Jeremy Gerard of Bloomberg.com tells the story of one of those men, imprisoned Cuban journalist Normando Hernandez Gonzalez, who was recently named the recipient of a Freedom of Expression award presented by the Norwegian Writers Union.
Not surprisingly, Hernandez has been unable to accept the award:
The Cuban journalist and poet had been awarded the annual Freedom of Expression award by the Norwegian Writers’ Union. A delegation traveled from Oslo to the island nation to present the award, which included a prize of 100,000 kroner (about $15,775).
In this case, there were no hugs, no toast. Gonzalez, 39 and seriously ill, has been in prison for six years, except for a few stays in a Havana military hospital. Much of his incarceration has been spent at the notorious Kilo 7 in Camaguey.
Gonzalez is one of 29 journalists arrested in the “Black Spring” of March 2003, when 75 dissidents were convicted of “endangering the state’s independence or territorial integrity,” according to the Cuban government. Gonzalez, who doesn’t share filmmaker Michael Moore’s enthusiasm for Cuba’s health-care system, published stories critical of the health, education and judicial agencies. His reward was a 25-year sentence
Read the whole thing, here.
(H/T Capitol Hill Cubans)
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