Enyor Díaz Allen, Cuban Political Prisoner of the Week, 5/10/09 (UPDATED x 3)

Enyor Díaz Allen UPDATED, Aug. 22, 2010 — Enyor Díaz faces possible new charges after his arrest Aug. 11, 2010, during a protest in Baracoa. UPDATED, May 18, 2010 — Enyor Díaz was released from prison on May 3, 2010. Enyor Díaz Allen last week was swept up by Cuban police during its ongoing crackdown on democracy activists in and around the town of Baracoa in far eastern Cuba. On Friday, he was sentenced to 1 year in prison for the supposed crime of "disrespect." Details about the case against Díaz were not reported — except that he is a member of the Cuban Youth Movement for Democracy, a group recently targeted by Cuban police and that he loudly protested his arrest on May 3. It was not his first arrest. Last August, he was in jail when two other activists, Yordis García Fournier and Izael Poveda Silva, visited to bring him some cigarettes. A ruckus broke out and the two visitors, were arrested and eventually imprisoned in the gulag. Coincidentally — but probably not — Díaz was one of the signatories on a recent letter from Cuban dissidents to American President Barack Obama. "In Cuba, there is a movement representing a broad racial and religious spectrum, formed by women, men, workers, and young people that — despite being the object of terrible repression by the regime in power — is conducting a peaceful civic struggle for democracy and human rights," the letter states. And many of them, it should be added, are doing so from inside the Castro gulag. Díaz is at least third member of the Youth Movement for Democracy to be imprisoned in recent months. The other two are Alejandro Jiménez Blanco and last week's prisoner of the week, Ricardo Galván Cazal. The Castro dictatorship obviously is afraid of the Cuban Youth Movement for Democracy. Also signing the Obama letter was Youth Movement leader Néstor Rodríguez Lobaina. He and his brother Roberto were arrested late last month and detained for three days. Police raided the homes of other Youth Movement members and seized computers, books and other items. CubaEncuentro.com is reporting that the Castro dictatorship has denied permission for Néstor Rodríguez, who holds an American visa, to travel to the United States. UPDATED, May 12, 2009 It turns out Enyor Díaz is a journalist, too.