[Ppnews] City Council of Richmond Passes Resolution in Support of Cuban Five

[Political Prisoner News]

The City Council of Richmond, California, 
unanimously passes a Resolution in support of the 
Cuban Five and visitation rights for their families

International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban Five
4/8/2009

A resolution in support of the Cuban Five 
political prisoners in the United States was 
passed at the Richmond City Council meeting on 
Tuesday April 7th by a 7 to 0 vote. The 
initiative was introduced by Mayor Gayle 
McLaughlin and co-sponsored by Councilwoman Maria Viramontes.

Richmond sits on the northern part of the San 
Francisco Bay. It is a multicultural, multiracial 
city with a population of more than 100,000 
people. African Americans and Latinos account for 
a majority of its residents.

The resolution calls for President Barack Obama 
and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to 
consider the violation of international covenants 
and due process for a fair trial associated with 
the conviction and imprisonment of the Cuban 
Five. It also calls for the pardon and release of 
the Cuban Five to their homeland as well as the 
immediate granting of humanitarian visas to Olga 
Salanueva and Adriana Perez (wives of two of the 
Cuban Five) to visit their husbands in prison.

Despite the lack of diplomatic relations between 
the United States and Cuba, citizens of Richmond 
have a long history of fraternal relations with 
Cuba through its Regla Cuba/Richmond Sister City project.

In 2007 Mayor Gayle McLaughlin spearheaded a 
campaign in support of the right of family visits 
for the Cuban Five and together with 12 other 
California Mayors sent a letter to then US 
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales asking him to 
grant humanitarian visas to relatives of the Cuban Five.

The City of Richmond’s resolution joins 
together with thousands of supporters, including 
5 Presidents from Latin America, 10 Nobel Prize 
winners, intellectuals, religious leaders, union 
leaders, legal and human rights organizations, 
artists, members of parliaments and people from 
all over the world who are asking the US 
government to immediately release the Cuban Five.

At the same time of the passage of this 
resolution, hundreds of people from all over the 
world are making phone calls and sending letters 
and faxes to US Secretary of State Hillary 
Clinton and Secretary of Homeland Security Janet 
Napolitano to ask them to grant visas to Adriana 
Perez and Olga Salanueva to visit their 
imprisoned husbands who they have not been allowed to see for over 10 years.

The Mayor of Richmond and other personalities 
have also sent individual letters to both Clinton 
and Napolitano asking them to grant visas to 
Perez and Salanueva including the Vice President 
of the Mexican Senate Yeidckol Polevnsky Gurwitz, 
former California Congressman Esteban Torres, the 
President of the William C. Velásquez Institute 
Antonio Gonzalez,  former Bishop of Detroit 
Thomas Gumbleton, the president of the National 
Lawyers Guild Marjorie Cohn, the Dean of St. 
Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral Spenser D. Simrill, 
the Director of Project Censored Peter Phillips, 
and writers Piero Gleijeses, Arnold August and James Cockcroft.

The resolution of the Richmond City Council will 
hopefully pave the way for other elected 
officials to support the release of the Cuban 
Five as a basic gesture of justice and a step 
towards normalization of relations between the US and Cuba.

To view the resolution visit: <http://www.thecuban5.org/>www.thecuban5.org



Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110

415 863-9977

www.Freedomarchives.org  
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