A Call for National Actions in
New York City and Los Angeles
Saturday, April 7
* End Washington’s Economic and Political War Against Cuba!
* End Threats and Sanctions Against Venezuela and Bolivia!
* Freedom for the Cuban Five!
* End U.S. Colonialism in Puerto Rico!
* Free Puerto Rican Political Prisoners!
Over the course of 2006 the George W. Bush Administration pushed hard to isolate and subvert Cuba , Venezuela , and Bolivia as the centerpiece of a Latin American and Caribbean policy of economic, financial, and political domination. However, 2006 ended with the largest ever vote in the United Nations condemning the US economic sanctions against Cuba on October 8 and with the resounding re-election of Hugo Chavez as President of Venezuela on December 3.
Class and social polarization is deepening throughout the Americas as popular consciousness and resistance mounts against Washington-promoted policies of austerity, privatization, cutbacks in already paltry health care and education programs, and unequal trade and commercial exchange as codified in the so-called Free Trade in the Americas Agreement (FTAA), which is now derailed. As 2007 begins Washington and the big-business press is stepping up strident propaganda against Bolivia and Venezuela as those sovereign nations implement polices of land reform and nationalization of privatized resources in the interests of the vast majority.
The recent electoral defeats of the Bush Administration and Republican Party in US Congressional elections register the growing crisis of US foreign policy in general. US public opinion has turned sharply against the Iraq war, although the war continues and escalates with bipartisan support and acquiescence on Capitol Hill. The virtual collapse of the Bush Administration’s credibility and authority, driven by the Iraq war, is heightening the crisis of US policy in Latin America . This may create openings for US solidarity activists to press for an end to Washington ’s bipartisan policies of hostile propaganda, sanctions, pressure, and subversion against Cuba , Venezuela , and Bolivia . Congressional hearings are scheduled this spring on various aspects of anti-Cuba policies, including economic sanctions, travel restrictions, and the notorious corruption endemic to the large-scale US dispersal of tens of millions of dollars to so-called “dissidents” in Cuba . These funds largely end up in the private pockets of right-wing Cuban-American outfits—a shrinking minority of Cuban-Americans—with a long history of terrorist actions, organized from US soil and often in complicity with US intelligence organizations, against Cuba.
2007 marks the ninth year of incarceration for the anti-terrorist fighters known as the Cuban Five. The gross injustice represented in their case has been condemned around the world, including in a thorough and devastating report issued by the United Nations Panel on Arbitrary Detention which concluded that their imprisonment was illegal and capricious. Two months later on August 9, a three judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals of Atlanta made a ruling on the defense attorney's claim that the 2001 trial venue in Miami, bastion of violent anti-Cuba groups, was clearly biased against their clients. The panel unanimously ruled in favor of a new trial outside of Miami. At the beginning of 2007 Cuban student and youth organizations issued a call for a worldwide campaign concentrated on the period from January 10 through April 30, 2007. The April 7 Coalition embraces this campaign and demands freedom for the Cuban Five!
The April 7 Coalition is uniting with Puerto Rican solidarity organizations who were organizing protests for April 7, 2007, the 30th anniversary of the incarceration of Puerto Rican independence fighters. In the past year, the cold-blooded FBI murder of Filiberto Ojeda Rios has set off significant protests in Puerto Rico and the US highlighting growing discontent with US colonial rule. Puerto Rico is certainly not separate from the wave of progressive struggles and demands sweeping all of the Americas. The April 7 Coalition is pleased to organize a united action for April 7 in New York and Los Angeles.
On May 20, 2006 , 700 people marched in Washington , DC demanding US Hands off Venezuela and Cuba . This was the first national demonstration responding to Washington ’s stepped-up belligerence, led by the Bush Administration, against the governments—and examples—of Cuba and Venezuela . The May 20, 2006 DC action, while modest in size, registered an important advance in organizing a united front for solidarity action. Over 150 national and local organizations, and prominent individuals, endorsed the May 20 action. The Coalition that came together for the May 20, 2006 action is reconstituting itself to call for a national action on Saturday, April 7, 2007.
Now is the time to take to the streets to press Congress and the White House to end all sanctions and threats against Cuba, Venezuela, and Bolivia!
Join us for a powerful day of protest and solidarity on Saturday, April 7!
This Call for the April 7 Action has been initiated by:
* National Network on Cuba
* Venezuela Solidarity Network
* Bolivarian Circles (listed by city)
* US/Cuba Labor Exchange
* Cuba Solidarity New York
Initial Endorsements:
ANSWER Coalition
Haiti Support Network
International Action Center
Jericho
Latin American and Caribbean Alliance ( Washington, DC )
Party for Socialism and Liberation
ProLibertad
Socialist Front of Puerto Rico
Socialist Workers Party
Venceremos Brigade
Workers World Party
Young Socialists
For more info, write call or email to:
April 7 Coalition
P.O. Box 423
New York, NY 10044
phone: 917-887-8710
email (correo electronico): april7@safewebmail.com
web page (pagina web): www.april7coalition.org
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