Alicia Jrapko

Alicia Jrapko

Alicia Jrapko was a United States activist. Died in 2022.

Current co-chairs

As of February 26, 2020, the National Network on Cuba website listed current co-chairs as Alicia Jrapko, Banbose Shango, Cheryl LaBash, Gail Walker, Nalda Vigezzi and Current treasurer: John Waller

Double Feature

Catherine Murphy September 24 2018:

Three days to go!! — with Poonam Srivastava, Jennifer Wager, Eve Goldberg, Alicia Jrapko, Sergei Kostin, Olivia Burlingame Goumbri, Marcy Fink Campos, Netfa Freeman, Ana Laura Pereira, Blanca Rosa Monett, Norma Rita Guillard Limonta, Luisa Campos and Griselda Aguilera.

2002 WWP Emergency National Conference

Even as the Bush administration was maneuvering feverishly to round up support for its planned war on Iraq, Workers World Party was holding an Emergency National Conference Sept. 21-22 in New York.

The agenda focused both on Bush's "endless war on terror," especially the impending U.S. invasion of Iraq, and the growing capitalist economic crisis.

Lydia Bayoneta of Rochester spoke on the U.S. moves to reoccupy the Philippines under the cover of the "war on terror." Rebeca Toledo of New York described the attempts to overthrow the elected government of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. Alicia Jrapko of San Francisco showed how neo-liberalism and the international banks had brought the Argentine economy to its knees. Berta Joubert of Philadelphia spoke of the continued struggle of the people of Vieques, Puerto Rico, to get the U.S. Navy off their island.

WWP member

In 2004, Alicia Jrapko, was a member of the Cuba Caravan and the Workers World Party.

US Embassy letter/Cuban 5

On 6 April 2009 US Embassy in Wellington refused to accept a hand delivered letter from MPs, City Councillors, trade unionists, church leaders,academics and other New Zealanders calling on the US Government not to oppose the petition to the US Supreme Court for the release of the Cuban 5.

An attempt to deliver the letter was made by Wellington City Councillor, Ray Ahipene-Mercer and Secretary of the Weliington Cuba Friendship Society Gillian Magee but US Embassy Guards said they would not accept a hand delivered letter.

Dear Attorney General Holder

We, the undersigned New Zealanders are writing this letter to you on the eve of the US Government submitting a brief in response to the 30 January 09 petition to the Supreme Court and the twelve separate amicus curiae briefs that were filed in the US Supreme Court on 6 March 2009 regarding the unjust incarceration of five Cuban citizens - Gerardo Hernández Nordelo, René González Sehweret, Ramón Labañino Salazar, Antonio Guerrero Rodríguez and Fernando González Llort - known as the Cuban 5.

We urge the United States Government to acknowledge that a complete miscarriage of justice has taken place regarding the Cuban 5 and to support, rather than oppose, a review of the conviction by the Supreme Court. We urge you to immediately release the Cuban 5.

Signatories included Alicia Jrapko, Argentinian living in the United States.

8th U.S./Cuba/Mexico/Latin America Labor Conference

Conference participants

The 8th U.S./Cuba/Mexico Latin American Labor Conference concluded Dec. 4, 2011, in Tijuana, Mexico. This meeting, and the three days of classes that preceded it, amplified an Encuentro Sindical Nuestra América initiative to unify the union and working-class social movements throughout the Americas. ESNA coordinators Juan Castillo from Uruguay, João Batista from Brazil, Oliverio Reyes from Mexico and Raymundo Navarro from Cuba guided the discussion throughout the week in Tijuana.

Some 80 participants attended from the U.S., Mexico, Cuba, Brazil and Uruguay.

It was preceded by a three-day Worker's School for some 26 intercontinental labor activists, taught by Heriberto González del Valle, a youthful professor at the Lázaro Peña National School for Union Cadres in Havana, Cuba.

The opening panel featured Dr. Raymundo Navarro Fernández, member of the Secretariat of the Central de Trabajadores de Cuba, who spoke on the effect of the global economic crisis in his country.

With some 8 million affiliated members, the Central dos Trabalhadores e Trabalhadoras do Brasil is but one of six trade union councils in South America's economic powerhouse, Brazil. The Tijuana conference also heard from João Batista, an officer of the CTB and of the Encuentro Sindical Nuestra América.

According to participant Eric Gordon, a Communist Party USA affiliate from of Los Angeles;

For those of us in the U.S., it was gratifying to hear Batista confirm that the Occupy movement has brilliantly shown the world that "U.S. imperialism" also affects the 99 percent at home. Latin American growth rates in the last decade are directly tied to greater autonomy from U.S. banks and financial institutions.

A UAW member from Detroit, Martha Grevatt, spoke movingly about the U.S. domestic crisis, citing her hometown as "the poster child for a sick capitalist society that puts profit before human needs."

Other presenters, including the Cananea miners' strike in Mexico and the Mexican electricians union, both now under heavy attack, filled out the program. .

Mexican Electrical Workers International Secretary Humberto Montes de Oca and Sergio Tolano, president of the Cananea, Mexico, miners union, participated. International Longshore and Warehouse Union member Clarence Thomas addressed the positive interaction of the Occupy Wall Street movement with port workers. World Federation of Trade Unions-Americas representative, Gilda Chacon Bravo, outlined the organization’s history, revitalization and relation to today’s struggles. Cristina Vasquez, Western representative of Workers United, and Alicia Jrapko, U.S. coordinator of the International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban Five, urged a greater union voice to free the Cuban Five, who have been unjustly held in U.S. prisons for more than 13 years. The final panel debated views of the migrant/immigrant struggle.

Solidarity activists honored in Cuba

October, 2014, the Friendship Medal of the ­Republic of Cuba was awarded to two hard- working solidarity activists from the United States, according to the newspaper Granma of Oct. 3.

Alicia Jrapko, U.S. coordinator of the In­ter­national Committee for the Freedom of the Five, and photographer Bill Hackwell were honored for their unwavering efforts to gain the release of five Cubans who were jailed in Florida in 1998 after they penetrated Cuban exile organizations with a history of terrorist acts against Cuba.

Kenia Serrano, president of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples, said during the award ceremony that “16 years of imprisonment have passed during which our friends have expressed their maximum commitment to Cuba, and put their professional and family life second to this constant struggle. Alicia and Bill form part of this selfless friendship.”

Jrapko explained, “Cuba is solidarity instead of selfishness, love in place of hate. That’s why wherever we are we defend the cause of the Five, the result of this wonderful work. We will continue to host all the conferences and to knock on all the necessary doors.”

Bill Hackwell declared that the medal, more than an honor, demonstrates that the wave of solidarity, which has marked his way of life, will be victorious.

René González and Fernando González, two of the Cuban Five who have returned home after serving out their sentences and are now Decorated Heroes of the Republic of Cuba, attended the ceremony. Also present were Ana Teresita González Fraga, vice minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Josefina Vidal, director of the United States department at the foreign ministry; Graciela Ramírez, coordinator of the International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban Five; and relatives of the five heroes.

U.S. Cuba Network extends solidarity to Charleston massacre victims

In a statement issued on June 20, 2015.

The National Network on Cuba extends our solidarity to the survivors and our condolences to the families of the victims of the racist terror attack on Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. The Mother Emanuel AME Church is a symbol and example of African-American communities who have fought racism and oppression from before the first slave ships left the coast of Africa to the Black Lives Matter movement today. A founder of this church, Denmark Vesey, was hanged for planning a rebellion to end slavery.

This racist massacre could never happen in Cuba because the very foundation of that country is based on respect for humanity and collective care for each other. In Cuba, these words are not just phrases but something they practice daily. These basic principles of solidarity between people also extend to the world, where time and time again Cuba has been the shining example of sending brigades to help fight against diseases, and they are first responders when a disaster happens. Cuba never asks for anything in return, like when they sent military assistance to Angola in the 1980s to help defeat the racist South African Army.

The National Network on Cuba stands with the people of Charleston and says no to racism and white supremacy.

Signers were Nalda Vigezzi, Banbose Shango, Franklin Curbello, Cheryl LaBash, Alicia Jrapko.

Cuban 5

Tony Woodley writing in the Morning Star.

On August 13, 2011 200 workers, union leaders and activists came together at the invitation of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) in Los Angeles - the first time since the five's incarceration that a US union has organised a public meeting to inform their members and ask them to join the fight for justice.

Alicia Jrapko from the International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban 5 spoke about the different campaigns in the US to spread the word about the case. Jrapko explained to the audience that this is a case of human rights and basic justice. "These men came to the US unarmed simply to defend their country from terrorist attacks coming from US soil. With a stroke of a pen Obama can free them. Join us in demanding that."

In recognition of the support from labour, members of the International Committee presented wooden plaques with the symbolic logo on behalf of the Cuban 5 to Tony Woodley, Mike Garcia and Cristina Vazquez. Another plaque was awarded to Natasha Hickman editor of CubaSi!, a publication in solidarity with Cuba produced by the Cuba Solidarity Campaign in the UK.

Mike Garcia, referring to the case of the Cuban 5, loudly closed the meeting by asking the audience several times Se Puede? And they responded each time louder; Si Se Puede!

References

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