Earlier this month, the San Jose Peace And Justice Center hosted the Free ALL Political Prisoners! Benefit and fundraiser for attorney and recently-released political prisoner Lynne Stewart, who is currently battling breast cancer. A number well-known speakers and activists attended the event to show their solidarity with Stewart and political prisoners around the world, including Ramona Africa, Jeff Mackler, and Karen Lee Wald. The San Jose Peace And Justice Center is proud to share the following clips from the event, where these respected and venerable freedom fighters share their stories, their struggles, and their support for the rights of all.
Karen Lee Wald is an American journalist and activist operating out of Cuba, where she has been reporting on the Revolution since 1969. She spoke on behalf and in defense of the Cuban Five, a group of Cuban nationals who were captured on US soil infiltrating anti-Cuban paramilitary operations. With her came a letter from the Cuban Five, entitled “From Cuba With Love.”
“I'm telling you about the Cuban Five so that you'll better appreciate the significance of a letter they just sent to Lynne (Stewart) and Mumia (Abu-Jamal) and all the people who support them,” stated Wald. “[I]t took a while to get this letter once it was drafted, because it had to make its slow way from the island of Cuba through the various prisons where the remaining three are being held.”
“Most of you know that the United States has tried to annihilate the Cuban Revolution since its inception, by economic boycotts and outright military and terrorist attacks,” Wald claimed. She believes that, despite their violation of US law, history will show that the Cuban Five are on the side of justice. “The Cuban Five...while trying to protect the people of their country, were captured, tried, and imprisoned in Miami, where there wasn't the slightest chance of their getting a fair trial. Two of the five have already returned to Cuba...but the others may spend many more years, their entire lives in the United States, in US prisons. Like Lynne would have, and like Mumia and Leonard Peltier will, unless our support wins their freedom.”
For the full text of the letter, click HERE.