LETTER TO AMERICAN INTELLECTUALS AND ARTISTS
On June 15, the US Supreme Court refused to review the case of the five Cuban anti-terrorist activists unjustly imprisoned in your country. This is another chapter in a long series of injustices that have resulted in over 10 years' loss of liberty for Gerardo Hernández, René González, Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero y Fernando González.
Thus, a unanimous call from numerous voices in the world at large and the United States itself has fallen on deaf ears. The appeal the lawyers submitted to the Court was endorsed by ten Nobel prize-winners, hundreds of parliamentarians in Europe, Latin America & the Caribbean, jurists' professional bodies and a large number of religious, academic, cultural and human rights institutions all over the world.
The five Cubans were convicted in Miami, following a trial that was manipulated by the Cuban-American extreme right wing. The South Florida-based groups organized and carried out acts of terrorism against Cuba that cost innocent lives, with the connivance and support of US authorities.
The five men never posed a threat to US national security, or acted against a single American citizen. Their aim was to prevent the terrorists, operating with impunity on American soil, from carrying out their plans.
President Barack Obama has the power to free these five Cubans. Doing so would be an act of pure justice and would be consistent with his speech on May 21 last in Washington, in which he spoke of restoring legality in the fight against terrorism.
We are convinced that if the American people knew the truth about these five men, they would spare no effort in getting them released and returned to their families.
We appeal to you again, dear colleagues, to publicize the truth about this case, by whatever means you have at your disposal.
Havana, 19 June 2009
Cuban National Union of Writers & Artists (UNEAC)
On 8 separate occasions, the U.S. government has denied entry visas to Adriana Perez (TOP) and Olga Salanueva (BOTTOM) to visit their imprisoned husbands.
It has been almost 10 years since they last embraced.
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