Protest against new wave of repression in Cuba to take place Nov. 8th outside Cuban embassy in DC

"There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest." - Elie Wiesel, Nobel Lecture 1986

Protest for the freedom of all Cuban political prisoners will be held on Friday, November 8, 2019 at 12 noon in front of the Cuban Embassy (2630 16th St NW, Washington, DC 20009).

Cuba Decide, a citizen initiative to change the political and economic system in Cuba via a nonviolent process of transition towards democracy, is circulating the following images, calling for the protest, and highlighting the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU) members who have been detained since October 1, 2019. The most high profile of the four arbitrarily detained is José Daniel Ferrer García, the leader of the organization. UNPACU was formed in 2011 and describes itself as a non-violent political organization.

Amnesty International on October 8, 2019 issued an Urgent Action titled Opposition Leader Detained (CUBA: UA 134.19) for Cuban opposition activist José Daniel Ferrer García. In the Urgent Action the human rights organization outlines the basis for this campaign:

"On 1 October 2019, Cuban authorities detained José Daniel Ferrer García, leader of the unofficial political opposition group “Patriotic Union of Cuba” (Unión Patriótica de Cuba - UNPACU) in Santiago de Cuba. He was held incommunicado for 72 hours and remains in detention without charges. Ferrer García should be informed of the charges against him or should otherwise be released, have access to lawyers of his choosing and to his family, as well as access to medical care."

This detention, along with three other members of the UNPACU group, coincides with Amnesty International’s naming of six Cuban prisoners of conscience in in August and September of 2019. The Urgent Action for José Daniel will continue through November 19, 2019, and all are welcome to take part.

There are systemic and profound problems with the Cuban legal system. On September 11, 2019 the Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights released an important report analyzing the new Cuban constitution and the overall administration of the legal system in Cuba and concluded, in part, that:

"We have found that Cuban laws lack the necessary protections to ensure respect for due process and other human rights of persons accused of committing crimes. The guarantees that do exist are not respected by authorities in the majority of cases of independent activists."

The Castro regime has a long history of slandering and libeling opponents of the regime. The 2012 book Ready, Aim, Fire! Character Assassination in Cuba by Rafael Rojas analyses how the Cuban dictatorship systematically destroys reputations with a sustained mix of falsehoods, and exaggerations. Carlos Alberto Montaner in a 2011 presentation on the topic described how it is an intrinsic part of totalitarian regimes and its language of exclusion.

Article 11 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognizes the presumption of innocence as a legal right of the accused in a criminal trial. However in a regime where the prosecution, judge and defense attorney must respond to the demands of the dictator how can the legal burden of proof be met, and triers of fact recognized as legitimate?

This is why on Friday, November 8, 2019 at 12 noon in front of the Cuban Embassy in Washington DC. (2630 16th St NW, Washington, DC 20009) people in good faith will peacefully gather to protest for the freedom of all of Cuba's political prisoners on the eve of the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Cuban Embassy in Washington, D.C.