| 02 March 2012 Please write to Attorney General today asking that Rene Gonzalez be granted a special dispensation to visit his younger brother Roberto who is in a grave condition in a Havana hospital suffering from cancer. Rene Gonzalez, one of the Miami Five who was released from prison in the US last year, has appealed to the US courts to allow him to visit his serious ill brother in hospital in Cuba. He is currently being forced to stay and serve three years probation in Florida. Please take action now. Email: AskDOJ@usdoj.gov Write: US Attorney General Eric Holder U.S. Department of Justice 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20530-0001 Call: Office of the U.S. Attorney General Public Comment Line: 01-202-353-1555 Letter from René González to his brother Roberto 03 February 2012 René Gonzalez's only sibling is gravely ill with cancer in Havana. His lawyer has just released a letter from Rene to his brother and filed a court motion for him to be allowed to visit him in Cuba for two weeks. Please read the letter and write to President Obama urging him to let him visit his brother. My Brother for life, I never thought I would have to write this letter. We share the same lack of enthusiasm for letter writing, a fact clearly demonstrated during our respective internationalist missions and - more conclusively - in the unique experience of the last 20 years. In other words, only conditions as extraordinary as the present ones induce me to write. Under normal conditions, these things should said be face to face, and a lot of them wouldn't even need to be said at all. You have enough on your plate with this pitched battle against a disease that is trying to devour you, without on top of that having to face a human ailment that is much more lethal: hatred. The hatred that stops me from reciprocating all the efforts, with that well-deserved hug we Five would like to give you. The hatred that does not let me laugh with you at the each of the happenings that spring from your immense courage. The hatred that obliges me to guess, by the sound of your breathing on the telephone, the fluctuating fortunes of the battle you are waging. The hatred that causes me the anguish of not being able to share in the caring for all those who love you; and which stops me from being there to support Sary and the boys. The hatred that deprives me of seeing our nephews and nieces grow up; they have become men and women in the last few years. How proud you must be of your children! The hatred that prevents me from simply embracing my brother. That obliges me to follow from an absurd and distant confinement a process of which I should be part, like anyone else who has served a prison sentence, in itself quite long enough and imposed precisely out of hatred; but for him, still insufficient. What can one do against so much hatred? What we have always done, I suppose: love life and fight for it, both for our own and for that of others. Confront every obstacle with a smile on our lips, an apt witticism, and with that optimism instilled in us from childhood. Press on, tough it out, never give in, always together shoulder to shoulder, however hard they try to isolate me from family and friends, to punish all of us in that way. Today I've been remembering those great days from your time as a sportsman. You in the pool and us up in the stands, shouting your name as you swam. Our voices reached you intermittently, when you raised your head to breathe. You told us how sometimes you heard your whole name, other times just the beginning or the end. So we trained ourselves to wait 'till your head was out of the water and then all shout your name in unison. You couldn't see us, but the din we made told you we were with you, even if we couldn't intervene directly in the fierce struggle taking place in the swimming pool. History is now repeating itself. While you are committing all your efforts to this struggle, I am here cheering you on, now together with the family that you had not then yet built. Although you can't see me, you know I'm there, together with yours, who are also mine. You know that this brother, from his strange exile, from the sorrow of forced separation, under the most absurd conditions of supervised freedom, based on the dignity of his status as a Cuban patriot (like you) and on the affection nurtured by the ties of kinship and shared experience that unite us, is and always will be with you. Every time you raise your head, you'll be able to hear me shouting, together with my nephews and nieces. Breathe, brother, breathe!! Your brother who loves you, Rene Write: President Barack Obama The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20500 USA Fax: +1 202 456 2461 Statement from Rene Gonzalez's lawyer requesting a humanitarian visit to his seriously ill brother in Cuba 28 February 2012 Statement to the court by Rene's attorney, Phil Horowitz. COMES NOW the Defendant RENE GONZALEZ by and through his undersigned counsel and moves this Court for the entry of an order modifying his probation to allow him to travel to Cuba for two weeks and as grounds therefore would state as follows: On October 7, 2011, the defendant completed the fifteen (15) year incarcerative portion of his sentence and commenced his three year term of supervised release. The defendant. a dual citizen of the United States and Cuba, was ordered to remain in the United States and to commence his term of supervised release. Over the past nearly five (5) months since his release from incarceration, the defendant has faithfully complied with each and every condition of his supervised release. Well prior to his release from federal prison, the defendant brother Roberto Gonzalez was diagnosed with lung cancer. Over the past two year his lung cancer was in remission due to radical treatment that he received in Cuba and in Mexico. Unfortunately in on May 12, 2011, just prior to his brother's release, Roberto Gonzalez was additionally diagnosed as having a malignant tumor in his brain. He continued to receive chemotherapy and radiation therapy both in Cuba and in Mexico and once again, appeared to be regaining strength and vigor. He also received radiotherapy for the brain tumor in Mexico. He was able to celebrate his brother's release from custody but returned to Cuba on October 26, 2011 to continue his treatment which had rendered him glycemic and bloated. He was also diagnosed with pneumothorax in December 2011. Ultimately with with his blood sugar and bloated condition under control, once again Roberto Gonzalez began to shows signs of recovery and was allowed to return to his home in Havana by late January 2012. Unfortunately, less than two weeks ago, Roberto Gonzalez took a turn for the worse and has been hospitalized in Havana since approximately February 9, 2012. Doctors in Cuba have discovered a severe blockage in the artery that allows blood to travel to his brain. The onset of these circulatory problems stem from the massive amounts of chemotherapy and radiation that Roberto Gonzalez has been subjected to over the years. He is now unable to travel to Mexico to continue his treatment there. According to the doctors in Havana, the prognosis for Roberto Gonzalez is not good as he is not responding to treatment and his condition continues to worsen. The original cancerous tumors that was found is his lung is growing again and is pressing against vena cava cutting of his circulation. The prognosis is not optimistic and Rene Gonzalez seeks permission of the court to travel to Cuba as soon as this court allows for a period of two (2) weeks. This will allow his to spend time with his seriously ill brother. As this court may recall, Roberto Gonzalez is an attorney in Havana. During the trial in this case that was held in this case for more than seven months from November 2000 until June 2001, Roberto Gonzalez was a fixture during the trial rarely missing a single day in order that he could be there to support his brother. Due to the breaking events as it pertains to Roberto Gonzalez's medical condition, the undersigned is filing this motion for permission to travel without supporting medical documentation. The undersigned has made a request from Roberto Gonzalez's treating physician for a report which includes Roberto Gonzalez's medical diagnosis and for his prognosis to support the filing of this motion should this court require. This motion will be supplemented with those records as soon as they are received and translated. In order to best document the nature of Roberto Gonzalez's current condition, the undersigned has attached the translation of February 23, 2012 medical report signed by three physicians including the internal medicine treating physician, the head of the intensive care unit and finally the hospital director confirming the current, serious nature of Roberto Gonzalez's illness and his short term prognosis. If this court were to grant this motion, the defendant would be residing with his wife and children and will promptly return to the United States when this court requires. In light of the serious nature of Roberto Gonzalez's illness, it is respectfully requests that the defendant be given permission to travel to Cuba for two (2) weeks as soon as possible. On February 23, 2012, the undersigned spoke with the defendant's supervising probation officer who has informed the undersigned that the defendant has been fully compliant during his term of supervised release during the past five (5) months and though these types of request have been granted in the past as to this type of international travel, he would defer to the court in this matter. WHEREFORE, the Defendant RENE GONZALEZ respectfully requests that this Court enter an order permitting his to travel to Cuba for two (2) weeks as requested. CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I HEREBY CERTIFY that a true and correct copy of the foregoing was electronically filed with the Clerk of Court by using the CM/ECF system which will send a notice of electronic filing to all counsel of record this 24th day of February 2012. Respectfully submitted, LAW OFFICES OF PHILIP R. HOROWITZ Attorney for Defendant RENE GONZALEZ Suite #1910 - Two Datran Center 9130 South Dadeland Boulevard Miami, Florida 33156 Tel.: (305) 670-1915 Fax.: (305) 670-1901 E-Mail: HorowitzDefense@ aol.com /s/ Philip R. Horowitz By: PHILIP R. HOROWITZ, ESQUIRE Florida Bar No.: 466557 Case 1:98-cr-00721- |