Amnesty International denounces that "family of [Cuban] prisoner of conscience denied visits

Reported on this last month. Amnesty International confirmed and published the report yesterday.

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL URGENT ACTION

Cuba: Family of prisoner of conscience denied visits

7 June 2018, Index number: AMR 25/8537/2018

Cuban authorities have suspended family visiting rights of human rights defender, Dr Eduardo Cardet, for six months as punishment for his family’s activism on his case, according to his wife. He is a prisoner of conscience who must be released immediately and unconditionally.

On 26 May 2018, the head of the Cuba SI prison in Holguín, Cuba, informed the family of Dr Eduardo Cardet Concepción that his rights to family visits have been suspended for six months on account of the complaints that his family have made to the international press and other human rights mechanisms.

Yaimaris Vecino, his wife, told Amnesty International that when she and her children and Eduardo’s mother tried to visit Eduardo they could not see him. Authorities verbally informed the family that Eduardo´s visiting rights had been suspended. According to her, Eduardo is also typically allowed to make calls to his family each Tuesday. On Tuesday 5 June, he did not call, suggesting he was also denied access to his regular phone call.

Eduardo is the leader of the pro-democracy movement Christian Liberation Movement (Movimiento Cristiano Liberación, MCL). He has been imprisoned in Holguín since his arrest on 30 November 2016, five days after the death of the former leader of Cuba, Fidel Castro. Prior to his arrest, Eduardo Cardet gave a number of interviews published in international media in which he was critical of the Cuban government.

Under international law, prisoners have the right to communicate with the outside world, in particular to receive visits from their families and lawyers, and to access adequate health care. Any restriction on this right, must be necessary and proportionate to achieve its aim, or may amount to an infringement of the right to private and family life. Such rights are fundamental safeguards against other human rights violations, including torture or other ill-treatment.

Please write immediately in Spanish or your own language:

Calling on the authorities to release human rights defender Dr Eduardo Cardet immediately and unconditionally, as he is a prisoner of conscience, imprisoned solely for peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression;

Urging them to ensure that access to his family is immediately reinstated and that he is allowed regular contact with his family and the outside world, as well as access to lawyers and medical care of his choosing.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 19 JULY TO:

President of the Republic
Miguel Mario Díaz-Canel Bermúdez
Presidente de la República de Cuba
La Habana, Cuba.
Fax: +41 22 758 9431 (Cuba Office in Geneva); +1 212 779 1697 (via Cuban Mission to UN, New York)
Email: cuba_onu@cubamission.com (c/o Cuban Mission to UN)
Salutation: Your Excellency / Su Excelencia

Ministry of Interior
Vicealmirante Julio César Gandarilla Bermejo
Ministro del Interior
Ministerio del Interior, Plaza de la Revolución. La Habana, Cuba.
Fax: + 53 7 855 6621 + 53 7 8301 566 (or +1 212 779 1697 - via Cuban Mission to UN)
Email: correominint@mn.mn.co.cu
Salutation: Dear Minister / Señor Ministro.

And copies to:

Movimiento Cristiano de Liberación (MCL)
Email: info@oswaldopaya.org
Twitter: @oswaldopaya

Also send copies to diplomatic representatives accredited to your country.

Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date. This is the fourth update of UA 32/17. Further information: www.amnesty.org/en/documents/amr25/7759/2018/en/

Additional Information
According to five witnesses who spoke to Amnesty International by telephone on the condition of anonymity, Eduardo Cardet was pushed off his bicycle and violently detained in the early evening of 30 November 2016 by at least four plain clothed and one uniformed police officer as he returned home after visiting his mother. According to his wife, who witnessed her husband’s detention with their two children, Eduardo Cardet is charged with attacking an official of the state (atentado). This offence is covered under Article 142.1 of the Criminal Code. One officer is alleging that Eduardo Cardet pushed him during his arrest. All witnesses who spoke with Amnesty International counter this allegation, and state that Eduardo Cardet was quickly and violently restrained by plain clothed officials, placed in handcuffs, and beaten, and had no opportunity for self-defence. The witnesses believe that Eduardo Cardet was arrested for his beliefs and ideas. Amnesty International was able to review a copy of the sentence at appeal emitted by the provincial court of Holguin. The sentence makes no mention of the original grounds for the arrest, suggesting the arrest was arbitrary. On 17 May, the Popular Provincial Court of Holguín (Tribunal Provincial Popular de Holguín) ratified in appeal the judgement handed down on 20 March sentencing Dr Eduardo Cardet Concepción to three years in prison.

The Christian Liberation Movement (Movimento Cristiano Liberación, MCL) is a prominent actor in the pro-democracy movement in Cuba. According to its website, it is a movement for peaceful and democratic change and respect for human dignity. It was founded in 1988 by Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas, who became a visible figure of the Cuban political opposition, and four other activists. Amnesty International has documented harassment and intimidation of members of the MCL for decades. In 1991, after Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas presented a petition calling for a national referendum relating to constitutional reform, he had his home destroyed by over 200 people, said to be members of a Rapid Response Brigade. After Oswaldo Payá announced his intention to put himself forward as a candidate for deputy to the National Assembly for the municipality of Cerro, Havana, members of his organization were reportedly subjected to frequent questioning and short-term detention.

In an interview published on 16 September 2016 by ABC International, Eduardo Cardet stated: “Political activities are passed off as criminal offences such as inciting public scandal, contempt of or offences against the authorities, and the political police use these classifications to lock up dissidents" (Se disfraza la actividad política con hechos delictivos comunes, por ejemplo, escándalo público, desacato, atentado, figuras que utiliza la policía política para encarcelar a los disidentes).

Cuba is closed to Amnesty International and nearly all independent international human rights monitors.

Name: Dr Eduardo Cardet Concepción
Gender m/f: Male
Further information on UA: 32/17 Index: AMR 25/8537/2018 Issue Date: 07 June 2018

Christian Liberation Movement reports on Spanish initiative for the release of Cuban prisoner of conscience

Freedom Now for Eduardo Cardet!

 
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Spain asked the government of Cuba for freedom from Eduardo Cardet

In today's appearance [February 7, 2018] in the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Congress of Deputies, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Spain, Alfonso Dastiz responded to the deputies José Ramón García-Hernández (PP) and Fernando Maura (Ciudadanos) that he had raised with his Cuban counterpart that a solution be found for the case of Eduardo Cardet.

Source: http://www.oswaldopaya.org/es/2018/02/07/ministro-relaciones-exteriores-de-espana-pidio-al-gobierno-de-cuba-libertad-de-eduardo-cardet/

On February 6, 2018 Carlos Payá Sardiñas of the Christian Liberation Movement tweeted "
A moment ago, Eduardo Cardet was able to talk to his wife, Yaimaris Vecino. The situation remains the same. But as she tells me, at least they have not attacked him again."

Hace un momento Eduardo Cardet pudo hablar con su esposa Yaimaris Vecino. La situación se mantiene igual. Pero como me comenta ella, al menos no le han vuelto a agredir

— Carlos Payá Sardiñas (@CarlosPayaMCL) February 6, 2018

MCL leader and prisoner of conscience Eduardo Cardet

Note from the Popular Party: García-Hernández: "We demand the immediate release of the political prisoner in Cuba, Eduardo Cardet"

January 31, 2018.- On November 30, 2016, the national coordinator of the Christian Liberation Movement (MCL) of Cuba, and vice president of the Christian Democratic Organization of America (ODCA), Eduardo Cardet, was arbitrarily detained and allegedly subjected to harassment, physical and moral intimidation to him and his family, being later imprisoned. Since then, Eduardo Cardet has continued to be imprisoned arbitrarily and under terrible conditions in Cuba.

The executive secretary of International Relations of the Popular Party, José Ramón García-Hernández, coinciding with a meeting held today at the national headquarters with representatives of the Cuban dissident movement, demanded "the immediate release of Eduardo Cardet, a political prisoner in Cuba and leader of the Christian Liberation Movement (MCL), arbitrarily imprisoned for peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression ".

Cardet was sentenced to prison and the Provincial Court of Holguín ratified the sentence of three years of deprivation of liberty. In addition, the opponent suffers a respiratory infection from his imprisonment, caused by his chronic asthmatic condition, and does not receive the appropriate medication.

A few weeks ago, the non-governmental organization Amnesty International (AI) launched an "urgent action" for the "immediate and unconditional release" of Eduardo Cardet, recalling that he was attacked on 19 December by three prisoners. Cardet's sister had filed a complaint about the assault with the Prosecutor's Office of Havana but has not yet received any response. The NGO also demands that he is provided with medical assistance and that he not be a victim of torture or ill-treatment. Garcia-Hernandez has referred to it: "We share this criterion and firm commitment to a democratic transition in Cuba, demanding a real necessary democracy and the rule of law on the island."

The executive secretary of International Relations has pointed out that "a democracy must be based on respect for the political opposition and not on arbitrarily exercising power against its representatives," and stressed that "the Popular Party maintains its permanent commitment to a future transition towards a pluralist democracy in Cuba supported by moderation, consensus, dialogue and reconciliation; supporting the Christian Liberation Movement (MCL) and its initiative: One Cuban One Vote, an initiative that calls for changes in the electoral law to hold free and plural elections in Cuba. "

The Christian Liberation Movement of Cuba (MCL) is a political group founded in 1988 by Oswaldo Payá, a member of the International Democratic Center (IDC) along with the Popular Party, and the Christian Democratic Organization of America (ODCA).

 Source: http://www.oswaldopaya.org/es/2018/01/31/nota-del-partido-popular-garcia-hernandez-exigimos-la-inmediata-liberacion-del-preso-politico-en-cuba-eduardo-cardet/

Cuban Opposition Leader Denounces: The Cuba they want to make fashionable.

"Cuba is fashionable to vain politicians who want to take their photo with the last dinosaurs on earth." - Regis Iglesias

The Cuba they want to make fashionable.

By Regis Iglesias, spokesman Christian Movement Liberation

Published in Spanish in El Nuevo Herald on February 16, 2016

Cuba is in fashion. No, not Cuba, Cuba is more than 11 million people without rights that seem forgotten by the free world, by those countries with a long democratic tradition. Even those countries that after many sacrifices and a lot of solidarity and international support were able to obtain for their peoples rights long denied just two decades ago.

Cuba is fashionable to vain politicians who want to take their photo with the last dinosaurs on earth. So they go to Cuba and spend hours listening to the very feverish official version of how due to the fault of a democracy, the largest and oldest in the world, that they the saurian-commanders had to convert a whole nation into a military camp in the middle of the sea, surrounded by barbed wire with nuclear missiles pointed at the heart of America. The same America, as it does with every fashion trend it adopts, now tries to sell to the world its mistaken policy for the longest dictatorship in the Western Hemisphere.

But in our island nothing has changed, nor will it change on the current path even though from Washington they want to sell us that.

The Cuban regime is only recycling itself. The old oligarchy gives continuity to the new oligarchy that with their offspring, heirs of a military economic junta, the architects of fake change, as Oswaldo Paya of the Christian Liberation Movement denounced before being assassinated.

Cuba is not changing nor will it change with more foreign investment because the capitalists of the world go there to compete amongst themselves, not with Cubans who are not allowed the possibility to promote some important business. They will accept the policy conditions of exploitation and segregation that are imposed by the regime on authorized employees. In any case, Liu Xiaobo remains a hostage of Beijing. Tibet remains occupied by China. Millions of people are starving outside the major economic centers promoted by the Chinese Communist Party. All this despite the Asian nation having most favored nation status in trade with the United States. Is that what they want to sell to us Cubans? No thanks.

Cuba is not changing nor will change because Ozzy Osbourne and the Rolling Stones visit or give a concert. Nor will it change because Rihanna poses naked in a room with the aesthetics of a 1950s brothel. Beyonce, smoking habanos in the streets of Vedado, or Marc Antonty recreating a party in a fictional Old Havana will not bring change. The New York Yankees, Atlanta Braves or the Tampa Devil Rays going to train on the island is not change nor will it bring change. Not even because Don King goes to Cuba to recruit fighters or the saga of Fast and Furious attempts to film on the battered roads of the island.

Cuba will change and be in style when Cubans finally decide to demand, as over 25,000 citizens have already done so legally, their right to think and act freely, associate to form economic ventures that allow them to thrive, when they can choose their own government and be part of it. But even today it is not possible in the island stopped in time. Even today this is overlooked by those who look at us and only see an island of beautiful beaches, a stale museum where any Marlon Brando played bongos and had sex with any native within his reach, according to the memories of the most elderly.

But that is not Cuba, not the Cuba that we want.

***

La Cuba que quieren poner de moda  

REGIS IGLESIAS

Cuba es la moda. No, no Cuba, Cuba somos más de 11 millones de personas sin derechos que parecen olvidadas por el mundo libre, por esas naciones con una larga tradición democrática e incluso por aquellas que luego de muchos sacrificios y mucha solidaridad y acompañamiento internacional lograron alcanzar para sus pueblos los derechos hace apenas dos décadas.

Lo que está de moda es que las celebrities ociosas con más dinero que talento, los aspirantes a una santidad mediática que dando la espalda a las víctimas toman café con el victimario, los beodos iconos musicales de una generación que padeció persecución, segregación, cárcel y hasta la muerte por escuchar de manera semi clandestina sus éxitos en discos entrados a la isla de contrabando o en estaciones musicales del sur de la Florida que eventualmente llegaban con su señal a nuestras costas, los mercaderes ansiosos de fácil ganancia, no importa que el éxito de sus jugosos negocios se deba a una mano de obra esclava a la que le es prohibitivo sindicalizarse o contratarse directamente sin la mediación de un régimen militar-empresarial que se lleva el 95% de su salario y solo paga el equivalente de 25 dólares mensuales a los “privilegiados” cubanos que pueden trabajar para alguna firma extranjera. Eso es lo que está de moda, que vayan a nuestra isla, la isla en la que por muchas décadas leer revistas del corazón, escuchar rock, ser homosexual o practicar alguna religión era poco más que un pecado mortal que debía ser purgado en campos de concentración, la isla donde sus ciudadanos no tienen derechos y son segregados de las oportunidades de negocios solo por ser precisamente cubanos.

Cuba está de moda para políticos vanidosos que quieren hacerse la foto con los últimos dinosaurios sobre la tierra. Por eso van a Cuba y pasan horas escuchando la muy afiebrada versión oficial de cómo por culpa de una democracia, la mayor y más antigua del mundo, tuvieron que convertir los saurio-comandantes toda una nación en un campamento que en medio del mar, rodeado de alambradas con misiles nucleares apuntando al corazón de América, esa misma América que al igual que hace con cada tendencia de moda que adopta, ahora vende al mundo su equivocada política respecto a la dictadura más longeva del hemisferio occidental.

La época en que los deportistas eran tildados de traidores, porque prefirieron ganar millones en los circuitos profesionales de Estados Unidos, quedó atrás solo con un par de declaraciones para la TV norteamericana de algún que otro mandamás de la oligarquía y ahora pueden regresar y, por supuesto, llevar dólares a sus antiguos jueces para que continúen condenando, encarcelando, desterrando y asesinando a personas que solo disienten, que solo quieren vivir en un país, su país, con libertad para expresarse, para asociarse, para tener sus propios negocios, para elegir y ser elegidos, para entrar y salir libremente de su propio país o residir en cualquier punto de la geografía de ese archipiélago llamado Cuba.

Pero en nuestra isla no ha cambiado nada, ni por el actual camino cambiará nada aunque incluso desde Washington nos quieran vender eso.

El régimen cubano solo se recicla a sí mismo. Da continuidad la oligarquía vieja a la nueva oligarquía que son sus vástagos, los herederos de la junta económica militar, los artífices del cambio fraude, como denunció antes de ser asesinado Oswaldo Payá.

Cuba no está cambiando ni cambiará con más inversión extranjera porque los capitalistas del mundo irán allí, a competir entre sí mismos, no con los cubanos a los que no se les permite tener la posibilidad de fomentar algún importante negocio. Aceptarán las condiciones de explotación y segregación política que a los empleados autorizados imponga el régimen. En todo caso, Liu Xiaobo continúa siendo un rehén de Pekín, los tibetanos ocupados por China y millones de personas mueren de hambre fuera de los grandes polos económicos fomentados por el partido comunista chino a pesar de que la nación asiática tiene trato de nación más favorecida en su comercio con Estados Unidos.

¿Eso es lo que nos quieren vender a nosotros los cubanos? No, gracias.

Cuba no está cambiando ni cambiará porque Ozzy Osbourne y los Rolling Stones la visiten o den algún concierto, porque Rihanna pose desnuda en una habitación con estética de prostíbulo cincuentero, Beyonce se contonee fumando habanos por El Vedado o Marc Antony simule andar de fiesta en una ficticia Habana Vieja. No está cambiando ni cambiará porque los New York Yankees, los Bravos de Atlanta o los Tampa Devil Rays vayan a entrenar en la isla. Ni siquiera porque Don King vaya a contratar boxeadores o la saga de Fast and Furious se intente filmar en las maltrechas carreteras de la isla.

Cuba cambiará y estará de moda cuando finalmente los cubanos decididos hayan reclamado, como ya lo han hecho legalmente más de 25,000 ciudadanos, su derecho a pensar y actuar libremente, asociarse para formar empresas económicas que les permitan prosperar, cuando puedan elegir su propio gobierno y formar parte del mismo. Pero aun hoy eso no es posible en la isla detenida en el tiempo. Aun hoy esto es pasado por alto por todos aquellos que nos miran y solo ven una isla de playas paradisíacas, un museo añejo donde cualquier Marlon Brando tocaba bongoes y tenía sexo con cuanto nativo y nativa estaba a su alcance, según recuerdan los más viejos.

Pero eso no es Cuba, no es la Cuba que queremos.

Nuestra libertad es solo responsabilidad nuestra y por eso vamos a continuar trabajando. Otros Estados y personas sean quienes se definan si están a favor de apoyar nuestro derecho a los derechos o sus intereses y los de una tiranía.

Portavoz del Movimiento Cristiano Liberación.

Read more here: http://www.elnuevoherald.com/opinion-es/opin-col-blogs/opinion-sobre-cuba/article60955702.html#storylink=cpy

http://www.elnuevoherald.com/opinion-es/opin-col-blogs/opinion-sobre-cuba/article60955702.html

Oswaldo Payá's letter to Polish Solidarity leader Lech Walesa in 1990

Oswaldo Payá sent a letter to Polish Solidarity leader Lech Walesa in 1990

Eng. Oswaldo José Payá Sardiñas
Peñón 276 e/ Ayuntamiento y Márquez
Cerro, Ciudad de la Habana, Cuba

October 1, 1990

 To Mr. Lech Walesa,

Dear Brother:

How close you and "Solidarity" have been to us in these years. Receive our fraternal greetings.

I write on behalf of the Christian "Liberation" Movement. We are a Christian and patriotic movement that by peaceful means are working for freedom and democracy in our nation.

We have no legal status, rather we are persecuted and harassed and we have no voice.

Senator Zbigniew Romaszewski sent me the form of participation in the 2nd. International Conference of Human Rights, but the Cuban mail only gave it to me on September 18. I don't think further explanations are needed.

Enclosed is our proclamation and Proposition of National Dialogue that we have made to the Cuban government. It is very difficult for us to disclose our objectives due to difficulties well known to you. I hope this gets to you and that the Poles might know of our struggle inspired by the Gospel.

I cannot conclude without expressing our gratitude to you, the Movement "Solidarity" and all the Polish people that knew how to open the path of freedom for subject peoples.

As Catholics we feel that we are in communion with you and that overcomes the difficulties of communication.

God bless you, your family and all the Polish People.

Fraternally in Christ, 

Oswaldo José Payá Sardiñas  Coordinator of the Christian Movement "Liberation"

 Ing. Oswaldo José Payá Sardiñas
Peñón 276 e/ Ayuntamiento y Márquez Cerro,
Ciudad de la Habana, Cuba La Habana,

1 de Octubre de 1990

 Al Señor Lech Walesa

Querido Hermano:

Cuán cercano nos ha sido Ud. Y “Solidaridad” en estos años. Reciban nuestro saludo fraternal.

Escribo a nombre del Movimiento Cristiano “Liberación”. Somos un movimiento cristiano y patriótico que por vías pacíficas trabajamos por la libertad y la democracia en nuestra Nación.

No tenemos status legal, mas bien somos perseguidos y hostigados y no tenemos voz.

El Senador Zbigniew Romaszewski me envió planilla de participación en la 2da. Conferencia Internacional de Derechos Humanos, pero el correo cubano solo me entregó el 18 de septiembre. Creo que no es necesario más explicaciones.

Le adjunto nuestra proclamación y la Proposición de Diálogo Nacional que hemos hecho al Gobierno cubano. Nos es muy difícil divulgar nuestros objetivos por dificultades que Usted bien conoce, espero que ésta llegue a sus manos y que los polacos puedan conocer de nuestra lucha que se inspira en el Evangelio.

No quiero terminar sin expresar nuestra gratitud a Ud., al Movimiento “Solidaridad” y a todo el pueblo polaco que supo abrir el sendero de libertad para los pueblos sometidos.

Como católicos nos sentimos en comunión con ustedes y eso supera las dificultades de comunicación.

Dios le bendiga a Usted, a su familia y a todo el Pueblo Polaco.

Fraternalmente en Cristo,

Oswaldo José Payá Sardiñas
Coordinador del Movimiento Cristiano “Liberación”