Ramón Labañino, one of the Cuban Five heroes, has been transferred to McCreary federal prison in the state of Kentucky. He was moved last week as part of a general transfer of inmates from the Beaumont Texas prison to other facilities. Kentucky is in the eastern part of the United States, surrounded by the states of Tennessee, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, and Missouri. The prison is near the Tennessee border.

Ramón's wife, Elizabeth Palmeiro, says he is doing fine, and is in good health and spirits, but the family is anxious to visit him. It has been two years since Elizabeth and Ramón's three daughters have been able to see him, due to the U.S. government's delays in granting visas. Ramón's oldest daughter Aili received a visa for January but when she traveled to Beaumont, she could not visit her father due to a lockdown of all the prisoners.

Meanwhile, the U.S. government continues to defy international law and commit an outrageous violation of human rights by continuing to deny visas to Adriana Pérez, wife of Gerardo Hernández, and Olga Salanueva, wife of René González, who have not seen their husbands for more than ten and eight years, respectively.

Elizabeth has been waiting 9 months for an interview with U.S. officials in Cuba, to be granted a visa. She says, "Laura was 13 when she last saw her father, now she is going to be 16 in August. Lisbet was 8 and she is going to be 11.

"Please let all our friends and supporters of the Cuban Five know that Ramón sends his love and appreciation for all the support that the Cuban Five receive. I thank everyone on behalf of Ramón, all our families and the Cuban people."

Map of Ramón's new location

freethefive.org 26-05-2008