Uncommon Sense

Cuba political prisoner on hunger strike since Dec. 3

Orlando Zapata Tamayo

Cuban dissident leader Oswaldo Payá is calling on the international community to intercede on behalf of prisoner of conscience Orlando Zapata Tamayo, who has been on hunger strike since Dec. 3 when he was transferred to the Kilo 8 prison in Camagüey.

Zapata's captors, according to Payá, have responded to his protest with at least three vicious beatings, and the Cuban secret police has "kidnapped" Zapata's mother and abandoned her on a Holguín highway.

"We call on the international community, on all men of goodwill, to save the life of Orlando Zapata," Payá said.

New Cuban independent news agency is on the beat

Members of the newly formed Union of Free Journalists of Cuba. (Photo by Luis Carrillo Fernández.)

Cuban independent journalists are some of the best in the business, overcoming obstacles small and big — from the lack of pens and paper to write with to dodging the secret police — to break the Castro dictatorship's information blockade. Their topics run the gamut, from the regime's inability to provide a reliable source of safe drinking water to the torture and other abuses suffered by political prisoners in the gulag.

Cuban journalists, however, are about more than just providing the facts. Many of them, and proudly so, have an agenda: Freedom for Cuba.

That type of "bias" or agenda-based journalism may not be acceptable in most parts of American media, but it is entirely appropriate — if not required — for the situation in Cuba today.

By working as independent journalists, Cubans like Carlos Serpa Maceira, director of the newly formed Union of Free Journalists of Cuba news agency, place themselves in the front lines of the struggle for liberty on the island — and at the top of the list of potential targets for reprisals by the regime. No one, not the bravest, most emboldened journalist would do that in a police state like Cuba if they did not also have the dream that their work would help bring freedom to their country.

Serpa, one of the most accomplished independent journalists on the island, and other journalists struck such a blow for Cuban liberty this month when they organized the new press agency. They vowed that they would work for freedom of the press in Cuba, the unconditional release of political prisoners — including 27 journalists — the defense of human rights and for democracy for their country.

Again, that type of non-journalistic agenda might not be acceptable in other countries, but it is exactly what an independent journalist in Cuba needs to have if they are to be any good at their job.

'Shakira' don't lie about torture in Cuban prisons

You probably have heard of the alleged "torture" of terrorists being held at the U.S. Naval base at Guantanamo Bay. Less familiar to too many people, are the real abuses taking place in prisons in the rest of Cuba.

A Miami Herald story earlier this week detailing complaints by one former political prisoners and another dissident still in jail, lifts the veil on common torture techniques used by guards in the Castro gulag:

Inmates in a high-security prison in eastern Cuba are alleging that guards punish infractions with beatings and handcuffings in excruciatingly painful positions known as ``the rocker'' and ``Shakira.''

In the rocker, prisoners' hands are handcuffed behind their backs to the opposite legs, and they are left on their stomachs or sides for hours and even days, said Yordis Garcia, released Aug. 31 after serving one year at the prison in Guantánamo.

The Shakira involves hand and leg shackles linked to waist chains that are also applied for long periods and force prisoners to shuffle somewhat like the Colombian pop singer, wrote Ernesto Durán, still being held at the prison.

That the Castro dictatorship tortures its prisoners is no excuse for any abuses by the CIA or the military committed at Gitmo. We are much better than that.

What is just as deplorable is the selective outrage. Every day, there are reports — mostly in Spanish — about torture and other abuses in Cuban prison, from beatings to lengthy confinement in tiny, dark, putrid cells. Each and every story only confirms the vile, evil nature of the Castro regime.

The condemnations, however, are reserved only for what happens to terrorists held on only a small sliver of the island.

Hopefully, accounts of torture in the Castro gulag like those from García and Durán will continue to emerge so that the truth about its masters will be known by all.

For more about García and Durán, read my previous profiles of them here and here, respectively.

Orlando Triana González, Cuban Political Prisoner of the Week, 12/20/09

Sticks and stones may break your bones, but it is your misuse of words that can really get you in trouble in communist Cuba.

Anti-Castro activist Orlando Triana González learned that recently when he was sentenced to 1 year in prison after being found guilty of "disrespect" and "disobedience."

And what exactly did Triana, a member of Pedro Luis Boitel political prisoner organization and Central Opposition Coalition, do to be found guilty of theses "crimes?"

He took to the streets and shouted, "Down with Fidel!"

Abajo Fidel!

Triana, 45, was found guilty of disrespecting a decaying dictator — as if he is deserving of anything more — and then disobeying orders to shut up.

Sticks and stones may break your bones, but it is words — especially from the mouths of patriots like Orlando Triana González — that really scare the Castro dictatorship.

In Cuba, blogging means 'to feel free despite the fear'

Laritza has quickly become one of my favorites.

Lifted from the English-language version of her blog:

Blogging is a challenge and a pleasure for me, as much from the professional standpoint as the personal. It gives me the opportunity to say what I think, as well as feel, without prohibitions. The possibility to escape the control.

Writing on the internet is not easy for Cubans. A challenge. And we must have the courage to face it. Because every citizen is strictly supervised by the social and mass organizations. In the neighborhood, through the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR); in school through the Union of Young Communists (UJC); at work through the Workers Central Union of Cuba (CTC), among other “revolutionary” organizations.

What some people outside of Cuba may perceive as a structured social system, broad and plural, is really a meticulous and excessive machinery of control. Each person has a file where they note every incident in your student, work and social career. These controls are aware of each and every one of the residents on this island.

Thus the fear, the silent panic that accompanies every Cuban from the age of reason. You must be careful about expressing yourself and commenting on the system. If they report that you are in opposition, your existence can change overnight. You can lose what you’ve dreamed of so much, and your job, among other “punishments.” The saddest thing is that, in the majority of cases, the family is paying the consequences. A subtle and insidious way to repress, but still, at the end of the day, repression.

When your name first appears on an internet site, specialists in the Department of State Security immediately open a file. And they start to dissect and investigate you as if you were a rat or a rabbit in a laboratory.

At first you are paranoid. But you get used to the infernal mechanism of practically 24 hour a day vigilance. Today, I no longer give much importance to this paraphernalia of control that I used to fear so much. It’s all the same to me if they follow me, listen and tape record my conversations, take photos and record videos of me… I overcame all that fear when I decided to start blogging.

But I don’t rest on my laurels. I am aware of those who hold power and how far they will go to keep it. But I decided to take the risks. The frustration and impotence is much stronger than my fears. They will do me more damage than all the terror and control they can exercise over you.

Since I started blogging, my view of society and life changed. Now I act freely within the limits dictated by my conscience, common sense and prudence. Without limiting myself. I don’t have the mettle of a heroine. Nor do I wish to stand out or be famous.

I have acquired an individual freedom. I no longer have to justify myself for not going to the parade on May 1st or some other date, nor do I help at the pathetic meetings of the Committee for the Defense of the Revolution, just to have a guarantee that allows me to have a job with economic prospects or a promotion in my professional life. I behave and project myself as I am. Without hypocrisy, without a mask, with no double standard.

So blogging has become something very important to me. It is the way I have found to say what I feel, without reproach or censorship. To tell how I and those around me live, without embellishment or nuance. To be able to opine, inform, express myself. To feel free despite the fear.

Photo: Laritza looking at one of the blogs in a Havana hotel.

Poland's support for Cuba freedom is no joke

There is only a week left until Christmas, but if you still have some shopping to do, do yourself — and the cause of freedom — a favor and look for items with the label, "Made in Poland."

That would be a small, but just, thanks for a move by the Polish parliament this week to "adopt" 90 Cuban political prisoners

Cuban Democratic Directorate has the story:

Putting aside intense partisan disputes, the two leading Polish political parties, the Civic Platform and the Law and Justice Party announced the adoption of 90 Cuban political prisoners by 90 Members of Parliament from both parties in a press conference held Thursday at the Sejm, or Polish Parliament. The announcement marked out common ground for the two parties at a time of fierce pre-election campaigning. A delegation from the Assembly of the Resistance, a united front of over 50 Cuban pro-democracy organizations based both in Cuba and abroad, was present during the conference. The Assembly’s official reception at Poland’s Presidential Palace earlier this week has generated widespread coverage in the Polish media.

Two leading figures of the Polish Sejm led the conference: Adam Lipinski, leader of the Law and Justice Party parliamentary bloc, and Andrzej Halicki, Chairman of the Sejm’s powerful Foreign Relations Committee and leader of the governing Civic Platform.

"We are committed to the human rights of the Cuban people, which we will defend at the European level,” stated Lipinski, who was himself a leader of the Solidarity movement during the martial law years in Communist-ruled Poland. He described the adoptions as “a show of support for Cubans in the struggle.”

Andrzej Halicki, also a former leader of the Solidarity movement, made extensive remarks condemning repression by the Castro regime and expressing solidarity with Cuban political prisoners. "The Polish experience demonstrates to us that when a regime must engage in repression, as is the case with the Castro regime, it is because that regime is not strong. It uses repression when it is weak," stated Halicki.

The "adoption" means parliament members will adovocate for their respective prisoner in Polish and international settings. They also vow to reach out to each Cuban prisoner's family.

After some 45 years under dictatorial communist rule, the Polish people know exactly what is at stake in Cuba. The realize, correctly, that the struggle for freedom on the island is, in part, a continuation of their own successful struggle against oppression and repression.

Despite their own victory, they are not ready to give up the fight.

Cuban political prisoner Orlando Zapata in 'danger of death'

Orlando Zapata Tamayo

The extremes to which some Cuban political prisoners will go to demonstrate their resistance to their captors — for example, hunger strikes — is astounding. But so also are the cruelties they are forced to bear in the Castro gulag.

Please keep that in mind as you consider the case of — and, hopefully, pray for — Orlando Zapata Tamayo.

A dispatch posted at Payo Libre reports that Zapata, who was recently transferred from a prison in his home province of Holguín, is in 'danger of death' at the Kilo 8 prison in Camagüey.

"Zapata has been on a hunger strike for a week, lying on the floor of a narrow walled cell on the jail's 'corridor of death,' surrounded by insects and rodents, and refuses to talk with guards or prisoners," said another political prisoner, Armando Echavarría Carrasco, on Tuesday.

As difficult as might be, we must try to imagine ourselves in that cell with Zapata, we must pray for him so that he knows that despite the desperation he must be feeling, that he knows that he is not alone.

There is a lot we cannot do for the prisoners of conscience and other political prisoners in the Castro gulag, but that is one thing we all must do.

Cuba political prisoner Juan Herrera has a few questions for Raúl Castro

Juan Carlos Herrera Acosta

Imprisoned Cuban journalist Juan Carlos Herrera Acosta is not one easily intimidated by his captors, so it was no surprise to learn that from his prison cell, he had issued an open letter to Raúl Castro.

Herrera — who has been imprisoned since the "black spring" crackdown of 2003, and who has suffered numerous tortures because of his intransigence —recently composed a letter to the dictator, complete with several tough questions:

Why has Cuba become the largest prison in the Western Hemisphere?

Why does his regime persecute the Damas De Blanco ("Ladies In White"), "helpless" women who are only demanding freedom for political prisoners?

Why does Cuba sign human rights treaties, only to violate their provisions?

Why isn't the International Red Cross allowed to visit Cuban prisons?

Why in Cuba is there still racism?

So far, no response from the dictator, but if recent events are any indication, Castro doesn't put much stock in correspondence from Cuban citizens.

In a telephone recording posted at Radio Martí, Herrera said he anticipates he will be punished for his "contempt" for Raúl Castro, but don't worry, he remains committed to the cause of Cuban liberty.

Cuban blogger Laritza lays down the law (UPDATED)

Laritza Diversent

Despite numerous political and technological obstacles, the number of Cubans launching blogs to record their observations, criticisms, etc. continues to grow, each one doing their part to break the information blockade enforced by Castro dictatorship for more than 50 years to keep itself in power.

This morning, I discovered  Leyas de Laritza, or "Laritza's Laws," written by independent journalist Laritza Diversent. I was not familiar with her work, but in reading English translations of some of her recent postings, it is clear she has a keen journalist's eye and the ability to take what she's see and hear to paint snapshots of the sad, dire condition of Cuban society.

In one post, "A sad story," Diversent re-creates a conversation she had on a bus with a man whose niece had died six months earlier, and the difficulties the family had had with the funeral arrangements. You can read the details of the story for yourself, but there is one passage that illustrates the force independent journalists like Diversent are playing in Cuba today:

Almost at his stop me, already at the door, the stranger told me, “But that’s not the only thing that happened.” They placed the baby in a coffin half a meter longer than her size. The indignation of the mother was such that she loudly called for an independent journalist to report the lack of respect.

He got off so fast I didn’t have time to tell him that I am an independent journalist. During the rest of the trip I didn’t talk to anyone else.

I was meditating. And I realized the importance of the work we do. It gave me satisfaction to hear, from the mouth of a stranger, that when there is helplessness and outrage they think of us, the independent journalists, as a valid alternative way to protest.

This morning, I also discovered another worthwhile read from Cuba, Mala Letra, or "Bad Handwriting."

UPDATED, Dec. 17, 2009 — Yoani Sanchez has more on on the blogger explosion in Cuba.

At least 83 Cuban dissidents detained on Human Rights Day

The air was thick with fear and worry in the sewers where the leaders of the Castro dictatorship reside on Dec. 10, International Human Rights Day, and they responded by ordering their secret police to round up as many potential troublemakers as they could.

A preliminary report posted online this morning lists the names of 83 Cuban dissidents who were detained by police to block them from using the day to demand human rights be recognized and respected on the island.

Of those, 58 were arrested and held for several hours, and 25 were held under house arrest, according to the unofficial Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation.

There is no way of knowing for sure, but the actual number of arrests and detentions is likely to be much higher. It is difficult for activists to gather and communicate the numbers, and it's not like the Cuban police issues press releases every time it arrests a dissident.

The good news is that for every Cuban who was blocked from marching for human rights or gathering with like-minded countrymen, there were others meeting in homes and street corners to demonstrate for human rights in Cuba. Scroll through Web sites like Miscelaneas de Cuba, and you will see the evidence that the struggle for liberty is growing on the island.

To help put in perspective the magnitude of last week's crackdown, consider this:

EIghty-three people arrested in Cuba, with a population of 11.2 million, is the equivalent in the United States, with a population of 304 million, of 2,253 Americans.

You may not have heard about what happened in Cuba last week, but just imagine if something similar — 2,253 arrests to block Americans from exercising their freedom of expression — had happened here.

Would you have cared then?

For the list of the names of Cuban dissidents arrested Thursday, go here.