U.S. definitively denies visa to Olga Salanueva, wife of one of the Cuban Five

BY SUNDRED SUZARTE MEDINA

 • For the ninth time, and now permanently, the U.S. government has denied a visa to Olga Salanueva, wife of Cuban patriot René González, one of the five anti-terrorist fighters serving prison sentences in that country.

Salanueva announced the decision communicated by the U.S. Interest Section in Havana on July 16 in response to an interview request made this January to re-apply yet again for permission to enter the United States during a meeting here in Cuba of relatives of the Five with the José Martí Cuba Solidarity Brigade from Europe and the Juan Rius Rivera Brigade from Puerto Rico. On this occasion, and for the first time, she was informed that she is “permanently ineligible for a visa.” According to the website www.antiterrorista.cu, the U.S. decision came as a result of her deportation from that country after René’s arrest.

Salanueva emphasized during the meeting that she and her husband are condemned not to see each other until he completes his 15-year sentence and condemned the ever-increasing delays on the part of the U.S. authorities in responding to visa requests by family members of Gerardo, Antonio and Fernando.

For René’s wife, the visa denial is a way to increase the pain of families of the Five. “They have tried everything, from the legal point of view to the human. It has been a case of personalized hatred for these five men since September 12, 1998,” when they were arrested.

In the case of Adriana, Gerardo’s wife, who also presented her request for the ninth time, a State Department response is pending, and could take several months. On eight previous occasions, the authorization was refused.

BRIGADE MEMBERS SHOW SOLIDARITY WITH FAMILIES OF THE FIVE

During a meeting at the Julio Antonio Mella Camp outside of Havana with participants in the European and Puerto Rican brigades, relatives of the Five accepted demonstrations of solidarity as they denounced the policies of the United States against them and against the people of Cuba in general.

At the end of the encounter, the families were awarded the

Pablo de la Torriente Brau Prize, presented by the center named after that Cuban revolutionary who died in the Spanish Civil War.

During their stay on the island, members of the Puerto Rican brigade inaugurated a mural dedicated to the Five in the Havana municipality of Diez de Octubre, painted by artists from their country and Cuban members of the Muraleando project. Another mural was inaugurated in Caimito, near the international camp and they planted a tree in the Martiano Woods in another Habana municipality, San Antonio de los Baños.

According to Milagros Rivera, coordinator of the Juan Rius Rivera Brigade, “We recognize the injustice being committed against the Five and this is a way for us to reciprocate, given all the help that you have given us with our political prisoners.”

HONORED BY THE PRESIDENT OF NICARAGUA

In other news, the five anti-terrorist fighters were decorated with the Augusto César Sandino Order by President Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua during the national event to commemorate the 29th anniversary of the Sandinista People’s Revolution.