AI Cuban prisoner of conscience José Ramón Gabriel Castillo dies at 61 from chronic illness contracted in a Cuban prison

Did the Castro regime inoculate him with the disease that claimed his life?

José Ramón Gabriel Castillo with Omar Pernet Hernandez and Pedro Pablo Álvarez

Former Cuban prisoner of conscience José Ramón Gabriel Castillo died of cirrhosis of the liver on July 16, 2018. He was just 61 years old. The disease may have been the product of a purposeful inoculation of hepatitis while he was jailed. Cuban authorities sentenced José Ramón Gabriel Castillo to a 20-year prison term in 2003 for his pro-democracy activism. He was one of 75 activists sentenced to long prison sentences in March-April of 2003 in what became known as the "Black Spring." He spent five years of his life in a Cuban prison before being exiled to Spain in 2008.

Attending the Geneva Summit for Human Rights, Tolerance, and Democracy in 2009 I met José Gabriel there and after listening to Soe Aung, from the National Council of the Union of Burma speak about the situation in his country. José Gabriel turned to me and explained how reading a book by Aung San Suu Kyi in Cuba had led him to decide to become a political dissident and join the ranks of the Cuban opposition to the dictatorship. Years later he would be part of a group of former political prisoners demanding her release.

Later that same year we would meet Vaclav Havel in Prague, present him with a list of political prisoners, and obtain his support in a campaign to release them.


José Ramón Gabriel Castillo addressed the first two Geneva Summits and in 2010 spoke of the then recent and untimely death of Orlando Zapata Tamayo on February 23, 2010.  He also spoke of the tortures he had been subjected two while imprisoned in Cuba.

José Ramón, or Pepin to his friends, was from Santiago de Cuba and worked in the Universidad de Oriente (University of Oriente) where he was expelled in 1993 for founding the first human rights organization in the Eastern region of Cuba, called the Instituto Independiente Cuba y Democracia.

Requiescat in pace Jose Gabriel Ramon Castillo.

Amnesty Int'l: 2 Cuban prisoners of conscience released on bail to await trial on trumped up charges arising from peaceful protests

Document - Cuba: Further information: Prisoners of conscience released on bail

Further information on UA: 91/12 Index: AMR 25/014/2012 Cuba Date: 11 April 2012

URGENT ACTION

PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE RELEASED ON BAIL

Two Cuban prisoners of conscience have been released on bail to await trial on trumped - up charges arising from their joining peaceful protests.

Prisoners of conscience Yasmín Conyedo Riverón and her husband, Yusmani Rafael Álvarez Esmori, were released on bail late in the evening of 5 April, after nearly three months in prison. They had been detained on 8 January and charged with using “violence or intimidation” against a state official (atentado). An official from the Cuban Communist Party (Partido Comunista de Cuba) had falsely accused Yasmín Conyedo Riverón of slapping her in the face, and later withdrew the accusation.

No date has been set for their trial. If convicted, they could face up to eight years in prison. Amnesty International has called on the Cuban authorities to drop any charges against Yasmín Conyedo Riverón and Yusmani Rafael Álvarez Esmori relating to their peaceful exercise of their right to freedom of expression.

Amnesty International will be monitoring their situation closely, and will take further action as appropriate.

No further action is requested at this time from the UA network. Many thanks to all who sent appeals.

This is the first update of UA 91/12. Further information: www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR25/010/2012/en

Name: Yasmín Conyedo Riverón (f) and Yusmani Rafael Álvarez Esmori (m)

Gender m/f: both

Further information on UA: 91/12 Index: AMR 25/014/2012 Issue Date: 11 April 2012

Text available both in Spanish and French

https://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/AMR25/014/2012/en/76a5b6e6-e736-4533-b97b-f2bce5ed3fc1/amr250142012en.html

Raul Castro's bait and switch

"Raul Castro authorizes exits from small jails but still does not announce exits from the big jail." - Yoani Sanchez, on Raul Castro's announcement tonight

Expectations that the long hated travel restrictions placed on Cubans by the dictatorship would be lifted were heightened today. Deutsche Press-Agentur reported that "Rumours were rife Friday that Cuban President Raul Castro might lift travel restrictions and allow people to go in and out of the country more freely." Reuters reported that Cuba was "abuzz with speculation that President Raul Castro will soon announce policy changes making it easier for Cubans to travel abroad from their communist island." AFP journalist and photographer Alex Ogle tweeted at 7:30am EST today: "Keep eye out today for Cuba to lift a 50-year travel ban for its citizens > expected announcement will be historic."

Raul Castro poured cold water on the expected announcement reported the Associated Press claiming that Cubans exercising their right to enter an exit their homeland could effect the stability of the regime: “Some have been pressuring us to take the step … as if we were talking about something insignificant, and not the destiny of the revolution.” Over the years the rumors that the travel restrictions placed on Cubans by the dictatorship would be lifted has circulated. Rumors that Cuban regime is about to lift travel restrictions are as reliable as the rumors that Fidel Castro has died.

Instead the big announcement is that over 2,900 prisoners are to be released. International news agencies almost immediately report that Cuban officials have announced that Alan Gross is not among the 2900 to be released. According to Elsa Morejon, Raul Castro announced that 2988 prisoners are to be released. 13 of them are women. 88 are foreigners from 25 countries. Former prisoner of conscience Angel Moya tweeted that nothing would be resolved with the release of the prisoners because Cuba wants freedom. The online publication Convivencia (Coexistence) tweeted that they were gladdened that nearly 3,000 prisoners would be released to mark 4OO years of the Virgin of Charity in Cuba and the Pope's visit to the island next year.

Yoani Sanchez placed the releases in the larger context of migration reform in a tweet: "Raul Castro authorizes exits from small jails but still does not announce exits from the big jail."

Amnesty International to Cuban Regime: Do not force activists into exile as a condition for their release

Cuba frees prisoners of conscience

23 March 2011

Amnesty International has urged the Cuban authorities not to force activists into exile after the final two activists from a group of 75 detained in March 2003 were freed.

José Ferrer and Félix Navarro were released early on Wednesday. They were each serving a 25-year prison sentence.

The men are among 52 released in a deal struck after talks between the Roman Catholic Church and Cuban President Raul Castro last July.

Some of those released have stayed in Cuba serving the remainder of their sentences outside prison while others have been forced into exile to Spain.

"It is a step in the right direction for human rights in Cuba to see the release of all prisoners of conscience from the March 2003 crackdown and another detained last December, particularly considering they should have never been imprisoned in the first place," said Gerardo Ducos, Cuba researcher at Amnesty International.

"What we want to see now is for the Cuban authorities not to force activists into exile as a condition for their release and to ensure all human rights activists are able to carry out their legitimate work without fear of threats, harassment, further arrests or unfair trials in their own country."

Seventy-five people were jailed in a massive crackdown against the dissident movement around 18 March 2003 for the peaceful exercise of their right to freedom of expression.

Most of them were charged with crimes including “acts against the independence of the state” because they allegedly received funds and/or materials from US-based NGOs financed by the US government.

They were sentenced to between six and 28 years in prison after speedy and unfair trials for engaging in activities the authorities perceived as subversive and damaging to Cuba.

Prisoner of conscience Néstor Rodríguez Lobaina was arrested on 9 December 2010 and has yet to be brought to trial. He is set to be released in the upcoming days on condition of leaving Cuba into exile.

Read More

Repression of Cuban dissidents persists despite releases (News, 16 March 2011)
Cuba must release prisoner of conscience on hunger strike (News story, 11 March 2011)
Cuba urged to release jailed activists (News story, 7 February 2011)

http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/cuba-frees-prisoners-conscience-2011-03-23

Cuba, Where Two or Three Months Can Seem Like Eternity

About five hours ago Cuban youth leader and human rights activist Rolando Rodriguez Lobaina tweeted: "Today Néstor marks 2 months of unjust political prison in Guantanamo. Until when the arbitrariness? Free them all now!"

He is referring to his brother and fellow activist Néstor Rodríguez Lobaina beaten and imprisoned on December 9, 2010 by agents of the Cuban regime in an effort to preempt non-violent activities planned for International Human Rights Day on December 10.

Just two days ago, on February 7, 2010 ten Cuban prisoners of conscience imprisoned since March of 2003 or longer observed the passage of the third month since the Cuban regime's self imposed November 7 deadline announced on July 7, 2010 to release all Cuban prisoners of conscience from the Cuban Black Spring.

The ten remaining activists in prison from the 2003 Black Spring are: Pedro Arguelles Moran; Oscar Elias Biscet Gonzalez; Eduardo Diaz Fleitas; Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia; Diosdado Gonzalez Marrero; Ivan Hernandez Carrillo; Librado Ricardo Linares Garcia; Hector Fernando Maseda Gutierrez; Angel Moya Acosta and Felix Navarro Rodriguez.

The regime is pressuring these Cuban democrats, independent journalists, and human rights activists to opt for exile in Spain or remain in prison. Driving some of them and their family members to stage hunger strikes for their freedom before being promised that this will be resolved shortly.

Pedro Argüelles Morán ended his hunger strike today on February 9 after nine days after being visited by a Cuban state security agent who told him that he and the other prisoners would shortly be freed. Time will tell if this representative of the regime is lying or not.

If one wants further proof that communism is an evil system then take a look at Cuba. Cuba, where two or three months can seem like an unpleasant eternity straight out of a chapter of Dante's Divine Comedy. Nevertheless, one should not forget that Mohandas Gandhi's observation holds true:

"When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall — think of it, always."

Amnesty International: Cuba urged to release jailed activists

Cuba urged to release jailed activists

7 February 2011

Amnesty International has urged the Cuban authorities to release immediately and unconditionally all prisoners of conscience, following the release of a human rights activist who refused to go to exile in Spain.

Guido Sigler Amaya was freed on Friday. He had been held since 2003 and was among 52 prisoners of conscience the authorities agreed to release last July as a result of talks between the Roman Catholic Church and Cuban President Raul Castro.

Since the releases were announced in July, 40 prisoners of conscience have been freed and gone into exile in Spain. Only Arnaldo Ramos Lauzerique, released in November 2010 has been allowed to stay in Cuba. Ten prisoners of conscience remain detained by the authorities.

"The release of Guido Sigler is great news. The Cuban authorities must now ensure that the ten remaining prisoners of conscience, arrested for the peaceful exercise of their right to freedom of expression and assembly, are released immediately," said Javier Zuñiga, special adviser at Amnesty International.

"Once they are free, these activists should be allowed to carry out their legitimate work without fear of reprisals."

Guido Sigler was among 75 people arrested in March 2003 as part of a mass government crackdown on opposition figures and activists.

Most were subjected to hasty and unfair trials in early April and quickly sentenced to long prison terms.

Guido Sigler was sentenced to 20 years in prison for "counter revolutionary activities", which included demanding the release of political prisoners.

Guido Sigler is a member of the opposition group the Alternative Option Movement (Movimiento Opción Alternativa) in Matanzas Province, north-west Cuba. He was arrested along with his brothers Ariel and Miguel. They were released in June 2010 and January 2005 respectively.

The ten remaining activists in prison are: Pedro Arguelles Moran; Oscar Elias Biscet Gonzalez; Eduardo Diaz Fleitas; Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia; Diosdado Gonzalez Marrero; Ivan Hernandez Carrillo; Librado Ricardo Linares Garcia; Hector Fernando Maseda Gutierrez; Angel Moya Acosta and Felix Navarro Rodriguez.

http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/cuba-urged-release-jailed-activists-2011-02-07

Cuban Prisoner of Conscience Oscar Elias Biscet's Message to Americans

Oscar's Cuba Filmmaker Jordan Allott talks with Dr. Oscar Biscet from his Havana prison on January 20, 2011.

Cuba : New Year, Old Injustices

“There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.” - Elie Wiesel

Today marks 52 years of the establishment of a new dictatorship that replaced an old one. No one could've imagined when Fulgencio Batista fled into exile on December 31, 1958 that more than a half century later the Castro brothers would still be running Cuba into the ground.

At the same time they probably did not imagine that the ideology they championed as the wave of the future would implode and be discredited nor that generation after generation of Cuban men and women would stand up and resist communist rule in Cuba.



Their efforts to smear Cuba's democratic opposition have failed miserably as have their efforts to force the opposition into exile. The agreement reached back in July with the Ladies in White and the Catholic Church as mediators was not conditioned on prisoners of conscience agreeing to go into exile. Nevertheless, save one, all the prisoners released were sent into exile.

Eleven Cuban prisoners of conscience from the 2003 Black Cuban Spring remain imprisoned today that were supposed to be released on November 7, 2010. There names and faces are listed below:

Pedro Argüelles Morán

Oscar Biscet González

Eduardo Díaz Fleitas

José Daniel Ferrer García

Diosdado González Marrero

Iván Hernández Carrillo

Librado Linares García

Héctor Maseda Gutiérrez

Angel Moya Acosta

Félix Navarro Rodríguez

Guido Sigler Amaya

It is up to people of good will with access to the internet to remind the world that there are Cuban prisoners of conscience unjustly imprisoned that were supposed to have been freed on November 7, 2010. This is a time for quick and concrete action that requires a minimum of effort but will make an impact. Here are three suggestions:

1) Operation Cubans have a Right to their Rights focusing on Article XIX of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states:Article 19.

• Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

The human rights defenders imprisoned since 2003 were imprisoned for seeking, receiving and imparting information and ideas to other Cubans and the international community. Name each one of the 11 imprisoned activists. All have been recognized by Amnesty International as prisoners of conscience. They can be listed together or separately. Post their names on facebook, twitter, in blogs and any other social media that is appropriate.

2) Organize flash mobs beginning on December 10 to generate awareness outside of cyberspace and in the real world. By definition its quick and can be organized quickly through social media tools. Go out and gather signatures petitioning the Cuban regime for their release. Norwegian students in November 2010 gathered over 400 signatures calling for the release of Cuban prisoner of conscience Librado Linares and made the newspapers raising awareness.

3) Record and post video messages of solidarity on youtube directed at these prisoners of conscience and their families by name demanding their freedom along with what human rights mean to you. Make a poster with a photo of the prisoner and their name. For example the image at the top of the page with the phrase: "I Stand with Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet." Take your picture holding up the poster or a message of solidarity and e-mail it to us at freecubanow@hotmail.com

These are just three concrete ideas for action. They've been tried in other places where prisoners of conscience have been imprisoned and have worked.

Christmas, Cuban prisoners of conscience & the power of love

You have heard that it was said, 'Love (agape) your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love (agape) your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get?
—Matthew 5:42-44


Cardinal Jaime Ortega in The Washington Post: "hope springs eternal" that Havana will honor its "formal promise" to free them.

The Washington Post reports that "The Roman Catholic Cardinal who helped broker a deal with Cuba to free dissidents jailed in a 2003 crackdown says he hopes the government will make good on its pledge to release the last 11 remaining in prison."

There is a commonality that all the 2003 prisoners of conscience still behind bars share according to The Washington Post:

Cuba agreed to the deal in July. All 52 were supposed to be freed by early November.

Exile was not an explicit condition of the agreement, however all but one of the 41 released so far are now living in Spain.

Those still behind bars have said they want to remain on the island.

These 11 men are "guilty" of loving their country not wanting to leave it and having the courage to say, while still in prison, that if released they will continue working to obtain democratic change using nonviolent means. The very reason the Cuban dictatorship unjustly imprisoned them in the first place.



The term "love" is not a sentimental or weak love, but the powerful "love" known through Christian thought and the ancient Greeks as "agape." C.S. Lewis in his book The Four Loves offered an explanation of the the four Greek words that are translated as love in English: "storge" (affection), "philia" (friendship), "eros" (sexual or romantic love) [ all of which have a rational basis for existing based on self-interest and reciprocity]. It is the fourth kind of love that Lewis describes as "agape" (selfless love) "passionately committed to the wellbeing of the other" that applies here. It is also the reason that the Cuban dictatorship could not predict that this would happen. Because agape has been described by Peter Kreeft as a "scandal to reason because it means loving people not just in terms of justice or what they deserve, but simply loving them absolutely. " It does not fit into the dialectical materialist framework. It transcends both the dialectical and the material because it is of the spirit and not the flesh.



Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. while visiting St. Augustine in the 1960s at the height of the Civil Rights struggle spoke [in the video above] of this kind of love and the impracticality of violence:

"Its difficult advice and in some quarters it isn't too popular to say it...Let us recognize that violence is not the answer. I must say to you tonight that violence is impractical...We have another method that is much more powerful and much more effective than the weapon of violence...Hate isn't our weapon either...I am not talking now about a weak love it would be nonsense for an oppressed people to love their oppressor in an affectionate sense I'm not talking about that too many people confuse the meaning of love when they go to criticizing the love ethic. ...I am talking about a love that is so strong that it becomes a demanding love. A love that is so strong that it organizes itself into a mass movement and says somehow I am my brothers keeper and he is so wrong that I am willing to suffer and die to get him right and to see that he is on the wrong road."

As Christmas approaches and the Christian world prepares to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ and begins to reflect on the "scandal of the cross" and the significance of Easter. It can be said that these men are following a distinctly Christian path.

Hopefully, after so many years separated from their families these prisoners of conscience will be able to celebrate Christmas at home with them this year. Nevertheless, one thing is certain whether in prison or back home their selfless sacrifice for the good of all Cubans follows Christ's teachings and with their example offers everyone hope. At the same time one cannot forget that there are still scores of political prisoners that will still be in prison despite the release of these 11 and they should not be forgotten.

Moral Responsibility under Totalitarian Dictatorships (Pt. 2)

By Hannah Arendt

Hannah Arendt

"Does conscience function at all or is it ‘social’? Which means, does it not function at all? Was it really possible to change the morals of a whole people like table manners?" - Hannah Arendt

IV. The moral side of the matter came to light after the war through court room procedure. The grandeur of the courtroom is that no one can any longer be a cog. To excuse yourself with – merely a cog, everybody else would have done it – is immaterial, because the judge looks only at you and asks: And why did you become a cog or continue to be a cog? All you say about cogs is at best mitigating circumstances.

And when this moral side came to light, there was the horror that it had been quite easy to still the conscience of a whole people — except a numerically small minority. When we think of morality, we think of conscience, but the words, morals as ethics, means manners, customs, conventions etc. Hence the question with which we are confronted is pretty serious: Does conscience function at all or is it “social”? Which means, does it not function at all? Was it really possible to change the morals of a whole people like table manners? There were however the minority of non-participants — we are not concerned with heroes or saints — but with everybody.

Who were the participants, who were the others?

V. 1. What is required of conscience in a situation in which you have nothing but yourself to guide you? You pit yourself not only against the legal system of the country but against public opinion. 2. Since totalitarianism relies on the atomization, you are – or think you are – one against all. For every communication is dangerous. The man whom you trust today may change tomorrow, and then you are lost. Those who think likewise are not known to you. 3. You apparently hold fast to standards which have lost all reality, they appear nowhere. 4. Empirically: Those who were always used to hold fast to standards without examining them, without doubting, who were conventional and respectable were the easiest to coordinate. The doubters, skeptics, rebels, and the like were much harder to sway. For this is a system with its own standards, and unexamined standards, simply accepted upon authority – or public opinion – crumble the moment they are no longer real. All that is left then is the habit to have standards to hold fast to something. And such standards are supplied by the new order.

VI. Those who did not participate were neither people who were old-fashioned enough not to accept new standards nor were they in possession of better ones. Their conscience did not function in this mechanical way — where you have a law and then subsume all particular cases under it. They were arrogant enough to judge by themselves. And their criterion, I’d suggest, was Socratic: Socrates said not only: Better to suffer than to do wrong, but he explained it: It is better to be at odds with the whole world than being one to be at odds with yourself. They asked themselves if they would still be able to live with themselves after having done certain deeds. And they decided not to participate, not because the world would be better (not because of political responsibility) and not because they were worried about the salvation of their soul, but because they wanted to go on living with themselves. They refused to murder not so much because they still held fast to the command Thou Shalt not Kill but because they were unwilling to live together with a murderer.

Two examples --

The presupposition for this kind of judging is the habit of examining and living together with yourself. We call that silent dialogue in which you speak with yourself thinking, but it is not technical, not the privilege of the educated and sophisticated. No one was easier to lure into the new morality-trap than the intellectuals because they can produce ideas for everything and they have a tendency to judge according to what makes them produce such things as notions and ideas.

We have a tendency to think of people who are in the habit of examining basic propositions and standards as destructive. We have every reason to change our minds on this subject. Doubters and skeptics are more reliable, not because doubting is wholesome or skepticism good but because such people are used to make up their own minds — to live together with themselves.

Hannah Arendt

VII. This attitude of non-participation, of not doing certain things quite irrespective of the world, is politically a marginal situation. It is irresponsible, and such irresponsibility is justified when you are completely impotent. Hence it is the right attitude in extreme situations, and it can also be the right attitude for those who have made Thinking a way of life — the philosopher, or whoever claims freedom from politics, which our body politic guarantees to all citizens.

Against this attitude, the current claim was: Every citizen has a duty to obey the laws. He cannot examine the laws and then decide whether or not they are good laws; such conduct would undermine every body politic. No government can survive without this obedience. This is a fallacy, and it resides in the word obedience. Only a child obeys. An adult actually supports the laws or the authority that claims obedience. No action is possible without support and help from others. The one who starts action needs the support from others to see the matter through. Without such “obedience,” a leader is helpless — whereas in the nursery the child is helpless or the slave when they refuse to “cooperate.” If I obey the laws of the land, I actually support its constitution, and every revolution starts when this tacit consent is withdrawn.

In political terms, the non-participants to the extent that they came in conflict with the laws of the land did not claim freedom from politics but withdrew their consent, refused to support by shunning such places of responsibility where such support under the name of obedience was required, or by paying with their lives for non-obedience.

VIII. In conclusion: Moral responsibility begins where political responsibility ends, where you either can’t or won’t do anything for this world. In certain inhuman political situations it may be a sign of courage to admit impotence and to say: I don’t want any part of this world, I shall not take my share and shall not participate. Then, there is nothing left but life itself in its sheer thereness. And now you will decide according to this criterion only – the old Socratic criterion: If I can’t do this (f.i. examine myself and those around me) life is not worth living, and if I must do that – for instance. kill or bear false witness against my neighbor – I won’t be able to live with myself any longer. And though there may be many people who don’t live with themselves — and that means who, strictly speaking, have no conscience — for me life would not be worth living if I lost myself. If you are lucky, this moral attitude under totalitarian dictatorship leads you only into isolation from your fellow-men, if you are unlucky it leads you into death.

Source: Arendt, Hannah “Moral Responsibility under Totalitarian Dictatorship,” The Hannah Arendt Papers, Library of Congress, Speeches and Writings File: 1923–1975

On treatment of Cuban prisoners of conscience the regime in Cuba remains the same

"The [Cuban regime] simply wants to give the world the impression that things are changing. But in reality, while the laws that put dissidents in prison remain, we cannot talk about real changes." Laura Pollan, spokeswoman for Cuban Ladies in White


The Cuban dictatorship's self-imposed four month deadline to release all the prisoners of conscience arrested and imprisoned to unjust prison terms during the March 2003 crackdown that has become known as the Black Cuban Spring came and went six days ago on November 7, 2010.

There are thirteen prisoners of conscience from the group of 75 still in prison and coincidentally they all want to stay in Cuba and not abandon their homeland. According to Lady in White spokeswoman Laura Pollan, despite an October 23, 2010 statement by Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez at the United Nations alongside Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos stating that those that wanted to stay in Cuba would be released on October 25, 2010 they still remain imprisoned. Another prisoner of conscience (although mistakenly not recognized by Amnesty International) is Rafael Ibarra Roque unjustly imprisoned since June 17, 1994 and sentenced to 20 years in prison, of which he has already served 16, refused to be deported to Spain in exchange of not having to serve out the remaining 4 years of his prison sentence.

The spokeswoman of the Cuban Ladies in White, Laura Pollan, whose husband Hector Maseda is one of the 13 refusing to go into exile and still imprisoned, in a video produced by the New York based Human Rights Foundation offers a thorough analysis of the situation.



At the same time as the prisoners of conscience who wanted to stay are denied their freedom; the mother of the murdered Cuban prisoner of conscience Orlando Zapata Tamayo, Reina Luisa Tamayo, is made an offer to go into exile with her family. This offer is followed up with an intensification of harassment and physical violence against Reina and her family.

The Cuban dictatorship's gambit is to force the opposition leadership and their families into exile using both violence and prison combined with the option of exile as leverage to bring massive pressure to bear down on these Cubans who desire to continue their efforts in Cuba to defend human rights and advocate for a democratic transition. It is a Machiavellian maneuver worthy of Fidel Castro. Raul Castro's actions are a carbon copy of his brother's using innocent human beings as bargaining chips to maintain the family business afloat: totalitarian despotism.

With all apologies to The Who: the New boss same as the old boss.

Cubans on the island know this and the courageous women in the Ladies in White, despite brutal repression reminiscent of that suffered by German women decades earlier in 1943 at Rosenstrasse, against all odds have continued to march and demand their loved one's freedom since March 2003. The regime tried to use brute violence in March-April of 2010 and failed. This combined with the death of Orlando Zapata Tamayo on February 23, 2010 forced them to negotiate with the Ladies in White using the Catholic Church as a mediator. Something the regime never wanted to do. Now they are confronted with the unexpected: 14 men willing to defy the regime's blackmail opting to remain under brutal prison conditions rather than go into exile. Months have already passed and they have stood firm. Their civic defiance is heroic.

Now with the regime's own deadline not having been met and one of the 13, Diosdado Marrero, preparing to go on a hunger strike and the opposition planning to step up protests in the streets to demand the prisoners' freedom the regime's pressure is countered. In addition the Ladies in White have asked Pope Benedict XVI to "press Havana for the release of 13 prisoners." Within hours of Diosdado Marrero announcing that he had started the hunger strike a state security agent visited him and told Diosdado that the 13 would be freed within 15 days to a month. With the positive response he ended the strike. Only time, and international attention and solidarity, will determine how all of this will turn out.