|
The
New York Times Publishes Letter on Cuban Five from
Nadine Gordimer
 Nadine
Gordimer
The
South African laureate for the Nobel Prize for
Literature, Nadine Gordimer, has written to The New
York Times to express her concern about the
situation of the five Cubans incarcerated in the
United States for defending their country against
terrorism. In her letter she decries what she calls
the "contempt for human rights" exhibited
by the US authorities in their treatment of the
Cubans. Gordimer points out that the Fifth. Sixth
and Eighth Amendment rights of the men have been
violated depriving them of due process of law, the
right to assistance of appellate counsel, and
protection against cruel and unusual punishment.
THE
NEW YORK TIMES
April 13, 2003
Case
of Five Cubans
To the
Editor:
I am
deeply concerned about the appalling situation of
five citizens of Cuba currently in United States
jails: Gerardo Hernández, René González, Ramón
Labanino, Antonio Guerrero and Fernando González.
They
spent much of the 33 months between their arrest and
conviction in solitary confinement. This contempt
for human rights is unworthy of a democratic
country.
The
trial was held in Miami, where the espionage charges
(which were never proved) could not be heard by
anything other than a biased jury, since the area
has a dominant presence of avowed enemies of Cuba.
While
awaiting review of the trial, at last taking place
before the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta,
the men were placed in "special housing,"
and denied family visits and free access to their
lawyers. This was a deprivation of their Fifth
Amendment right to due process of law, their Sixth
Amendment right to assistance of appellate counsel,
and their Eighth Amendment protection against cruel
and unusual punishment. Beyond legal rights flouted,
they are
held in conditions that deny human dignity.
I urge
that these men be returned to their homes and lives
in Cuba.
NADINE
GORDIMER
Johannesburg, April 11, 2003
................
Letter
to The Five
The
South African Nobel laureate for Literature, Nadine
Gordimer, who recently sent a letter of support to
the five Cuban men incarcerated in US prisons.
Thanking three of them for their participation in
the fight to free Angola along with the Umkhonto we
Sizwe Liberation Army, she said that she is doing
all she can to ensure that their unjust suffering
reaches the attention of the people of the United
States and the world.
ESPAÑOL
7
Frere Road
Parktown West
Johannesburg 2193
South Africa
11th April 2003
TO
THE CUBAN FIVE
Dear
Gerardo Hernández, René González, Ramón Labañino,
Antonio Guerrero and Fernando Gonzálz
I am
greatly concerned about your situation in the USA,
the denial to you of justice, human rights, and your
human dignity. You may have been told that I am
doing whatever I can to bring to the attention of
the people of the USA and the world the unjust
suffering which you have undergone since Septhember
1998, and urging them to support a just call that
the charges against you be withdrawn so that you may
return to your homes and lives, in Cuba.
I had
the great experience of visiting your country on the
invitation of the Ministry of Culture, in December
2002. Not only the beauty of the landscapes and the
wonderful way in which building have been preserved
in the most difficult times, as the heritage of the
people, but beauty of people in Cuba today, living
with such courage, dignity and human warmth, as they
content with the terrible economic difficulties
imposed by the cruel and senseless USA blockade. I
hope you five brave comrades will soon be back among
the people you love, and for whom you have
sacrificed these terrible years in defense of their
freedom.
As I
am a South African, a member of the African National
Congress, I want to thank three among you who fought
in Angola alongside Umkhoto wa Sizwe, our liberation
army, for our freedom. We do not forget the support
we had from Cuba and the assistance we are receiving
in the reconstruction of our rural communities with
the presence of Cuban doctors.
My
thoughts are with you. I wish you continued strength
and courage.
Viva!
With
love,
Nadine
Gordimer
Nobel Prize in Literature
Member of the National Committee for the Freedom of
the Five
|
-- Patriotic
attitude of the five Cuban heroes highlighted
PUERTO Rican lawyer
Rafael Anglada-López has transmitted his impression
of recent meetings with the five Cuban patriots
imprisoned in the United States to their families.
-- Uruguayans
for the release of the five Cuban heroes
MONTEVIDEO.— Solidarity events
and cultural galas organized by Uruguayan social and political
organizations are programmed for today in that country to call
for the release of the five Cubans imprisoned in the United
States, Prensa Latina reports.
--Solidarity
was able to get our five heroes out of the hole
AS a result of
public exposés and numerous messages of protest, the
Washington government has decided to end the arbitrary
solitary confinement imposed on Gerardo Hernández, René González,
Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero and Fernando González and
relocate them within the general prison population.
|
