Thursday, August 26, 2010

Amnesty International Urgent Action Alert for Cuba: Help Nestor, Rolando, Roberto, Enyor and Francisco!

Many thanks to all of you who have already sent appeals about this case. Our efforts to raise awareness are having an impact!


Amnesty International requests urgent action to help Cuban freedom activists Nestor Rodríguez Lobaina and his brother Rolando, Enyor Díaz Allen, Roberto González Pelegrín and Francisco Manzanet Ortiz. Please help!


Nestor is the founder of the Cuban Youth for Democracy Movement, the oldest and most active youth organization in Cuba working for democracy, university autonomy, and academic freedom.

DOCUMENT - CUBA: PRO-DEMOCRACY ACTIVISTS ARBITRARILY DETAINED



UA: 186/10 Index: AMR 25/013/2010 Cuba Date: 25 August 2010

URGENT ACTION
PRO-DEMOCRACY ACTIVISTS ARBITRARILY DETAINED
Five men, all members of a pro-democracy organization in Cuba have been detained in connection with their political beliefs and activities. They have been held by police since 12 August, and have not had access to a lawyer. It is unclear if they have been charged. They could be facing an unfair trial.
On 11 August, seven men, members of the organization Youth for Democracy (Jovenes por la Democracia), were holding a meeting at the home of one of their members, Nestor Rodríguez Lobaina, in the town of Baracoa, in Guantánamo province. Two of them, Yordis García Fournier and Eriberto Liranza Romero, went to find out about return tickets at the bus station, but were detained by police soon after leaving the house at around midday. They were held without charge until 16 August.
When the rest of the group at Nestor Rodríguez's home found out their two colleagues had been detained, they hung banners and posters outside the house protesting against their detention. Within a few hours, a group of supporters of the authorities had gathered outside the house, shouting insults and throwing stones, some of which hit members of Youth for Democracy. At around 3 pm, four more members of the organization arrived at the house. When they saw the mob outside the house, they decided to go in through the back door. There, they were questioned by state security agents and taken into detention. They were released two days later, on 13 August.
On 12 August, state security officials entered the house and detained all five members of Youth for Democracy who were there: Nestor Rodríguez Lobainaand his brother Rolando, Enyor Díaz Allen, Roberto González Pelegrín and Francisco Manzanet. They are still in detention and have not had access to a lawyer. They have been told that they will be charged with "public disorder" (“desorden público”), but it is not clear if charges have yet been filed against them. Once they are charged, they could be tried within hours. It appears their detention is politically motivated.
Roberto González Pelegrín and Francisco Manzanethave been on hunger strike since 12 August in protest at their detention, and are held at the provincial hospital in Guantánamo. According to relatives of Nestor Rodríguez, at 7 am on 13 August, state security officials returned to the house and searched it, even though they did not have a warrant to do so. They confiscated items including books, laptops and mobile phones. They spent 12 hours in the house.
PLEASE WRITE IMMEDIATELY in Spanish or your own language:
  • urging the government to release Nestor and Rolando Rodríguez Lobaina, Enyor Díaz Allen, Roberto González Pelegrín and Francisco Manzanet immediately and unconditionally, unless they are to be charged with an internationally recognized criminal offence and tried according to international standards for fair trial;
  • calling on the authorities to cease the harassment, intimidation and persecution of citizens who seek to peacefully exercise their right to freedom of expression, assembly and association.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 06 OCTOBER 2010 TO:
Head of State and Government
Raúl Castro Ruz
Presidente
La Habana, Cuba
Fax: +53 7 8333085 (via Foreign Ministry); +1 2127791697 (via Cuban Mission to UN)
Email: cuba@un.int (c/o Cuban Mission to UN)
Salutation:
 Su Excelencia/Your Excellency


Interior Minister
General Abelardo Coloma Ibarra
Ministro del Interior y Prisiones
Ministerio del Interior, Plaza de la Revolución, La Habana, Cuba
Fax: +53 7 8333085 (via Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
+1 2127791697 (via Cuban Mission to UN)
Salutation: Su Excelencia/Your Excellency
Also send copies to diplomatic representatives of Cuba accredited to your country. Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date.
URGENT ACTION
PRO-DEMOCRACY ACTIVISTS ARBITRARILY DETAINED

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Freedom of assembly, association and expression in Cuba continues to be severely restricted and many arrests have taken place around commemorations of past events and demonstrations. The detentions last usually for few hours after which the detainee is released with a warning not to take part in any dissenting activities, or would otherwise face charges. Short term detention is commonly used by Cuban authorities as a method to intimidate citizens and to deter them from peacefully exercising their right to freedom of expression, assembly and association.

For more information see:

- Restrictions on freedom of expression in Cuba, Report, Index Number: AMR 25/005/2010, 30 June 2010, at: http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR25/005/2010/en

- Rock and repression in Cuba, Video, 7 July 2010, at:http://www.youtube.com/user/AmnestyInternational#p/f/3/3IaW7IHcPJc


UA: 186/10 Index: AMR 25/013/2010 Issue Date: 25 August 2010

Monday, August 23, 2010

Take Action Now!

PLEASE WRITE IMMEDIATELY in Spanish or your own language:

Calling on the authorities to ensure an immediate halt to the harassment, intimidation and physical assaults against Roberto González Pelegrín, Enyor Díaz Allen, Rolando Rodríguez Lobaina, Nestor Rodríguez Lobaina, Francisco Luis Manzanet Ortiz, Oscar Savon Pantoja, Yuliesky Sánchez Rodríguez and Daneisy Gálvez Pereira by government agents and supporters.

Calling on the authorities to immediately release from detention Néstor Rodríguez Lobaina, Rolando Rodríguez Lobaina, Enyor Díaz Allen, Francisco Luis Manzanet Ortiz and Roberto González Pelegrín.

Calling on the authorities to cease and desist from harassing and physically molesting Daneysi Gálvez Pereira who is eight months pregnant and on two occasions was strip searched and vaginally probed with a speculum which according to a doctor has placed her pregnancy in danger of a miscarriage. Furthermore to investigate the officials responsible for this harassment.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 22 SEPTEMBER 2010 TO:
Head of State and Government
Raúl Castro Ruz Presidente
La Habana, Cuba
Fax: +53 7 8333085 (via Foreign Ministry); +1 2127791697 (via Cuban Mission to UN)
Email: cuba@un.int (c/o Cuban Mission to UN)
Salutation: Su Excelencia/Your Excellency

Interior Minister
General Abelardo Coloma Ibarra
Ministro del Interior y Prisiones
Ministerio del Interior, Plaza de la Revolución, La Habana, Cuba
Fax: +53 7 8333085 (via Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
+1 2127791697 (via Cuban Mission to UN)
Salutation: Su Excelencia/Your Excellency

Also send copies to diplomatic representatives accredited to your country. Check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date.

Information taken from Directorio Democrático Cubano report in Spanish

Cuban Youth Movement for Democracy Members Request International Solidarity


Arbitrarily detained activists began hunger strike on August 12. Number of hunger strikers will increase on Monday, August 23, the 6 month anniversary of Orlando Zapata Tamayo’s death.

Violent crackdown on Cuban Youth Movement for Democracy activists in Baracoa, Cuba by Castro regime State Security.

Activists harassed and detained.

Yordis García Fournier and Eriberto Liranza Linares, young activists of the Cuban Youth Movement for Democracy (MCJD), were arbitrarily detained on August 11, 2010 at 2:15pm by Castro regime State Security. Eriberto was visiting Baracoa from Havana. Nestor Rodriguez Lobaina, a leading activist in the Cuban resistance who heads the MCJD and witnessed the detention, insisted on accompanying the activists to where they were to be held.

"Several police officers intercepted us on the street when we were going to arrange Eriberto’s return to the capital. The two were grabbed off of the street... They were deposited in a cell in the [political police] barracks," described Nestor Rodriguez Lobaina.

Members of their movement gather to protest arbitrary detention and are attacked

Later on the evening of the same day, opposition activists gathered at the home of Néstor Rodríguez Lobaina, located at Calle Martí # 434, Apartment F, to protest the detention of Yordis and Eriberto. They unfurled a Cuban flag and anti-dictatorship posters on the balcony. In response, State Security and National Revolutionary Police called its officers and members of the paramilitary Rapid Response Brigades to counter the demonstration. Cuban State Security organized a mob to carry out an act of repudiation against the activists. Shouting obscenities and insults against the nonviolent activists, the regime agents escalated the attack and slung rocks and beer bottles at Nestor’s home, breaking windows. The Cuban flag was torn down.

“They’re attacking us with rocks that weigh more than two pounds and glass bottles. They’ve filled my house with glass. Two are injured,” said Nestor Rodríguez Lobaina.

Opposition activists Roberto González Pelegrín and Enyor Díaz Allen suffered the most bruises and cuts from the mob. Enyor suffered an injury to his chest. Also present at the protest were Rolando Rodríguez Lobaina, Francisco Luis Manzanet Ortiz, Oscar Savon Pantoja, Yuliesky Sánchez Rodríguez and Daneisy Gálvez Pereira. Daniesy is eight months pregnant.

Dictatorship rewards most aggressive rock and bottle throwers

"They attacked with stones and all sorts of objects at the home of nonviolent opposition activist Néstor Rodríguez Lobaina, causing me and other activists who were there bumps and serious bruises, along with severe damage to the house and broken blinds. Down on the street the famous Rapid Response Brigades, together with State Security and police officers, were waiting for an order from the Ministry of Interior to lynch the peaceful activists who responded with slogans against the regime. The actions of Mijailé and of Evangelio del Pino, the first sentenced to two years imprisonment for prostitution and the second a former police officer. […] Both were rewarded for their 'courageous and outstanding' participation in the act of repudiation by the Department of State Security with cheese, ham and cooking oil," stated activist Randy Caballero Suarez from Baracoa, condemning the attack.


5 Opposition activists detained for protesting detentions; a pregnant woman left traumatized

Activists Néstor and Rolando Rodríguez Lobaina, Enyor Díaz Allen, Francisco Luis Manzanet Ortiz and Roberto González Pelegrín were detained for “disturbing the peace.” “At this moment they are detained (in Guantánamo) at the Operations Unit. […] They told me that the charges have been passed on to the Prosecutor’s office and are accused of public disorder and that the prosecutor’s office would respond the day after tomorrow. This Thursday they said they would receive a response as to whether they would take measures of preventive imprisonment or some other precautionary measure,” informed Yanet Mosquera Cayón, Rolando Rodríguez Lobaina’s wife.

The Communist mob invaded and ransacked the home of Néstor Rodríguez Lobaina, located at Calle Martí # 434, Apartment F and strip searched his wife. Daneisy Gálvez Pereira is eight months pregnant and State Security agents performed a vaginal cavity search on her in the course of their strip search. The trauma of the event has placed her pregnancy in danger of miscarriage.

Enyor was attacked and beaten with a heavy rock to force him to let go of the Cuban flag hanging on the balcony as members of the mob sought to drag it down from the floor below. The heavy blow from the rock to his chest caused him to release the flag. Gonzalez Pelegrin was injured by one of the flying projectiles.


Three of the detained activists have been on hunger strike for seven days.


Pelegrin was transferred from his prison cell to the Guantanamo provincial hospital on Wednesday August 18, 2010 suffering from dehydration. Roberto González Pelegrín, Francisco Luis Manzanet Ortiz, y Enyor Díaz Allen have been on hunger strike since Thursday, August 12, 2010.

Activist leaders set August 23 as the date to launch a hunger strike demanding freedom

Yordis García Fournier and Eriberto Liranza Linares, whose detention sparked the protest that led to the detention of the others, were themselves released days later. Eriberto Liranza Linares was taken from the Guantanamo Operations Unit to Havana on Saturday, August 14, 2010 and released there. The police confiscated all his belongings, his cell phone among them, and never returned them.

Yordis García Fournier was present in the prison cells at State Security headquarters when the newly detained activists were being held and upon his release on Monday, August 16, 2010 and reported the decision of the activists to initiate a hunger strike on August 23 if they are not freed by that date.

“While I was detained, I communicated with the leader of the Cuban Youth for Democracy Movement (Néstor Rodríguez Lobaina) and he himself told me that if on Monday he were not freed as a State Security official had personally told him, they would go on an indefinite hunger strike and that he was seconded by his brother Rolando Rodríguez Lobaina and the others that are still hostages of the Havana regime. I emphasize this and at the same time I issue a call for solidarity with the Rodríguez Lobaina brothers and the other brothers-in-the-struggle held in that unfortunate situation.

The Cuban Youth Movement for Democracy, the Eastern Democratic Alliance and the Orlando Zapata Tamayo National Civic Resistance & Civil Disobedience Front demand that the Cuban government and State Security release them immediately,” stated Yordis García Fournier.

Information taken from Directorio Democratico Cubano. For more information: http://www.directorio.org/.

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Cuba's Political Prisoners and the Struggle for Liberty


Cuba's Political Prisoners and the Struggle for Liberty

By Aramis L. Perez

The Cuban Resistance
There is a growing nonviolent movement for freedom in Cuba, a country under totalitarian rule since 1959. This movement spans the country, drawing from diverse sectors of the population. Despite the regime's constitution and legal system ensuring the systematic violation of the Cuban people's basic rights (Amnesty International- Cuba Urged to Revoke Repressive Laws and Release Prisoners of Conscience, a pervasive repressive apparatus employing surveillance, torture, and violence against freedom activists, (Human Rights Watch- New Castro, Same Cuba ) and a notorious record of political imprisonment and harsh treatment spanning half a century ( Cuban Democratic Directorate- El Presidio Político en Cuba. Las consecuencias de 47 años de la revolución cubana) Cuba's civic resistance movement is having a greater impact on the Island and abroad than ever before.
Today, youth activists for democracy and academic freedom, an anti-establishment arts and culture scene in Havana, a community of bloggers and Twitter developing despite near-complete denial of Internet access (Committee to Protect Journalists- Cuban Bloggers), trade unions and farmers' cooperatives, independent journalists and libraries, underground newsletters, and human rights defenders are articulating the Cuban people's desire for a nonviolent transition to a free and democratic society under the rule of law (Journal of Democracy- Can Cuba Change? Ferment in Civil Society).

Political Prisoners in 2010: Zapata Lives!

Cuba's political prisoners have made international news throughout most of this year since the death of bricklayer, democracy activist, and Amnesty International prisoner of conscience Orlando Zapata Tamayo on February 23, 2010. He had been on hunger strike for over 80 days, demanding respect for his basic rights. Since he began his unjust imprisonment in the Black Spring crackdown of March 2003, he had been subjected to brutal beatings, long stretches in tiny, windowless punishment cells, and other forms of abuse (Times- Death of dissident Orlando Zapata Tamayo leads to clampdown in Cuba).
He was denied adequate medical treatment throughout his hunger strike, and was refused water for 18 days by his jailers. Cuba's human rights and pro-democracy community consider the Castro regime responsible for his murder.

Internal Resistance, International Solidarity

Orlando Zapata's death placed the ongoing plight of Cuban political prisoners in the international spotlight, alongside the regime's human rights record (AFP- Dissident prisoner's death spurs international outcry, EU Parliament- Cuba: MEPs condemn "avoidable" death of Orlando Zapata). In Cuba, activists spread the news of Zapata's death, vowing to continue his struggle for freedom and democracy. Demonstrations in multiple provinces, most prominent among them marches in Havana by the Ladies in White, relatives of political prisoners locked up during the 2003 crackdown, called for the release of all Cuban political prisoners, drawing greater press coverage than ever before. The Castro regime responded with brutal repression for several weeks, which provoked further outcry (United Press International- Cuban arrests of women relatives shows hardening on rights issue).
Strong and consistent nonviolent activism on the Island, coupled with international pressure and solidarity with the Cuban resistance, forced the regime to embark on a face-saving strategy of forcing political prisoners into exile in Spain and elsewhere, while claiming that it was generously liberating them, without ever committing to systematic reforms on human rights or democracy (Washington Post- Cuba's Marginal Gesture).

The Struggle Continues 

The released prisoners themselves emphasize that the struggle for freedom continues, and that the Cuban regime is an obstacle to the democratic change the Cuban people need (BBC- Cuba's freed dissidents vow to fight on ). Normando Hernandez Gonzalez, an independent journalist who developed chronic ailments due to mistreatment and medical negligence during his political imprisonment stated flatly that recent moves involving political prisoners did not change the fact that “Cuba is not opening up to democracy” (BBC- Cuba not opening up to democracy). They called upon the European Union to maintain its Common Position toward Cuba in place, which seeks improvements in human rights and democracy on the Island (BBC- Freed dissidents urge EU not to soften its Cuba policy).
The total number of political prisoners held in Cuba cannot be known for certain, but well over a hundred internationally recognized political prisoners remain behind bars, and none of the political prisoners released so far have been legally rehabilitated or had his charges revoked, meaning they remain guilty of crimes in the eyes of the Communist state wherever they may be. Thousands of Cuban citizens continue to be held on charges such as “Pre-Criminal Social Dangerousness,” or under the many provisions criminalizing free expression and association, such as Law 88 (Human Rights Watch- Imprisoned for 'Dangerousness' in CubaAmnesty International- Cuba:'Climate of fear' created by restrictions on free expression).
The Cuban resistance will continue to persevere in its struggle for freedom, even though the risk of political imprisonment will persist as long as these unjust laws, the repressive machinery that enforces them, and the political actors who maintain totalitarian rule in Cuba remain.