New infamy against our five heroes prisoners of the empire
IN the afternoon of February 27, the head of the U.S. Department of State
Cuba Bureau delivered Diplomatic Note 058/2 to the Cuban Interests Section
in Washington. The note states that, with immediate effect, the Department
of State only will approve consular visits once every three months to "Cuban
nationals" imprisoned in U.S. jails.
In practice, this measure means that the U.S. government has reduced the
consular visits to the five Cuban patriots imprisoned in U.S. jails by Cuban
diplomatic officials based in Washington from monthly to three monthly.
The Ministry of Foreign Relations denounces this new attack on our five
heroes, compounding a long list of aggressions, psychological torture and
violations of their most elemental human rights by the U.S. government since
the moment they were arrested in 1998.
This action once again reveals the cruelty and irrationality of the U.S.
government in its vain attempt to break the indomitable spirit of our
comrades.
This decision is in flagrant violation of international law; specifically,
the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, which clearly establishes
in various of its articles facilities that should be granted by governments
for unhindered access by diplomatic missions to nationals imprisoned in the
country in question.
Among other consequences, this unjust action against our five political
prisoners of the empire rules out a visit to our comrades prior to the
appeal hearing scheduled for March 10, given that State Department officials
have stated that visits for the first trimester of the year have been used
up, and thus subsequent visits must be scheduled starting April 1. In this
way, the right of our diplomatic officials – likewise acknowledged by the
Vienna Convention on Consular Relations – to support our comrades has been
impeded and, of course, their right to support from our diplomatic mission.
This new aggression comes in addition to the recent refusal by the
Department of State to allow Cuban diplomatic officials to accompany our
heroes’ relatives when they are in the United States, the repeated denial of
visas for Olga Salanueva and Adriana Pérez – the wives of René González and
Gerardo Hernández, respectively – and the general delay in granting visas to
family members, including several of our comrades’ heroic mothers, who have
been waiting for a response from the U.S. Department of State since August
and September 2003.
Cuba reiterates that neither these aggressions nor any other infamy will
overcome the stoicism, morale and noble spirit of our five heroes, their
families and our people.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
March 4, 2004