Whereas, Cuba has been the target of terrorist activities directed from the United States of America for over 50 years that have caused 3,478 deaths, 2,099 injuries and millions of dollars in losses for the Cuban economy; and
Whereas, a great number of terrorist attacks have been carried out against Cuba, including against civilian installations, economic and tourist targets, which were organized by criminal Cuban-American groups based in South Florida; and
Whereas, Cuba has repeatedly requested that the government of the United States take measures in order to put an end to such attacks; and
Whereas, a state of necessity led the Cuban government to send a group of men to South Florida with the aim of infiltrating and monitoring the aforementioned terrorist organizations in order to detect and avoid such actions; and
Whereas, the government of the United States, instead of acting to prevent future terrorist attacks with information gathered by the Cuban Five accused the men of multiple crimes never committed and submitted them to a trial held in Miami, where these men had no possibility of the right to a fair process due to the prejudice against Cuba existing in that community; and
Whereas, Fernando González, Ramón Labañino, Gerardo Hernández, Antonio Guerrero and René González neither had firearms, nor afflicted any civil, economic, political, military objectives, nor the National Security of the United States; and
Whereas, their rights were violated since the moment of their detention on September 12, 1998, subjected to solitary confinement during 17 months and were originally condemned to four life sentences, plus 77 years collectively for non-judicially proven crimes; and
Whereas on August 9th, 2005, a panel of three judges revoked their sentences, ordering a new trial and that on May 27 of the same year the Group of Arbitrary Detentions of the United Nations declared their detentions illegal and expressly requested that the government of the United States put an end to their detentions; and
Whereas, all legal avenues have been exhausted without justice being done; and
Whereas, in the process of re-sentencing, both the Eleven Circuit Court of Appeal and the Miami Federal Court, recognized that there was no evidence of secret information being obtained or transmitted by the Cuban Five and the US government recognized that they did not represent a threat to US national security; and
Whereas, an unprecedented amount of support for a legal case before the US Supreme Court was shown by twelve separate amicus briefs in support of the Cuban Five’s petition for certiorari, including one from the William C. Velasquez Institute and the Mexican American Political Association, both conveners of the National Latino Congreso; and
Whereas, Amnesty International has denounced as a “grave violation” the government of the United States’ refusal to grant visas to Adriana Pérez and Olga Salanueva more than a decade, these women being the wives of Gerardo Hernández and René González, respectively; and
Whereas, the most serious violation of the right of family visits have been applied to the prisoners Gerardo Hernandez and Rene Gonzalez whose wives Adriana Perez and Olga Salanueva, have been denied entrance into the U.S. without any legal reasons; and
Whereas, the U.S. government on 10 separate occasions has refused visas for Adriana Perez and Olga Salanuvea, therefore denying them to see each other for a decade; and
Whereas, the right of family visits have been violated in all five cases, impeding regular visits to their loved ones in prison; and
Whereas, these five men, acting in defense of the lives of Cuban, U.S. and third-country citizens, have offered their lives to the world fight against terrorism;
1. Therefore Be It Resolved, that the National Latino Congreso sends a letter to President Barack Obama demanding the immediate release of Fernando Gonzalez, Ramón Labañino, Gerardo Hernández, Antonio Guerrero and René González, also known as the Cuban Five, who are political prisoners held in the United States, and
2. Be It Further Resolved, that the National Latino Congreso demands that until these men are freed the government of the United States must comply with its obligations under international law to allow the right of regular visits to all of the prisoners’ relatives, including the immediate granting of humanitarian visas to Adriana Pérez and to Olga Salanueva in order that they may visit their husbands Gerardo Hernández and René González, respectively.
