Maria Eugenia Guerrero
May 2, 2008
A letter from Maruchi Guerrero to those in Solidarity with the Five Cubans incarcerated in the United States.
Visiting my Brother in the United States Penitentiary, Florence
28th April 2008
Dear Friends in solidarity,
Once again the risks that our five brothers are under while unjustly imprisoned in the United States can be illustrated by our latest experience.
My mother and I came back last 28th of April from Colorado where we went for 21 days with the purpose of visiting Tony nine times in prison on the Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, the visiting days in the USP in Florence where he is. Unfortunately we couldn’t complete all the prearranged visits because on the 13th April around 12.30pm, a very serious act of indiscipline occurred during our visit causing it to be interrupted and ending up in a prison lockdown.
While we were sitting in the visiting room we thought we heard repeated shots and shouting from outside. At that moment my mother was in the bathroom and my brother asked me not to tell her that we heard the shots. Then the prison warden received a phone call and announced that the visit was over because of indiscipline in the prison. My mother came back and we told her the news but just then we heard shouting and a lot more shots, and they asked us not to move from where we were. At nearly three in the afternoon about 10 prison guards entered the room and ordered us to leave and three of them accompanied the family members who were visiting. We realised the situation was very serious when as we were leaving, just outside the waiting room, we had to move to one side against the wall to allow some guards pass with stretchers.
At the building exit, there was an ambulance and other types of emergency vehicles, as well as maybe more than 60 prison wardens. We hardly had time to say goodbye to Tony. He was very calm asking us if we were O.K. and telling us that for sure there would be a lockdown and as a result we would lose communication with him and that’s what happened.
On Monday the local television station, Univision, gave the news that a serious incident had occurred in the USP Florence with prison guards shooting dead two prisoners and injuring several others. Tuesday, the front page of the Colorado Gazette reported that more than 200 prisoners were involved in a brawl. A group of them were celebrating Adolf Hitler’s birthday and other racist groups became involved, according to the press note, resulting in the death of two prisoners and five injured. As a consequence the prison was in lockdown for an indeterminate amount of time.
The only thing that consoled us was to know that when the incident happened, my brother was with us in the visiting room, but we can now better realise what everyday life is like for our five brothers, Gerardo, Ramón, Rene, Fernando and Tony serving harsh sentences in these prisons without having caused any harm to anybody and without having any charges proven against them. They were sentenced as a result of a flawed process in the interests of anti-Cuban groups in Miami aided by the government of the United States.
A similar situation happened last January in the USP Beaumont where Ramon is serving his life sentence. His eldest daughter, Ailí had travelled there to visit him and a few days before she arrived, a brawl occurred that also resulted in the death of two prisoners. Ailí stayed in the city for the thirty days allowed by her visa and then she had to come back without being able to visit or communicate with her father as the prison was in prolonged lockdown because of the gravity of the incident.
They have spent ten years in prison now and we are still waiting for the decision of the 11th Circuit Court of Atlanta in the third process of appeal that this case has faced. Even so our brothers maintain their courage, optimism and dignity, using the time on other useful activities dedicated to painting, the classroom, answering letters to all the friends from different parts of the world, giving love to their mothers, children, wives and families secure in the conviction that they are defending a just cause by stopping terrorism and death so the world can be as peaceful as possible.
However difficult it is for my mother to live through this, she is also dignified and strengthened by the inspiration and hope given by her son but also worried by her age. She is 76 years old and is fighting against time, trying to stay well to see her noble and loving son return home.
Friends in solidarity, already 10 years have passed. You are our hope to achieve the return home of the Five.
With love and appreciation in the name of the families of the Five,
Hugs,
Maruchi
Antonio Guerrero´s sister
