The commitment of an entire people to end the injustice the Five have suffered

How long will the injustice continue?

No Cuban, no person anywhere in the world, should be unmoved by such an injustice. It has been 13 years of unjust imprisonment. They have been subjected to cruel treatment, separated from their families. That is why the entire people and we athletes will not cease demanding that the United States government free the Five Cuban Heroes, in whatever venue, be it the Cerro Pelado [Havana sports facility], the 4th ALBA Games or the upcoming Guadalajara Pan Americans.” (Evelyn Ríos, member of the national pistol shooting team)

They want to leave him in the den of wolves

Having had the opportunity to participate in Cuba's health missions in other parts of the world, I am aware of how the truth about the Five is gaining strength and there are increasingly more people calling for their release. In the case of

René González, the judge's decision is inadmissible, arbitrary and vengeful. It presumes to place him right into the den of wolves. It is painful to hear that one of our compatriots, instead of being with his family and his people, will be obliged to remain three more years in the United States. This is proof of the U.S. government's complicity with the Miami terrorists. This struggle cannot cease. For the immediate return of René, now, and until all of the Five return to their homeland. (Dr. Luis Hernández Arredondo, specialist in Internal Medicine)

Cruel punishment

The South Florida District Judge's decision is a cruel punishment, denying the motion submitted by René González requesting that he be allowed to return to Cuba and be reunited with his family. Once again, the deceitful policy employed by the U.S. government is exposed. While it protects terrorists responsible for the deaths of thousands of Cubans, it continues its arbitrary legal persecution of the Five. (Dr. William Lazo Calderón, Havana Cardiology & Cardiovascular Surgery Institute)

They contradict themselves

If the 13 years that René has already served in U.S. prisons were unjust, the latest is beyond description. U.S. imperialism, through the judge in Miami, is devising another one of its travesties. Clearly, staying in this city would put his life in danger. One more example of the empire's double standards. Saying that he can't be anywhere near terrorist groups means they recognize that such groups exist and they know exactly where they meet. Why, then, don't they do something? Once again, the illustrious leaders of the struggle against terrorism contradict themselves. René is ours and must immediately return to his land.

 (Benito Noa Delgado, head of the Jimaguayú UBPC (Basic Unit of Cooperative Agricultural Production).

Political malice

This deliberate reprisal against René and the continual punishments he suffered, which his four brothers in struggle are still facing, are an example of the political malice the United States bears against everything Cuba and its democracy represent. Our people will not waver in our struggle to return these compatriots to our homeland. It's a debt we owe to those who put their people's interest above their own, to those who have sacrificed a good part of their lives to protect us. (Elpidio González, traffic officer)

We cannot rest

Condemning this new fabrication and all those that have been cooked up during the arbitrary legal process is a responsibility and an obligation for all who love justice. René should come home and be reunited with his family, as should his brothers. How ironic, Posada Carriles on the loose and the real anti-terrorists in prison! This could only happen in a country like the United States which drops bombs and kills innocent people in the name of a war against terrorism and the defense of human rights. The Five are innocent and should return right now.

(Olivia González Cheng, President of the Horacio Rodríguez agricultural cooperative, in Placetas, Villa Clara province)

People are following the case and are concerned

A few days ago my boy asked me what I thought about what's been going on with René's release from prison in the U.S. This just shows the degree to which the population is involved with the case of the Five and aware of René's upcoming liberation. The people are well aware of the developments and concerned about the fact that he may have to remain in the United States three more years. We know that if he stays there, anything could happen to him. What we want is that he be allowed to return to his homeland, to be with his family.

(Francisco Fernández Blanco, Cubana de Acero steelworker)

They turn their backs on the international clamor

It is inadmissible that an empire like the yankee one, which considers itself the master of the world, should obey the Miami terrorist mafia. The ultimate expression of cynicism is precisely that the U.S. continues the unjust incarceration of the Five Cuban patriots who fought to stop barbarous criminals like Posada Carriles. They turn their backs on the international clamor calling for the immediate release of all five and that René González be once again among his people. (Antonio Nardo Cruz, agronomist with the Ceiba citrus enterprise.)

The most sensible and just move

The most sensible and just move the yankee government could make would be to allow René to return to Cuba that very day, October 7. Keeping him there is only being done to please the Cuban-American mafia, which is capable of any kind of provocation and, as has been demonstrated more than once, even commit murder with absolute impunity in the streets of Miami. It is imperative that this cruel imprisonment end and that all of the Five return to the country. (Marietta Milá Lombida, retired, Santiago de Cuba)

An absurd stipulation

We have to denounce the real intentions of the U.S. government, further detaining René González after he has served his unjust sentence in full. It is nothing more than delivering him into the hands of these ferociously anti-Cuban terrorists who freely walk the streets of Miami. I appeal to the U.S. people to unmask this maneuver, to demand that its government immediately return René to Cuba, as well as Gerardo, Ramón, Antonio and Fernando. (Alberto Lezcay Merencio, Santiago de Cuba sculptor)

René must return to his people and his family

In the case of René González, the injustice the Five have faced is getting worse. It's not enough that they've been given excessive, irrational sentences, now they have delayed René's reunion with his family, his people and his homeland for three more years, as an indication of the hatred they feel for Cuba and everything that the true liberty and sovereignty its people enjoy represents.

René will probably face greater dangers when he is released from prison, since the Miami mafia can threaten his physical safety and it will be allowed. Let's see what President Obama does about this now. (Mayaxil Oven Velásquez, cashier at José Martí International Airport, Terminal 3)

Cruelty and double standards

With this further injustice the U.S. government reconfirms its cruelty and double standards. On the one hand, it presents itself as the champion of human rights, of freedom and democracy, but, on the other, it commits travesties like this one – extending René's suffering and his family's. What they are doing to our five compatriots makes us furious. But every attack by the empire only serves to strengthen the unity of the Cuban people and gives us a reason to continue struggling. (Soibis Cabrera Ponce, bakery worker)

A criminal act

Judge Lenard's decision against René is a reflection of the U.S. government's policy toward Cuba of extortion and pressure. It is a contemptible act which prolongs the suffering of a person who for 13 years has been unjustly imprisoned for defending the Cuban people, and the United States people, from the terrorist Miami mafia. It is a criminal act, evidence of the vengeful policy toward our country, one of the few in the world which has stood up, and will stand up to the empire's pressure, without conceding an inch. (Ernesto Loinaz Estrada Castillo, self-employed

Persecution taken to yet a higher level

This unjust three-year period of so-called "supervised liberty" for René González amounts to persecution, taken to yet a higher level. If the United States is supposedly fighting terrorism, how can it do this to a person who was truly committed to stopping it? What they are doing is, once again, revealing their double standards. The world needs to recognize this once and for all and René must return to Cuba now, to be with his own people, to whom he has shown his bravery, kindness, exceptional altruism and humanism. (Antonio Ramos Jiménez, Director of the Petrocasas manufacturing plant within the Cienfuegos petrochemical complex.)

The struggle will continue until they return

The decision to require René to remain in a country which is not his own, where he has no family, lacks any basis whatsoever and is clearly illogical. It prevents him from reintegrating himself into society after having served a long, undeserved sentence, as a result of a trial rigged by political interests, totally distorted by pressure from groups hostile to the Cuban Revolution and it puts his life at risk. We Cubans must continue showing our support for the Five until they return.

(Annia Teresa Acosta Cardoso, Professor of Law, University of Pinar del Río)

New political machinations

From the very beginning of these legal proceedings we were clear that this was a political trial. The stipulation that René serve a probationary period constitutes another political trick, one which seriously endangers his life. It's incredible that they would prevent his return to the heart of his family, to be reunited with his wife and daughters. (Amdiany Mir Cowan, Professor of Labor Law, University of Havana)

René must be freed unconditionally

Requiring René to remain in the United States after 13 years of undeserved incarceration, in an environment as hostile to the Revolution as the state of Florida, where known anti-Cuban terrorist elements live under government protection, is an extension of his sentence. His freedom must be unconditional. After so many dangerous years in prison, the United States is in no way an appropriate location for his reincorporation into society. He must return to his family and this is what we are going to continue to fight for, within the country and abroad. (Anabel Celia Bollet Fuentes, second year Law student, University of Havana)

Periodistas: Raquel Marrero, Olga Díaz, Livia Rodríguez, Juan Varela, Leyanis Infante, Harold Iglesias, Miguel Febles, Freddy Pérez, Ronald Suárez, Julio Martínez, Jorge Luis Merencio, Eduardo Palomares.

GRANMA