Roberto de Jesús Guerra Pérez
Roberto de Jesús Guerra Pérez, a former political prisoner, is one of the most skilled, most accomplished independent journalists working the Cuban street, bringing readers on the island and around the world incisive, revealing reports on the reality of Cuba today. He is the director of CIHPRESS, and his recently established blog is a must-read for its accounts of what is happening in Cuban prisons and elsewhere in the country.
The Castro dictatorship, of course, can't stand that, so it tries everything it can — short of killing him or making him otherwise disappear — to silence him. For instance, it has repeatedly warned him that if he continued with his work as a journalist, he risked being prosecuted the notorious Law 88, which has been used to jail other journalists.
The latest attempt came Sept. 25 when Guerra was subjected to a 5-hour trial on charges related to a scuffle in which Guerra defended his brother-in-law from two knife-wielding attackers on Dec. 31, 2007.
This being Cuba, and the attackers likely doing the bidding of the secret police, it is Guerra who is in trouble.
And this being Cuba, the "trial" was a farce.
The courtroom was swarming with secret police agents, and just as the proceedings were to begin, Guerra's lawyer had to beg off the case because he said his law license had just been suspended.
"What a conicidence!" wrote independent journalist Julio Beltrán Iglesias, in a dispatch based on an account from another journalist who witnessed the trial.
No word yet on a verdict or possible sentence, but Guerra said he is hopeful justice will prevail since he was only defending a family member.
"I am innocent," he said.
Recent Comments