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On Thursday, July 8, 2010, over 20 people gathered in front of the U.S. Consulate in Vancouver, BC to demand freedom for the 5 Cuban Heroes. This protest comes following the June 6, 2010 press conference in which lawyers and activists in the U.S. exposed that the U.S. government paid ‘journalists’ to write anti-Cuba and anti-Cuban 5 articles during the time of the trial for the Cuban 5. The journalists were paid tens of thousands of dollars by the Office of Cuba Broadcasting and the Broadcasting Board of Governors, through Radio and TV Marti. The uncovering of these facts adds more to the evidence that the U.S. government did everything in their power to deny the Cuban 5 a fair and just trial.

The picket MC and organizer with the Free the Cuban 5 Committee-Vancouver, Noah Fine, opened up this month’s protest with chants of, “Barack Obama, You Will Learn! The Cuban 5 Will Return!” This and many more chants started off the energetic picket.

The first speaker of the day was April Desilets, a young writer and member of Vancouver Communities in Solidarity with Cuba (VCSC). April spoke about the U.S. governments’ support for anti-Cuban terrorists including Luis Posada Carriles, who walks free in Miami while the 5 anti-terrorist heroes are in prison.

Janine Solanki, one of the many Vancouver participants on the 21st Pastors for Peace Caravan to Cuba spoke from Eugene, Oregon. She explained how the Caravan is stopping in many different U.S. cities to raise awareness about why people in the U.S. must oppose the U.S. blockade on Cuba and get involved in the campaign to free the Cuban 5.

After another round of picketing, our final presenter of the action, Shakeel Lochan, read a new poem he had written about the 5 Cuban Heroes.

To wrap up the event, Noah announced that the monthly picket actions would continue every month until the 5 Cuban Heroes are free from prison.

The monthly protests happen the second Thursday of every month coinciding with Le Comité Fabio Di Celmo pour les 5 in Montreal Quebec, who have also taken on the monthly protest campaign to free the 5 Cuban Heroes from U.S. prisons.