Help save the life of a Cuban political prisoner by calling on Cuban government to free him now

The way to #SaveBacallao is to #FreeBacallao

81 days later and the United States government has appealed to the Cuban government to release Cuban political prisoner Vladimir Morera Bacallao. However now is not the time to stop the effort to raise awareness on the plight of the labor activist and human rights defender. Citizen activists of goodwill around the world need to intensify our efforts to obtain his release and save his life by doing three things. First, please reach out to your elected representatives and ask them to speak out on Vladimir Bacallao's behalf. Second, call the hospital he is currently at inquiring about his health and if the Cuban government will free him. Third, use the hashtag #SaveBacallao and let others know about his plight.

Work to save his life now so that if you fail and the question is asked: Where were you the day Vladimir Morera Bacallao died then at least you can say: "Trying to save his life." Canadian punk rock band I.H.A.D. put that question to music in September of 2010, just seven months after Orlando Zapata Tamayo died asking Canadian tourists: "Where were you the day Orlando Zapata Tamayo died?" Below is a video of the song from 2012.

On December 27, 2015 independent journalist Reinaldo Escobar of the publication 14yMedio published an excellent article on Vladimir Bacallao that was translated to English and is reproduced below that gives an overview of his case:

Cuban Activist On The Brink Of Death After A Prolonged Hunger Strike / 14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar

A blacksmith by profession, he never imagined that after so many years of fabricating bars for his neighbors’ homes, he would end up locked behind prison bars. The activist Vladimir Morera Bacallao will mark 80 days on a hunger strike this Monday, 28 December, the Day of the Holy Innocents. That is, if the authorities don’t release him or he doesn’t starve to death first.

Right now, Morera Bacallao languishes in intermediate care at the Arnaldo Milian provincial hospital in the city of Santa Clara. He was taken there less than a week ago, after his family and colleagues in the Cuban Reflection Movement (MCR) carried out a campaign demanding that the prison authorities pay attention to his case.

MCR leader Librado Linares told 14ymedio that morera Bacallao now weighs less than 95 pounds, and within the next few hours his health could deteriorate “to the point of no return.” Saturday afternoon, Linares, a former prisoner of the 2003 Black Spring, said “he is so weak now that he doesn’t recognize anyone.”

Linares says that he is “knocking on the doors of the Bishop [of Santa Clara] and some of the province’s fraternal organizations,” to prevent the hunger striker’s death and to achieve his immediate release. The dissident is calling on the national and international community to do everything possible, “to not let him die.”

Morera Bacallo, was sentenced to four years in prison in case 404 of 2015, accused of the crime of “injuries.” The basis of this accusation, according to his family members who attended the trial, was a blow to the head received by Ivis Herrera, second secretary of the Communist Party in the municipality of Manicaragua, in the province of Villa Clara.

Several witnesses confirmed that the injury occurred when the official fell to the ground while sliding on melted asphalt that had been thrown down in front of and around Morera Bacallao’s house. The dumping of the material was part of the aggressions of the area’s “rapid response brigades” against the dissident, instigated by Ivis Herrera himself.
The events, classified as “public disorder,” happened on 19 April of this year, on the eve of the elections for the People’s Power. The opponent decided to put a sign on the door of his house where he proclaimed, “I vote for my freedom and not in some elections where I cannot elect my president.” The text unleashed the fury of the town’s government rulers.

Most of the working-age people in Manicaragua work in military factories or are active members of the armed forces. Thus, the residents of the area respond with a special intolerance and violence against any public display of differences with the government.
Rapid response brigades assaulted Morera Bacallao’s house in April, breaking windows, beating the inhabitants without distinction to sex or age, and throwing bricks. The operation included the spreading of melted asphalt, along with insults and abuse. In the early morning hours, when it seemed that everything was over, the uniformed Special Brigade of the Ministry of the Interior arrived and arrested the activist.

From the moment he fell into prison, the dissident declared himself on a hunger strike and only abandoned it in June, 40 days later, when he was hospitalized and they promised they would review his case. As the authorities did not fulfill their promise, on 9 October he resumed his hunger strike in the Guamajal prison hospital on the outskirts of Santa Clara. There he lost more than 88 pounds, according to Arsenio Lopez Roa, an inmate who provided the information.

Last Monday, the medical team informed the family that the striker had “vomited blood at least eight times, during the transfer from prison to the hospital.” The same source predicted that “at any moment he could experience digestive bleeding.”

In November 2013, Morera Bacallao was sentenced to eight years in prison for reasons very similar to today’s, after suffering an act of repudiation. He was released after one year, on 14 December 2014, after consecutive hunger strikes. Two months later, his name appeared on the list of the 53 prisoners released after talks between Barack Obama and Raul Castro; a list that was not initially made public at the time of their release.

Castro regime trolls over social media continue to slander the hunger striking former independent labor activist and current member of the Cuban Reflection Movement.  This type of libel was also used in campaigns against two Cuban prisoners of conscience: Orlando Zapata Tamayo who died on hunger strike on February 23, 2010 and Wilman Villar Mendoza who died on hunger strike on January 19, 2012. Following their deaths the campaigns slandering and libeling their name posthumously intensified as did the harassment and intimidation against their family members. People of goodwill need to remain vigilant.

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.

Forgiving and Documenting

On Thursday November 19, 2009 Yoani Sanchez received answers to the seven questions she had posed to Barack Obama, and apparently on the following day in the late Friday afternoon in Havana, Raul Castro's mob gave its response to the 7 questions she had sent him. A week after Yoani Sanchez was abducted and beaten by Cuban government agents; her husband, Reinaldo Escobar, returned to the site of last weeks nonviolent march having challenged one of the assailants to a "verbal duel" was shoved and knocked around by pro-government thugs. On the afternoon of November 20, 2009, two days after Human Rights Watch released its report blasting Raul Castro's government, the regime organized an act of repudiation against Reinaldo. In the photo above he is standing stoically surrounded by members of a rapid response brigade. Reinaldo has already posted a blog entry about yesterday's attack observing that:

Agent Rodney, or whatever the name is of the person I challenged to a verbal duel, lost by not showing up, but that is past history. The Nation lost by being discredited in the eyes of the world and, what is worse, the people lost, my poor people, whom they want to burden with the full weight of fanaticism that they themselves feed on.

He survived the ordeal thanks in large part to the presence of friends who also took the beating and insults in solidarity with him of which he names a few who took more than their share of blows to protect him: the blogger Eugenio Leal, the opposition figure Silvio Benítez, Pastor Manuel Morejon and the Lady in White [Damas de Blanco] Mercedes Fresneda Castillo.

According to Human Rights Watch the Cuban government "employs so-called repudiation meetings (mitines de repudio), or acts of repudiation, to humiliate and intimidate dissidents publicly, sometimes violently." The sad part is that some of the participants in these fascist attacks are probably taking part in this violent propaganda exercise in the Cuban dictatorship's version of Orwell's 2 minutes hate to avoid being on the receiving end of such an action themselves.

Yoani Sanchez in her latest blog entry says that Friday's act of repudiation reminded her of the ghost of 1980 and the appearance of fascist mobs on the streets of Cuba against Cubans who simply wanted to leave the country and were brutally attacked on their way to the port of Mariel. Nevertheless, Friday's events have more to do with the specter of 1989 that still haunts the regime. Non-violent change were the few lose their privileges, impunity and normality returns. It was out of fear for this possibility that in 1991 the Ministry of the Interior first organized the rapid response brigades to organize acts of repudiation with the aim of crushing any popular demonstrations with violence. Yoani twitted that "this is the para-militarization of Cuban society: arrests and beatings carried out by countrymen dressed as civilians that refuse to identify themselves. In another tweet she added that the government "wants to make people believe that it was the people enraged as if they had not nourished the hate and division among us." This is precisely what the Cuban government set out to do in 1980 during the Mariel boat lift and again in a systematic fashion in 1991: divide and conquer using terror and hatred.

Reinaldo's essay is titled: "To begin to forgive" and the last lines of the entry describe his return home:

When I got back to my house, I found it full of friends, among them Father José Conrado who gave me a hug, and counsel I will never forget: “Forgive them.”

Based on Reinaldo's actions thus far he is following Mahatma Gandhi's dictum: "To forgive is not to forget. The merit lies in loving in spite of the vivid knowledge that the one that must be loved is not a friend." Video of the entire affair is already beginning to be uploaded to youtube. The victims and witnesses to the events are describing what they saw. Below is the first video just prior to the beginning of the attack. As new ones are added they'll be added to this blog entry.