From Montreal to Washington with Love... and Humour:
How we are Assisted by the Cuban Five in Helping Them

On January 24, 2013, the Montreal Council of the Council of National Trade Unions (Quebec) co-sponsored a “first” with the Quebec-Cuba umbrella solidarity group and its Comité Fabio Di Celmo: an exhibition of Gerardo Hernandez’s cartoons, but with the description entirely translated into French. Let us allow Gerardo to set the tone. I had the honour to read Gerardo’s message sent to us in Montreal (with the help of the International Committee). This is the original English, translated into French:

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“Brothers and sisters,

Words cannot express how deeply I appreciate the effort of the Conseil central du Montréal métropolitain de la Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN-Québec), the Comité Fabio Di Celmo pour les 5 de la Table de concertation de solidarité Quebec-Cuba and all the others who worked to make this exhibition a reality in the important city of Montreal. It is my understanding that all the promotion, explanations of my work and even this letter have been translated into French for the very first time.

It has been humbling to me how many countries these cartoons have been shown in, because they were not made with the idea that someday they would be displayed all together in an art exhibit. As some of you know, I spend a great deal of my time responding to hundreds of solidarity letters and I do this work lacking the material and appropriate conditions of a real artist. I am an art aficionado who draws cartoons out of a necessity to express myself in a certain way. This necessity comes from a desire to send out a message to our people or to express my perspective before different events, such as the birthday of someone we admire or the death of a friend.

Someone once said that “humor liberates” (and if nobody did say that, I will say it now) and for me it is something that “gets us out” for at least a few moments from behind the walls where we have been unjustly imprisoned for almost 15 years. The Cuban Five have been expressing themselves through humor – in this case – or by painting and poetry in the case of Tony, and – although less known –in the paintings of Fernando and the poetry of Ramón and René.

On behalf of all of us, I want to thank you for being here today and for the solidarity that it represents in our struggle for justice. We know that the key to our inevitable freedom lives in that solidarity that continues to grow worldwide.

Hasta La Victoria Siempre!
Gerardo Hernández
Victorville Penitentiary California

January 20, 2013”

Here is the great poster made by the Trade Union.

I remember that the evening was very cold, even by Montreal standards. Something like minus 20-25 Degrees CENTIGRADE. Some of us thought that the turn out will be very low. Who would venture out in this temperature? However, the Cuban Five brought out the best of us. The hall was packed and people enjoyed the cartoons with the French-language descriptions.

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One of the main goals of this evening was to build up support for a Quebec delegation travelling to Washington, DC in September 2013. The event there is the Days of Action organized by the International Committee. Well, we succeeded. With the help of the union, we had a van full of people taking the eleven hour drive to Washington in order to participate in the demonstration in front of the White House to demand the release of the Cuban5. This is part of the delegation in Washington.

The delegation had to return the next day to Montreal for issues related to work and studies. It was quite an accomplishment. Aside from Quebec, there was a delegation from Vancouver, whereas from the United States there was representation from New York and Miami. Many cities in the US, relatively closer to DC compared to Montreal, did not match out contribution as far as presence is concerned. Thus, we had every reason to be proud. I was the one who stayed in DC for a few days to participate with others in the “lobbying” on Capitol Hill with Congress members and/or their assistants. The goal was to explain the situation of the Cuban Five and recruit them to support their release. This trip from Montreal was repeated again in 2014.

Trips organized from Quebec to Cuba were another means by which people learned about Los Cinco as well as the Cuban reality. For a report and photos regarding these adventures, click here.