See update below.
More than 130 Cubans gathered in front of a hospital in the town of Placetas, in Villa Clara, to show their support for human rights activist Iris Tamara Pérez Aguilera. Pérez Aguilera, who has been on a hunger strike since Feb. 17, was hospitalized Tuesday with hypoglycemia.
Pérez Aguilera and three other hunger strikers - her husband, Jorge Luis García Pérez “Antúnez," Diosiris Santana Pérez and Segundo Rey Cabrera González - started their protest not for their own benefit but for the benefit of their fellow Cubans.
Specifically, they are demanding:
- The end of torture and other repressive measures against political prisoner Mario Alberto Pérez Aguilera, who is Iris's brother.
- Better housing for "thousands and thousands" of Cubans in need of shelter.
- The end of repressive measures against peaceful human rights activisits, and that the Cuban government ratify and publish the various international human rights agreements to which Cuba is a signatory, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Despite her illness, Iris Tamara Pérez Aguilera, president of the Rosa Parks Feminist Civil Rights Movement, said she will continue with her protest.
In a recording played to those standing vigil outside the hospital, Pérez Aguilera said, "I just want to tell the world that I have the strength to keep fighting not only for my brother but for each and every political prisoner and the rights of all Cubans. For the end of the violations, and an end to impunity, and to cease the abuse of dissidents. ¡Viva Cuba libre!."
UPDATED March 3, 2009
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