President Barack Obama's decision to not give proper recognition to Librado Linares García and four other Cuban dissidents honored by the National Endowment for Democracy matters, and hurts so much, because as long as there is this apparent indifference to the struggle by Cubans for their own liberty, the Castro dictatorship needn't worry that the United States will hold it to account for its maltreatment of its own people.
The recognition by the National Endowment for Democracy is richly deserved and should elevate their profile, but unfortunately, it has not spared Linares the worst that the dictatorship can deliver.
The Cuban Commission Human Rights and Family Reunification reports that the dictatorship has turned up the amount of repression agains Linares, a human rights activist imprisoned since the "black spring" of 2003. The world, the commission implores, must take notice.
"We need for those in the country and the world to recognize the oppression orchestrated by the political police against Librado," said Margarito Broche Espinosa, president of the commission and a former political prisoner himself. "We know he will not renounce his principles, even with the possibility of a fatal attack on his life."
Linares — who suffers from a variety of medical problems, including partial blindness, brought on by his time in prison — has recently been subjected to at least four disciplinary hearings for refusing to wear a prison uniform, which is one way the dictatorship uses to try to strip political prisoners of their status. As punishment, Linares has been denied food packages from outside the prison, and visits by his family. There is one report that he recently was moved to a punishment cell.
Would a stronger gesture by Obama in support of the Linares and other NED honorees make a difference in their treatment by the dictatorship? Probably not.
But one way to assist these dissidents and others fighting the Castro dictatorship is for the United States, and the rest of the free world, to put their cause front and center whenever they are given the opportunity.
Obama missed that chance, and as a result, the message is loud and clear — again — to the dictatorship that no one really gives a damn about what they do.
Recent Comments