New Age2.png SA first country to receive Cuban 5 International solidarity is the message they bring with them, says ANC’s Obed Bapela Shaun Mpshe, The New Age, Johannesburg, 19 June 2015 South Africa will be the first country to receive the Cuban Five this weekend after their release from a US prison in December 2014, a move the ANC’s head of international relations Obed Bapela said was to celebrate Clause 10 of the Freedom Charter: Let there be Peace and Friendship. Bapela said the month of June was symbolic given that it in that month in 1955 that the Freedom Charter was adopted. “The ANC membership generally and its supporters, may have forgotten that the Freedom Charter has always been the document that gave us hope through the struggle, it became our bible when we were struggling against apartheid and oppression.” “I still remember reciting it as a young activist in the townships.” Bapela said. “All its clauses are important, but with the international visit by the Cuban heroes we’ll be focusing on Clause 10.” Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando González and René González were Cuban intelligence officers who were “unjustly” arrested in the US in September 1998 for conspiracy to commit espionage, conspiracy to commit murder, acting as agents of a foreign government and other illegal activities. The Five maintained they were not spying on the US government, but on Miami-based anti-Cuba terrorist groups to prevent them from attacking their country. They were sentenced on different charges in what many in the international arena described as an unjust trial. After years of international pressure from influential individuals, organisations, and governments – South Africa included – to repeal their sentences, President Barack Obama released the last of the three in December as part of a prisoner swap with Cuba for an unnamed American intelligence officer, a move hailed as historic between the two countries who broke off diplomatic relations after the Cuban revolution. In addition to reminding South Africans about the Freedom Charter, the visit, Bapela said, would also serve to celebrate the role Cuba played in the fight against colonialism in southern Africa. “Cubans came at a point where Angola was under attack from the SA Defence Force in a failed effort to capture Luanda, its capital. “The victory, inspired by Cuban forces and the Angolan army and others led to the independence of Namibia and to South Africa’s negotiations (with the ANC in exile).” “Otherwise, if the apartheid government had defeated Angola, we would not have freedom today, we’d still be in exile, we’d still be suffering because it would have been a triumph for them and a loss to the revolutionary forces,” he said. “So this internationalism that Cuba embodies is a lesson to us that international solidarity remains a very important weapon to create a better world for all of us. “Let us learn from Ché Guevara (Cuba’s revolutionary father), let’s learn from the Cuban Five who had to go to another soil to and defend their revolution.” [email protected] From: http://tnaepaper.co.za/ -- -- 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.
