I am deeply concerned by recent reports of the substandard conditions of medical attention that Zapata Tamayo has received, as well as the conditions of his detention. He was reportedly deprived of water for 16 days by prison officials.

I strongly urge you to order the release of Orlando Zapata Tamayo and all other individuals who have been arrested and convicted on the basis of their peaceful political activities and their efforts to promote and protect basic human rights in Cuba.

According to the 1998 UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, which Cuba actively participated in drafting and passing, all persons have the right to effective access to participation in the government of their country and in the conduct of public affairs. The Declaration also provides that everyone has the right "freely to publish, impart or disseminate to others views, information and knowledge on all human rights and fundamental freedoms." The important work of Cuban human rights defenders should be recognized by the government and they should be supported rather than persecuted.

While they remain in detention, I urge you to ensure that Orlando Zapata Tamayo is not subjected to further abuse and that his conditions of detention meet basic international standards. International human rights law requires that all persons held in detention are treated with humanity and dignity and that they are not subjected to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. The Cuban government should ensure the application of the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners and the UN Body of Principles for the Protection of all Persons Under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment, which further elaborate the basic standards to be achieved in ensuring respect for the rights of detainees.

I will continue to monitor these cases closely and appreciate your immediate attention to this important matter.

Posted on Tue, Feb. 19, 2008
A Hobson's choice: Exile or prison

Jorge Luis García Pérez, known as Antúnez, served out his 17-year term, which ended last year (2007). A former sugar-cane cutter, he was sent to prison for standing in a public square and calling for democratic change. Beyond being harassed and beaten, he has been detained eight times since he was freed in April. Although he has arrangements to come to the United States for medical treatment, he insists he will not leave Cuba unless his return is guaranteed by the regime.

The number of political prisoners declines as Cuba tries to improve its image. Yet the repression, like the dictatorship, has not changed.

The international community must continue to press for democratic change in Cuba.

© 2008 Miami Herald Media Company.

http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/editorials/v-print/story/424061.html

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Prisoner of Conscience Profile:

Confined to punishment cells. Due to the frequent beatings that he has suffered he has bone fractures, and is suffering from kidney failure caused by hypoglycemia.

Biography: Jorge Luis García Pérez (Antúnez) was born on October 10, 1964. The economic situation of his home and the delicate health of his mother forced him to study at the ESBEC (Basic Secondary Schools in the Fields) and the IPUEC (Pre-university School in the Fields). This is where he first began to question the legitimacy of the dictatorship in Cuba. The process of auto-liberation began when he had the opportunity to read about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

From that moment on he began a process of rejecting all the indoctrination that was taught in the school, and for that reason he was criticized and sanctioned by the school. Because of this, and the desperate need to earn money to alleviate the economic misery his family lived in. Jorge Luis understood that his dream of becoming an attorney was just that a dream. To support his family he worked in jobs that involved heavy manual labor: as a sugar cane cutter, a construction worker and a farm laborer. He was fired from these jobs, simply because he was verbally critical of the dictatorship running his country.

At this point Jorge Luis began to be monitored closely by the Cuban government. After six months working at the Cuban Atomic Plant in Juraguá, Cienfuegos he was fired after being investigated by the Ministry of Labor, which classified him as "disaffected to the revolutionary process" in other words disaffected with the dictatorship.

During the last days of 1983, while chatting with friends at the XX Anniversary Square in the city of Placetas in Cuba Antúnez said that the sole individual responsible for the death of 23 Cubans in combat with the US Army in Grenada was Fidel Castro.

He was immediately beaten down by agents of the National Revolutionary Police (PNR). He was taken from there to the Department of Instruction of the State Security Police in Santa Clara, where he was released after being issued a "warning. " But the intimidation and repression didn't stop Jorge Luis' will to speak his mind as a free man. On March 15, 1990, nearly seven years later at the same XX Anniversary Square listening to an official radio transmission calling for the IV Congress of the Communist Party, he began to raise his voice and shout that "communism is a utopian error " and "we want and we need reforms like those taking place in Eastern Europe". He was immediately physically assaulted by agents of the PNR and State Security Police, who took him again to the headquarters in Santa Clara, where he was charged for "oral enemy propaganda". He was charged with the "crime" of speaking his mind openly and without fear.

That is how Jorge Luis García Pérez (Antúnez) began his long and courageous fight for freedom as a prisoner of conscience. In June of the same year, already imprisoned in the Provincial Prison of Santa Clara, he was sentenced to 6 years in prison. His response to this unjust sentence was to start a hunger strike that lasted 21 days.

This was the first of many occasions that Jorge Luis appealed to this method of protest against the innumerable brutal beatings, being locked away in punishment cells without access to water or sunlight, and the offenses directed against him for being of African descent. Despite all this the dictatorship has failed to break the spirit of this young prisoner of conscience. On February 19, 1991 Antúnez declared himself a "Preso Plantado", which is a political prisoner who refuses to wear the same uniform as non-political prisoners and rejected "Communist Re-education."

Among Antunez's numerous acts of rebellion and protest one stands out above the others. It was his daring escape from Las Grimas prison, in Placetas, on October 17, 1992. Captured later in the larger prison that is Cuba, and returned to prison. In 1995, held in Kilo 8 Maximum Security Prison, known by the nickname of "Se me perdió la llaves" (I have lost my keys), he founded along with other prisoners of conscience, an organization called Pedro Luis Boitel Political Prisoner's Movement, dedicated to denouncing the situation of political prisoners inside the dictatorship's prisons and to promote civil disobedience in response to the brutality of their jailers.

The life of Jorge Luis García Pérez (Antúnez), has been one of a commitment to freedom and the courage to exercise it and defend it. A young man (actually only 32 years old), of African descent and from modest economic origins has faced hatred both racially and politically motivated directed at him with the full force of a totalitarian dictatorship. His sole defenses have been his humanity, his courage, his commitment to defending his fundamental human rights and liberties. Ironically under the tyranny operating Cuba his defense and exercise of his personal freedom has under the perversion of the law there and the denial of justice been held against him by the dictatorship as his only crime.

At the time of this writing Antúnez's health has been steadily deteriorating due to beatings, hunger strikes, and lack of medical attention that he has suffered over the years of his imprisonment since 1991. In addition to the bone fractures he is having difficulty breathing and has a lung tumor which the prison authorities claim is not malignant, but refuse to allow him to see a cancer specialist as his health deteriorates. To protest this medical neglect Antúnez has been on a hunger strike since the beginning of April below is a translation of the story that appeared in the newspaper on April 25 about his deteriorating condition. Please speak up for him and demand his freedom and at the very least adequate medical care while held in the dictatorship's prison.

Provisional Prison Nieves Morejón,
Located in: Sancti Spiritus.
Case # 4 of 1990
Charge: Oral Enemy Propaganda
Case #5 of 1993
Charge: "Enemy Propaganda and Tentative Sabotage"
Concurring Sanctions: 15 years in prison
Age: 37
Home Mailing Address: Séptima del Sur # 3 entre Paseo de Martí y Primera del Este.
Placetas,Villa Clara CUBA
Telphone: (42) 8-3228
Relative: Berta Antúnez (sister)
Profession: Qualified Worker

Amnesty International Urgent Action 169/99 Prisoner of conscience

CUBA Nestor Rodriguez Lobaina

Political activist Nestor Rodriguez Lobaina was arbitrarily arrested on 11 July 1999, and his whereabouts are now unknown. Amnesty International considers him a prisoner of conscience, detained solely for exercising his right to freedom of expression. Under harsh new legislation aimed at silencing dissent, he could face a long prison sentence.

Nestor Rodriguez Lobaina, who is president of the Movimiento de Jovenes Cubanos por la Democracia (MJCD), Cuban Youth Movement for Democracy, was arrested at the MJCD coordinator's home in Santiago de Cuba. It is believed he was arrested because he had begun a hunger strike in solidarity with a group of dissidents in Havana known as the Ayunantes de Tamarindo 34, Tamarindo 34 Hunger-strikers, who began a 40-day hunger strike on 7 June to demand the release of all political prisoners and respect for human rights in Cuba.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION Nestor Rodriguez Lobaina has been arrested several times. He was last detained for several days in February and March 1999. He was detained from 7-15 December 1998 after making a personal protest at the Cuban government's refusal to let him leave the country to attend a conference in Paris marking the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (see UA 307/98, AMR 25/28/98, 9 December 1998, and follow-up, AMR 25/29/98, 18 December 1998). He had previously been arrested in April 1997 and sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment for "disrespect", and "resisting authority", after criticising the Fourteenth Youth and Student Festival.

He was also arrested on 6 June 1996, reportedly in connection with the MJCD's peaceful attempts to organize a movement for university reform in the capital. He was sentenced to 12 months' "restricted liberty", as well as five years of "destierro", internal exile or confinement, in his home town of Baracoa, Guantanamo province.

On 16 February 1999 Cuba's National Assembly passed tough new legislation aimed at combatting political dissent, called the "Ley de Proteccion de la Independencia Nacional y la Economia de Cuba", "Law for the Protection of the National Independence and Economy of Cuba". Under this new law, dissidents and journalists deemed to be working against the Cuban state reportedly face up to 20 years' imprisonment. The law calls for seven to 15 years' imprisonment for passing information to the United States that could be used to bolster anti-Cuban measures such as the US economic blockade of the island, rising to 20 years if the information is acquired surreptitiously. The legislation also bans the ownership, distribution or reproduction of "subversive materials" from the US government, and proposes jail terms of up to five years for collaborating with radio and TV stations and publications deemed to be assisting US policy.

Supporters of the University Students Without Borders Project want Cuba's communist government to tolerate autonomous colleges and also reopen Havana's Catholic University of Santo Tomas de Villanueva, which authorities shuttered in 1961, two years after Fidel Castro's revolution toppled dictator Fulgencio Batista.

"We are promoting a culture of free thinking despite the repression and fear hanging over us," said Nestor Rodriguez, who helped organize the petition drive with his brother Rolando. Both are members of the Cuban Youth for Democracy Movement.

The purpose of this petition is to demonstrate our support for both this movement and project.

José Daniel Ferrer García, 34
Local coordinator of the Varela Project, independent journalist
Sentence: 25 years
Date of arrest: 19 March 2003
Home town: Santiago de Cuba
Prison: Combinado del Este Prison, Havana

Luis Enrique Ferrer García, 31
Local coordinator of the Varela Project
Sentence: 28 years
Date of arrest: 19 March 2003
Home town: Puerto Padre, Las Tunas province
Prison: Carlos J. Finlay Hospital, Havana

Background

As Coordinator of the Christian Liberation Movement (Movimento Cristiano Liberación-MCL) in the province of Las Tunas, Luis Enrique Ferrer organized groups of people who were able to collect hundreds of signatures for the Varela Project. As a result of the work that put organizers like Luis Enrique Ferrer and his older brother, independent journalist José Daniel Ferrer at great personal risk, over 11,020 signatures were collected and presented to the National Assembly in May 2002. Luis Enrique Ferrer personally presented copies of the signatures to visiting foreign legislators.

Luis Enrique Ferrer received the longest sentence of all of those arrested in the recent crackdown. He was sentenced to 28 years’ imprisonment and is currently being held at the prison Combinado del Este in Havana. It is unclear why Mr. Ferrer received such a particularly long sentence. His prison conditions are harsh. In a dark cell, no larger than 8 by 4 feet, with nowhere to sleep but a concrete platform, Luis Enrique Ferrer is reported to be suffering from severe vomiting and diarrhea. Mr. Ferrer is being held in solitary confinement and is being subjected to additional punishment as a result of his refusal to wear prison uniform.

José Daniel Ferrer, sentenced to 25 years, is reported to be in similar conditions in a prison in Pinar del Rio. He is being held in solitary confinement in a cell reported to be approximately nine by three feet and completely dark. The cell has no water supply, José Daniel only has access to water when it is brought to him by the guards.

Luis Enrique Ferrer, born August 27, 1976, in the province of Santiago de Cuba, is a man of humble origins. As a fisherman, he had his first confrontation with the regime when officials confiscated the fish that he had caught to feed his family. He and his brother, José Daniel Ferrer, age 32, have played an active role in the young, but growing, human rights and democracy movement within the island.

According to other activists who have worked with Luis Enrique in Cuba, before being imprisoned, he was a pioneer in organizing seminars and workshops on human rights and civic education for Santiago de Cuba. José Daniel Ferrer, apart from collecting signatures for the Varela Project, is an independent journalist whose work often deals with human rights issues.

http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/defenders/hrd_cuba/hrd_cuba_garcia.htm

In October 2004, Luis Enrique Ferrer García, the youngest of the 75 dissidents arrested in March 2003, was reportedly stripped and beaten by prison guards and officials in the Youth Prison of Santa Clara.

http://asiapacific.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR250022005?open&of=ENG-CUB

En 1915 un grupo de veteranos "mambises" -así llamaban a los insurrectos contra el colonialismo español en Cuba- "y sus simpatizantes" suscribieron una carta al papa Benedicto XV solicitándole que nombrara patrona de Cuba a la Virgen de la Caridad de El Cobre, y fueron complacidos.

Las recientes nunca vistas procesiones y actos católicos en preparación del aniversario 400 del hallazgo de la imagen de la Virgen de la Caridad en 1612 y el anuncio de la próxima visita de S.S. Benedicto XVI a Cuba son oscurecidos por manipulaciones políticas anti-nacionales y violaciones de derecho de los ciudadanos, consecuencias de esos actos religiosos en carencia del orden legal social indispensable para efectuarlos; lo cual es contraproducente a los fines de la Religión.

Parece conveniente, e internet lo facilita, que aquellos a quienes hoy comparan a los "mambises" -los activistas por los derechos humanos que sin otra arma que la libre expresión ni sitio donde ocultarse de la represión toman ejemplo de los insurrectos de antaño- sus simpatizantes, así como quienes ajenos a su posición política se sientan católicos, o sin serlo se interesen por una difusión del cristianismo en Cuba que no pague el precio de manipulación política ni costo represivo, nos dirijamos a S.S. Benedicto XVI en petición.

También necesaria porque la Iglesia adoptó en Cuba una política de apoyo al Gobierno, y lo reconoce en el informe de la Iglesia "Las relaciones Estado-Iglesia en la Cuba de hoy (Segmento)", publicado en la Revista Palabra Nueva, número 195, abril, 2010: El 3 de agosto del 2006 con el llamado de la Conferencia de Obispos Católicos de Cuba (C.O.C.C.) a orar por Fidel Castro:"/… La Iglesia se pronunció/…/ los obispos no estaban pidiendo otra cosa que asegurar la estabilidad del Estado cubano…"El 25 de febrero de 2008, el Pleno de COCC volvió a emitir otra declaración oficial/…/ Raúl Castro," (fue) "elegido presidente el 24 de febrero"/.../" los obispos ofrecieron en su nuevo mensaje "un voto de confianza" al presidente Raúl Castro y a su gobierno/..."

Este apoyo es evidente en declaraciones públicas del arzobispo de La Habana, cardenal Jaime Ortega Alamino.

Y las procesiones y actos mencionados parecen supeditados a esos fines ajenos a la Fe y desperdiciar la oportunidad de llevar el mensaje de Cristo a multitudes ignorantes de la religión, convocadas a esos actos.

Como suele ser obstáculo al firmar una carta colectiva el estar la persona de acuerdo con algún punto pero rechazar otro y por ello no suscribir ninguno -y como la tercera petición atañe a doctrina de la Iglesia- las peticiones están numeradas para que el firmante en desacuerdo con alguna, la excluya, y, en ese caso de disentir, coloque ante su firma solamente los números de aquellas peticiones que si suscribe.

In its history of repression, the regime has run concentration camps, separated children and parents, driven thousands to escape the "prison Island" only to find death at sea or on foreign shores, those who dare speak out are imprisoned and tortured in jail and their families become outcasts, Castro's regime also extorts those who reach freedom in exile and leave loved ones behind.

The regime has driven a once thriving country to become the western hemisphere's poorest country, second only to Haiti. The mere act of allowing irreplaceable historic architecture to crumble in neglect is a crime. The environmental threats in polluting and pillaging the island’s natural resources go unchecked.

Exporting their brand of totalitarianism is something all Latin America knows very well and the Castros main objective is perpetuating themselves in power at any cost.

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Desde el inicio del gobierno de Castro en Cuba, enero de 1959, su régimen ha cometido numerosos crímenes contra el pueblo cubano. Líder en el principio bajo el disfraz de ser un luchador por la libertad no socialista, Fidel Castro tomó una fortaleza, y posteriormente procedió a dividir a las familias cubanas, encarcelar, manteniendo las ejecuciones públicas como un medio para inculcar el miedo y el control.

En su historia de represión, el régimen se mantenido campos de concentración, los niños separados y padres de familia, miles obligados a escapar de la "cárcel isla", sólo para encontrar la muerte en el mar o en las costas extranjeras, los que se atreven a hablar son encarcelados y torturados en la cárcel y sus familiares son rechazados en la comunidad, el régimen de Castro también extorsiona a los que alcanzar la libertad en el exilio y dejan atrás a sus seres queridos.

El régimen ha llevado a un país una vez próspero para convertirse en el país más pobre del hemisferio occidental, sólo superado por Haití. El mero hecho de permitir que la arquitectura histórica irremplazable a desmoronarse en el abandono es un delito. Las amenazas ambientales, la contaminación y el saqueo de los recursos naturales de la isla siguen sin control.

Exportación de su marca de totalitarismo es algo que todos los de América Latina conocen muy bien y el objetivo principal de Castro es perpetuarse en el poder a cualquier precio....