Fernando Gonzalez released today after 15years

Fernando-González Georgetown: Today, after 15 years of incarceration, one of the Cuban Five, Fernando González Llort will be released from Safford Federal Prison after serving his entire sentence, according to President of the Guyana Solidarity Movement with Cuba” Halim Khan.

He will be taken from the Federal Correctional Prison in Safford Arizona to a federal immigration prison until his deportation back to Cuba.

September 12, 2013 marked the 15th anniversary of the detention of Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon Labañino Salazar, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando Gonzalez Llort, and Rene Gonzalez Schewerert.

Last year, René González was released after serving his time and returned to his homeland.

The Five were detained while monitoring from the city of Miami, the movements and activities by violent groups and individuals engaged in planning terrorist acts against Cuba, which led to thousands of deaths and people with disabilities for more than 50 years. This case is a political case and the Cuban Five are political prisoners.

On Sept. 12, 1998, a heavily armed FBI SWAT team arrested the members of the Cuban intelligence network in Miami. The five agents were tried under hostile circumstances and convicted on low-bar charges of “conspiracy to commit” everything from espionage to murder and sentenced to impossibly long prison terms, including one double life sentence, plus 15 years.

President of the Guyana Solidarity Movement with Cuba” Halim Khan explained that Fernando Gonzalez Llort will be embraced by his family and the people of Cuba, who have never wavered in their solidarity with Fernando and his four brothers.

Underscoring that during his long captivity Gonzalez Llort has remained in cold and distant prisons in various parts of the American geography, Khan said that as an additional punishment Gonzalez Llort was banned from receiving visits from friends and supporters. During all these years only his mother Magali Llort, his sisters Lourdes and Martha, his wife Rosa Aurora Freijanes and other family members were able to visit him. And even they averaged only one visit a year.

Halim-KhanHowever, Khan said the lone exception was a single visit from the former Bishop of Detroit Thomas Gumbleton in March 2007. Despite this form of isolation Fernando, like his 4 brothers, received on daily basis volumes of mail of solidarity that filled the mail rooms of the prisons.

Even though Fernando has fulfilled everyday of his sentence, he will still have to go through a process of undetermined time before he will be able to enjoy his freedom surrounded by his love ones.

“Along with his family, the heroic people of Cuba, and the thousands of people in the international solidarity movement for the Cuban Five, we advocate that this last bit of injustice ends as swiftly as possible.

All the love, pride and respect of the entire island of Cuba is waiting for Fernando, a true Hero of the Republic of Cuba. His return will give more strength to the solidarity movement as he joins forces with Rene in leading the struggle to demand the freedom of Gerardo, Antonio and Ramon.

We will share a moment of joy with the family of Fernando upon his return and then we will multiply our commitment to continue the fight until the final return of the Five to Cuba.” Khan emphasised.