International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban Five
4/7/2009
A resolution in support of the Cuban Five political prisoners in the United States was passed at the Richmond City Council meeting on Tuesday April 7th by a 7 to 0 vote. The initiative was introduced by Mayor Gayle McLaughlin and co-sponsored by Councilwoman Maria Viramontes.
Richmond sits on the northern part of the San Francisco Bay. It is a multicultural, multiracial city with a population of more than 100,000 people. African Americans and Latinos account for a majority of its residents.
The resolution calls for President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to consider the violation of international covenants and due process for a fair trial associated with the conviction and imprisonment of the Cuban Five. It also calls for the pardon and release of the Cuban Five to their homeland as well as the immediate granting of humanitarian visas to Olga Salanueva and Adriana Perez (wives of two of the Cuban Five) to visit their husbands in prison.
Despite the lack of diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba, citizens of Richmond have a long history of fraternal relations with Cuba through its Regla Cuba/Richmond Sister City project.
In 2007 Mayor Gayle McLaughlin spearheaded a campaign in support of the right of family visits for the Cuban Five and together with 12 other California Mayors sent a letter to then US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales asking him to grant humanitarian visas to relatives of the Cuban Five.
The City of Richmond’s resolution joins together with thousands of supporters, including 5 Presidents from Latin America, 10 Nobel Prize winners, intellectuals, religious leaders, union leaders, legal and human rights organizations, artists, members of parliaments and people from all over the world who are asking the US government to immediately release the Cuban Five.
At the same time of the passage of this resolution, hundreds of people from all over the world are making phone calls and sending letters and faxes to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano to ask them to grant visas to Adriana Perez and Olga Salanueva to visit their imprisoned husbands who they have not been allowed to see for over 10 years.
The Mayor of Richmond and other personalities have also sent individual letters to both Clinton and Napolitano asking them to grant visas to Perez and Salanueva including the Vice President of the Mexican Senate Yeidckol Polevnsky Gurwitz, former California Congressman Esteban Torres, the President of the William C. Velásquez Institute Antonio Gonzalez, former Bishop of Detroit Thomas Gumbleton, the president of the National Lawyers Guild Marjorie Cohn, the Dean of St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral Spenser D. Simrill, the Director of Project Censored Peter Phillips, and writers Piero Gleijeses, Arnold August and James Cockcroft.
The resolution of the Richmond City Council will hopefully pave the way for other elected officials to support the release of the Cuban Five as a basic gesture of justice and a step towards normalization of relations between the US and Cuba.
The official resolution of the Richmond City Council will be available soon at the City of Richmond website http://www.ci.richmond.ca.us/index.asp?NID=151
Whereas, Ramon Labañino, Rene Gonzalez, Fernando Gonzalez, Antonio Guerrero and Gerardo Hernandez known as the “Cuban Five” were arrested in Miami, Florida in September of 1998 and charged with 26 counts of violating federal laws of the United States, 24 of those charges were technical and minor offenses, none of the charges reflected violence against the United States, use of weapons, property damage, nor threatened or killed any person or transferred U.S. Government documents or classified material; they are serving four life time sentences and 77 years in U.S. prisons collectively;
Whereas, the “Cuban Five” had a mission to infiltrate and monitor the activities of terrorist and criminal groups operating in Miami and report planned threats against the Cuban people and government of Cuba. More than 3,000 Cuban citizens have lost their lives due to this terrorism over decades including the explosion of a bomb mid air killing 73 passengers of Cubana Airlines on October 6, 1976, which Orlando Bosch and Luis Posada Carriles of Miami have been suspects. In 1990, President Bush Senior pardoned Orlando Bosch and the United States government continues to protect Luis Posada Carriles from extradition for trial as required by international covenant;
Whereas, the arrest of the “Cuban Five” took place shortly after the Cuban government shared information with the United States government authorities concerning terrorist actions against Cuba being planned from Miami;
Whereas, upon arrest in 1998, the “Cuban Five” spent 17 months in solitary confinement and in 2003 one month in the “hole” under isolated and terrible conditions.
Whereas, in August 2005, the 11th Circuit three-judge panel unanimously overturned all the “Cuban Five’s” convictions and ordered a new trial citing it was impossible for the Cuban Five to receive a fair trial in Miami due to various Cuban exile groups and paramilitary camps that operate in the Miami area.
Whereas, three retired Generals and a retired Admiral of the United States army testified at the trial that the “Cuban Five” were not a threat to the United States National Security.
Whereas, Alberto Gonzales, directly intervened on the U.S. governments behalf to set aside the 11th Circuit three judge panel opinions.
Whereas, in June 2008, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the guilty verdict and the panel ratified the sentences of Rene Gonzalez and Gerardo Hernandez. In the cases of Ramon Labanino, Antonio Guerrero, and Fernando Gonzalez, they were sent back for re-sentencing in the same court that convicted them in Miami.
Whereas, on May 27, 2005, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions found the detention of the “Cuban Five” to be in “contravention of article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights”, and requested that the United States Government adopt the necessary steps to remedy the situation, in conformity with the principles stated in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights;
Whereas, Amnesty International has condemned the inhuman treatment of the “Cuban Five”, by the United States refusal and/or severe limitation of visas for family visitations since 1998;
Therefore be it resolved that the City of Richmond calls for President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to consider the violation of International Covenant and due process for fair trial associated with the conviction and imprisonment of the Cuban Five; seek diplomatic improvement in the relationship between the United States and Cuba; and calls for pardon and release of the Cuban Five to their homeland, in respect for information provided to the United States Government to protect us and others from acts of terrorism and consideration of time served in prison since 1998 for violations of United States federal law;
Be it further resolved, as long as these men remain in prison, the government of the United States allow the right of regular visits, as per international law, for all of the prisoners’ relatives, including the immediate granting of humanitarian visas to Olga Salanueva and Adriana Perez to visit their husbands in prison;
Be it finally resolved that this resolution shall be sent to President Obama of the United States, United States Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, the Attorney General, United States Senators Boxer and Feinstein, Congressional members Miller and Tauscher, State Senate members Hancock and De Sauliner and Assembly members Torlakson and Skinner.
