Former prisoner of conscience and Christian Liberation Movement spokesman addresses the World Movement for Democracy

Statement by Regis Iglesias, Christian Liberation Movement spokesman upon receiving on behalf of the Cuban opposition movement the Democracy Courage Tribute from the World Movement for Democracy (WMD)

Cubans have lived under dictatorships or totalitarian regimes for over half a century.

Our situation is dramatic. 50 years without freedom of expression, freedom of association, without economic rights for citizens. Cubans do not have freedom of movement. The Cuban family is divided, our Nation is divided and popular sovereignty is trampled on by the oligarchs in power.

I have the privilege to receive this recognition that is being given to us today, on behalf of all Cubans throughout this painful time have worked and fought for the rights of the Cuban people. Men and women like  Ofelia Acevedo, Ernesto Martini, Librado Linares, Eduardo Diaz, Jorge García Perez, (Antunez), Sara Fonseca, Rosa Rodriguez, Ivan Hernandez who like many others still resist there in Cuba, beset by brutal repression.

I receive it on behalf of more than 25,000 citizens that in the midst of terror have demanded the regime hold a plebiscite for their rights, on behalf of thousands of activists for freedom that in the face of fraudulent change that the joint military-economic junta of the island want to sell  give their support to "El Camino del Pueblo" [The People's Path]. I receive it in the name of Felix Navarro, Angel Moya, Ezequiel Morales, Berta Soler, Rosa María Paya, Narviel Hernandez, Orlando Luis Pardo and many, many more. None of them can be here today, as you, because the joint military-economic junta on the island doesn't permit them to leave their own country. Fraudulent changes announced by the Cuban regime do not include all rights for all Cubans.

But above all I want to receive this recognition for all my countrymen, for all the martyrs who along more than half a century of totalitarianism have generously given their lives for liberation. On behalf of Pedro Luis Boitel, Sebastian Arcos, Orlando Zapata, Julio Ruiz Pitaluga, Laura Pollan.. Also for Harold Cepero and Oswaldo Paya for whom we will not rest until the truth is known about their deaths and we urge the international community to support an independent investigation that finally recognizes the crime.

With the decision of the Cuban people and your solidarity, of all men and women of good will in the world some day justice will arrive to our beloved Cuban land, the truth will have its temple. Cuba reborn and free all her children be reconciled tired of both despotism and hatred.

Truth and love will reign in our beloved island. We need our Latin American brothers, our democratic friends around the world to be with us now, that their commitment be on the side of the Cuban people who are suffering and have no rights. Dictatorships only despotic and oppressive systems that generally in the name of national sovereignty restrict popular sovereignty and leave citizens without rights.  

Thank you for walking in solidarity with Cubans all these years the steps have brought us closer to freedom, thank you that together we will realize that day long dreamed by us. 

Regis Iglesias


Palabras de Regis Iglesias, portavoz del Movimiento Cristiano Liberación, al recibir en nombre del movimiento opositor cubano el Premio al Valor del Movimiento Mundial por la Democracia (WMD)

Los cubanos hemos vivido bajo regímenes dictatoriales o totalitarios por mas de medio siglo.

Nuestra situación es dramática. 50 años sin libertad de expresión, sin libertad de asociación, sin derechos económicos para los ciudadanos. Los cubanos no tenemos libertad de movimiento. La familia cubana esta dividida, nuestra Nación esta dividida y la soberanía popular es pisoteada por los oligarcas en el poder.

Tengo el privilegio de recibir este reconocimiento que hoy se nos entrega., en nombre de todos los cubanos que a lo largo de este tiempo doloroso han trabajado y luchado por los derechos del pueblo cubano. Hombres y mujeres como Ofelia Acevedo, Ernesto Martini, Librado Linares, Eduardo Diaz, Jorge García Perez, (Antunez), Sara Fonseca, Rosa Rodriguez, Ivan Hernandez que como muchos otros aun resisten allí, en Cuba, acosados por la brutal represión.

Lo recibo en nombre de los más de 25,000 ciudadanos que en medio del terror han demandado al régimen un plebiscito por sus derechos, en nombre de miles de activistas por la libertad que frente al cambio fraude que nos quiere vender la junta económico militar de la isla dan su apoyo al documento El Camino del Pueblo. Lo recibo a nombre de Felix Navarro, Angel Moya, Ezequiel Morales, Berta Soler, Rosa María Paya, Narviel Hernandez, Orlando Luis Pardo y muchos, muchos mas. Ninguno de ellos puede hoy estar aquí, como ustedes, porque la junta económico militar en la isla no les permite salir de su propio país. Los cambios fraudes que anuncia el régimen cubano no incluyen todos los derechos para todos los cubanos.

Pero sobre todo quiero recibir este reconocimiento por todos mis compatriotas, por todos los mártires que a lo largo de mas de medio siglo de totalitarismo han dado sus vidas generosas por la liberación. En nombre de Pedro Luis Boitel, Sebastian Arcos, Orlando Zapata, Julio Ruiz Pitaluga, Laura Pollan. También en el de Harold Cepero y Oswaldo Paya por quienes no descansaremos hasta que la verdad sobre sus muertes sea conocida e instamos a la comunidad internacional a que apoye una investigación independiente que finalmente reconozca el crimen.

Con la decisión de los cubanos y la solidaridad de ustedes, de todos los hombres y mujeres de buena voluntad del mundo la justicia llegara algún día a nuestra amada tierra cubana, la verdad tendrá su templo. Cuba renacerá y libres se reconciliaran todos sus hijos cansados de tanto despotismo y odio.

La verdad y el amor reinaran en nuestra amada isla. Necesitamos que nuestros hermanos latinoamericanos, nuestros amigos demócratas de todo el mundo estén con nosotros ahora, que su compromiso esté del lado pueblo cubano que sufre y no tiene derechos . Las dictaduras solo sistemas despóticos y opresivos que por lo general en nombre de la soberanía nacional coartan la soberanía popular y dejan a los ciudadanos sin derechos..

Gracias a ustedes por caminar solidarios junto a los cubanos todos estos años los pasos que nos han acercado a la libertad, gracias porque juntos podremos hacer realidad ese día largamente soñado por nosotros.

Regis Iglesias

http://www.proyecto-varela.org/?p=246

Hunger Strike underway in Cuba raises moral and ethical considerations

"After feeling how my health has worsened due to spending several days on hunger strike, and reacting to what appeared in various media about the start date and the demand of the protest I want to clarify the following.
First: I started the hunger strike on Friday, September 7 at 6 pm and not on Monday, 10 as did other opposition activists after giving a press conference.

Second: My demand is the release of political prisoner Jorge Vázquez Chaviano, or failing that to give a satisfactory solution acceptable to him.  I am also protesting for the deplorable human rights situation in Cuba that passes through the policy of systematic persecution against my person which means in practice house arrest.

Third: For reasons of principle and not confiding on the existing health care system, controlled by the political police, I do not accept medical attention. From what follows above only in a state of unconsciousness, relatives and countrymen by their own initiative, motivated by humanitarian feelings, will surely transfer me to a health center." - Jorge Luis García Pérez "Antúnez" Message to Cubans inside and outside of Cuba

Jorge Luis García Pérez "Antúnez" on hunger strike

"We respect any person who goes on a hunger strike. That method of struggle is not ours. We're women who are never going to do it, and although we disapprove of it, we're going to give them all the moral and spiritual support we can." - Berta Soler, Leader of the Ladies in White Movement

This evening Bertha Antunez sat down and explained the reasons that a large group of Cubans have decided to take the unprecedented action of going on hunger strike to demand the freedom of an unjustly imprisoned compatriot. Among the activists who are now risking their lives is her brother, Jorge Luis García Pérez "Antúnez". She is extremely worried about her brother and the others who have resorted to this course of action.

"Antúnez" began the hunger strike at 6pm on September 7, 2012 and today marks nine days on hunger strike with his health in decline. There are several reasons that led Jorge Luis to take this drastic course of action and for so many others to join him:

An ongoing crackdown in which scores of activists have been harassed, terrorized, beaten and detained that his been intensifying along with a failure of the international press to report on it. In the month of August alone there were over 500 documented politically motivated arrests. In addition opposition leaders such as Oswaldo Paya and Laura Pollan have died under suspicious circumstances.

The escalation of violence led to the destruction of the home of nonviolent activist Misahel Valdés Díaz, who was also detained by State Security agents. His wife and child were also terrorized during the attack.

Finally, Jorge Vázquez Chaviano who was unjustly imprisoned while traveling to Havana to attend the Mass of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI and sentenced to prison until September 9, 2012 was not released.

Jorge Vázquez Chaviano began his own hunger strike as September 9 gave way to September 10 and he had not been released. More than 20 others joined in during the following days including the dissident economist Marta Beatriz Roque. 

The Cuban Catholic Church has expressed its concerns regarding the hunger strikers stating that they are following events closely and praying for them. At the same time the Church spokesman has stated that the Church opposes hunger strikes as a form of auto-aggression even when it is in the defense of the right to that very life. This position was also held by the Church in Ireland with IRA hunger strikers in 1981. The Ladies in White also appear to hold this position.

The Cuban Church's position raises a logical question. It appears that hunger strikes are unacceptable under any circumstances even when it is in the defense of one's own life.  Now the Cathecism of the Catholic Church has a doctrine of "legitimate defense which states in part:

2263 The legitimate defense of persons and societies is not an exception to the prohibition against the murder of the innocent that constitutes intentional killing. "The act of self-defense can have a double effect: the preservation of one's own life; and the killing of the aggressor. . . . The one is intended, the other is not."

2264 Love toward oneself remains a fundamental principle of morality. Therefore it is legitimate to insist on respect for one's own right to life. Someone who defends his life is not guilty of murder even if he is forced to deal his aggressor a lethal blow:

If a man in self-defense uses more than necessary violence, it will be unlawful: whereas if he repels force with moderation, his defense will be lawful. . . . Nor is it necessary for salvation that a man omit the act of moderate self-defense to avoid killing the other man, since one is bound to take more care of one's own life than of another's.⁶⁶

2265 Legitimate defense can be not only a right but a grave duty for one who is responsible for the lives of others.[...]

 If one's life is in danger, or that of a compatriot, and undertaking a hunger strike as a means to defend one's own life or the life of another although causing measurable harm to avoid a greater harm not morally justifiable? This is not to say that all hunger strikes are morally justifiable or well thought out but that at least in principle under certain circumstances some of them constitute a legitimate defense.



Nonviolence expert, Michael Nagler in an Introduction to Nonviolence filmed at the University of California at Berkeley in the fall of 2006 offered the following analysis on hunger strikes within a nonviolent context in the video above starting at 46 minutes and 38 seconds stating:
 

"This is not a case of suicide. You are not killing yourself. You are risking death. What you are doing is putting your life into the hands of another person." ... "You are not killing yourself but you are saying to the person that your behavior is so unacceptable that if you continue it its going to kill me. It is an extreme case of taking on the suffering that is in a situation." ...This is different from a threat because what you are saying to the person is "I am going to exhibit to you mirror back to you the ultimate consequences of what you are doing." ... "This is an act of truth. You are killing us - you are killing our people and I'm going to show you that you are doing it to awaken your conscience."...Thats why you have to be carrying on a conversation on a nonverbal level.

There are several questions that any individual contemplating the extreme action of going on hunger strike should contemplate. First, are there any other out of the over 198 nonviolent actions that can be taken that should be tried before resorting to this life risking action? Secondly, who are you trying to persuade into changing their behavior?  Do they care whether you live or die? Third, is this a life or death situation that requires placing your life on the line? Finally, can you succeed in achieving your objective.

Others have tried and failed whereas others have succeeded in using this tactic in Cuba under the current regime.  It is of utmost importance that activists considering this course of action to analyze their particular situation to determine the moral, ethical, and strategic soundness of such an extreme course of action. At the same time those who wish to question the soundness of their decisions must also take into account the circumstances that these human rights defenders confront in a totalitarian communist dictatorship that systematically violates human rights and dignity.

Mother remains on hunger strike in Cuba after 14 days

Damaris Moya Portieles is protesting rape threats against her six-year old daughter by Castro agents.

Damaris Moya Portieles and her six-year-old daughter Lázara Contreras Moya

You live in a police state under a one party dictatorship in which government agents operate with complete impunity. The last time you were detained the secret police and their agents spent hours describing in detail how they would brutally rape your 5 year old. What would you do? What could you do?

Damaris Moya Portieles has been on hunger strike for the past 14 days demanding justice. She began the hunger strike on June 3, 2012.  She is protesting the rape threat against her six-year old daughter made by Castro regime agents. Now the dictatorship threatens to prosecute Damaris for not sending her daughter to school. This despite the fact that she fears to  send her child there while the Cuban regime agents that threatened to rape her daughter have not been held accountable. Its been more than month since the threats were made.


A mother's plea for her daughter calls for solidarity

On Sunday, June 17 in a video posted on youtube her mother, Bárbara Moya Portieles,  made an impassioned plea for help and solidarity from the international community for her daughter's life explaining that she is fearful for her daughter and knows that State Security oversaw the deaths on hunger strike of Orlando Zapata Tamayo and Wilman Villar Mendoza and will do the same with Damaris.

The Inter American Commission on Human Rights on June 12, 2012 released a precautionary measure for  Damaris Moya Portieles and her six-year-old daughter Lázara Contreras Moya.  It calls for taking the necessary measures to protect the life and physical integrity of the mother and daughter while at the same time calling for an investigation.

At the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on June 7, 2012 Jorge Garcia Perez "Antunez" reported that Ms. Damaris Moya Portieles is on a hunger strike because the political police threatened to sexually abuse and rape her six-year-old daughter Lázara Contreras Moya. 

On May 3, 2012 the Cuban Democratic Directorate published the following:

Human rights activist and member of the Rosa Parks Movement for Civil Rights, Damaris Moya Portieles, denounced on the morning of Thursday, May 3rd 2012 that in addition to having been victim of a violent arrest along with other dissidents during the previous Wednesday night, State Security and political police agents threatened to rape her 5 year old daughter. 

According to Portieles, the main culprit of this threat was the State Security agent Eric Francis Aquino Yera. “The worst part of the entire night of my detention was when State Security officials and penal guards started to shout insults at me, among them saying that my 5 year old daughter, Lazara Contreras Moya, was going to be raped”, said Moya Portieles upon being released, “They told me, ‘Damaris, we are going to rape your daughter’. I cannot repeat the very cruel words they used, but they told me: ‘We are going to stick a penis up the behind of your daughter’,‘Your little girl is skinny, we can easily crack her’ and ‘We are going to rape her whether it be by the back or by the front’. 

This is the most horrible thing that a mother could hear about one of her children”, she affirmed. Upon being released at around 11:00am, the first thing that Moya Portieles did was to head to the school where her daughter studies and took her home. The activist explained that she feels lots of fear, not for her, but for her child. For this reason, Moya made a decision to not allow her daughter to go to school until the repressor, Eric Francis Aquino Yera, is taken before a tribunal and faces charges for threatening to rape a minor.

Damaris Moya and her husband explained that they were on their way to the Public Prosecutors Office of Santa Clara to present their demands and complaints, and that they would later travel to the capital- Havana- to complete the rest of the denouncement process, despite the fact that both dissidents feel that such efforts will be in vain.

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.

Cuban Human Rights Defender Yris Tamara Pérez Aguilera Missing Since September 26, 2011

Arrested, Beaten and Disappeared by Cuban state security agents on September 26, 2011

Yris Pérez Aguilera
Missing Since 9/26

Update Sunday 10/2/11: Finally, after 6 days since they went missing Yris Pérez Aguilera Donaida Pérez Paseiro, and Yaimara Reyes Mesa were finally released in Placetas today. Badly beaten up and emaciated from a hunger strike carried out while under detention. News of the release was tweeted at 1:00pm by Antúnez and confirmed later by his sister in exile Bertha. There whereabouts had been unknown since Monday, September 26.


The last time her husband heard from Yris Pérez Aguilera was Monday morning. Over the next five days Jorge Luis García Pérez “Antúnez” has demanded to see his wife. Yesterday, on Friday September 30, 2011 he formally declared her disappeared after not having received a satisfactory reply from the authorities.

An obvious question presents itself. What was Yris Pérez Aguilera doing that Cuban state security officials would arrest, beat and disappear her? Antúnez reveals the answer when he describes the last time he spoke with his wife was on the morning of September 26, 2011:

"when from the neighborhood Río Verde, in Havana, she communicated to me that at that movement she was going outside with other activists in a march to demand the freedom of Sara Marta Fonseca Quevedo and the rest of the activists who had been arrested."

Reports from others who participated in the march, and saw what transpired, such as Julio León Fonseca, the son of imprisoned activist Sara Marta, reported that state security agents unleashed their fury against Yris, Donaida Pérez Paseiro, and Yaimara Reyes Mesa brutally beating and kicking the three women.

Yaimara Reyes Mesa, also brutalized and arrested on September 26

Jorge Luis García Pérez “Antúnez” reported on the evening of September 30, 2011 that "until this moment we have had no news about them. We have observed something very worrying and that is, since the arrest, my home has been under a permanent siege. Numerous political police are nearby within twenty or thirty meters of my home. Telephones continue to be blocked, that is to say with the typical dial tone when they are deactivated."

He also makes the following chilling observation:

"My wife, therefore, in the place that they might have her, if she is alive, must be in an extremely critical health situation. She suffers from diabetes, asthma and epilepsy, and she has become accustomed, on principle, during each of these arrests to maintain a hunger and thirst strike against the arbitrariness of this arrest."

In the early morning hours of Saturday, October 1, 2011 two questions arise: What have agents of the Castro dictatorship done with Yris Pérez Aguilera? Considering under the conditions they were last seen; why are so many so silent to the disappearance of this human rights defender and her two colleagues Donaida Pérez Paseiro and Yaimara Reyes Mesa?

Unfortunately, a third unspoken question was already answered by her sister in law, Bertha Antunez, who on September 22, 2011 at the We Have a Dream Human Rights Summit in New York City said, “If the world remains silent, there will be more deaths and the regime will continue to repress and humiliate our people.”

Governments, press and international organizations are failing to speak out in sufficient numbers it is up to citizen activists to make the difference. In other words it is up to you to speak out for those who no longer can because they have been silenced and disappeared.

What are you waiting for? Spread the word. Take a few minutes and denounce this injustice. Call your elected representative. Call in to a radio talk show. Write a blog entry. Tweet about it. Post it on facebook. Do something! Their lives depend on it.

Repression Weekend in Cuba

Reports of yet another weekend of repression arrive via twitter stream along with audio and video recordings. Reports appeared on Friday that more than 30 Cuban dissidents had been detained to prevent them from carrying out a nonviolent march. Guillermo Fariñas who was released after 25 hours in custody in the city of Santa Clara, Cuba said that more than 40 dissidents had been detained in the province of Villa Clara. The Latin American Herald Tribune placed the detentions in their context:

According to the independent journalist, more than 40 people in Santa Clara and other towns in Villa Clara province, as well as in the nearby provinces of Sancti Spiritus and Cienfuegos, were arrested after planning to participate in a peaceful march.

The title given to the protest made reference to two late dissidents – Pedro Luis Boitel and Orlando Zapata – who died in 1972 and 2010, respectively, after lengthy hunger strikes behind bars.

An SOS from Jorge Garcia Perez "Antunez" over twitter on Saturday to people of goodwill from around the world is extremely worrying in which he asked: "raise your voice for Yris, she is imprisoned in bad health, chest & stomach swollen, vomiting."

Earlier this summer, on July 6, 2011, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights issued precautionary measures for Yris Tamara Pérez Aguilera: as a result of a new attack she suffered on May 25, 2011, she is suffering from cervical trauma, memory loss, and headaches, and has not been provided with the medical treatment she needs. The Inter-American Commission asked the State of Cuba to adopt any necessary measures to guarantee the life and physical integrity of Yris Tamara Pérez Aguilera; to reach agreement with the beneficiary and her representatives on the measures to be adopted; and to inform the Commission about the actions taken to investigate the facts that led to the adoption of precautionary measures.

Following the denunciations of her health situation and unjust imprisonment on Saturday, some good news received today, Sunday, that although both in poor health and physically deteriorated, Yris Tamara Pérez Aguilera had been released along with Donaida Pérez Paseiro:



Also on Saturday, youth leader Rolando Rodriguez Lobaina tweeted that "various activists had been detained today in Bayamo when attempting to carry out the March for Liberty Boitel and Zapata Live!

Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia on Sunday uploaded compelling video footage from the island demonstrating organized acts of repudiation against the Ladies in White from their last visit to the Cathedral in Santiago, Cuba two Sundays ago and tweeted, "Ladies in White persecuted by Castro repressors upon exiting Cathedral in Santiago" with a link to the following video:



Under the video description in Spanish an explanation of what is taking place and where and when is given:

"This video is from the last Sunday that they marched in the streets of Santiago upon exiting Mass in the Cathedral. Both this Sunday and last they did not assist mass because they were occupied organizing assistance to the families of more than a dozen who were detained in Palma Soriano, Santiago de Cuba. Once the detained and their families have a better coordinated and more efficient assistance, they will return to attend Mass and ask for political prisoners and the respect for human rights."

However, the verbal and physical attacks against dissidents continued on Sunday and video footage was captured of an act of repudiation which Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia manage to post on youtube and twitter:



Jose Daniel analyzes what is taking place in the video above and its significance stating,

"In it you see and hear the Castroite mobs offending with obscene language nonviolent opposition activists that are victims of a fascist act prepared by the political police of the dictatorship of Raul and Fidel Castro. These are the famous revolutionaries of the Castros, the vulgar and aggressive fruit of the moral degradation engendered for more than half a century by the communist dictatorship. To those with a good understanding this video is sufficient for them to know the essence of the Castro dictatorship."

Since the month of July every weekend has been one of repression in Cuba but increasingly one is seeing that resistance is on the upswing in Cuban society and the increasingly desperate nature of the repression is a sign that the dictatorship fears that they are losing control.

SOS: Yris Tamara Pérez Aguilera on hunger strike in Cuba

"I have learned over the years that when one's mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear." -Rosa Parks

Yris Tamara Pérez Aguilera

There are days when the 140 characters contained in a single tweet can leave a profound impact. Today was such a day when I read the following from the twitter account of Cuban democratic opposition leader Jorge Garcia Perez "Antunez":

antunezcuba A las 4pm, mi esposa Yris comenzó huelga de hambre exigiendo atención médica con dignidad y libertad de movimiento.#cuba

That translates into English as follows:

antunezcuba At 4pm, my wife Yris began a hunger strike demanding medical attention with dignity and freedom of movement. #Cuba

Yris Tamara Pérez Aguilera and Jorge Garcia Perez "Antunez"

Antunez is referring to his wife, Yris Tamara Pérez Aguilera who back on May 25 was detained by Cuban state security while engaged in a peaceful demonstrations then brutalized by a state security agent nicknamed the weightlifter and held incommunicado until protests and international scrutiny obtained her reappearance bruised, battered and incoherent on May 27. The days have passed into weeks but the symptoms persist and state security is now interfering with her ability to obtain proper medical attention.

This has led this woman, a disciple of Rosa Parks, to begin a hunger strike demanding that the Cuban regime respect her dignity as a human being and her right to freedom of movement to visit a medical doctor and obtain care.

The bottom line is that the dictatorship in Cuba does not care about the life of Yris Tamara Pérez Aguilera but it does care about both national and international reaction with regards to her plight. Unfortunately there have been other cases were women of African descent have been beaten up by agents of the Cuban regime. Without international media attention the dictatorship has not had to pay a political price and encouraged has increased its brutality.

The fact that Yris is of African descent and that the dictatorship in Cuba has come under increased scrutiny for its mistreatment of Cubans of African descent means that attention to her plight can make a difference. In a real sense her life is in all of our hands. Speak out for Yris. Tell your friends and family about her. Write a letter to the editor. Write a letter to the dictatorship in Cuba. Call in to a radio talk show. Please do something her life depends on it.

Cuba: A place where asking questions can lead you to prison

"I have learned over the years that when one's mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear." -Rosa Parks

Yris Tamara Pérez Aguilera

Update #3: SOS from Jorge Luis Garcia Perez "Antunez" on twitter on June 16, 2011: Regime police brutally beat Yris in the head a few days ago. She has not recovered. Needs protection and a medical doctor urgently. Guillermo Fariñas Hernández on twitter today reported: "State Security prevented Antunez from taking his wife, recently hit in the head, for a medical consultation to a hospital in Havana."

Update #2: SOS from Jorge Luis Garcia Perez "Antunez" on twitter on Saturday May 28, 2011 : "Yris my wife with headaches and numbness in right cheek. I hold Castro brothers responsible for what happens to Yris as a result of police brutality she suffered. What was Yris's crime? Go outside peacefully to the streets with clothes inside out in protest? Caridad Caballero Batista, whereabouts continue to be unknown. We fear for her life."

Update: Yris is accounted for and back with her family as of Friday, May 27, 2011. Bloodied, bruised and disoriented from the beating suffered at the hand of Cuban state security but thankfully alive according to an early afternoon tweet from her husband.

In Cuba, marching nonviolently to remember victims of the dictatorship such as Orlando Zapata Tamayo and Pedro Luis Boitel can have dire consequences even for a mother. Scores of Cuban human rights defenders and activists were detained, roughed up, and in at least one case both their whereabouts and health status remain unknown.

Yris Tamara Pérez Aguilera, heads the Rosa Parks Feminist Movement for Civil Rights, a human rights movement in Cuba, named after Rosa Parks. She's suffered repression at the hands of the dictatorship before when she spoke out on behalf of a young man abused by the police and was the victim of racial epithets hurled at her by regime officials. There is a case to be made that the regime in Cuba has issues with racism.

Her husband, arrested along with her and still detained (but his location and health status are known) is Jorge Luis García Pérez, an opposition leader in the locality of Placetas, who was imprisoned on March 15, 1990 for "oral enemy propaganda" when he spoke out in favor of Eastern European style reforms in Cuba. García Pérez, known as "Antunez", was finally released more than 17 years later on April 22, 2007, having served one of the longest sentences for the present generation of political prisoners on the island. While in prison he founded along with others, an organization called the Pedro Luis Boitel Political Prisoner’s Movement. In November of 2009 he founded the Orlando Zapata Tamayo National Civic Resistance and Civil Disobedience Front.adding the name after the Front's founding in honor of a prisoner of conscience who died on hunger strike on February 23, 2010.

A violent assault

A State Security agent who goes by the nickname “ the weightlifter” on the morning of May 25, 2011 at the end of an activity in remembrance of both Orlando Zapata Tamayo and Pedro Luis Boitel beat up Yris Tamara Pérez Aguilera so badly that according to Cuban activist, Donaida Pérez Paseiro, she lost consciousness and when Yris came to she was suffering from nausea, a headache, dizziness and her hands were numb. She was arrested and jailed then taken to the hospital only to be returned to a cell but here whereabouts have been unaccounted for since then.

Yris Tamara Pérez Aguilera and her husband, Jorge Luis García Pérez

When activists Donaida Pérez Paseiro and Yaimara Reyes Mesa went to the General Hospital in Placetas to ask about Yris Tamara Pérez Aguilera's condition following the beating and loss of consciousness the two activists were arrested, beaten and held until 11pm on the evening of May 25th when they were released. They said that at that moment they saw a handcuffed Yris Tamara Pérez Aguilera in a patrol car. Since then her whereabouts are unknown and neither friends nor family have seen her or learned about her location when questioning the authorities.

More arrests

Today, activists were detained as they walked towards State Security headquarters to try and find out the whereabouts of Yris Tamara Pérez Aguilera and what had been done to the young activist as well as to request the release of all the detained activists. The march was led by Librado Linares, one of the prisoners of conscience released this past spring after more than 7 years in prison, who was the one designated to speak to the State Security agents representing the group. Víctor Castillo Ortega, José Lino Ascencio López, Mayda Conlledo García, Yanisbel Valido Pérez, Alberto Reyes Morales, Michel Oliva López, Félix Reyes Gutiérrez, Guillermo Fariñas Hernández (the 2011 Sakharov Prize winner), Guillermo Del Sol Pérez, Ana Alfonso Arteaga, Chichi Bernal Serpa and Librado Linares García were all arrested and at this hour remain in detention.

Video above is from a February 2011 arrest of Yris

This is not the first time that state security agents have beaten up women exercising their freedom of expression. For example Sonia Garro and Mercedes Fresneda on October 7, 2010 marching with a banner that read "Down With Racism & Long Live Human Rights" were detained by police and badly beaten. According to Garro and Fresneda they were detained at the police station for seven hours where they were beaten. Sonia Garro suffered a fracture of the nasal septum and Mercedes Fresneda a broken left wrist among other injuries according to the EFE newswire.

However, this time it seems to be a coordinated effort to terrorize and repress at all levels. Today, Marcos Maikel (age 33) and Antonio Michel Lima Cruz (age 28), were sentenced to three and two years in prison (respectively) for "disrespect of patriotic symbols."

A slow motion crackdown

There is slow motion crackdown underway in Cuba. Some questions that arise: How long are the detentions and prison sentences and how violent are the Cuban State Security beat downs of nonviolent activists going to be? The death of Juan Wilfredo Soto Garcia three days after a beat down by the political police of the Cuban dictatorship along with beat downs of Angel Moya Acosta and Sara Marta Fonseca indicate this is policy, not an isolated incident by over enthusiastic police.

In Cuba asking these questions and requesting the freedom of innocent nonviolent activists can get you arrested and beaten up. Celebrate the courage of those willing to risk all for their fellow citizens and at the same time living in the free world please take a moment and speak out for them.

What better way to celebrate the upcoming 50th anniversary of Amnesty International?