Free the Cuban 5

Orlagh McCauley
Ógra Shinn Féin

September 12th marked the 10th anniversary of the arrests of Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando González and René González. These five Cuban citizens were living in Miami, Florida to investigate the activities of anti Cuban organizations such as Comandos F4 and Brothers to the Rescue. They were illegally arrested on September 12th 1998 and charged with the use of fake ids, espionage and conspiracy to commit murder.

They were held in solidarity confinement for some time before their trial began in November 2000. The following year Gerardo Hernández was sentenced to two life sentences plus fifteen years; Ramón Labañino to a life sentence plus eighteen years; Antonio Guerrero to life plus ten years; Fernando González to nineteen years and René González to fifteen years. Both René and Gerardo’s wives are denied entry to America and haven’t seen their husbands in eight and ten years.



To mark the 10th anniversary of their arrests a petition of 102,000 signatures from 78 countries was to be handed into the White House. However, during this civil disobedience action five people were arrested.

The petition had three demands; to free the Cuban Five immediately, grant entry visas to Adriana Perez and Olga Salanueva, (René and Gerardo’s wives) and to extradite Luis Posada Carriles to Venezuela. Posada is a former CIA member personally responsible for the deaths of seventy three passengers on a flight from Barbados to Cuba in 1976. Passengers included the national Cuban Fencing team who had just competed in the Central American and Caribbean Championship and Cuban government officials. In 1997 he planted a bomb in Havana which killed one person and injured a number of people. Posada now lives freely in America despite an extradition order from Venezuala.


Letter to George W. Bush


President George W. Bush The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Cc: Scheduling Office, 20502-0184

Mr. President,

September 12 marks the 10th anniversary of the unjust imprisonment of five men in the United States. The "Cuban Five" - Antonio Guerrero, Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino, René González, and Fernando González - risked their lives to come to the United States to do what your Administration claims as its highest priority - fight terrorism. In their case, it was terrorism against Cuba, terrorism originating in this country that has resulted in the deaths of thousands of Cubans and others, including American citizens, over the past fifty years.

The National Committee to Free the Cuban Five, in conjunction with more than 300 such committees worldwide, has collected more than 100,000 signatures from Americans and people around the world, demanding the immediate freedom of these five men and an end to their unjust imprisonment. They also demand the immediate granting of visas to Olga Salanueva Arango, wife of Rene Gonzalez, and Adriana Perez O'Connor, wife of Gerardo Hernandez, who have been denied permission by the U.S. government to visit their husbands in prison for 8 and 10 years, respectively, in an outrageous violation of both their legal and human rights.

With this letter, we request a meeting with you or your representatives on Friday, September 12, 2008, to present you with these petitions, and to give voice to the just demands of people around the world for freedom for the Cuban Five.

Signed,

Alice Walker, author
Howard Zinn, professor
Noam Chomsky, professor, author
Ramsey Clark, former U.S. attorney general
Martin Sheen, actor, social justice activist
Heidi Boghosian, executive director, National Lawyers Guild
Gloria La Riva, coordinator, National Committee to Free the Cuban Five
Brian Becker, National Coordinator A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism)
Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, co-founder, Partnership for Civil Justice