News
UK and Canadian unions pressure Obama on the Five
03/09/2010
A strong message in support of the campaign for justice for the Miami Five and their families was delivered to President Obama this week.
Three union leaders from Canada and the UK, collectively representing three million workers, sent a joint letter to the US president calling for visitation rights for family members and a reveiw of their convictions.
The letter signed by Tony Woodley, Joint General Secretary of Unite the Union, Ken Neumann, National Director for Canada of the USW, and Wayne Hanley, National President, UFCW-Canada is reprinted below:
September 2, 2010
President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Dear President Obama:
Re: Cuban Five Held in US Prisons
We are Union leaders from Canada and the United Kingdom and collectively represent over three million working men and women.
We have come together with workers, social justice and community organizations and individuals to add our voices to the voices of justice seeking people from around the world calling for the immediate release of five men currently being held in U.S. federal prisons – René González, Antonio Guerrero, Ramón Labañino, Fernando González and Gerardo Hernandez.
These five men were arrested in Miami, Florida in September of 1998 and charged with 26 counts of violating the federal laws of the United States.
Twenty-four of those charges were relatively minor and technical offenses. None of the charges involved violence in the U.S., the use of weapons, nor property damage. The mission of these men was not to obtain military secrets, as was charged, but rather to monitor and report planned terrorist attacks that were directed against the people of Cuba.
In addition to suffering unfair imprisonment, two of the Five, Gerardo Hernandez and Rene Gonzales, have been denied their basic human rights. They have not been allowed to receive visits from their wives. Adriana Perez has not seen her
husband for 12 years and Olga Salanueva who has not seen her husband for 9 years.
Gerardo is experiencing health issues, including high blood pressure. In April he requested a medical appointment, but was not seen by a doctor until July 20th, three months later. Currently there is a bacterium circulating through the prison where he is being held, with some cases being serious. The doctor had prescribed a blood test for Gerardo, but instead of receiving it he was abruptly taken to the ‘hole’ and held there for 13 days, until August 3rd.
This harassment of Gerardo takes place at a critical time. He is preparing his Habeas Corpus. It is alarming to note that despite being a model prisoner, this is the third time that Gerardo has found himself in the ‘hole’ while preparing for
an appeal.
The arrest, prosecution and treatment of these five innocent men, for their courageous attempt to stop terror, is not only unjust, but exposes the hypocrisy of the U.S. claim to oppose terrorism.
All of us meeting in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on August 8, 2010 request that you take steps to ensure that:
- Gerardo Hernandez receives urgent access to medical attention, and is able to properly prepare for his legal appeals without harassment;
- Gerardo Hernandez and René González are allowed visits by their wives Adriana Perez and Olga Salanueva; and
- The cases of all five men are reviewed, with a view to their release.
Sincerely yours,
Ken Neumann
National Director for Canada, USW
Tony Woodley
Joint General Secretary, UNITE
Wayne Hanley
National President, UFCW-Canada
cc: David Cameron, Prime Minister of Britain
Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada
Hilary Clinton, Secretary of State, U.S. Department of State
Eric Holder, Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice
Leo Gerard, International President, USW
Support the US Embassy Vigil for the Five on Tuesday 19 October 2010
U.S. denies `Cuban Five' prisoner swap
02/09/2010
The State Department said reports of a possible U.S.-Cuba spy swap are flat-out wrong.BY JUAN O. TAMAYO
The U.S. State Department Thursday flatly denied reports that the Obama administration is considering swapping the ``Cuban Five'' spies in U.S. prisons for a U.S. government subcontractor jailed in Havana.The denial came a day after Cuban-Americans in Congress expressed concern over reports of a deal to free Alan Gross, held without charges since his arrest in Havana on Dec. 3.
``The United States is NOT considering the release of any member of the Cuban Five in exchange for Alan Gross,'' Mark Toner, director of the State Department's press office, wrote in a statement e-mailed to El Nuevo Herald on Thursday.
``We are committed to using every possible diplomatic channel to press for Mr. Gross's release, but we will not consider a `prisoner swap,' '' Toner added. ``We continue to urge the Cuban Government to release Alan Gross immediately.''
In letters Wednesday to the Departments of State and Justice, the five Cuban-Americans in Congress wrote that they were ``seriously concerned about increasing reports that the Administration is conducting negotiations with the Castro regime'' for a swap.
``The U.S. must be careful not to telegraph to rogue regimes that they may be able to successfully extort our government by abducting innocent Americans,'' said South Florida Republican Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Lincoln and Mario Diaz Balart and New Jersey Democrats Sen. Bob Menendez and Rep. Albio Sires.
They noted that one of the ``Cuban Five'' convicted in Miami in 2001 was found guilty of playing a role in Cuba's shootdown of two Brothers to the Rescue planes in 1996 that killed four South Floridians.
``We would hope that these reports are unfounded. However, if they are accurate, we respectfully ask . . . that you immediately cease such efforts,'' they added.
Cuba has long demanded the release of its five spies, who are serving sentences of 15 years to life, and ruler Raúl Castro in April of 2009 offered to exchange them for the island's political prisoners.
But rumblings of a possible swap began spreading after the arrest of Gross, a U.S. Agency for International Development subcontractor who delivered satellite communications equipment to Jewish groups in Cuba. No charges have been filed against Gross.
Former Cuban ruler Fidel Castro lent credibility to the rumblings when he declared on July 26 that the release of the five ``is very close . . . very much before the end of the year.'' He repeated his prediction a week later, saying, ``There's no guess work here.''
But the rumblings spiked again when New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a Democrat close to the Obama administration, visited Cuba Aug. 22-27 for what his office described as a trade-promotion mission. Several Cuba blogs speculated that he would try to broker a swap.
Richardson won the release of three Cuban political prisoners after a visit in 1996, and has negotiated the release of U.S. citizens held in North Korea, Iraq and Sudan.
Full story from Miami Herald
Support the US Embassy Vigil for the Five in London on Tuesday 19 October 2010
Vigil for the Five - 19 October 2010
02/09/2010
Free the Miami Five – justice for them and their families
US Embassy Candlelit VigilTuesday 19 October 2010, 6pm-7.30pm
US Embassy, Grosvenor Square, London (Bond St tube)
with special guests from Cuba
Irma González Salanueva - daughter of Miami 5 prisoner René González
Tom Goldstein – Supreme Court lawyer for the Five
plus speakers from the trade union and labour movement and celebrity supporters including: Tony Woodley (Unite), Tony Benn, Angela Smith (Chair of APPG on Cuba), Bob Crow (RMT), Christine Blower (NUT) and others
Bring candles to this peaceful vigil for the Five and their families to mark the 12th year of their unjust imprisonment.
Please mobilising for this vigil today. If you can help distribute electronic and paper publicity to your friends and collegues please contact communications@cuba-solidarity.org.uk or call 020 8800 0155
www.cuba-solidarity.org.uk
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The Miami 5 - Jailed for fighting terrorism
The Miami Five have been unjustly imprisoned in US jails since 1998 for trying to stop terrorist attacks against Cuba. The United Nations, Amnesty International and numerous legal, religious and human rights organisations have questioned the fairness of their trial and long sentences, and condemned the US government’s persistent refusal to grant visas to allow two of their wives to visit.
What did they do?
For more than 40 years, right wing Cuban exile groups based in Miami have killed almost 3,500 people in terrorist attacks against Cuba,
To save lives, Cuba sent five men to Miami to infiltrate and monitor the groups. At the request of the US government, this information was passed to the FBI in 1998.
But instead of arresting the terrorists, the FBI used the information to identify and arrest the Five anti-terrorists on September 12, 1998 in Miami and charged them with spying and conspiracy. Two of the prisoners wives, Olga Salanueva and Adriana Pérez, have been refused visas ten times and have not seen their husbands for 10 and 12 years.
FREE THE FIVE - Join the vigil on Tuesday 19 October at the US Embassy