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[xmca] Fwd: US Personalities Demand Visas for Wives of Cuban 5



Dear friends,

If any of us intend to join, you can inform me and not necessarily from US
only, worldwide contribution highly appreciated.

Kind Regards

Ulvi

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban Five <
info@thecuban5.org>
Date: 8 mars 2010 16:57
Subject: US Personalities Demand Visas for Wives of Cuban 5
To: ulvi.icil@gmail.com


          *International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban **[image:
Camisa de Tony] *
       *US Personalities Demand Humanitarian Visas for Wives of the Cuban
Five*


[image: Adriana][image: Olga]March 8th, 2010


Coinciding with International Women's Day, a group of   personalities from
the United States have sent a letter to US Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton and to the Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, asking
them to immediately grant humanitarian visas to two Cuban women so they can
visit their husbands in US prisons.

                    Adriana                        Olga and daughter Ivette

For more than a decade the US government has continued to deny entry visas
to *Olga Salanueva* and *Adriana Pérez* whose only purpose to come to the US
is to visit their husbands in prison. Rene González and Gerardo Hernández
respectively are two of the Cuban Five, who are serving long and unjust
sentences in the United States.

The signers of the letter are US members of the *International Commission
for the Right of Family Visits *that is comprised of more than 170 known
figures from 27 countries. Recently, Argentinean members of the commission
delivered a letter to the US embassy in Argentina. This letter was also sent
to the US Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security.

The letter in the United States was signed by two religious personalities;
former Bishop of Detroit *Thomas Gumbleton* and former General Secretary of
the US Council of Churches *Reverend* *Dr. Joan Brown Campbell*. Also, union
leaders such as the co-founder of the Farm Workers Union *Dolores
Huerta*and the President of the ILWU Local 10 of  San Francisco
California
*Melvin MacKay*.

In addition, others who added their name to the letter includes the
following personalities and intellectuals: *Noam Chomsky, **Michael Parenti*,
the Mayor of Richmond, *Gayle McLaughlin*, former Congressman *Esteban
Torres*, actor *Danny Glover*, writer and poet *Alice Walker* and *Angela
Davis* professor of History in the University of Santa Cruz, California.

The letter also includes the former Chief of the US Embassy in Havana, *Wayne
Smith*, as well as the Civil Rights activist *Yury Kochiyama*, and the
President of the Media Freedom Foundation /Project Censored *Peter Phillips*.


The fourteen personalities sent the letter telling Clinton and Napolitano
that the gesture of granting visas to Ms Salanueva and Perez "will show the
world that we are represented by elected officials who want better relations
with other nations and who have compassionate and humanitarian hearts."


    *The Letter Sent to Hillary Clinton and Janet Napolitano  *
   March 8, 2010

*US Secretary of State
Hillary Rodham Clinton

US Secretary of Homeland Security
Janet Napolitano*

 c/c *United Nations Human Rights Council
         Rapporteur Against Torture
         United Nations Group on Arbitrary Detentions
         Amnesty International
         Ombdusman
*

Dear Ms Clinton and Ms Napolitano:

We respectfully write to you to ask the State Department of the United
States and the Department of Homeland Security to immediately grant
*HUMANITARIAN
VISAS* to two Cuban citizens, *Adriana Pérez* and *Olga Salanueva*, wives of
prisoners Gerardo Hernández and René González respectively. They have been
denied visits to their husbands in prison for 11 years.

On December 18, 2009 the Department of Homeland Security denied a
humanitarian visa to Olga Salanueva.  Without any explanation, they denied
this elementary recourse to come to the US with the sole purpose to see her
husband, René González, unjustly sentenced to 15 years in prison.

At the time of her husband's arrest, Olga Salanueva was living with him and
their two daughters; the youngest daughter is US born as well as Rene
Gonzalez himself. After the arrest of her husband Ms Salanueva was detained
with the purpose of pressuring her husband to collaborate with the
prosecutors assuming a crime that he never committed.  Three months later in
December 2000, Olga was deported to Cuba. After 10 years since the
deportation, the US government continues to punish this woman. There has not
been any accusation or legal process against her. Additionally her status of
being a mother and a wife of US citizens makes a compelling connection to
the United States.

In the case of Adriana Perez; in July 2002, she traveled to the United
States to visit her husband Gerardo Hernández, unjustly serving two life
sentences plus 15 years in US prison. But upon her arrival, she was detained
in the Houston Airport, photographed, finger printed, interrogated for 11
hours, prevented from speaking to a lawyer or Cuban diplomats and
subsequently sent back to Cuba, cruelly preventing Adriana to see her
husband.  That was the last time that she was granted a visa to see him
during the 11 years he has been imprisoned.

The last visa denial for Adriana was on July 15, 2009, the day of their 21st
wedding anniversary. Four months later, on November 2, Gerardo Hernandez's
mother died.  Not even on a sad event like this in the life of any human
being was Adriana Perez allowed to visit her husband to console him.

The applications for humanitarian visas for Olga Salanueva and Adriana Pérez
are supported by an important number of religious, legal and human rights
institutions. From the World Council of Churches to the US Council of
Christian Churches, the Cuban Council of Churches, the Association of
American Jurists, Amnesty International, 170 personalities including several
Nobel Prize winners, parliamentarians, elected officials, and intellectuals
from all over the world.

Until the Cuban Five are freed, the below signatories demand the immediate
granting of  *HUMANITARIAN VISAS* to *ADRIANA PÉREZ* and *OlGA SALANUEVA*and
*MULTIPLE VISAS TO ALL THE FAMILY OF THE CUBAN FIVE*.

This gesture will show the world that we are represented by elected
officials who want better relations with other nations and who have
compassion and humanitarian hearts.

Sincerely,

*Bishop Thomas Gumbleton* - Former Catholic Bishop of Detroit

*Reverend Dr. Joan Brown Campbell* - Former Secretary General of the
National Council of Churches of the United States

*Dolores Huerta* - Co-Founder of the United Farm Workers Union

*Melvin MacKay* - President of ILWU Local 10, San Francisco, California

*Danny Glover* - Actor

*Gayle McLaughlin* - Mayor of Richmond, California

*Alice Walker* - Writer

*Noam Chomsky* - Linguist and Writer

*Howard Zinn* - Historian and Writer (Honorary Member)

*Esteban Torres* - Former US Congressman

*Wayne Smith* - Former Chief of the US Interest Section in Cuba

*Michael Parenti* - Author

*Angela Davis* - Professor of History, California University, Santa Cruz

*Yury Kochiyama* - Civil Right activist

*Peter Phillips* - President of Media Freedom Foundation/Project Censored



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