Uncommon Sense

Cuban activist: Living as free men 'is the natural condition of every human person'

My friend Regis Iglesias spent more than seven years in Cuban prisons because of his opposition to the Castro dictatorship and his work to build a better in Cuba.

Now in overseas exile, Iglesias rejects the notion that he is anything special, but to me and I suspect many others, he is a hero, for the courage he displayed before and during his imprisonment, and his continued efforts to build a free Cuba.

"I cannot be called a 'hero' when we only do what we must do," he told me via Facebook. "There is no heroism in our actions. It is simply living as free men and that is not heroic.

"This is the natural condition of every human person, although we sometimes forget it," he said.

Iglesias responded after I posted a video of an interview he did in which he talked about his heroes.

First, they were rock musicians like Mick Jagger and Jimi Hendrix and the members of Led Zeppelin.

Later, they were Pope John Paul II, Lech Walesa, Vaclav Havel and most of all the late Oswaldo Paya, founder of the Cuban Christian Liberation Movement, each of whom inspired Iglesias to exercise his rights as a free man and to work for a better, freer Cuba.

Is Iglesias a hero?

Watch the video and decide for yourself.

Regis Iglesias and me, Miami, April 2013.

Cuban political prisoner Niorvis Rivera Guerra sentenced to 18 months in prison

More that 15 months after he was arrested and thrown into the Castro gulag, Cuban political prisoner Niorvis Rivera Guerra last week was sentenced to 18 month in prison on a trumped-up charge of "damage to state property," according to a report posted at PayoLibre.com.

Whether Rivera, a political and human rights activist, will be released in three months or he has to serve another 18 months in prison wasn't clear. But his wife reported that Rivera had been transferred out of high security section fo the Combinado de Guantanamo prison, and that his rights to receive visitors and other privileges had been restored.

Osvaldo Rodriguez Acosta, Cuban Political Prisoner of the Week, 6/17/13

Osvaldo Rodríguez Acosta, right, and his wife, Juana Castillo.

Cuban political prisoner Osvaldo Rodríguez Acosta, who in April was sentenced to 9 years in prison, has been on hunger strike since May 10 to demand a retrial.

Rodriguez, leader of the Patrioic Alliance Movement in the town of Bejucal, and his son, Osvaldo Rodríguez Castillo, were convicted of trumped-up charges, after police last year raided their home. The younger Rodríguez was sentenced to five years in prison, and the pair's wife and mother was sentenced to 5 years of labor without incarceration.

Human rights activist Sara Marta Fonseca said Rodríguez Acosta started his protest after he spent several days in an isolation cell for demonstrating against the Castro dictatorship.

His captors returned him to the punishment cell, but his wife was able to see him on May 16. On June 4, he was transferred to the prison hospital, and later to the National Hospital, where he remains.

For more, read the report from Diario de Cuba.

'My name is Roberto de Jesus Guerra and I am an independent journalist'

Roberto de Jesus Guerra, director of the Hablemos Press news agency is one of the most accomplished independent journalists in Cuba.

During a recent visit to Europe, Guerra told his story:

Here is a translation of the opening statement of his speech:

"When I was 14 years old, I participated in a meeting in my neighborhood, organized by the Cuban Communist Party. The Party delegate said that 'we should be grateful to the Revolution for the food they sell us through the ration card.' I responded telling him that 'with 5 pounds of rice and 10 ounces of beans we can't live.' A few days later, I was arrested and imprisoned for pre-criminal social dangerousness, together with 196 other teenagers from my region. I was sentenced to one year-and-six months of forced labor at a center for minors where I was forced to cut sugar cane. My story was never published in the media. My name is Roberto de Jesus Guerra Perez and I am an independent journalist."

Residents of Antilla, Cuba denounce Castro dictatorship

My father was raised in Antilla, in eastern Cuba, so that there are people there willing to stand up for their rights and to denounce the Castro dictatorship is a point of pride:

From Pedazos de la Isla:

A number of signs with messages in favor of the everyday people and against the Cuban dictatorship appeared in different parts of the municipality of Antilla, Holguin province, this Sunday June 9th.

Mildred Noemi Sanchez Infante, a member of the Ladies in White and also of the pro-freedom groups Eastern Democratic Alliance (ADO) and the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU) said that the majority of the signs read “Down with Hunger“.

She explained that the mentioned slogan is something which demonstrates the discontent and desperation of the citizens on the island, as well as one of the main concerns of Cubans: finding food.

Among the places where the signs appeared was the popular cafeteria known as “La Popular” located in Maximo Gomez Street and on the walls of the Cuban Women’s Federation office on Maceo Street.  These said “Down with Fidel”.

Sanchez Infante said that the apparition of the signs led the National Revolutionary Police to worry.

“The PNR agents quickly showed up and erased the signs on the Federation’s office“, said the activist, “the messages reflect the true feelings of the people of Antilla“.

Sometimes, signs are hung by members of the internal opposition while other times they are placed by neighbors and everyday citizens who express themselves in this manner.

Other common messages on the signs are “Down with Unemployment”, “Fair Salaries”, and “Food for our Children”.

 

Cuban independent news agency reports 323 political arrests in May

Roberto de Jesus Guerra, one of the most accomplished independent journalists on the island, returned to Cuba last week after visits to Europe and the United States where spoke about his work with the Hablemos Press news agency.

Hablemos Press journalists report the stories the Castro dictatorship would rather not be told -- especially those that serve to hold the regime to account for its repression of the Cuban people.

One way Guerra, the director of the agency, does that is by each month compiling a list of those arrested and detained, whether for an hour or more, by the police because of their political opposition to the dictatorship.

In the month of May, Hablemos Press reported this week, there were at 323 such arrests, bringing the total for the year to 1,867.

The numbers differ from those compiled by another human rights group, but the point remains: repression in Cuba is as pervasive as ever. And it's only getting worse.

To read Hablemos Press' latest report, including details about each arrest in May, go here.

Cuban human rights group reports at least 375 political arrests in May

The Cuban Commission on Human Rights and National Reconciliation reports that there were at least 375 politically motivated arrests in May, the second-highest monthly total so far this year.

As of May 31, there had been a total of 1,963 such arrests. In most instances, those arrested were held for a few hours or a few days, long enough for the Castro dictatorship to deliver a dose of repression while lessening the chance that anyone might actually notice what is happening.

Fortunately, the human rights commission does notice, each month compiling a list of those who have been arrested, detained, imprisoned, etc. because of their political opposition to the regime.

The numbers are depressing, each arrest representing an example of how nothing in Cuba under Raul Castro has changed, each one a reason why it's a mistake to concede anything to his regime.

If there is a positive in the numbers, maybe it is: For the fifth month in a row, the monthly total is lower than the corresponding number from 2012. At this point last year, the had been a total of 3,218 arrests, or 64 percent more than so far this year.

But that trend is hardly worth mentioning because even one politically motivated arrest, even one detention of a political opponent is not acceptable.

For more details on each arrest in May, read this.

Castro dictatorship drives family of murdered Cuban dissident Oswaldo Paya into exile

Oswaldo Paya and his family.

Forget all the talk about Raul Castro's "reforms" in Cuba.

Most Cubans are free to travel overseas, and those who can afford it can buy a car or even real estate.

But anything that might indicate real change, such as end to the systemic repression that has been the hallmark of the Castro dictatorship for more than 54 years, has not happened.

The regime still murders its opponents, like Oswaldo Paya, leader of the Christian Liberation Movement, last July, and when his survivors try to carry on his legacy, it goes after them, as well.

This weekend, we learned that Paya's widow, Ofelia Acevedo Maura; and their children Rosa Maria and Reinaldo, last week took exile to escape persistent threats to their safety by thugs doing the bidding of those they hold responsible for Oswaldo's death in a suspicious car crash.

It is good that they now will be safe from the Castro regime. No one should have to tolerate that type of abuse, especially a family that already has given and lost so much. Cuba will miss the Payas, especially Rosa Maria, who has blossomed into a charismatic spokeswoman for her father's cause, but they have vowed to stick with the fight from exile.

But there also is sorrow in seeing yet more patriotic Cubans like the Payas forced to flee their patria because of the Castros. It is a familiar tale but as painful as ever.

Nothing has changed under Raul Castro. He is the lying, thieving, murderer his brother was.

That Cubans like the Payas are still taking exile in Miami or in Spain or in elsewhere because of their opposition to the Castros and their faith in a better, freer Cuba, is proof of that.

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Read my account of Rosa Maria Paya's visit in April to Miami, here.

Rosa Maria Paya and me, April 2013, Miami.

Cuban political prisoner Enrique Figuerola Miranda on hunger strike for 40 days

Cuban political prisoner Enrique Figuerola Miranda, one of several activists with the Patriotic Union of Cuba currently held in Castro gulag, has been on hunger strike for 40 days to demand his release from jail.

He is ready, said his wife, to die.

"He told me that is is better to die to end the dictatorship than to live with it," said Mercedes Hechavarría Guevara, in a video distributed by UNPACU.

Hechavarría said her husband has received fluids and other nutrition via IV but his health is very poor.

In addition to his release, Figuerola is demanding improvement of conditions at Boniato prison, where he is being held.

"I support him," she said.

Figuerola was arrested last July and charged with "assault," although he has not been brought up for trial.

Pedazos de la Isla has more.

Cuban independent journalist Manuel Guerra Perez refuses to be intimidated by arrest, threats

Manuel Guerra Perez

Manuel Guerra Perez is a Cuban independent journalist worth reading because the Castro dictatorship tells me so.

Theirs wasn't exactly an endorsement of Guerra's work, but the regime did boost his stature and his credibility this week when it arrested the journalist and tried to browbeat him into abandoning his work.

In typical catch-threaten-and-release fashion, Cuban security agents on Thursday morning arrested Guerra outside his home in Havana, took him to a local police station, threatened him with prosecution under the notorious Law 88 (which carries a prison term of up to 20 years) if he continued his work as a journalist and then released him. They tried to force him to sign a document official acknowledging the warning, but he refused.

Guerra said his interrogators seemed particularly peeved about two recent articles he had written for the CubaNet website. One, about an attack at a popular Cuban campground that left one person dead and three injured. The other, about yet another outbreak of cholera in Havana. (You can read the stories on Guerra's blog, here and here.)

Neither story was particularly "political," but Guerra's offense was that he exposed some of the ugly reality of Cuban society. As if Cubans need a journalist to tell them about that!

This type of low-grade repression is a typical tactic used against independent journalists. Most do like Guerra and dismiss the threat.

But they are always worth noting, in order hopefully to offer some future protection to the journalists and to demonstrate how the Castro dictatorship is afraid of them.

3 Cuban political prisoners on lengthy hunger strikes

Thanks to a so-called "reform" by the Castro dictatorships, many -- but not all -- Cuban dissidents have been allowed to travel overseas. Some of them, like blogger Yoani Sanchez, are starting to return.

But nothing has really changed, for they are returning to a Cuba where the repression of the regime's opponents is as virulent and violent as ever, to a Cuba where anti-regime activists are willing to lay their lives on the line in the name of freedom.

Three such activists are named Enrique Figuerola Miranda, Wilber Parada and Roberto Hernández, members of the Patriotic Union of Cuba, one of the most active opposition groups on the island.

Figuerola has been on hunger strike for more than 30 days, and Parada and Hernández are also on hunger strike to protest their continued imprisonment under some of the worst conditions imaginable.

Quoting a dispatch from UNPACU leader Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia, Pedazos de la Isla has more details on the three prisoners, as well as other UNPACU actvisits suffering the brunt of Castroite repression.

Read it here.

Video depicts Castroite repression against Cuban dissident rapper Angel Yunier Remon Arzuaga

Pedazos de la Isla has the story of a video that depicts events leading up to the arrest of Cuban political prisoner Angel Yunier Remon Arzuaga:

A new video published by the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU) on the YouTube channel of Ana Belkis Ferrer shows the repressive methods utilized by the Cuban regime against currently jailed dissident rapper Angel Yunier Remon Arzuaga, “El Critico”, in Bayamo.

Friends and family of Remon have been denouncing the situation the young activist has been going through since last March after various detentions and a House raid.  Now, these denouncements are proven in the new video which document the events which preceded his arrest.  The video has been subtitled in English (my translation):

 

Remon’s home was attacked multiple times by police officials with tar and other materials.  The results of such actions can be seen in the first half of the video.  His response was to paint the phrase “I do not commit any crimes, that is why I am free.  Down with the rob-alution”.  Eventually, after another attack, the rapper writes “Down with the dictatorship” in large and visible letters right on the Street in front of his House.  The police then says agents to cover the message while they also convoke an act of repudiation against the dissident.

However, the vast majority of neighbors do not take part in shouting offensive slogans at Remon and he proceeds to talk to them about their rights, the repression of the dictatorship and calls of them to not feel fear because he knows that they do not support the regime.  He invites the onlookers to pass by his House to pick up “pro-freedom literature” which is banned on the island.

Remon also offers a moving and brave discourse about Cuba’s “beautiful history” which was “destroyed by the Castro dictatorship” and urges citizens to wake up from the lethargy imposed by the system.

These are the reasons why a young Cuban rapper is currently behind bars in the Las Mangas Prison of Bayamo.

Castro regime targets family of Cuba activist Rosa Maria Rodriguez Gil

Rosa Maria Rodriguez Gil

Yosvany Melchor Rodriqguez

If the Castro dictatorship can't stop you from opposing the regime, nothing will stop it from going after your family.

That's exactly what is happening to Rosa María Rodríguez Gil, an activist with the Christian Liberation Movement. (MCL)

Her son, Josvani Melchor Rodríguez, in November 2010 was sentenced to 12 years in prison on trumped-up -- or more accurately, made-up charges that he was involved in a plot to smuggle baseball players out of Cuba.

Rosa María Rodríguez, who has participated in the MCL's Varela Project and other efforts, said her son is mentally disabled and that he has had nothing to do with human trafficking -- or her anti-dictatorship activities. He was arrested, tried, convicted and sentenced to time in the Castro gulag only to punish her -- just as a State Security official threatened/promised her earlier that year.

In recent weeks, Cuban State Security has turned up the heat on Rodríguez's family. Police have harassed her husband at his work, and new requirements have affected her daughter's university studies.

Most ominously, she has been receiving telephone calls in which the voice on the other end asks: "Are you alone?"

In "1580" prison in Havana, Josvani Melchor Rodríguez sits, his health worsening because the regime is denying him needed medications for a persistent infection. The new threats coincided with a call in April by the InterAmerican Human Rights Commission for the Castro government to guarantee that Melchor received needed medical care.

The commission's action came at the request of the Cuban Democratic Directorate, which this week reported on the increased pressure on Rosa María Rodríguez to abandon her activism.

"The Cuban Democratic Directorate calls on international human rights organization to raise their voice to protect the safety of Rosa Rodríguez Gil, an internal resistance activist who is paying a high price for her continued peaceful work for democratic change in Cuba."

 

Cuban political prisoner Luis Enrique Labrador Diaz is tortured

 Luis Enrique Labrador Diaz

The Castro gulag is a large torture chamber, with which the dictatorship consumes its political opponents and attempts to break their will. More times than not, however, the dictatorship fails.

An example of this occurred April 28 when a guard at the Agüica prison handcuffed political prisoner Luis Enrique Labrador Diaz and sprayed his eyes with pepper spray and shocked with a cattle prod. The guard was following orders from higher-ups at the prison, according to a report posted at Misceleaneas de Cuba.

Labrador, who has been in jail since June 2011, has routinely been subjected to harsh treatment by his jailers. For example, he has been denied access to a telephone and guards have incited dangerous common criminals to threaten Labrador.

Labrador in 2011 was sentenced to five years in prison after he and other activists were convicted of distributing anti-government leaflets in Havana.

American citizen Cecilia Rojas arrested in Cuba while visiting dissidents (UPDATED)

Cecilia Rojas

UPDATED, May 27, 2013 -- Cecilia Rojas has been released.

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American citizen Cecilia Rojas, in Cuba after her mother died on the island last week, was arrested Sunday by Cuban police.

Rojas, a human rights activist from Miami, was picked up in the town of Placetas in eastern Cuba, where she had gone to visit the prominent dissidents Jorge Luis Perez Antunez and Luis Enrique Santos, the latter of whom is currently on a hunger strike that has put his life at risk. Security agents took her to a local police station, where they confiscated her Florida driver's license.

There was not other available information about her whereabouts.

Or what, if anything, the U.S. State Department was doing on her behalf.

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I have had in recent months family and friends who have visited Cuba. I respect their reasons for going, almost as much as I detest the fact that their visits helped finance the repression to which Cubans fall victim every day, and which on Sunday snagged Rojas.

I won't go to Cuba to prevent the Castros from getting any of my money. And even more selfishly, I won't go to Cuba because of the risk I might end up like Rojas, exercising my rights as a free man, and as a Cuban, to visit wherever on the island I wish and to meet with whomever I want -- especially dissidents like Antunez. I don't want to end up in a Cuban jail.

What happened to Rojas, and to Alan Gross before her, ought to be a warning to those Americans who think it is safe to visit Cuba, that the island is just another vacations spot, that whatever hostility exists between Havana and Washington is the result of American intransigence. It ought to be a wake-up call to those who refuse to acknolwedge thatafter more than 54 years, the Castro brothers run one of the most repressive regimes in the world.

No number of visits by American tourists will ever change that.