NEW YEAR GREETINGS FROM THE CUBAN 5

Due to the fact that since December 21 Victorville Penitentiary is once again in one of its frequent lock downs, Gerardo Hernandez was unable to send out a solidarity message.    

It was twelve years ago this December when we received from a Miami Judge our long, brutal and unjust sentences.

I can remember when I first came to the penitentiary in Florence, Colorado, in the middle of a severe winter in 2002. I arrived there carrying a life sentences on my shoulders and soon learned that some inmates called that prison “a cemetery of living men". Many of the prisoners that I met there were designated to either die in that penitentiary or in some other prison of the federal system. Their chances in a Federal Court of appeals to get a release date are zero and many of these men had already served long period of time. Violence was a daily part of the routine inside the walls of Florence USP and it was really hard just to find somebody there who was a quiet peaceful person. Almost everyone there had a record of violent acts committed inside or outside the prison walls. To make it all even worse an abundance of the prisoners were suffering from some type of mental illness.

I still remember some of my conversations with the most veteran prisoners in the penitentiary who told me that when you reach 15 years of time you cross a line when “prison is prison". They explained that is the time when physical and psychological problems start to appear.

We now find ourselves in the 16th year of unjust incarceration and are fortunate that we have no symptoms of disorientation or depression. On the contrary, each day in prison we are more positive and creative; we are more serene and supremely optimistic.

I am taking a risk to say it, but it is my sense that never has any prisoner received as many letters as we, the Cuban 5, have, from all around the world during our long imprisonment. It has been an endless flow of letters full of friendship and love. These messages of solidarity have never stopped coming since people learned of our situation back in 2001. This have made the difference and we know that this stream of support and love will not stop until our many friends know that we have all arrived safely back home.

The hard life that one experiences in prison demonstrates to me that an innocent man, with pure principles, loved by many people will never lose his mind. He will never let his integrity and moral be compromised or broken, and this remains true even if that person is placed in the most isolated cell.

As Jose Marti said: “A just principle from the bottom of a cave is stronger than an army".

To you, our eternal gratitude for your immense and constant support that makes us continue to be resistant and makes us taste our inevitable freedom each day.  

Happy New Year 2014!

We wish you health, happiness and success in your goals.

Five big embraces

TIE A YELLOW RIBBON

Under the rain of time,

between our two wounds,

where light passes through

tie a yellow ribbon.

On the balcony of your dreams,

on the tree on the corner,

on your door that is my door

tie a yellow ribbon.

For the world to see

like a flower extended

to the tip of a star

tie a yellow ribbon.

Although I know how much you love me,

how much your life is my life;