Father Michael Lapsley Considers the Cause of The Five His Own

Father Michael Lapsley, vice-president of the Council of Churches of South Africa, considered the cause for the freedom of the five Cuban antiterrorists unfairly condemned in the United States his own. The Cubans that are still arbitrarily incarcerated in the United States are not criminals but heroes and their release from prison is our cause said Lapsley on Tuesday at the Cuban Institute for Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP) in this capital.  
 
Fernando Gonzalez, vice-president of ICAP, and Rene Gonzalez, two of The Five already in Cuba after serving their sentences; Mirta Rodriguez, mother of Antonio Guerrero; Elizabeth Palmeiro and Olga Salanueva, wives of Ramon Labañino (still in jail) and Rene Gonzalez, respectively, spoke with Lapsley, who was a renowned fighter against apartheid in his country and is a great friend if Cuba.
 
The South African religious person, who is also the founder and first president of the Friends of Cuba Society in Cape Town, South Africa, maintains a continuous activity in favor of the release of The Five and after a first meeting with Gerardo Hernandez –one of The Five- in prison in 2003, he went to visit him on another seven occasions.
 
Previously, Mirta Rodriguez and Elizabeth Palmeiro met with Marco Papacci, vice-president of the Italy-Cuba Friendship Association and head of the national campaign in the European nation for the release of The Five, and with Virginio Di Gregorio, a prominent Italian publicist and majority shareholder of the Gregor Company.
 
The Italian visitors will participate in the 10th International Colloquium of Solidarity with The Five and against Terrorism, to be held at Havana’s Convention Center on September 11 and 12, a meeting that is part of the world campaign that will begin on Thursday with actions in Washington, in Cuba and on dozens of countries.