FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Who are the Cuban Five? Why did the FBI arrest them in 1998? Why are they still in prison in the United States? What makes them national heroes in their homeland? What does their case have to do with the war on terror? And why should their story matter to the rest of us?

Canadian journalist Stephen Kimber, the author of a new book — What Lies Across the Water: The Real Story of the Cuban Five — will tackle those and other questions during speaking engagements this month in Ottawa, Kingston, ON, Toronto, Chicago and Milwaukee. (Full Schedule Below.)

The Cuban Five — Gerardo Hernandez, René González, Ramon Labañino, Fernando González and Antonio Guerrero — were members of a Cuban intelligence network dispatched to South Florida in the early 1990s. Their job was to infiltrate and report back on militant exile groups plotting terrorist attacks on Cuba.

Cuba even shared information on one of those plots — a plan to blow up an airplane carrying tourists to Cuba from Europe or Latin America — with the American government. Instead of charging the terrorist plotters, the FBI swooped in on September 12, 1998, and arrested Cuba’s intelligence agents.

After a controversial trial in hostile Miami, the Five were sentenced to unconscionably long prison terms. Four of them are still in jail. One is serving a double-life-plus-15-year sentence.

Kimber’s tour — he’s previously spoken in Washington, New York and Boston — is part of a broader campaign to bring attention to the case and win the release of the remaining members of the Five.

Stephen Kimber, an award-winning Canadian journalist, is the Interim Director of the School of Journalism at the University of King’s College in Halifax, Canada. He is the author of one novel and seven previous books of nonfiction.

For more information contact:
Curran Faris
Marketing Coordinator
Fernwood Publishing
204-474-2958
marketing@fernpub.ca

Where & When:

Nov 6, 7 pm, Ottawa:

Octopus Books. 251 Bank St, 2nd Floor (25OneCommunity)

Nov 7, 7 pm, Kingston: 

Kingston and Frontenac Public Library, Wilson Room, 130 Johnson St.

Nov 8, 2:30 pm, Toronto

Accents Bookstore, 1790 Eglinton Ave. (near Dufferin Street) Phone #: 647-352-8558. Book signing.

Nov 8, 6:30 pm, Toronto:

York University, Ross 556 South (DLLL Lounge). “Cuba By Canadian Authors” with Keith Bolender and Arnold August.

Nov 10, 2:30 pm, Toronto:

Steelworkers Hall, 25 Cecil Street.  “Cuba By Canadian Authors” with Keith Bolender and Arnold August.

Nov 13, 7 pm, Chicago:

DePaul University, Schmitt Academic Center, 2320 N. Kenmore Avenue, Chicago IL 60614

Nov 14, noon: 

Northwestern University School of Law, 375 E. Chicago Ave., Chicago IL, 60611

Nov 14, 7pm, Milwaukee:

University of Wisconsin/ Milwaukee, Student Union, Room 240, 2200 E. Kenwood Blvd, Milwaukee, WI 53211

Nov15, 9 am, Chicago:

University of Illinois/Chicago [UIC], Rafael Cintron Ortiz Cultural Center, Room LC-B2, 403 S. Morgan St., Chicago IL 60607 (between Harrison and Taylor, Morgan and Halsted)