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by Alicia Jrapko
Gerardo Hernandez, one of the Cuban five, has spent another
birthday in prison, but this year something
different happened. This time a radio wave of
solidarity penetrated the prison bars, the
barbed wires, and the metallic doors of
Victorville Penitentiary to reach the ears and
heart of Gerardo.
"Cantos sin Fronteras" is a 2 hour musical program that
broadcasts every Saturday from 6 to 8 pm from
KPFK radio station in Los Angeles. The popular
program reaches out to a wide progressive
audience all through out Southern California and
encompasses the 100 miles of desert and
mountains up to Victorville.
For more than two years now, Tanya Torres, the host of the
program, has been talking about the case of the
Cuban Five between nueva trova songs and music
of the world to bring attention to the injustice
of their imprisonment.
On June 2, Tanya planned to dedicate one of her two hours to
Gerardo on the occasion of his birthday. She
asked some friends who work in the movement to
free the Cuban five in the U.S. to help her to
get people to send in birthday greetings and
notes of solidarity to fill out the show.
On short notice the messages started piling in right away.
The electronic mail box of Cantos sin Fronteras
was inundated with messages from all over the
world, including Cuba, Venezuela, Argentina,
Brazil, Bolivia, Germany, Belgium, Spain and
Italy. From Puerto Rico, the known
independentista Rafael Cancel Miranda sent
Gerardo a moving message and a poem. Messages
also came from Northern and Southern California,
including one from ex Congressman Esteban
Torres.
The host had to expand the tribute to the full time of the
show and also had to edit the messages to make
them shorter. Even doing that, there was not
enough time to read them all. After two hours 66
of the messages had been read of the hundreds
that she received. During the entire show the
phone did not stop ringing from people making
emotional appeals to send messages to Gerardo.
The highlight of the program was the intervention of Adriana,
Gerardo's wife, who was interviewed live from
their home in Havana. Adriana with her sweet and
unmistakable voice wished Gerardo a Happy
Birthday from far away, and sent him her
unconditional love. For almost 9 years now,
Adriana has not been able to visit Gerardo
because the US government has denied her that
right. But this last Saturday Gerardo and
Adriana were together.
The Five were also present at Cantos Sin Fronteras with songs
that made Gerardo go back to the time right
after their arrest in 1998 when he was with his
4 brothers in a prison in Miami. "El Necio" was
played dedicated by Rene, "El Dulce Abismo" was
the request that was played from Ramon, and
Fernando dedicated a salsa song that Gerardo
used to sing over and over again in his cell.
"This program just knocked me dead" was how Gerardo described
how he felt. It was a rare happy day despite the
difficult conditions that he and his four
brothers face. He shared the day with his
beloved Adriana, with his brothers, and with
hundreds of people from all over the world who
reminded him that he was not alone.
Several prisoners in Victorville also heard the radio
program. One of them asked Gerardo, "Did your
eyes water when you heard the program? Because
mine did."
The music without doubt has no borders, it belongs to
everyone, but this past Saturday Cantos Sin
Fronteras demonstrated that there are also no
borders in the struggle for freedom and justice.
(http://www.freethefive.org) June 5, 2007
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