Cuban 5 Appeal to Supreme Court for New Trial

Attorneys for the Cuban Five have filed an appeal with the Supreme Court asking for a new trial. The five men were convicted in 2001 for spying on the US military and Cuban exiles in southern Florida. They they weren’t spying on the US, but trying to monitor right-wing Cuban groups that have organized violent attacks on Cuba. We speak to their attorney, Thomas Goldstein. Watch or listen to the interview at http://www.democracynow.org/2009/2/6/cuban_5_appeal_to_supreme_court.

Also, the documentary "Against the Silence: The Family of the Five Speak Out" (a half hour documentary that Sally O'Brien and Jennifer Wager made) is now online. This important tool in the struggle to free the Cuban Five it is in Spanish and English. See it at http://blip.tv/file/1737961.

International Conference on Martí, Juárez, and Lincoln in the Soul of Our America

From the Latin American Studies Association
http://lasa.international.pitt.edu/members/conferences/JoseMarti.asp

Date(s): May 17-19, 2009
Location: Monterrey, Mexico

Description:
The Contributions of José Martí, Benito Juárez, Abraham Lincoln, and other leaders of what Martí called ‘Our America.’ is the theme of a conference in Monterrey, Mexico, from May 17-19. Guided by Martí’s statement, ‘To be educated is the only way to be free,’ the principal goal of the conference is to promote an Alternative for the Americas Inspired by the Ideas of Martí (in Spanish, Alternativa Martiana para las Américas—ALMA, or soul). Among the special guests will be Cuban leader Armando Hart, president of the Cuban National Commission of the Martí Program. Initial conference sponsors include the Latin American Studies Program, University of Houston and the Universities of Nuevo León, Coahuila, and Guadalajara.

Proposal deadline:
April 19, 2009

Contact information:
Proposals are to submitted to Dr. Águeda Marisel Oliva of the Instituto José Martí de Educación Superior in Monterrey at marisel.oliva@josemarti.edu.mx. U.S. contacts are

Dr. Susan Kellogg, Director of the University of Houston Latin American Studies Program (alma2008@uh.edu); Prof. Dionicio Valdés, Department of History, Michigan State University (valdesd@msu.edu); Prof. August Nimtz, Department of Political Science, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis (animtz@umn.edu).