Horacio Julio Piña Borrego, Political Prisoner of the Week, 2/11/07

UPDATED, Oct. 6, 2010 — Horacio Piña was released in October 2010 under a deal struck by Spain, the Catholic Church and the Castro dictatorship.

One of the groups of Cuban dissidents most severely targeted by the "black spring" crackdown in March-April 2003 were the organizers of the Varela Project, an attempt spearheaded by the Oswaldo Payá and his Christian Liberation Movement (MLC) to force political reforms on the dictatorship.

The dictatorship responded the way dicatorships do, when its authority is questioned: With fierce repression.

One the MLC members targeted was Horacio Julio Piña Borrego, now 40.

Net for Cuba has more on Piña:

Horacio Julio Piña Borrego, promoter of the Varela Project and delegate of the Pro Human Rights Party of Cuba affiliated to the Andrei Sajarov Foundation in Pinar del Río province, was detained on March 19, 2003, at his home cited in Street Clodoveo Pedroso # 136, in the locality "Las Martinas" in the municipality of Sandino in the province of Pinar del Río, and in April of that same year, sentenced to 20 years in prison along with 74 more members of the Cuban society who were unjustly sentenced under crimes committed under the Law 88.

Despite threats from the government, some 25,000 Cubans have signed Varela Project petitions.

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 profiles one prisoner. 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.