Wednesday, December 12, 2007

PR/Cuban Political Prisoner Updates

The ProLibertad Freedom Campaign
http://www.ProLibertadWeb.com
ProLibertad@hotmail.com and ProLibertad.Campaign@gmail.com
ProLibertad Hotline: 718-601-4751
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¡SALSA FOR FREEDOM 2007!

PROCEEDS GO TO THE COMMISSARY OF THE PUERTO RICAN POLITICAL PRISONERS!!

Saturday Dec. 15th, 2007 at 7pm-2am
St. Mary’s Episcopal Church 521 W126th St.
(Btwn. Amsterdam Ave. and Broadway. Take the 1 train W125th St.)

Join us for a night of amazing music, non-stop dancing, delicious Puerto Rican Food and bring your check book for annual Freedom Auction!! Suggested donation: $10 (no one will be turned away)

Music Provided by “DJ CARLITO AND HIS MAMBO/SALSA SPINS”!! Party to all the Salsa, Merengue, and Hip Hop you can dance too!!

For tickets or more information contact The ProLibertad Freedom Campaign: ProLibertad@Hotmail.com or call 718-601-4751
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The Popular Education Project to Free the Cuban 5 freethecubanfive@hotmail.com and freethecuban5@gmail.com http://myspace.com/Freethecuban5
Free the Cuban 5 Hotline: 718-601-4751
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Join The Popular Education Project to Free the Cuban 5 as we declare December 2007 to be VISA Month for the Cuban 5!!

For the entire month of December, we are calling on people to fax or mail (international mailing rate applies) out this letter to Louise Arbour The High Commissioner of Human Rights of the Office for Human Rights-United Nations Office at Geneva. We are asking her to intercede on behalf of the Cuban 5’s mothers/wives to pressure the U.S. government to grant them VISAs to visit their husbands/sons!!

Due to the U.S. government’s denial to approve visas, Gerardo Hernandez Nordelo and Rene Gonzalez Sehwerert have not seen their wives since their incarceration!! Others in the Cuban 5 have not seen their parents, wives and children with regularity, because the U.S. government has taken prolonged periods of time to issue them visas.

The U.S. government’s denial of visitation rights is a cruel and horrible form of psychological torture. Their rationale for denial is ridiculous and baseless; none of these family members are a threat to national security.

This Human Rights abuse must end NOW!! WE ASK THAT YOU FORWARD THIS EMAIL AS FAR AND WIDE AS POSSIBLE!! HELP THIS CAMPAIGN BE A POWERFUL ACTION OF SUPPORT FOR THE CUBAN 5!!

The pdf is at http://www.jerichony.org/images18/Cuban5VISA.pdf

MANY THANKS TO THE JERICHO MOVEMENT FOR HOSTING OUR PDF ON THEIR WEBSITE!!

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More than 100 Personalities from 27 Countries Launch an International Commission for the Right of Family Visits on Behalf of Family Members of the Cuban Five Held in U.S. Prisons

December 11, 2007

For Immediate Release Contact: Alicia Jrapko 510-219-0092

On top of the unjust sentences being served by the Five Cuban anti terrorists imprisoned in the United States, another punishment has been added to them and that is the denial of regular contact with their family members. During 2007 the US government has granted visas only to two of the family members of these five men.

For 18 months these families have been waiting for word about when and if they can travel to visit their sons, fathers or husbands. The most extreme situation is that of the wives of René Gonzalez and Gerardo Hernandez. Olga Salanueva and Adriana Pérez respectively have not been allowed to visit them for 7 and 9 years.

This past September 12th marked the 9th anniversary of the arrests of the Cuban Five and on that day the U.S. Government once again denied visas for Olga and Adriana to visit their husbands in prison. On 8 separate occasions they have applied for a visa and each time they have been denied for a different reason without real justification.

Because of this outrageous and mean spirited behavior of the Bush government concerning these women, the International Commission for the Right of Family Visits has been formed with the purpose of demanding the U.S. government immediately grant of visas for Adriana Perez and Olga Salanueva. The Commission will base its demand on the humanitarian right for families to visit their loved ones in prison based on The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Convention against Torture.

This Commission will take into consideration the opinion of the United Nation Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions of May 27, 2005, statements on behalf of Olga and Adriana from Amnesty International, as well as supporting statements from the European Parliament.

Personalities from around the world include Adolfo Perez Esquivel, Nobel Peace Prize from Argentina, Rigoberta Menchú, Nobel Peace Prize from Guatemala, Danielle Mitterand, former First Lady of France, and many others. Here in the United States a number of personalities have agreed to be part of the International Commission including Bishop of Detroit, Thomas Gumbleton, Angela Davis, UC Santa Cruz Professor, Dr. Joan Brown Campbell, Former General Secretary of the National Council of Churches, actor Danny Glover, writer Alice Walker, linguist Noam Chomsky, historian Howard Zinn, former US Congressman Esteban Torres, Wayne Smith former Chief of the US Interests Section in Havana Cuba, and Michael Parenti, author and scholar.

We demand the freedom of the Cuban Five and in the mean time we demand the respect of the basic right of their families to visit them. Denying prisoners the affection of their loved ones is another form of cruelty and torture. International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban Five ajrapko@yahoo.com

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