UPDATED, March 6, 2011 — The Cuban Catholic Church announced March 4 that Ricardo Galván would be released and take exile in Spain.
In Cuba, CAMBIO, or "change," is much more than a campaign slogan.
It is a rallying cry for Cubans tired of tyranny and fed up with Fidel. They want change, because that is the only way the freedom and respect for human rights they deserve can be delivered. They expect and demand more and better from those who govern them, and have the courage to say so.
And because CAMBIO in Cuba means a rejection of everything that has come in the previous 50 years, it scares the Castro dictatorship to death.
That explains why Ricardo Galván Cazal, 40, last month was sentenced to 3 years in prison.
The official, and trumped up, charge was "disrespect," one of the catch-all "crimes" the dictatorship uses to throw its opponents in jail.
As the dictatorship sees it, Galván, a member of the Cuban Youth Movement for Democracy, was responsible for the appearance in the town of Baracoa, in far eastern Cuba, of bumper stickers proclaiming CAMBIO. He was arrested Feb. 25, and had been held at the Combinado de Guantánamo prison prior to his "trial" on April 24. (The proceedings were closed to the public, except for Galván's mother.)
You can show your support for CAMBIO in Cuba, including buying your own stickers and other items emblazoned with the slogan, here.
And then you can use them like this:
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