The case is not
closed
Lourdes Pérez
Navarro
"CASE closed — forget about that!" affirmed
Ricardo Alarcón de Quesada, president of the
National Assembly of People’s Power, referring to
the unjust ruling of a panel of judges in Atlanta to
uphold a decision to not review the appeals of
Gerardo Hernández and René González.
Speaking on the "Roundtable" TV and radio program,
Alarcón said the ruling was objectively divisive in
nature, in order to create confusion, but that the
attitude of the Five continues and will continue to
be one of unity.
He recalled details of the rigged legal
proceedings, which included substantial problems,
false accusations, illegalities, prevaricating by
judges in the different courts and administrative
arbitrariness. "The U.S. government has not been
able to provide any evidence to convict Gerardo; why,
then, should the Supreme Court not take the case
under review?"
In the United States, the top court of justice is
not obliged to review all the cases submitted for
its consideration. According to statistics, it only
reviews from 1 to 1.5% of cases submitted.
"We have to prevent this case from being closed,"
Alarcón emphasized. "We are going to reopen it with
arguments, with concerts, with exhibitions,
mobilizations, filings before the court, with our
hands, teeth and nails, but we are definitely going
to open it, we will open it."
He announced that a group of lawyers is preparing
to present the case in the U.S. Supreme Court,
accompanied by mobilizations, denunciations and
international solidarity, which continues to grow.
That was touched on by Rosa Aurora, Fernando’s
wife, and attorney Nuris Piñeiro who, in India
witnessed many actions of support for the cause of
freeing the Cuban Five, and for visas to be granted
to Olga Salanueva and Adriana Pérez so that they can
visit their husbands René and Gerardo. Piñeiro said
that those actions show how the Five are
international symbols of dignity and respect for
peace.
Alarcón also noted that an environment is slowly
being created in the United States that is forcing
judges to reconsider and the government to act. On
that point, he said, "I think there is total
consensus in that country: change, and that change
is going to be produced by the masses, the people.
Likewise, there has to be a change in the case of
the Five, and we’re going to achieve it."
Translated by Granma International
•