Washington: No Visas for Cuban Five Wives

"Once again the US government lies", said the president of the Cuban Parliament, Ricardo Alarcon, during a cultural gala on Wednesday night to celebrate the beginning of an international campaign for the release of Gerardo Hernandez, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando Gonzalez, Ramon Labañino and Rene Gonzalez, internationally known as the Cuban Five, who remain unjustly imprisoned in the United States nine years after they were detained for infiltrating terrorist anti-Cuba organizations based in Florida.

Alarcon was making reference to the announcement made on Wednesday afternoon by the US State Department informing that Olga Salanueva and Adriana Perez had been denied - for the eighth time - visas to visit their husbands Rene Gonzalez and Gerardo Hernandez, respectively.

Regarding the arguments used by the US authorities to deny the visas, Alarcon said: "They lie. These women can not be accused of committing espionage because not even their husbands were".

During the gala, held at the Mella Theater in Havana coinciding with the ninth anniversary of the arrest of the Cuban Five in September 1998, messages in support of the Cuban political prisoners from US actor Danny Glover and writer Alice Walker were read.

The event was also attended by Culture Minister Abel Prieto and relatives of the Cuban Five.

The new international campaign to demand the immediate release of the Cuban heroes will run until October 8.