Uncommon Sense

Sara Martha Fonseca and Julio Ignacio Leon, Cuban Political Prisoners of the Week, 10/2/11 (UPDATED)

A version of this post appeared earlier.

Julio Leon and Sara Fonseca

The international support for Cuban political prisoners Sara Martha Fonseca and her husband Julio Ignacio Leon is certainly important and much appreciated by their family and supporters on the island. But what is truly impressive is how the couple's plight since their arrest on Sept. 24 has inspired their fellow activists to literally go to the Cuban street to demand their release.

Family members and activists this week launched a campaign dubbed "Freedom for an innocent couple," on behalf of Fonseca and Leon, who were beaten and arrested during a demonstration in Havana.

During a jailhouse visit last week, one of her sons found Fonseca to be in poor health, still suffering from beatings she received to her back and other parts of her body and from a hunger strike she started to protest her arrest. On Thursday, she drank some liquid for the first time, but as of Saturday night, Oct. 1, she remained on hunger strike.

Meanwhile, her husband has been admitted to a military hospital in Havana after he started his own hunger strike.

The couple's sons are taking the lead in generating support for their parents. The nascent campaign already has included the distribution of about 300 fliers in Havana.

“Sara Marta Fonseca and Julio Ignacio León ... are innocent," the flier reads.

"We will take this campaign nationally and internationally to demand their freedom," said Julio León Fonseca, a hip-hop singer. "We ask for the solidarity of anyone who loves freedom of expression."

The couple are just two of dozens of Cuban opposition activists arrested since last weekend. Other well known dissidents arrested include Yris Perez Aguilera of the Rosa Parks Feminist Movement and Eriberto Liranza, leader of the Cuban Youth Movement for Democracy.

It is difficult to keep track of who exactly been arrested, released, etc., but where you can help is to spread the news about what is happening, even if it's only to repeat their names and to demand their release. It really does make a difference.

And it will deliver a blow to a regime that relies on the world community's ignorance and indifference in order to get away with their repression.

Cubans like Fonseca and Leon are in jail because they refuse to stay silent while the Castro regime drags Cuba further into its hell.

Following their example, neither should we.

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UPDATED, Oct. 8, 2011 -- The couple were released from jail on Oct. 7, 2011.

A message for the Castros: Free Sara Fonseca NOW!

Those Cubans imprisoned because of their politics number in the countless, men and women, old and young, each of them deserving of our sympathy and support, however we can share it.

But tonight I asked that you remember only one name:

Sara Martha Fonseca.

By all available accounts, she remains in jail tonight, almost a week after a gang of Castroite thugs broke into her home, beat her and dragged her away.

Supporters of Cuban freedom around the world are doing what they can to tell her story.

It is not too late for you to join us in declaring, FREE SARA FONSECA NOW!

Cuba opposition leader Yris Perez Aguilera missing after arrest

Cuban Democratic Directorate has some disturbing news about the apparent disappearance of three opposition activists:

An urgent call to the international community, the diplomatic corps in Havana and the United States Congress has been issued by Cuban Resistance activist Jorge Luis García Pérez "Antúnez" in defense of his wife and fellow activist Yris Tamara Pérez Aguilera, as well as two additional activists arrested in Havana when trying to ascertain the situation of Resistance leader Sara Marta Fonseca Quevedo who remains in detention and under threat of prosecution, along with her husband, Julio León Fonseca.

"My wife Yris Tamara Pérez Aguilera, leader of the Rosa Parks Women's Movement for Civil Rights was brutally beaten this September 26 in a nonviolent protest in the streets of the Havana municipality of Rio Verde. At noon yesterday (September 26) she was mysteriously removed from the police station of October 10 & Aguilera in the capital and her whereabouts are unknown. As this is taking place, political police officers have besieged my home. I fear for the life of my wife, beaten so many times and with serious health problems, " stated Antúnez by telephone to the Assembly of the Cuban Resistance on the evening of September 27, 2011. The Orlando Zapata Tamayo National Civic Resistance and Civil Disobedience Front also issued a statement concerning the whereabouts of Pérez Aguilera.

Yris Tamara Pérez Aguilera was detained together with Donaida Pérez Paseiro, Yaimara Reyes Mesa, Mariblanca Avila Espósito, Julio (Julito, son of Sara Marta and Julio) León Fonseca,  and other activists on Monday September 26  on their way to Section 21 of State Security in Havana to learn the status of resistance members arrested on September 24. Of those arrested on Monday, the whereabouts of Pérez Aguilera, Pérez Paseiro and Reyes Mesa, all of the Rosa Parks Women's Movement in central Cuba remain unknown.

"We came out and told them we were going to leave peacefully and that we would ask them to release Sara Marta because she was severely beaten. They (State Security agents) told us we would not be allowed to leave. When we left there they arrested us, Yris was thrown to the floor and hit her in the neck, split her mouth. They hit me on my backbone so that I still can not even walk,” said Mariblanca Avila Espósito after being taken from police headquarters and left on the outskirts of Havana.

On the night of September 27 it was learned that other women of the Ladies in White and of the Resistance were arrested when they went to Section 21 of State Security in Havana to request explanations about the act of aggression and repudiation against the Ladies in White on Saturday, September 24.

"The Ladies in White from the East of the country, Belkis Cantillo, Tania Montoya and Aymé Garcés were arrested on there way to the home of Marta Beatriz Roque and from there go to carry out a protest in front of Section 21, in Marianao, Havana. [...] Marta Beatriz Roque Cabello, Berta Soler and Arnaldo Ramos Lauzerique went to demonstrate their solidarity with these Ladies and were themselves also victims of violence. Roque Cabello was hit hard," said José Daniel Ferrrer García, of the Patriotic Union of Cuba from the capital.

For more, including the names of other dissidents arrested during the recent wave of repression, go here and here.

Inter American Press Association condemns wave of repression in Cuba

The Inter American Press Association on Thursday condemned a wave of repression that by one count has included some 400 politically-motivated arrests in September, the most in any month in at least 10 years.

Here is the group's report:

Miami (September 29, 2011)—The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) today condemned a recent escalation in Cuban repression of dissidents, violations of freedom of expression and obstacles to foreign correspondents, an issue that will be taken up by a special committee of the organization at its General Assembly to be held in Lima, Peru, October 14-18. 

In an incident Tuesday political police officers beat and insulted Martha Beatriz Roque, head of the Cuban Community Communicators Network (RCCC), Arnaldo Ramos Lauzerique, a member of that organization, and Berta Soler, of the Ladies in White group and a former political prisoner, who declared, “I have been arrested and mistreated many times … but never like I was beaten today.” She added, “The blows really hurt, but what hurts more is the lack of freedom.”

IAPA President Gonzalo Marroquín said, “The lack of respect in Cuba for freedom of expression, of the press and of assembly -- pillars in any political system that should respect human rights -- are a reflection of an archaic regime that stifles and harasses criticism and demands for change by citizens.”

The Cuban Human Rights and National Reconciliation Commission reports that the repression of independent and opposition media has become more frequent, and that this month alone 400 arbitrary detentions have taken place, ranging from a few hours to several days – the highest number of arrests in the last 10 years according to that organization. 

“Added to this repression, “Marroquín declared, “is the regime’s failure to abide by promises to allow greater access to the Internet – all of which just goes to show the fear the authorities have of the flow of information and how they seek to prevent effects such as those of the Arab Spring.”

Marroquín, president of the Guatemala City, Guatemala, newspaper Siglo 21, added that the repression is also aimed at the foreign press. He recalled the cases of the new bureau chief of Agence France Presse news agency and that of Mauricio Vicent, correspondent of Spanish newspaper El País and Cadena Ser radio, both of whom were denied permission to work in Cuba. 

“What is noteworthy is the absence of solidarity shown by Latin American governments to the Cuban people and their failure to denounce human rights violations. The only solidarity we have noted to date is that which the governments are giving the Raúl Castro regime,” Marroquín said. 

He added that while the government freed imprisoned journalists during the Black Spring (March 2003), the majority of whom were sent into exile in Spain, “it now appears that the regime has redoubled its efforts to punish and censor all dissidence.”

Since July last year, following talks between the Cuban authorities, the Roman Catholic Church and the Spanish government, a total of 22 independent journalists have been released from jail and ordered to leave Cuba, most of them going to Spain.

Obama: U.S. embargo stays in place as long human rights in Cuba don't improve

Capitol Hill Cubans has transcript and video of an exchange today about Cuba and American policy between President Barack Obama and Hispanic journalists:

This next question is about Cuba, and it comes from Florida: What is your position regarding Cuba and the embargo? What should the Cuban people expect from you and your government during the remainder of your term, and in the future if you're reelected?

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, what we did with respect to Cuba was recognize that the Cuban people now have not enjoyed freedom for 50 years, and everywhere else in the world you've been seeing a democratization movement that has been pressing forward. Throughout Latin America, democracies have emerged from previously authoritarian regimes. The time has come for the same thing to happen in Cuba.

Now, what we've tried to do is to send a signal that we are open to a new relationship with Cuba if the Cuban government starts taking the proper steps to open up its own country and its own -- and provide the space and the respect for human rights that would allow the Cuban people to determine their own destiny.

I changed the remittance laws so that family members could more easily send money back to Cuba, because that would give them more power and it would create a economic space for them to prosper. Within Cuba we have changed the family travel laws so that they can travel more frequently, as well as laws that relate to educational travel.

And so we've made these modifications that send a signal that we're prepared to show flexibility and not be stuck in a Cold War mentality dating back to when I was born. On the other hand, we have to see a signal back from the Cuban government that it is following through on releasing political prisoners, on providing people their basic human rights, in order for us to be fully engaged with them. And so far, at least, what we haven't seen is the kind of genuine spirit of transformation inside of Cuba that would justify us eliminating the embargo.

I don't know what will happen over the next year, but we are prepared to see what happens in Cuba. If we see positive movement we will respond in a positive way. Hopefully, over the next five years, we will see Cuba looking around the world and saying, we need to catch up with history. And as long as I'm President I will always be prepared to change our Cuba policy if and when we start seeing a serious intention on the part of the Cuban government to provide liberty for its people. But that's always my watchword, is are we seeing freedom for the Cuban people to live lives of opportunity and prosperity. If we are, then we'll be supportive of them.

Those conditions will suffice -- human rights, free political prisoners? No demand for a change in the economic structure, for example?

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, it's very hard to separate liberty from some economic reforms. If people have no way to eat other than through the government, then the government ends up having very strict control over them, and they can be punished in all sorts of ways for expressing their own opinions. That's not to say that a condition for us releasing the embargo would be that they have a perfect market system, because obviously we have trade and exchanges with a number of countries that fall short of a liberal democracy.

But there is a basic, I think, recognition of people's human rights that includes their right to work, to change jobs, to get an education, to start a business. So some elements of freedom are included in how an economic system works. And right now, we haven't seen any of that.

But let me just say this. Obviously if we saw a release of political prisoners, the ability for people to express their opinions and to petition their government, if we saw even those steps those would be very significant, and we would pay attention and we would undoubtedly reexamine our overall approach to Cuba if we saw a serious movement in that direction.

Cuba activist goes to check on Sara Fonseca's husband, he gets arrested (UPDATED)

Cuban political prisoner Sara Martha Fonseca remains in jail Wednesday night, as a recent wave of Castroite repression continues to victimize some of the island's best-known dissidents.

Wednesday, Fonseca's son Julito Leon Fonseca went to a Havana police station to check on his father, who also was arrested this past Saturday. The younger Fonseca was accompanied by activist Eriberto Liranza, who also had been arrested Saturday but was subsequently released after suffering a vicious beating by the police.

Seeing the chance to repress again, the police took Liranza into custody, according to a tweet from Resistencia Cubana.

UPDATED, 11:25 p.m. EDT — Pedazos de la Isla has more on Julito's quest to learn about what is happening to his parents. It is a must-read.

“My parents’ situation continues the same, they are still detained, and have been on a hunger and thirst strike for 96 hours so far. ... My mother (Sara Marta) has severe pains from a violent physical blow given to her on her spinal chord,  carried out by State Security officials," Julito said. “As for my father (Julio Ignacio) he is also in lots of pain and is also carrying out a hunger and thirst strike."

3 Damas De Blanco remain in jail 3 days after arrest

Three members of the Cuban Demas De Blanco remained in police custody Wednesday, three days after they were arrested in Havana.

The three activists -- Belkis Cantillo Ramírez, Tania Montoya Vázquez and Aimeé Garcés Leyva -- are from Santiago de Cuba, and it was unknown whether they were being held in a police station or had already been returned to their home province, according to Cantillo's husband, the former prisoner of conscience Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia.

The three were arrested when they went to a State Security headquarters in Havana to demand the return of money and various items that had been taken from them earlier in the day.

In turn, three other activists -- Bertha Soler, a leader of the Damas De Blanco; and two former prisoners of conscience, Martha Beatriz Roque and Arnaldo Ramos -- were beaten and arrested when they went to check on the other Damas.

The repression in Cuba is increasing,and the regime's fear and panic are rising, as evidenced by the fact the that regime is willing to target so violently some of the nation's best-known activists.

Cuba political prisoner Sara Martha Fonseca on hunger strike

Sara Martha Fonseca

Cuban activist Sara Martha Fonseca, in jail since Saturday when she and others were savagedly beaten by a Castroite goon squad that broke into her home, has started a hunger strike.

Independent journalist David Águila Montero reports for PayoLibre.com that Fonseca is being held at a police station in the Cerro section of Havana, still suffering from the injuries to her lips, back and knee she suffered on Saturday. Dama De Blanco Odalys Zanabria Rodríguez told Águila that a police official told her that Fonseca will soon be transferred to another jail as prosecutors prepare to charge her with "assault."

In recent weeks and months, Fonseca has been one of the most forceful opponents of the Castro regime, carrying out high-profile protests like a demonstration last month on the steps of the old Capitol building in Havana. The fear is the Castros have decided to strike back with more than the typical catch-and-release tactics that have become typical of Raul Castro's tactics against most anti-government activists.

The world needs to pay attention and to speak up for this brave Cuban patriot.

Free Sara Martha Fonseca NOW!

Learn more about Sara Fonseca here or on Facebook, here.

8 Cuban activists arrested for demanding release of their compatriots

Eight Cuban activists were arrested and detained for several hours Monday when they attempted to march to demand the release of Sara Martha Fonseca, her husband and another activist arrested Saturday.

Those arrested Monday are: Donaida Pérez Paseiro, Iris Tamara Pérez Aguilera y Yaimara Reyes Mesa, of the Rosa Parks Feminist Movement for Civil Rights; Mariblanca Ávila Expósito, of the Eastern Democratic Alliancel; Eriberto Pons Ruíz, of the Cuba Independence and Democracy movement; René Rouco Machín and Yosvani Martínez Lemus, of the Juan Wilfredo Soto García Movement; and Julio León Fonseca, president of the Cuba Pro-Human Rights Party.

Cuban activist Sara Fonseca needs you to know her name

Sara Martha Fonseca

A frustration intrinsic to writing about human rights abuses in Cuba is that it is impossible to recount each and every instance where the Castro dictatorship and its agents have targeted a member of the peaceful opposition with repression. Each activist, each independent journalist, each dissident who is harassed, threatened, beaten and/or arrested is deserving of the protection offered each time their name is published on this blog and the many others dedicated to sharing their stories with the world.

But as relentless as the Castro regime is in attacking its opposition, so will this blog -- and others, I am certain --  in doing the best we can to hold that regime accountable and to let it and its victims know they will never be forgotten. And that includes those Cubans whose names we will never know.

The names we do know are important and need to be repeated as often as neccessary, because that is the best way to personalize what is happening in Cuba today, to make real the connection between events on the island and the outside world. And that is the best way to make those stories much more difficult to ignore.

So that is why I again introduce you to Sara Martha Fonseca Quevedo.

For more than a year, Fonseca has been one of the more visible Cuban opposition activists, carrying out high-profile protests at the University of Havana, the Old Capitol building and other demonstrations. In turn, the regime has targeted her and her family, arresting and detaining them on several instances.

This past Saturday, police and other Castroite goons targeted Fonseca, her family and other activists who had gathered their home with an "act of repudiation." Not satisfied with just tossing insults and threats, the thugs broke in, savagedly beat them and then took them to jail.

Most were later released, but as of Monday evening Fonseca and her husband Julio León Pérez remained in police custody.

Chances are they will be released soon, maybe as soon as Tuesday, once the regime is satisfied it has made its point clear. But what also is possible is that the authorities have lost their patience and are ready to make an example of Fonseca, to jail her indefinitely and/or sentence her to a long prison term. There are reports the regime may prosecute them on trumped-up charges of "assault" and "disrespect."

There is not a lot anyone, in Cuba or overseas, can do to save Fonseca from her predicament. But those of us with blogs or Facebook accounts or Twitter feeds do have a voice, we do have a pulpit, and should use them on her behalf, and on behalf of all Cubans brave enough to be in the vanguard of the struggle for freedom. Otherwise, their lives are that much more at risk.

The support makes a difference to Cuban freedom fighters, and it also holds the potential of convincing the Castros that their repression comes with a high cost.

We do have the ability and the capability to stand up for Sara Martha Fonseca, and to let her and her captors know she will never be forgotten.

It may always be impossible to remember by name each victim of the Castro regime, but we owe it to all of them to try.