Uncommon Sense

Cuban police round up dissidents to keep them from prisoner's trial

Bismarck Mustelier

There are few things the Castro dictatorship detests more than those Cubans who dare to try to hold the regime accountable for its actions against the population. Which explains why the secret police this week has rounded up several dozen activists in eastern Cuba to prevent them from attending the trial of an imprisoned compatriot, Bismarck Mustelier Galán.

Mustelier, a member of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU), was arrested April 1, after he allegedly assaulted an official with the the Cuban interior ministry. Jose Daniel Ferrer Garica, the leader of UNPACU, said the regime is seeking to convict Mustelier of "resistance" and "disrespect," and to have him sentenced to 2 years in prisoner, according to an audio report from Ferrer posted on Hablalo Sin Miedo.

(Ferrer said the proceedings could not be concluded today because the court was missing testimony from the supposed "victim" in the case.)

Dozens of UNPACU activists had planned to attend the trial, which was set to start Wednesday, but the dictatorship moved to tried to preempt the show of support by rounding up dissidents in Santiago de Cuba and other towns in eastern Cuba.

As of Wednesday, several of those detained had been released, according to Ferrer.

For more, listen to Ferrer's report, here; and to a report from UNPACU activist Andres Carrion, the Cuban arrested during a Papal Mass in Santiago, here.

Niurka Luque Alvarez, Cuba Political Prisoner of the Week, 5/27/12 (UPDATED)

UPDATED, Oct. 6, 2012 -- After more than 200 days in jail, Niurka Luque was released on Oct. 5.

Niurka Luque Alvarez

The Castro dictatorship is torturing Cuban political prisoner Niurka Luque Alvarez to death.

Imprisoned since mid-March. Luque, a member of the Damas De Blanco, is suffering the worst her jailers can throw at her. She has been beaten, and she has been denied needed medical care -- both frequent methods used by the Castro regime to target its opponents behind bars.

In a recently released video, taped clandestinely in prison, Luque described what she has been forced to endure:

Pedazos de la Isla has more the video:

In this clandestine video which independent journalist Dania Virgen Garcia managed to sneak out, the Lady in White and political prisoner Niurka Luque Alvarez narrates her current situation while being confined in a jail cell in the “Manto Negro” ['Black Cloak'] Prison of Havana.  Luque says that she was recently slapped in the face by a prison guard as well as having suffered other verbal and physical threats.  She also explains that she is suffering from medical complications and that some of her hair has even started to come off.  Regardless, the activist courageously sends out a message to the international community, asking all people of goodwill to intercede for her, concluding her statement by saying “freedom for the Cuban people” and “Long Live Laura Pollan."

10 Cuban political prisoners on hunger strike in Guantanamo to demand better conditions @CIHPRESS

Ten Cuban political prisoners have started hunger strikes to demand that their jailers comply with international standards for prisons.

The 10 prisoners are:

• Leoncio Rodríguez Ponce
• Andy Frometa Cuenca
• Jesús Manuel Peña Ramírez
• Alfredo Noa Estopiñán
• Miguel Matos Gainza
• Leonardo Cantillo Galván
• Heriberto Téllez Reinosa
• Juan Humberto Becerra Alfonso
• Rolando Tudela Iribar
• Yoandri Lafargue Rober

CIHPRESS has more details about the protest.

Cuba independent photojournalist Gerardo Younel Avila arrested

Gerardo Younel Avila

The Cuban secret police made good on a threat and on Saturday arrested independent photojournalist Gerardo Younel Avila to block him from covering a march by Damas De Blanco.

Police had warned him last week he would be arrested if he went ahead with plans to cover a gathering of the Damas planned for Sunday at the Santa Rita de Casia church in Havana. Not waiting to see whether the threats would work, police on Saturday arrested Younel at his home.

For more, read the report from Younel's new agency, CIHPRESS.

Amnesty International: Cuba stifles freedom of expression, association, assembly

Amnesty International this week released its annual report for 2011.

This is how it summed up the situation in Cuba:

The last 11 prisoners of conscience detained during the March 2003 crackdown were released in March, along with 62 other political prisoners. However, government repression continued, resulting in hundreds of short-term arrests and detentions. Journalists and political dissidents faced harassment and intimidation by security officials and government supporters acting with government acquiescence.

The Cuban authorities continued to stifle freedom of expression, association and assembly, in spite of the much publicized releases of prominent dissidents. Hundreds of pro-democracy activists and dissidents suffered harassment, intimidation and arbitrary arrest.

In April, the Cuban Communist Party held its first congress since 1997 and adopted a package of more than 300 economic reforms that were due to be introduced gradually. However, no resolutions were adopted granting Cubans greater enjoyment of civil and political rights or proposing legislative reforms to allow greater political freedom on the island. During the year, the Cuban government introduced minor economic reforms authorizing the sale of cars and houses, and permitting some income-generating activities outside its direct control.

Alan Gross, a US citizen arrested in December 2009 for distributing telecommunications material in Cuba, was sentenced by a Cuban tribunal to 15 years in prison for crimes against the security of the state. US officials and personalities attempted to secure his release on humanitarian grounds but were unsuccessful.

Read the whole thing here.

Mariela Castro's Anti-Americanism

The U.S. State Department was wrong to grant Cuba First Daughter Mariela Castro a visa to visit the United States. She is more than the spawn of a dictator but rather a valiant defender of the indefensible, one of the world's most repressive regimes that among other abuses, denies Cubans the right to travel that she requested from the United States.

In her own words, here are some more reasons why, courtesy of the Cuba Transition Project at the University of Miami:

Mariela Castro’s Anti-Americanism   “[Cuba] won independence from Spain, but this was curtailed by the intervention of the United States.” "[Cuba gano] la independencia ante España, pero se frustró debido a la intervención norteamericana.” (1) “The United States remains hegemonic. It is the world’s police, it controls us all. Case in point, Europe has followed in its footsteps by establishing its Common Position against Cuba. That is cynicism! This demonstrates that Europe is subordinate to the politics of the United States.” “Los Estados Unidos siguen siendo hegemónicos. Son los policías del mundo, nos controlan a todos. Constato que Europa le ha seguido los pasos al establecer una posición común contra Cuba. ¡Eso es cinismo! Eso demuestra que está subordinada a la política de los Estados Unidos.” (2)  “[A] very sad event that is causing great sorrow to my family…is the situation of our five heroes illegally and arbitrarily jailed in the United States for protecting the Cuban people from the terrorist acts organized in the United States with US government financing….Because they’re really so crude that they are not even willing to trade our prisoners for the North American prisoner here [Alan Gross] who was legally tried and sentenced with every respect for the rights of a prisoner.” “[Un] acontecimiento muy triste que se está viviendo con mucho sufrimiento por mi familia…es la situación de nuestros cinco héroes, prisioneros ilegalmente, arbitrariamente, en los Estados Unidos por proteger al pueblo cubano de los atentados terroristas que se organizan desde los Estados Unidos con financiamiento el gobierno norteamericano…. Porque realmente son tan burdos que ni siquiera quieren cambiar a nuestros prisioneros por el prisionero norteamericano que está aquí [Alan Gross], que ya fue condenado en un juicio legal y con todos los recursos de respeto a los derechos del prisionero”. (3)  “I hope that the economic, financial and trade blockade against Cuba will be lifted, so that the economy can grow and wages can rise. But I also hope that we will not compromise our independence and become weak, and that we will never betray our ideals of equality and social justice.”  “Espero que el bloqueo económico, financiero y comercial contra Cuba serán levantadas, de modo que la economía puede crecer y los salaries pueden aumentar. Pero también espero que no vamos a comprometer nuestra independencia y se vuelven débiles, y que nunca vamos a traicionar nuestros ideales de igualdad y justicia social”. (4)  “I still have the energy, hope and strength to continue fighting for this socialism. I know that the Revolution has developed many defense mechanisms in the face of the constant hostility from the US imperialism and all its vast resources. And that’s not just some trite phrase; it’s an expansive, intensive, very cruel imperial system, and it’s necessary to continue fighting, to not back down in the face of violence, in the face of the pressures that we will continue to confront.”  “Todavía tengo la energía, esperanza y fuerza para seguir luchando por este socialismo. Yo sé que la Revolución ha desarrollado muchos mecanismos de defensa frente a la constante hostilidad del imperialismo de EE.UU. y todos sus vastos recursos. Y eso no es sólo una frase trillada; es un sistema imperial expansivo, intensivo y muy cruel, y es necesario seguir luchando, que no se retire frente de la violencia, frente a las presiones que vamos a seguir confrontando”. (5) Notes  (1) Interview with French newspaper L’Humanite, “Mariela Castro: Cuba siempre sorprende.” December 9, 2011.http://www.ahora.cu/es/secciones/especiales/657-mariela-castro-cuba-siempre-sorprende (2) Op Cit (3) Interview with Russian media Actualidad RT. http://www.walterlippmann.com/docs3162.html.  (4) Ertel, Manfred. “Interview with Mariela Castro: We Need Changes in Cuba.” Spiegel Online. 7/21/2010.http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,707267,00.html.  (5) Acosta, Dalia. “Mariela Castro’s Hopes for Cuba.” Havana Times. 6/24/2009. http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=10543

Cuban human rights activist Ivonne Mallezo nominated for Front Line Defenders Human Rights Award

Ivonne Mallezo

Out of 107 nominees, Cuban human rights activist and former political prisoner Ivonne Mallezo is one of five finalists for the prestigious Front Line Defenders Human Rights Award.

Front Line Defenders sums up the case in support:

In Cuba, Ivonne Mallezo Galano has been repeatedly detained by the authorities for promoting human rights and democracy. On 30th November 2011 following a peaceful protest in the Fraternidad Park in Havana where she was part of a group that displayed a white sheet that read: “Down with Hunger, Misery, and Poverty”. She was subjected to 51 days of cruel and degrading treatment in prison before her release on January 20, 2012. Two days after her release in January she was back together with the Ladies in White (Damas de Blanca) participating in their regular Sunday march on 22nd January in the streets of Havana. During the recent visit of the Pope to Cuba, Ivonne was one of the human rights defenders rounded up and detained throughout the pontiff’s visit.

Mallezo and others unfurl protest banner.

Read more about Mallezo here.

United Nations anti-torture panel zeroes in on Cuban repression

The United Nations has far from a pristine history when it comes to holding the Castro dictatorship accountable for its 50-plus years of repression.

But the UN's Committee Against Torture deserves applause by inspiring a ridiculous comment from one of the dictatorship's mouthpieces in response to the panel's request Tuesday for information about the deaths of political prisoners Orlando Zapata and Wilman Villar and other human rights abuses in Cuba.

"(N)o one in our country has been persecuted or sanctioned for exercising their rights, including those of free expression and association," said Cuban deputy attorney general Rafael Pino.

No one, except the thousands of political prisoners, past and present, who have languished in the Castro gulag because they exercised the rights given to them by God.

No one, except the activists who every day risk what little liberty they enjoy to ensure that one day they and their successors enjoy those rights freely.

No one, except those Cubans, like Zapata and Villar, who were permanently silenced, who were murdered by the Castro regime because of the threat that they, and their commitment to those rights, posed to the dictatorship's survival.

That one of the dictatorship's flunkies would stand before the world and deny the undeniable, is evidence enough that whatever action the UN takes against Cuba as result of the latest inquiry, the Castros live in fear that their time is up.

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McClatchy Newspapers has more on the Committee Against Torture's inquiry:

 

A U.N. panel on torture Tuesday demanded that Cuba provide information on the deaths of several political prisoners, the repression of dissident groups such as the Ladies in White and the 2,400 arrests of government critics reported last year.

The demand came on the same day that Cuba's Granma newspaper and Prensa Latina news agency published reports defending the island's prison system, which faces allegations of "slave labor" in the 1980s and other current abuses.

Members of the U.N. Committee Against Torture, which is based in Geneva, requested the Cuban government explain the recent deaths of dissidents Orlando Zapata Tamayo and Wilman Villar after lengthy prison hunger strikes, and that of Juan Wilfredo Soto after an alleged beating by security officials.

Complaints that Cuban prisons are plagued by overcrowding, malnutrition, bad hygiene, and beatings for those who protest and forced exile for others have been received in Geneva, said panel member George Tugushi.

Cuba also has been asked to explain the "aggressions and harassments" against the Ladies in White, bloggers Yoani Sanchez and Orlando Luis Pardo and Zapata's mother, Reina Luisa Tamayo, the panel noted during the first day of its two-day hearing on Cuba.

The U.N. committee also asked for explanations of the more than 2,400 short-term detentions of dissidents reported in 2011 by Havana human rights activists, including Elizardo Sanchez Santa Cruz of the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation.

"We want Cuba to clarify all these cases," said Nora Sveaass, one of the 10 panel members and a Norwegian human rights attorney, according to media reports from Geneva.

The panel, which monitors enforcement of the U.N. Convention on Torture and Other Physical Abuses and Transgressions, reviews the records of several U.N. member nations each year. This year it was Cuba's turn.

Read more here: http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2012/05/22/2532738/un-panel-queries-havana-on-human.html#storylink=cpy

 

 

Cuban independent journalist awaits deportation back to his hometown

Calixto Martinez

Reporters Without Borders has the latest on Cuban independent journalist Calixto Martinez, who was arrested May 10 and was being detained in Havana pending his deportation from the capital:

Calixto Ramón Martínez Arias, a reporter for the independent news agency Hablemos Press, was arrested on 10 May and is being held in a police detention centre in Havana awaiting deportation in three days’ time to his home town of Camagüey for the 10th time in two years.

His sister-in-law, Niurka Caridad Ortega, visited the journalist yesterday and told Hablemos Pressshe had “seen him and taken him some clean laundry, although he said he had stopped eating since Thursday and was spitting blood. It appears that the stomach ulcer from which he suffers has worsened.”

Reporters Without Borders said: “Calixto Ramón Martínez lives and works in Havana, where he also has relatives. On this basis, his expulsion to Camagüey contravenes the relaxation, passed at the end of last year, of the law on internal migration, which restricted the movement of people to the capital.

“The free movement of individuals is a basic right which the Cuban government must acknowledge, particularly if it decides to ratify the two United Nations pacts on civil and political rights that it signed in 2008.

“Why do the authorities insist in uprooting this man from his everyday surroundings? Is it because he recently reported, via Hablemos Press, that Havana was experiencing problems with its water supply? The subject deserves more than senseless reprisals against the journalist who raised it.

“This deportation – his 10th — would be laughable were it not for the fact that it exposes the refusal of the government, which claims to be aware of the need to change the way it governs, to establish an open and sustained dialogue with civil society.”

The press freedom organization also called for the journalist to be given all appropriate care.

Hablemos Press has recorded just over 1,900 detentions or hostile acts by the authorities towards dissidents since the start of the year, including 340 during April. The agency has itself been affected by the crackdown. Besides Martinez, two more of its journalists, Gerardo Younel Avilaand Magali Norvis Otero, were each detained briefly, on 6 and 9 May respectively.

 

Cuba activist Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia arrested again (UPDATED)

Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia was released from jail on Thursday, 24 hours after his latest arrest.

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Cuban dissident Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia was arrested in Havana on Wednesday.

Ferrer, who had been released April 29 after almost a month in jail, was on his way to the Czech embassy to access the Internet, when the Castro police swept in and arrested him.

Details of his whereabouts were not known, but human rights activist Elizardo Sanchez, with whom Ferrer was staying while visiting the capital said he thought Ferrer would be returned to his hometown of Santiago de Cuba.

Ferrer was part of the Group of 75 dissidents arrested and imprisoned during "the black spring" of 2003. He was released last year and quickly resumed his anti-Castro activism. He currently is the leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba.

Diario de Cuba has more.