Gerardo Hernandez is one of the Cuban Five political prisoners. He’s an accomplished cartoonist. This exhibition of his art, called “Humor from My Pen,” is on a national and international tour. The object is to raise people’s consciousness of a monumental injustice.
At the reception, Nancy Kohn of the International Committee to Free the Cuban 5 talks about the prisoners’ case. Rob Shetterly discusses political prisoners whose portraits, done by him, are at the Center. Richard Cambridge reads poems about Cuba, authored by himself and the Five. Chris Teret speaks about the U.S. labor -Cuba connection.
Gerardo’s cartoons tell the story of how five Cuba men came to Florida to monitor anti-Cuban terrorist plotting by private paramilitary groups. Subjected to a biased trial in Miami, the Cuban Five received outlandish sentences. A worldwide solidarity movement is calling upon President Obama to liberate them. They are up against a terrible paradox: for the crime of defending their people against terrorism, a nation said to be at war with terrorism railroaded them to jail. Nobel Prize winners, Amnesty International, and United Nations human rights agencies have protested incarceration of these political prisoners.
This exhibition of Gerardo Hernandez’ political cartoons will be on display at the Meg Perry Center at from May 1 through May 25, 2013. Let Cuba Live of Maine and Occupy Portland are sponsoring the opening reception and exhibition. If you have questions, please call Tom Whitney at (207) 743-2183 or William Hessian at (207) 766 – 6204
