• Submitted by: manso
• Politics and Government
• 09 / 19 / 2011

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2011.09.19 - 09:24:36 / radiorebelde.icrt.cu. The fiveHAVANA, Cuba.-  We should do our best so more and more people know about this reality and create a climate that forces President Obama to make a decision, stated Cuban Parliament President Ricardo Alarcon during a forum of the civil society for The Five.

While addressing participants in the second edition of this meeting, sponsored by the United Nations Association of Cuba (ACNU), Alarcon made reference to the current situation faced by Gerardo Hernandez, Fernando Gonzalez, Ramon Labañino, Antonio Guerrero and Rene Gonzalez.

He recalled that Rene should be released on October 7, after serving a sentence of 15 years in prison, and that now he has been punished again since he will have to serve three years of supervised release in US territory.

It’s now up to President Obama to make a decision, he commented, so we should increase international solidarity so world public pressure manages to achieve the release of The Five and the return of Rene to his homeland.  

In spite of this sum of exceptional and unprecedented events in this case, due justice is attained and a denunciation on the mainstream media doesn’t take place either, and the case continues to be silenced; there’s the rub, he said, in the media blockade imposed.

For this reason, he called to continue discovering what else we can do to break that wall of silence and make truth come to light.  

He acknowledged that important advances have been made, but warned about the need to abandon any idea of triumphalism, without forgetting to asses what has been accomplished, understanding that the starting point is dissatisfaction with what has been achieved and the conviction that a lot more is needed to be done.

The battle for the release of The Five, he pointed out, has to be seen as what it is: a task of vital importance.  They deserve it; they’re imprisoned for protecting our lives, and also because they’re real antiterrorist fighters, an example to the youngsters we want to educate. (ACN)