"The first victory we can claim is that our hearts are free of hatred. Hence we say to those who persecute us and who try to dominate us: ‘You are my brother. I do not hate you, but you are not going to dominate me by fear. I do not wish to impose my truth, nor do I wish you to impose yours on me. We are going to seek the truth together’. THIS IS THE LIBERATION WHICH WE ARE PROCLAIMING."
Oswaldo José Payá Sardiñas (2002)
“For the survivor who chooses to
testify, it is clear: his duty is to bear witness for the dead and for
the living. He has no right to deprive future generations of a past
that belongs to our collective memory. To forget would be not only
dangerous but offensive; to forget the dead would be akin to killing
them a second time.” - Elie Wiesel, Night
Juan Wilfredo Soto Garcia murdered by police in Cuba, and children he left behind
Ten years ago today Juan Wilfredo Soto Garcia (age 46) who had been arrested and beaten by Castro's revolutionary police on May 5,
2011 while protesting the dictatorship died three days later on May 8th from injuries sustained. Reuters, the BBC, CNN, AP, EFE and others reported the death of this Cuban dissident and former political prisoner. He was so badly beaten that he required hospitalization.
Protesters picket the Embassy of Cuba in Washington DC on May 6, 2021
This was one of the reasons why on May 6th between 4pm and 6pm we held a protest outside of the Embassy of Cuba in Washington DC.
We observed the tenth anniversary of the beating death of Juan Wilfredo
Soto Garcia, and demanded justice for him, and others like him,
while calling on Havana to free Luis Manuel Otero
Alcántara, meet his three demands, and free all of Cuba's political prisoners.
Protest at the Cuban Embassy on May 6, 2021
We continue to remember and bear witness for the victims of Castroism, demand justice, and freedom.
The hope of impunity is the greatest inducement to do wrong. - Marcus Tullius Cicero
Then: Juan Wilfredo SotoGarcia and Now: Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara
Revolutionary police and state security in Cuba operate with impunity, and victims of repression have no recourse to independent over sight or an independent judiciary in the island. This raises concerns now for the life of Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara. It is also the reason why people of conscience will be protesting at the Cuban Embassy in Washington DC on May 6, 2021 starting at 4:00pm.
Ten years ago the headlines circled the world in English and in Spanish covered by Reuters, the BBC, CNN, AP, EFE that a Cuban dissident and former political prisoner, Juan Wilfredo Soto Garcia (age 46)
had been beaten and arrested by Cuban regime police on Thursday, May 5,
2011 while protesting the dictatorship and died early on Sunday May 8,
2011. The beating had been so bad that he required hospitalization. He was buried Sunday, on Mother's Day.
There are others but the regime has been often successful in
intimidating family members and destroying the evidence of their crimes.
"This act of police violence is not an isolated case. Each day in Cuba
those in uniform respect less the citizens," said Yoani Sanchez over Twitter on the day of Juan Wilfredo's burial in 2011.
Hansel E. Hernández shot in the back by police on June 24, 2020
For example, nearly nine years later on June 24, 2020 in Guanabacoa, Cuba 27 year old unarmed black Cuban, Hansel E. Hernández was shot in the back and killed by the police.
The official version claims that he was stealing pieces and accessories
from a bus stop when he was spotted by two Revolutionary National
Police (PNR in Spanish). Upon seeing the police Hansel ran away and the
officers pursued him
nearly two kilometers. PNR claimed that during the pursuit Hansel threw
rocks at the officers. Police fired two warning shots and a third in
his back killing him. Hansel's body was quickly cremated. This prevented
an independent autopsy to verify official claims, or a proper funeral. State Security learned their lesson from an earlier funeral following a controversial death involving the police.
Hansel E. Hernández
According to dissidents who attended the 2011 funeral and media accounts more than 80 attended Juan Wilfredo Soto's funeral
despite a heavy police presence and state security operation that
blocked some activists from attending. The government agents responsible
for this man's extra-judicial death must be held accountable if not by
national laws then by international law. At the funeral Cuban pastor Mario Felix Lleonart Barroso
spoke about the life of the Cuban activist and the circumstances
surrounding his death.
Ten years have passed and justice has not been done in this case.
There have been new victims of police violence in Cuba since then, like Hansel. Nevertheless we must remember, and with this exercise of memory continue
to demand justice for Juan Wilfredo, Hansel, and their loved ones. We must also speak out for those who can still be saved such as Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara.
This is why Patmos, Center for a Free Cuba, and others are organizing a nonviolent protest at the Cuban Embassy in Washington DC located on 2630 16th St NW, Washington, DC 20009 on May 6, 2021 at 4:00pm to observe the tenth anniversary of the beating death of Juan Wilfredo Soto Garcia, and demand justice for him, Hansel and others like them, while calling on the Cuban government to free Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, and meet his three demands.
"Article 19. Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this
right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to
seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and
regardless of frontiers." - Universal Declaration of Human Rights, December 10, 1948
May 3rd, since December 1993 has been recognized by the international community as World Press Freedom Day. It is observed on the anniversary of the Declaration of Windhoek, a statement of press freedom principles drafted by African Journalists
and passed on May 3, 1992 at a UNESCO seminar on "Promoting an
Independent and Pluralistic African Press," held in Windhoek, Namibia.
The theme for World Press
Freedom Day 2021 is “Information as a Public Good.” This is a timely
theme considering the challenges confronting the free press in the free
world due to technological changes, and a new media environment.
The three topics to be highlighted at this year’s World Press Freedom Day 2021 Global Conference, as per UNESCO are:
Steps to ensure the economic viability of news media;
Mechanisms for ensuring transparency of Internet companies;
Enhanced
Media and Information Literacy (MIL) capacities that enable people to
recognize and value, as well as defend and demand, journalism as a vital
part of information as a public good
Today, this CubaBrief will focus on press freedoms in Cuba, or better put their systematic absence.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF)
released the 2021 edition of their World Press Freedom Index. revealing
that Cuba in 2021 out of 180 countries remained 171st in press freedom, unchanged from that position in 2020 when the island nation
edged out Saudi Arabia to become ninth of the 10 worst ranked countries
in the index. Below is the 2021 entry by RSF on Cuba.
Constant ordeal for independent media
Cuba
has continued year after year to be Latin America’s worst media freedom
violator. Miguel Díaz-Canel’s election as president in April 2018,
after 59 years of authoritarian socialist rule under Fidel Castro and
his brother Raúl, has made no difference. The regime maintains an almost
total monopoly of news and information and uses every means possible to
obstruct independent media. Journalists who don’t toe the official line
are subjected to arbitrary arrest, the threat of imprisonment,
persecution and harassment, illegal home searches, and
confiscation and destruction of
journalistic material. Independent bloggers and journalists are watched
by state security agents, who try to restrict their freedom of
movement, and often take them in for questioning and delete information
on their devices. The authorities also control the coverage by foreign
reporters by granting accreditation selectively and expelling those
regarded as too “negative” about the government. The gradual improvement
in Internet access nonetheless constitutes one of the few grounds for
hope for the future of press freedom in Cuba.
It is within this existing reality that the plight of
Luis
Manuel Otero Alcántara is a great challenge because independent media
on the island is tightly muzzled, and subject to deportation, in terms
of international media outlets, or prison for brave independent
journalists that send their reports abroad, because mass media outlets
on the island are a monopoly controlled by the Cuban Communist Party.
BBC
News has provided a complete report on the events this past weekend,
but fails to provide context to why Luis Manuel's allies fear for his
safety. At 5:00am on Sunday, May 2nd state security agents forced their
way into his home. Officials are giving contradictory statements to
attempt to discredit the dissident. Activists and family members are
demanding proof of life.
The Center for a Free
Cuba issued a press release today providing historical context to the
danger Luis Manuel faces at the Calixto Garcia hospital in Cuba.
“In
the past, the Calixto García Hospital and other Cuban hospitals have
been the scene of the death of other opponents under the control of the
agents of the Ministry of the Interior, as was the case of the leader of
the Ladies in White Laura Pollán Toledo in October 2011. The
agents of the political police isolate the person, do not allow the
entry of their relatives or friends, and the treatment they apply or the
one they stop applying to lead them to death is unknown. There are
numerous cases of unexplained deaths in hospitals on the Island under
the custody of State Security. Another case was that of the blind
opponent Sergio Díaz Larrastegui in April 2012,” explained
Janisset Rivero, who for years has documented these cases and is a
collaborator of the Center for a Free Cuba.
In
both cases, that of Pollán and that of Díaz Larrastegui, whose homes
were headquarters in Havana of important human rights organizations,
their deaths meant the closure of the headquarters and a severe blow to
the civic movement.
Laura Pollán Toledo and Luis
Manuel Otero Alcántara
“In
the case of Otero Alcántara, his home is the headquarters of the San
Isidro Movement, an organization that in recent months has raised its
voice in favor of freedom of expression on the Island, achieving
numerous spontaneous and organized demonstrations in favor of their
demands. The regime that has brought this activist to the brink of death
cannot be trusted to now want to save him. We must demand that his
family or friends can see him and verify his situation,” said John Suárez, Executive Director of the CFC.
"I think they kill my child every time they deprive a person of their right to think." - José Martí
Artist and human rights defender Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara
Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara is on the eighth day of a hunger and thirst strike, and in increasingly poor health. He is engaged in a profound dialogue with a regime that for decades has refused to listen, to really listen, to Cuban citizens petitioning for and demanding change. This dialogue has been going on for at least three years. He has tried all types of protests, petitions, performance art pieces, and music videos in defense of freedom of expression, especially artistic expression.
In his third lecture in 2006 of his peace and conflict studies course "164A: Intro to Nonviolence" non-violence practitioner and academic at Berkeley University Michael Nagler explained that "it would not be appropriate for a person who had not tried in every
way possible, first, to communicate with the person, then when they
refused to listen to you, you move into various forms of civil
disobedience. Or in other ways, you take on the suffering and the
situation. And finally, when all that has failed – if all that has
failed, then you move into something drastic like refusal to eat."
Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara since 2018 has been engaged in a dialogue with the Cuban government demanding that artistic freedom in Cuba be respected and expanded. The dialogue was initiated when the Cuban government announced Decree 349, a dystopian law that further restricted artistic freedoms in the already existing state of repression that existed.
In an interview with Amnesty International in 2019, Luis Manuel said:
“I’m like the tip of the iceberg. We are talking about an endless
number of artists in Cuba. [The authorities] come after me, because as I
am supposedly the most visible of the youth, activists-artists, they
send the message ‘Well, if we lock this one up, look what we can do to
you lot.’”
In March 2020, the World Movement for Democracy condemned the violent arrest and detention of
artist and civil society activist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara by Cuban
authorities and joined organizations like PEN America and the San Isidro
Movement in demanding his release. "He was arrested in Havana on March 1
as he was leaving his home to attend an independent anti-censorship
demonstration organized by the local LGBTQ community. During the arrest a
policewoman threw Otero Alcántara’s girlfriend, Claudia Genlui, to the
floor and hit her for attempting to record the arrest on her cellphone," reported the World Movement. Many feared that he would be subjected to a political show trial.
Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and his girlfriend Claudia Genlui
Amnesty International on March 13, 2020 identified Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara a prisoner of
conscience, "imprisoned solely because of his consciously held beliefs,
and should be released immediately."
Eight months later in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and the San Isidro Movement were confronted with a new injustice. On November 9, 2020, their colleague Denis Solís González was arrested for recording and speaking critically of a police officer searching his home without a warrant. He was subjected to a summary trial on November 11, 2020 and was sentenced to eight months in prison for “contempt” (desacato). Denis was taken to Valle Grande, a maximum-security prison
just outside Havana to serve out his prison sentence.
Luis Manuel, along with other artists and intellectuals began holding protests outside the police station, and were roughed up and their protests shut down. They moved the protests to the San Isidro Movement's headquarters, Luis Manuel's home and beginning on November 15, 2020 they were surrounded by police. They were protesting the travesty of justice carried out against Denis Solís González.
On November 18th when it became clear that officials would not allow
anyone to deliver them food, and in the early morning hours of that day
had used a chemical agent to poison their water supply that nine of them decided to go on hunger strike,
and four of them took the additional step to also start a thirst
strike. This was done to conserve food and water for those among them in
a more vulnerable situation.
Luis Manuel was one of the four that initiated the hunger and thirst strike on November 18, 2020. Four days later around midnight, despite a cordon of state security and revolutionary national police surrounding the San Isidro Movement headquarters a Luis Manuel Alcantara was attacked with by an unidentified man who
broke into the San Isidro Movement's headquarters on November 22, 2020. This was
particularly suspicious because secret police had blocked
neighbors, friends, and family members from reaching them for the previous four days.
Luis M. Alcantara attacked on November 22, 2020
On November 26 at 8:00pm regime officials shutoff their access to internet and to their phones and organized a rapid response brigade for an act of repudiation. Secret police dressed as doctors raided the San Isidro Movement headquarters and forcibly expelled and arrested everyone inside and beat them up.
Luis Manuel and the San Isidro Movement responded to each escalation
of violence with a non-violent response that challenged the regime.
Restrictions on getting food, and regime contaminating the water supply
with a chemical agent, the strongest started a hunger and thirst
strike to conserve supplies for the weakest among them.
State security raid San Isidro Movement in Havana on November 26th
Following an
individual knocking down the door to the entrance with a hammer, they
carried out their call for Cubans across the country to go to public
parks and peacefully protest. When they were dislodged and beaten on
November 26th the following day hundreds of young people gathered
outside of the Castro regime's Ministry of Culture and challenged the
dictatorship. This led to the founding of the movement 27N, and a pledge by regime officials to dialogue in good faith that they immediately reneged on and began publicly demonizing protesters in the official media.
Hundreds of artists and intellectuals gather outside Ministry of Culture on Nov 27th
Level of surveillance and harassment against Luis Manuel and other members of the San Isidro Movement grew exponentially after the events of November 27, 2020. On December 15, 2020 Amnesty International released a statement titled "Cuba: San Isidro movement and allies under frightening levels of surveillance," and raised the alarm of how they were being treated. “The disturbing level of restrictions to which activists and
independent journalists are now being subjected is like something out of
an Orwell novel set in Havana’s palm-lined streets. The police presence
outside their homes, and constant threat of arrest, is so relentless
that activists are essentially being imprisoned in their own homes,”
said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International.
In spite of the surveillance and harassment Maykel Osorbo, El Funky, and Luis Manuel
Otero Alcántara were able to collaborate on a song and video with other artists that would place the Castro regime on the defensive.
Artists from the San Isidro Movement in the music video Patria y Vida.
Cuban artists both in the diaspora and on the island: Yotuel Romero,
Gente de Zona, Descemer Bueno, Maykel Osorbo, El Funky, and Luis Manuel
Otero Alcántara, collaborated in the song and video Homeland and Life (Patria y Vida) that challenges the regime's propaganda narrative. On February 16, 2021 the video was premiered live
with Yotuel Romero, Gente de Zona, Descemer Bueno on Youtube, and
Maykel Osorbo briefly speaking live from Cuba before the secret police
cut him off.
The Albert Einstein Institution, a center for research on nonviolence, would identify this as an "Act of commission",
"that is, people may perform acts that they do not usually perform, are
not expected by custom to perform, or are forbidden to perform."
Above is the music video Patria y Vida (Homeland and Life) that is not only a
non-violent creative act, but contains a message that rejects violence
and death in favor of life, understanding and treating each other with
humanity.
Luis Manuel on the garrote demonstrating vulnerability of dissidents
Regime responded with escalating acts of random violence against San Isidro members. On April 16, 2021 over Facebook,
Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara, one of the leaders of the San Isidro
Movement announced a performance to dramatize the vulnerability of
dissidents on the island. Luis Manuel explained the dramatic protest he was undertaking.
"From today I will be for 8 h daily for 5 days, sitting in a Garrote, days when I remain besieged by the DSE (State Security), I call on the authorities to turn this lathe and execute me publicly. Today Cuban activists and opponents live more vulnerable than ever, every day we are more exposed, and that vulnerability is coming from a dictatorship that is 62 years old. That 62-year-old dictatorship that copies the most repressive models of many dictatorships and security and repression organs like Russia, and those of the world.
This work is the result of a series of videos where we denounce the arbitrary way in which activists and opponents in Cuba are accused. From Law 88 that can sentence you to up to 20 years in jail, coming with the black spring, to the charge of contempt, a crime for which Denis Solis is now in prison, and Luis Robles is also in prison for expressing himself .. The law against insulting patriotic symbols is another one of those laws that criminalize free speech, crimes made up by State security. This performance is based on the garrote technique of killing activists or criminals in dictatorships like Franco's and in the Spanish Colonies. It is a wake-up call to what this dictatorship is capable of doing. Imagine if Luis Robles was handed down a six years prison sentence for expressing himself with a sign, what can happen to an activist who actually succeeds in having millions of followers for Cuban Freedom?"
The political police arrived that same day and took him away then returned to seize and steal or destroy his artwork located there at his home and studio. It was captured on video by a neighbor.
"Following his release, [Luis Manuel] had planned to protest the repeated persecution he and other independent artists have faced in recent months at the parliament building in Havana, but officials blocked his movements, reportedly throwing him in jail every time he attempted to leave his apartment. Authorities have reportedly cut off his internet access, and police have surrounded his apartment, preventing anyone from entering. On Sunday [April 25, 2021], Otero Alcántara announced his hunger and thirst strike, intended as an act of protest against the seizure of his works and the ongoing persecution of artists," reported PEN America on April 26, 2021. They are arbitrarily detaining activists, like rapper and poet AfrikReina for trying to visit him at his home.
1- Lift the police cordon on Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara in force since November 2020, and get rid of the state of siege as a practice to stop the free movement of artists, journalists and activists.
2- Return the art works that were stolen from Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara and compensate him for any damages that they’ve incurred.
3- Respect for Cuban artists and them exercising their freedoms fully.
He and the San Isidro Movement have demonstrated that they know what they are doing with great courage and creativity.
Nagler's Five rules for Fasting: Persuasion vs. Coercion
Have to be the right person for the job. Not to be used by just anybody.
Right
audience. (You should only fast against someone who cares about your well being.)
Doable demand
Last Resort
Consistent with the rest of your life
In the third lecture of his peace and conflict studies course "164A: Intro to Nonviolence" Nagler describes fasting unto the death within nonviolence:
What you’re saying to a person - remember, we’re trying to make two distinctions here when we talk about fasting within satyagraha. One, it’s not a case of suicide. You’re not killing yourself, you are risking death. And what you’re doing is actually putting your life in the other person’s hands.
So in a way, it’s an act of extreme intimacy. It’s an act of love, in the non-modern sense of the word. You’re actually putting your life in that person’s hands. You are not killing yourself, but you’re saying to the person, “Your behavior is so unacceptable that if you continue it, it’s going to kill me.” So this is simply an extreme case of taking on the suffering that’s in the situation. We’re going to get back to that principle at some point. I’m sure it will come up very soon. The other distinction we need to make is this is different from a threat because what you’re saying to the person is, “I am going to exhibit to you, I’m going to mirror back to you the ultimate consequences of what you’re doing.”
So you’re not saying, “If you don’t do what I want, I’m going to die and then you’ll be sorry.” It’s not quite like that. It’s like this is an act of truth. You’re killing us. You’re killing us. You’re killing our people and I’m going to show you that you’re doing to wake up your conscious. And once you realize what you’re doing, you’ll make your choice whether to continue doing it or not. So that’s why you have to be carrying on this conversation. And incidentally, nonviolent actions can be thought of as conversation on a nonverbal level with someone who’s not listening to you verbally anymore.
There are no
guarantees in nonviolent resistance, as there are not in violent
resistance, but in studying the terrain and observing the strategy and
tactics carried out one can gain an idea of what the likelihood is of
success.
There is a danger in a hunger strike of a yogic death. This is when the protester has been engaging in meditation and withdrawing consciousness from the body that eventually leads to a loss of the fear of death. These actions are not for the timid, but for the brave, especially when confronting the dictatorship in Cuba. They are extreme, but the situation on the island is extreme and literally a "do or die" situation.
Michael N. Nagler's book, "The Nonviolence Handbook: A Guide for Practical Action" has a passage that should be a familiar description to pro-democracy activists with regards to the struggles now taking place in Cuba:
"Conflicts escalate when they are not resolved, and if they are left
untended they can rapidly get out of control." From the nonviolence
point of view, the
intensity of a conflict is not necessarily a question of how many guns
or how many people are involved (the same metric would work for a
quarrel between lovers as between nations); it is primarily about how
far dehumanization has proceeded. If someone no longer listens to you,
is calling you names or is labeling you, it’s probably too late for
petitions. In terms of knowing how to respond, we can
conveniently think of this escalation in three stages that call for
distinct sets of responses. Let’s call these three stages Conflict
Resolution, Satyagraha (active nonviolent resistance), and—hopefully
this is rare, but it helps to know it exists—Ultimate Sacrifice (see
Figure)."
In Cuba the regime in power call opponents: worms, mercenaries, and fascists. The Cuban government does not only not recognize the opposition, but it is also illegal under the constitution along with independent media, human rights organizations, and civil society in practice. It is a totalitarian dictatorship with few non-formal spaces for dissent.
1- Lift the police cordon on Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara in force since November 2020, and get rid of the state of siege as a practice to stop the free movement of artists, journalists and activists.
2- Return the art works that were stolen from Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara and compensate him for any damages that they’ve incurred.
3- Respect for Cuban artists and them exercising their freedoms fully.
The dictatorship has responded with repression and more repression. Below are messages that he was able to relay via SMS, and through friends out of the island, despite efforts of the regime to silence him.
"Me duele todo, apenas puedo bajar ya, el mareo no me deja, estoy guardando las fuerzas para durar mas días."
"Everything hurts, I can barely go down now, the dizziness does not leave me, I am saving my strength to last more days."
Tienes internet?
Have internet?
Si tienes postea esto plis
If you do please post this
“Si el régimen cubano me deja morir, fue su intransigencia absurda la que me mató.Gracias a todos los que hicieron todo lo posible para salvarme.Yo lucharé hasta el último suspiro por mi arte libre, si mi cuerpo llega a morir, espero sea la continuidad a la chispa por la libertad de Cuba, los amo y amare por siempre.”
“If the Cuban regime lets me die, it was their absurd intransigence that killed me.Thanks to everyone who did everything possible to save me.I will fight until the last breath for my free art, if my body dies, I hope it will continue the spark for the freedom of Cuba, I love you and I will love you forever ”.
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