Uncommon Sense

Antonio Díaz and Ariel Sigler, Cuban Political Prisoners of the Week, 7/5/09

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                                          A. Díaz                           A. Sigler

With the Cuban Political Prisoner of the Week profiles, I try each week to put a name and a face to one of the hundreds, if not thousands, of Cubans imprisoned because of their opposition to the Castro dictatorship and their faith in freedom, human rights and their fellow Cuban. By educating readers about these brave men and women, I hope to create empathy for their suffering and sympathy and support for their cause.

This week, I want you to remember their families.

Antonio Díaz Sánchez and Ariel Sigler Amaya were two of some 75 Cuban journalists, librarians, human rights activists and other dissidents rounded up during the "black spring" of March-April 2003. Targeted because of their beliefs, and willingness to act on them, the Group of 75 stands as an example that it is possible to stand up to tyranny.

I have previously profiled Díaz and Sigler, and I usually try to avoid encore designations as Political Prisoner of the Week. Díaz and Sigler, however, this week deserve the honor, not because of anything they did or have had done to them — although it seems as if their jailers have a reserved an especially horrible brand of repression for them.

They deserve the honor because of the courage of their families, and their willingness to testify to what their respective loved ones are suffering. This week, I stand with their families, and so should you.

Yenysel Díaz Sánchez

This past week, the week after Father's Day, Yenysel Díaz Sánchez wrote a letter to the international community, imploring governments and others to intercede on behalf of her father, who is being held in isolation because of his refusal to wear the prison uniform of a common criminal.

I ask all persons of good faith, on my behalf of my 10-year-old sister Lázara Massiel Díaz Sánchez, to prevent the death of our father in a Cuban dungeon at the hands of persons incapable of respecting the rights of a man that has dedicated his life to the defense of the human rights of an entire nation.

A point of full disclosure: I have developed a friendship, if only "virtually," with Sánchez's nephew, Yenysel and Lázara's cousin, who blogs about his uncle here. It's hard to explain, but that has friendship has brought be a level of understanding of what is happening Sánchez that I otherwise might not have. Tony Sánchez is much more than just a name to me.


Ariel Sigler's family, his brother, his cousin and his mother, have gone viral with their pleas for his life, producing and releasing videos in which they beg viewers to do whatever they can to help Ariel, who has been left a cripple by his more than six years in the Castro gulag.

Their respective messages are in Spanish, but even if you don't understand what they are saying, you can hear their pain and their desperation if you just listen.

Norwegian writers honor imprisoned Cuban journalist

Normando Hernandez Gonzalez

 

There are men in the Castro gulag who make me proud to be a journalist, and to be a Cuban.

Jeremy Gerard of Bloomberg.com tells the story of one of those men, imprisoned Cuban journalist Normando Hernandez Gonzalez, who was recently named the recipient of a Freedom of Expression award presented by the Norwegian Writers Union.

Not surprisingly, Hernandez has been unable to accept the award:

A few weeks ago, Normando Hernandez Gonzalez got the kind of news that usually prompts cheers and emotion-filled toasts.

The Cuban journalist and poet had been awarded the annual Freedom of Expression award by the Norwegian Writers’ Union. A delegation traveled from Oslo to the island nation to present the award, which included a prize of 100,000 kroner (about $15,775).

In this case, there were no hugs, no toast. Gonzalez, 39 and seriously ill, has been in prison for six years, except for a few stays in a Havana military hospital. Much of his incarceration has been spent at the notorious Kilo 7 in Camaguey.

Gonzalez is one of 29 journalists arrested in the “Black Spring” of March 2003, when 75 dissidents were convicted of “endangering the state’s independence or territorial integrity,” according to the Cuban government. Gonzalez, who doesn’t share filmmaker Michael Moore’s enthusiasm for Cuba’s health-care system, published stories critical of the health, education and judicial agencies. His reward was a 25-year sentence

Read the whole thing, here.

(H/T Capitol Hill Cubans)

Family pleads for Ariel Sigler's release from Castro gulag

Ariel Sigler Amaya

The family of Cuban political prisoner Ariel Sigler Amaya is pleading for the world's attention. Otherwise, their brother, their uncle, their son, may die forgotten behind the bars of the Castro gulag.

Sigler has been imprisoned since the "black spring" of 2003, and recently was transferred to a military hospital in critical condition suffering from a numerous ailments. In six years, the gulag has turned a former boxing champion, standing 6 feet tall and weighing more than 200 pounds, into a cripple.

If he does not receive a medical parole and permission to travel to the United States for adequate care, he will die in the gulag.

In these videos, Sigler's brother Miguel and nephew Michel in Spanish make their pleas for Ariel's release.

Castro gulag is killing political prisoner Efren Fernández

Efren Fernández Fernández

Cuban democracy activist Efren Fernández Fernández has been imprisoned in the Castro gulag since the "black spring" crackdown in 2003, and like for so many other political prisoners, the gulag has taken a heavy toll on Fernández's health.

In fact, Fernández , who suffers from kidney problems and a skin infection, is so sick that even some of the guards at the Guanajay prison have joined with other inmates to complain to authorities about his condition, according to a report from Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas, president of the Christian Liberation Movement (MCL).

Of course, the pleas have gone ignored.

As a member of the MCL, Fernández helped lead the Varela Project, which gathered and in 2002 presented to the Cuban government the names of thousands of citizens asking for democratic change in Cuba. For his efforts, in 2003 Fernández was arrested and sentenced to 12 years in prison.

Payá implored international governments and human rights groups to intercede with the Castro regime in Havana "to stop the abuse and inhumane conditions" in which Cuban political prisoners like Fernández are held.

Daugher: Please stand up for my father

Antonio Díaz Sánchez

Antonio Díaz Sánchez was an electrician by profession, but he is best known for his leading role in the Varela Project and his imprisonment because of his work for a free, democratic Cuba. Behind bars for more than six years, he remains committed to the cause.

More importantly, he is a father.

His daughter, Yenysel Díaz Sánchez, this week made a plea for his release from the Castro gulag:

Hello, my name is Yenysel Díaz Sánchez, daughter of Antonio Díaz Sánchez (Tony), a prisoner of conscience in Cuba. My father was imprisoned during the repressive wave known as the Black Spring of Cuba during March 2003. He is one of the original coordinators of the Liberation Christian Movement (Movimiento Cristiano Liberación). Tony, Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas, and Regis Iglesias Ramírez were the individuals responsible for submitting to the Cuban National Assembly the signatures collected as part of the Varela project. This act of courage, which took place in May 2002, gave the Cuban people a glimmer of hope that a peaceful transition to democracy would be possible on the island. As a reward, the Cuban government condemned Tony to 20 years in prison in a facility located more than 700 km from his home. Eight months ago, Tony was transferred to the Carlos J. Finlay Military Hospital (located in the city of Havana and less than a mile from his house) for treatment of a case of ulcerative colitis contracted as a consequence of the precarious conditions of his confinement. In the last few months, Cuban State Security officials informed my father that, should he agree to wear the uniform of a common criminal, he’d be transferred to a nearby prison with better living conditions. As my father was unwilling to submit to this blackmail, he was punished by being sent instead to Canaleta prison in Ciego de Ávila prison (500 km from his home).

The most worrisome aspect of this situation are the deplorable conditions of Tony’s confinement. He has been placed in a humid punishment cell with the dimensions of a cage and with a hole for his basic bodily functions. He has a slab for a bed and doesn’t get enough light. Tony has no communication with the outside world and is subject to what can be described best as a concentration camp diet–notwithstanding the strict diet prescribed by the doctors. The inhumane nature of Tony’s imprisonment is the source of his deteriorating health and chronic pain and discomfort. It is both physical and psychological torture, inflicted on an individual for attempting to defend his human dignity under the most disadvantageous of circumstances. It has been 25 days since my father was transferred to Canaleta and his family has received no news of his current status. The Cuban government has canceled all family visits. We have no idea whether he is dead or alive. I ask all persons of good faith, on my behalf of my 10-year-oldr sister Lázara Massiel Díaz Sánchez, to prevent the death of our father in a Cuban dungeon at the hands of persons incapable of respecting the rights of a man that has dedicated his life to the defense of the human rights of an entire nation. Thank you
for your consideration.

YDS

En español,aquí.

Solidarity behind bars in the Castro gulag

Cuban political prisoner Ariel Sigler Amaya, a victim of the worse the Castro dictatorship can deliver, is dying behind the bars of its gulag.

But he is not alone in his struggle.

For example, at the "El Pre" prison in Villa Clara on June 25, two political prisoners, Juan Bermúdez Toranzo and Miguel Díaz Bausa, went on a 6-hour fast to show their solidarity with and support for Sigler.

What are you doing for Ariel Sigler?

Antúnez: Dictatorship 'will not intimidate us'

Iris and Antúnez

Catch. Threaten. Release.

Cuban human rights activist Jorge Luis García Pérez "Antúnez" and his wife Iris Tamara Pérez Aguilera are too familiar with this hallmark of Raul-style oppression.

An arrest, followed by a detention — complete with interrogation, isolation and threats of greater punishment — followed by a release. It's a rather thuggish tactic used against numerous opponents of the Castro dictatorship, but very effective in delivering the intended message: We are watching you, and at any given moment, we can make you disappear.

Antúnez and Iris disappeared this past weekend.

On Saturday — three days after they and three political prisoners were honored in Washington, D.C. — Antúnez and Iris were arrested in Placetas as they made their way to an event called to support political prisoner Ariel Sigler Amaya, who is near death, according to Cuban Democratic Directorate.

They were swarmed and detained by several police officers — none of whom could explain why they were being arrested.

When Antúnez resisted by sitting down on the ground, the officers grabbed him and began beating him on the chest. When Iris protested, the officers assaulted her, ripping her pants and bruising her wrist.

They were then driven to a local police station, and then to a jail in Santa Clara, where they were held in isolation cells until Sunday night.

Catch. Threaten. Release. The dictatorship has delivered its message numerous times since April 2007 when Antúnez was released after more than 17 years in prison.

And once again, Antúnez's message to the dictatorship was the same: You won't break me.

"The brutal beating they gave Iris and me will not intimidate us," Antúnez told the DIrectorate. "Nor will we abandon our struggle until the end.

"And remember, Cubans: 'We are all the resistance!'"

Cuban political prisoner punished for refusing uniform

Rolando Jiménez Pozada

The Castro gulag is uniformly unjust and cruel for all its captives, whether they are murderers, robbers and other "common" criminals, or if they are political prisoners or prisoners of conscience locked away in the dictatorship's dungeons because of their opposition to tyranny.

But for those imprisoned because of their beliefs, the regime worsens the experience by imposing on them rules designed to steal them of their status and of their dignity. One of the most common tactics is a requirement that prisoners of conscience and other political prisoners wear the uniform of a common criminal.

Rolando Jiménez Pozada won't hear of it, and for his intransigence, his jailers at the El Guayabo prison on the Isle of Youth Pines are punishing him by locking him into a punishment cell and threatening to cut off visits by his family. They also have denied him access to a specialist for treatment of his asthma.

The worst affront may have been committed by the prison warden, a thug named José Ondares Anache, who had the audacity to compare Jiménez to five Cuban agents in American prisons convicting of spying against the United States.

"The five heroes wear uniforms, you counter-revolutionaries have to do the same," Ondares reportedly said.

Jiménez, a lawyer imprisoned since April 2003, refuses to give in to that type of "logic."

"They can do whatever, but I will not put on the uniform of a common prisoner," said Jiménez, who according to prison officials is very much a rabble rouser. "I will not collaborate or humble myself before threats and reprisals, even if it costs me my life."

Cuba journalists to Obama: 'Thank you, Mr. President'

Twenty-three independent journalists thank President Barack Obama for allowing them and other Cubans to access the Internet and use the library at the U.S. Interest Section in Havana.

The Castro dictatorship tries to label the journalists and other dissents as "mercenaries" because they use "such centers to disseminate our disagreement about the alleged achievements of half a century of totalitarian government management," but the "incontrovertible fact (is) that the U.S. government does not pay even a single penny or asks for anything in return for services provided in these centers."

Cuba Idiot Watch: Terrence Howard

B-level actor Terrence Howard says he wishes the American health care system was just like Cuba's.

“Well, what’s interesting is we’re level with third world countries in poverty but some of these third world countries still have individuals – they have a health care system – you can go to Cuba and have anything done even if you’re not a Cuban citizen,” Howard told CNSNews.com in reference to President Barack Obama’s plan for government-run health care.

Well, what's really interesting is that this guy gets asked his opinion about Obama's health care plan.

Fortunately CNSNews.com attempts to provide some perspective about Cuba-care:

Cuba’s health care system has been criticized for its high doctor-to-patient ratio, as well as poor hospital conditions and lack of adequate drugs for treatment, including basic items such as aspirin. There essentially is a two-tier health care system in Cuba: one for tourists and government elites and one for the common people.
 
As the National Post has reported:  “After the Soviet Union stopped sending Cuba US$5-billion in annual funding to prop up its economy, the health care system, like most social services, fell on difficult times. In common with other buildings on the Communist island, hospitals are falling apart, surgeons lack basic supplies and must re-use latex gloves. Patients must buy their own sutures on the black market and provide bedsheets and food for extended hospital stays.”
 
“Antibiotics, one of the most valuable commodities on the cash-strapped Communist island, are in extremely short supply and available only on the black market. Aspirin can be purchased only at government-run dollar stores, which carry common medications at a huge markup in U.S. dollars,” reported The Post.  “This puts them out of reach of most Cubans, who are paid little and in pesos. Their average wage is 300 pesos per month, about $12.”

For more about the reality of Cuban health care, check out The Real Cuba.

Political prisoner's mom: 'His body is skin and bones'

José Luis García Paneque

Moralinda Paneque is demanding that the Castro dictatorship immediately release her son, political prisoner José Luis García Paneque, who has been imprisoned since the "black spring" of 2003, because of his deteriorating health.

"His body is skin and bones, and no meat," Sra. Paneque said.

Despite his poor medical condition, Sra. Paneque said her son, a physician and independent journalist, remains committed to the cause of Cuban liberty.

"The voice is very strong, but the body does not follow," she said.

José Luis García Paneque is serving a 24-year prison sentence.

A mother pleads for her son's life

Ariel Sigler Amaya

U.S. Rep. Lincoln DIaz-Balart has asked the U.S. Interest Section in Havana to grant a visa to Cuban political prisoner Ariel SIgler Amaya so he can receive desperately needed medical care.

Of course, getting Sigler the help he needs is not as simple as that, but Diaz-Balart deserves congratulations for doing what he can to try to raise awareness about what is happening.

Cuban political prisoner Ariel Sigler Amaya is dying in the Castro gulag.

His family, starting with his mother, implores you, and the world, to not forget him.

Capitol Hill Cubans reports:

Ariel Sigler Amaya, one of 75 Cuban pro-democracy leaders imprisoned during the repressive "Black Spring" crackdown of 2003, is gravely ill at the Ariza Hospital in Cienfuegos. His condition has seriously deteriorated in the last few months. Ariel’s mother, Gloria Amaya, was able to see him briefly last week and was devastated by his frailty. Shortly after her visit, she recorded the following heartbreaking statement (the original recording can be heard in Spanish below):

“My son is dying... my son is dying... please don’t let my son die... Mommy, he says, there's no place left for them to inject me anymore…. he is a cadaver... I plead for justice… for justice to be made... because my son is going to die there, and before my son dies, I ask this government here, this government that does not deserve anything, to issue a parole to all the sick prisoners, because there are many who are sick, a lot of them... they say that there are none, that there are no political prisoners of conscience, that there are none, that all of them are common prisoners... that’s a huge lie, my God... let a human rights observer come here... and let them visit the jails, let them come to the hospitals... and let them see the way they are dying... not for lack of things that one brings to them, because we take whatever we can... but for lack of medical assistance, they have to give it to him, it's the way it should be, they have to give it to him because he is a human being... it is a human being, not an animal... they have my son in a hole, they have him in a part of the hospital, where they are not permitted to see anybody, not to talk to anybody, so no one can communicate with him... I was allowed to see him for only twenty minutes and they didn’t let me talk anything with him... this is criminal... it’s criminal what they are doing... my son, who had always been as strong as an oak, my son went in there strong, big and in good shape, and now he is weak, skinny, he is a skeleton... I implore you, all the community outside Cuba, to please do something for him... to President Barack Obama, to the European Union, to all the Congress people there... this government here is trying to finish them, they are being killed slowly... I am a mother who has been suffering since my son was imprisoned... he entered healthy and now look at the way my son is... my son is dying... my son is dying... don’t let my son die."

Coincidence or not, Antúnez and wife are back in jail

 

Jorge Luis García Pérez "Antúnez"

On Friday, two days after being honored by the National Endowment for Democracy with its Democracy Award, Cuban human rights activists Jorge Luis García Pérez "Antúnez" and his wife Iris Tamara Pérez Aguilera were arrested at their home in Placetas and taken to State Security headquarters in Santa Clara, according to Radio Martí.

Activists in Placetas said police there were refusing to provide information about the Pérezes, except to say they had been transferred.

The timing might just be coincidence, after all the couple always is in trouble with the Castro dictatorship. The police have made it a habit of arresting, detaining and otherwise harassing Antúnez since April 2007 when he was released from prison after more than 17 years behind bars.

But coming in the wake of the NED ceremony, at which Antúnez spoke via telephone, and more importantly, a tepid congratulatory message from President Barack Obama, it might be best to connect the dots:

• The NED honors the couple and three other dissidents currently in jail.
• Obama declines a chance to welcome Antúnez's sister to the White House, and sends his congratulations only after the Washington Post asks if he has a comment.
• Two days later, Cuban police officers go to the couple's home and arrest them.

What's happens next? No one knows.

Will they be released after yet another fruitless attempt to get them to change their freedom-loving ways? No one knows.

Or its frustration at a breaking point, and embarassed at what Antúnez had to say at the NED ceremony, has the dictatorship finally decided to deal with its Antúnez problem once and for all by again locking him away in its gulag? No one knows.

If it's only a coincidence — the NED's award ceremony, Obama's no-show, the arrests — well, it again confirms what the world should already know about the Castro regime. Antúnez and his wife have committed their lives to telling that story.

But on the more likely chance that it is not a coincidence, the series of events illustrates why Obama's misstep last week was so disappointing, and so dangerous.

David Sílver Durán, Cuban Political Prisoner of the Week, 6/28/09

A lot of good has come out of the town of Antilla, on Nipe Bay in eastern Cuba, starting with my family. My father grew up there, so I guess I am a "son of Antilla."

Another son of Antilla, David Sílver Durán, was recently arrested after he began shouting anti-government and anti-Castro slogans when he was fired from his job. A week later, Sílver, member of the Cuban National Liberal Party, was tried on a charge of "disrespecting" Fidel Castro — as if he is deserving of anything respect — convicted and sentenced to 9 months in prison, according to Radio Martí.

Miguel Santana Bref, a delegate with the Liberal Party, said despite being beaten by police, Sílver remain committed to denouncing human rights violations committed by the Castro dictatorship.

Cuban independent journalist arrested in Holguín

Yosvani Anzardo Hernández

Cuban independent newspaper editor Yosvani Anzardo Hernández, a veteran of the repressive ways of the Cuban dictatorship towards the independent media, was arrested Friday, June 26, at the airport in Holguín, in eastern Cuba, after arriving on a flight from Havana, according to a report from his newspaper posted at Payo Libre.

Anzardo and activist Marco Antonio Lima Dalmau were detained at the airport and taken to the El Tamarindo jail. Lima was released a short time later, but as of early Saturday afternoon, there was no information on Anzardo's whereabouts, according to the report. There also was no information on why Anzardo and Lima were arrested.

Anazardo, formerly a member of the Youth Without Censorship news agency, has been targeted by the regime since at least 2007. In February of that year, police ransacked his house, purportedly looking for "enemy propaganda."

Six months later, in August, Anzardo and two other activists were detained and warned that if they did not cease their anti-government activism, they risked being sentenced to a long prison term.

Family members and other anti-government officials, according to the Payo Libre report, vowed to press officials for Anzardo's release.

Antúnez accepts NED Democracy Awards

Read about the recipients here.