Uncommon Sense

Dissidents: Cuban political prisoner Ivan Fernandez is near death because of hunger strike

Ivan Fernandez Depestre

Cuban political prisoner Ivan Fernandez Depestre reportedly is suffering from bouts of dizziness, high blood pressure and stomach and joint pains brought on by a hunger strike he started July 30 after his arrest at a protest rally.

Fellow activists fear Fernandez may be near death, and that the Castro regime is determined to make sure the outside world doesn't learn of his condition.

Fernandez had been hospitalized, but late Monday he was discharged from a hospital and returned to prison.

“They returned him to the prison because they want to hide him in the prison, in case he dies,”  dissident Loreto Hernández told the Miami Herald/El Nuevo Herald. "We fear for his life.”

Pedazos de la Isla has more on Fernandez's plight:

Several Cuban opposition activists are calling on the international community as well as their fellow compatriots to denounce the situation of political prisoner Ivan Fernandez Depestre, who has been on hunger strike for more than 27 days and whose health has drastically worsened, placing him in a state very "near death." according to a press release by the Cuban Democratic Directorate.

Fernandez Depestre was abruptly and violently jailed on July 30^th after he participated in a peaceful demonstration in honor of Frank Pais, a Cuban martyr who stood up against totalitarianism on the island many years ago. Two days later, on August 2^nd, Fernandez was sentenced to 3 years of prison under the Law of Social Pre-Dangerousness which orders time behind bars for citizens who look "dangerous"of committing "crimes" in the future.  The activist has been on hunger strike since.

Jorge Luis Garcia Perez "Antunez", leader of the Orlando Zapata Tamayo National Civic Resistance Front, a coalition which Ivan is part of, has been frequently denouncing the situation and taking to his Twitter account to let the world know what is going on. In an audio published on his YouTube channel, Antunez expressed that Ivan is "agonizing in a protest that has lasted longer than 20 days" and that his health is "very critical."

Antunez, who is currently in the city of Miami as part of an international tour to denounce the Cuban reality, has been in contact with dissidents on the island who have carried out several protests demanding the release of Fernandez and called on the international community and all human rights organizations to end their silence in regards to this case.

Read the whole thing here.

Meanwhile, Antunez reports via Twitter that about 60 Cuban activists have been arrested for demonstrating support for Fernandez.

Here's a look at what Antunuez and others are saying about Fernandez via social media:

 

Photos of Cuban police arresting Damas De Blanco as they try to go to Sunday Mass

Former Cuba Group of 75 political prisoner Angel Moya, dozens of Damas De Blanco arrested (UPDATED)

Angel Moya Acosta

Former Cuban Group of 75 prisoner of conscience Angel Moya Acosta was arrested Sunday morning as he left his home in an attemp to join the Damas for Blanco for Sunday Mass in the town of Colon.

Moya reported his own arrest via Twitter, and others in Cuba and overseas spread the word. He later tweeted that he had been released about 180 km away from where had been arrested.

Meanwhile, 50 members of the Damas De Blanco, or "Ladies In White," were arrested in Santiago de Cuba, and 18 more were arrested in Matanzas, according to sources on the isiand. Martinoticias.com has details.

Below is an updated look at what is being said on Twitter about the latest crackdown.

Cuban opposition activist Antunez to speak in Tampa

Antunez (Miami Herald photo)

Jorge Luis Garcia Perez Antunez, one of the giants of the Cuban opposition is set to speak in Tampa on Aug. 31.

Antunez, a former political prisoner and co-founder while in prison of National Movement for Civic Resistance Pedro Luis Boitel, is one of Cuba's more combative dissidents, frequently leading protests in his hometown of Placetas, in Santa Clara province.

He is currently in the United States, but has said he will return to Cuba in October.

While in Tampa, Antunez is set to appear at an event, set to start at 12:30 p.m., hosted by Casa de Cuba, 2506 W. Curtis St., Tampa.

For details, call (813) 876-7350 or email [email protected]

Former Cuban prison of conscience Oscar Espinosa Chepe seriously ill in Spain

Oscar Espinosa Chepe

Former Cuban prisoner of conscience Oscar Espinosa Chepe has been hospitalized in Madrid in "very serious" condition, suffering from a severe liver ailment.

Espinosa, an economist was one of the Group of 75 independent journalists, librarians, human rights and democracy activists and others arrested and imprisoned during the "black spring" of March-April 2003. He was released from prison in November 2004 because of poor health.

EFE reports:

Madrid, Aug 21 (EFE).- Cuban opposition figure Oscar Espinosa Chepe is in "very serious" condition due to a severe and chronic liver ailment, his wife, Mirian Leiva, told Efe in this capital on Wednesday.

Espinosa Chepe, a 72-year-old former political prisoner, has been in Madrid since March 12 to be treated for his illness, thanks to the efforts of the Spanish Embassy in Havana.

The day after his arrival he was admitted to the Puerta de Hierro Hospital and since then he has been readmitted on a number of occasions, most recently just last week.

"At this time, he's in a very serious crisis since the complications he is suffering in his biliary system have not improved," his wife told Efe.

Leiva said the couple had refused to leave Cuba in 2010, when many dissidents did so, but they agreed to travel to Spain in 2013 because of her husband's worsening health situation and "under the condition of (being allowed) to return" to the communist-ruled island.

Espinosa Chepe, an economist by profession, was sentenced to 20 years in prison during Cuba's 2003 "Black Spring" crackdown on dissidents but he was released in November 2004 for health reasons.

After his release, he devoted himself to writing articles and performing analysis on Cuba's economic and political-social situation, and much of his work has been published in different newspapers and magazines around the world.

 

 

Cuban political prisoner Francisco Osoria Claro released from jail

Francisco Osoria Claro

Cuban political prisoner Francisco Osoria Claro has been released from jail, according to Cuban independent journalist Roberto de Jesus Guerra Perez.

Osoria, an activist with the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU), was arrested in November 2012, after a police search of his home revealed nothing worse than a wooden replica of a gun.

At the time, his family said Osoria, who had previously served five years in prison as a political prisoner, was targeted because of his anti-Castro activities, including as a member of UNPACU, one of the most active opposition groups on the island.

Guerra reported news of Osoria's release via Twitter.

Hunger strike leaves Cuban political prisoner Ivan Fernandez critically ill

Ivan Fernandez

Cuban political prisoner Ivan Fernandez Depestre, on hunger strike since his arrest July 30, has been transferred to a prison hospital, suffering the effects of his protest, according to the Cuba Democratic Directorate.

"Ivan's family is afraid," said Cuban activist Donaida Pérez Paseiro, in a press release issued by the Miami-based Directorate. "He only has us, his brothers in struggle, as his family has been pressured by the regime and has turned their back on him."

Fernandez was arrested during a protest march in the town of Placetas. Three days later, he was summarily tried, found to be a "pre-criminal social danger" and sentenced to 2 years in prison.

“Ivan Fernandez Depestre committed the horrible crime of daring to go out with other pro-freedom activists this past 30th of July in a peaceful march, dressed with their clothes backwards, paying tribute to (Cuban revolutionary) Frank Pais on the anniversary of his death," said Cuban opposition leader Jorge Luis Garcia Perez Antunez, after Fernandez's arrest.

Quoting sources in Cuba, Antunez, who is currently visiting the United States, is quoted in the Directorio news release as saying that Fernandez is near death in the hospital at the Guamajal prison in Santa Clara.

Cuban political prisoner Ramón Alejandro Muñoz plans to start hunger strike

Sonia Garro and Ramón Alejandro Muñoz

In jail for 17 months without trial or even formal charges being filed, Cuban political prisoner Ramón Alejandro Muñoz this week said he plans to start a hunger strike to protest his continued imprisonment.

Muñoz is the husband of Dama De Blanco Sonia Garro Alfonso, who also remains in jail.

"Our imprisonment goes against what is in the law," Muñoz said in a telephone interview with CubaNet. "Or does the law not exist for people who think differently?"

Muñoz and Garro and were arrested March 18, 2012, during a nationwide crackdown against the opposition in advance of Pope Benedix XVI's visit to the island.

According to Amnesty International, the couple was arrested at their home in Havana after 50 police officers forced their way into the house and fired rubber bullets at them. Sonia Garro Alfonso was wounded in the foot.

When he was arrested, Muñoz was on the rooftop of his partially constructed home brandishing a machete, according to CubaNet.

Muñoz said he will start his hunger strike after Aug. 26, so that he can explain to his family during a scheduled prison visit what he is planning.

Another Sunday of repression in Cuba

Twitter is buzzing with details from Cuba of the latest round of repression against some of the regime's most forceful opponents. Among those arrested in Santiago de Cuba later released were former prisoners of conscience Ivan Hernandez and Felix Navarro.

 

Cuban dissident Guillermo Fariñas takes his message to Texas

Guillermo Fariñas

Via KUHF-FM:

Guillermo Fariñas, also called “Coco,” spoke to a group of about 40 Cuban exiles in downtown Houston. Fariñas has become known worldwide for his many hunger strikes to protest the Communist regime in Cuba.

He’s risked his life fasting 24 times since he decided to go against the Castros. Speaking through an interpreter, the psychologist and journalist says his hunger strikes have been successful in two ways.

“First of all, to be true to myself and to my conscience. And that is clearly the most important thing for me, is to be true to myself. And secondly, to let the world at large know about the Castro dictatorship and about the horrors of the regime.”

The interpreter is George Fowler, vice president of the Cuban American National Foundation, which organized the event.

Fariñas says things have not gotten better since Fidel Castro’s brother Raul assumed power of the island state. He says only the way of oppression has changed.

“Since Castro took power, Raul Castro has used paramilitary forces, mobs, to control the population – as opposed to Fidel Castro, who would throw you in jail or throw you in a prison or kill you.”

Fariñas doesn’t support loosening the United States’ trade embargo or travel restrictions with Cuba. He says Cuban-Americans should be allowed to travel to Cuba so that they can give the people there uncensored information about the world. But he’s against anything that puts money in the regime’s pockets.

He says Cuban exile communities like the one here in Houston are important in the fight against the Castros.

“The regime’s effort has been to divide the people of Cuba from the people in exile, and we’re one people and it is very important that we remember that and that we should not let their dictatorship divide us.”

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, an estimated 6,500 Cubans live in Houston.

Fariñas has been traveling the U.S. and Europe since May with the help of the Cuban American National Foundation. He’s only been able to leave Cuba this year because of a recent change in the law that allows him and others to travel outside the country. Even so, Fariñas says that law is only supposed to give the impression that Cuba is becoming more open.

He says he’s expecting the worst for when he returns to Cuba on Wednesday.