Cuba Protests US Denial of Visa to Adriana Perez

by Rhonda J Mangus | September 1, 2009 at 08:37 pm

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Cuba is protesting the United States' denying a visa to Adriana Perez, the wife of one of the Cuban Five, a group of anti-terrorists who remain imprisoned in the United States.

Adriana is the wife of Gerardo Hernadez who, along with Antonio Guerrero, Ramon Labañino, Fernando Gonzalez and Rene Gonzalez, was arrested in 1998 for monitoring anti-Cuba extremist groups in South Florida that were planning and carrying out terrorist actions against the Caribbean nation.

In a letter addressed to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, that circulated Monday, Cuba’s UN Ambassador Abelardo Moreno Fernandez demanded that Washington grant Adriana Perez “a humanitarian visa immediately so that she may visit her husband,” the digital website CubaDebate reports.

The diplomat said that on July 15, after a wait of 95 days, the US Interests Section in Havana denied Adriana Perez a visa for the 10th time, using “the crude argument” that she “constitutes a threat to the stability and national security of the United States.”

“This is shameful confirmation that the current Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, is using the same argument as her predecessor Condoleezza Rice to deny Ms. Adriana Perez her visa,” the text adds.

“This decision of the United States authorities violates the country’s own law and demonstrates a systematic violation of its international obligations. It is also a systematic and flagrant violation of human rights and an act of torture against Gerardo Hernandez Nordelo - unjustly sentenced to two life sentences plus 15 years in prison - and members of his family.”

The letter to the UN Secretary-General includes an “appeal to the parliaments and peoples of the world,” approved by Cuba’s National Assembly, which demands the immediate release of the Cuban Five. The appeal states that President Barack Obama “has the constitutional authority and the moral obligation to ensure justice.”

Three of the Cuban Five in the United States were taken to the Miami detention center to wait for re-sentencing hearing scheduled for October 13, 2009.

Last year, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals of Atlanta ruled that the sentences given to Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero and Fernando Gonzalez “were imposed incorrectly” and sent them back to Judge Joan Lenard who, in the presence of a jury, will have to give them new sentences.

Ramon Labañino and Antonio Guerrero are serving life terms while Fernando Gonzalez was sentenced to 19 years. The two other Cuban antiterrorists, Gerardo Hernandez and Rene Gonzalez, who are serving two-life terms and fifteen years, respectively, were not benefited with the re-sentencing ordered by the Atlanta appeals court.

An international campaign for the release of the Cuban Five has spread across the world. The National Committee to Free the Cuban Five website can be visited, here.

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Roy C

at 21:26 on September 1st, 2009

Geez, Rhonda, you now that I respect you, but this story, presented this way, seems a real distortion.

"Anti-terrorists"? They were Castro's communist secret police who infiltrated anti-Castro groups which have every right to be against his corrupt, dictatorial, murderous ways.

They supplied information to the Cuban government which allowed the shooting-down of a plane which was in Cuban airspace to help find Cubans on rafts fleeing Castro's Red Fascist regime.

The court found that they had infiltrated Brothers to the Rescue, a Miami-based organization that flew small aircraft over the Florida straits in efforts to rescue rafters fleeing Cuba, and which had on numerous occasions entered Cuban airspace and dropped leaflets into Cuba. [2]

Cuban air force jets shot down and killed the plane with several American citizens on board.

Castro also has an abominable record against gays, and I would think that with your personal interest in that, you might look at the totality of Castro's record without parroting the Castro line that these men were "anti-terrorists" when they are the expression of Cuban state terrorism itself.

The Cuban Five (Gerardo Hernández, Antonio Guerrero, Ramón Labañino, Fernando González, and René González) are five Cuban intelligence officers convicted of espionage, conspiracy to commit murder, and other illegal activities in the United States. The Five were part of a Cuban spy network which observed and infiltrated a number of Cuban-American groups, some of which had been responsible for terrorist attacks on Cuba: Alpha 66, the F4 Commandos, the Cuban American National Foundation, and Brothers to the Rescue.[1]

At their trial, evidence was presented that the Five had infiltrated Brothers to the Rescue (a Miami-based organization which had on numerous occasions entered Cuban airspace and dropped leaflets into Cuba), had obtained employment at the Key West Naval Air Station in order to send the Cuban government reports about the base, and had attempted to penetrate the Miami facility of US Southern Command. [2] On February 24, 1996, two Brothers to the Rescue aircraft were shot down by Cuban military jets in international airspace while flying away from Cuban airspace, killing the four US citizens aboard.[2] One of the Five, Gerardo Hernández, was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder, for supplying information to the Cuban government which led to the shootdown.

Rhonda J Mangus

at 21:34 on September 1st, 2009

Your respect is deeply appreciated, Roy. Thank you. And thanks for the additional information. However, I would ask that you read (including all comments) Appeal for Cuban Five Heads to US Supreme Court (NowPublic, January 31, 2009, Rhonda J Mangus). Then we can 'talk':). Take your time:)!

Roy C

at 21:41 on September 1st, 2009

Oh, I see that there are problems with the trial, but it is the process that is questionable, not the outcome.

As far as I can see, no one doubts what they did, only that they didn't get a fair trial because too many people on the jury knew someone involved in one way or another.

And, yes, maybe we should let the wife visit, but would we let the wife of a fascist spy and infiltrator visit the US or a communist agent's wife from the Soviet Union?

These guys are really bad actors.

I told you a friend of mine was about to be arrested by Castro just for beginning to try to let people of faith into the communist party. Her family supported Castro during the revolution and she was a university administrator with her own car and driver.

I mention it because I want to verify that the sources of my info about Castro are not just what I read in newspapers.

The man is awful. Any "terrorist" act against Castro is legitimate if done responsibly so that innocents don't suffer.

And anyone who gets planes shot down while they look to help people escape Castro should be locked up a long time.

Rhonda J Mangus

at 21:41 on September 1st, 2009

Roy, I have also followed Mariela Castro, daughter of now president Raul Castro, who works tirelessly on behalf of Cuba's LGBT population. Cuba has made great strides toward acceptance of homosexuality. Ms. Castro heads the National Centre for Sex Education in Cuba. One NowPublic story: National Commission Responsible for Integral Care Approved for Cuba's Trans-sexuals.

Rhonda J Mangus

at 21:46 on September 1st, 2009

Another: Cuba Celebrates International Day Against Homophobia.

JAMP

at 14:22 on September 2nd, 2009

Roy,

"Every right to be against a regime" includes bombing a civilian airplane (Barbados, 1976), attacking hotels, factories, a children daycare centre, killing a tourist in Havana, spreading massive deseases, and other tragedies for human beings and economy for years?

I think that just a phrase "if done responsibly so that innocents don't suffer" is quite insufficient on this issue. This is not the case, and the Cuban Five were collecting information in a foreign country as non-declared agents, same as many agents from several countries have done since Pinkerton and before.

The same legitimation that you grant to those terrorist groups in Florida, Brothers to the Rescue included (headed by a CIA agent and part of the many plans to destroy Cuban Revolution by violent means from the USA), must be granted to Cuba and its best citizens to preserve security and calm in the country, as far as possible.

Those five "bad actors" you mention did not kill anybody, did not put any bomb or set in danger any US interest. Without enough evidence, in a totally biased trial in Miami, one of them (Gerardo Hernández) was charged of conspiracy to kill four BR members whose plane was shot down in Cuban air space, after many provocative flights over Havana. (The same as if you start to fly illegally over Vancouver or Washington, with the public intention of protecting emigrants.)

With all respect, you may think and write what you want on Cuba, Communism, Castros, et. al., but I recommend some data updating. For instance, people of faith are allowed to join Cuba's Communist Party since a long while. May be your friend was a victim of an injustice or excess, but it's not that way anymore.

It's very difficult to live in and build a different society when you are facing giant superpowers. Anyway, for 50 years "the regime" have been a better option for millions of supporters, instead of continuing as a back yard, a brothel or a great casino.

Thanks for your time.