Fighting for Gerardo and the Future

By RHC

Adriana Pérez, wife of Gerardo Hernández, Cuban antiterrorist unjustly imprisoned in the United States, also resists the effects of the closure of her partner, and though she is free in Havana, she is always ready to leave for other places when she has to denounce the abuse.

Soon it will be 26 years since she fell in love with Gerardo, who along with Ramon Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando González and René González are known as The Five.

In manipulated trials, they were sentenced in Miami to arbitrary and disproportionate sentences ranging from 15 years to two life sentences plus 15 years. That is the situation of Gerardo Hernández.

Only René González left prison after finishing his sentence but is now forced to spend 3 years on supervised liberty in the United States.

In a recent interview to Juventud Rebelde newspaper, Adriana Perez spoke about the distance relationship she has with her husband, imposed by his current situation.

She has been denied a visa to visit Gerardo for 14 years, a right of any prisoner with appropriate behavior, as happens with this antiterrorist fighter, who committed the only "offense" of monitoring the activities of extremist anti-Cuban elements based in Miami.

Adriana confesses that they have matured together despite the distance and have developed a sense of telepathy as --she explains-- "mothers feel when, even if no one tells them anything, they feel that their children are not well."

The interviewer points out that "the firm tenderness with which Adriana comments on the talks known by heart, help her to feel the man she knows in flesh and blood, an innocent man condemned by the U.S. government even without a shred of evidence."

Gerardo's wife is limited to telephone conversations with him and only part of the 300 minutes per month granted by the directors of the maximum-security prison in the U.S.state of California.

The 300 minutes per month for Gerardo is also for him to talk to the rest of the family as well as his lawyers and Cuban consular assistants.

Adriana does not rest on her accusations of violations against her husband, as well as the frustrated visits and delay of correspondence, including ones related to their legal situation and the obstacles have important conversations with his lawyers.

Adriana recalls that when her imprisoned husband went to present documents to the U.S. Supreme Court through his lawyers, he was put in solitary confinement.

In her statements to Juventud Rebelde newspaper, Gerardo’s companion recounts the excesses endured by the man she loves. Unable to have children, Adriana Perez also suffers the abuses committed against Gerardo Hernandez. "If I had no confidence in his return, I would not do the things I do," she firmly says and adds that "If I tell you that that future is tomorrow (...) I'm cheating myself. I just know that the future will definitely come, but I don’t know when."

Lebanese Committee of solidarity to release the Five Cuban Heroes