WHO ARE THE CUBAN FIVE

• VOICES OF SUPPORT
• THE CASE
• DENIALS OF FAMILY VISITS
• MEDIA COVERAGE
• ACT NOW

DENIALS OF FAMILY VISITS

AN ADDITIONAL PUNISHMENT

On top of the unjust sentences being served by Five Cuban nationals imprisoned in the United States, another punishment has been added to them and that is the denial of regular contact with their family members. During 2007 the US government has granted visas only to two of the family members of these five men. For 18 months these families have been waiting for word about when and if they can travel to visit their sons, fathers or husbands.

In the last two years Ramon Labañino has not received any family visits including his two young daughters. During the month of January, his older daughter came to visit him but because the prison was in lockdown for more than a month, she had to return to Cuba without seen her father. On September 12th, 2007, his wife Elizabeth Palmeiro went to the US Interest Section in Havana for an interview and to this day has not been granted a visa to visit her husband.

The most extreme situation is that of the wives of René Gonzalez and Gerardo Hernandez.  

On September 12th, 2007, the US State Department communicated to Cuban citizens Olga Salanueva and Adriana Pérez that their requests for a visa to visit their husbands René González and Gerardo Hernández, incarcerated in U.S. prisons since September 12th, 1998, were denied. 

The US authorities used the argument that both women were linked to alleged espionage activities under the Section 212(a)(3)(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. In Olga's case they also referred to Section 212(a)(9)(A)(I) related to deportation.

This is the eight time since 2002 the U.S. Government has denied visas to Olga Salanueva and Adriana Pérez.
 
The United States Government can not accuse both women of espionage because even their husbands weren't.

There is also a strange element of cruelty for them to be called to the US Interest Section in Havana on September 12, the very day that their husbands completed nine years of their unjust imprisonment.