Refusing to mourn Fidel Castro's death is punishable by prison in Cuba.

Reuters needs to take a closer look at the Cuban reality

Member of local electoral commission tests microphone in front of image of Fidel Castro

 Without any context or irony Sarah Marsh and Nelson Acosta of Reuters in their article "Cuba marks anniversary of Fidel death as post-Castro era nears" referring to Cuban despot Fidel Castro as a "revolutionary leader" reports that the dictator's "death last year plunged Cuba into nine days of national mourning."  The Reuters reporters also claimed that "'I am Fidel' became a nationwide chant, as many Cubans pledged to stay faithful to the revolution he led that in 1959 overthrew a U.S.-backed dictator." However there is no mention of the Cubans arrested and still in prison today for refusing to mourn Fidel Castro's death last year.

Two Cubans who refused to remain silent and spoke out on the real legacy of Fidel Castro remain in prison today. Their names are Carlos Alberto González Rodríguez and Eduardo Cardet Concepción. Seven others spent months in prison for refusing to go along or remain silent in their disdain for Castro.

 Carlos Alberto González Rodríguez
Carlos Alberto González Rodríguez, a 48 year old engineer, was sentenced to two years in prison after placing a poster that said "Down with Fidel" in Camajuaní, Santa Clara on November 26, 2016, one day after the death of the elderly tyrant. He was charged with  a "predilection to social dangerousness" and a summary judgement was rendered against him. He is currently at the "El Pre" prison in Santa Clara.

Amnesty International prisoner of conscience Eduardo Cardet Concepción
Eduardo Cardet Concepción, age 49,  has spent the last eleven months arbitrarily detained in a Cuban prison. Cardet, a medical doctor, husband and father of two has been jailed for his nonviolent activism generally and specifically for giving an honest assessment of the life and legacy of Fidel Castro. Following Castro's November 25, 2016 death, Cardet explained to a foreign journalist that "Castro was a very controversial man, very much hated and rejected by our people." On November 30, 2016 when he returned home to Cuba he was beaten up in front of his wife and children by Cuban state security and jailed. Amnesty International has recognized him as a prisoner of conscience.

Eduardo Cardet is the national coordinator of the Christian Liberation Movement. [His predecessor, Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas, met with a suspicious death along with  Harold Cepero Escalante on July 22, 2012.] On November 30th he will mark one year in prison.

Anairis,Adairis Miranda Leyva, Maydolis Leyva Portelles, Fidel Manuel Batista Leyva

Other seven jailed for months but no longer in prison for refusing to mourn Castro's death
Others were jailed for refusing to mourn the death of Fidel Castro in November 2016 but were released from prison over the course of 2017. Darío Pérez Rodríguez, who refused to watch the funeral ceremony on television saying that they disgusted him, was released in October 2017. Luis Andrés Domínguez Sardiñas was arrested on November 27, 2016 and accused of celebrating Fidel Castro's death, and advocating that Raul Castro be gotten rid of as well. He is currently free but faces two years in prison for disrespect to the figure of the Commander in Chief. Cuban artist Danilo Maldonado wrote, "He's Gone" on a wall and spent two months in prison without charges. A family in Holguin made up of Maydolis Leyva Portelles and her children: Fidel Batista Leyva, and the twins Adairis and Anairis Miranda Leyva, were arrested for "defamation of martyrs of the homeland."  Amnesty International recognized them as prisoners of conscience and they were released in April 2017 following a prolonged hunger strike.

Hopefully, Reuters will take these facts into account before writing such glowing appraisals of how Cubans remember Fidel Castro and his legacy. If speaking critically, or refusing to attend an event to honor the tyrant invites prison how honest are those speaking positively on the passing of the dictator?

Amnesty International Urgent Action Update on Danilo Maldonado Machado (‘El Sexto’)

Imprisoned since November 26, 2016 for writing "He's gone" on a wall in Havana

URGENT ACTION

graffiti artist still in maximum-security prison

By Amnesty International

Cuban graffiti artist Danilo Maldonado Machado (‘El Sexto’) continues to be detained in a maximum-security prison, a month and a half after his arrest. He is a prisoner of conscience who must be released immediately and unconditionally.

Danilo Maldonado Machado (also known as ‘El Sexto’) continues to be detained in El Combinado del Este, a maximum-security prison on the outskirts of Havana, the capital, and has now been detained for a month and half.  Amnesty International has not had access to Cuban jails since 1988. According to news reports, El Combinado del Este is a high-security prison, where convicted murderers and political prisoners being punished for their political views are traditionally held.

Danilo Maldonado was arrested at his home in Havana the morning of 26 November 2016, hours after the announcement of Fidel Castro’s death. That same day, Cuba-based newspaper 14 y medio reported that he had graffitied the words “He’s gone” (Se fue) on a wall in Havana.

According to his relatives who last visited him on 10 January 2017, Danilo Maldonado is suffering from frequent asthma attacks due to the damp in the prison. His family had difficulties getting an asthma preventer inhaler through security. When Danilo Maldonado sought medical attention he was given pills which made him feel worse and was forced to sign a document that he was not allowed to read, according to family. On 13 January, Danilo Maldonado called his relatives in a conversation that lasted around a minute, and said a rumour was going around in the prison that “they are going to shoot me” (me van a fusilar). His family say they do not know the source of the rumour, if Danilo Maldonado is having an emotional reaction to being detained, or if he has received a direct threat. According to his relatives, members of his family and friends have been questioned by the police since they filed for his immediate release on 29 December.

Danilo Maldonado’s family understand he has been accused of damage to state property but have not seen official documents specifying these charges. His lawyer filed for his immediate release on 29 December.

Please write immediately in Spanish or your own language:

• Calling on the authorities to release Danilo Maldonado Machado (‘El Sexto’) immediately and unconditionally, as he is a prisoner of conscience, imprisoned solely for peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression;
• Calling on them to guarantee the peaceful right to freedom of expression, assembly and association including for dissident, opponent or activist voices and to repeal all legislation which unduly limits these rights;
• Urging them to ensure that, pending his release, he is provided with any medical care which he may require, in particular if he refrains to eat; that he is not tortured or otherwise ill-treated; and that he is granted regular access to family and lawyers of his choosing.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 27 FEBRUARY 2017 TO:

President of the Republic

Raúl Castro Ruz    

Presidente de la República de Cuba

La Habana, Cuba                                  

Fax: +41 22 758 9431 (Cuba Office in Geneva); +1 212 779 1697 (via Cuban Mission to UN)

Email: cuba@un.int (c/o Cuban Mission to UN)

Salutation: Your Excellency

Attorney General  

Dr. Darío Delgado Cura       

Fiscal General de la República

Fiscalía General de la República Amistad 552, e/Monte y Estrella  

Centro Habana, La Habana, Cuba       

Salutation: Dear Attorney General/ Señor Fiscal General

Also send copies to diplomatic representatives accredited to your country. Please insert local diplomatic addresses below:

Name Address 1 Address 2 Address 3 Fax Fax number Email Email address Salutation Salutation          

Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date. This is the third update of UA 273/16. Further information: www.amnesty.org/en/documents/amr25/5301/2016/en/

URGENT ACTION

graffiti artist still in maximum-security prison

Additional Information

On 20 October 2015, Danilo Maldonado Machado was released after spending almost 10 months in prison without trial following accusations of “aggravated contempt”. Amnesty International considered him a prisoner of conscience, imprisoned solely for peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression (see: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/amr25/2710/2015/en/).

Danilo Maldonado Machado was accused of “aggravated contempt” after being arrested on 25 December 2014 for transporting two pigs with the names “Raúl” and “Fidel” painted on them, which he intended to release in an art show in Havana’s Central Park. He was never formally charged nor brought before a court during the almost 10 months he spent in detention.

Name: Danilo Maldonado Machado, also known as ‘El Sexto’ Gender m/f: m

Further information on UA: 273/16 Index: AMR 25/5509/2017 Issue Date: 16 January 2017

PDF formats in English https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/amr25/5509/2017/en/ and Spanish https://www.amnesty.org/es/documents/amr25/5509/2017/es/

 

Human Rights and Rising Repression in Cuba

"The Cuban government wouldn’t have dared to carry out its death threats against my father if the US government and the democratic world had been showing solidarity. If you turn your face, impunity rages". - Rosa María Payá, addressing the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on February 3, 2015

Dr. Oscar Elías Biscet arrested this morning in Havana

This morning at 10:15am received the following e-mail from Marcell Felipe of the Inspire America Foundation:

Cuban State Security has just taken Dr Oscar  Elías Biscet into custody. Dr Biscet is the a Nobel Prize Candidate and was awarded the US Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bush. A contingent of 6 men including 4 police operatives and 2 state security agents took Dr Biscet into custody in patrol car 228, about an hour ago just outside of his home, and would not say where he was being taken. His whereabouts are unknown. We are monitoring the situation and will place updates during the day at inspireamerica.org. Thanks for sharing this news it may well save a life.

The publication Diario de Cuba reported an escalation in repression in  Havana, Pinar del Río and Santiago de Cuba today and The Miami Herald reported on the arrest of dissidents and the home of an independent journalist searched by State Security for "nearly four hours." This past Sunday Diario de Cuba reported that more than 50 Ladies in White were detained in Cuba while trying to attend Mass and peacefully march afterwards.

This is a continuation of the deteriorating human rights situation in Cuba over the past eight years of the Obama Administration. Tragically the Obama Administration's marginalization of dissidents that began in 2009 was deadly. Rosa María Payá, who was forced into exile following her father's extrajudicial killing on July 22, 2012 and death threats directed at her afterwards, addressed the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on February 3, 2015:

 "On 22 July 2012, Cuban State Security detained the car in which my father, Oswaldo Payá, and my friend Harold Cepero, along with two young European politicians, were traveling. All of them survived, but my father disappeared for hours only to reappear dead, in the hospital in which Harold would die without medical attention.  The Cuban government wouldn’t have dared to carry out its death threats against my father if the US government and the democratic world had been showing solidarity. If you turn your face, impunity rages. While you slept, the regime was conceiving their cleansing of the pro-democracy leaders to come. While you sleep, a second generation of dictators is planning with impunity their next crimes."

The claim made by William LeoGrande in Huffington Post on January 9, 2017 that the "human rights situation in Cuba has not improved for dissidents, but it has improved for everyone else" is absurd. First the situation for dissidents has worsened with increasing violence against activists and secondly Cubans, who are not dissidents, have been shot and killed trying to leave Cuba as recently as 2015.  

Diosbel Díaz Bioto and Yuriniesky Martínez Reina both killed trying to leave

The December 17, 2014 announcement of normalized relations was also surrounded by violence and death against Cubans by the Castro regime. Just a day earlier on December 16 the Cuban coast guard rammed and sank a boat with 32 refugees. One of them, Diosbel Díaz Bioto, went missing and is presumed dead. The rest were repatriated and jailed. Less than four months later Yuriniesky Martínez Reina (age 28) was shot in the back and killed by state security chief Miguel Angel Río Seco Rodríguez in the Martí municipality of Matanzas, Cuba on April 9, 2015 for peacefully trying to leave Cuba. A group of young men were building a boat near Menéndez beach to flee the island, when they were spotted trying to leave and were shot at by state security. 

If the human rights situation for everyone else in Cuba was improving there would not be a new exodus of tens of thousands of young Cubans fleeing the island. The claim by Professor LeoGrande that Cubans can start their own businesses does not track with what happened to Saul Berenthal, a Cuban American who had planned to open a factory to manufacture tractors in Cuba. President Obama had highlighted the proposal in 2016. However Mr. Berenthal made a mistake when he regained his Cuban nationality that sunk his deal with the Castro regime.  According to The Miami Herald, Cuban law restricts Cubans living on the island from starting their own companies:

Private sector workers in Cuba, known as cuentapropistas (self-employed), are licensed only to work for themselves and cannot legally establish companies to expand their work beyond a small scale. Larger enterprises are allowed only for the government and foreigners. According to a report on the foreign investment law produced by the National Organization of Cuban Law Firms, “Cuban citizens residing in the country cannot participate as partners in a joint venture.” The report added: “This law is designed to favor 'foreign investors' or Cubans living outside the country.”

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/cuba/article125450659.html#storylink=cpy

Professor LeoGrande tried to tie the freedom to own computers and cellphones to the December 2014 policy change, but that is untrue. It is true that the Castro regime had a strategy in the past of restricting internet access using extreme measures including outlawing the ownership of personal computers from 2002 until 2008, but the re-legalization of computer ownership took place in the last year of the Bush Administration. Furthermore, it was the Bush White House that began promoting the shipping of cell phones to the island. Finally, Yoani Sánchez started up her independent blogging anonymously in 2004 and began to sign her posts in 2008 ending her anonymity. Prior to December 2014 the proliferation of independent blogs and digital media sites critical of the Castro regime had already taken place with the launch of 14 y Medio on May 21, 2014. Even the loosening of travel restrictions, that can be rescinded at any moment, was announced in 2012 and began in 2013.

Sirley Ávila León lost her left hand, knees slashed, right arm nearly severed in 2015 attack

The claim that human rights have improved for most Cubans since December 2014 rings hollow on all fronts. The escalation of politically orchestrated violence by state security and the brutality visited on nonviolent dissidents such as Sirley Ávila León, the victim of a brutal machete attack in May of 2015 that left her crippled or the murder of Yunisledy Lopez Rodriguez in May of 2014.  

Thanks to a rapid mobilization over social media and in the press by the end of the day there was some good news. Marcell Felipe sent me another e-mail at 4:10pm announcing that Dr. Oscar Elías Biscet had been freed:

Doctor Biscet has been released. Thank you to everyone who moved quickly through the appropriate channels and the media who took interest in his story. I spoke with Doctor Biscet a few minutes ago at his home. While in custody he was told to give up his work and that he was getting old and that he was being watched and would go to prison if he continued. Dr Biscet had recently renewed and increased efforts to promote his trademark Emilia Project and many of his colleagues have said 2017 is a definitive year, making the already failing regime all the more concerned; proof of how a man of peace can threaten one of the world's fiercest totalitarian state.

However prisoners of conscience remain behind bars in Cuba today. Danilo Maldonado, an artist has been imprisoned since tagging a wall with the phrase "Se fue" [he left] referring to the death of Fidel Castro on November 26, 2016 and Amnesty International has recognized him as a prisoner of conscience and has an urgent action campaign for his release. Prison officials would not allow the young artist a sweater or a blanket in El Combinado prison despite a cold front. 

Also arrested in the aftermath of Fidel Castro's death was Eduardo Cardet, the spokesperson of the Christian Liberation Movement. Cardet who is also a beloved medical doctor and family man respected in his community. While traveling abroad his wife was detained and warned that upon his return they would lock him up for 15 years in prison for having met the wrong people during his travels. Despite the threat Eduardo Cardet returned home on November 30, 2016 to a brutal beating, incarceration and trumped up charges. Relatives report that Dr. Cardet  has been told that he can go home if he abandons his democratic convictions. More disturbingly prison officials have spread the rumor that Eduardo Cardet is making calls to denounce the criminal rackets of the inmates making him the target of physical assaults from other prisoners. 

Additionally, Carlos Alberto González Rodríguez, age 48, who painted "Down with Castro" graffiti in Las Tunas was sentenced to two years in prison under the charge of "Peligrosidad Social Pre-Delictiva” (Pre-Crime Social Dangerousness). Likewise a show trial was scheduled to be held yesterday (January 11, 2017) for a family that had been the victim of an act of repudiation for their dissent on November 27, 2016. The accused are Maydolis Leyva Portelles and her children Adairis, Anairis Miranda Leyva, and Fidel Batista Leyva.

One need not be a political dissident to get into trouble in totalitarian Cuba. Darío Pérez Rodríguez, age 49, resident in the Eastern city of Holguín who on January 4, 2017 was sentenced by the municipal tribunal to a year prison for "defaming the martyrs of the Homeland", a crime found in Article 204 of the Penal Code. What did he do? He refused the order issued at his workplace to watch Fidel Castro's funeral on television.

Cuba remains a totalitarian regime where human rights are systematically violated and repression is on the rise after 58 years of dictatorship.

International lawyer arrested in Havana, Cuba while trying to hold a press conference

Obama's Presidency ends as it began with an innocent American arbitrarily arrested by the Castro regime. The results of The White House Cuba policy become evident.

International lawyer Kimberly Motley arrested in Cuba

URGENT: KIMBERLEY MOTLEY, EL SEXTO'S INTERNATIONAL LAWYER, ARRESTED IN HAVANA, CUBA, AND TAKEN TO UNKNOWN LOCATION

NEW YORK (December 16, 2016) — Human Rights Foundation (HRF) strongly condemns the arbitrary arrest of American attorney Kimberley Motley in Havana, Cuba, at 4:09 p.m.today. Motley is in Cuba as the international attorney for political prisoner Danilo “El Sexto” Maldonado, a celebrated Cuban artist imprisoned since Castro’s death twenty-one days ago.

Motley was taken by plainclothes security agents as she was trying to hold a press conference outside of the National Capitol Building in Havana. According to witnesses, Motley was arrested along with dissident punk rock artist Gorki Águila and democracy activist Luis Alberto Mariño from the civil society group Cuba Decide (an organization devoted to the holding of free elections in Cuba).

URGENT: Cuban state security has just detained @dmmelsexto's lawyer @KimMotleysLaw w/ @ViolinistaTito & #Gorky in Havana pic.twitter.com/lYDxdVbz9H

— HRF (@HRF) December 16, 2016

“This outrageous abuse is the sad reality of Cuba’s ongoing totalitarianism. They first arrest pro-democracy activist El Sexto for criticizing and mocking the deceased dictator, and now they arrest the lawyer that has traveled to Cuba to defend him,” said Thor Halvorssen, president of HRF. “We call on Raúl Castro to order the release of Motley, Águila, and Mariño’s unconditionally and immediately,” he added.

Kimberley Motley is an international litigator who currently works on commercial, criminal, and human rights issues in Afghanistan, United Arab Emirates, Ghana, Uganda, and the United States. Motley is the founder of Motley Legal Services and the co-founder of Motley Consulting International. In 2009, she became the first and only foreigner to litigate cases in Afghanistan's criminal and commercial courts. In 2015, the documentary "Motley's Law" premiered at film festivals across the world.

Human Rights Foundation (HRF) is a nonpartisan nonprofit organization that promotes and protects human rights globally, with a focus on closed societies.

Contact: Contact: (212) 246-8486, advocacy@hrf.org.

TAKE ACTION! Sign a petition for the release of prisoner of conscience Danilo Maldonado Machado and help to expose and denounce the crimes of the Cuban regime:

https://goo.gl/n0qdPw                     

CONTACT Cuban officials and ask them for the release of Motley and Maldonado:
Rodolfo Reyes Rodríguez, Ambassador, Cuban Permanent Mission at the United Nations. Address: 315 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY, 10016. Telephone: (212) 689-7215. Fax: (212) 689 9073. Email: cuba_onu@cubanmission.com.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CubanMissionUN.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CUBAONU.

Please let HRF know if you took action. CC your communication to: advocacy@hrf.org. 

President Obama asks "What's up?" using Cuban slang over twitter

Answering the President's question...

Danilo Maldonado detained along with 250 others today in Cuba

¿Que bolá Cuba? Just touched down here, looking forward to meeting and hearing directly from the Cuban people.

— President Obama (@POTUS) March 20, 2016

Translating to English the phrase ¿Que bolá Cuba? means "What's up" and the reply is threefold: more repression, Venezuelan strong man Nicolas Maduro appearing with Fidel Castro on same day President Obama arrives, and a paradoxical and dangerous message to Latin America.

#CubaDecide Más de 250 arrestos de opositores y @DamasdBlanco en toda la Isla es el saldo preliminar ante la llegada de Obama este domingo

— Iván Hdez Carrillo (@ivanlibre) March 21, 2016

The above tweet is from Cuban independent journalist and former Amnesty prisoner of conscience Ivan Hernandez Carrillo who is based in Cuba and reports on the Cuban government's repression this Sunday: "#CubaDecide More than 250 activists and Ladies in White arrested across the island, preliminary tally before arrival of Obama this Sunday." Video footage of the detentions were widely disseminated over social media.

#FidelCastro received @NicolasMaduro, President of #Venezuela https://t.co/fpAzLRAbIw #Cuba pic.twitter.com/wS2QZ3Bf15

— Cuban Embassy in US (@EmbaCubaUS) March 20, 2016

Defenders of the Obama administration's Cuba policy claimed that it was some sort of Nixonian realpolitik to drive a wedge between Cuba and Venezuela. Maduro's visit to Cuba on the eve of President Obama's state visit and now the appearance of the Venezuelan president with Fidel Castro are signs that the Cubans remain committed to their Venezuelan counterparts.

Paradojas: Tras pasarse decenios apoyando a dictaduras d derecha en AmLatina, ahora EEUU puede terminar apoyando a una dictadura izquierda.

— roberto ampuero (@robertoampuero) March 17, 2016

Three days before President Obama arrived in Cuba, a Chilean former Minister of Culture and former Ambassador to Mexico tweeted the above quote in Spanish which translates: "Paradox: After decades backing Right wing dictatorships in Latin America, now the United States could end up backing a Left wing dictatorship." 

Cuban artists and musicians put on performance "PORK" on South Beach

Performance art, rock n roll and Andy Warhol too...

On Thursday February 25th beginning at 7:30pm until late in the evening in South Beach Cuban graffiti artist Danilo Maldonado (El Sexto) was finally able to carry out his performance art piece that cost him 10 months in a Cuban prison. Two pigs named Fidel and Raul where at the center of an exhibition of drawings and paintings. In addition, Andy Warhol's acclaimed film The Life of Juanita Castro was projected in Miami's Market Gallery along with a performance by the Cuban punk rock band, Porno para Ricardo.


The exhibit will be open to the public from February 26 to March 17, from 12:00pm - 12:00 am daily. Market Gallery, 1420 Alton Road, Miami Beach, FL, 33139

Danilo Maldonado addresses the crowd with Ladies in White leader Bertha Soler

The event was organized by Market Gallery, Pollock Fine Art, and Human Rights Foundation.

George Orwell's Animal Farm gets a Cuban twist at the King Mango Strut

If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear. - George Orwell

Amazing scene today at the King Mango Strut Parade in Coconut Grove where activists associated with the #TodosMarchamos (#WeAllMarch) campaign participated in this historic festival dedicated to satire and fun in Coconut Grove, Florida in its 34th edition.

The Cuban group joined the parade starting at 2pm making a satire of George Orwell's Animal Farm wearing masks,  carrying posters and dancing a conga with a live band.

Pigs Raul and Fidel's Animal Farm at King Mango Strut

The organizers of the event said that there objective was to "recontextualize George Orwell's fable within the present situation in Cuba, the re-establishment of relations with Washington DC, the increase in repression and the campaign #Todos Marchamos (We All March).

The activity was carried out by the organizing committee of #Todos Marchamos (We All March) in Miami and in the action the following artists and activists from the island took part: Danilo Maldonado, El Sexto, Lía Villares, Gorki Águila and Ailer González Mena.

"Animal farm Cuba" complete with a band of singing animals - Alex Harris

At the front of the Conga was Fidel Castro driving a truck and leading the march followed by President Obama trying to keep up on foot behind him saying "leading from behind."

Others wars animal masks, including pigs named Raul and Fidel.  Danilo Maldonado "El Sexto" carried two pigs named Raul and Fidel as piñatas on a long pole and at the end of the march the participants broke them open releasing chocolate gold coins and began to chant "Change will happen if you want it."

Also present in the parade action was Eduardo Prieto Blanco, brother of political prisoner Hugo Damián Prieto Blanco.

The protest was a party and in a free society the participants did not have to fear being the objects of an act of repudiation or government orchestrated assault. Unfortunately in Cuba today that is not the case.

We must remain vigilant for these activists when they return home to Cuba.

Amnesty International issues new urgent action for imprisoned Cuban artist

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL: URGENT ACTION 
Detained graffiti artist resumes hunger strike
Cuban graffiti artist Danilo Maldonado Machado (‘El Sexto’) re-started his hunger strike on 16 October after the authorities failed to uphold their promise to release him by 15 October. He is a prisoner of conscience and must be released immediately and unconditionally.

Danilo Maldonado Machado, known by his artistic name ‘El Sexto’, resumed his hunger strike on 16 October, according to his family, to protest the failure of the authorities to release him on 15 October as previously promised. He is being held at the Valle Grande prison on the outskirts of Havana, the capital.

On 8 September Danilo Maldonado Machado initiated a hunger strike to protest his detention without trial in Cuba since December 2014. He ended it on 1 October 2015 after officials promised that he would be released unconditionally in 15 days if he stopped the strike.  

 

Danilo Maldonado Machado is believed to be accused of “aggravated contempt” after being arrested for transporting two pigs with the names “Raúl” and “Fidel” painted on them, which he intended to release in an art show in Havana’s Central Park.

Please write immediately in Spanish or your own language:  

•    Calling on the authorities to release Danilo Maldonado Machado (‘El Sexto’) immediately and unconditionally, as he is a prisoner of conscience, imprisoned solely for peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression;  
•  Calling on them to repeal all legislation which unduly limits freedom of expression, assembly and association;    
• Urging them to ensure that, pending his release, he is provided with any medical care which he may require during his hunger strike; not tortured or otherwise ill-treated; and that he is granted regular access to family and lawyers of his choosing.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 30 NOVEMBER 2015 TO:

President of the Republic
Raúl Castro Ruz
Presidente de la República de Cuba
La Habana, Cuba
Fax: +41 22 758 9431 (Cuba office in Geneva); +1 212 779 1697 (via Cuban Mission to UN)
Email: cuba@un.int (c/o Cuban Mission to UN)
Twitter: @RaulCastroR
Salutation: Your Excellency
Attorney General
Dr. Darío Delgado Cura
Fiscal General de la República
Fiscalía General de la República Amistad 552, e/Monte y Estrella
Centro Habana
La Habana, Cuba
Salutation: Dear Attorney General


And solidarity letters to:
Danilo Maldonado Machado’s mother María Victoria
Email: gorkiaguila@gmail.com and liavillares@gmail.com


Also send copies to diplomatic representatives accredited to your country.

Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date. This is the third update of UA 214/15. Further information: www.amnesty.org/en/documents/amr25/2673/2015/en/
 

Additional Information

Danilo Maldonado Machado is a Cuban graffiti artist who regularly collaborates with the artistic group Estado de SATS, an organization which seeks “to create a plural space of participation and debate, where civil liberties, practically annulled in Cuba, can be exercised, and to redesign everything based on our worries, and immediate future”. The group also campaigns for human rights through artistic experiences. They recently campaigned for the ratification by Cuba of the International Covenants on Civil and Political Rights, and on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and are currently demanding an amnesty law for all those imprisoned on politically-motivated charges.

Local activists believe Danilo Maldonado Machado’s continuous detention without trial seeks to sanction him for his activism and send a message to other activists and dissidents. In recent months, his lawyer has requested a modification of the precautionary measures seeking the release of Danilo Maldonado Machado during the judicial proceeding, but it was denied by the prosecutor. A new demand was presented in late September and is awaiting a new decision from the office of the public prosecutor.

Article 144 of the Cuban Penal Code defines the crime of contempt (desacato), making all forms of disrespect of state officials an offence and providing for longer prison terms where the disrespect is directed against government members or other top state officials.

Article 144 states: “1. Anyone who threatens, slanders, defames, insults, harms or in any way outrages or offends, orally or in writing, the dignity or honour of an authority, public official, or their agents or auxiliaries, in the exercise of their functions or on the occasion of or because of them will incur a penalty of between three months and one year's loss of liberty or a fine… or both. 2. If the deed established in the previous paragraph is directed against the President of the Council of State, the President of the National Assembly of Popular Power, the members of the Council of State and the Council of Ministers or the deputies at the National Assembly of Popular Power, the penalty will be between one and three years' loss of liberty.”

Danilo Maldonado Machado is believed to be accused of “aggravated contempt” as the outrage was understood to be directed against Raúl and Fidel Castro Ruz, President of the Council of State and of Ministers of the Republic, and Deputy at the National Assembly of Popular Power, respectively. This provision, which is often used to silence dissent and to shield public officials from legitimate criticism, constitutes an illegitimate restriction on freedom of expression. According to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR): “[a] law that targets speech that is considered critical of the public administration by virtue of the individual who is the object of the expression, strikes at the very essence and content of freedom of expression” and “may affect not only those directly silenced, but society as a whole”.

Amnesty International believes that public officials should tolerate more criticism than private individuals. The use of defamation laws with the purpose or effect of inhibiting legitimate criticism of government or public officials violates the right to freedom of expression. Amnesty International opposes laws prohibiting insult or disrespect of heads of state or public figures, the military or other public institutions or flags or symbols (such as lèse majesté and desacato laws). Amnesty International also opposes laws criminalizing defamation, whether of public figures or private individuals, which should be treated as a matter for civil litigation. Public officials should not receive state assistance or support in bringing civil actions for defamation.

Name: Danilo Maldonado Machado, also known as ‘El Sexto’
Gender m/f: m

 

#RaiseYourVoice for Cuba's prisoners of conscience and victims of regime violence

Please #RaiseYourVoice

Amnesty International is circulating an Urgent Action for Cuban artist Danilo Maldonado, known as El Sexto, and there are only 5 days and 11 hours remaining with 864 letters already sent out of a goal of 1,200.  Amnesty International in Australia provided more information on El Sexto's plight:

Meet Danilo Maldonaldo Machado, popularly known as El Sexto.

Danilo is a Cuban graffiti artist who campaigns for human rights through artistic work. He’s now in prison without charge for peacefully exercising his freedom of expression.
In 2014 Danilo was arrested by Cuban police for transporting two pigs to an art show with the names of Cuban leaders – ‘Raúl’ and ‘Fidel’ – painted on them. Officials accused Danilo of “aggravated contempt”, claiming that painting the pigs disrespected the Cuban leaders of the Revolution. Danilo was then imprisoned under the country’s harsh laws.

This is an attack on freedom of expression and an attempt to silence political criticism.
Danilo continues to fight for freedom. He participated in two hunger strikes which were both cut short after officials allegedly assured him that he’d be released. This wasn’t the case. Danilo remains in prison and needs your help.

Danilo’s mother has asked Amnesty to help her son. Please stand up and demand his freedom.

The good news is that Danilo Maldonado's plight is resonating in the press with reports in the BBC, and the Amnesty International campaign for his release.

The bad news is that this is the tip of the iceberg with more than 300 arrests this past Sunday and three activists still jailed for addressing Pope Francis last month. Not to mention that Danilo is not the only artist behind bars in Cuba.

Maikel Castillo Pérez  stage name, El Dkano - Maikel Oksobo

On January 28, 2015, the rapper Maikel Castillo Pérez  stage name, El Dkano - Maikel Oksobo, was sentenced to a year in prison in Havana. He was targeted for having used music to express his dissenting political opinions. El Dkano was sentenced under a charge known as ‘peligrosidad predelictiva’ (‘dangerousness that is likely leading to a crime’), which is used to imprison dissidents for long terms. His defense attorney told a reporter from Diario de Cuba that prosecutors wanted the judge to sentence him to five years. The 31-year-old’s lyrics are known for criticizing the Castro regime. He once described his style as that of someone who “doesn’t make concessions with a system full of liars.”

It is of great importance not only to raise your voice for Cuba's prisoners of conscience but also for Cuba's dissidents who have been the victims of regime violence such as Sirley Ávila León who was the victim of a regime orchestrated machete attack on May 24, 2015 that led to the loss of her left hand and crippling machete blows to her right arm and both knees. There have been other attacks prior to this one targeting opposition activists.

Lastly, it is important to raise you voice and demand truth and justice in the extrajudicial killings of nonviolent activists such as Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas and Harold Cepero Escalante who were targeted and murdered by state security on July 22, 2012.

Why we are protesting Raul Castro in New York City

"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, Nobel Lecture 1986

 

Protests on September 28th at the UN and Cuban Mission

On September 28, 2015 in New York City at the Cuban Mission to the United Nations and in front of the United Nations Cuban exiles gathered to protest Raul Castro. The question asked by many was why we were protesting?

Below is an attempt to provide a succinct answer.

1. After 56 years of totalitarian dictatorship that has wrecked the country Cubans would like a government that respects human rights and consults the Cuban people in fair, multiparty elections with international supervision. Cubans have a right to their rights and the exercise of popular sovereignty.

2. Raul Castro personally ordered the shoot down of two Brothers to the Rescue planes on February 24, 1996 that killed four individuals. He should be tried for crimes against humanity.

3. Across the street from the Cuban Mission to the United Nations the Democracy Movement erected an exhibition of rafts with the photos of the children murdered in the July 13, 1994 tugboat massacre in which 37 Cubans were killed.

4. During the Obama administration's process of normalizing relations that began in 2009 with the first round of loosening sanctions the regime has responded with escalating levels of violence and repression including murdering opposition leaders such as Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas and Harold Cepero on July 22, 2012.

5. Despite the Casto regime's propaganda offensive both healthcare and education are a disaster in today's Cuba.

6. To draw attention to Danilo Maldonado, "El Sexto", who has been on hunger strike since September 8th protesting his arbitrary detention that began on December 25, 2014.

There are many more reasons, the body count of the Castro regime began in 1959 and continues to the present day, as does the cry for justice and freedom. This is why we protest.

We were not alone, friends of freedom from China, Iran, Tibet, Syria, Equatorial Guinea were protesting the despotic regimes oppressing them whose tyrants were also addressing the United Nations. It was an example in action of the solidarity of the shaken.