Dr. Condoleezza Rice

Secretary

U.S. Department of State

2201 C Street NW

Washington, D.C. 20520

September 14, 2007

Dear Secretary Rice,

I write to you today on behalf of Olga Salanueva and Adriana Pérez, wives of René González and Gerardo Hernández respectively. It is my understanding that the U.S. State Department has for the eighth time denied their request for permission to visit their husbands, who have been in U.S. prisons for nine years.

I write to you as an ordained minister and as a person who personally knows and has met with Olga and Adrianna. These are not dangerous women whose goal is to overthrow the U.S. Government or to threaten our freedom. Their concern is much deeper and more personal. They love their husbands and want to visit them. I believe that our continued denial of that request is cruel and motivated by political factors, not by concern for our national safety.

I urge you to choose the humanitarian way and allow these wives to visit their husbands. I feel so strongly about this right that I myself would be willing to accompany them to visit their husbands.

I do not choose to address the issue of the charges against Rene and Gerardos in this communiqué, although I believe that their imprisonment is not just. I ask you only to extend to these women the right to visit their husbands in order to relieve the suffering of these wives and their families who have been accused in no court of law. It is the humane thing to do.
Surely a nation devoted to liberty and justice could risk this much on behalf of their families.

Thank you for your consideration in this matter.

Joan Brown Campbell

Rev. Dr. Joan Brown Campbell

13720 Shaker Blvd.

Cleveland, OH 44120

Minrex 16-09-2007