament. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s government was responding to a question posed last week in Parliament by United Left, or IU, spokesman Jose Luis Centella.The government’s written response noted that the U.S. embargo against Cuba “has been condemned on different occasions by the United Nations General Assembly.”

IU included the government’s written response in a statement.

Rajoy’s government also noted that Spain has “unequivocally” supported condemnations of the embargo at the U.N. and other forums.

Centella said he was satisfied with the government’s clear “and forceful” response, adding that he expected “greater activity” at the European Union and United Nations to end the embargo on the basis of “the international legality broken by the blockade.”

Freedom Ride for The Cuban Five

FREEDOM RIDE FOR THE CUBAN FIVE

 Download Flyer

Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando González, and René González, the Cuban 5, were arrested by the F.B.I. on “conspiracy” and other trumped-up charges.  The real reason for their imprisonment was that they infiltrated and gathered information on right-wing Cuban-American groups in Miami in order to prevent terrorist attacks against Cuba by these groups.  The Cuban 5 have been imprisoned for more than 13 years – for defending the sovereignty of their homeland.  Join the international campaign to free them.  Demand that President Obama free them immediately.  Yes We Can!

The Freedom Ride for the Cuban 5 is part of the  “Solidarity Week for the Cuban 5” campaign in Washington, D.C., April 16-21, 2012, initiated  by The International Committee for the
Freedom of the Cuban 5.

Freedom Riders $5 – For The 5 (Round-Trip Cost)
Bring Lunch/Water Will Be Provided
Freedom Buses Leave @ 6am – Return: 4pm

For More Information, To Become A Sponsor, & Reserve Your Seat Today:
Tel. (917) 945-9877 – (718) 601-4751

INITIATORS/SPONSORS: El Puente, National Congress for Puerto Rican Rights-NYC Chapter, DC 37/AFSCME-Local 372, Casa de las Américas, July 26 Coalition,  Cuba Solidarity New York, Wives Without Rights Campaign, Popular Education Project to Free the Cuban 5, ProLibertad Freedom Campaign, Latin America  Democracy Committee, 1119/SEIU, and Occupy Harlem, IFCO/Pastors for Peace, Venceremos Brigade, NYC Jericho Movement, Peoples’ Attorney Michael  Tariff Warren, NYC Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee (LPDOC), Fuerza de la Revolución Dominicana (FR/NY), The U.S./Cuba Labor Exchange,. National Network on Cuba (NNOC), La Mesa de Izquierda Dominicana, New Black Panther Party, Peoples Organization for Progress, Mesa Redonda Dominicana, Hartford Committee for Cuba, Bolivarian Circle –NY, Socialist Workers Party (SWP), Cuba In Focus/WBAI Radio, Fundación Andres Figueroa Cordero, Malcolm X Commemoration Committee, International Action Center (I.A.C.) and Workers’ World Party (WWP)

BELOW ARE THE BUS LOCATIONS.

El Barrio – East Harlem
106 St. and Lexington

The Bronx
Hostos Community College
149 St. and Grand Concourse

Washington Heights – Upper Manhattan
Port Authority Bus Terminal
179 St. and Broadway

Lower Manhattan (this bus is full)
DC 37
125 Barclay St.

 

Tel: 917 – 412 – 4451 Nancy C.

917 – 945 – 9877 Franklin F.

718 – 601 – 4751 Frank V.

COMING SOON!  SEPTEMBER 2012 – NATIONAL CONFERENCE TO FREE THE CUBAN FIVE! WE WILL KEEP YOU POSTED.

también en español

 

Cuban Rebel Trial Starts

Brownsville Herald, May 18, 1958 (front page)

Cuban Rebel Trial Starts Here Monday

The trial in Federal District Court here of 15 Cubans charged with conspiring to violate U.S. neutrality laws is slated to being Monday.
The group under the leadership of Arnaldo Goenaga Barron was captured off Padre Island last March while en route to join the revolutionary forces of Fidel Castro in his fight against the regime of President Fulgencio Batista of Cuba.

After a hunger strike the rebel group was freed on bond, and many of them have stayed in Brownsville pending their trial. Barron returned from New York Friday.
Coincidentally with Barron’s return the rebels launched a wave of handbill propaganda, apparently to drum up popular support for their position.
The rebels’ newest “manifesto” asks that “the people of Brownsville be present at Federal Court when we stand accused of fighting for liberty and democracy in our country.”
The manifesto charges “the bestial assassin of Cuba” with the death of “more than 5,000 persons, especially among the youth.”

36 Nabbed On Way To Cuba

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, March 28, 1958

36 Nabbed On Way To Cuba Rebels New Yorkers’ Boat, With Arms, Halted by U.S. in Gulf

BROWNSVILLE, Tex., Mar. 27 (AP)—The United States today seized 36 New Yorkers—all uniformed and heavily armed and on the way to join Fidel Castro, Cuban rebel leader.
The cloak-and-dagger sea action came just before dawn in the Gulf of Mexico. Their boat was stopped off shore by the Coast Guard.
The little band’s fiery commander, Arnaldo G. Barron, said all 36 had saved for months to buy the $20,000 in arms seized with the men.
Interviewed in Jail

Barron, in a jail interview, told the Associated Press most of the men are United States citizens. All were born in Cuba except one Puerto Rican. Some fought for the United States in World War II, he said.

The roster of the little band included a doctor and a man described as “a Protestant minister.” They range in age from 17 to 53.
Most of the information on the pre-dawn action came from Barron. Here is his story:
He flew to Mexico about 40 days ago to make arrangements. He made a deal for the arms—he won’t say with whom—which, he says, came from the United States. Barron rented a boat in Panama. The boat is the El Orion of Nicaraguan registry, an 83-footer.
The volunteers assembled last night on a beach on the Gulf of Mexico after arriving during the night from San Antonio, Tex. The arms and ammunition were delivered to him—Barron would not say how.
Then the band began ferrying the weapons to the El Orion, using rubber boats.
One Boat Overturns

One boat overturned but the weapons in it were saved. Barron blames this mishap for the capture because the rebels took time to dry the weapons.
Just before dawn the El Orion pushed into the gulf and was about ten miles from shore when a Coast Guard cutter hailed it.
The El Orion sought to make a run for it but was no match for the fast cutter.

The commander of the ban is 34. he was a construction worker in New York, and has a wife and two children still there. He was born in Camaguey, Cuba, he said, and is a naturalized United States citizen. He wears a small mustache and is 5 feet 10. He identified the doctor as Carlos Torreons. The minister, he said, is the Reverend Ignacio Mosquezo, a “Protestant” but not pastor of any church. The rebels wore gray-green uniforms resembling United States military battle dress.

“This expedition was stopped by the United States Coast Guard but there will be lots of others,” Barron said.