Thursday, September 9, 2010

Fwd: [bangla-vision] INVITATION TO DENOUNCE XII ANIVERSARY OF FIVE HEROES IN US JAILS



---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Oficina Politica <cancilleria@vsnl.net>
Date: Thu, Sep 9, 2010 at 1:19 PM
Subject: [bangla-vision] INVITATION TO DENOUNCE XII ANIVERSARY OF FIVE HEROES IN US JAILS


 

             

            Embassy

of the Republic of Cuba

 

New Delhi, September 09th,  2010

 

                                                                 

Dear friends,

 

The Indian National Committee of Solidarity with Cuba in cooperation with the Embassy of Cuba has the pleasure to invite you to a function to denounce the XII Anniversary of unjust imprisonment of the Cuban Five:

 

Venue: In the framework of India International Art Fair, 2010, at Pragati Maidan New Delhi, Hall No 14 from 9th -12th September, 2010.

Date:  Sunday September 12.

Hour:  15:00 hours

Function: Launching of Antonio Guerrero´s second edition poem book  in hindi "From my Altitude".  A sample of his paintings will also be on display.

 

           An important update of Cuban Heroes situation is attached. Due to the importance of the function and the information contained in these documents they can be resent, copied or published.

 

               The Embassy of Cuba would be very thankful of your presence.

 

            Best regards,

 

  Press Section

Cuban Embassy

 

Eduardo E. Iglesias Quintana

Minister Counsellor

Embassy of the Republic of Cuba in India
tel: 2924 2467/68, 2924 2370   fax: :2924 2369

Mobile: 9899491822
email: cancilleria@vsnl.net; web: http://embacuba.cubaminrex.cu/indiaing

    The Cuban Five will return!!!

 

AN UPDATE OF CUBAN FIVE HEROES SITUATION SEPTEMBER 2010

International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban 5
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

END THE INJUSTICE, FREEDOM NOW!

This September 12th will mark the twelfth anniversary of the unjust imprisonment of Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon Labañino, Rene Gonzalez, Antonio Guerrero and Fernando Gonzalez, our five brothers who are political prisoners in the United States for fighting against terrorism.

Twelve years in which Gerardo, Ramon and Antonio have served over a decade of time in high security prisons. Twelve years where Rene and Gerardo were unable to see their wives. Twelve years where the Five have been forced into isolation cells for more than 635 days.

Twelve years of pain for five Cuban families who have seen their children grow up without the presence of their fathers. Twelve years of having to say goodbye to their loved ones without the embrace of their children. Twelve years of not knowing when they will receive the next "blessed authorization" to see their relatives again.

Twelve years of shame for the justice of a country that pretends by lecturing the world about human rights.

The International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban Five joins with others in the international effort which starts on September 12 and extends to October 8, the date of the death in combat of Che, as part of the ongoing battle for truth, justice and the freedom of the Five.

During this time, the world will be reminded that on September 21, 1976, the former foreign minister of Chile, Orlando Letelier and his North American secretary Ronnie Moffitt, were assassinated in Washington DC. Also during this time, it will be remembered what happened on October 6, 34 years ago when a plane was blown up in mid-air over the coast of Barbados killing 73 innocent people on board. Those who confessed to this heinous crime, Orlando Bosch and Luis Posada Carriles, today enjoy privileges awarded by the US government and are free to walk the streets of Miami as honorable citizens instead of the international criminals that they are.

Today, September 4, on the thirteenth anniversary of the death of Fabio Di Celmo, a young Italian tourist who died from a bomb blast that was planted in a Cuban hotel by order of the same Luis Posada Carriles, we join with people from around the world in all their initiatives and activities from September 12 - October 8.

On behalf of the memory of Fabio, of the victims of Barbados, and of all of those who have suffered death and wounds by the actions of terrorist groups based in Miami.

And on behalf of all peoples right to live in peace, we raise our voices, along with honest men and women from all over the world to renew our commitment, to multiply our efforts, day by day, step by step, so that together we can achieve the return of the Cuban Five to their families and their homeland.

We demand President Obama to put an end to this injustice and order the freedom of the Five Cuban Patriots Now!

Twelfth anniversary of the unjust imprisonment of the Cuban Five approaches

Sept. 12 will mark the 12th anniversary of the unjust imprisonment of the Cuban Five, and the beginning of their 13th year behind bars. To mark this occasion, and to increase the volume of the worldwide demand to free the Five, actions have been scheduled around the world for the days surrounding Sept. 12. In the United States, we know of actions in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Austin, and Albuquerque. Other countries with planned activities include Argentina, Peru, Namibia, Canada, and Italy.

Please check the calendar for details of these events, and, if you have an event scheduled that isn't listed, please let us know by filling out the online form. And if you haven't scheduled an event in your city, there's still time to do so! It's more important than ever that we keep the call to Free the Five before the public, worldwide.

Desde mi Altura, the exhibition of art work by Cuban Five hero Antonio Guerrero, continues to make people aware of the case of the Five. On Sept. 3 the show opens for the first time in New York City, where it will remain for a month. If you are in the New York area, plan to attend the grand opening, and encourage your friends to see this magnificent art.

GRANMA INTERNATIONAL

Havana. August 4, 2010


Informative note


YESTERDAY morning, August 3, Gerardo Hernández Nordelo, hero of the Republic of Cuba, spoke by telephone with his wife, Adriana Pérez O'Connor and informed her that, in the afternoon of August 2 he had been moved from isolation, where he was placed on July 21, to the general population area of the prison where he is serving his unjust sentence.

On Monday afternoon (August 2), the State Department informed the Cuban government of his transfer.


Adriana said that she found him in good spirits and with high morale during the telephone conversation.


On behalf of the Cuban people, we express our gratitude for all of the demonstrations of support and solidarity shown by the many organizations and people of good will who demanded an end to this cruel and inhuman treatment. We will continue the struggle until justice is done and the Five return to their homeland.


PEOPLE'S WORLD: A plea for Gerardo Hernandez

Wed Aug 4, 2010

On their arrest in 1998, Gerardo Hernandez and four other Cuban Five prisoners spent 17 months in solitary confinement. They voluntarily gave up family and homeland to defend Cuba against terrorist attacks from Florida. Despite an appeals court invalidation of their trial as biased, subsequent appeals court rulings have kept them in jail for almost 12 years.

Gerardo's is a special case. Midway during his trial, U.S. prosecutors charged him with conspiracy to commit murder, alleging he informed Cuban authorities in 1996 that Brothers to the Rescue planes were heading toward Cuba, later to be shot down. But the Cuban government knew because Cuban radar showed the planes taking off from Florida, not because of Gerardo. According to appeals lawyer Leonard Weinglass, Hernandez "is the first person in U.S. history to be charged for the shoot-down of an aircraft by the armed forces of another country." Conviction on that count led to a second life sentence.

The U.S. government has prevented Gerardo's wife Adriana Perez and Olga Salenueva, wife of prisoner Rene Gonzalez, from visiting their husbands in jail.

From July 21 through August 3, jailers at Victorville Federal Prison in California confined Gerardo to the "hole," a punishment cell measuring 7 feet by 3 feet that he shared with another prisoner. He has no record of disciplinary violations. He ended up there following an FBI visit to the prison.

He was unable to confer with lawyers, make telephone calls, or write letters. He was deprived of wristwatch, portable radio, toilet supplies, and reading material. The temperature in his tiny cell hovered around 95 degrees. Ventilation was minimal.

Hernandez sought medical attention in April, but no doctor examined him until July 20. He suffers from high blood pressure and an unspecified bacterial infection. In the "hole" he was unable to take medications.

This is the third time confinement to a punishment cell coincided with an upcoming judicial appeal. This time, he was unable to collaborate with lawyers in preparing a habeas corpus appeal.

"That's equivalent to torture," Cuban National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcon told delegates on July 31. He called for protests to the U.S. Congress, human rights defenders, and opponents of U.S. aggression against Cuba. Alarcon urged worldwide actions on behalf of Gerardo Hernandez.

Hernandez was released from the "hole" yesterday, following protests from his attorneys and a letter and e-mail campaign on his behalf. His release was preceded by attorneys Leonard Weinglass and Peter Schey visiting the prison. Having found Hernandez all but overcome by the heat, Weinglass reported, "We sent a five-page letter to the prison containing all the errors that they made in putting him in isolation. The letter outlined their own regulations that they violated." An outpouring of international solidarity influenced the outcome, say observers.

Vulnerability of Hernandez and the other four prisoners to maltreatment makes it essential to put efforts to free the Cuban Five on a campaign footing. Public awareness of their case remains low. And Gerardo Hernandez warrants his own campaign. He alone of the Five still carries a life sentence, two prisoners last year having been resentenced. Plus he's the target of extra cruelty.

The Cuban Five have gained a following because of who they are: people who acted according to principle. Their example of sacrifice and devotion to a higher cause will not soon fade. They were defending their people's national independence and socialist revolution.

John Brown also ended up in state hands because he acted for justice and equality. His small band's attempted seizure of a federal munitions depot was intended as a first step toward revolt by slaves, and freedom. Weeks before Brown's execution in 1859, Henry Thoreau delivered his "Plea for Captain John Brown" in Concord, Mass. John Brown, he stated, "did not value his bodily life in comparison with ideal things. He did not recognize unjust human laws, but resisted them as he was bid."

"No man in America has ever stood up so persistently and effectively for the dignity of human nature," Thoreau said.

These are words fit for the Cuban Five. Their hold on our imagination gains strength. They will never be as famous in the United States as John Brown, and their struggle is entirely different, but they and he put ideals and ethics first. In the case of Gerardo Hernandez, the juxtaposition of persecution and principled action demands extra efforts.

Message from Gerardo Hernández Nordelo

August 3, 2010

This Wednesday morning, Adriana Pérez, the wife of the Cuban hero Gerardo Hernández, a political prisoner in the United States, received the following message from him, via the U.S. International Committee to Free the Cuban Five.

Dear brothers and sisters:

I hope to dictate these words over the telephone, which means I have to be brief and in addition, I will not be able to tell you everything that I want to, so as not have the communication cut. Yesterday they took me out of "the hole" with the same speed with which they had placed me in it. They had taken me there supposedly under investigation. These investigations can last 3 months, sometimes more, but I was there for 13 days. As a well-known Cuban journalist would say: draw you own conclusions…

I would like to express my profound gratitude to you. You know that those were particularly difficult days due to excessive heat and lack of air, but you were my oxygen. I cannot find a better way of summarizing the tremendous importance of your solidarity efforts. Many thanks to all the compañeros and compañeras of Cuba and the world who joined forces to condemn my situation. And to the institutions, organizations and persons of goodwill who, in one way or another, tried to bring that injustice to an end.

To our President Raúl, who so much honors us with his support. To the Cuban Parliament and its President Ricardo Alarcón, an untiring fighter for the cause of the Five. To my 4 brothers, who sent me their messages of encouragement, and who have suffered and live with the constant danger of suffering similar abuses once again. And of course, to our beloved Comandante en Jefe: Thank you for so much honor! (I don't know if I should say this, but just the privilege pf hearing my name in the voice of Fidel gives me a desire to also thank those who sent me to "the hole"…)

Thank you, Comandante, for the joy of hearing you and seeing you as great as ever!

My thanks to everybody for having once again demonstrated the power of that solidarity which also, without any doubt, some day, will set us free!

¡La lucha continúa!

A warm embrace,

Gerardo Hernández Nordelo,

USP Victorville, CA

 Visiting Gerardo in prison  

   By Danny Glover and Saul Landau 

  Wednesday, 18 August 2010 11:46

 

 

Imagen - Antiterroristas.cuFrom the Ontario California airport some 60 miles east of downtown Los Angeles we drove north on Highway 15, the road to Las Vegas. Cars with expectant amateur gamblers and loaded big rigs climb and descend the mountains where the Angeles and San Bernadino National Forests meet.

 

To the east lies the high desert, some 4,000 feet above sea level. Amidst junipers, Joshua trees and sagebrush we turn off from the man-made freeway to the jesters creation of a shopping mall in Hesperia where we pick up Chavela, Gerardo Hernandez older sister.

 

We pass fast food joints with chain names, nail and hair salons, tattoo parlors, gas stations and mini-marts (a drive-by of American culture) going west and then north on 395 to the six-year-old U.S. Federal Penitentiary Complex, a 630,000 square foot high-security prison (it cost $101.4 million to build); designed to cage 960 male inmates.

 

In the institutional grey Visitors Lobby a guard hands us forms with numbers on top, nods at a book to sign and eye-signals to a pile of pens. We write, hand him back the forms and sit in the gray waiting room with other visitors all black and Latino.

 

We wait for twenty minutes. A guard calls our number. We empty our pockets except for money. We pass through a sensitive airport-type screening machine, pick up our belts and eyeglasses that have gone through X-ray, and extend our inner forearms for stamping by another uniformed guard. Two black women and an elderly Latino couple get the same treatment. We exchange nervous smiles. Visitors in a strange land!

 

He passes our IDs through a drawer connected to another sealed room on the opposite side of a thick plastic window. A guard there checks the documents and pushes buttons to open a heavy metal door. The group enters an outdoor passage. Blinding, late-morning sun and desert heat shocks our bodies after the air-conditioned chambers. We wait. A guard confers through a small slit in the door of the building housing the inmates gun towers on each side; masses of rolled barbed wire covering the tops of concrete walls.

 

We wait, get hot, then enter another air-cooled chamber; finally, a door opens into the visitor room. A guard assigns us a tiny plastic table surrounded by 3 three cheap plastic chairs, on one side (for us) and one on the other for Gerardo. African American and Latino children exchange places on their fathers laps as daddies in khaki prison overalls chat with their wives.

 

Chavela spots him 20 minutes later, waving and bouncing across the room smiling. Chavela, almost crying, says, Hes lost weight. He seems the same weight as when (Saul Landau) saw him in the Spring. Gerardo hugs and kisses his sister, embraces Saul and then Danny, thanking him for his efforts to spring him from the hole, where he spent 13 days in late July and early August.

 

Gerardo informs us that two FBI agents investigating an incident unrelated to this case had questioned him in prison. Right after, prison authorities tossed Gerardo into the hole, although there existed no evidence, logic or common sense that could possibly have implicated him into the alleged unrelated incident. The temperatures inside the hole rose to the high nineties. I had to use my drinking water to keep me cool, pouring it on head, Gerardo told us. It didnt help my high blood pressure. I couldnt even take my medicine. But, I think, thanks to the thousands of phone calls and letters from people everywhere, they let me out.

 

Chavela kept bringing junk food to the table the only kind available from the vending machines. We nibbled compulsively while Gerardo told about living in a sweatbox for almost two weeks. No air circulated in there, he laughed, as if to say no big deal.

 

We talked about Cuba. He kept up on the news, reading, watching TV -- and from visitors who informed him. He felt encouraged by steps President Raul Castro had taken to deal with the crisis. He had watched, on the prison television, parts of Fidel's speech and the questions and answers at the Cuban National Assembly Meeting. I saw Adriana [his wife], who sat in the audience. His smile faded. You know whats painful. Shes 40 and Im 45. We dont have that much time to have a family together. The United States wont even give her a visa to visit me. Shes behaved with such courage and dignity throughout this ordeal.

 

Gerardo Hernandez, one of the Cuban 5, is serving two life sentences for conspiracy to commit espionage and aiding and abetting murder. Prosecutors presented no evidence of espionage at the Miami trial. The aiding and abetting charge presumed evidence, not shown, that Gerardo sent flight details to Cuba of the Brothers to the Rescue planes shot down by Cuban MIGs in February 1996 -- which he did not. The charge also assumed that he knew of secret Cuban government orders to shoot them down, also not true.

 

The 5 men monitored and reported on Cuban exile terrorists in Miami who had plotted bombings and assassinations in Cuba. Cuba then shared this information with the FBI. Larry Wilkerson (retired army Colonel and Secretary of State Colin Powells former Chief of Staff) compared the 5s chance of getting a fair trial in Miami to an accused Israelis chance of justice in Teheran.

 

We sipped cloyingly sweet, bottled, iced tea. Chavela brought more potato chips.

 

Gerardo, reanimated the mood by recalling an incident when in the 1980s, as a Lieutenant in Cabinda, Angola, he had escorted top Cuban officers to a dinner-party with visiting Soviet brass. I told my Colonel I had memorized a short Mayakovsky poem in Russian (from his school classes) and could recite it to the Soviet officers.

 

He recited the poem to us in Russian. We applauded. He smiled. They were roasting a pig and had bottles of booze, a party.

 

I recited the poem. The Soviet Colonel hugged me, kissed me on both cheeks -- very emotional. I had to repeat my performance for the other officers. Finally, the Cuban Colonel told me Id milked the scene long enough and I left.

 

Two hours passed quickly. We waited for the guards to let us out. Gerardo stood at attention against a wall near the cellblock door next to another prisoner. We gave him a fist salute. He returned it. His sister blew a kiss. He grinned reassuringly as if to remind us. Stay strong.

 

Danny Glover is an activist and an actor. Saul Landau is an Institute for Policy Studies fellow.

 

 

 

  

Previous Backgraound

 

DECLARATION OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF PEOPLE'S POWER

 

Since Wednesday, 21st of July, Gerardo Hernández Nordelo has been in "the hole" again; this time in conditions so harsh that his health and physical integrity are being seriously affected.

He is locked in a minimum-space punishment cell with no ventilation that he shares with another prisoner, withstanding temperatures above 100°F, with no contact permitted with the outside world.

In this action against our comrade took part FBI officials that made it clear that Gerardo is confined by a decision of that agency.

Throughout the long process against the Five Cubans, US Federal authorities have employed similar methods to impede their defense and obstruct justice. On the eve of each of their appeals, our comrades were isolated in "the hole" to make it impossible to communicate with their attorneys. History is now repeating itself when Gerardo has filed a habeas corpus, the last legal resource remaining to him in the U.S. system that unjustly convicted him and imposed the barbaric sentence of two life terms plus 15 years in prison. For the twelve years since his arrest, the U.S. authorities have banned his wife, Adriana Perez Oconor, from visiting him.

Gerardo has maintained his indomitable courage, his unyielding will, his optimism and his belief in victory. He is a young man, just turned 45, but twelve years of imprisonment in conditions of extreme cruelty have begun to seriously affect his health. He suffers various ailments that are not addressed, causing deep concern.

Since April Gerardo had been trying, unsuccessfully, to be seen by a prison doctor. This did not happen until Tuesday, July 20, when he was diagnosed with two serious problems and the need for additional exams was determined. But the next day Gerardo was not sent to the hospital, but instead was locked in a brutal punishment cell. Since then he has not seen the doctor nor received any sort of treatment.

This situation must cease immediately.

We hold the U.S. Government responsible for the health and physical integrity of Gerardo Hernández Nordelo.

Let us, one and all, raise our voices to save Gerardo, a hero, an innocent who deserves to live in freedom.

National Assembly of the People's Power of the Republic of Cuba.

August 1st 2010

 

Emergency Appeal for Gerardo Hernandez

International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban 5


ACT NOW!


For Over A Week Gerardo Hernandez Nordelo Has Been Held In The Hole At Victorville Prison Without Committing Any Infraction.


Once Again the US government has imposed another cruel punishment against Gerardo Hernandez, one of the Cuban 5 imprisoned in the US for fighting against terrorism.


On July 21st, without committing any infraction, Gerardo was taken to the hole. The hole is an inhumane windowless space of 7 x 3 feet reserved for prisoners who the prison authorities, for what ever reason, want to isolate. Gerardo is sharing this small space with another prisoner and there is very little ventilation because the air comes from just a small vent on the top of a wall. Temperatures in Victorville are running as high as 105 degrees now and in the space of this tiny cell it is around 95 degrees. He is not allowed to take a shower and is being taken outside in a cage only one hour every other day. Gerardo has been seen by his sister Isabel through a glass with a phone.


Although Gerardo is still young, 12 years of living in high security penitentiaries is taking its toll and recently Gerardo began experiencing some health issues including high blood pressure.  In April he requested a medical appointment and finally on July 20, three months later, he was seen by a doctor. Currently there is a bacterium that is circulating through the prison with some of those cases being serious. The doctor had prescribed a blood test for Gerardo but instead of receiving that he was abruptly taken to the hole the next day.


This new harassment against Gerardo takes place at a critical time when he is preparing his Habeas Corpus presented to the courts in June. It is alarming that this is the third time that Gerardo has found himself in the hole while preparing for an appeal.

The violations against Gerardo are endless and it has to stop immediately. During 12 years he has been denied the basic right to receive visits from his wife Adriana.


Gerardo like his four brothers is innocent and the United States knows that his only crime was to defend his country against terrorist attacks.


Instead of freeing them and sending them back to their homeland and their families, as has been demanded by the Cuban people, 10 Nobel Prize and thousands of people from all over the world, the Obama Administration has picked up where Bush left off by punishing Gerardo at every turn.


Along with the Cuban people and the international community we hold the US government responsible for the life and physical integrity of Gerardo.


It is very important for every supporter of the Cuban Five and all justice loving people who receive this message to call, fax, mail or e-mail immediately to the numbers and addresses below to demand that Gerardo be:

  • Returned immediately to the general population.
  • Receive urgent medical attention.
  • Allowed visits by his wife Adriana Perez.
  • Twitter of @BarackObama or http://twitter.com/BARACKOBAMA
  • Given space and respect as he prepares for his appeals

    US State Department
    Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
    2201 C Street, NW
    Washington, DC 20520

    Phone Number: 1-202-647-4000
    Fax Number: 1-202-647-2283

    Federal Bureau of Prisons
    Director Harley G. Lappin
    320 First St., NW,
    Washington, DC  20534

    Phone Number: 202-307-3198.
    E-mail:
    info@bop.gov

    President Barack Obama
    White House
    1600 Pennsylvania Ave, NW
    Washington, DC 20500

    Phone Number: 202-456-1111
    Fax Number: 202-456-2461.

    E-mail: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/ [

    US Justice Department
    Attorney General Eric Holder
    U.S. Department of Justice
    950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
    Washington, DC 20530-0001

    Phone Number: 202-514-2000
    Comment Line: 202-353-1555

    E-mail: AskDOJ@usdoj.gov
     
    International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban 5
    www.thecuban5.org

National Committee

Gerardo Hernández needs your help!

Within the last few days, an urgent situation has developed in the incarceration of Gerardo Hernández, who has been unjustly put in "the hole" and denied proper access to his lawyers, on top of more than two months of being denied proper medical treatment. Gerardo has also been unjustly denied visits from his wife, Adriana Pérez, since the day he was arrested nearly 12 years ago.

Leonard Weinglass, one of the attorneys on Gerardo's legal appeals team, told the Committee that he and attorney Peter Schey called the prison to arrange a visit with Gerardo for Saturday, July 31. The prison informed them they would only be allowed a visit with a glass partition between them. Even though Gerardo has an active habeas corpus appeal and it is necessary to consult properly with his attorneys, Weinglass and Schey are being denied the right to carry pencil or pen and paper with them, and are not allowed to bring their legal documents.

Weinglass said "Yesterday the temperature in Victorville was 104 degrees. Gerardo and another inmate were placed in a 8x3 foot cell without air conditoning, and yet there was an empty air-conditioned cell nearby." According to Weinglass the purported reason for Gerardo's isolation is that a letter from an unknown individual was mailed to him, which the prison claims contained an unidentified powder. Gerardo never received the letter, and yet as a result of this incident, the whole prison was put in lockdown. This mistreatment of Gerardo is completely unwarranted.

All supporters of the Cuban Five are asked to urgently contact the Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, as well as the Warden of Victorville Prison, to demand that these unjust situations be corrected immediately. We have set up a web page where you can easily send emails to them - click here to lend your voice to this urgent campaign. You may also wish to contact President Obama with the same message (contact information is at the link).

Once again in the hole despite known health problems • More than three months without medical attention.


RICARDO Alarcón, president of the National Assembly of People's Power, has condemned the new solitary confinement punishment of Gerardo Hernández Nordelo, one of the five anti-terrorist Cubans unjustly imprisoned in the United States.


Hernández was again placed in the hole on July 21 and efforts by the Cuban government to contact prison authorities and the State Department in order to clarify the situation have been unsuccessful, Alarcón informed the press at Havana's International Conference Center.


He described Gerardo's situation as serious due to the small size of the cell, one by two meters, which he is sharing with another prisoner, and which has hardly any ventilation because air can only enter through a small hole in the upper part of the wall.


The U.S. government knows that Gerardo has some physical health problems, and that he has being asking for a medical examination since this past April. He was finally given a medical appointment for July 20, during which problems requiring treatment were diagnosed.

Apparently it is a problem caused by bacteria which, according to the doctor, is circulating among the prison population, and has led to some serious cases. "We do not know if this is the case with Gerardo, because they have not done the tests, and in any event he was put in the hole the day after the medical exam."

Alarcón added that he also has blood pressure fluctuations, understandable because—while he has just turned 45—he has spent 12 years confined in harsh conditions, but despite this has retained his firm commitment.

"We are concerned about his poor health—and most of all medical treatment for him—made difficult with the hole, because the prison temperature rises to over 35 degrees Celsius," he noted.


"This is a very serious situation that we are exposing. We are following events closely and hopefully, they will be resolved today even, or tomorrow. We are making approaches through every channel and are in contact with his lawyers, but if there is no clarification, the National Assembly has to make a statement," he noted.

"Since we heard about the situation extra-officially, we have been asking for clarification from the U.S. authorities, but have not received any clarification as to what happened, or why he is being punished," Alarcón stated.

Recently, his sister Isabel saw him and confirmed his harsh prison conditions, Alarcón added, because he was brought to the visit handcuffed and with chains on his feet, and they spoke by telephone through a thick glass partition, a condition imposed on prisoners who have been sanctioned.

"We have no explanation and it caught our attention that Gerardo was summoned by various officials from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), who came to the prison and played a part in him being placed in the hole. Evidently this is not an action purely on the part of the prison," he emphasized.


"It is strange that this is the third time in this unjust incarceration of our five heroes that Gerardo has been put in the hole, just as his case is being prepared for appeal," the president of the Cuban Parliament pointed out.

"He should be working with his attorneys in drafting the basis for his habeas corpus and the U.S. government knows that.

At this point, Gerardo cannot have any contact with his attorneys, or access to correspondence. He cannot even speak on the telephone. He is completely isolated and – on top of that – in a state of his health that could endanger his ability to function, for which the U.S. government is entirely responsible.

The U.S. position with the five Cuban prisoners in its jails for nearly 12 years is a policy that promotes terrorism.

Alarcon criticized the silence and the manipulation of most important media outlets regarding the Cuban Five, as the five Cubans arrested on September 12, 1998  are known internationally.

He said that in a recent visit to Europe he had spoken of his antiterrorist countrymen in all the meetings with the press and in this regard nothing was published, he stressed.

To counteract this situation, he recommended, we must use alternative means of communication, the facilities offered by new information technologies, and all avenues of exchange between people.

Leonard Weinglass, defense attorney of Gerardo Hernandez, traveled to California on Friday to learn for himself about the real situation of his client, which we consider a very important step as part of actions taken by the Cuban government after having heard that Gerardo is again in solitary confinement in one of the cells of "the hole" at the Victorville prison, and despite being faced with health problems, he is being submitted to a severe prison conditions.

The initiative by Weinglass, one of the main attorneys in this case, also pursues other objectives like claiming the right to visit Gerardo, discuss his current situation and talk, if possible, about the habeas corpus procedure currently underway.

Alarcon considered it a moral obligation that of informing all parliamentarians, not only those in the International Relations Commission, about the situation undergone by one of the Cuban heroes as a result of new violations and arbitrary actions by the US administration in the case of the five Cuban antiterrorists, and in particular, in the case of Gerardo, who was given the hardest sentence (two life terms plus 15 years).

Gerardo was not favored by the so-called re-sentencing process; that is, his sentence was upheld and therefore, he is the only one of them still serving it in a high-security prison, said Alarcon, and went on to note that if that were not enough, he has served 12 years already, and during this time his wife Adriana Perez O'Connor has been denied a visa to travel to the US and exercise her right to visit him.

At this point in time, Gerardo and his lawyers are concentrated on the preparations for what they call in the US an Habeas Corpus procedure, an extraordinary resource, which theoretically favors any inmate, once his case has been concluded. This is the situation Gerardo is now facing, after the US Supreme Court rejected the reviewing of his case last year, Alarcon explained.

Once again, there is total silence. For this reason, Alarcon called on all deputies to consider their own contribution in support of the release of the five Cuban antiterrorist fighters, and at this particular moment, speak, share views, spread the word and denounce through all possible ways, e-mails, letters, faxes, or conversations the current situation of Gerardo Hernandez.

The information blockade on the case of the Five is huge. We have the moral obligation to do much more for them and for the physical integrity of Gerardo in particular, said the President of the Cuban Parliament.

Finally, Alarcon said that the US administration is responsible for the health of Gerardo Hernandez and urged Washington to change that situation, since Gerardo´s physical integrity in danger.

 

 

National Committee Exposes Secret Payments to Miami Journalists who Covered the Prosecution of the Cuban Five

• Documents which were revealed and discussed at the press conference can be found here.

• Audio, video, and partial transcripts of the press conference can be found here

• Read the media coverage of the press conference (in English and Spanish) here

A press conference held June 2, 2010 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., attended by a variety of national and international media, revealed new evidence uncovered by the National Committee to Free the Cuban Five that the U.S. Government has covertly paid tens of thousands of dollars to Miami journalists working for major media outlets who, during the federal government's politically-charged Miami prosecution, published often incendiary stories about Cuba and the five Cubans. The men, known as the "Cuban Five," are serving sentences varying from 15 years to double life, after being convicted of charges including espionage conspiracy.


Gloria La Riva

The press conference revealed names of journalists, payment amounts, and will have available notebooks highlighting articles and propaganda by supposedly-independent journalists who were covertly on the payroll of the U.S. government.

Speaking at the press conference were attorneys with the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund (PCJF) that have filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of the National Committee. The litigation filed by the PCJF asserts that the BBG and its Office of Cuba Broadcasting are withholding information that will show that they have engaged in activities in violation of federal law, specifically the Smith-Mundt Act, which prohibits the BBG from seeking to propagandize the U.S. public, and may be continuing to do so.

The press conference announced that a coalition of organizations is initiating a nationwide campaign that will call on U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to take immediate action to provide remedy and relief to the Cuban Five based on the U.S. government's misconduct and covert operations which deprived the Five of their fundamental right to a fair trial. Click here to send your own letter to Eric Holder demanding justice for the Five, and click here so that you or your organization can be listed as part of the coalition calling on Holder to free the Five.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Government seeks to block information revealing illegal activity


Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, Partnership for Civil Justice

Gloria La Riva, coordinator of the Cuban Five committee who will speak at the press conference, said, "Many of the articles and commentaries by the government-paid journalists were highly prejudicial and biased, with the obvious aim of negatively influencing the Miami public and the jury pool, convicting the Cuban Five, and depriving them of the fundamental right to a fair trial."

In January 2009, the National Committee issued a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) seeking information on U.S. government payments to supposedly independent journalists. Key information initially released by the BBG to the Committee made clear that the amount of covert government payments to journalists is substantial - however the agency is refusing to hand over critical underlying documents to the National Committee and is fighting to keep this information from becoming subject to public scrutiny.

According to the lawsuit filed by the PCJF attorneys Mara Verheyden-Hilliard and Carl Messineo, on behalf of the Cuban Five committee, "The public has an immediate right to know about matters involving improper domestic propaganda as well as whether the U.S. Government compromised the fundamental right to a fair trial of the Cuban Five. These journalists engaged in repeated publications of purportedly independent articles. The articles include many that were highly incendiary, included false information and poisoned domestic public opinion during the prosecution, trial and conviction of the Cuban Five."

 

 

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Palash Biswas
Pl Read:
http://nandigramunited-banga.blogspot.com/

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