The following appeal was issued by the National Committee to Free the Cuban Five July 30.
Within the last few days, an urgent situation has developed in the incarceration of Gerardo Hernández, who has been unjustly put in “the hole” and denied proper access to his lawyers, on top of more than two months of being denied proper medical treatment. Gerardo has also been unjustly denied visits from his wife, Adriana Pérez, since the day he was arrested nearly 12 years ago.
 Gerardo Hernandez |
Leonard Weinglass, one of the attorneys on Gerardo’s legal appeals team, told the Committee that he and attorney Peter Schey called the prison to arrange a visit with Gerardo for Saturday, July 31. The prison informed them they would only be allowed a visit with a glass partition between them. Even though Gerardo has an active habeas corpus appeal and it is necessary to consult properly with his attorneys, Weinglass and Schey are being denied the right to carry pencil or pen and paper with them, and are not allowed to bring their legal documents.
Weinglass said, “Yesterday the temperature in Victorville was 104 degrees. Gerardo and another inmate were placed in a 8×3 foot cell without air conditoning, and yet there was an empty air-conditioned cell nearby.” According to Weinglass the purported reason for Gerardo’s isolation is that a letter from an unknown individual was mailed to him, which the prison claims contained an unidentified powder. Gerardo never received the letter, and yet as a result of this incident, the whole prison was put in lockdown. This mistreatment of Gerardo is completely unwarranted.
All supporters of the Cuban Five are asked to urgently contact the Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, as well as the Warden of Victorville Prison, to demand that these unjust situations be corrected immediately. We have set up a web page where you can easily send emails to them – click here to lend your voice to this urgent campaign. You may also wish to contact President Obama with the same message (contact information is at the link).
See also the recent article with Ricardo Alarcón’s statement on the situation, and a previous one here
