CubaMinrex. Sitio del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Cuba

FOR LENNY
By Ricardo Alarcon de Quesada
In the afternoon of Wednesday, March 23rd, Leonard Weinglass´ heart stopped beating, on the same day he turned 78 years old.
He suffered from a terrible disease that, despite having become critical and particularly painful since last January, did not keep him apart from work for a single moment. During his last months, while heroically facing his disease and the physical pains, Weinglass put his heart and soul into the preparations and presentation of the Habeas Corpus in favor of Gerardo Hernandez and Antonio Guerrero, without disregarding the cases of the other Cuban compatriots.
Shortly before being admitted to the hospital where he was supposed to go through surgery with utmost urgency, he took the final steps in the appeal process of Gerardo and Antonio and entrusted other colleagues with what they should do while he was hospitalized. Only then he accepted to take care of himself.
He was always like that. When very young, he joined the law firm which, under the management of Victor Rabinowitz and Leonard Boudin, waged countless legal battles in favor of labor unions, civil liberties and justice in the United States. With his brilliant defense of the Chicago Eight in 1968, Lenny started out an admirable and permanent career that included the cases of Jane Fonda, Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon documents, Angela Davis, Mumia Abu Jamal, Amy Carter, Kathy Boudin and many others until he took up the defense of the five Cuban antiterrorists and made his most recent cooperation with the defense attorneys of Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks. The history of the struggles of the American people cannot be written without underlining, on each page, the name of Leonard Weinglass.
Our homage and gratitude go out to him now and for ever.
Losing Lenny came as a blow to Gerardo, Ramon, Antonio, Fernando and Rene. He was their best and tireless defender and devoted all his energy and talent to their cause. He fought for them till the end, amidst suffering and agony, until his last breath.
The struggle for the release of our compatriots must continue, now under more difficult conditions, without Lenny. Let us renew our commitment to keep ahead until we achieve their freedom. Let us do so without rest or hesitation. This is the least we should promise to a tireless fighter, to the clear-sighted and self-sacrificing struggler dear comrade Leonard Weinglass always was.