Poet and former prisoner of conscience Jorge Valls passed away in Miami

"The noblest way to avenge an insult is not to imitate he who has offended us." - Jorge Manuel Valls Arango 1933 - 2015: Requiescat in pace

Jorge Valls (photo El Nuevo Herald)

Jorge Valls, a poet and former Cuban prisoner of conscience who had unjustly spent 20 years and 40 days in a Cuban prison passed away last night in Miami. He'd fought against two dictatorships and in favor of human rights and dignity and paid a heavy price for being a free man with a conscience.   He explained what happened below.

Like Mr. Castro, I wanted a radical change in Cuban society, but I also knew that authority would never become legitimate unless the pure power of violence was submitted to reason, and strict respect for individual rights was guaranteed.

Without civil rights, the best intentions turn into a trap, and societies become prisons and asylums. There is a danger that we become as alienated and as fierce as the evil we think we are fighting.

That is what happened in Cuba under the Castro regime. In 1964, I was convicted of "conspiracy against the state," because I testified against the Castro government in a political trial, and I spent 20 years and 40 days in jail. I don't regret my time there, because I was defending this essential respectability of the human person.

Six years ago in 2009, Jorge Valls sat down and gave an interview in which he discussed his life, human rights and Cuba. It is available online here. In 2013 at a gathering of poets at an event called "Disobedient Poetry" he gave a reading from his collection of poems written from prison between 1967 and 1970 titled Donde estoy no hay luz y está enrejado (Where I am there is no light and there are metal bars).  Jorge Valls was also interviewed in the 1987 documentary on the human rights situation in Cuba titled, Nobody Listened giving a powerful testimony.




There will be a wake for him Monday, October 26 at Memorial Plan located on 9800 Coral Way, Miami, Florida beginning at 5pm. Mass will be celebrated for him the following day at 10am in Saint Kevin Church , on 40th street and 127 avenue. For more information contact: (305) 227-3333.

Read more here: http://www.elnuevoherald.com/noticias/sur-de-la-florida/obituarios/article41170086.html#storylink=cpy

Danilo Maldonado "El Sexto" freed and back home in Cuba after 10 months

Prisoner of conscience freed but others remain imprisoned

Danilo Maldonado "El Sexto" freed yesterday in Cuba

 Danilo Maldonado "El Sexto" was arrested on December 25, 2014 for trying to carry out a perfomance art piece critical of the Castro brothers. Nearly 10 months later Danilo Maldonado is back home with his mom, who campaigned for his release, in the picture above. Sadly many otherzs are still behind bars, including at least one other artist, the rapper Maikel Castillo Pérez whose stage name is Maikel Oksobo - El Dkano.

 Maikel was sentenced to a year in prison in Havana on January 28, 2015. He was targeted for having used music to express his dissenting political opinions. Maikel was sentenced under a charge known as ‘peligrosidad predelictiva’ (‘pre-criminal dangerousness’).The 31-year-old’s lyrics are known for criticizing the Castro regime. He once described his style as that of someone who “doesn’t make concessions with a system full of liars.” In the video below 'Por ti señor' (For you Mister) the rapper challenges the record of Fidel Castro and describes how the dictator has failed Cubans.


 In August 2015 another rapper, El Funky, and a friend of Maikel made public the video " Pensar diferente en Cuba es un problema" (Thinking different in Cuba is a problem) calling for the jailed rapper's freedom.

The Cuban Democratic Directorate 25 years later: A look back to the midpoint

The Pedro Luis Boitel Freedom Prize, Human Rights and Directorio meets with opposition in Cuba

Between 2001 and 2003 the Cuban Democratic Directorate began a new decade of activism shifting gears, taking risks and raising the challenge to the Castro dictatorship. As Directorio marks 25 years of defending human rights in Cuba and supporting the opposition in the island's efforts to transition to a free and democratic society it is worthwhile to reflect on the midpoint of the organization's history between 2001 and 2003 when new traditions were established and courageous actions and positions taken in the continuing nonviolent struggle for liberation.

In 2001, the first Pedro Luis Boitel Freedom Prize was awarded to Juan Carlos González Leiva for his work as a human rights defender and began a tradition that would continue for the next 15 years and that will be observed this Thursday at 6:30pm at Bacardi House.

Juan Carlos González Leiva, 2001 Boitel Freedom Laureate

Without seeking permission from the Cuban government, Javier de Céspedes, President of the Cuban Democratic Directorate, traveled to Cuba in May of 2001 and met with democratic opposition leaders. There, he signed the Varela Project in Oswaldo Payá’s home in Havana. Javier also signed the Agreement for Democracy at the Cuban capitol building in a show of defiance to the island’s illegitimate government.



In August of 2002 in Havana, Cuba Lorenzo De Toro III, Vice-president of the Cuban Democratic Directorate entered Cuba to hand over humanitarian assistance to opposition activists on the island. In Miami a video is made known where Lorenzo appears with Bertha Antúnez Pernet, president in Cuba at the time of the Pedro Luis Boitel National Civic Resistance Movement.

In January of 2003 the Cuban Democratic Directorate hosted the visit of Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas to Miami, Florida while demonstrating their continuing support for the Varela Project. A month later, on February 11, 2003 journalist Hank Tester in a NBC6 story titled " Big Trouble In Little Havana : Raw Emotion Is At Heart Of Discussion, wrote about the Directorate's support for the Christian Liberation Movement leader at a time when such a position was considered controversial in some quarters.

"Groups with memberships that skew a younger population of Cubans, such as the Directorio Democratico Cubano run by Orlando Gutierrez, have made numerous people-to-people contacts on the island and with political prisoners. They have also closely aligned themselves with dissidents who have formed independent libraries and Gutierrez' organization has been funneling hundreds of books to them from the US. Gutierrez has avoided the spotlight and the wrath of the hard-liners by keeping his organization low profile until recently when the Directorio hosted Oswaldo Paya's visit in Miami."

 It was also during this period of time that the Cuban Democratic Directorate began a systematic effort to get the voice of victims of repression heard at the United Nations Human Rights Commission.



Adjunct National Secretary, Janisset Rivero was the pioneer in this action, training other activists at Directorio who would continue this work in later years and would be present in Geneva during the 2003 Black Cuban Spring.


On Thursday, October 22, 2015 at 6:30pm the 2015 Boitel Freedom Laureates will be announced at the Institute for Cuban and Cuban American Studies at Casa Bacardi in the University of Miami located at 1531 Brescia Avenue in Coral Gables. Entrance is free.

Amnesty International issues new urgent action for imprisoned Cuban artist

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL: URGENT ACTION 
Detained graffiti artist resumes hunger strike
Cuban graffiti artist Danilo Maldonado Machado (‘El Sexto’) re-started his hunger strike on 16 October after the authorities failed to uphold their promise to release him by 15 October. He is a prisoner of conscience and must be released immediately and unconditionally.

Danilo Maldonado Machado, known by his artistic name ‘El Sexto’, resumed his hunger strike on 16 October, according to his family, to protest the failure of the authorities to release him on 15 October as previously promised. He is being held at the Valle Grande prison on the outskirts of Havana, the capital.

On 8 September Danilo Maldonado Machado initiated a hunger strike to protest his detention without trial in Cuba since December 2014. He ended it on 1 October 2015 after officials promised that he would be released unconditionally in 15 days if he stopped the strike.  

 

Danilo Maldonado Machado is believed to be accused of “aggravated contempt” after being arrested for transporting two pigs with the names “Raúl” and “Fidel” painted on them, which he intended to release in an art show in Havana’s Central Park.

Please write immediately in Spanish or your own language:  

•    Calling on the authorities to release Danilo Maldonado Machado (‘El Sexto’) immediately and unconditionally, as he is a prisoner of conscience, imprisoned solely for peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression;  
•  Calling on them to repeal all legislation which unduly limits freedom of expression, assembly and association;    
• Urging them to ensure that, pending his release, he is provided with any medical care which he may require during his hunger strike; not tortured or otherwise ill-treated; and that he is granted regular access to family and lawyers of his choosing.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 30 NOVEMBER 2015 TO:

President of the Republic
Raúl Castro Ruz
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)
Email: cuba@un.int (c/o Cuban Mission to UN)
Twitter: @RaulCastroR
Salutation: Your Excellency
Attorney General
Dr. Darío Delgado Cura
Fiscal General de la República
Fiscalía General de la República Amistad 552, e/Monte y Estrella
Centro Habana
La Habana, Cuba
Salutation: Dear Attorney General


And solidarity letters to:
Danilo Maldonado Machado’s mother María Victoria
Email: gorkiaguila@gmail.com and liavillares@gmail.com


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 third update of UA 214/15. Further information: www.amnesty.org/en/documents/amr25/2673/2015/en/
 

Additional Information

Danilo Maldonado Machado is a Cuban graffiti artist who regularly collaborates with the artistic group Estado de SATS, an organization which seeks “to create a plural space of participation and debate, where civil liberties, practically annulled in Cuba, can be exercised, and to redesign everything based on our worries, and immediate future”. The group also campaigns for human rights through artistic experiences. They recently campaigned for the ratification by Cuba of the International Covenants on Civil and Political Rights, and on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and are currently demanding an amnesty law for all those imprisoned on politically-motivated charges.

Local activists believe Danilo Maldonado Machado’s continuous detention without trial seeks to sanction him for his activism and send a message to other activists and dissidents. In recent months, his lawyer has requested a modification of the precautionary measures seeking the release of Danilo Maldonado Machado during the judicial proceeding, but it was denied by the prosecutor. A new demand was presented in late September and is awaiting a new decision from the office of the public prosecutor.

Article 144 of the Cuban Penal Code defines the crime of contempt (desacato), making all forms of disrespect of state officials an offence and providing for longer prison terms where the disrespect is directed against government members or other top state officials.

Article 144 states: “1. Anyone who threatens, slanders, defames, insults, harms or in any way outrages or offends, orally or in writing, the dignity or honour of an authority, public official, or their agents or auxiliaries, in the exercise of their functions or on the occasion of or because of them will incur a penalty of between three months and one year's loss of liberty or a fine… or both. 2. If the deed established in the previous paragraph is directed against the President of the Council of State, the President of the National Assembly of Popular Power, the members of the Council of State and the Council of Ministers or the deputies at the National Assembly of Popular Power, the penalty will be between one and three years' loss of liberty.”

Danilo Maldonado Machado is believed to be accused of “aggravated contempt” as the outrage was understood to be directed against Raúl and Fidel Castro Ruz, President of the Council of State and of Ministers of the Republic, and Deputy at the National Assembly of Popular Power, respectively. This provision, which is often used to silence dissent and to shield public officials from legitimate criticism, constitutes an illegitimate restriction on freedom of expression. According to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR): “[a] law that targets speech that is considered critical of the public administration by virtue of the individual who is the object of the expression, strikes at the very essence and content of freedom of expression” and “may affect not only those directly silenced, but society as a whole”.

Amnesty International believes that public officials should tolerate more criticism than private individuals. The use of defamation laws with the purpose or effect of inhibiting legitimate criticism of government or public officials violates the right to freedom of expression. Amnesty International opposes laws prohibiting insult or disrespect of heads of state or public figures, the military or other public institutions or flags or symbols (such as lèse majesté and desacato laws). Amnesty International also opposes laws criminalizing defamation, whether of public figures or private individuals, which should be treated as a matter for civil litigation. Public officials should not receive state assistance or support in bringing civil actions for defamation.

Name: Danilo Maldonado Machado, also known as ‘El Sexto’
Gender m/f: m

 

An open letter to Katy Perry asking for help

An appeal to save two lives

Dear Katy Perry,

I have enjoyed your music over the years and your commitment to human rights issues. Especially the time you spent curating the Art for Freedom Project in January of 2014, an initiative that promotes art and free speech as a means to address persecution and injustice around the world. I also saw in the news that you've visited Cuba twice over the past week and met with Mariela Castro, dictator Raul Castro's daughter, while you were there.

Cuban human rights defenders need your help and with your access to the upper echelons of power in the Castro regime perhaps you are in a position to save the life of a human rights defender, and free an imprisoned artist. This dictatorship has had a track record of responding to requests by high profile visitors that in the past has resulted in the freeing of political prisoners and human rights defenders who are deathly ill.

The human rights situation in Cuba is deteriorating. The level of violence against human rights defenders has escalated in recent years on the island, along with the extrajudicial killings of national human rights figures. A dramatic example of this took place on on July 22, 2012 when state security killed Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas and Harold Cepero Escalante.

Presently there is an environment of impunity in Cuba that could be impacted upon by your good offices. There are two urgent cases you could raise with the individuals you met in Cuba that would make a difference and most likely save two lives and favorably affect many more.

First, there is the case of a government reformer turned opposition activist whose life hangs in the balance. On May 24, 2015 human rights defender, Sirley Ávila León, was the victim of a brutal machete attack suffering deep cuts to her neck and knees, losing her left hand, and could still lose her right arm. The man who attacked her with the machete appears to have done it on the orders of Cuban state security, and although arrested and tried in a judicial process (controlled by the dictatorship) the attacker was sentenced to six years in prison but granted a pass to leave the prison when he likes. She is in desperate need of adequate medical treatment to make a recovery.

Second, Danilo Maldonado, a Cuban artist whose art work is an exercise in free speech addressing persecution and injustice in Cuba has been jailed since December 25, 2014 without a trial. Earlier this month following 22 days on hunger strike Danilo was told by state security that he would be freed on October 15th thus ending his fast. The date came and went and Danilo remains in prison and has resumed his hunger strike.  Amnesty International has recognized him as a prisoner of conscience and expressed its disappointment at the failure of the Castro regime to free this artist. The Danish human rights group, Free Muse has also called for his release.

Please speak up for Sirley and Danilo and help save their lives. The Talmud teaches, "whoever saves a life, it is considered as if they saved an entire world." Help to save two worlds.

Sincerely,

John Suarez
Human Rights Activist