Another week in Cuba, another week of dictatorship, especially for those in jail because of their opposition to tyranny. Today, we remember:
- Jorge Alberto Liriano Linares, who was transferred from Kilo 7 prison to Cerámica Roja in Camagüey as punishment for leading an inmate protest at the Kilo 7 prison in the same province. The goal of the protest was to improve human rights conditions at the prison. (Liriano was Uncommon Sense's Political Prisoner of the Week for April 27, 2008.)
- José Luis Rodríguez Chávez, who says he'd rather be in a prison cell than continue working as a "slave" in a Castroite labor camp in Piñar del Rio. Like about 200 other of the prisoners at the camp, Rodríguez, a human rights activist, is serving time after being convicted of being
a "pre-criminal social danger"sick and tired of Cuban life during dictatorship. - José Benito Menéndez del Valle, who was denied permission to receive a telephone call from his children, who reside in the United States.
- Jorge Ramírez Calderón, who on July 10 was sentenced to 2 years in prison on a charge of "disrespecting of authority," after he intervened on behalf of a street vendor being abused by police officers in front of Ramírez's house a week earlier. Only four of Ramírez's relatives were allowed to attend the otherwise secret trial in a Trinidad courtroom. Ramírez, a member of the 30th of November Democratic Party, carried out a hunger strike from his arrest on July 4 to the day of his trial, to protest the obvious injustice.
In very good news, human rights/democracy activist Juan Luis Rodríguez Desdín was released from prison after completing a 2-year prison term for being a "pre-criminal social danger." For more about Rodríguez, the Political Prisoner of the Week for Jan. 20, 2008, and how he kept up the good fight while in jail, read here.
Recent Comments