International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban Five
9/11/09
September 12 - October 8, 2009
September 12th will mark the eleventh year since Gerardo, René, Antonio, Ramón y Fernando were unjustly imprisoned.
Eleven long years of not only having to endure the rigors of high security prisons in the United States but all types of abuse aimed to break their spirit and the spirit of their families.
They were held in the Hole, cells of isolation, for 600 days without their personal belongings. Then there have been the periodic Lockdowns where they are closed inside their cells without eating any warm food, or taking a shower, or communicating with their families, or receiving visits for long periods of time, paying for the actions of others.
Then there have been the long delays in receiving their personal correspondence including mail coming from the Cuban diplomats in Washington DC. Then there has been the constant manipulation in granting of the visas to their families to visit them regularly. The worst of this violation has been the total denial for a decade of any visits for Adriana Perez and Olga Salanueva, wives of Gerardo and Rene.
This is how we arrive at September 12th, 2009, four thousand days from that infamous date when our five brothers were incarcerated. In about a month three of them, Ramón, Antonio and Fernando, will be resentenced. Meanwhile the sentences of Gerardo and René remain untouched. Rene has already served 85% of his sentence and the sentence of Gerardo remains standing without proof of any wrongdoing.
Since their arrest the defense lawyers have been fighting a permanent battle looking for justice despite the delays and shameful refusal by the US Supreme Court to review the case.
We will never accept this upside down world, where confessed criminals like Luis Posada Carriles enjoys total immunity and freedom (while people in Cuba still mourn their actions) and five dignified Cubans, who risked their lives to save others, continue in prison.
No words are needed to accompany the image of Antonio’s shirt that we show in this communication, the image speaks for itself. Instead of his name on that shirt we would rather see the name of Posada Carriles, Orlando Bosch, José Basulto, Carlos Alberto Montaner or Guillermo Novo Sampoll. Those are the ones, and their terrorist organizations, that constitute the real danger for the national stability and security of our peoples.
We can never believe in the promised “change” of the new US administration towards Latin America until this colossal injustice is reversed. In this new period of international solidarity with the Five, we join with more indignation and renewed strength with the Cuban people and thousands of others from all over the world to demand with all of our collective might; FREEDOM NOW!!!
