Amnesty International Urgent Action for Dr. Darsi Ferrer

UPDATE June 24, 2010: Amnesty International released statement Release of Cuban prisoner of conscience long overdue which in part states:

"We are very pleased that Darsi Ferrer was released the same day of his trial and is back with his family, but he was detained on trumped up criminal charges and in truth he should never have been detained in the first place" said Kerrie Howard, Amnesty International's Americas deputy director.

“Though he has been released, Darsi Ferrer’s sentence still constitutes punishment for criticising the government system and is a powerful message to any Cuban participating in dissenting activities and wishing to express opinions contrary to the government system”.

UPDATE June 23, 2010: Reporters Without Borders statement released which in part states:

“We are obviously relieved by Ferrer’s release even if he was finally given a jail sentence to match the time he already had spent behind bars,” Reporters Without Borders said. “No one is fooled about the real reason for his detention as this is a country in which the authorities tolerate no public expression of dissenting views. His release was not in any way an act of clemency or, even less so, a sign of an improvement in respect for basis rights and freedoms.”

Cuba still has approximately 200 prisoners of conscience, who include 24 journalists. One of them is the Reporters Without Borders correspondent Ricardo González Alfonso, who has been held since the “Black Spring” crackdown of March 2003.

Generation Y posts video interview with Dr. Darsi Ferrer by independent journalist Jose Alberto Alvarez shortly after his release:

UPDATE 6:00pm (AP Photo/Franklin Reyes) Darsy Ferrer, a prominent Cuban opposition figure jailed nearly a year ago, kisses his wife Yusnaimy Jorge Soca and son after being released from custody following his trial, in Havana, Tuesday, June 22, 2010.

UPDATE 2:01pm: Reuters and the Associated Press reports that Dr. Darsi Ferrer given conditional release sentenced to 15 months house arrest. First 3 months at home, then 12 months of work. Regime had threatened with 3 years imprisonment. Darsi had already spent 11 months and 1 day in prison without trial. The trial ended about 1:30 p.m. Let us not forget that many remain behind bars.

Darsi Ferrer to face trial on Tuesday, June 22, 2010 in Cuba in a process that falls short of international standards. Please call on authorities to release Darsi Ferrer immediately and unconditionally, as he is a prisoner of conscience

UA: 134/10 Index: AMR 25/008/2010 Cuba Date: 18 June 2010

URGENT ACTION

CUBAN Prisoner of conscience FACING TRIAL

Cuban human rights defender Darsi Ferrer is due to be tried on 22 June on spurious charges of receiving illegally obtained goods and violence or intimidation against a state official. He has already been in pre-trial detention for 11 months. Amnesty International believes that he is a prisoner of conscience, and is calling on the authorities to drop the charges against him and release him immediately and unconditionally.

Darsi Ferrer is Director of the Juan Bruno Zayas Health and Human Rights Centre in the Cuban capital, Havana. He has also worked as an independent journalist, and written articles criticizing the Cuban health system. Since July 2009 he has been in pre-trial detention in a maximum security prison intended for inmates convicted of violent crimes.

In July 2009, Darsi Ferrer attempted to organize a march demonstrating against repression in Cuba. A few hours before the march was due to take place on 9 July 2009, Darsi Ferrer and his wife Yusnaimy Jorge Soca were detained by state security officials and police officers. Darsi Ferrer was handcuffed and beaten by more than eight police officers. They were released without charge a few hours later, but when they arrived home, they noticed that two bags of cement, some iron girders and two window frames, that had been on their property for a few months, were no longer there. According to neighbours, police officers had taken the construction materials. On 21 July, four police officers went to Darsi Ferrer’s home and asked him to accompany them to a police station for questioning about the construction materials. Instead, he was driven to a maximum security prison on the outskirts of Havana and charged with receiving illegally obtained goods and "violence or intimidation against a state official". The latter charge apparently relates to comments Darsi Ferrer was overheard making, saying that an injustice was being committed, that sooner or later things would change in Cuba and this would not happen any more.

Ordinarily, an individual accused of these crimes would be bailed awaiting trial. However, Darsi Ferrer has been refused bail four times. He will be tried before a municipal court, but according to his wife, the presiding judge will be from a provincial court normally dealing with crimes against state security.

Darsi Ferrer has previously been detained and prevented from leading and participating in major human rights events. Since 2006 he has been detained or summoned to a police station around 10 December every year, apparently to prevent him from participating in activities celebrating International Human Rights Day, which falls on that day.

PLEASE WRITE IMMEDIATELY in Spanish or your own language:

• Calling on the authorities to release Darsi Ferrer immediately and unconditionally, as he is a prisoner of conscience held simply because of his activism to promote freedom of expression.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 22 JUNE 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

CUBAN Prisoner of conscience FACING TRIAL

Additional Information

The right to a fair trial is limited in Cuba, with courts and prosecutors under government control. Cuba’s National Assembly elects the President, Vice-President and the other judges of the Peoples’ Supreme Court, as well as the Attorney General and the Deputy Attorney General. In addition, all courts are subordinate to the National Assembly and the Council of State, raising concerns over internationally recognised standards for fair trial and the right to trial by an independent and impartial tribunal. The right to a fair and proper defence is also unlikely to be fully respected, as lawyers are employed by the Cuban government and as such may be reluctant to challenge prosecutors or evidence presented by the state intelligence services.

UA: XX/10 Index: AMR 25/XXX/2010 Issue Date: 16 June 2010

Darsi Ferrer recognized as an Amnesty International prisoner of conscience on 2/26/10

February 26, 2010 Previous Urgent Action: Cuba: Release Darsi Ferrer: Take action now!

Cuban human rights activist in maximum security prison must be released - Amnesty International , February 26, 2010

Cuba 2009: The Year of Dangerousness

An important opportunity for the Cuban government to demonstrate that it was seeking to reform itself was presented in 2009. The international community and many Cuba watchers expected improvements and reforms with Raul Castro. He had been running things in a de facto manner since 2006 when Fidel Castro became deathly ill and formally took over head of state duties on February 24, 2008. As a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council the government of Cuba had made a number of commitments to be elected on the Council among them to submit to human rights instruments such as the Universal Periodic Review and invitations to special rapporteurs to visit the island and report their findings. In addition to international mechanisms the United States under the new Administration unilaterally loosened sanctions and extended an offer of a constructive dialogue which included scholarships for Cuban students to study at Universities in the United States.

Universal Periodic Review: A missed opportunity

The Universal Periodic Review is a peer review by countries done in a spirit to improve human rights conditions on the ground following a careful self-examination with the participation of civil society. According to the Geneva based Human Rights Tribune when Cuba underwent its review on February 6, 2009 and was questioned "by members of the Western group and some Latin American countries on violations of civil and political rights, the Cuban officials refused to commit to achieving progress, in contradiction with the spirit of the review." Although victims of the dictatorship where able to testify in a parallel forum at the time there voices were not heard in the main chamber because the review only permits states to ask questions and engage in a dialogue. The title of the article on the review was "Universal Periodic Review of Cuba: A Missed Opportunity" but it held out hope for Cuba to revisit the questions posed prior to the adoption of the report in June. When June arrived the Cuban government tried to stack the list of speakers to avoid having any critical questions asked, but failed and instead lashed out against Human Rights Watch and the Centrist Democrat International representatives who had made critical statements before the adoption of the final report.UN Watch on hand to witness what occurred reported:

In his testimony for CDI, former Cuban prisoner of conscience, Jose Gabriel RamonCastillo drew attention to the plight of hundreds of political prisoners and prisoners of conscience in Cuba. He cited 21 deaths in prisons because of medical negligence or psychological harassment, more than 500 cases of arbitrary arrests and 26 imprisonments of human rights defenders. “On behalf of the thousands of Cubans who are repressed tortured and whose fundamental rights are violated, I ask this Council to bring justice, and that this document should explain the real situation of human rights in Cuba,” he said.

This and one other speech for Castro’s victims were too much for the Cuban delegation who, in its closing remarks, accused them of serving imperialist interests. “Just as a swallow doesn’t mean there’s a summer, the noisy voices of those not-NGOs, but mercenaries in pay of the empire and defeated voice of counter-revolution, we regret they felt the need to come here and make the clown act. At any rate, we will continue to be victorious,” Cuba said.

The Special Rapporteur on Torture

In response to the commitments made to be eligible for membership on the UN Human Rights Council then Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque in January of 2009 announced that "Cuba will proceed in the course of the next week to extend an invitation to the (U.N.) special rapporteur on torture, Mr. Manfred Nowak, to visit our country in the course of the current year." The day after the Cuban Foreign Minister announced the intention to extend the invitation to him Nowak announced plans to make "unannounced" visits to all kinds of detention facilities while in Cuba stating: "The Cuban government knows perfectly well my conditions for visiting a country. I want to meet alone with prisoners and their families." Over the course of the year it became evident that the visit was not going to take place in 2009. In October the special rapporteur on torture expressed dissapointment that the visit had failed to authorize the visit, but is confident that it will be extended in 2010. Time will tell.

Free Scholarships for Americans and Ideological Purges for Cubans

Thirty students had their exit permits denied and some were expelled from the University they were attending in Cuba for accepting an opportunity to study in the United States. One of the expelled students offered to speak anonymously about what had occurred:

"I've been told that I have been expelled from the university and that I have a hearing pending with the Communist Youth, where I am to receive a temporary sanction due to the fact that, in self-criticism, I acknowledged having applied for the scholarship. [...]Our state of mind couldn't be worse. We feel unprotected. Nobody will defend us nor challenge the Cuban government to claim our right to exercise the option any university student in the world has.''

At the same time, unlike there Cuban counterparts, American students have been studying on scholarship in Cuba for years without a hitch beginning in the George W. Bush Administration and according to Scholarships.com there numbers are increasing and "have had success enrolling in Cuban programs. Recently, a medical student from Dallas opted to finish her degree in Havana because the Cuban school offered her a full scholarship, monthly stipend and room and board paid for by the Cuban Ministry of Public Health." On the other hand according to a University of Havana professor, who agreed to speak as long as not identified, said that "We are involved in a new process of control and ideological purges that resembles the worst moments and stages of the past."

Ominous Trends

Human Rights Watch released a 123 page report New Castro, Same Cuba that Raul Castro's first three years in power have been as brutal as his brother. According to Human Rights Watch, "In addition to imprisoning dissenters, Raúl Castro's government also enforces political conformity using beatings, short-term detention, public acts of repudiation, and the denial of work, among other tactics." Two high profile examples of two of these tactics were applied to Yoani Sanchez , Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo and a group of bloggers and later against her husband Reinaldo Escobar. Interviewed by the Daily Telegraph, Yoani Sanchez described her abduction and beating "I was on my way to a peaceful protest against violence with a few friends when it happened. A black car pulled up. The three men inside called out my name and told me to get in." On her Generation Y blog the entire affair is described with great detain and continues:

I refused to get into the bright Geely-made car and we demanded they show us identification or a warrant to take us. Of course they didn’t show us any papers to prove the legitimacy of our arrest. The curious crowded around and I shouted, “Help, these men want to kidnap us,” but they stopped those who wanted to intervene with a shout that revealed the whole ideological background of the operation, “Don’t mess with it, these are counterrevolutionaries.” In the face of our verbal resistance they made a phone call and said to someone who must have been the boss, “What do we do? They don’t want to get in the car.” I imagine the answer from the other side was unequivocal, because then came a flurry of punches and pushes, they got me with my head down and tried to push me into the car. I held onto the door… blows to my knuckles…

Returning to the interview she said that "They were saying, 'It's all over, Yoani.' I really thought they were going to kill me."Both she and Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo were badly beaten and deposited back on the street two bruised human heaps. Outraged at the abduction and beating of his wife Reinaldo Escobar challenged one of the agents they were able to identify to meet him at the corner of 23 and G in Havana (were the peace protest had taken place a week earlier) to have a verbal duel over what had occurred. He set the date and time and arrived to be recieved by an act of repudiation organized by State Security and along with a small group of friends was shouted down and physically assaulted by the government organized mob. This time international media such as CNN documented the attack:

Pattern of Torture and Extrajudicial killings documented

On November 6, 2009 the InterAmerican Commission on Human Rights conducted hearings on torture and extra-judicial killings in Cuba and systematic patterns of government abuse and intimidation to cover it up: Two instances that were presented first, a journalist’s wife found her husband dead under a tree after he had received numerous death threats. When she tried to get more information from the government, she was told that he had had a heart attack. Second, the family of another prisoner who died was told that he had committed suicide in prison; however, other prisoners had seen the man severely beaten by police hours before he supposedly killed himself.

African Americans Pushback

The Cuban government's behavior towards Afro-Cubans has finally caught up with the regime. The arrest of Dr. Darsi Ferrer on July 21 led to international attention from Reporters Without Borders, Committee of Concerned Scientists and the Inter-American Press Association and caught the attention of historic Afro-Brazilian civil rights pioneer Abdias Nascimento and 60 prominent African Americans among them Cornel West, Jeremiah A. Wright and Ruby Dee Davis. They have condemned the repression and harassment of Cuban civil rights leaders and are demanding Darsi Ferrer's immediate release and recognition as a political prisoner.

Dangerousness as the New Thought Crime

Human Rights Watch in the report mentioned above analyzes the use of the Dangerousness provision of the Cuban Criminal Code that allows for individuals to be imprisoned before they commit a crime. According to Human Rights Watch:

This “dangerousness” provision is overtly political, defining as “dangerous” any behavior that contradicts socialist norms. The most Orwellian of Cuba’s laws, it captures the essence of the Cuban government’s repressive mindset, which views anyone who acts out of step with the government as a potential threat and thus worthy of punishment. Despite significant obstacles to research, Human Rights Watch documented more than 40 cases in which Cuba has imprisoned individuals for “dangerousness” under Raúl Castro because they tried to exercise their fundamental rights.

A review of the actions taken by the Cuban government in 2009 reveals an unpopular regime at home seeking to hang on to power and not reforming itself on the contrary returning to past brutal practices already condemned by the international community. The arrest of scores of Cubans for "dangerousness" makes 2009 the year of dangerousness and organizing a mob to harass the mothers, wives, sisters, and daughters of prisoners of conscience a shameful reflection of a morally bankrupt regime.

A DECLARATION OF AFRICAN AMERICAN SUPPORT FOR THE CIVIL RIGHTS STRUGGLE IN CUBA

In a landmark “Statement of Conscience by African Americans,” 60 prominent black American scholars, artists and professionals have condemned the Cuban regime’s stepped-up harassment and apparent crackdown on the country’s budding civil rights movement. This statement is the first public condemnation of racial conditions in Cuba made by black Americans.

ACTING ON OUR CONSCIENCE

A DECLARATION OF AFRICAN AMERICAN SUPPORT

FOR THE CIVIL RIGHTS STRUGGLE IN CUBA

Monday, November 30, 2009

We, the undersigned, join the growing international outcry against the unjust imprisonment by Cuban authorities of Dr. DARSI FERRER, an internationally known Afro-Cuban civil rights leader and courageous man who for 17 days has endured a hunger strike and placed his life at risk to draw attention to the conditions of racism and racial discrimination in Cuba that has hitherto been ignored.

We support the position of the Honorable Professor ABDIAS NASCIMENTO, historical leader of the Black Movement of Brazil, and others from around the world, who are demanding Dr. Ferrer’s immediate release from imprisonment.

Moreover, we also support the demand that Cuba recognizes Dr. Ferrer as a political prisoner, rather than a “common criminal”, as is now the case. (See Professor Nascimento’s Open Letter - attached). Dr. NASCIMENTO’s joint letter to the Heads of State of Cuba and Brazil, respectively General RAÚL CASTRO RUZ and President LUIZ INÁCIO LULA DA SILVA, is unequivocal. He requests of Cuba’s President that he intervene to stop the unwarranted and brutal harassment of black citizens in Cuba who are defending their civil rights.

Similarly, he requests that Brazil’s President immediately prevail on the Cuban government to safeguard the rights of Cuba’s most oppressed citizens who, in this case, happen to be more than 62% of the total population.

Professor NASCIMENTO has been a long standing supporter of the Cuban Revolution and government, but he, like we, cannot be silent in the face of increased violations of civil and human rights for those black activists in Cuba who dare raise their voices against the island’s racial system. As of late, these isolated, courageous civil rights advocates have been subject to unprovoked violence, State intimidation and imprisonment.

As African Americans, we know firsthand the experiences and consequences of denying civil freedoms on the basis of race, and we certainly understand what racial discrimination is and does to people. We have not tolerated it for ourselves, and will certainly not acquiesce in its perpetration against any other people. For that reason, we are even more obligated to voice our opinion on what is happening to our Cuban brethren a few miles away.

We support Cuba’s right to enjoy national sovereignty, and unhesitatingly repudiate any attempt at curtailing such a right. However, at this historic juncture, we also do believe that we cannot sit idly by and allow for decent, peaceful and dedicated civil rights activists in Cuba, and the black population as a whole, to be treated with callous disregard for their rights as citizens and as the most marginalized people on the island.

Racism in Cuba, and anywhere else in the world, is unacceptable and must be confronted!

We call on the authorities and Government of Cuba to immediately and unconditionally free our brother, Dr. Darsi Ferrer.

Signatories

Richard Adams, Jr.

Co-Convenor Western Pennsylvania Black Political Assembly (WPBPA)

J.B. Afoh-Manin, Esq.

Roslyn Alic-Batson

Publicist

Marva Allen

Manager, HUE-MAN Bookstore & Cafe (New York)

Dr. Molefi Kete Asante

Historian, Author

Peter Bailey

Bethune-Davis Institute

Dr. Gloria Batiste-Roberts

President, National Association of Black Social Workers

Lili Bernard

Fine Artist

Marie Brown

Literary Agent

Khepra Burns

Author

Dr. Iva E. Carruthers

Professor Emeritus, Northeastern Illinois University

Dr. Kathleen Neal Cleaver, Esq.

Professor, Emory University

Clarence Cooper

Manager, Sylvia’s Restaurant (NY)

Dr. David Covin

Professor Emeritus, University of California at Sacramento

Past President, National Conference of Black Political Scientists

Evelyn Crawford

Audiovisual artist

Dr. Earl Davis

Former Director, Institute of African Studies,

New York University

Ruby Dee Davis

Actress. 2007 Academy Award Nominee

Bill Day

Artist Photographer

Rev. Dr. Yvonne V. Delk (Ret)

United Church of Christ

Leonard G. Dunston

President Emeritus, National Association of Black Social Workers

Honorable Commissioner Betty T. Ferguson (Ret)

Former Miami-Dade County Commissioner

The Honorable Ambassador Ulric Haynes (Ret)

Former Executive Dean, Hofstra University (New York),

member of the US Council on Foreign Relations

Nzinga Heru

President, Association for the Study of Classical African Civilizations

Marlon Hill, Esq.

Past President of the Caribbean Bar Association

Eugene Jackson,

Chairman and CEO of the World African Network

Dr. Winston James

Professor, University of California at Irvine

Guy Johnson

Author

Leroi C. Johnson, Esq.

Dr. Ollie Johnson

Professor, Wayne State University

Dr. Joyce E. King

President Academy for Diaspora Literacy, Inc.

Dr. Arthur Lewin

Professor, Bernard M. Baruch College of the

City University of New York

Dr. Shelby Lewis (Ret)

Former Project Manager, Special Programs,

United Negro College Fund

Dr. Ruth Love

Educator

Dr. Acklyn Lynch

Professor Emeritus, University of Maryland,

Baltimore County

Dr. Julianne Malveaux

President, Bennett College for Women

Honorable Congresswoman Carrie Meek (Ret)

House of Representatives of the Unites States of America

Dr. Claudia Mitchell-Kernan

Dean and Vice Chancellor for Graduate Studies

University of California at Los Angeles

Dr. Michael Mitchell

Professor of Political Science, Arizona State University

Editor of the National Political Science Review

Dr. K. C. Morrisson

Professor, Mississippi State University

Past President, National Conference of Black Political Scientists

Melvin Van Peebles

Film director, playwright, and author

Lori Robinson

Editor, Vida AfroLatina.com

Dr. Mark Sawyer

Professor University of California at Los Angeles

Bernestine Singley, Esq.

Author

Dr. Ann Smith

President, The Gamaliel Foundation

Dr. Donald H. Smith.

Past President, the National Alliance of Black School Educators

Rev. Dr. J. Alfred Smith Sr.

Pastor Emeritus, Allen Temple Baptist Church

Edward S. Spriggs

Former Executive Director of Hammonds House

Galleries and Resource Center

Susan Taylor

President, National CARES Mentoring Movement,

Editor Emerita of ESSENCE magazine

Dr. James E. Turner

Professor, Africana Studies and Research Center,

Cornell University

Makani Themba-Nixon

The Praxis Project

Patricia Valdés

Marketing Specialist

Dr Marta Moreno Vega

President, The Caribbean Cultural Center

African Diaspora Institute

Dr. Ron Walters

Professor Emeritus of Government and Politics

University of Maryland College Park

Dr. Cornel West

Professor, Princeton University

Randy Weston

Musician/Composer

Al Whack

Executive, National Cable Communications (NCC)

Rita Coburn Whack

Broadcasting Producer

Antonia Williams-Gary

Miami Consultant

Dr. Conrad Worrill

President, National Black United Front

Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr.

Pastor Emeritus, Trinity United Church of Christ

Human Rights Marathon December 5-10, 2009

"Man's triumph will consist in substituting the struggle for existence by a struggle for mutual service." - Mohandas Gandhi

"Even a purely moral act that has no hope of any immediate and visible political effect can gradually and indirectly, over time, gain in political significance." - Vaclav Havel

Uncommon Sense and Palabra report on the blogburst between December 5th through International Human Rights Day. Uncommon Sense issues a call to action:



[S] hare a demand that the human rights of Cubans be respected, and that Cuba be free. Our message:

"Freedom for Cuban political prisoners!"

LIBREN A LOS PRESOS POLITICOS CUBANOS!

"Long live human rights!"

VIVA LOS DERECHOS HUMANOS!

"Long live a free Cuba!"

VIVA CUBA LIBRE!

Palabra reports on a blog action for Darsi Ferrer, a Catholic human rights activist in Cuba, imprisoned since July 21, 2009 without trial.

Since 2006, Dr. Foster, with his wife and a group of activists have celebrated International Human Rights Day on December 10 carrying out a peaceful demonstration at 11:00 am at the park Villalón, in Calzada, D and E in Vedado. These protests have been broken up by pro-government mobs shouting, shoving protesters and sometimes dragging them through the street.

From his cell at Valle Grande prison Dr. Ferrer has called for all Cubans and foreigners in Cuba to celebrate the day of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by marching peacefully on December 10, 2009 in the same place he has done and has been brutally assaulted for his defense in his claim worthy of respect for the human person.

The plea is simple: Change in Cuba an end to repression.
For them, for all human rights in Cuba

Open Letter from Abdias Nascimento Denounces Racism in Cuba & Demands Darsi Ferrer's Freedom

Abdias Nascimento Born in the town of Franca, State of São Paulo, in March 1914, Nascimento is the grandson of enslaved Africans. His father was a cobbler and a musician; his mother made and catered sweets and candies. He received his B. A. in Economics from the University of Rio de Janeiro in 1938, and post-graduate degrees from the Higher Institute of Brazilian Studies (1957) and the Oceanography Institute (1961). Nascimento participated early in Brazil’s equivalent of the civil rights movement, the Brazilian Black Front (São Paulo, 1929-30). He led the organization of the Afro-Campineiro Congress, a meeting of Brazilian blacks to protest discrimination in the city of Campinas in 1938. (Full biography here)

OPEN LETTER

TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF CUBA

HIS EXCELLENCY GENERAL RAÚL CASTRO RUZ

Government House (Palácio de la Revolución)

Havana, Cuba

TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF BRAZIL

HIS EXCELLENCY LUIZ INÁCIO LULA DA SILVA

Government House (Palácio do Planalto)

Brasilia, Brazil

TO DR. DARSI FERRER RAMÍREZ

ACTIVIST of the BLACK MOVEMENT of CUBA

Valle Grande Prison

Havana, Cuba

In response to requests from intellectuals, social activists, and personalities from several parts of the world, in particular those of the Black Movement of Brazil, I wish to address your Excellencies, the Presidents of Brazil and of Cuba, to express my deep concern over the current situation of Cuban physician and civil and human rights activist Dr. Darsi Ferrer.

On July 21, 2009, when he was participating in the organization of a peaceful demonstration in defense of those rights, Dr. Ferrer was imprisoned under criminal charges that are not in keeping with the character, life history, and moral values of this renowned activist of the Cuban Black Movement. Since then, he has been held prisoner under conditions that characterize abuse of his rights.

The facts as I have come to know them indicate that we are facing a clear case of political intimidation against those, in Cuba, who raise their voices in protest against racism, discriminatory practices, and all kinds of intimidations meted out to citizens who dare call for the establishment, in their country, of a State that is respectful of Civil Rights, of the right of citizens to freely congregate and form organizations and to freely demonstrate their opposition to discriminatory practices of which they feel they are a target for one reason or another.

We all know that Dr. Darsi Ferrer is not a criminal. The facts indicate that, because of his long history of consistent struggle on behalf of the rights of those who are the most marginalized in Cuba - whom we know to be unequivocally those of African descent – the Cuban authorities are trying to silence a voice that makes them uneasy. The fact that the Cuban authorities treat him as a criminal, and have gone to the point of imprisoning him in a detention camp reserved for common criminals, is a clear statement of those authorities’ disdain for internationally recognized norms of conduct.

For this reason, in protest against the violation of his Civil Rights, Dr. Darsi Ferrer has gone on a hunger strike.

We fear for his precious life, especially at a time when the Cuban nation so needs, for its own democratic revival, citizens who are fully committed to upholding the moral and ethical values that guide life in a democratic society. Dr. Ferrer is one such citizen.

Convinced of the injustice that is being meted out against Dr. Ferrer, and, through him, against the Black Movement of Cuba and the Cuban population as a whole, as well as civil, human and democratic rights the world over,

_ I appeal to the government of the Republic of Cuba and to His Excellency Raúl Castro Ruz, to cease all and any acts of intimidation against Cuba’ antiracist activists and to free Dr. Ferrer or else try him as a political prisoner, with the right to legal defense with representation of his choice;

_ I appeal to the Federal Government of Brazil and to His Excellency Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to intervene urgently with the Government of the Republic of Cuba, on behalf of respect for the democratic rights of Dr. Darsi Ferrer;

_ I beseech Dr. Darsi Ferrer to cease his hunger strike immediately, and to stop putting his life at risk, for we must not be deprived of his precious civic contribution, at a time when Cuba and the world require people with the intelligence, integrity, and commitment to justice that he has consistently displayed.

I join my voice with those who day by day, more and more insistently, are calling for Dr. Darsi Ferrer’s release from prison, while inviting all those who cherish democratic freedom, who struggle against racism, and who have always upheld the Cuban people’s right to exercise full sovereignty, to intercede with the authorities of Cuba for the immediate termination of its onslaught against the Civil Rights militants of that country.

Rio de Janeiro, 30 October 2009.

ABDIAS NASCIMENTO

Former Senator and Former Federal Congressman, Federal Republic of Brazil

Former Rio de Janeiro State Secretary for Human Rights and Citizenship

Founder of the Black Experimental Theater and the Afro-Brazilian Studies and

Research Institute (IPEAFRO);

___________________________________________________________

IPEAFRO – AFRO-BRAZILIAN STUDIES AND RESEARCH INSTITUTE

Rua Benjamin Constant, 55 /1101 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - 20241-150 - Brazil

Tel 55.21.2509-2176 / Fax 55.21.3217-4166 / e-mail: ipeafro@gmail.com / www.ipeafro.org.br