ANC Statement, 18 December 2014 Release of the Cuban Five by President Barack Obama The ANC welcomes the decision of President Barack Obama to release the remaining three of the Cuban Five, Gerardo Hernández, Antonio Guerrero and Ramón Labañino, wrongfully sentenced to life imprisonment in the US. The Cuban Five are five Cuban men who were wrongly imprisoned, since 12 September 1998, by the United States government for committing espionage and conspiracy against the US government. However, the actions of these men had not been directed at the United States government but rather infiltrated terrorist organisations in Miami who was planning attacks on Cuba. The families of the Five, the Cuban people and its government over the past 16 years left no stone unturned in mobilising international global committees and solidarity groups, parliaments, institutions, personalities who made strenuous efforts to demand for their release. All these efforts should be commended and the ANC expresses its gratitude to all that was committed to this now realised objective. The highest recognition and respect is given to President Barack Obama for this act of bravery. The ANC also commends the Cuban government who in return released Cuban spy Alan Gross, who was a US citizen, on humanitarian grounds. These acts show progress and a slight improvement in diplomatic relations between the Cuba and the United States of America. The ANC remains committed in solidarity with the Cuban people and further calls on President Barack Obama to take a further decisive step in the sanctions against Cuba by lifting the 52 year economic, commercial and financial blockade against Cuba - a decision in which 188 out of 193 countries voted in favour of at the United Nations General Assembly held in October 2013. Issued by: Jessie Duarte Deputy Secretary General African National Congress Enquiries: Zizi Kodwa, 082 330 4910 -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "YCLSA Discussion Forum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
