Letter to Obama re Cuban Five

Dear President Obama,

I am writing to express the concern held in many quarters of the Australian community about the ongoing denial of justice for the prisoners known internationally as the Cuban Five who are being held in separate penitentiaries in your country.

As you would know, they have been imprisoned since 1998 for convictions arising from their infiltration of Cuban terror groups based in Miami. The Australian people have shown great sympathy over the years for the Five and understand perfectly the need the Cubans had to defend themselves by being forewarned about impending attack.
We were disappointed that your Administration intervened in the recent Supreme Court proceedings to recommend that a review of their convictions be rejected. We saw the large number of amicus curiae statements from world renowned figures and the powerful arguments advanced for these anti-terrorists to be set free.

It is perplexing that known terrorists such as Posada Cariles continue to walk free in the United States while plainly decent and patriotic Cubans like the Five remain incarcerated.We are concerned that there appears to be an attempt to split the cases of the Five by re-sentencing three of them while upholding the sentences of Gerardo Hernandez and Rene Gonzalez. We urge you to look into the refusal of visas to the Adriana Perez, the wife of Gerardo, and Olga Salanueva, the wife of Rene. The separation of these prisoners from their wives and their families is cruel and a denial of internationally observed prisoner rights.

We recognise the appalling situation of the denial of rights to the Cuban Five is an inheritance from previous administrations. We look forward to your intervention to remove this stain on the human rights record of the United States.

Yours sincerely,
Dr Hannah Middleton
General Secretary
Communist Party of Australia