Letter sent by Arnold August to US Ambassador to Canada, David Wilkins, with copy to newly elect US President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Arnold August is a member of the Comite Fabio Di Celmo pour les 5, Table de Concertation de Solidarité Québec-Cuba, and the International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban Five.
December 1, 2008, Montreal
U.S. Ambassador to Canada, David Wilkins
Ottawa, Canada
Mr. Wilkins,
I am addressing this open letter to you as you are about to leave your post next month to be replaced by an appointee from the new Obama administration. I am also writing a cc to Barack Obama and his new Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, nominated today and to be confirmed by the Senate later on.
More than 10 years ago, on September 12, 1998, five Cubans were unjustly arrested in Miami and sentenced to long prison terms in violation of American and international laws and norms. They are still in U.S. jails purging the following sentences:
Gerardo Hernández: 2 life terms plus 15 years
Fernando González: 19 years
Antonio Guerrero: 1 life term plus 10 years
Ramon Labañino: 1 life term plus 18 years
René González: 15 years
In fact, their only “crime” was to infiltrate Florida-based terrorist groups carrying out terrorist activities against Cuba and its people in order to inform the U.S. officials so that the latter take action to impede more such activities.
You were nominated as the new U.S. Ambassador to Canada and confirmed in the spring of 2005. During the course of your mandate, from the beginning to date, you were informed in many ways by Canadians and Québécois about the case. The basic demand was and is the immediate release of the Cuban Five. The plea also centered on the visitation rights for the families from Cuba who face one obstacle and humiliation after another. In fact two of the spouses, Olga Salanueva and Adriana Pérez, wives of René González and Gerardo Hernández respectively, have not been granted a visa by your government during the entire period and therefore have not visited their husbands for more than 10 years.
During your mandate in Canada, the Canadian Network on Cuba (CNC) and the Table de Concertation de Solidarité Québec-Cuba through their respective affiliated organizations and committees have carried out many activities right in front of your consulates. For example, in Vancouver, monthly picket lines have been organized in Vancouver and this example was later followed in Montreal since May 2007 to date. Despite rain, sleet and snow, nothing stopped them. On many of these occasions and in other cities in Canada and Québec such as Toronto, Winnipeg and Calgary and Québec City (just to name a few) pickets were combined with the handing in of petitions to your attention signed by thousands of ordinary citizens and personalities. However, you have never even recognized this or responded in any way to these demands.
On an even broader scale, on an initiative of the Table de Concertation and followed through by the CNC, earlier this year no less than 56 deputies elected to the Canadian parliament in Ottawa made a formal demand for the release of the Five and visitation rights. A cc was sent to you. You never responded. The Canadian Labour Congress, representing over 3 million workers also added their voice as did union centrals from Quebec. The Canadian Federation of Students, representing 500,000 students did likewise.
Your Vancouver consulate staff has surely noticed the huge billboards erected in the Vancouver area demanding the release of the Cuban Five. No response?
A special effort was made to have women sign a petition for the visitation rights of Olga Salanueva and Adriana Pérez. To provide you with one example, in Québec, 600 women petitioned you to allow for visitation rights. You never replied. Post-cards in English and French from citizens in Canada and Quebec have been sent to the Secretary of State responsible for Ambassadors such as yourself, demanding visitation rights.
Individuals have written open letters to you from many cities, for example Toronto, putting forwards the same demands. You did not react.
You are about to leave your post along with George W. Bush; the only conclusion we can come to is that your attitude is just one more example of the arrogant and insensitive policy of the current U.S. administration towards us here north of the border.
The rest of my letter is addressed to President-elect Barack Obama and the next Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Mr. Obama, you have campaigned on the platform of change including a fresh foreign policy which supposedly takes into account other countries and their respective citizens rather than riding rough shod over them as your predecessor and his administration has done. As far as Canada is concerned, there are surely many points where fences have to be mended. The case of the Cuban Five and respecting the demands of our citizens, elected officials and organizations is one of them. If you desire to draw a clear line of distinction between on the one hand the past administration’s arrogant attitude towards other countries and peoples, and on the other hand, your new White House to be sworn in on January 20th 2009, you cannot ignore, as Mr. Wilkins has condescendingly done, the petitions and demands of your neighbors to the north. What we have done here is just a small part of the world-wide movement in favor of the immediate release of the Cuban Five and visitation rights.
Your wife, Michelle, as a woman cannot stand on the sidelines as the visitation rights of two women are denied.
Mrs. Hillary Clinton, you had campaigned directly or indirectly during the primary season as possessing among other attributes, being a woman and thus best capable of defending the interests of women. Please immediately look into the issue of the visitation rights for Olga Salanueva and Adriana Pérez. It would also be very much appreciated by the millions of people around the globe including Nobel Prize winners, parliamentarians, U.N. bodies, human rights groups, etcetera if you take advantage of the briefing sessions with your counter-part C. Rice and look into this file concerning the release of Cuban Five and family visitation rights. Secretary of State Rice has received post cards, letters and petitions from your neighbors here and from all continents. Unfortunately, all of this has been put on the back-burner by the current Secretary of State and the Ambassadors from that State Department such as Mr. Wilkins who has haughtily refused to acknowledge and take action on this issue.
Regards,
Arnold August
Montreal
cc
Barack Obama
230 S. Dearborn St # 3900
Chicago, IL 60604 U.S.
Hillary Clinton
780 Third Avenue
Suite 2601
New York, NY 100017
