Dear President Zapatero, What About Some Solidarity With the Cuban Five?

By Pascual Serrano

Dear José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, President of Spain:

I checked in the Press that you sent a letter of solidarity to the wife of a Cuban prisoner subjected to trial in my country.

In it you expressed that (she) “can have the confidence that Spain will do everything possible for the liberation of political prisoners”. You also showed your admiration of the work of the so-called “Women in White”, wives and mothers of the prisoners on the island. Your letter of solidarity, by chance, coincided with that of George Bush.

I’m not going to detail the reasons for that imprisonment, based on Cuban penal code that establishes, just like the Spanish one, the crime of working for an enemy power. But I certainly like to express my sadness at not having received from you any letter of solidarity for the detention of my husband or his four companions imprisoned since ten years in the United States.

We cannot demonstrate in the country where they are serving their prison terms because they either rarely grant us visas or they would extradite or imprison us just for demonstrating in Washington asking for their liberty. Two of us have never been able to visit them in prison or travel to the United States.

The five Cubans of whom I speak to you are condemned to long or life imprisonment only for trying to know of terrorist plans that some organisations in Florida were plotting against Cuba, such as they have been doing for many years. I do not believe you think that this mission is reason for them to spend the rest of their life in prison, as your companion in sending the letters of solidarity, George Bush, thinks.

Neither do I want to be selfish and seek only your solidarity for my husband and his four companions. At Guantánamo base, there are hundreds of prisoners without legal assistance, family visits or legal guarantees. It is a pity not to take advantage of the post to Cuba to include some letters to the wives and mothers of those detained.

Take into account that even seeking justice can be unjust when it is sought in an uneven manner. Hypocritical even if motivated by reasons not strictly humanitarian.

I expect, therefore, your letter of support as a sign that the reasons that have moved you to write to that Cuban wife are truly that of solidarity.

Sincerely,
The wife of one of the Cuban Five imprisoned in the United States.

Note: My apologies to Rosa, Adriana, Olga and Elizabeth for the simulation.

Source: PascualSerrano.net

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