Mario, who in 2006 was sentenced to 10 years in prison for a supposed "common" crime, has been on his own hunger strike since Sept. 5 to protest his treatment by his captors. Reports are that he is gravely ill because of his protest, but the authorities have refused to provide his family any information about his condition or whereabouts. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, which is part of the Organization of American States, earlier this month intervened with the Cuban government on behalf of Mario.
Iris is one of the leading lights of the Cuban human rights movement. She heads the Rosa Parks Women's Movement, and earlier this year the National Endowment for Democracy honored Iris and her husband, the former political prisoner Jorge Luis García Pérez "Antúnez," as co-recipients of its Democracy Award. The Cuban police have arrested Iris numerous times, but so far have spared her the same fate as her brother or her husband, who was released from prison in April 2007 after more than 17 years in jail.
According to journalist Martín Valero, Iris is conducting her protest at her home in Placetas, in Santa Clara province.
For more about this brave woman, watch this video, produced by the National Endowment for Democracy:
The Courage To Be Free: Tribute to Cuban Democracy Activists from National Endowment for Democracy on Vimeo.
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