Dear Friends,
Here are three letters from the Cuban 5 to their supporters around the world for Christmas and the approaching New Year. Below there is a moving video from their families in Havana.
Due to the fact that since December 21 Victorville Penitentiary is once again in one of its frequent lock downs, Gerardo Hernandez was unable to send out a solidarity message.
Message from Antonio Guerrero
Dear friends
It was twelve years ago this December when we received from a Miami Judge our long, brutal and unjust sentences.
I can remember when I first came to the penitentiary in Florence, Colorado, in the middle of a severe winter in 2002. I arrived there carrying a life sentences on my shoulders and soon learned that some inmates called that prison "a cemetery of living men". Many of the prisoners that I met there were designated to either die in that penitentiary or in some other prison of the federal system. Their chances in a Federal Court of appeals to get a release date are zero and many of these men had already served long period of time. Violence was a daily part of the routine inside the walls of Florence USP and it was really hard just to find somebody there who was a quiet peaceful person. Almost everyone there had a record of violent acts committed inside or outside the prison walls. To make it all even worse an abundance of the prisoners were suffering from some type of mental illness.
I still remember some of my conversations with the most veteran prisoners in the penitentiary who told me that when you reach 15 years of time you cross a line when "prison is prison". They explained that is the time when physical and psychological problems start to appear.
We now find ourselves in the 16th year of unjust incarceration and are fortunate that we have no symptoms of disorientation or depression. On the contrary, each day in prison we are more positive and creative; we are more serene and supremely optimistic.
I am taking a risk to say it, but it is my sense that never has any prisoner received as many letters as we, the Cuban 5, have, from all around the world during our long imprisonment. It has been an endless flow of letters full of friendship and love. These messages of solidarity have never stopped coming since people learned of our situation back in 2001. This have made the difference and we know that this stream of support and love will not stop until our many friends know that we have all arrived safely back home.
The hard life that one experiences in prison demonstrates to me that an innocent man, with pure principles, loved by many people will never lose his mind. He will never let his integrity and moral be compromised or broken, and this remains true even if that person is placed in the most isolated cell.
As Jose Marti said: "A just principle from the bottom of a cave is stronger than an army".
To you, our eternal gratitude for your immense and constant support that makes us continue to be resistant and makes us taste our inevitable freedom each day.
Happy New Year 2014!
We wish you health, happiness and success in your goals.
Five big embraces
TIE A YELLOW RIBBON
Under the rain of time,
between our two wounds,
where light passes through
tie a yellow ribbon.
On the balcony of your dreams,
on the tree on the corner,
on your door that is my door
tie a yellow ribbon.
For the world to see
like a flower extended
to the tip of a star
tie a yellow ribbon.
Although I know how much you love me,
how much your life is my life;
although I know you await me
tie a yellow ribbon.
!Venceremos!
Antonio Guerrero Rodríguez
FCI Marianna, Florida
December 24, 2013
Message from Ramón Labañino
Dear sisters and brothers:
This year 2013 is reaching an end and we want to express our gratitude and love to every one of you.
Thanks so much for your solidarity and support!
Best wishes!
Peace, love, solidarity and freedom!
Happy 2014!
Ramón Labañino
FCI Ashland, Kentucky
December 21, 2013
Message from Fernando Gonzalez
Dear Friends,
We have arrived at the end of another year. It has been a period of enormous effort and significant results in the fight for our liberation.
This year that is ending leaves us with the satisfaction of the definitive return of René to the homeland and the encouragement of what his contribution means to the campaign for the release of the Five.
There have been several moments that have marked milestones during this year on the work of the solidarity with our cause. Let us mention for example, without diminishing the significance of everyone’s efforts, the Second Five days for the Cuban Five held in the United States capital, the 9th Colloquium in Holguin, the legal victory obtained when a judge ordered the U.S. Government to make public information about journalists who received payments, the publication of the book "What Lies Across the Water, the true story of the Cuban Five" and the tour of its author, Stephen Kimber, in several North American cities. We cannot fail to mention the activities in all parts of the world to commemorate the fifteenth anniversary of our unfair arrests. These are just a few of the significant moments of your work this year. These efforts include many countries of the world in each of the continents.
For all of this outstanding work we are deeply grateful. The case of Cubans 5 imprisoned in the United States is now public knowledge and has penetrated the circles of power thanks to the work of you. Pressure on these circles is thanks to the solidarity of hundreds of thousands of friends around the world.
Let us welcome the New Year with renewed enthusiasm, with the same spirit of struggle and the same confidence in the triumph of the truth. We humbly ask you to give your full support to the convening of the International Commission of Inquiry in the case of the Cuban Five that will take place in London England at the beginning of March. Our gratitude for the work of all those European committees involved in the organizing of this event.
Let us also give our full support to the activities during the month of June for the "Third 5 Days for the Cuban Five" in Washington, D.C., organized by the International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban 5. We welcome enthusiastically the initiatives of the National Committee to Free the Cuban Five in the United States and of all the committees which operate on our behalf in almost all countries of the world.
To all of you in any part of the universe where you are building solidarity through your activism, accept our infinite gratitude for another year of efforts and achievements in the fight for our liberation.
To all a Happy New Year. Let 2014 be another year of victories and advances in the struggle.
Happy 2014!
Fernando González Llort.
FCI Safford, Arizona
December 21, 2013
Message from the Family of the Cuban 5
In this video, Lizbeth Labañino, the youngest daughter of Ramón, says,
"It is Christmas time. It is a beautiful family moment.. Christmas is a great tradition for happiness and reunion. This is my 15th Christmas without my dad, I hope it will be the last one." |
International Committee for the
GPJA 