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NATIONAL COMMITTEE TO FREE THE CUBAN FIVE
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Case of the Cuban Five discussed in German Parliament Though left-wing representatives called on the federal government to mediate as a champion of human rights, they received only a hypocritical response Jan. 24, 2008 The demand for the human rights for the Cuban Five, as they are internationally known, was made at the Bundestag (the federal parliament of Germany) during questioning of government officials by representatives Diether Dehm, Wolfgang Gehrcke and Monika Knoche, according to information sent via e-mail to the Juventud Rebelde newspaper. Nine interrogations, as this type of inquiry is called, were carried out. Among the issues dealt with was the arbitrary denial of visas to Olga Salanueva and Adriana Perez, the wives of two of the Cuban Five. This had been previously highlighted and criticized by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and other notable international human rights organizations. Paying deaf eras to that just demand, Minister of Foreign Affairs Gernot Erler responded on behalf of the government by saying “denying the right of Olga and Adriana to visit their husbands is not a violation of human rights.” Hypocritically, he said the “regulations concerning travel between Cuba and the United State, and even the granting of visas and travel permission is a matter between the two states.” “That is the reason why the federal government cannot intercede or be expected to do take a position in favor of granting these permissions to the wives of Gerardo Hernandez and Rene Gonzalez,” Erler said to the top legislative German authority, which is currently presided over by conservative representative Norbert Lammert. Representatives Knoche, Dehm and Gehrcke are among the 53 signatories of a letter that the left-wing fraction in federal Parliament sent on September 7, 2006 to US congress people. In the letter, the German progressives called for the immediate release of the Cuban Five and demanded to their American counterparts to mediate for Olga and Ariadna “with the objective of authorizing them to enter the US to visit their husbands before their release, which we hope takes place soon,” the communiqué read.
| Interpelado el Gobierno alemán sobre caso de los Cinco
25 de enero de 2008 BERLÍN.— En la sesión plenaria del Bundestag (Parlamento federal de Alemania), se efectuó una sesión de interpelación al Gobierno en relación con el caso de los Cinco luchadores antiterroristas cubanos, encarcelados en Estados Unidos. Los diputados Diether Dehm, Wolfgang Gehrcke y Monika Knoche, miembros de la fracción de Izquierda, formularon preguntas sobre el tema, las que fueron respondidas por el ministro de Estado del Ministerio federal de Relaciones Exteriores, Gernot Erler. En total se hicieron nueve interpelaciones, nombre que se le da en el Bundestag a este tipo de indagación al Gobierno. Las preguntas de los diputados versaron sobre el carácter arbitrario de la negativa de visas a Olga Salanueva y a Adriana Pérez, esposas de René González y Gerardo Hernández, respectivamente; así como las críticas al injusto proceso formuladas por el Grupo de Trabajo sobre Detenciones Arbitrarias de la ONU y otras prestigiosas instituciones internacionales vinculadas al tema de los derechos humanos. También reclamaron a la administración alemana interceder por razones humanitarias ante su par norteamericana, a fin de lograr que se haga justicia en este caso. Pese a los argumentos presentados y la arbitrariedad, el Gobierno federal, en voz de su Ministro de Estado, expresó, en franca alineación con Washington, que el negar el derecho a Olga y Adriana de visitar a sus respectivos esposos no constituye una violación de los derechos humanos. Los Cinco, fueron condenados en un proceso amañado en la ciudad de Miami y cargan sobre si sentencias que van desde doble cadena perpetua hasta 15 años de privación de libertad. A Olga y Adriana la administración estadounidense les ha negado en ocho ocasiones consecutivas la posibilidad de ir a ver a René y a Gerardo.
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BERLIN, January 24.— Representatives of the German left-wing demanded the federal government to mediate with their American counterparts to see justice served in the case of the five Cuban anti-terrorist fighters unfairly imprisoned in the United States.