MIJAIL BÁRZAGA LUGO: Prisoner of conscience
UPDATED, July 15, 2010 — Mijail Bárzaga was released from prison in July 2010 under deal between Spain, the Catholic Church and the Castro dictatorship.
Cuban independent journalist Mijail Bárzaga Lugo was one of the four dissidents tried along with Marta Beatriz Roque, one of the best-known members of the Group of 75 rounded up during the "black spring" 2003.
Roque was released from prison in July 2004 on a medical parole, but Bárzaga remains in jail.
According to Reporters Without Borders, Bárzaga, Roque and the others were tried, convicted of various "anti-state" activities and sentenced to prison terms of varying lengths.
Bárzaga, now 38, was convicted of writing stories for CubaNet, PayoLibre and other Web sites, and conducting interviews with Radio Martí.
He was sentenced to 15 years.
(For a rough English translation of the sentencing documents for Bárzaga, Roque and the others, go here.
Information about Bárzaga is not as readily available on the Internet as it is for other imprisoned journalists. But to read more about him, in Spanish, visit Payolibre.
Also, you can read here some of the stories he wrote before he was arrested.
For more about the imprisoned independent journalists in Cuba, go to Payolibre, CubaNet, Cuban Political Prisoners.info or Reporters Without Borders.
For more on Uncommon Sense's March 18 Project, including profiles of other independent journalists, in and out of prison, read here.
To see pictures of most of the imprisoned journalists, go here.
WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP?
Reporters Without Borders has an ongoing petition drive asking Fidel Castro to release independent journalists in prison. You can sign the petition here. (A technical note: Reporters Without Borders is based in Paris, so the confirmation e-mail you will receive after signing the petition will be in French. Just in case you don't read French, the confirmation e-mail asks you click on the link to complete the petition signature process. Castro won't receive your message until you click on the link.)
For more on the Cuban dissidents, see the Cuban American National Foundation's Web site.
Perhaps the most important thing you can do is find and read the work of Cuba’s independent journalists. A place to find their articles, in Spanish, English and French, is CubaNet. You can also find their stories at Cuba Verdad.
And yes, this is the same Cuba that on May 9, 2006, was elected to a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council.
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