From: Oficina Politica <cancilleria@vsnl.net>
Date: Tue, Aug 3, 2010 at 6:11 PM
Subject: [bangla-vision] VERY URGENT DECLARATION AND UPDATE ON CUBAN FIVE HEROES
Embassy
of the Republic of Cuba
New Delhi, August 03rd, 2010
Dear fiends,
The Embassy of the Republic of Cuba has the pleasure to enclose here an important
DECLARATION OF THE CUBAN PARLIAMENT ABOUT SERIOUS SITUATION OF CUBAN FIVE HEROES IN U.S. PRISONS
Due to the importance of the information contained in these documents they can be resent, copied or published.
The Embassy of Cuba invites you to send us your comments and possible actions. Here down you'll find E-mail, faxes and addresses of relevant US personalities if you decide to support Cuba to stop such an injustice.
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
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.
· 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.
--
Palash Biswas
Pl Read:
http://nandigramunited-banga.blogspot.com/
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