May 23, 2002

Dear friends of the five Cubans:

This is an important update on the struggle to free the five Cubans
who are unjustly held in U.S. prison.

As of today, a date on the court calendar has not been set yet for
the appeals of the five compañeros to be heard. The appeals will
take place in Atlanta's U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. The
attorneys are currently preparing the appeals, and discussions are
also taking place among the trial/appeals attorneys with other
lawyers experienced in various issues to be argued in the appeals.

As was explained in an earlier communiqué, so far the main points
of appeals are as follows:

a. On the court's failure to order a change of venue: In such a
politically-charged and hostile environment as Miami, the anti-Cuba
terrorist capital, it was not possible for the court to meet one of
the most basic criteria for a "fair" trial, that of an
impartial and unbiased jury, free of pressure from right-wing forces.

b. On Gerardo Hernandez's murder conspiracy conviction, the jury
agreed with the U.S. prosecutor's outrageous claim that Gerardo
had conspired with Cuba to have the pilots (who invaded Cuban
airspace Feb. 24, 1996) shot down in international waters. That was
the U.S. contention, that they were deliberately shot down in
international waters, thus the U.S. argued against Cuba's
rightful claim that it was defending its territorial space when
the "Brothers to the Rescue" planes invaded. The jury ignored
defense witnesses from the U.S. military, who actually showed that
the planes had indeed been in Cuban airspace.

c. On the espionage conspiracy, in which three of the brothers
were convicted. The defense will argue in appeals that they never
engaged in espionage on the U.S. whatsoever, and that the U.S.
government never proved in the 14,000 pages of transcript and 7
months of trial, that the compañeros had engaged in espionage on
the United States.

In the meantime, we believe it is of tremendous importance to
continue the community support, organizing meetings to spread
awareness of their struggle and build more support, continuing the
ongoing solidarity work with the 5 compañeros, letter-writing,
etc. and media publicity.

May Day in Cuba saw more than 1.2 million people gathered in Plaza of
the Revolution to show solidarity with the Five Cuban Heroes,
Prisoners of the Empire. The next day in Havana, May 2nd, a special
meeting of over 300 international labor and solidarity activists was
held. The purpose was to discuss broadening and deepening the support
work and campaign to liberate the five. It is understand by all that
it is a monumental task to raise national awareness in the U.S. but
it is critical to make an all-out effort to do so. We believe that
once the U.S. people learn about the case, and the sacrifice the
compañeros were involved in to defend their people, they will be
supported. The issue is the fundamental right of self-defense against
proven and documented terrorism on innocent civilians.

At the May 2nd meeting, Ricardo Alarcon, President of the National
Assembly of Cuba, gave a very important address, describing the
outrages involved in the original trial in Miami – from jury
selection to verdict and sentencing. He also detailed the continued
maneuvers by the U.S. government in trying to prevent justice. The
transcript is now being prepared in Cuba.

We expect to have the transcript by June 7. Until we get the
transcript of Alarcon's talk, please refer to his address of
February 11, 2002, in which some of the same points were made. They
are important talking points to raise when explaining the case to the
public.

At the end of this communiqué is a detailed list of the five's
addresses. You will note that there is a slight change in one or two
of their addresses. In each prison there are two post office boxes,
one is for employees, the other is for prisoners. Some of the
addresses had the post office box of the employees at the prisons, as
that is the address provided publicly. The ones below are the correct
ones. Be aware, however, that even with correct addresses, some mail
is still being returned to sender. That is the nature of prison mail,
sometimes arbitrary decisions mean that a prisoner is denied some
mail. Please let us know if you have chronic problems with the mail
to the brothers. In Beaumont, for example, the prison authorities
have said that newspapers are not permitted by mail to prisoners.
That is where Ramon Labañino is.

There have been a lot of activities in recent months for the five
heroes, across the U.S. and in other countries as well. This is just
a brief summary, and by no means all-encompassing. If you have
activities you'd like publicized or reported please write to let
us know.

National tour of U.S. was organized in March and April to publicize
the case of the Cuban Five and help in formation of committees. There
were also a series of meetings held earlier in large cities. Cities
have included San Francisco, New York, Miami, Seattle, Chicago,
Milwaukee, Detroit, Boston, Hartford, Philadelphia, San Diego,
Binghamton, etc. The tour was very helpful in activating interest,
and some very good contacts were made. Tours were also done in
Belgium and Argentina, sponsored by the local committees there. Some
of the speakers in these meetings included Andrés Gómez,
Ignacio Meneses, Alicia Jrapko, Bill Hackwell, Tony Murphy, Rev.
Lucius Walker, Jennifer Wager, Teresa Gutiérrez, Ernie Mailhot, Jon
Hillson, Rolando Perez and Gloria La Riva. On May Day in Havana, La
Riva was invited to speak on behalf of the campaign to free the five
Cuban political prisoners held in the U.S. More than 1.2 million
people rallied in the capital and 7 million throughout Cuba.

Support committees have been formed in a number of countries,
including Argentina, Canada, England, Belgium, Mexico, Australia,
etc. Many more are needed across the U.S. and other countries. To
that end the National Committee in the U.S. has produced basic
written materials, flyers, brochures, a petition, that you can
download from the webpage: www.actionsf.org (look at the right and
left-columns of the page for various pieces.). Soon we will develop a
webpage dedicated to the Five for more direct access. To prepare for
the webpage, we ask the existing Support groups to please send us
your complete address, phone, e-mail, webpage if relevant, and other
pertinent information. That way we can help get your information out.

PETITIONS, PETITIONS, PETITIONS! We particularly urge supporters to
consciously make the petition a part of your regular work, taking it
to other events, circulate in public, etc. We need to collect
thousands and thousands to show the Bush government that there are
many, many supporters of the five brothers. This requires making sure
to take clipboards and petitions to events, making announcement and
asking people present to sign the petition. It helps to have the new
two-sided flyer which briefly explains their case, and gives the
phone number of some of the committees. If you need your committee
listed, or the flyer adapted to your needs, please contact us,
we'll be glad to help. As you may know, for the present time, the
case is virtually unknown in the U.S. due to lack of media coverage,
and the desire of the U.S. government to maintain it almost secret,
and to deny their status as political prisoners. Therefore, as part
of the political pressure signatures showing support are needed to
augment the legal work of the attorneys. Can your group set a goal
for a certain number of petitions you will collect? Then please mail
the originals (be sure and make copies for your own use) to our San
Francisco office.

It is a reality of the nature of political-prisoner work,
particularly in the U.S., that it takes extra effort to make such
cases known to wider audiences. Even in the political progressive
movement, there is not enough awareness of the struggle of the Five
Cubans. To overcome that problem in the movement, in the U.S., the
Free the Five Committee is making a presence in other progressive
activities, in solidarity with those struggles, and to make the links
with the Five. See if you can get a speaker on other programs and
events. We have some good success on this front. For example, at the
historic April 20 protests against Bush and for the Palestinian
people in Washington and San Francisco, petitioning for the Cuban
Five was done and thousands of flyers were handed out to marchers,
thus helping spread the word to the political movement. In San
Francisco, Ana Duarte of the Los Angeles Committee to Free the Five
was a featured speaker at the rally. She described their struggle to
the 35,000 people present. The crowd cheered when solidarity was
expressed between the Palestinian and Cuban people, and there was a
lot of interest in the Five Heroes' cause.

FUNDRAISING. Please organize a fundraiser if you can. We want to
continue sending on a regular basis, donations to the compañeros,
so they can purchase phone cards to call home to Cuba, to their
attorneys, etc. The only way they can call out is through phone
calls, purchased within the prison. In addition, they use stamps to
write their many supporters, and for other needs inside prison. Of
course fundraising is also needed for your own local work. The
National Committee here in SF also accepts donations to send the
continued contributions we send to the brothers and for our
coordinating/organizing efforts.

BANNERS. A beautiful banner on the Five Cuban Heroes was hand-made in
San Francisco, with their images, and lettering calling for their
freedom. It was unveiled in the S.F. April 20 march. We are looking
into mass-producing a banner with images of the Five compañeros,
with their faces silkscreened on the banner. It would be about 12
feet long by 45 inches deep, in light-weight taffeta material. If
your committee is interested, you could then put your own lettering
on the banner. Or perhaps we can put in a general slogan on the five
in addition to the photos. As soon as we have the details we will
send out how you can order them from us. Just as the picture of Che
Guevara is visible in protests around the world, it will be important
to have the five compañeros present in those actions.

VIDEO. A brief, 10-minute video featuring interviews of the wives and
mothers of the Five is available, and a more extensive video is being
made. Again, we will send out the ordering-information as soon as it
nears completion.

PRESENTATIONS IN UNIVERSITIES. Call university professors and other
teachers to see if you can speak at their classes about the Five. A
perfect theme is Cuba's fight against terrorism, and the Bush
administration's hypocrisy in railroading those men whose task
was precisely stopping terrorism in Miami that has caused the deaths
of hundreds of Cubans and other people.

ARTICLES. Get articles printed in your local, regional and national
press if possible. A well-known activist or personality making a
public statement on the five can also help.

SOLIDARITY WITH THE FIVE. If you live in a city near one of the
compañeros, contact us if you are interested in organizing support
for them by setting up a committee. They are currently imprisoned in
Beaumont, Texas (Ramon Labanino) about 50 miles from Houston, in
Lompoc, near Santa Barbara (Gerardo Hernandez), in Oxford Wisconsin,
closest to Milwaukee, Chicago, etc. (Fernando Gonzalez), in Florence
Colorado, near Colorado Springs and other CO towns (Antonio
Guerrero), and Bradford PA, 90 miles south of Buffalo (Rene Gonzalez).

Here are the five heroes' addresses:

René González
Reg. #58738-004
F.C.I. McKean
P.O. Box 8000
Bradford, PA 16701

Gerardo Hernandez
#58739-004
U.S. Penitentiary-Lompoc
3901 Klein Blvd.
Lompoc, CA 93436

(For RAMÓN LABAÑINO)
Write to: Luís Medina
#58734-004
U.S.P. Beaumont
P.O. Box 26030
Beaumont TX 77720-6035

(For FERNANDO GONZÁLEZ)
Write to: Rubén Campa
#58733-004
F.C.I. Oxford
P.O. Box 1000
Oxford WI 53952-0505

Antonio Guerrero
#58741-004
U.S.P. Florence
P.O. Box 7500
Florence CO 81226