[Fdu] Toronto public meeting to hear Gerardo Hernandez of the Cuban 5, 2:30pm, this Sunday April 3

Wed Mar 30 22:58:22 EDT 2016

	This Sunday, April 3, Steel Hall, 2:30 pm.

*Help us give a warm welcome to
Gerardo Hernández, one of the ‘Cuban Five’*

Gerardo Hernández is one of the three of the Cuban Five who were still 
behind bars since their 1998 arrest, until U.S. President Obama 
announced their release on December 17, 2014.The freeing of the three 
Cubans was part of the agreement negotiated between the U.S. and Cuban 
government representatives concerning future relations between Cuba and 
the United States.Two of the Cuban Five, René González and Fernando 
González were released in 2011 and 2013 after serving their full 
sentences. Cuba maintained its absolute insistence that the remaining 
three prisoners be freed and as the international protests continued to 
grow, freedom for Gerardo, Ramón and Antonio became a vital issue in the 
negotiations.

A determined and expanding worldwide movement protested the U.S. 
vendetta against the Five, framed up for “conspiracy to commit 
espionage” and in Hernández’ case “murder”, and unjustly imprisoned for 
more than 16 years. Family members of the Five criss-crossed the globe 
tirelessly to speak out against their victimization.Demonstrations by 
the Cuban people and worldwide actions and appeals by presidents of 
other Latin American countries, unions, student organizations, artists, 
civil liberties groups, faith-based organizations, Nobel prize 
recipients, elected politicians and others ― thousands upon thousands of 
people including many Canadians joined in calling for freedom for the Five.

On December 17, 2014 work stopped and church bells rang across the 
island as the people of Cuba, in an outpouring of joy, welcomed home the 
last of their five heroes, people who had acted selflessly to prevent 
more terrorist attacks against Cuba from U.S. soil. The Five steadfastly 
refused to renounce their mission, despite the heavy price that they 
were made to pay for defending their country’s sovereignty.

Following Gerardo’s presentation on Sunday there will be time for some 
Q&A. Gerardo is in Canada at the invitation of the United Steelworkers, 
Canada. He will attend the union’s policy conference in Montreal next week.

*Featured speaker:Gerardo Hernández*

*Sunday, April 3, 2016**at **2:30 p.m.***

*United Steelworkers hall, **25 Cecil Street**, **Toronto***

2½ blocks east of Spadina; 1 block south of College