Your Excellency,

Re: This years's International Women's Day;
      Denial of Visas to Adriana Pérez O'Connor (wife of Gerardo Hernández) and
      Olga Salanueva Arango (wife of René González Sehwerert); the husbands
      being two of the so-called "Cuban" or "Miami Five"

that very March 8, the International Women's Day, I want to draw once more your attention to the case of the above-mentioned two women to whom the US Government constantly has denied their applications for temporary visas. Thus they are unable to visit their husbands in the US where the men are serving long federal prison sentences. Olga Salanueva has not seen her husband since the eve of his trial in 2000, Adriana Pérez has not been permitted to visit her husband since his arrest on September 12, 1998.

I am member of the International Commission to the Right to Family Visits - seat: Havana, Cuba - and in this capacity I confine myself to remind you of the letter which that Commission sent to you some days ago and which I, too, signed.

But I am also an active member of "amnesty international" (ai) and in this capacity I want to remind you of the numerous activities of my organization in favor especially of the two women Olga Salanueva and Adriana Pérez. In January 2007 the International Secretariate of ai started another international campaign with the purpose of action "To urge the US government to stringently review its decision to deny temporary visas to the wives of the two men, and in the absence of reasonable and conclusive evidence for them to be withheld, to grant them temporary visitation visas so that the may visit their husbands in te US." Recommended action was writing suitable letters to Director Stephen G. McFarland at the Office of Cuban Affairs of your Department of State. Thus I wrote a letter to him (of January 18, 2007) of which I enclose a copy. To this I haven't anything to add. Especially I did not see and do not see today any obstacle that could justify the denial of visas.

Sorry to say, I never received an answer. I do not know either whether ore not ai received answers or opinions from you or the State Department. But it is a fact that the actual situation is the same as before. More, quite on the contrary: exactly on September 12, 2007, the 9th anniversary of the detention of the Cuban Five (mere accident or cynical intention?), the two women have been notified that also this time they are not granted visas.

Excellency, you are not married, but you are a woman, and therefore I hope you will understand and are able to feel with Olga Salanueva and Adriana Pérez. So I appeal to you on this International Women's Day: be sympathetic, be fair, be law-abiding, be generous, be humane.

Please, review this case and arrange for granting visas to those two women, so that they may visit their husbands in the US at least this year.

Copies of this letter I send to the Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Secu-rity.

Waiting for an answer - hoping it will be a positive one - I am yours respectfully and sincerely,

(Günter Belchaus)

Enclosure

Günter Belchaus
Ministerial Counsellor (retired)

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Varste
Auf den Birken 1
57399 Kirchhundem
GERMANY

Tel.: +49-2764-70 38
Fax: +49-2764 21 51 42
E-Mail: G.Belchaus@t-online.de

Director Stephen G. McFarland
Office of Cuban Affairs
US Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20520
USA

Kirchhundem, January 18, 2007

Dear Director,

Re: Denial of visas to Adriana Pérez O'Connor (wife of Gerardo Hernández Nordelo) and Olga Salanueva Arango (wife of René González Sehwerert); Hernández and González are two of the so-called "Cuban Five".

I am a jurist, former public servant who worked for several decades in the German Federal Ministry of Justice and an active member of Amnesty International (ai). From a recent document of my organisation I have learnt that ai has started once again a campaign in favor of Adriana Pérez O'Connor and Olga Salanueva Arango and their imprisoned husbands. Beyond it, I am a pen-friend of the prisoners and I am, too, proud to have very close, very friendly relations with their families. Particularly, I know in detail all about the persistent and in my opinion imcomprehensible denial of visas which should allow Adriana and Olga to visit their husbands in prison. Very often I have experienced how they suffer and I also know the pain of the today nine years old daughter Ivette of Olga and René who has not seen her father for over eight years.

This mentioned before, I urge you, providing that there is no reasonable and conclusive evidence for continuing for them to be withheld, to grant promptly visas to the two women so that they may visit their husbands - and Ivette may see her father.

Let me emphasise the following aspects:

• The importance of family visits to prisoners, not just in maintaining the men's morale but in lessening the impact of their imprisonment on their families. That is in this case particularly significant given the length of the men's sentences.
  
• The seemingly permanent denial of family visits is contrary both to standards for the humane treatment of prisoners and to states' obligation to protect family life.
  
• The denial of visits from their immediate families has caused and is still causing substantial hardship to Gerardo Hernández and René González, beyond the penalties imposed on them, and has had and is still having a detrimental impact on family members including little Ivette González.
  
• This deprivation is additionally harsh due to the serious questions that are being raised about the fairness of the men's convictions.
  
• The US authorities have been inconsistent in their reasons for denying visas to Olga and Adriana and have failed to provide evidence for their decisions. This affects the women in two ways, primarily, it has denied them the opportunity to rebut the grounds for denial, and secondly, it has made it harder for them to prepare subsequent applications.

In this context, I would like to draw your attention to Article 10 (1) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which the USA has ratified, on the Human Rights Committee's General Comment 21 to Article 10, the UN Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons Under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment and the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners.

I would be pleased to hear from you urgently as to whether you are now ready to review your decisions, and in the absence of reasonable and conclusive evidence for continuing for them to be withheld (I am convinced that ther is none), to grant Olga and Adriana temporary visitation visas so that they may visit their husbands in the US.

Yours respectfully and sincerely,

(Günter Belchaus)