Cindy Sheehan will speak in Liberty Hall at 6.00 p.m. on Thursday 8th March - International Women's Day
Peace Activist to meet peace prize winners Hume and McGuire
Peace Mom and author Cindy Sheehan (54) visits Ireland from 4th - 8th March to highlight the case of the Cuban Five and support the work of the Irish campaign to free them. She will meet two of Ireland’s Nobel Peace Prize winners, Mairead McGuire and John Hume, to update them on the situation of the five men who were involved in actions to bring about peace between their country, Cuba, and the US.
In these turbulent times, Cindy Sheehan believes her role and that of the mothers of the Cuban Five are a major contribution in the search for world peace.
Sheehan will also address a public meeting in Trinity College, Dublin at 8.00 p.m. on Thursday 8th March organised by the Amnesty International (AI) Society, TCD. Amnesty itself publicly called for a review of the case of the Cuban Five in October 2011.
Who are the Cuban Five?
After decades of attacks on Cuba emanating from southern Florida, a group of unarmed men and women left their country for the US to monitor the activities of those responsible so they could warn Cuba of their aggressive intentions.
In South Florida, September 1998, the FBI arrested five of these men, who became known as the Cuban Five. They were kept in isolation cells for 17 months before their case was brought before a Miami court. The flawed trial that followed saw them convicted of conspiracy. Their sentences ranged from fifteen years to two life sentences.
The death of her own son, Casey, who was killed during the Iraq War drew Cindy Sheehan into anti-war activism. She attracted national and international media attention in August 2005 when she camped outside President George W. Bush’s Texas ranch to protest against the war. Her courageous act drew passionate support and angry criticism. It gave her common cause with the mothers of the Cuban Five whose sons were also the victims of aggression and war. She is a vocal critic of President Barack Obama’s foreign policy. Her memoir, Peace Mom: A Mother’s Journey through Heartache to Activism, was published in 2006.
Cindy Sheehan’s visit to Ireland is part of an Irish Swedish initiative organised by the Free the Cuban Five committees in both countries.
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