July 5, 2012
President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20500-0004
Dear President Obama:
Though I fear your staff protects you
from letters such as this, I write in the hope that one of our voices
leaks through. I am one of thousands of people around the world who
ask that you make a humanitarian gesture that is also a meaningful
step to reduce international tensions: grant Executive Clemency and
cause the release of the Cuban 5, who have been wrongly held in our
prisons for nearly 14 years.
Together with a number of colleagues in
the arts who speak as Actors and Artists United for the Freedom of
the Cuban Five, I ask for the release of these five men: Gerardo
Hernández Nordelo, Ramón
Labañino Salazar, Rene
González Sehwerert,
Antonio Guerrero Rodríguez
and Fernando González
Llort.
Release them because they are sons,
husbands, brothers, poets, pilots, college graduates and artists who
have committed no crime against the United States.
Release them because they came to this
country unarmed and never posed a threat of any kind to US National
Security.
Release them because they came here
only to monitor the activities of violent Cuban exiles, who operating
from bases in Miami of which our government is well aware, were
planning violent actions against innocent people in Cuba.
Release them because they were trying
to prevent more brutal acts against against their country and save
innocent lives.
As you are aware, Mr. President,
yesterday was our Independence Day, a day many politicians use to
celebrate our nation's laws, its history, and its people. For many of
these same politicians, supporting the so-called “war on terror”
is used as a way to demonstrate their patriotism.
That being so, it is an act of profound
hypocrisy for our government to continue the incarceration of these
heroic men who put themselves at risk to stop the very terrorism we
claim to find so abhorrent.
Therefore, I respectfully ask that you
reverse this mockery of justice and use the powers conferred on you
by our Constitution to do the right thing and allow the Cuban 5 to
return home to their loved ones.
Sincerely,
Mike Farrell
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