• RENÉ González Sehwerert, Hero of the Republic of Cuba, has been subjected to a new arbitrary act on the part of the government of the United States, which has further limited the conditions of his supervised release, making them increasingly similar to incarceration. The U.S. government’s apparent purpose is to continue punishing him despite the many years of unjust and cruel treatment he has faced.

Since September 2012, the State Department has denied all applications made by the Cuban Interests Section in Washington for consular visits to René, which consistently took place during the 13 years he was imprisoned and the initial months of his supervised release. Our diplomatic mission in the United States has fruitlessly presented the State Department with various alternatives to continue consular visits to René, which have been rejected.

This act constitutes a flagrant violation of United States government obligations under the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, which protects René González’ right to freely communicate with Cuban Interests Section officials in Washington and the right of these officials to do the same and to visit him.

This deliberate and cruel decision represents an additional punishment, given the already strict conditions of René’s supervised release, which obliged him to remain a further three years in the United States, separated from his family, after having completed his long and unjust sentence to the last day.

Cuba strongly condemns this arbitrary decision on the part of U.S. authorities, which violates René’s rights, while it holds the United States responsible for the security and physical integrity of the anti-terrorist fighter.

Cuba will continue to denounce before the world these abuses and will not cease its efforts to achieve the return to the homeland of René and Gerardo Hernández Nordelo, Ramón Labañino Salazar, Antonio Guerrero Rodríguez and Fernando González Llort, unjustly imprisoned in the United States for close to 15 years.