Ricardo Alarcon, President of the National Assembly of People's Power of Cuba, held the United States responsible for the health of anti-terrorist Gerardo Hernandez, unjustly held in a US prison and suffering from physical problems. He warned that Gerardo is without communication with his lawyers, at the very time that appeal procedures are being carried out, a situation that has been constantly repeated throughout the entire process.
"There are many people in the United States who believe in justice and actively support the Five, fighting every day for their freedom," says labour and community activist Gloria La Riva, the head of the National Committee to Free the Cuban Five, responding to questions of IPS journalist Patricia Grogg about her total dedication to the cause. "These men did something that really deserves support: they sacrificed their personal lives to defend their people and any possible victim of terrorism. They should never have been put in prison."
On Saturday June 26 the Second United States Social Forum (USSF) ended in Detroit, where more than 15,000 people from cities and towns across the US and around the world had converged to share common problems and to plan strategies to try to resolve them. The Social Forum offered an excellent opportunity to bring the case of the Cuban Five to a whole new layer of people. When informed about the details of the case people could see the hypocrisy of the US government's phony war on terrorism.
Following his conviction Gerardo had a right to appeal it to the circuit court of appeals in Atlanta, which he did and then seek a review in the U.S. Supreme Court, which he also did. That process is the direct appeal. When that process is completed, which it is in Gerardo's case, then one has the right to launch a collateral appeal or a collateral attack, which is a very limited form of appeal (only constitutional issues not previously litigated, plus a claim of actual innocence). And that is where we are now. (This is an updated and corrected version of this interview)
