Uncommon Sense

Cuban political prisoner punished for refusing uniform

Rolando Jiménez Pozada

The Castro gulag is uniformly unjust and cruel for all its captives, whether they are murderers, robbers and other "common" criminals, or if they are political prisoners or prisoners of conscience locked away in the dictatorship's dungeons because of their opposition to tyranny.

But for those imprisoned because of their beliefs, the regime worsens the experience by imposing on them rules designed to steal them of their status and of their dignity. One of the most common tactics is a requirement that prisoners of conscience and other political prisoners wear the uniform of a common criminal.

Rolando Jiménez Pozada won't hear of it, and for his intransigence, his jailers at the El Guayabo prison on the Isle of Youth Pines are punishing him by locking him into a punishment cell and threatening to cut off visits by his family. They also have denied him access to a specialist for treatment of his asthma.

The worst affront may have been committed by the prison warden, a thug named José Ondares Anache, who had the audacity to compare Jiménez to five Cuban agents in American prisons convicting of spying against the United States.

"The five heroes wear uniforms, you counter-revolutionaries have to do the same," Ondares reportedly said.

Jiménez, a lawyer imprisoned since April 2003, refuses to give in to that type of "logic."

"They can do whatever, but I will not put on the uniform of a common prisoner," said Jiménez, who according to prison officials is very much a rabble rouser. "I will not collaborate or humble myself before threats and reprisals, even if it costs me my life."

Cuba journalists to Obama: 'Thank you, Mr. President'

Twenty-three independent journalists thank President Barack Obama for allowing them and other Cubans to access the Internet and use the library at the U.S. Interest Section in Havana.

The Castro dictatorship tries to label the journalists and other dissents as "mercenaries" because they use "such centers to disseminate our disagreement about the alleged achievements of half a century of totalitarian government management," but the "incontrovertible fact (is) that the U.S. government does not pay even a single penny or asks for anything in return for services provided in these centers."

Cuba Idiot Watch: Terrence Howard

B-level actor Terrence Howard says he wishes the American health care system was just like Cuba's.

“Well, what’s interesting is we’re level with third world countries in poverty but some of these third world countries still have individuals – they have a health care system – you can go to Cuba and have anything done even if you’re not a Cuban citizen,” Howard told CNSNews.com in reference to President Barack Obama’s plan for government-run health care.

Well, what's really interesting is that this guy gets asked his opinion about Obama's health care plan.

Fortunately CNSNews.com attempts to provide some perspective about Cuba-care:

Cuba’s health care system has been criticized for its high doctor-to-patient ratio, as well as poor hospital conditions and lack of adequate drugs for treatment, including basic items such as aspirin. There essentially is a two-tier health care system in Cuba: one for tourists and government elites and one for the common people.
 
As the National Post has reported:  “After the Soviet Union stopped sending Cuba US$5-billion in annual funding to prop up its economy, the health care system, like most social services, fell on difficult times. In common with other buildings on the Communist island, hospitals are falling apart, surgeons lack basic supplies and must re-use latex gloves. Patients must buy their own sutures on the black market and provide bedsheets and food for extended hospital stays.”
 
“Antibiotics, one of the most valuable commodities on the cash-strapped Communist island, are in extremely short supply and available only on the black market. Aspirin can be purchased only at government-run dollar stores, which carry common medications at a huge markup in U.S. dollars,” reported The Post.  “This puts them out of reach of most Cubans, who are paid little and in pesos. Their average wage is 300 pesos per month, about $12.”

For more about the reality of Cuban health care, check out The Real Cuba.

Political prisoner's mom: 'His body is skin and bones'

José Luis García Paneque

Moralinda Paneque is demanding that the Castro dictatorship immediately release her son, political prisoner José Luis García Paneque, who has been imprisoned since the "black spring" of 2003, because of his deteriorating health.

"His body is skin and bones, and no meat," Sra. Paneque said.

Despite his poor medical condition, Sra. Paneque said her son, a physician and independent journalist, remains committed to the cause of Cuban liberty.

"The voice is very strong, but the body does not follow," she said.

José Luis García Paneque is serving a 24-year prison sentence.

A mother pleads for her son's life

Ariel Sigler Amaya

U.S. Rep. Lincoln DIaz-Balart has asked the U.S. Interest Section in Havana to grant a visa to Cuban political prisoner Ariel SIgler Amaya so he can receive desperately needed medical care.

Of course, getting Sigler the help he needs is not as simple as that, but Diaz-Balart deserves congratulations for doing what he can to try to raise awareness about what is happening.

Cuban political prisoner Ariel Sigler Amaya is dying in the Castro gulag.

His family, starting with his mother, implores you, and the world, to not forget him.

Capitol Hill Cubans reports:

Ariel Sigler Amaya, one of 75 Cuban pro-democracy leaders imprisoned during the repressive "Black Spring" crackdown of 2003, is gravely ill at the Ariza Hospital in Cienfuegos. His condition has seriously deteriorated in the last few months. Ariel’s mother, Gloria Amaya, was able to see him briefly last week and was devastated by his frailty. Shortly after her visit, she recorded the following heartbreaking statement (the original recording can be heard in Spanish below):

“My son is dying... my son is dying... please don’t let my son die... Mommy, he says, there's no place left for them to inject me anymore…. he is a cadaver... I plead for justice… for justice to be made... because my son is going to die there, and before my son dies, I ask this government here, this government that does not deserve anything, to issue a parole to all the sick prisoners, because there are many who are sick, a lot of them... they say that there are none, that there are no political prisoners of conscience, that there are none, that all of them are common prisoners... that’s a huge lie, my God... let a human rights observer come here... and let them visit the jails, let them come to the hospitals... and let them see the way they are dying... not for lack of things that one brings to them, because we take whatever we can... but for lack of medical assistance, they have to give it to him, it's the way it should be, they have to give it to him because he is a human being... it is a human being, not an animal... they have my son in a hole, they have him in a part of the hospital, where they are not permitted to see anybody, not to talk to anybody, so no one can communicate with him... I was allowed to see him for only twenty minutes and they didn’t let me talk anything with him... this is criminal... it’s criminal what they are doing... my son, who had always been as strong as an oak, my son went in there strong, big and in good shape, and now he is weak, skinny, he is a skeleton... I implore you, all the community outside Cuba, to please do something for him... to President Barack Obama, to the European Union, to all the Congress people there... this government here is trying to finish them, they are being killed slowly... I am a mother who has been suffering since my son was imprisoned... he entered healthy and now look at the way my son is... my son is dying... my son is dying... don’t let my son die."

Coincidence or not, Antúnez and wife are back in jail

 

Jorge Luis García Pérez "Antúnez"

On Friday, two days after being honored by the National Endowment for Democracy with its Democracy Award, Cuban human rights activists Jorge Luis García Pérez "Antúnez" and his wife Iris Tamara Pérez Aguilera were arrested at their home in Placetas and taken to State Security headquarters in Santa Clara, according to Radio Martí.

Activists in Placetas said police there were refusing to provide information about the Pérezes, except to say they had been transferred.

The timing might just be coincidence, after all the couple always is in trouble with the Castro dictatorship. The police have made it a habit of arresting, detaining and otherwise harassing Antúnez since April 2007 when he was released from prison after more than 17 years behind bars.

But coming in the wake of the NED ceremony, at which Antúnez spoke via telephone, and more importantly, a tepid congratulatory message from President Barack Obama, it might be best to connect the dots:

• The NED honors the couple and three other dissidents currently in jail.
• Obama declines a chance to welcome Antúnez's sister to the White House, and sends his congratulations only after the Washington Post asks if he has a comment.
• Two days later, Cuban police officers go to the couple's home and arrest them.

What's happens next? No one knows.

Will they be released after yet another fruitless attempt to get them to change their freedom-loving ways? No one knows.

Or its frustration at a breaking point, and embarassed at what Antúnez had to say at the NED ceremony, has the dictatorship finally decided to deal with its Antúnez problem once and for all by again locking him away in its gulag? No one knows.

If it's only a coincidence — the NED's award ceremony, Obama's no-show, the arrests — well, it again confirms what the world should already know about the Castro regime. Antúnez and his wife have committed their lives to telling that story.

But on the more likely chance that it is not a coincidence, the series of events illustrates why Obama's misstep last week was so disappointing, and so dangerous.

David Sílver Durán, Cuban Political Prisoner of the Week, 6/28/09

A lot of good has come out of the town of Antilla, on Nipe Bay in eastern Cuba, starting with my family. My father grew up there, so I guess I am a "son of Antilla."

Another son of Antilla, David Sílver Durán, was recently arrested after he began shouting anti-government and anti-Castro slogans when he was fired from his job. A week later, Sílver, member of the Cuban National Liberal Party, was tried on a charge of "disrespecting" Fidel Castro — as if he is deserving of anything respect — convicted and sentenced to 9 months in prison, according to Radio Martí.

Miguel Santana Bref, a delegate with the Liberal Party, said despite being beaten by police, Sílver remain committed to denouncing human rights violations committed by the Castro dictatorship.

Cuban independent journalist arrested in Holguín

Yosvani Anzardo Hernández

Cuban independent newspaper editor Yosvani Anzardo Hernández, a veteran of the repressive ways of the Cuban dictatorship towards the independent media, was arrested Friday, June 26, at the airport in Holguín, in eastern Cuba, after arriving on a flight from Havana, according to a report from his newspaper posted at Payo Libre.

Anzardo and activist Marco Antonio Lima Dalmau were detained at the airport and taken to the El Tamarindo jail. Lima was released a short time later, but as of early Saturday afternoon, there was no information on Anzardo's whereabouts, according to the report. There also was no information on why Anzardo and Lima were arrested.

Anazardo, formerly a member of the Youth Without Censorship news agency, has been targeted by the regime since at least 2007. In February of that year, police ransacked his house, purportedly looking for "enemy propaganda."

Six months later, in August, Anzardo and two other activists were detained and warned that if they did not cease their anti-government activism, they risked being sentenced to a long prison term.

Family members and other anti-government officials, according to the Payo Libre report, vowed to press officials for Anzardo's release.

Antúnez accepts NED Democracy Awards

Read about the recipients here.

Antúnez: Obama's words matter

His sister may have not gotten an audience at the White House, but Cuban human rights activist Jorge Luis García "Antúnez" said President Barack Obama's words of support for him and other recipients of the National Endowment for Democracy's Democracy Awards make a big difference for those fighting for Cuban liberty.

"It is positive because he is the president of the United States, and after only a few months in the White House, his tribute shows a serious commitment to the democratic forces in Cuba," Antúnez said.

Unfortunately, words alone don't always deliver the intended message, and I think Antúnez, who really didn't have a choice but to thank Obama for his graciousness, knows that.

Obama should of, and could of, done more to honor the Democracy Award nominees. After instituting policy changes, i.e. lifting family travel restrictions, and diplomatic initiatives, i.e. inviting Cuba back into the OAS, that raise questions from some about his commitment to a free Cuba, Obama would have made some serious strides if he had welcomed Antúnez's sister and other representatives to the White House.

Instead, Obama just provided more fodder for the doubters.