DEISY FRANCIS MEXIDOR

Ramon Labañino was born on June 9, 1943. "Today he’s a big, strong man that can lift me with his arms," said his father Holmes Labañino speaking of the son he once held in his arms and opened his eyes "weighing eight pounds, if I’m not mistaken."

Forty-five years have gone by.

"He never gave me headaches. He was a very calm child, respectful. He didn’t know how to play marbles or spin a top. He was very studious. In general he was very healthy. Only once when he was six-months-old he caught pneumonia and we almost lost him; later he became asthmatic. However, that all ended by the time he was seven.

"His mother adored him, and he adored her. Little Ramon was the favorite child. When he grew up he always said ‘my mother, my mother’ and she loved it. He was able to see her before she died. One day we agreed to meet in the cemetery. He sat at the foot of his mom’s tomb and we began to talk. I gave him all the advice a father could give a child, we stayed a while in silence and I remember asking him: ‘Hey son, how long are you going to continue traveling; you’ve got daughters, a wife, you need to be present more.’ Until that time, the only thing I knew was that according to him he had been in Spain," said Ramon’s father.

Ramon’s answer kept his father from insisting: "‘Dad, do you want me to tell you something? I don’t know how long I’ll be traveling. It could be until I die.’ And he gave three light hits on his mother’s tomb and we left walking." He left on that supposed trip to Barcelona in July of 1998…

Almost a decade has gone by since Ramon Labañino was sent to prison just as his compatriots Rene Gonzalez, Gerardo Hernandez, Fernando Gonzalez and Antonio Guerrero. During this time he has faced long times of solitary confinement, the rigors of prison and separation from his family. "But we never complain and never will; we’ve lived and survived. I’d even say we are doing well," he wrote in 2005.

Now an appeals court has decided to reconsider his sentence of life imprisonment plus 18 years. They will do so in a hearing in Miami, the same place where he was unjustly convicted. Judge Joan Lenard is tasked with calling the hearing. She’s the same judge that at the 2001 trial showed her commitment to the most reactionary rightwing sector of the Cuban exiles in Florida.

Meanwhile, Ramon hasn’t received a visit from his daughters and wife for two years. He was recently transferred to another prison. His wife Elizabeth and his daughters, who have grown up without their father, wait from day to day, for permission from US authorities to go visit him.

Ramon will spend another birthday in the reduced space of a jail cell. Meanwhile, his father Holmes, looks towards the door of his home. He recalls his "country girl who was more than a woman and mother," and he thinks of the times that little Ramon lagged behind them when they were walking, "but he always caught up," said Holmes. "Today the wait is much longer."

Granma 09-06-2008