Uncommon Sense

Cuban Political Prisoners of the Day, Sonia Garro and Ramon Munoz, July 31, 2014

Sonia Garro and Ramon Munoz

The Cuban Commission on Human Rights and National Reconciliation reported last month 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.)

Uncommon Sense is attempting 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 Sonia Garro Alfonso and her husband Ramon Alejandro Munoz.

Garro, a member of the Damas De Blanco, or "Ladies In White," and Munoz were arrested during a crackdown preceding the visit to Cuba in March 2012 of Pope Benedict XVI.

Amnesty International wrote about their case in 2012:

On 17 March in the Cuban capital, Havana, the Ladies in White (Damas de Blanco) were demonstrating peacefully to commemorate the anniversary of the 2003 crackdown on dissidents, when 18 of them were arrested and taken to police stations across the city. All but Niurka Luque Álvarez, were released a few hours later.

The following day, Lady in White Sonia Garro Alfonso, and her husband, Ramón Alejandro Muñoz González, were arrested at their home in Havana: around 50 police forced their way into the house and fired rubber bullets at them. According to her sister, Sonia Garro Alfonso was wounded in the foot by one of these bullets.

Since then the two women have been sent to various detention centres, and are now held in Guatao women's prison in the outskirts of Havana. Ramón Alejandro Muñoz González is being held in Havana's Combinado del Este prison. Both women are reported to be in poor health. Sonia Garro Alfonso was suffering a kidney problem before her arrest that may require surgery. According to her daughter, Niurka Luque Álvarez regularly suffers epileptic fits. The women are allowed visits every week, and Ramón Alejandro Muñoz González every two weeks.

Although all three have access to a lawyer, it is not clear what they have been charged with. Relatives told Amnesty International that the authorities have accused Sonia Garro Alfonso of attempted murder and public disorder, but none of them has been formally charged. They have yet to be told if or when they will be put on trial. They think they were arrested because of the visit of the Pope Benedict XVI to Cuba in March 2012 and their activism with the Ladies in White, and that it is intended to intimidate other government critics.

Garro and her husband were later charged. Prosecutors are seeking 10 years in prison for Garro and 14 years for Munoz, which would be some of the harshest punishments handed down to Cuban opposition activists since the "black spring" of 2003.

They had been set to stand trial June 30, 2014, but it was inexplicably delayed.

This week, Garro complained to Radio Marti in an interview from jail, that she has not been advised of the status of any proceedings against her.

Cuban Political Prisoners of the Day, Angel Frometa Allen & Eider Frometa Allen, July 28, 2014

Eider Frometa Allen

The Cuban Commission on Human Rights and National Reconciliation reported last month 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.)

Uncommon Sense is attempting 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 brothers Angel Frometa Allen and Eider Frometa Allen.

According to the human rights commission, Angel Frometa, who has had many run-ins with the dictatorship, was jailed Feb. 20, 2014, after he broke a window on a police car and was sentenced to 7 months in prison. He is an activist with the Youth Movement for Democracy.

Eider Frometa, an activist with the Patriotic Union of Cuba, has been imprisoned since March 2012, when he was violently arrested after police charged him with hanging anti-government placards. He was convicted of charges of "assault" and "resistance," and sentenced to 3 years prison, according to the human rights commission.

Angel and Eider's brother Enyor Frometa Allen is also an anti-Castro activist.

 

Report: Guards rape patients at Cuban psychiatric hospital

The surest way to judge a society is to examine how it treats its most unfortunate, its most helpless. That's even true in a pit like Cuba, where drawing distinctions among those suffering the misery wrought by the Castro dictatorship can be difficult.

Cuban blogger Yusnaby Perez on Sunday reported on an especially horrendous example of how the Castro regime treats the most unfortunate of the unfortunate, the mentally ill at a psychiatric hospital in Havana (my translations):

Independent journalist Vladimir Turró reported from Havana that several patients of the Mazorra psychiatric hospital Mazorra in the Rancho Boyerons municipality in the city of Havanahave been sexually abused and raped by hospital workers, explained Humberto Vial Marrero, an assistant at the hospital told the journalist.

Vial Marrero said the rapes are carried out in the Castilian room by Interior Ministry officers who guard inmates convicted of various crimes. According to Marrero, first they injected them with drugs to leave them stunned, violated them and then applied electroshock to erase their recent memories.

The hospital official told another recent visitor that guards beat the patients to silence their screams, and that the food provided to them is of very poor quality.

The Mazorra hospital is the same facility where on Jan. 11-12, 2010, 26 patients died of hypothermia. Several doctors, nurses and other officials -- but notably, no officials with the Ministry of Health -- were accused of negligence and sentenced to prison, according to blogger Perez.

Cuban Political Prisoner of the Day, Carlos Manuel Figueroa Álvarez, July 27, 2014

The Cuban Commission on Human Rights and National Reconciliation reported last month 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.)

Uncommon Sense is attempting 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 Carlos Manuel Figueroa Alvarez.

The human rights commission reported that Figueroa, a well known activist, was beaten and arrested May 15 when he refused to leave Havana's Central Park, where he was reading a book.

Previously, in January, Figueroa and other activists had been arrested at the park after they started shouted anti-Castro slogans in the presence of tourists and other park visitors.

The human rights commission said Figueroa presently faces a pending charge of "assault."

Cuban Political Prisoners of the Day, Angel Figueredo & Haydee Gallardo, July 24, 2014

Haydee Gallardo Salazar

The Cuban Commission on Human Rights and National Reconciliation reported last month 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.)

Uncommon Sense is attempting 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 are Angel Figueredo Castellon and his wife Haydee Gallardo Salazar.

Gallardo, a member of the Damas De Blanco ("Ladies In White") and Figueredo were arrested May 26, 2014, during a peaceful demonstration to demand the release of actvist José Díaz Silva after his arrest, according to Martinoticias.com.

The report said Gallardo faced a charge of "public disorder," but the human rights commission said both were facing unspecified charges.

Previously, Figueredo and Salazar, a member of the Damas De Blanco, had been arrested April 20 as they walked to Sunday Mass in Havana. They were advised by authorities then they faced charges of "disrespect."

Cuban Political Prisoner of the Day, Darian Ernesto Dufuss, July 23, 2014

The Cuban Commission on Human Rights and National Reconciliation reported last month 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.)

Uncommon Sense is attempting 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 Darian Ernesto Dufuss Preval.

An activist with the Patriotic Union of Cuba, or UNPACU, Dufuss was arrested May 13, 2014.

The human rights commission said Dufuss was a victim of a government-sponsored "act of repudiation," and a provocation that gave the dictatorship they needed to jail him. Charges and possible punishment remain pending, according to the commission.

Dufuss is one of dozens of UNPACU activists in Cuban jails.

Castro police threaten supporters of Oswaldo Paya with machete attack

Oswaldo Paya fought his fight for a free, just and democratic Cuba with a commitment to non-violence and his faith in and love for the Cuban people.

The Castro brothers defend their decripit regime with threats of butchery.

Paya was dedicated to a peaceful transition in Cuba. It is a commitment that his followers in the Christian Liberation Movement (MCL) he founded, on the island and in exile, have carried on, much to the chagrin of the Castro dictatorship that murdered him and MCL activist Harold Cepero on July 22, 2012.

In a preemptive strike, Cuban State Security last week warned MCL activists in Santiago de Cuba, according to the MCL website, that they were barred from paying tribute today to Paya and Cepero at the site where they were killed in a traffic crash that Paya's family and supporters believe was orchestrated by the regime.

And if they ignore the order, police told the activists that "farmers in that zone are armed with machetes and there could be deaths that would be the responsibility of those who were warned," MCL said.

Violence, actual and threatened alike, against the Cuban people has been a staple of the Castro regime for more than 55 years.

Paya rejected that legacy, and instead demonstrated a profound faith in the ability of the Cuban people to determine their own destiny. That was an anathema to the dictatorship, so it had him killed.

Obviously, they still fear him.

 

Cuban Political Prisoner of the Day, Enrique Figuerola Miranda, July 21, 2014

Enrique Figuerola Miranda

The Cuban Commission on Human Rights and National Reconciliation reported last month 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.)

Uncommon Sense is attempting 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 Enrique Figuerola Miranda.

Before his arrest on July 27, 2012, Figuerola was considered one of the most active members of the Patriotic Union of Cuba, or UNPACU, one of the leading opposition groups on the island. Original reports were that he was sentenced to 5 years in prison for "assault," but the human rights commission reported he is serving a 3-year term.

While in jail Figuerola has carried out numerous hunger strikes, including one that lasted 60 days, to demand his release.

The regime's true intentions are revealed in how it managed the trials for Figuerola and another activist tried at the same time.

"Four women of the Ladies in White Movement could enter the court, but five people were detained to block them from attending the hearing," said UNPACU activist Aurora Sancho.

 

Light a candle for two of Cuba's fallen heroes, Oswaldo Paya & Harold Cepero

The Christian Liberation Movement of Cuba, or MCL, is asking for the world to remember its two fallen leaders, Oswaldo Paya and Harold Cepero, in advance of Tuesday's two-year anniversary of their deaths in a car crash.

John Suarez has the details:

In just (two) days it will be two years since Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas, and Harold Cepero Escalante were killed in Cuba. Masses in their memory will be held in Cuba, Spain and the United States on July 22, 2014.  The Christian Liberation Movement is calling for friends of the movement to remember the two martyred human rights defenders in an online campaign taking photos with two candles lit while making the sign of Liberation as in the picture above:

 

"We ask all of our Cuban friends and friends of the world to join us in remembering Oswaldo Payá and Harold Cepero between now and next July 22 taking pictures with two candles and the sign of Liberation, the sign of the Freedom of Cuba, for whichthey generously gave their lives." - Regis Iglesias Ramirez, Christian Liberation Movement spokesperson in Europe, over Facebook

Remembering Oswaldo and Harold

8-year-old Cuban girl forced to repeat 2nd grade because her mother is a Lady In White

One of the big lies told by the Castro dictatorship -- and by those who apologize for it -- is that the "revolution" delivered education to the masses. A recent incident, however, reveals that not only are Cuban schools nothing special, they are used by the regime as an instrument of repression against its opponents.

The Hablemos Press news agency reported last week that school officials told Damaris Rodríguez Revé that her daughter would have to repeat second grade because Rodriguez is a member of the Damas De Blanco, or "Ladies In White," one of the most effective opposition groups on the island.

Rodriguez told Hablemos Press that for two years, her daughter has suffered because for her first two years of school, her class has rarely had a teacher, holding back the group's academic progress.

But belying how she is being targeted because of her mother, only Rodriguez's daughter is being forced to repeat second grade.