Gerardo Hernández, Cuban Five
hero, was released from isolation Aug. 3, after an intense campaign by his
attorneys and thousands of supporters around the world, including nearly one
thousand e-mails to the Bureau of Prisons in response to an appeal from the
National Committee to Free the Cuban Five.
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Gerardo is one of five Cuban
anti-terrorist heroes unjustly imprisoned in the United States for almost 12
years now. Gerardo was sentenced to double life sentences, plus. The only crime
of the Five was defending innocent Cuban people from terrorist attacks by
counter-revolutionary Cubans in Miami. The U.S.-backed attacks are aimed at
destabilizing the people’s government of Cuba.
Gerardo was again placed in “the
hole” on July 21. The: “hole” is a three-foot by five-foot cell which has
hardly any ventilation and where temperatures reach over 100 degrees F. Gerardo
shared the cell with another inmate.
Just before his release from
isolation, Leonard Weinglass, one of Gerardo’s attorneys, had described to
Gloria La Riva of the National Committee to Free the Cuban Five the abysmal and
cruel conditions: “Gerardo is in great spirits, but he’s really suffering.
In 100+ degree weather, the air is so stifling that Gerardo is lying on the
floor sucking in air from the bottom of the door. He can’t take his blood
pressure medicine as his doctor advised him because the weather is too hot. He can’t
use the shower because it is scalding hot water. He was given dirty bed sheets,
and he had to resort to washing them in the toilet.”
The U.S. government knows that
Gerardo has had health problems and that he has been asking for a medical
examination since April. He was finally given a medical appointment for July
20, during which problems requiring treatment were diagnosed.
Gerardo may be having problems
with a bacterium that, according to the doctor who saw him, was circulating
among the prison population, with some very serious cases. It is not known if
Gerardo has been infected because he has not had any relevant tests.
On July 21, Gerardo was not taken
to any hospital or to any doctor for treatment but sent back to the hole and
denied contact with anyone on the outside. This not only constituted an
obstruction of justice but also endangered his health.
Third time in ‘the hole’
This is the third time during the
unjust incarceration of the Five Heroes that Gerardo has been put in “the hole”
just as his case was being prepared for appeal and when the Cuban antiterrorist
fighter needed to have frequent contact with his attorney.
While in isolation, Gerardo cannot
have any contact with his attorneys or access to correspondence. He cannot even
speak on the telephone. He is completely isolated and, on top of that, in a
state of health that could endanger his ability to function, a situation for
which the U.S. government is entirely responsible.
Weinglass noted: “We sent a
five-page letter to the prison containing all the errors that they made in
putting him in isolation. The letter outlined their own regulations that the
prison violated.”
Hours after Weinglass spoke,
Gerardo was released into the general population.
It is thanks to the great efforts
of the attorneys and the national and international solidarity movement with
the Cuban Five that this punitive and unwarranted prison action against Gerardo
has been ended. Thanks to everyone who responded so quickly to this emergency
situation.
Message from Gerardo
The day following his release from
isolation, Gerardo sent a message of thanks via telephone:
“Yesterday afternoon I was removed
from ‘the hole’ with the same speed in which I was thrown in. I had been taken
there supposedly because I was under investigation. These investigations can
take up to three months, sometimes more, but I was there 13 days. As a known
Cuban journalist would say, ‘you can draw your own conclusions.’
“I want to express to all of you
my deep gratitude. … Many thanks to all the compañeras and compañeros from Cuba
and around the world who joined their voices to condemn my situation. Thanks to
the institutions, organizations and individuals of goodwill that in one way or
another worked to bring an end to this injustice, … to our President Raúl, who
so honors us with his support, to the Cuban National Assembly and its President,
Ricardo Alarcón, a tireless fighter for the cause of the Five, to my four
brothers, who sent me messages of encouragement and who have also suffered and
lived under constant risk of suffering similar abuses, and of course, to our
dear Commander in Chief. … Thanks to everyone for having demonstrated again the
power of solidarity which, without a doubt, will one day make us free.”
Clearly, the struggle must
intensify to free Gerardo and all the Cuban Five from their unjust
imprisonment. As long as the Five’s case is shrouded in mystery from public
view by the U.S. government and corporate media, the Five will continue to be
unjustly imprisoned in the United States. Only through mass pressure will the
government be forced to let the Five Heroes free. Join the struggle to Free the
Cuban Five, visit the Web site www.freethefive.org and organize with the
National Committee to Free the Cuban Five.
