Obama, give me five!
Thursday 21 June
 |
Rosa Aurora Freijanes, Adriana
Perez, Olga Salanueva, and Elizabeth Palmiero
Casado
|
A standing ovation greeted guest speaker Elizabeth
Palmiero Casado and three of the other wives of the
imprisoned Miami Five Cubans as they took to the podium
at UNISON conference yesterday.
Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon
Labanino, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando Gonzalez and Rene
Gonzalez were falsely accused
of espionage by the US government in 2000 and jailed
in Miami.
Their families have been denied regular visiting
rights, but all have dedicated their lives to campaigning
for
the release of their husbands.
"We feel proud because we see how many people here support
our campaign and understand our sorrow and pain," said
Ms Palmiero.
"We want you to know that in the court we know
we will never find justice. This is a political case.
But we
trust in the power of solidarity. Only a jury of one
million people can bring justice to these men."
The
Five had infiltrated a terrorist group of Cuban exiles
in Miami which had killed thousands in attacks
over more than 40 years. They passed information
about the group to the FBI, but were then arrested
themselves
and tried in an atmosphere of acute political hostility.
Ms Palmiero recounted how the wives had been alone
ever since their husbands' arrest. Those who had children
had to raise them without their fathers, but in cases
where the couple had not yet
had children, they fear they will never be able to
unless the men are released. She also spoke movingly
of the suffering of the men’s mothers.
In a campaign
called Obama Give Me 5, the women have called on the
US president to issue a pardon for the
Five. "There is no other way," said Ms Palmiero.
She
conveyed a message from her imprisoned husband Ramon
sending his thanks to UNISON. And she finished with
heart-felt thanks to the emotional support of the UNISON
delegates.
"From the bottom of our hearts, we thank you," she
told UNISON members.
"Our strength not only comes from them in prison,
but also from you and the support you have given us
over
the years, and that we know you will continue to give
us. From our hearts, receive all our love."
UNISON
president Eleanor Smith pledged that the union will
send a message to foreign secretary William Hague
demanding the UK put the utmost pressure on the US
to release the Miami Five.
And she urged delegates
to send postcards to the Five with messages of support
and encouragement.
You can
find out more from the Cuba Solidarity Campaign
at http://www.cuba-solidarity.org.uk/miami5/ and sign
the petition calling for Olga Salanueva
and Adriana Perez to be granted visas so they can
visit
their husbands.
Speaking to the Newssheet teams
after the Conference speech, Elizabeth Palmiero Casado
urged UNISON
members to help break down the ‘wall of silence’ that
keeps the facts about the Miami Five hidden from the
American people.
Backing the ‘Obama Give Me 5’ campaign
for humanitarian release of the Miami Five would be a
key
way of doing that.
The campaign is not without supporters in the USA, not
least in Miami itself, but the media is silent on the
issue.
The women stressed that we in the international community
have a major role to play in breaking that wall of silence.
“There has been a systematic cover
up”, said Adriana
Perez as she told how the New York Times in 2006 had
revealed that government officials had paid journalists
to publish hostile stories against the Miami Five.
The wives
know that private approaches have been made to President
Obama and, while they are
realistic about
his likely response in an election year, they
take hope from the fact that he has been ‘less agressive’ than
Bush.
The political hurdles are huge. There is
a host of evidence of US agencies directly supporting
organisations implicated
in terrorist acts against ordinary
Cuban
people, in some cases children.
But that does not mean that the fight
is
hopeless. Putting pressure on our own politicians is
one way to get the issue raised, urged Rosa Aurora Freijanes.
The
Scottish Parliament had already passed a resolution of
support and there has been a UK early day motion.
She
called on UNISON to put pressure on MPs and especially
MEPs to get a resolution at European level.
More importantly,
she said, “You know what you can do. You have run
campaigns and you know what has worked in the past.
“Use your imagination and experience to think of new ways to support the
campaign”,
she urged.
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