Visas for Cuban Five relatives

Irma Schwerert speaks in special “Free the Five” session at 2007 U.S./Cuba/Venezuela/ Mexico Labor Conference in Tijuana, Mexico. WW photo: Gloria Verdieu

“They don’t just have five men in jail. It is the dignity of Cuba, the one they have not been able to destroy. We assure you they will never break it,” Irma Schwerert declared at the IV U.S.-Cuba-Venezuela Labor Conference on Dec. 7, 2007 in Tijuana, Mexico.

Schwerert’s son, René González—one of the Cuban Five—is denied any visits with his spouse, Olga Salanueva. For nine years the U.S. government has restricted, delayed and outright denied family visits to further punish the Cuban Five—heroes unjustly imprisoned for peacefully monitoring Florida-based paramilitaries planning violent attacks on Cuba. A concerted international campaign supported by the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC) challenges this violation of international human rights norms and U.S. laws. (See accompanying FMC statement on this page.)

The case of the Cuban Five and the family visit campaign are well known around the world. For example, UNISON, the largest public sector union in Britain with 1.2 million members, is collecting petition signatures for the right of family visits.

But as Irma Schwerert said in Tijuana: “We have to be realistic. Legally, even though we are going to keep trying and fighting with the hope that at some point there is justice in the justice system, we can’t have that much confidence in the law. It is public opinion, especially in the United States, that will get them out of jail.”

The ultimate family visit for the Cuban Five and their loved ones will come when they are free from the prisons of the U.S. empire to return to their beloved socialist Cuba.

In the words of Fidel: “¡Volverán!” (They shall return!)