Families of jailed Cuban protesters blocked from meeting US officials to ask for their freedom in Cuba for fear they could return to the US
Families of jailed Cuban protesters blocked from meeting US officials to ask for their freedom in Cuba for fear they could return to the US
Photo: Nacho Doce
Photo: Nacho Doce
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Families of jailed Cuban protesters blocked from meeting US officials to ask for their freedom in Cuba for fear they could return to the US
Families of jailed Cuban protesters blocked from meeting US officials to ask for their freedom in Cuba for fear they could return to the US
Photo: Nacho Doce
Cuban families unable to meet with lawmakers to free jailed activists
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Two families of jailed Cuban protesters in the US are being barred from meeting with lawmakers to ask the government to release them from prison, according to the families’ lawyers.
The lawmakers — and, in some cases, family members — are waiting for the day their clients are set free from what one family says is “a violation of their human and political right to freedom of expression and assembly.”
The government has refused to free the four activists jailed on trumped-up immigration charges, though President Barack Obama has pledged clemency to the four. The Obama administration has said it will not release the detainees until they agree to comply with an FBI raid that would be a violation of their Sixth Amendment rights. The activists are among eight people released from prison last month after agreeing to cooperate with the FBI.
On March 26, the families met with Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey, a Democrat who represents Northern California. The families of the four protesters met with Sen. Diane Feinstein, D-California, to ask for clemency and asked to meet with Rep. Henry Waxman, D-California.
On March 27, the activists did not receive a response to their request and were barred by the offices of the chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on the Middle East, who said they failed to follow proper procedure. In a statement to NBC 4 Today, Woolsey said, “This is another example of what we are seeing is a very weak
