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Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia (Photo from Along the Malecon blog)
A day after police in Santiago de Cuba raided the headquarters of the Patriotic Union of Cuba and arrested him and other activists, UNPACU leader Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia was released from custody. Most of the others detained have also been released, according to reports on Twitter.
#CUBA Acaba de ser liberado Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia, lider de #UNPACU
— Amelunpacu (@Amelunpacu1) June 29, 2014
The Cuban Commission on Human Rights and National Reconciliation reported this week that by its count, there are currently at least 114 political prisoners in Cuban jails, up from 102 at the end of 2013. (Read the list of prisoners here.)
Today and on each of the next 100 days or so I'm going to try to honor these brave Cubans by sharing their names and little about their respective stories. Ever since I started this blog, I have felt it vital to remember their names, names the regime would rather have the world never know. That is the only way to fully grasp the injustices they are suffering.
Today's prisoners are Pedro de la Caridad Alvarez Pedroso and Daniel Santovenia Fernandez.
Here is what I wrote about their case in August 2010:
Whether an inmate in the Castro gulag is a "political prisoner" is not determined solely by the nature of their supposed "crime," but also in how the regime proceeds with its prosecution. That means, for example, someone convicted of "terrorism" or "acts against the security of the state" — like the two men profiled here this week — might be considered political prisoners if the regime ignores its own laws in order to make a political example of the accused.
According to Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, that's exactly what happened to Daniel Santovenia Fernandez and Pedro de la Caridad Alvarez Pedroso, as well as a third man, Eduardo Díaz Betancourt, they were with when they were caught trying to sneak onto the island in December 1991. All three had been Cuban exiles living in Miami.
All three were convicted and sentenced to death. On appeal, the death sentences for Santovenia and Alvarez were commuted to 30 years.
But on Jan. 20, 1992, Díaz, the suspected ringleader of the group, was executed by firing squad.
The human rights commission wrote:
Human rights organizations have said repeatedly that the three convicted men had not committeed any act of violence, that the trial was a summary proceeding and that under Article 124, paragraph B of the Cuban Penal Code, the penalty for entering the country clandestinely for the purpose of perpetrating a crime against the security of the State is 10 to 20 years' imprisonment, not the death penalty. A matter of particular concern was the statement made by the Council of State to the effect that "revolutionary justice will be less and less lenient" toward those who try to undermine the system. The Inter American Commission on Human Rights considers that the trial was a summary proceeding which does not guarantee due process. Moreover, the Commission must point out that the penalty is excessive and disproportionate since the individuals in question had not committed any acts of violence.
The independent Cuban Commission on Human Rights and National Reconciliation lists Santovenia and Fernandez as political prisoners.
During a speech in Miami this past weekend, Elizardo Sanchez, the director of the human rights commission, addressed whether men like Alvarez and Santovenia, convicted of violence-related charges, should be considered "political" prisoners.
"In the end, they are still political prisoners, armed opposition activists. That’s how Fidel Castro took power, and in Cuba, using arms to topple governments is almost a tradition,” Sanchez said.
Cuban Damas De Blanco (file photo)
Cuban police arrested several members of the Damas De Blanco ("Ladies In White") before they were able to attend Mass on Sunday morning in Colon. Another six were arrested in Havana, but dozens more were able to make it to church.
Cuban activist Ivan Hernandez and others tweeting from the island have the details:
Cuban security forces late Saturday carried out a vicious attack on the headquarters of the Patriotic Union of Cuba, one of the largest groups on the island. Twelve activists, including three juveniles, were arrested.
The provocation, other than UNPACU's effectiveness as an opposition force on the island?
Activists were attacked when they attempted to hang a large sheet on which they planned to project music videos for a youth party at UNPACU's headquarters in Santiago de Cuba.
Security forces said they considered that a "provacation," and attacked.
During the raid, a dozen activists, including UNPACU's leader, the former prisoner of conscience Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia, were arrested. As of early Sunday afternoon, only three had been released and the whereabouts of the others, including Ferrer, was uncertain.
Security forces, some in their black berets, broke into UNPACU's offices, beat activists and generally trashed the place, with no regard for the many children inside. They also seized computers, cameras and cell phones.
UNPACU released the following video after the attack, which includes images of the damage and eyewitness accounts of what happened:
Alexis Vargas Martin
The Cuban Commission on Human Rights and National Reconciliation reported this week that by its count, there are currently at least 114 political prisoners in Cuban jails, up from 102 at the end of 2013. (Read the list of prisoners here.)
Today and on each of the next 100 days or so I'm going to try to honor these brave Cubans by sharing their names and little about their respective stories. Ever since I started this blog, I have felt it vital to remember their names, names the regime would rather have the world never know. That is the only way to fully grasp the injustices they are suffering.
Today's prisoners are Alexeis Vargas Martin, 22, and his two 18-year-old twin brothers, Vianco Vargas Martín and Django Vargas Martín.
Amnesty International, which has designated the brothers as "prisoners of conscience," updated their case late last week:
Three brothers who have been in pre-trial detention in Cuba since late 2012 have now been tried and are due for sentencing. They are at risk of being sentenced to between three and five years’ imprisonment. Amnesty International believes they are prisoners of conscience, detained solely for exercising their right to freedom of expression.
Twenty-two-year-old Alexeis Vargas Martín and his two 18-year-old twin brothers, Vianco Vargas Martín and Django Vargas Martín, detained in November and December 2012 respectively, were tried on 13 June at the Provincial Court in Santiago de Cuba, south-eastern Cuba. They are now awaiting sentencing, due to be issued on 1 July, for the charges against them of public disorder of a continuous nature (alteración del orden público de carácter continuado). According to information received by Amnesty International, the Public Prosecutor has asked for Alexeis Vargas Martín to be sentenced to five years’ imprisonment and three years for Vianco and Django Vargas Martín, who were 16 at the time of arrest. They were reportedly subjected to a summary trial, with none of the witnesses for the defence being allowed to testify. In political trials such as these it is typical for the judge to pass the sentences requested by the public prosecutor.
The brothers, from the city of Santiago de Cuba, are all members of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (Unión Patriótica de Cuba, UNPACU), a civil society organization which advocates for greater civil liberties in the country. Since their detention, Alexeis Vargas Martín is being held at Aguadores Prison in Santiago de Cuba province, while Vianco and Django Vargas Martín are held at the Mar Verde prison in the same province.
Amnesty International believes that their arrest and detention is in response to their peaceful exercise of their right to freedom of expression and that it is intended to send a message of intimidation to other government critics, particularly other members of UNPACU. The three brothers are prisoners of conscience and must be immediately and unconditionally released.
Miguel Alvarez, in the middle, with his former boss, Ricardo Alarcon (right).
The Cuban Commission on Human Rights and National Reconciliation reported this week that by its count, there are currently at least 114 political prisoners in Cuban jails, up from 102 at the end of 2013. (Read the list of prisoners here.)
Today and on each of the next 100 days or so I'm going to try to honor these brave Cubans by sharing their names and little about their respective stories. Ever since I started this blog, I have felt it vital to remember their names, names the regime would rather have the world never know. That is the only way to fully grasp the injustices they are suffering.
Today's prisoner is Miguel Alvarez and his wife Mercedes Arce.
Alvarez and Arce are not typical of the Cuban political prisoners usually profiled on Uncommon Sense, in that he formerly was a top official of the dictatorship who for whatever reason -- his changing political views or he actually did something wrong -- in 2012 he was purged from the regime and later sentenced to a lengthy prison term for unspecified crimes.
The Miami Herald reported earlier this year that Alvarez, a former top aide to former Cuban parliament speaker Ricardo Alaracon, had been caught spying. His wife also was implicated:
A top aide to one of Cuba’s veteran political figures, Ricardo Alarcón, and the aide’s wife, have been convicted of spying and sentenced to 30 and 15 years in prison, according to persons close to the case.
Miguel Alvarez and Mercedes Arce, both former Cuban intelligence analysts in their 50s, were tried and convicted in December, the persons said, 22 months after they were detained in Havana for interrogation on March 3, 2012.
Alvarez was sentenced to 30 years on charges that he leaked secret information to Arce, according to the sources. Arce got the lesser sentence for allegedly using the information to write analytical reports on Cuba that she sold to private companies in Mexico.
Alvarez is the most senior Cuban official known to have been convicted of spying against the communist government in decades. At least three other Cubans are imprisoned on the island for spying, including two former Interior Ministry officials.
(Read the whole thing here.)
I am not prepared to say whether Alvarez truly belongs on the list of political prisoners. It is difficult to judge since there was no transparency in the proceedings against him or his wife. For now, I leave the benefit of the doubt to the human rights commission, which includes on its list of political prisoners the names of several Castro regime officials.
Sonia Garro
More than two years after their arrest and imprisonment, Cuban Lady In White Sonia Garro, her husband and another activist are still waiting for their day in court.
They were scheduled to stand trial June 30 on sham charges of "attempted murder" and "public disorder" related to a police attack on Garro's home, but on Thursday it was announced the trial had again been delayed for "administrative" reasons. No new trial date was set.
The real reason for the delay must be because the dictatorship knows it doesn't have a case.
Garro, her husband Ramón Alejandro Muñoz González and another activist Eugenio Hernández Hernández have been held in jail without trial since March 2012, when they were swept up during a nationwide Castro crackdown in the runup to Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the island.
They face charges related to a police raid, complete with tear gas and rubber bullets, on the Garro-Munoz home. Garro is charged with "assault," "public disorder" and "attempted murder," while her husband faces the latter two charges. If convicted, they face prison sentences of 10 or more years, which would be some of the harshest punishments for Cuban opposition activists since the "black spring" crackdown of 2003.
About a year after their arrest Mary O'Grady of the Wall Street Journal wrote the definitive English-language account of Garro and Munoz's plight. You can read it here.
Read previous Uncommon Sense posts here.
The Cuban Commission on Human Rights and National Reconciliation reported this week that by its count, there are currently at least 114 political prisoners in Cuban jails, up from 102 at the end of 2013. (Read the list of prisoners here.)
Today and on each of the next 100 days or so I'm going to try to honor these brave Cubans by sharing their names and little about their respective stories. Ever since I started this blog, I have felt it vital to remember their names, names the regime would rather have the world never know. That is the only way to fully grasp the injustices they are suffering.
Today's prisoner is Claro Fernando Alonso Hernandez.
A former intelligence officer with the Cuban interior ministry, Alonso in February 1996 was convicted by a military tribunal of "revealing secrets concerning the security of the state," and sentenced to 30 years in prison, according to the human rights commission.
The Cuban Commission on Human Rights and National Reconciliation reported this week that by its count, there are currently at least 114 political prisoners in Cuban jails, up from 102 at the end of 2013. (Read the list of prisoners here.)
Today and on each of the next 100 days or so I'm going to try to honor these brave Cubans by sharing their names and little about their respective stories. Ever since I started this blog, I have felt it vital to remember their names, names the regime would rather have the world never know. That is the only way to fully grasp the injustices they are suffering.
Today's prisoner is Anoy Almeida Perez.
Almeida, an activist with the Cuban Reflection Movement, in May 2013 was convicted of "public disorder," and sentenced to 2 years in prison after organizing a debate, according to the human rights commission.
The Cuban Reflection Movement is led by former Group of 75 prisoner of conscience Librado Linares Garcia, who has tweeted about Almeida @LibradoLinares.
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