Home > letter of july to Obama
Prison Governments USA South/Latin America
Mr President Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue N.W.
Washington DC 20500
Mr President,
The five Cubans Gerardo Hernández Antonio Guerrero, Fernando González, Ramón Labañino, and René González, are imprisoned in your country for almost thirteen years now.
They came to Miami to infiltrate the terrorist underworld in order to avoid the terrorist attacks that were increasing against tourist facilities in Havana during the eighties. The documents that the Cuban government handed over to the F.B.I. in June of 1998 concerning the schemes carried out and those in preparation by the Florida Mafia were the cause of their arrests.
Public interventions by important personalities, both in your country as well as all over the world, have been multiplying these last months in favor of these five patriots.
Here are several examples:
On March 27th 2011, the former president of the United States, Jimmy Carter, the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize winner, declared during his private visit to Havana:
“… I believe that the detention of these five Cubans makes no sense; the American courts as well as human rights organizations all over the world have cast doubts on this case. They have now spent 12 years in prison and I hope that in the near future they will be freed and be able to go back to their families (…)”.
Almost at the same time, Wayne S. Smith, former head of the Department of American Interests at Havana (this department played the role of embassy) expressed himself along the same lines. This humanitarian obtained, in 1992, the Gandhi Peace Prize as well as the Human Rights Peace Prize in 2008.
Here are several extracts of his long public intersession that was published under the title of “More Chicanery in the Cases of the Cuban Five” on March 28th in “Center for International Policy”.
. « Many Americans seem to believe the now-famous Cuban Five were spies working for Havana against the United States and therefore deserve what they got – years in prison. But that is far from the truth. In fact, while they were indeed members of the Cuban Intelligence Service, they had been sent to the U.S. not to spy on the U.S. government or any of its entities but, rather, to penetrate certain Cuban exile organizations and gather information on the terrorist activities they were conducting against Cuba (…)
it was not surprising when in August of 2005 three judges of the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh District in Atlanta overturned the Miami court’s convictions and ordered a new trial. But that was not to the liking of the Bush administration and so on October 31 of 2005 it was ordered that the entire appeals court, all twelve judges, review the findings of the three. This was done and on June 4, 2008, the entire appeals court upheld the original convictions of the Miami court and remanded the case back to it. The will of the White House had been done.
The next year, however, with a new President in the White House, it had been thought the way might be open for the case to be heard by the Supreme Court. But in May of 2009, Barack Obama’s solicitor general, Elena Kagan, recommended that the request for a hearing be denied. How unfortunate, and sad. Injustice was not to be undone – at least at that point. There is now another chance for at least its partial undoing… »,
After having explained in detail this other possibility, that of calling for a collateral appeal for Gerardo Hernandez and Antonio Guerrero before the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of Florida, Wayne S. Smith concluded:
« On the basis of these legal briefs, both Gerardo and Antonio should be given new trials and their unjust convictions overturned. In view of past history, however, one cannot be optimistic. But at some point, justice must be done, the cases of all five must be dismissed and this stain on the honor of the U.S. System of Justice thus be removed. »
It isn’t won, when we see that on June 14th the terrorist Posada Carriles received not only a heroes welcome but also the keys of the city from the Mayor of Hialeah.
Three months later, on the first of June, it was Ramsey Clark, the Attorney General of The United State’s turn to express himself in favor of the Cuban Five. Showing optimism, he declared during his visit to Cuba in the Round Table television program:
« …I’ve always been optimistic and I hope that these five brave men will be release and return to Cuba, (…)
The Five will return to their homes and will enjoy the rest of their lives as heroes of the history of the struggle for the rights of mankind. »
It is indeed high time that the families of the Cuban five are reunited , that the Fathers are near their children. You know it mister president you who said during fathers day about yours : « I always felt his absence and wondered what it would have been like if he had been a greater presence in my life. I still do. It is perhaps for this reason that fatherhood is so important to me, and why I’ve tried so hard to be there for my own children. »
On June 4th, in France, at Paris, a symposium was held on “The five Cuban prisoners in the United States, terrorism and international rights” that reunited lawyers, French and European jurists, members of Parliament and of several associations to study the legal and geopolitical aspects of the Cuban Five affair and of terrorist actions against Cuba “Made in the U.S.A.” Following are the last sentences of the final declaration of this symposium:
“According to Resolution 1373 of the United Nations Security Council, terrorism is defined as a threat to peace and to international security. This is the year of the assessment of the setting up of the U.N.’s Worldwide Antiterrorist Strategy. France is a member of the Committee for the Struggle Against Terrorism, set up by Resolution 1373.
Terrorism must be combated by the entire international community, and specific responsibilities are incumbent upon the States that have the greatest capabilities. With this in mind, we call on French members of Parliament to tackle the problem of terrorism against Cuba with their counterparts in other countries and especially in the United States, chiefly the unjust and biased legal proceedings taken against the five Cuban antiterrorist agents.
We also ask them to intervene so that France brings these questions up before the Committee for the Struggle Against Terrorism"
Mister President, we are hoping that you find it in your heart to intercede to give the five Cubans back the liberty that they deserve. In doing so, you will open doors to new relations between Cuba and the United States, which the populations of both countries are hoping for.
Please receive, Mr President, the expression of my most sincere humanistic sentiments.
Jacqueline Roussie
(Translated by Bill Peterson)
Copies sent to: Mrs. Michelle Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton, Janet Napolitano, Mr. Harry Reid, Eric Holder, John F. Kerry, Pete Rouse, Donald Werrilli, and Mr. the Ambassador of the USA in France.