Amnesty International: Cuba must release prisoner of conscience on hunger strike

11 March 2011

Amnesty International has called on the Cuban authorities to release an activist on hunger strike who was detained for his human rights work three months ago and is set to face trial at the end of March.

Néstor Rodríguez Lobaina, the president and co-founder of the Cuban Youth Movement for Democracy, was arrested last December in relation to a meeting he organized at his home in August 2010 and anti-government banners he displayed outside his home.

Néstor, his brother Rolando Rodríguez Lobaina and three other members of the Cuban Youth Movement for Democracy - Enyor Díaz Allen, Roberto González Pelegrín and Francisco Manzanet - have been charged with public order offences relating to an attack on his home by a mob opposed to the meeting.

Néstor Rodríguez Lobaina

The five men were arrested in August 2010 but released the following month. Only Nestor Rodriguez Lobaina was rearrested.

"Néstor Rodríguez Lobaina has spent more than three months in prison for expressing his opinions, defending democracy and promoting human rights in Cuba," said Gerardo Ducos, Cuba reearcher at Amnesty International.

"Amnesty International considers him a prisoner of conscience jailed solely for exercising his right to freedom of expression and is calling on the Cuban authorities to release him immediately and unconditionally, or bear the responsibility of the impact of the hunger strike on Néstor’s physical integrity.

"Néstor's imprisonment is yet another example of the suppression of the rights to freedom of expression and association in Cuba."

Held at Combinado de Guantánamo prison, Nestor started his hunger strike on 15 February. The next day he was transferred to an isolation cell and denied water for eight days.

Nestor's health deteriorated during his hunger strike and on 28 February he was transferred to a health post in the prison. He was then transferred to Augustino Neto Provincial Hospital on 1 March.

Néstor Rodríguez Lobaina was arrested by state security agents in Guantanamo on 9 December 2010. He was pepper sprayed and manhandled into a police car in front of his 10-year-old daughter who was left alone in the street as her father was taken into custody.

While in detention Néstor says he has suffered beatings and threats from other inmates.

Read More

Cuba urged to release jailed activists (News, 7 February 2011)

http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/cuba-must-release-prisoner-conscience-hunger-strike-2011-03-11

Cuban Pro-Democracy Leader Tortured by Cuban Military Officials

As was done with Orlando Zapata Tamayo in 2010 Cuban officials deny water to Néstor Rodríguez Lobaina while he is on hunger strike

Néstor Rodríguez Lobaina

On February 15, 2011 Néstor Rodríguez Lobaina began a hunger strike on February 15, 2011 at the Guantanamo Combinado Prison to protest his continuing unjust incarceration that began on December 9, 2010. His brother, Rolando Rodríguez Lobaina, explained to the Cuban Democratic Directorate the circumstances of the hunger strike and how prison officials denied Néstor water:

"He explained to me that two days after initiating the strike and being in solitary confinement, Captain Yordis Cajigal Castillo, head of the prison, cut off his water supply. Six days of into the strike Yordis Cajigal Castillo and another represser known as "Jackie Chan", who serves as Chief Guard of Special Regime , both military and threatened to beat him. After ten days on strike returned the water, but by that time the nausea prevented him from drinking the liquid. But yesterday, March 1 at night he began to drink water and I convinced him to allow intravenous therapy."

A description of the events surrounding his arrest were briefly summarized by the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (IACHR) on January 24, 2011 in a precautionary measure it had issued and is reproduced below along with an explanation of its significance:

Precautionary Measures Granted by the Inter-American Commission during 2011

The mechanism for precautionary measures is established in Article 25 of the Rules of Procedure of the IACHR. The Rules of Procedure establish that, in serious and urgent situations, the Commission may, on its own initiative or at the request of a party, request that a State adopt precautionary measures to prevent irreparable harm to persons or to the subject matter of the proceedings in connection with a pending petition or case, as well as to persons under the jurisdiction of the State concerned, independently of any pending petition or case.

PM 13/11 - Néstor Rodríguez Lobaina and Family, Cuba

On January 24, 2011, the IACHR granted precautionary measures for Néstor Rodríguez Lobaina and his family, in Cuba. The request for precautionary measure alleges that on December 9, 2010, Néstor Rodríguez Lobaina was out walking with his 10-year-old daughter, Diana Rodríguez Castillo, when he was intercepted by agents of the political police. According to the request, the agents reportedly hit him with pepper spray and put him in a patrol car, leaving the girl by herself, 15 blocks away from home. The request adds that after being detained for 72 hours at the Department for State Security Operations in the city of Guantánamo, he was apparently transferred on December 12 to the Guantánamo Provincial Prison and that his family has not received any information about his state of health or about any treatment he may or may not be receiving for burns he allegedly suffered as a result of the pepper spray having hit him at close range. The Inter-American Commission asked the State of Cuba to adopt any necessary measures to preserve and guarantee the life and physical integrity of Néstor Rodríguez Lobaina and his family, and to allow access and health treatment and monitoring by a doctor trusted by him or by an international organization.

http://www.cidh.oas.org/medidas/2011.eng.htm

Take Urgent Action for Néstor Rodríguez Lobaina

Friends and family fear for his life

Néstor Rodríguez Lobaina

Today, reports have emerged expressing extreme concern for the plight of Néstor Rodríguez Lobaina. Néstor has been a pro-democracy and human rights activist in Cuba for over 20 years and has paid the price both in prison time and suffering brutal physical assaults. He has been recognized in the past as an Amnesty International prisoner of conscience on more than one occasion.

Nestor was invited to attend an international human rights conference in Geneva between March 8-9, 2010 but was denied an exit permit required for all Cubans who wish to travel out of the country. Below is the audio of the statement broadcast at the Geneva Summit for Human Rights, Tolerance and Democracy.



He was arrested on December 9, 2010 [ the eve of International Human Rights Day] , pepper sprayed extensively, beaten up and detained in front of his 10 year old daughter, Diana Rodriguez Castillo. She was left to find her way back home alone (15 blocks away) after witnessing the brutal assault on her father. She is pictured below with Nestor and her recently born born sibling.

Nestor with his 10 year old daughter, Diana Rodriguez Castillo and new born child.

Today, Nestor's wife,Daneysi Gálvez Pereira, in an interview with the Cuban Democratic Directorate warned that her husband's life is in danger:

"I want to denounce the situation that Néstor Rodríguez Lobaina is suffering at this moment in prison. His life is being threatened by convicts inside the same prison that the military police placed in Nestor's cell to beat on him. Yesterday while he was explaining they would not let him speak on the telephone. The attending guard hung up the phone. He was telling him: 'listen compadre, you cannot be saying that over the telephone.' They didn't want him to say any of that over the phone, that these situations were resolved inside. They are doing this in an effort finish of Nestor."

In addition to Daneysi over twitter, his brother, Rolando Rodriguez Lobaina warned: They are preparing a 2001 style attack against Néstor Rodríguez Lobaina in the Combinado provincial prison of Guantanamo. In another tweet Rolando provided the name of the criminal in charge of attacking Nestor under orders of the police identifying Leovigildo Almaguer Peña. Blogger Luis Felipe Rojas called for an international solidarity effort to bring attention to Nestor's plight.

Remember that in the past Nestor suffered a broken jaw at the hand of prisoners ordered to attack him by prison guards and that he also had to undergo surgery on his leg after beating carried out by prison guards against his person.