UPDATED, July 22, 2010 — Manuel Ubals was released from prison in July 2010 under a deal between Spain, the Catholic Church and the Castro dictatorship.
Manuel Ubals González was president of the Club of Political Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners in Guantanamo, when he was arrested during the black spring of March-April 2003, and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
After his imprisonment, Ubals declared himself a "plantado."
Cuban Political Prisoner.info explains what that means:
Plantado is the name given to Cuban political prisoners who refuse to cooperate with the prison authorities. Their refusal to wear the uniform used for common prisoners and to follow any orders that mey compromiso their status are based on the principle that they are not common prisoners and have not committed any crime, but are simply imprisoned due to their political beliefs.General Rafael Tamayo Calderín is the director of prisons in Cuba and has declared that prisoners of conscience who resist to be treated as common prisoners will be dealt with in the most severe manner.
As always with Cuba's political prisoners, their suffering also is shared by their families.
Ubals' wife, Mayelín Bolívar González, and the ICDC, their story:
"When my husband was arrested, our relatives gave us a tiny room. Because our relatives helped us, they were fired from their jobs. Now not a single member of our family is earning money."Mayelín and her three children must travel by train to visit her husband in prison. Because the train does not stop at the prison, Mayelín must watch her two oldest children jump from the moving train and then follow after them, holding the youngest while she jumps herself.
One of the surest indicators of the repressive nature of the Castro regime is the jailing of more than 300 political prisoners. To illustrate that reality, Uncommon Sense each week will profile one prisoner, and keep that post at the top of the page from Sunday night through Friday morning. (That may change depending on the news of the day.) There also is a Political Prisoner archive on the left sidebar. To suggest a prisoner for a profile, send me an e-mail.
For profiles of imprisoned Cuban journalists and related information, read the March 18 Project.
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