Cuba urged to respect press freedom as repression of journalists intensifies

30 April 2010

Amnesty International today called on the Cuban authorities to end harassment of independent journalists following a month in which several reporters were arbitrarily detained and intimidated for criticizing the government.

“Journalists who try to work independently of the state-owned media outlets in Cuba are being targeted with repressive tactics and spurious criminal charges - and this clampdown on freedom of expression appears to be intensifying,” said Susan Lee, Amnesty International's Americas Director, ahead of World Press Freedom Day on 3 May.

Journalist Calixto Ramón Martínez Arias remains in detention after being arrested on 23 April by security officials who broke into the house where he was covering a memorial service for a prisoner of conscience. Orlando Zapata Tamayo had died two months earlier after several weeks on hunger strike in protest against the plight of prisoners of conscience in Cuba.

Another journalist described the campaign of intimidation waged against him as “psychological torture”. Yosvani Anzardo Hernández, the director of an online independent newspaper, was detained on 24 April and questioned for over six hours over anti-government graffiti found in the city of Holguin.

Meanwhile, news agency director Carlos Serpa Maceira was subjected to intimidation and harassment by the Cuban authorities when he tried to cover the weekly march by the activist group Damas de Blanco (Ladies in White) on three consecutive weekends in April.

Members of the Damas de Blanco have been repeatedly harassed and intimidated by government supporters, and their weekly demonstrations were forcibly broken by police on at least two occasions.

"Criminal charges, or other forms of harassment and intimidation, must not be brought against independent journalists, human rights advocates or political dissidents as a result of their legitimate exercise of freedom of expression," said Susan Lee.

There are currently 55 prisoners of conscience detained in Cuba, most of them serving long sentences for criticizing the Cuban government and advocating basic human rights. Among them are several independent journalists.

Several articles of the Cuban Constitution and Penal Code are so vague that the authorities have been able to use them in a way that infringes freedom of expression. The Cuban State also maintains a total control of broadcast media and the press, while access to the internet is heavily restricted.

"As a result of these restrictions on freedom of expression, Cubans are unable to share independent information without facing direct repression from the authorities," said Susan Lee.

"Restrictions on access to the internet should be lifted and censorship of websites containing information and views contrary to government policies must be eliminated."

Amnesty International has urged the Cuban authorities to review all legal provisions that unlawfully limit freedom of expression and to release all prisoners of conscience immediately and unconditionally.

http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/cuba-urged-respect-press-freedom-repression-journalists-intensifies-2010-04-30

Freedom For What?

Carlos Alberto Montaner today received and dedicated the "Juan de Mariana Award for an exemplary trajectory in the defense of freedom” to Orlando Zapata Tamayo. Below is the speech translated to English.












By Carlos Alberto Montaner

In 1980, shortly after making a dramatic exit from Cuba, the magnificent writer Reinaldo Arenas collected in a book his more combative articles and essays and titled it The Need for Freedom.

It was a shout. Reinaldo felt the need to be free. Human beings need to be free. He was asphyxiating in Cuba. He lived in sadness, fear and indignation. None of those three emotions is pleasant, and sometimes they twisted in his heart to the point of desperation.

After finding exile, Reinaldo felt profound relief and said something that was both wondrous and painful: for the first time, he had shown his true face. He had “unmasked” himself and felt the warm sensation of being himself, without the fear that such an act might bring him punishment and alienation.

In totalitarian societies, the pain of not being free and moving about in disguise becomes somatic in various ways, from a knot in the throat to a diffuse malaise expressed by assorted neurotic behaviors.

What is freedom? It is the ability we have to make decisions based on our individual beliefs, convictions and interests, without external pressures.

Freedom is choosing the god who best fits our religious perceptions, or choosing no god if we don’t feel the spiritual need to transcend.

Freedom is fearlessly offering our affection and loyalty to the people we love, or to the groups with which we feel a kinship.

Freedom is choosing without interference what we want to study, where and how we wish to live, the ideas that best reflect our vision of the social problems or the ideas that best seem to explain them.

Freedom is selecting the artistic expressions that please us the most, or, conversely, rejecting them without consequences.

Freedom is being able to undertake or renounce an economic activity without reporting to anyone, beyond the formalities established by law.

Freedom is spending our money as we see fit, acquiring the goods that satisfy us and disposing of our legitimate properties. Without freedom, the creation of wealth is weakened to the point of misery.

José Martí, the illustrious journalist who generated Cuba’s independence, contributed another definition: “Freedom is the right of every man to be honest, and to think and speak without hypocrisy.”

Tyrannies deny us the right to be honest when they force us to applaud what we detest or reject what we secretly admire.

When Cubans parade, shouting slogans they don’t believe in, they are not honest. When they applaud the leader they abhor or laugh at the nonsense he spouts, they are not honest.

That simulation creates in us an uncomfortable psychological dissonance. When we sacrifice our honesty, when we renounce our internal consistency to avoid harm or obtain a privilege, we feel “dirty” and internally ashamed. Hypocrisy is a behavior that wounds the person who practices it and repels the person at whom it’s directed.

But there’s more. At some point in the evolutionary process, when human beings abandoned the rule of instinct and began to guide themselves by reason, they discovered the agonizing process of making decisions by constantly shuffling the prevailing moral values, material interests, and psychological impulses.

To make such decisions, it was necessary to become informed. Totalitarian violence tries to prevent people from becoming informed. Why become informed if all the decisions are made by the State and all the truths have already been discovered?

In Cuba, there are numerous police brigades whose task it is to remove parabolic antennas, find satellite phones, confiscate banned books, and deny Internet access to anyone who is minimally independent. I cannot think of a more wretched activity.

When Spanish socialist Fernando de los Ríos asked Lenin when he was going to institute a regime of freedoms in the fledgling Soviet Union, the Bolshevik answered with a question loaded with cynicism: “Freedom for what?”

The answer to that is manifold: freedom to investigate, to generate wealth, to seek happiness, to reaffirm the individual ego in a human tide, all of them tasks that depend on our ability to make decisions.

The history of the West is the history of societies that have progressively expanded the horizons of free people.

Gradually, they took away from the monarchs and the religious and economic oligarchies their exclusive powers to decide in the name of the whole. The poor and the foreigners attained their rights. The same happened with the races considered to be inferior, with the women, with the people who were alienated because of their sexual preferences. Slavery was finally eradicated.

It is possible to narrate the long, historical trek of human beings as the constant adventure of our species in the quest for a gradual increase in the number of people given the right to make their own decisions.

Sometimes, the exercise of that ability assumes heroic proportions. Some weeks ago, Cuban political prisoner Orlando Zapata Tamayo decided to die of hunger and thirst to protest against the injustice and abuses of the dictatorship. All he had to defend his dignity as a human being was his life—and he gave it. To him, to his sad memory, with deep emotion, I dedicate these words.

The above text was a speech by the author, upon receiving the “Juan de Mariana Award for an exemplary trajectory in the defense of freedom,” Madrid, Spain, April 30, 2010.

© Firmas Press. Carlos Alberto Montaner

Dania Virgen García : A victim of a politically motivated prosecution

"Things in Cuba are not well at all, but I am going to continue this struggle to the death or until whatever they want happens; I will continue to support the Ladies in White, even if they continue to beat us, because what they want is for us to be afraid and we are not going to allow that to happen." -Dania Virgen García (blogger, independent journalist sentenced to 20 months in prison)

Taken from her blog http://daniavirgengarcia.blogspot.com/

According to The Miami Herald she was arrested, tried, and sentenced to 20 months in prison in less than two days.

Reporters Without Borders offers its own analysis regarding her arrest:

The crackdown on independent journalists is intensifying, with three cases of journalists being jailed, arrested or summoned in the past few days. The journalist who has been jailed is Dania Virgen García of Primavera Digital and CubaNet, who was given a 20-month sentence on 23 April. Her case brings the number of journalists imprisoned in Cuba to 25.

Arrested at her home in the Havana suburb of San Miguel del Padrón on 22 April, García was tried and convicted in less than 48 hours and was taken to the women’s prison known as the “Manto Negro” (Black Veil) because of its bad reputation. The regime’s haste to “pass justice” appears to have been due to the municipal elections held on 25 April

The charges on which García, 41, was convicted have yet to be confirmed, but she supported and participated in the marches staged by the Ladies in White, a group formed by the mothers, wives and sisters of political prisoners whose activities have been suppressed by the authorities in recent days.

IAPA rejects sudden judgment against blogger Diana Virgen García in Cuba

Condemns prison sentence, arrest of a second journalist and calls for end to repression

Miami (April 26, 2010)—The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) today denounced the conviction in Cuba of an independent blogger and the arrest of another journalist in separate incidents last week and called for the immediate release of all imprisoned journalists and an end to repression by the government.

On April 22nd Cuba’s political police arrested independent journalist and blogger Diana Virgen García (http://daniavirgengarcia.blogspot.com) whose blog, launched in January, reports on the violence and repression against other independent reporters on the Caribbean island. García is also a human rights activist who openly supports the Ladies in White movement, a group that the government has suppressed and prevented from demonstrating on several occasions.

García was taken to court the day after her arrest and sentenced to one year and eight months in prison on charges that had not yet been made known. The president of the Center for Human Rights and Democracy Brigade 2506, Segundo Miranda, brought the fact to light, while Cuba’s official press – the newspapers Granma and Juventud Rebelde – did not report on it.

IAPA President Alejandro Aguirre, editor of the Miami, Florida, Spanish-language newspaper Diario Las Américas, declared, “We continue seeing the same story of restriction of freedom of expression in Cuba,” adding, “while we wait for word on the fate of the famous blogger Yoani Sánchez, who was harassed on a number of occasions, other women and men are being persecuted by a government that threatens, restricts, censors, tries and convicts offhandedly.”

With the imprisonment of García, the only woman to date, there are 26 journalists behind bars in Cuba. Many are in poor health, a fact which has set off protests calling for their release; independent reporter Guillermo Fariñas, who has been on hunger strike for several weeks, is among those held prisoner.

Arrested in Holguín on the morning of April 24 was Yosvani Anzardo Hernández, editor of the independent newspaper Candonga. His wife, Lourdes María Yen Rodríguez, reported that two State Security officers came to their home in the town of San Germán and arrested her husband. The family does not know the motive for his arrest. In September 2009 Hernández spent 15 days in jail after his home was raided and his electronic equipment seized.

The chairman of the IAPA’s Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, Robert Rivard, editor of the San Antonio Express-News, Texas, repeated the organization’s call for the unconditional release of imprisoned journalists, in particular those who for humanitarian reasons should have their rights respected.

The IAPA lists the following 26 imprisoned journalists: Convicted in 2003 Ricardo González Alfonso, Víctor Rolando Arroyo, Normando Hernández González, Julio César Gálvez, Adolfo Fernández Sainz, Omar Rodríguez Saludes, Héctor Maseda Gutiérrez, Mijaíl Barzaga Lugo, Pedro Argüelles Morán, Pablo Pacheco Ávila, Alfredo Pulido López, Fabio Prieto Llorente, Iván Hernández Carrillo, José Luis Garía Paneque, Juan Carlos Herrera, Miguel Galván Gutiérrez, José Ubaldo Izquierdo, Omar Ruiz Hernández, Léster Luis González Pentón and Alfredo Felipe Fuentes; in 2006 Alberto Gil Triay and Raymundo Perdigón Brito; in 2007 Ramón Velázquez Toranso and Oscar Sánchez Madan; in 2009 Alberto Santiago Du Bouchet and in 2010 Dania Virgen García.

The IAPA is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the defense and promotion of freedom of the press and of expression in the Americas. It is made up of more than 1,300 print publications from throughout the Western Hemisphere. For more information please go to http://www.sipiapa.org

http://www.sipiapa.com/v4/index.php?page=cont_comunicados&seccion=detalles&id=4366&idioma=us


La SIP rechaza juicio sumarísimo contra bloguera en Cuba

Protesta por su encarcelamiento, la detención de otro periodista y pide el cese de la represión

Miami (26 de abril de 2010).- La Sociedad Interamericana de Prensa (SIP) expresó su rechazo por la condena en Cuba de una bloguera independiente y el arresto de otro periodista, en sucesos ocurridos la semana pasada, exigiendo asimismo la liberación inmediata de los periodistas encarcelados y el cese de la represión.

El 22 de abril la policía política de Cuba detuvo a la periodista independiente y bloguera Dania Virgen García (http://daniavirgengarcia.blogspot.com) en cuyo blog, iniciado en enero, informa sobre hechos de violencia y represión que afecta a otros periodistas independientes en el país. La periodista también es activista de derechos humanos, apoyando abiertamente al movimiento de las Damas de Blanco, agrupación que el gobierno ha reprimido e impedido manifestarse en varias oportunidades.

García fue juzgada al día siguiente de su arresto y condenada a un año y ocho meses de prisión por causas que no fueron todavía debidamente informadas. El presidente del Centro de Derechos Humanos y Democracia Brigada 2506, Segundo Miranda, alertó sobre este hecho, aunque la prensa oficial de Cuba, Granma y Juventud Rebelde, no informaron sobre el tema.

El presidente de la SIP, Alejandro Aguirre, subdirector del Diario Las Américas, con sede en Miami, dijo que “seguimos observando la misma historia de restricción a la libertad de expresión en Cuba”, lamentando que “mientras estamos pendientes de la suerte de la famosa bloguera Yoani Sánchez, quien fue hostigada en varias oportunidades, otras mujeres y hombres están siendo perseguidos por un gobierno que amenaza, reprime, censura, juzga y condena sin miramiento alguno”.

Con el encarcelamiento de la periodista García, la única mujer, son 26 los comunicadores presos en Cuba. Muchos de ellos presentan cuadros delicados de salud, lo que ha provocado protestas a favor de su liberación, entre ellas la del comunicador independiente Guillermo Fariñas, quien mantiene una huelga de hambre desde hace varias semanas.

El 24 de abril en la mañana fue detenido en Holguín, Yosvani Anzardo Hernández, director del periódico independiente Candonga. Su esposa, Lourdes María Yen Rodríguez, relató que dos agentes de la Seguridad del Estado se presentaron en su domicilio en el municipio de San Germán y detuvieron a Hernández. La familia desconoce los motivos del arresto. En septiembre de 2009 Hernández estuvo 15 días encarcelado después de que fue allanada su residencia y se le decomisara equipo electrónico.

Por su parte, el presidente de la Comisión de Libertad de Prensa e Información, Robert Rivard, director editorial del periódico San Antonio Express-News, de Texas, reiteró el pedido de la organización para que sean liberados de manera incondicional los periodistas encarcelados, en especial aquellos que por razones humanitarias se les debería respetar sus derechos.

La SIP mantiene la siguiente lista de 26 periodistas encarcelados: Fueron condenados en 2003 Ricardo González Alfonso, Víctor Rolando Arroyo, Normando Hernández González, Julio César Gálvez, Adolfo Fernández Sainz, Omar Rodríguez Saludes, Héctor Maseda Gutiérrez, Mijaíl Barzaga Lugo, Pedro Argüelles Morán, Pablo Pacheco Ávila, Alfredo Pulido López, Fabio Prieto Llorente, Iván Hernández Carrillo, José Luis Garía Paneque, Juan Carlos Herrera, Miguel Galván Gutiérrez, José Ubaldo Izquierdo, Omar Ruiz Hernández, Léster Luis González Pentón y Alfredo Felipe Fuentes; en 2006 Alberto Gil Triay y Raymundo Perdigón Brito; en 2007 Ramón Velázquez Toranso y Oscar Sánchez Madan; en 2009 Alberto Santiago Du Bouchet y en 2010 Dania Virgen García.

La SIP es una entidad sin fines de lucro dedicada a la defensa y promoción de la libertad de prensa y de expresión en las Américas. Está compuesta por más de 1.300 publicaciones del hemisferio occidental; y tiene sede en Miami, Estados Unidos. Para mayor información, por favor, visite http://www.sipiapa.org

http://www.sipiapa.org/v4/index.php?page=cont_comunicados&seccion=detalles&idioma=sp&id=4366

Kenyan environmental activists arrested while demanding fair treatment before Nairobi City Council

12 young environmental activists from Huruma arrested while demanding equitable treatment before the Nairobi City Council. Please send letters requesting their release to the Ministry of Justice at ps-justice@justice.go.ke.

Members of Human Rights City Kenya and Garbage collectors in Starehe Constituency are appealing for quick assistance to their members, the members Taka ni Pato, Mwamko wa Vijana, Starehe social congress and Macho ya Mazingira among others, who were arrested on April 23, 2010 at 1:00 am and detained at Huruma Police Post and later taken to City court on the morning of April 23, 2010.

The arrests were malicious and meant to intimidate members who engage in environmental issues in order to earn their livelihood through garbage collection.

The following is the list of those arrested and still detained in Industrial Area Prisons

Name File Number Bail charges

Anthony Gitau Michael 271/2010 25,000
Peterson Njagi Micheni 268/2010 30,000
Stephen Kung’u Karanja 271/2010 25,000
Ken Mwangi Nyamu 270/2010 30,000
Peter Githuka Wambui 269/2010 40,000
Joseph Mourinho Janeffera 270/2010 30,000
Samuel Kung’u Kimotho 268/2010 30,000
Charles Njiri Kiruiru 269/2010 40,000
Dixon Agoya Okusi 270/2010 30,000
Daniel Gitau Theuri 271/2010 25,000

They were charged with illegal dumping yet they have certificates from the Nairobi City Council for waste collection and a dumping site for disposing the garbage. The following are breadwinners of their families and two of them left little children in the house without any care.
This arrests are common in the area, with the charges always being illegal dumping, touting and being members of illegal sects (Mungiki).

Note that on April 9, 2010 Peter Kariuki Nyaga and Josphat Mureithi Nyaga were arrested, detained and later taken to court charged with illegal dumping and are currently detained at Kamiti Maximum Prisons

WE ARE NOW APPEALING TO ALL CIVIL SOCIETY MEMBERS AND HUMAN RIGHT DEFENDERS TO COME TO THE RESCUE OF THESE YOUNG INNOCENT KENYANS BY PROVIDING THEM WITH A LAWYER AND CASH BAIL.

Statement prepared by Rose Nyawira

60 days after the Death of Orlando Zapata Tamayo

Orlando Zapata Tamayo
Human Rights Activist, Civic nonviolent practitioner, Varela Project Activist

May 5, 1967 - February 23, 2010

It outrages me but sadly does not surprise me that 2 months after prisoner of conscience Orlando Zapata Tamayo died after 82 days on a water only hunger strike, in which prison officials denied him water for more than two weeks, to protest the brutal and inhumane treatment against Cuban prisoners in general that the dictatorship and their apologists continue to smear the name of a good man that can no longer defend himself. Orlando Zapata Tamayo was an Amnesty International prisoner of conscience. Amnesty International declared him a prisoner of conscience after carefully examining his case over a period of months on January 29, 2004. This is Amnesty's description of Orlando Zapata Tamayo:

Orlando Zapata Tamayo

Date of arrest: 20 March 2003

Sentence: No trial yet, but charged with “desacato”, “desordenes publicos”, “public disorder”, and “desobediencia”.

Orlando Zapata Tamayo is a member of the Movimiento Alternativa Republicana, Alternative Republican Movement, and a member of the Consejo Nacional de Resistencia Cívica, National Civic Resistance Committee.

He has been arrested several times in the past. For example he was temporarily detained on 3 July 2002 and 28 October 2002. In November 2002 after taking part in a workshop on human rights in the central Havana park, José Martí, he and eight other government opponents were reportedly arrested and later released. He was also arrested on 6 December 2002 along with Oscar Elías Biscet³, but was released on 8 March 2003.

Most recently, he was arrested on the morning of 20 March 2003 whilst taking part in a hunger strike at the Fundación Jesús Yánez Pelletier, Jesús Yánez Pelletier Foundation, in Havana, to demand the release of Oscar Biscet and other political prisoners. He was reportedly taken to the Villa Marista State Security Headquarters. He has not been tried yet, but the prosecutor is reportedly asking for three years’ imprisonment for “desacato”, “desordenes publicos”, “public disorder”, and “desobediencia”.

He has reportedly been moved around several prisons, including Quivicán Prison, Guanajay Prison, and most recently, Combinado del Este Prison in Havana. According to reports, on 20 October 2003 he was dragged along the floor of Combinado del Este Prison by prison officials after requesting medical attention, leaving his back full of lacerations.

Video tribute to Orlando Zapata Tamayo (in Spanish)

Venezuelan student leader Roberto Patiño addresses World Movement for Democracy 6th Assembly on April 14, 2010

Venezuelan student leader Roberto Patiño addresses World Movement for Democracy 6th Assembly on April 14, 2010 pt. 1



Venezuelan student leader Roberto Patiño addresses World Movement for Democracy 6th Assembly on April 14, 2010 pt. 2

Discurso de Roberto Patiño, presidente de la FCEUSB, en Asamblea del Movimiento Mundial por la Democracia

Es un honor para mí y para el movimiento estudiantil ser presentados por el inspirador, valiente y prodemocrático movimiento estudiantil en Irán. Mi nombre es Roberto Patiño, soy estudiante de la Universidad Simón Bolívar. Tengo 21 años y soy de Caracas, Venezuela. Por lo tanto, yo tenía 10 años cuando el presidente Hugo Chávez llegó al poder en mi país.

Soy parte del movimiento estudiantil en Venezuela que es la suma de los movimientos estudiantiles en más de 80 universidades y liceos en todo el país, unidos por ideas como democracia, derechos humanos, libertad de expresión, el desarrollo y la superación de la pobreza. Nuestra organización se basa en los representantes estudiantiles y las federaciones de estudiantes de cada universidad, que son democráticamente electas por más de 60.000 estudiantes que participan activamente y se movilizan en las calles.

Su importancia viene dada por el hecho de que el 60% de la población de mi país es menor de 30 años de edad. El movimiento estudiantil, según todas las encuestas, es la institución de más alto rango del país, con más del 80% de las tasas de aprobación de toda la población.

Permítanme contarles un poco acerca de mi país, la democracia en Venezuela se implantó en 1958 y durante años no éramos sólo un ejemplo para la región, sino también un refugio a quienes huían de las dictaduras sangrientas o de la guerra. Como ustedes saben Venezuela tiene las reservas de petróleo más grandes del mundo.

Irónicamente, nuestro país es pobre. Según un estudio realizado por la prestigiosa Universidad Católica en Venezuela, el 48% de la población vive en pobreza o pobreza extrema. Otro 35% está sobre la línea de la pobreza, pero definitivamente no son considerados como clase media. Esto indica que 83% de la población tiene serios problemas económicos. De acuerdo con este estudio, históricamente la pobreza en Venezuela se ha tratado sobre sus consecuencias y no sobre sus causas. Esto no ha cambiado.

La democracia se debilita cuando no entrega buenos servicios sociales, esa es la razón por la cual, según algunas investigaciones, como en el PNUD de las Naciones Unidas o más recientemente Latinobarómetro, que es una ONG de prestigio de Chile, un sector importante de la población en nuestro continente prefieren el crecimiento económico sobre la democracia. Por suerte, ese número ha bajado, tal vez en parte por las lecciones que países como Indonesia o la India están dando al mundo. Pero me gustaría hacer hincapié en que a pesar de la crisis social, Venezuela es uno de los 5 países de la región que valora más la democracia por encima de todos los otros indicadores. No estamos dispuestos a sacrificarla por un mayor crecimiento económico. Para los venezolanos, como Amartya Sen dijo en el discurso inaugural del Movimiento Mundial por la Democracia, la Democracia no es un lujo.

En Venezuela, estamos experimentando un re-significación de lo político y ese fenómeno es más significativo en la juventud, en el último año las investigaciones de Latinobarómetro dan como resultado, que para los latinoamericanos, los jóvenes Venezolanos son los más comprometidos y solidarios. Cuando la encuesta preguntó sobre cómo los latinos obtienen información sobre la política, la tercera mención después de la televisión y la radio fue la familia. Esto demuestra valores y que en nuestra región estamos experimentando una reinterpretación de nuestro rol como ciudadanos responsables.

Estoy convencido que la información ayuda a formar conciencia, que es esencial para la democracia. En consecuencia, menos información es menos conciencia, menos democracia. Desde 2007 hemos presenciado muchos ataques a la información por parte del gobierno, que viene en el marco de un comportamiento despótico, anti-democrático y autoritario. Cerraron el mayor canal de televisión y más de 36 emisoras de radio, los periodistas han sido golpeados e incluso el presidente de un canal de televisión estuvo preso por emitir sus opiniones en un foro internacional como este.

En este momento, un ex candidato presidencial y ex presidente de la Asamblea Nacional está en la cárcel por compartir su opinión en un programa de televisión. Como dijo Anwar Ibrahim, libertad de expresión, pero no después de la expresión. Los estudiantes nos hemos puesto de pie en contra de estas prácticas, y hemos tenido manifestaciones masivas y pacíficas en las calles. Gases lacrimógenos, perdigones, amenazas, la cárcel e incluso la muerte, como en el caso de Jesús Ramírez, ha sido su respuesta, en lugar de diálogo y entendimiento.

La democracia se basa en el Estado de Derecho y el respeto a la Constitución. Nuestra Constitución fue reformada en 1999 con la llegada de Chávez al poder. Trató de reformarla de nuevo en 2007, propuesta que fue rechazada por el pueblo en un referéndum. Propuso entonces una enmienda constitucional y una nueva ley de educación. Hemos estado protestando y reforzando a través de varias campañas, la necesidad de salir a votar en contra de esas iniciativas y de organizarnos para supervisar las elecciones. Pero hemos pagado un alto precio. Además de la represión, un estudiante pasó alrededor de dos meses en una de las cárceles más peligrosas del mundo por su participación en una de las manifestaciones pacíficas. Hicimos una huelga de hambre y tuvieron que dejarlo en libertad. Éramos cientos de estudiantes a nivel nacional en esa pacífica pero extrema medida de protesta.

La democracia se basa en la justicia y la independencia de poderes. Hace cuatro meses una juez tomó una decisión sobre dejar ir a un preso político que había pasado 2 años en la cárcel sin una audiencia, una decisión tomada sobre la base de nuestra Constitución. 15 minutos más tarde, la juez estaba en la cárcel. Increíblemente, ahora está cumpliendo su sentencia junto a las presas que ella puso en la cárcel y por eso su vida es amenazada con frecuencia, el presidente, en cadena nacional de radio y televisión pidió una condena de 30 años para ella. Hace 2 semanas estuvimos en la Comisión Interamericana de los Derechos Humanos para establecer nuestra posición con respecto a las violaciones de la justicia y la criminalización de la protesta. Hay una larga lista de violaciones y muchos otros ejemplos, pero me faltaría el tiempo para describirlas todas.

Les aseguro que vamos a seguir defendiendo nuestra democracia de manera pacífica. Estamos comprometidos con el desarrollo de nuestro país y con la superación de la pobreza. Trabajar para y por los más necesitados. Hemos organizado proyectos sociales que tienen en sus objetivos llevar a los estudiantes a las comunidades más necesitadas a aplicar nuestros conocimientos para ayudar a resolver algunas cuestiones, para transmitir los conocimientos que hemos adquirido en nuestras universidades. Para intercambiar ideas sobre cómo podemos mejorar nuestra democracia.

Nosotros, los estudiantes, hemos tenido muchas oportunidades. Información, educación. Pero eso viene con una gran responsabilidad. Este año estamos teniendo una importante elección en Venezuela, nuestra Asamblea Nacional se renueva. Tenemos un proyecto llamado Voto Joven, que consiste en la organización para supervisar el proceso electoral, en este momento estamos desarrollando una campaña para que los jóvenes se inscriban para votar. En el día de la elección estaremos en las mesas como testigos y en las calles vigilantes, asegurándonos que la decisión que tomemos los venezolanos ese día, sea respetada.

Por último, quiero decirles cómo pueden ayudarnos. Su solidaridad es muy importante. Y quiero expresarles nuestra más profunda gratitud por este homenaje. Pero la incertidumbre está sobre todos los venezolanos que estamos aquí. No se que me pueda pasar cuando regrese a mi país. Al estar alerta de la situación y fijar posturas, darnos la oportunidad de hablar en sus países para contar nuestra historia y compartir nuestra experiencia, seguir intercambiando ideas y herramientas para hacer nuestros proyectos, es todo muy útil.

Espero que cuando termine esta presentación y antes de salir de aquí, tenga muchas nuevas tarjetas, contactos, consejos e invitaciones para reunirnos con jóvenes de sus países y compartir experiencias y aprender unos de otros con el fin volver y seguir promoviendo y construyendo el país que nosotros, los jóvenes, soñamos. Gracias.

Fuente original

Open Letter for Cuba from Activists attending the 6th Assembly of the World Movement for Democracy

We the Cuban members of the civic resistance attending the World Movement for Democracy Sixth Assembly in Jakarta, Indonesia recalling the words of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as he opened the 6th symposium of the World Movement for Democracy that:

“Regardless of what political model you embrace, I have no doubt that in our time our future belongs to those who are willing to responsibly embrace pluralism, openness and freedom. Your choice is to act and survive, or to resist and crumble.”

Reflecting on the situation in Cuba were for more than 50 years one party and the Castro brothers have rejected pluralism, openness, and freedom in Cuba we can say that the Island is a material realization of the above statement. The dictatorship resists change and Cuba is crumbling both physically and spiritually.

Cuban democrats are struggling for pluralism, openness, and freedom using non-violent means in the face of a brutal and violent of regime. There are two recent examples that demonstrate the dictatorship's nature. The death of prisoner of conscience Orlando Zapata Tamayo on an 82 day water only hunger strike on February 23. Cuba’s Ladies in White in March 2010 observed the 7th anniversary of their loved one’s imprisonment with silent marches over seven days during which they were subjected to harassment, detentions by state security, and brutal beatings. Some of them suffered broken bones.

Nevertheless, the women continued to march over the seven days demonstrating their courage and commitment.

Recalling this reality, we ask for concrete actions to be taken.


We call on democrats from around the world to continue to demonstrate their solidarity with their Cuban brothers and sisters, and if they have not in the past to begin to do so.

We call on the dictatorship in Cuba to release all of Cuba’s political prisoners; apply international human rights standards into the law; end communist monopoly control of political life recognizing both opposition parties and independent civil society; and finally hold free and transparent elections with international monitors.

Eliecer Consuegra Rivas
Orlando Gutierrez Boronat
Joel Brito
John Suarez

In Solidarity with Poland

Horrible. My prayers and thoughts are with President Lech Kaczynski, Anna Walentynowicz, and all those who lost their lives in Russia while honoring the victims of Katyn. Requiescant in pace. My condolonces and prayers for their families. Poland the world mourns with you.

Katyn massacre claims more victims wrote Laurie Bennett shortly after the news of the plane crash that killed Poland's president Lech Kaczynski and much of Poland's leadership in Russia as they traveled to honor the memory of the victims of Katyn. A historic crime that still reverberates through history to the present day. 22,000 Polish officers captured by the Soviets during the 1939 invasion of Poland [ part of a simultaneous invasion by both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union - agreed to in the Molotov Ribbentrop non-aggression pact

There is the crime itself: the murder of the Polish officer class on the orders of Josef Stalin and the denial of the crime for a half century. The film Katyn by Andrzej Wajda, son of one of the officers murdered on Stalin's orders at the Katyn forest directed it. A trailer is available below.



Among the dead, Anna Walentynowicz, dubbed the 'Godmother' of the Polish Solidarity movement. Her firing in August of 1980 at the Gdansk ship yard led to a series of strikes that paralyzed Poland and led to the formation of Solidarity. The men and women on the flight that crashed were people who sought to remember and not forget Katyn.

The movie Strike!(2007) is a fictionalized version of her story. Below a trailer for the film:

Tribute to Cuba's Ladies in White as they walk on for freedom

They can either kills us, put us in jail or release them. We will never stop marching no matter what happens. - Laura Pollán, Lady in White, Cuba March 2010



A tribute to Cuba's Ladies in White (Damas de Blanco) and their husbands, brothers, fathers, and sons imprisoned for exercising their fundamental human rights. Most of the prisoners of conscience pictured in the video have been imprisoned since the Cuban Black Spring which began on March 18, 2003 over 7 years ago.

Black Spring Prisoners Who Remain in Prison:

Pedro Argüelles Morán, Victor Arroyo Carmona, Mijail Bárzaga Lugo, Oscar Elias Biscet, Marcelo Cano Rodríguez, Antonio Díaz Sánchez, Eduardo Diaz Fleitas, Alfredo Domínguez Batista, Adolfo Fernández Saínz, Efren Fernández Fernández, José Ferrer García, Luis Ferrer García, Alfredo Felipe Fuentes, Próspero Gaínza Agüero, Miguel Galván Gutiérrez, Julio Gálvez Rodríguez, José García Paneque, Diosdado González Marrero, Jorge González Tanquero, Lester González Pentón, Ricardo González Alfonso, Leonel Grave de Peralta Almenares, Iván Hernández Carrillo, Normando Hernández González, Juan Herrera Acosta, Régis Iglesias Ramírez, José Izquierdo Hernández, Librado Linares García, José Martínez Hernández, Héctor Maseda Gutiérrez, Luis Milán Fernández, Nelson Molinet Espino, Angel Moya Acosta, Jesús Felipe Mustafá, Félix Navarro Rodríguez, Pablo Pacheco Ávila, Arturo Pérez de Alejo Rodríguez, Horacio Piña Borrego, Fabio Prieto Llorente, Alfredo Pulido López, Arnaldo Ramos Lauzerique, Blas Reyes Rodríguez, Alexis Rodríguez Fernández, Omar Rodríguez Saludes, Omar Ruíz Hernández, Claro Sánchez Altarriba, Ariel Sigler Amaya, Guido Sigler Amaya, Ricardo Silva Gual, Fidel Suarez Cruz, Manuel Ubals González, Héctor Valle Hernández, Antonio Villarreal Acosta.

Parallel Deaths: Orlando Zapata Tamayo & Bobby Sands

Orlando Zapata & Bobby Sands










"Tyrants tremble when they are faced with men who are willing to die for their ideas. After 60 days on a hunger strike, following the example of Christ's 3 days on Calvary which for centuries has been a symbol of human sacrifice, it is time to put an end to this disgusting atrocity through denunciations and pressure by the world community."*

Fidel Castro (on Irish hunger strikers Bobby Sands et al) 68th Inter-Parliamentary Union Conference September 15, 1981

On the face of it their lives could not have been more different. Other than being born on an island and the way they died their lives should be a study in contrasts. One was a nationalist and socialist revolutionary who embraced an armed struggle against his oppressor and died on hunger strike demanding that his status as a political prisoner be recognized while the other an advocate of non-violent civic resistance to oppression and human rights activist would die on hunger strike demanding that his status as a prisoner of conscience be recognized and that prison conditions be improved. Although their methods of struggle while out on the street where extremely different within their respective prisons suffering beatings, and numerous indignities both sought to highlight the injustice they were suffering by means of a non-violent tactic: the hunger strike. Others have asked the question: what would you die for? They gave the world an answer that make tyrants tremble: Freedom.

Bobby Sands (pictured above far left) photo from Bobby Sands Trust

Bobby Sands
Robert Gerard Sands born on March 9, 1954 in Rathcoole, a predominantly loyalist district of north Belfast in Northern Ireland. Bobby Sands at 16 years old was an apprentice coach builder but two years later he was intimidated by men with guns out of his apprenticeship and then four years later in June of 1972 he and his family were intimidated out of their home. At the age of 18 he joined the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) and by October of 1972 Bobby was arrested and guns were found in his possession. He would spend three years in prison with political prisoner status released in 1976 he returned to his unit and continued to wage war on the British. Six months later arrested again in a car with a revolver with three other young men near the scene of a bomb attack on the the Balmoral Furniture Company at Dunmurry, followed by a gun-battle.



Within six months Bobby was arrested again. There had been a bomb attack on the Balmoral Furniture Company at Dunmurry, followed by a gun-battle in which two men were wounded. Although judge admitted no evidence to link the men with the bombing the four were sentenced to 14 years each for possession of the one revolver. He continued his struggle behind bars writing articles for opposition newspapers smuggling the handwritten articles and letters out on tiny pieces of toilet paper. A short excerpt reproduced here:

I am a political prisoner. I am a political prisoner because I am a casualty of a perennial war that is being fought between the oppressed Irish people and an alien, oppressive, unwanted regime that refuses to withdraw from our land.

I believe and stand by the God-given right of the Irish nation to sovereign independence, and the right of any Irishman or woman to assert this right in armed revolution. That is why I am incarcerated, naked and tortured.

The British sought to treat the Irish Republicans and their violent struggle as a criminal matter ignoring the political dimension and stopped recognizing them as political prisoners. Add to that beatings and poor living conditions and the stage was set for the hunger strike. Bobby insisted on starting two weeks ahead of the others so that his death might secure their demands and save the others lives.



During the first 17-days of the hunger strike he kept a secret diary written on toilet paper in biro pen. On March 23rd he was moved to the prison hospital. On March 30th Bobby was nominated as candidate for UK parliament and won the seat on 9 April 1981, with 30,493 votes to 29,046. At 1.17 a.m. on Tuesday, May 5th, having completed sixty-five days on hunger-strike, Bobby Sands MP, died in the H-Block prison hospital at Long Kesh.

Orlando Zapata Tamayo

Orlando Zapata Tamayo born in Santiago, Cuba in 1967 was by vocation a brick layer and he was also a human rights activist, a member of the Movimiento Alternativa Republicana, Alternative Republican Movement, and of the Consejo Nacional de Resistencia Cívica, National Civic Resistance Committee. He had gathered signatures for the Varela Project, a citizen initiative to amend the Cuban constitution using legal means with the aim of bringing it in line with international human rights standards.

Amnesty International had documented how Orlando had been arrested several times in the past. For example he was temporarily detained on 3 July 2002 and 28 October 2002. In November of 2002 after taking part in a workshop on human rights in the central Havana park, José Martí, he and eight other government opponents were arrested and later released. He was also arrested on December 6, 2002 along with fellow prisoners of conscience Oscar Elías Biscet and Raúl Arencibia Fajardo. Dr. Biscet just released from prison a month earlier had sought to form a grassroots project for the promotion of human rights called "Friends of Human Rights." State security prevented them from entering the home of Raúl Arencibia Fajardo, Oscar Biscet, Orlando Zapata Tamayo, Virgilio Marante Güelmes and 12 others held a sit-in in the street in protest and chanted "long live human rights" and "freedom for political prisoners." They were then arrested and taken to the Tenth Unit of the National Revolutionary Police, Décima Unidad de La Policía Nacional Revolucionaria (PNR), in Havana.

Orlando Zapata Tamayo was released three months later on March 8, 2003, but Oscar Elias Biscet, Virgilio Marante Güelmes, and Raúl Arencibia Fajardo remained imprisoned.

On the morning of March 20, 2003 whilst taking part in a fast at the Fundación Jesús Yánez Pelletier, Jesús Yánez Pelletier Foundation, in Havana, to demand the release of Oscar Biscet and the other political prisoners. Orlando was taken to the Villa Marista State Security Headquarters. He was moved around several prisons, including Quivicán Prison, Guanajay Prison, and Combinado del Este Prison in Havana. Where according to Amnesty International on October 20, 2003 Orlando was dragged along the floor of Combinado del Este Prison by prison officials after requesting medical attention, leaving his back full of lacerations. Orlando managed to smuggle a letter out following a brutal beating it was published in April of 2004:

My dear brothers in the internal opposition in Cuba. I have many things to say to you, but I did not want to do it with paper and ink, because I hope to go to you one day when our country is free without the Castro dictatorship. Long live human rights, with my blood I wrote to you so that this be saved as evidence of the savagery we are subjected to...

On May 18, 2004 Orlando Zapata Tamayo, Virgilio Marante Güelmes, and Raúl Arencibia Fajardo were each sentenced to three years in prison for contempt for authority, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest in a one-day trial. Orlando Zapata Tamayo would continue his rebelliousness and his non-violent resistance posture while in prison and suffer numerous beatings and new charges of disobedience and disrespect leading to decades added to his prison sentence in eight additional trials.

He began is hunger strike on December 3, 2009 refusing to wear the uniform of a common prisoner and because his books and food were confiscated when he was transferred as punishment to Kilo 8 prison in Camaguey. Never for one moment were demands responded to by either his jailers or the political police. During the water only hunger strike in an effort to break his spirit officials denied him water for more than two weeks. He was also taken to Amalia Simoni and left exposed in a room with the air conditioning set very cold which produced a pneumonia which worsened his already critical condition. Orlando Zapata Tamayo died 82 days later on February 23, 2010.

During this process they attempted to keep family and relatives away from Orlando Zapata Tamayo and officials also secretly video taped his relatives when they met with doctors to later broadcast edited footage on official television and prepare a narrative to justify the death of Orlando. Finally to add insult to injury officials of the Cuban dictatorship have slandered Orlando Zapata Tamayo's name in death while having to cover up their own past recognition of him as a dissident in the dictatorship's own published book: "Los disidentes" by Luis Báez and Rosa Miriam Elizalde made public on June 24, 2003 where Orlando Zapata Tamayo appears in a number of photos with prominent members of the opposition. On March 4, 2010 speaking from his prison cell Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet sought to set the record straight on Orlando Zapata Tamayo.

Zapata Tamayo was a man of the nonviolent civic struggle in its theoretical & practical aspects and expressed his heroic courage and intelligence - the most difficult in non-violent resistance in his direct action - the hunger strike until the death to achieve his objectives of basic freedoms. ... Zapata Tamayo had to suffer a double portion of this cruel discrimination for his humanitarian ideas and for being a person of color. ..."The government of Raul Castro exacerbated all its hatred, racial discrimination & torture until his death. This death is nothing less than an extrajudicial killing

Former Cuban prisoner of conscience Raúl Arencibia Fajardo now out of prison angrily denounced the government slanders of Orlando Zapata Tamayo, a day after he heard the Cuban dictatorship's foreign minister libel the now deceased prisoner of conscience.

"I feel outraged by the lies of the Cuban foreign minister in Geneva and I am here to expose his lies. I knew Orlando Zapata for a long time in Cuba and I participated with him in many political activities...

The rest of the statement in Spanish is available in the video below:

Behind bars and faced with an assault on their dignity both men resorted to a civic nonviolent tactic - the hunger strike to defend their rights and expose injustice while demanding freedom. Bobby Sands writing in his Prison Diary on day 17 of his hunger strike stated it simply and powerfully: "If they aren’t able to destroy the desire for freedom, they won’t break you. They won’t break me because the desire for freedom, and the freedom of the Irish people, is in my heart."

Sadly, the non-violent spirit of the hunger strike did not spread into the rest of the IRA movement and riots would eventually break out again in Northern Ireland which British forces were able to crush but for a period of time the hunger strikers forced the world to take notice at what was taking place inside of the prisons. In the Cuban struggle the opposition on the island has taken the decision to carry out a non-violent struggle. The Ladies in White, mothers, sisters, daughters, and wives have taken to the street and despite being brutalized, beaten, and bones broken continued to march for seven days during the Cuban Black Spring anniversary. It is a good sign that the opposition has the discipline and the toughness to stick to nonviolence and that is bad news for the dictatorship and good news for the Cuban people.

*By the time that the dictator made the above statement at least three men had died on hunger strike protesting the cruel and inhumane situation in the prisons and in the country their names and dates of their deaths: Carmelo Cuadra Hernández on April 21, 1969, Pedro Luis Boitel Abraham on May 25, 1972, Olegario Charlot Espileta on January 15, 1973