Cuban Five release:

Italy strengthens movement

Cuba: Prof. Luciano Vasapollo announced Wednesday that in 2011 Italy will intensify actions for the release of five Cubans imprisoned in the United States.

Vasapollo, vice president of the Italian Committee for Justice for the Cuban Five, as they are known internationally, said that one of the priorities will be to increase the informational work in Italy to publicize the reasons for the battle for the release of Rene Gonzalez, Ramon Laba¤ino , Antonio Guerrero, Fernando Gonzalez and Gerardo Hernandez. Our purpose is to involve representatives of diverse sectors, union leaders and people of different political tendencies, Vasapollo told Prensa Latina.

This year will be decisive for the crusade for their freedom, which all progressive citizens of the world should make their own, said Vasapollo.

Efforts should not cease until the return to Cuba of the Five, whose wrongful imprisonment for more than a decade is an affront to the rights of humanity, Vasapollo declared. He announced that friends of Cuba in Italy are planning a large demonstration outside the U.S. embassy, scheduled for next March, to demand the release of The Five and the cessation of the economic, commercial and financial blockade against Cuba.

Vasapollo received the title of Doctor Honoris Causa in Economics, awarded by the University of Pinar del Rio, which has close academic relations and cooperation to foster links between the educational center based in this western province and the Sapienza University of Rome.

Author of more than 40 books and hundreds of articles published mainly in magazines in Europe and America, Vasapollo expressed gratitude for the high distinction conferred by Cuba, a country he considers his second home and an example of solidarity. Havana, Thursday, Prensa Latina