UPDATED, March 16, 2011 — The Catholic Church announced March 16, 2011, that Randy Cabrera would be released and take exile in Spain.
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Randy Cabrera Mayor has fought the Castro dictatorship his entire adult life.
Cabrera, now 37, was first imprisoned in November 1989, a month before his 19th birthday. Eight months later, he escaped but was captured before he could reach his goal — freedom in the United States. It would be the first of several prison escapes — and re-captures — for Cabrera, who kept having more time added to his original sentence. Currently, he is serving a 16-year sentence handed down in 1999, for evasion and for trying to leave the country illegally.
Little has been published about Cabrera in recent months. Last September, Payo Libre reported that Cabrera, an inmate at the Boniato prison, was on a hunger strike to protest poor conditions, including the practice of housing political prisoners with dangerous criminals.
Six months earlier, a Payo Libre report described how his guards kept Cabrera locked in shackles on his feet.
You can read other descriptions of Cabrera's imprisonment by going here.
One of the surest indicators of the repressive nature of the Castro regime is the jailing of several hundred political prisoners. To illustrate that reality, Uncommon Sense each week profiles one prisoner. There also is a Political Prisoner archive on the right 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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