For the fourth time since his arrest in July, physician/human rights activist/independent journalist Dr. Darsi Ferrer Ramírez is Uncommon Sense's Cuban Political Prisoner of the Week.
The latest designation comes as the world prepares to commemorate International Human Rights Day on Thursday, Dec. 10. In prior years, Ferrer has led peaceful protests in Havana, but since he is likely to still be in jail, it falls on the rest of us to pick up his banner and demand that human rights be restored and respected in Cuba, and that Dr. Ferrer be immediately released from prison.
You can do that by joining a blogburst/blogaccíon being planned for his behalf.
Each political prisoner whose name is on the right sidebar, including Dr. Ferrer, is my brother or sister, but Darsi also is my friend.
I have felt that bond with him since September 2006, when I interviewed him via e-mail for my blog. We have not kept up the correspondence — that's all on me — but he has maintained a special place in Uncommon Sense and in my heart. His character and courage have been inspiring, not only for me but for a group of schoolchildren who, at least for one day, made his message of peace and change and freedom, their own.
My organizational skills are, at best, mediocre, and the other demands on my time, many. So I worry that that Thursday's blogburst will be a bust, that Darsi will be disappointed with the results. I am desperate for it to work, that his public profile will be elevated, that he be freed. I want my best to be good enough.
Fortunately, I know I am not the only one who will be standing up for Darsi. Already, he is one of Cuba's best known dissidents, and last week a group of prominent black Americans demanded that the Castro release him from prison. Hundreds have joined a Facebook group created in his honor and have promised to remember him on Thursday. And there is this wonderful Web site.
Darsi Ferrer is not forgotten.
Short of his immediate release, that is what matters most, that the dictatorship knows that while they can throw Dr. Ferrer in jail, they cannot stamp out his calls for human rights and justice and democracy and freedom for all Cubans. There are too many of us ready to take his place on the streets to demand what is ours, and what is Cuba's.
But for Ferrer to prevail, he needs your help, he needs your voice. He needs to be inspired by those of us who stand up for him so that he survive his ordeal. He needs to know that he is not alone.
Do your best for him, and for Cuba, and that will be enough.
For more about the alleged case against Dr. Ferrer, read this.
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