Cuban dissident's testimony that led to his beating and arrest

Transcript from last week's testimony in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee by Cuban pro-democracy leader Jorge Luis Garcia Perez "Antunez" first published online by Capitol Hill Cubans. Castro regime's response to this testimony was to beat up Antunez and his wife then disappear the opposition leader for four days before international outrage was able to obtain his release. Antunez now faces charges of "resistance," "disobedience" and "spreading false information."

Jorge Luis Garcia Perez "Antunez" file photo Reuters

JORGE LUIS GARCIA PEREZ "ANTUNEZ": Good afternoon, everybody. Good afternoon, Mrs. Jacobson, assistant secretary of state, Senator Menendez and everybody else present here. Very special greetings to my friend, Normando Hernandez Gonzalez, who is there with you.

It makes me very proud and excited to see Normando Hernandez Gonzalez there today because we shared political prisons. We both suffered beatings, oppression and hunger. He is like the best example of our homeland because he is a self-taught journalist that used to disseminate information in the prison. And I am very proud to see him represent us there today because he suffered all the oppression with a lot of dignity and decorum.

Something very important that my colleague Sarah Marta Fonseca just said was that we found out about this event with very short notice. And I think that shows the degree of oppression that we are under. And that speaks volumes of the repression that we feel. I had to, like she said, walk kilometers, hide behind trees and bushes, as if I was some kind of criminal, to attend an event that, in any other free and democratic country in the world, would be an everyday thing.

But thank God and thanks to the interests section for all the support given to us, we are here. It's been hard, but we are here and we are involved. I want you to know that a few days ago, as a result of brutal repression in an act of repudiation, I witnessed the death of Antonia Rodríguez Mirabal in the city of Santa Clara where a group of pro-democratic, peaceful activists, myself included, were gathered to talk about liberty, freedom, justice and human rights.

But that's not all, Mr. Senator. At this very moment, there's a black woman that has been on hunger strike for several days in Santa Clara. And hear me out here: Ms. Damaris Moya Portieles is on a -- thank you -- is on a hunger strike because the political police threatened to sexually abuse and rape her six-year-old daughter.

And we're not talking about the Cuba from before 1959 or any other country in Latin America or the South Africa of Botha. We're talking about the Cuba of the 21st century when horrible killings happen, such as the ones of Mr. Zapata Tamayo, Wilmar Villar Mendoza, Juan Wilfredo Soto and abuela -- which is grandmother -- Antonia.

And we need to bear in mind that no increase in remittances, no increase in the number of trips, no increase in the cultural exchanges can speed up the democratization process in our country. This only serves to strengthen the repression and to grant impunity to the people that commit these acts of repression.
It has been proven that -- and for this, I have my witnesses here, this Cubans that recently left the island, Mr. Normando Hernandez Gonzalez and my colleague here, Sarah Marta Fonseca -- that these increases in trips both from North Americans to Cuba and Cubans themselves have not helped at all with the democratic process in our country because those persons come to our country on matters that have nothing to do with what we're doing.

I would like to clarify that I fully respect President Barack Obama's Administration, and I know that everything that they are doing is with their best intentions. And both the Democratic and the Republican Parties are allied to the cause of liberty in Cuba. But Mr. Senators, when the opposition is increasing, both in qualitative as well as in quantitative terms, when there is an increase in the number of public protests all over the country, this is the time and these are the opportunities to support the resistance forces.

This is because the Cuban resistance forces are embarked on a head-on battle with the state. We suffer beatings. We suffer undue treatment -- harassment even -- in our own homes, torture and all kinds of systematic violations of our human rights.

To conclude, because I have already said a lot and those who spoke before me have done so very eloquently -- maybe even more so than me -- like Jose Marti said, the truth is to be said, not to be hidden.
And in this regard and in terms of the visas, I find Mariela Castro's visit to the United States being an official functionary of the regime that oppresses, that kills and that harasses the Cuban people, a complete insult and an utter offense to us. Now, Mariela Castro is out there visiting the United States.

And I would like to ask: Could we, the opponents in Cuba, the leaders of different organizations and different initiatives, go to the United States and return to the island freely?

Thank you very much.

Antunez released in Cuba

Jorge Luis Garcia Perez "Antunez" released

Thanks to internal and external acts of solidarity, Jorge Luis Garcia Perez "Antunez" was released this morning after being held incomunicado since June 9, 2012.  At the same time the Castro regime's response during this episode illustrates a number of important points. First, it sought to provoke a violent response from "Antunez" by beating both him and his wife down. Secondly, when it failed to accomplish that it manufactured the claim of bombs and devices in an effort to link nonviolent activists. Third, it sought to shut down all cell phone communications in order to isolate opposition activists.


Senator Bob Menendez reacts to arrest of Antunez.

Thanks to international attention placed on this particular case by US Senators protesting the imprisonment of a witness who testified before their committee and international press attention. Bloggers spread the word through the internet. The regime was pressured into releasing the activist.


CNN report on Antunez case

On Thursday June 7, 2012 at the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations held a hearing on The Path to Freedom: Countering Repression and Strengthening Civil Society in Cuba. During this hearing three Cuban dissidents on the island spoke: Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia of the Cuba Patriotic Union, Sara Marta Fonseca Quevedo of the National Civic Resistance Front, Cuban Pro-Democracy Leader, Jorge Luis Garcia Perez "Antunez" of the Frente Nacional de Resistencia Civica y Desobediencia Civil Orlando Zapata. 


Two days following the hearing, on Saturday, June  9, 2012 Jorge Luis Garcia Perez "Antunez" was beaten to unconsciousness, arrested and disappeared.  The Cuban Democratic Directorate reported his wife's observations on her husband's detention:

The Cuban Resistance leader Jorge Luis Garcia Perez “Antunez”, who was violently arrested on June 9th along with two other members of the Resistance, has been declared missing. Antunez was transferred out of the Police Unit and headquarter of State Security to an unknown location at around 7 pm of the same day, according to his wife Yris Perez Aguilera. “My name is Yris Tamara Perez Aguilera, wife of former political prisoner Jorge Luis Garcia Perez Antunez. This Saturday, June 9th, my husband, Loreto Hernandez Garcia and Jonniel Rodriguez Riverol were taken to the police unit of Placetas after a brutal beating at the hands of the political police. All of this occurred at around 3:30 pm. After this, at around 4 pm, Yaite Cruz Sosa, Dora Perez Correa, Arturo Conde Zamora and I decided to head out to said police unit. After walking just one block from my home, the police intercepted and arrested us. I was once again beaten by agent Isachi under the orders of State Security agent and Chief of Confrontation in Placetas, better known as ‘Cabo Pantera’. They handcuffed me and took me to the police unit”, explained Perez Aguilera, who was released during the afternoon of Sunday, June 10th 2012. The wife of Antunez narrated how she was aggressively beaten in the head once in the police unit. Upon hearing this, her husband and the other detainees- among them common prisoners- began to shout in protest. It was at this moment in which a group of prison guards presented themselves in the cell where Antunez was being held and began to attack him with pepper spray, leaving him unconscious on the floor.

"Antunez" had previously served 17 years and 38 days for calling for democratic reforms in a public space in Cuba in 1990. He was released in 2007 and since then has continued his dissident activities in Cuba.

Detentions and harassment of activists continue as does the need for international solidarity.

23 years after the Tiananmen Square Crackdown in China

Human Rights are still nonexistent in China

Residents of Hong Kong remember June 4, 1989 victims

Twenty three years later the men who committed a slaughter of nonviolent demonstrators remain free with impunity and some of those who peacefully demonstrated are still in prison today. Requests by the United States and France for these prisoners of conscience to be released are rejected. Another after unjustly serving 22 years in prison and one year out of prison has been found dead under suspicious circumstances.


The events of that day are systematically censored and scrubbed from publications and the internet.  Internet censorship by the Chinese communist regime does everything possible to erase the hope of the Tiananmen Square demonstrations and the brutal crackdown that began on June 4, 1989. The numbers 6, 4, and 89 have been censored along with "today."


Despite that cracks of light break through exposing the fear of the dictatorship. The Shanghai stock index fell 64.89 points on the anniversary of the massacre. On top of that the Shanghai Composite Index opened at 2346.98 on the this the 23rd anniversary.


These are two creative examples of nonviolent resistance that break through the censorship and remember the victims of an atrocious crime. In Hong Kong, tens of thousands turned out to remember the thousands of victims of the Tiananmen crackdown.

Li Wangyang, labor activist and former prisoner of conscience found dead

At the same time an ominous death underlined the observance of this grave injustice, Li Wangyang, 62, a labor activist from Hunan province who led workers in sympathy protests during the 1989 student demonstrations in 1989 and served 22 years in prison. He was found early Wednesday morning hanging by a bedsheet from security bars over  a window. Officials said it was suicide. The evidence indicates otherwise.

Li, who was  blind and mostly deaf, could not and would not have killed himself. According to a family member: "He could barely hold a bowl without his hands shaking. I can’t imagine how he could have tied his sheets into a knot," said Zhao. He noted that there were guards assigned to the hospital to watch Li.  "How could this happen when there were security guards watching him? We have many questions."

Family members are asking questions and looking for answers and an online petition has been set up making  “An Urgent Appeal for a Serious Investigation into Li Wangyang’s Death.”

Like the Ladies in White in Cuba the Tiananmen Mothers are working for justice for their loved ones and homeland while seeking freedom for those unjustly imprisoned. Below is their letter on the 23rd anniversary of that horrible day.

Never Forget.

Commemorating the 23rd Anniversary
of the Passing of the Victims of the 1989 June Fourth Crackdown

The Tiananmen Mothers

May 31, 2012

[Translation by Human Rights in China]

This year marks the 23rd anniversary of the passing of the victims of the 1989 June Fourth crackdown. This autumn, the Communist Party of China (CPC) will hold its 18th National Congress.

We recall that 10 years ago, the new administration of President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao was established during the 16th Party Congress. At that time, we, the Tiananmen Mothers, solemnly issued the following appeal to the new session of the CPC Central Committee:

We sincerely appeal to the Party’s new Central Committee to take the opportunity of resolving the June Fourth issue to allay the people's discontent, defuse a crisis, achieve reconciliation between the government and the people, and systemically prevent large-scale social unrest from occurring.

If the Party acknowledges not in words but in practice that democracy and human rights are the universal values pursued by modern, civilized people, and are the only way in which China can modernize, then we as Chinese citizens would have reason to look forward to this: that the new Central Committee will use the courage and vision responsible for the long-term interests of the country and people to re-evaluate June Fourth and put a decisive end to the obsolete one-party dictatorship system, thereby promoting and proceeding in comprehensive reform politically, economically, and socially.

A pity! These ten years passed like a dream.

Ten years ago, the Party and country's leaders at least verbally acknowledged that democracy and human rights were universal human values. But today, the mainstream media and the Internet in mainland China have swept “universal values” into the garbage heap, not to mention the idea that democracy and human rights are the only way for China to modernize. A just resolution of the June Fourth issue remains far off as well. When looking to the future, people feel utterly helpless and confused.

People also notice that the problems raised by the Tiananmen Mothers in those early years have not lessened; rather, they have increased and intensified at a rapid pace. China's violations of human and civil rights have reached an extreme level, the gap between rich and poor has widened dramatically, systemic corruption is out of control, the moral bottom line is near collapse, sudden mass incidents keep occurring again and again.... Maintaining stability has become China's top priority in order to preserve the firmness of the ruling party’s power. The massive institutional damage to the Chinese nation over this past decade is incalculable.

China has experienced rapid economic development during Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao’s term. This could have provided a golden opportunity to initiate systemic political reform and a just resolution to the problems that have remained after June Fourth. However, the ossified bureaucrats, with Hu Jintao at the helm, kept to the beaten path and let the historic opportunity for a peaceful transformation over these ten years slip by for nothing.

In this oppressive and stagnant political climate, Wen Jiabao alone has repeatedly called for political reform, saying that there is no other choice but to move forward with reform and that stagnation and decline provide no prospects for the future. He went so far as to echo Deng Xiaoping on his Southern Tour in 1992: “To not pursue reform and opening up will lead only to a dead end.” During the National People’s Congress (NPC) and Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) sessions earlier this year, Wen also said, “Without successful political reform, the gains we have made in our economic reform may be lost, and such historical tragedies as the Cultural Revolution may happen again in China.” His words sounded truthful, and his tone was earnest. But even as our fellow countrymen admired what he said, it also made us feel that it was more talk than promise.

As if this were a deliberate recitation, a March 20 article in the Financial Times reported that in recent years, Wen Jiabao has proposed redressing June Fourth on three separate occasions in secret meetings with the CPC leadership. Each time, his proposal was blocked by his colleagues. This kind of rumor also makes people wonder.

While Wen Jiabao’s discussion about redressing June Fourth cannot be verified, we hope that his calls for political reform are genuine. But even if they were, what can be done in reality?

China's current political system is convoluted, and the slightest change in any one part can affect the entire system. In China today, the special interest group cannot be destabilized by any one influential person. Its interests have been maximized and solidified and are well networked. The group resembles the four great clans shielded by the “Official’s Protective Charm” in the classic novel A Dream of the Red Chamber. Under the Charm, these clans “were closely connected, all got hurt when any one of them got hurt, all received honor when any one of them was honored, helped one another to conceal things, and looked after one other.” In the eyes of the people, even if Wen Jiabao were genuinely proposing to redress June Fourth, he would still have to retreat when he runs into this “Official’s Protective Charm.” At best, his would be nothing more than an effort to secure a decent reputation posthumously.

As could be expected, Wen Jiabao lamented the difficulties of reform in a press conference during the NPC and CPPCC sessions: “Reform will not be able to succeed without the consciousness, the support, the enthusiasm, and the creativity of our people.” This is tantamount to telling the people that they cannot rely on the CPC leadership, or the few uncorrupt leaders within the Party, to implement reform. Rather, they can only rely on the vast power of the people and the pressure from them. Historical experience has made clear for a long time that Chinese people experienced an awakening through the violent storm of 1989. The unprecedented enthusiasm and creative spirit demonstrated by the millions of people in Tiananmen Square have long been entered into the annals of history. Scenes of that storm are still fresh in the mind of every eyewitness. The fact is that the people's awakening, enthusiasm, and creative spirit were crushed to pieces by the tanks and machine guns of those with might. Not long after, people were forced to forget, to gradually erase the events from their memory. We believe that the only way forward for China's rulers is to atone and make up for the sins of their past. There is no other way. It is never too late to salvage the situation.

Our demands are the same as always. So long as the Tiananmen Mothers exist, our struggle for justice will not cease. So long as we can protest, our three demands—for truth, compensation, and accountability—will remain. We will not give up, and we will not change.

May the souls of the victims of June Fourth soon rest in peace!

[Full list of signers available here]

Cuba's Syrian problem: Torture and Mass Killings

We have just heard several council members defend and justify the actions of Syria's regime. In doing so, they breach their pledge to promote human rights, and place their own membership credentials in question. - Hillel Neuer, UN Watch, March 1, 2012 addressing the UN Human Rights Council

Houla: a mass grave for victims of massacre – Syrian forces are accused of killing over 100 people, including women and children. Photograph: AFP

Earlier today in Geneva, Switzerland at the United Nations Human Rights Council where a Special Session on the deteriorating human rights situation in Syria with a special focus on the massacre in El-Houleh the Cuban regime and its allies took a stand against holding the Syrian regime accountable for its gross and systematic human rights abuses.

One week ago today al-Assad's militias and troops in Syria carried out a massacre of more than 108 people in El-Houleh. Most of the victims were women and children. International monitors who visited the town made preliminary findings pointing to the Syrian regime.  

Statement by High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay (delivered on her behalf by Marcia Kran, OIC, OHCHR) - 19th Special Session of the Human Rights Council on the "deteriorating human rights situation in the Syrian Arab Republic and the recent killings in El-Houleh" made on June 1, 2012.


The regime in Cuba presided over for the past 53 years by Fidel and Raul Castro has engaged in the systematic and wholesale violation of human rights in Cuba while at the same time collaborating with many of the worse human rights violators around the world in a sinister coalition of impunity.

Bashar Hafez al-Assad and Raul Castro 

The Castro dictatorship has been a steadfast apologist for systematic human rights violations not only with friendly regimes such as China, Venezuela, Syria, Libya, Ethiopia, Sri Lanka and Iran but also with adversaries such as the military junta in Argentina and in the beginning even with their supposed enemy the United States over Guantanamo.

This is not a coincidence but a strategy for the dictatorship's survival. 

Bashar Hafez al-Assad and Fidel Castro

Despite the debate over Syria at the United Nations Human Rights Council having exposed the brutal nature of the regime and its allies to the world. The apologists continue to argue that things have changed in Cuba while in reality it remains the same. Time and time again the Cuban dictatorship has defended murderous regime's such as their Syrian allies. Twenty three years ago on June 4  it was the Cuban regime in Havana that expressed support for Beijing's slaughter of protesters in Tiananmen Square with the Cuban foreign minister commending Chinese authorities for "defeating the counterrevolutionary acts."



Only three countries voted not to condemn the al-Assad and his regime in Syria at the UN Human Rights Council today: China, Cuba and Russia. All three regimes have been documented as committing atrocities, but will focus on China and Cuba. 37 Cubans mostly women and children were massacred on July 13, 1994 by Castro regime agents who sank their tugboat while trying to flee the island. Thousands of Chinese students and workers massacred in Beijing on June 4, 1989 following the student protests in Tiananmen Square.  This leads to a question: How are these countries members of the United Nations Human Rights Council? Russia has thousands of nuclear weapons and China is a huge economic power both leave a big foot print in the world and their presence can be explained through brute power, but what about Cuba? This places the regime in Cuba in a precarious position. The torture and murder of Cuban nationals is their Syrian problem and is placing the Cuban dictatorship under increased scrutiny.

Viva Cristo Rey: Mexico 1929 and Cuba 1959

For Greater Glory (2012)

The cries of Viva Cristo Rey were heard in Mexico between 1926 and 1929 by Mexicans fighting and dying for religious freedom and in Cuba beginning in 1959 when young Catholic activists fighting against the imposition of a communist dictatorship faced the firing squad.

Anyone interested in understanding a hidden chapter of Mexican history and also what is taking place in Cuba should go and see the film "For Greater Glory" that opens in theaters around the United States on June 1, 2012. The Cristeros War (1926-1929) in Mexico offers some lessons for Cuban democrats both in international and domestic terms.



The debate now over the role of the Catholic Church in public life in Cuba and its relationship with the current dictatorship has eerie parallels with Mexico in 1929. Estimates place the number of Catholics killed by the Mexican revolutionary government at 10,000 dead. Donald J. Mabry  in his 1978  article "Mexican Anticlerics, Bishops, Cristeros, and the Devout during the 1920s: A Scholarly Debate" published in the Journal of Church and States said that:

The Catholics lost because the United States government decided that Mexico needed peace and that peace was best obtained from the existing revolutionary government. The Vatican and finally the hierarchy recognized reality and agreed to the compromises arranged by the apostolic delegate Morrow, and Calles. The league and the cristeros were ignored. They were told to accept the decision of the elites. The government agreed to the compromise (the arreglos) because it appeared to be the best way out of an increasingly difficult situation.

Mabry concluded that "[the Cristeros] did not so much lose the fight as the Vatican and the hierarchy abandoned them." The struggle for religious freedom is now being waged in the United States whereas in Cuba the struggle for its restoration continues to the present day.

In Mexico, the film is called Cristiada and is subtitled, "The history of Mexico that they wanted to hide." For additional information on this important film visit: http://www.forgreaterglory.com/