• Affirms defense lawyer Paul McKenna during a tour of Britain
                   organized by the Cuba Solidarity Campaign (CSC) • Speaks to a
                   packed meeting in the House of Commons • Letters of support for
                   Gerardo Hernández have given him encouragement

                   BY LAURA PATRICIA BURNS (Special for Granma International)

                   OVER one hundred people, including members of the British
                   Parliament’s Houses of Commons and Lords, filled a House of
                   Commons committee room in London on July 9 to hear a talk
                   by Paul McKenna, lawyer for one of the five Cubans
                   imprisoned in the United States.

                   McKenna, appointed by the Miami Court to represent Gerardo
                   Hernández, is on a speaking tour of Britain organized by
                   the English branch of Cuba Solidarity Campaign (CSC) to raise
                   public awareness of the Five’s situation.

                   Whilst in London, the U.S. lawyer gave a talk to a meeting of
                   12 progressive UK lawyers, who confirmed that they are going
                   to take the case up with their legal associations.

                   McKenna said he was "delighted to be able to come and
                   speak in a place where people are interested in this issue. I
                   know the letters of support he has received have encouraged
                   my client. In the United States there seems to be a desire to
                   bury this case." He added that he thought the work of people
                   like the CSC is very important "if we are to succeed in getting
                   these men released."

                   On July 10, McKenna spoke to over 50 activists in Manchester,
                   England. The following day he was in Glasgow, Scotland,
                   meeting with more than 30 members of the Scottish Cuba
                   Solidarity Campaign, including many Scottish MP’s.

                   CSC’s Steve Wilkinson has informed that the group is
                   collecting signatures for a national petition calling for the
                   release of the Five, to present to both the White House and
                   the Blair government.