Statement by Nicaragua Solidarity Coalition & Venezuela Solidarity Network
The Nicaragua Solidarity Coalition opposes the US government prosecution of the Uhuru 3 as agents of Russia. We join with the many other organizations standing in defense of free speech rights and encourage others to also. Their trial will start in less than a month, on September 3 in Tampa federal court.
The defendants are three activists – Omali Yeshitela, Penny Hess and Jesse Nevel -associated with the African People’s Socialist Party (APSP), accused by the government of acting as Russian agents when they criticize US interference in Ukraine.
Their lawyer Leonard Goodman stated, “The group is nonviolent and seeks to spark change through political speech, activism and its community work. The APSP is based in St. Petersburg, Florida; St. Louis; and Oakland, California, where it operates farmers markets, recreation programs and small businesses that benefit local communities.” He adds, “The trouble began for the APSP in spring 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The APSP was one of the few prominent activist groups that publicly blamed the US government for provoking the invasion, thus contradicting the official position of the US that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was unprovoked.”
On July 29, 2022, FBI SWAT teams raided the homes and offices of APSP leaders in St. Petersburg and St. Louis. The following April, the government charged them with being agents of a foreign government, with spreading Russian propaganda to “sow discord,” and with illegally interfering in US elections. If convicted, the three defendants face up to 15 years in prison.
The government is prosecuting members of an activist group for their political speech and activism in opposition to US foreign policy. If convicted, this can be used against other organizations using their First Amendment rights to change some US foreign policy, such as the US-backed Israeli genocide in Gaza.
Recently, August 7, the FBI raided the home of former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter, a critic of U.S. foreign policy toward Russia, under the same pretext, as an agent of Russia. On July 23 Tulsi Gabbard, former Democratic Congressperson and Army Reserve Lieutenant Colonel, found she is on a domestic terrorism watch list. On July 24, 31 Congresspeople sent a letter to the Director of National Intelligence demanding the investigation and criminal prosecution of Gaza war protesters for receiving funding from Iran.
The government also seeks to set a legal precedent regarding “disinformation.” It argues that their definition of the term “does not refer to information that is necessarily false.” The indictment of Yeshitela claims he spread “disinformation” by stating the US and NATO provoked Russia’s invasion of Ukraine by expanding NATO “800 miles towards the border of Russia,” by sponsoring a 2014 coup against the government of Ukraine, and by arming Kiev “to the teeth.” The Uhuru 3 lawyers pointed out their clients’ views “are nearly identical to the views held by well-renowned public intellectuals such as Professors Jeffrey Sachs of Columbia University and John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago.”
The Uhuru 3 case is a government attack on our constitutional free speech right to publicly question US government foreign policy. You can help defend all our free speech rights! Cover and publicize this precedent making case. Donate to aid with their defense. Attend the protest in Tampa-St. Pete August 31. Attend and report on the trial beginning in Tampa September 3.
Solidarity!
(Nicaragua Solidarity Coalition)
