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Having Yamila Gonzalez and Maritzel Gonzalez come and speak to us about Cuba was very informative and interesting. I never knew that we were given false information about the Cuban and I have never heard of the Cuban Five. I have learned so much about Cuba in the little time that they were here. The Cuban Five are Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando González and René González.

 

 I was very amazed by Odalys Aguliar’s question but was very intrigued to hear their answer. I have always wondered why our government does not learn from other government. By taking the positive from different governments the world would be a better place. From what the guest speakers were saying, it sounded like Cuba has the ideal government. Apparently Cuba has a government where the people are actually heard. The guest speaker said that if something is wrong with their government they do not stay quiet. I would have liked to learn more about Cuba and its history.

 

 

What really interested me was the information about the Cuban Five. I would have never thought someone would make a false website about something as historic as five men going to jail for espionage. The history behind the Cuban Five is so amazing and how unjust life was for them, here in the United States.

 

Even though two out of the five have been released, there are still three more in prison. These five men have lost most of their whole lives in prison but from what the guest speakers have told us, is that they have the motivation to keep living. Their motivation comes from the people of Cuba, their families and their supporters. Another piece of information that shocked me was the unfairness that was given to them in prison. Their rights were violated, their prison rights. Every inmate should have the same visitation rights no matter what the punishment is. This information, reminds me of the movie “Mandela’s Long Walk to Freedom”. It was the same violation of prison rights, no visitation from family members. I was surprised to hear that these men were also subjected to solitude confinement, usually when an inmate gets solitude confinement is because they committed and horrendous crime. From what the guest speakers informed us about, is that these men were only trying to prevent a terrorist attack from the United States. These men should be labeled heroes instead of criminals.

 

I could not believe that United States did not do any further investigations until years later. Even then the Cuban Five were not released. Whatever happened to “innocent until proven guilty” for these men? This is not fair at all to these men. Just because they are from Cuba should not have been a factor for their unjust treatment by our government. The United States needs to learn that everyone and I mean everyone is an immigrant including the founding fathers. The only ones who are not immigrants are Mexicans and Native Americans yet they are treated like outsides.

 

No one likes to be treated unfairly so why should they have been treated so unjust. I know that having life sentences and more years added to a inmate sucks, which is why there are people who are trying to get the remaining three out. René González was the first to be released on October 7, 2011 but was not able to stay in Cuba till May 3, 2013, just one year ago. Fernando González was just released this year on February 27th, after 15 years of being in prison.

DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.