The International Relations Commission of the National Assembly of the Peoples’ Power of the Republic of Cuba calls on the Commissions for Human Rights and International Relations, Parliamentary Groups of Friendship with Cuba and all parliamentarians of the world to participate in the PARLIAMENTARY DEBATE FORUM An Injustice that has Already Gone on for 12 Years to be held next March 18, 2010, from 09:00 to 12:00 at http://foro.jovenclub.cu/
For the last 12 years, five Cubans - Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labańino, Fernando González, Antonio Guerrero and René González – have been serving long and unjust sentences in American prisons for the sole crime of defending Cuba from the actions of terrorist groups based in the United States.
Their legal process has been going on for 10 years without justice having been served, in spite of the fact that both the Atlanta Appeals Court and the very Miami Court that tried them have recognized that none of them have harmed the national security of the United States.
During all these years, they have endured many legal and human rights violations: solitary confinement on various occasions without justified cause, delays in authorizing visas for their families thus resulting that in most cases they have only been allowed one visit per year on average, and the reiterated and systematic denial of visas by the United States government to Olga Salanueva and Adriana Pérez, the wives of René González and Gerardo Hernández, respectively.
During these years, there have been numerous statements made demanding freedom for the Cuban Five. Parliaments, hundreds of parliamentarians, prestigious legal, religious and human rights organizations, as well as government leaders and notable personalities the world over, including 10 Nobel Prize laureates, have asked for their freedom.
Up until this moment, these demands have been ignored. In June of 2009, the United States Supreme Court announced, without any explanations, its decision to not review the case of the Cuban Five: this means that the legal resources for their case have now been used up.
After 12 years of prison, it is time that the Obama Administration feels the full weight of international demands and puts an end to the injustice and suffering of these five men and their families.
The International Relations Commission of the Cuban Parliament calls upon all parliamentarians of the world so that through this Forum we build another space for proposals and concrete actions directed at the United States government and Congress, to demand that their president releases these five Cuban anti-terrorists and grants visas to Olga Salanueva and Adriana Pérez, in order to put an end to what Amnesty International describes as “unnecessary punishment that goes against both the norms for the humane treatment of the prisoners, and the obligation of countries to protect family life”.
