COALITION ARCHIVE: COALITION MEETING WITH THE NAACP-July, 2003

COALITION ARCHIVE: Coalition of Cuban-American Women: Meeting with the NAACP
NAACP Convention, July, 2003, Miami, FL

The third week of July, 2003, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People held its annual national convention in Miami. In November, 2002, members of the Executive Board of the NAACP had traveled to Cuba and met with dissidents on the island, including Dr. Oscar Elías Biscet González, a Black Cuban physician recognized for his call for non-violent call for a transition to democracy in Cuba. Shortly after the delegation's visit, Dr. Biscet was arrested by the Cuban government and placed in prison on the island.

In an effort to lobby support and solidarity from the NAACPfor all Cuban political prisoners, especially since important members of that organization had met with Dr. Biscet during their visit to Cuba and pledged their support, members of the Coalition arranged for a special presentation about treatment of Black Cubans to prominent members of the NAACP's governing board. Those people included Mr. Kwesi Mfume, CEO, Mr. Hilary Shelton, Director of the NAACP Washington Bureau, Mr. Nelson Rivers, and the entire delegation from the NAACP who had traveled to Cuba and met with Dr. Biscet attended the session.

Coalition members, Laida Carro, Tanya Wilder, and María Luisa Abréu. were accompanied by Berta Mexidor (who addressed treatment of Black women in Cuba and represented the Independent Librarians' movement on the island), José Bridón ( recently arrived from Cuba who spoke about the experiences of Black laborers), and Rodolfo Rodríguez San Román (an ex-political prisoner whose emotional testimony about the horrendous treatment he received in Castro's prisons visibly shocked the NAACP delegation.)
(Above photo: Tanya Wilder, Laida Carro, Kwesi Mfume, María Luisa Abréu, Rodolfo Rodríguez San Román, Berta Mexidor, José Bridón)

Although the officials of the NAACP seemed interested in the information presented by the Coalition and its guests, there has been little or no follow-up to a petition presented by the Coalition requesting that the organization speak out on against the Cuban government' s treatment of political prisoners and call for their immediate release.

Another event scheduled during the NAACP Convention took place later in the evening when close to 100 people gathered outside the Miami Convention Center during a peaceful vigil to protest treatment of Cuban political prisoners. (See photos to the right and below) Various members of the Cuban community gathered in silence to show solidarity on behalf of all Cuban political prisoners. Several individuals spoke of their experiences in prison, and to conclude, the group joined together in singing the Cuban national anthem.

Among those in attendance from the Coalition at the vigil were María Luisa Abréu, Moraima Fernández,Manuela Calvo, Laida Carro, and Tanya Wilder.

(ABOVE : Photo # 1: {left to right} Tanya Wilder, Laida Carro, Kwesi Mfume, María Luisa Abreu, Rodolfo Rodríguez San Román, Berta Mexidor, José Bridón / Photo #2: María Luisa Abreu, Manuela Calvo / Photo # 3: Rodolfo Rodríguez San Román, ex-political prisoner)

CAMPAIGN ON BEHALF OF CUBAN PHYSICIANS AND DENTIST - PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE IN CUBAN PRISONS--COALITION OF CUBAN-AMERICAN WOMEN
(Note: The information below is available for dissemination. This campaign, organized and directed by Laida Carro, is ongoing and has received support from the World Medical Association, Christian Solidarity Worldwide, and various other human rights agencies.)

CUBA
INFORMATION ON FIVE PHYSICIANS AND A DENTIST WHO WERE ARBITRARILY ARRESTED, SUMMARILY TRIED, SENTENCED, AND IMPRISONED DURING THE CUBAN GOVERNMENT CRACKDOWN OF MARCH 18 –APRIL 11, 2003.

OCTOBER 2005

Internationally, these six men are all considered prisoners of conscience. They were prosecuted by the Cuban government for peacefully exercising their independent political views; consequently, they must be unconditionally released. Inhumane prison conditions and cruel treatment by penal authorities in Cuba are directly responsible for the severe deterioration of the physical and mental health of these Cuban professionals.

DR. OSCAR ELÍAS BISCET GONZÁLEZ

A black Cuban physician (Specialist in Internal Medicine) and follower of Mahatma Ghandi and Martin Luther King, He is a leader in the peaceful civil rights movement that struggles to establish a state based on the rule of law through nonviolent civil disobedience in Cuba. Arrested more than 26 times, Dr. Biscet is President of the unofficial Lawton Foundation for Human Rights in Havana, a pro-life, human rights organization. Due to his human rights activities, Dr. Biscet was expelled from the Cuban National Health System; prohibited from practicing as a physician in his own country; his wife was dismissed from her job as a nurse; and his family was evicted from their home. He served a 3-year sentence in a maximum security prison 450 miles away from his home (1999-2002), accused of “insult to the symbols of the homeland’, ‘public disorder’, and ‘incitement to commit an offense’ for displaying two Cuban flags in an inverted vertical position at a press conference where a public march was announced to denounce human rights violations during the 1999 Latin American Summit in Havana. Dr. Biscet was released on October 31, 2002, was rearrested 36 days later, and was tried April 7, 2003, during a Cuban governmental crackdown that took place in March-April 2003. He was sentenced under article 91 of the Penal Code to 25 years in prison. Since 2003, he has been confined during 15 months to punishment cells for refusing, as a prisoner of conscience, to obey any prison rule applied to common prisoners. On one occasion, he lost 40 pounds when he was placed in an underground dungeon with a dangerous criminal. He is presently loosing most of his teeth due to a serious gum disease.

Family: (Wife) Elsa Morejón Hernandez,(a nurse) and two children (in exile).
Address: Acosta 464 entre 8va y 9na, Lawton, Municipio 10 de Octubre, La Habana, Cuba
Telephone: +53-7-991774
Birthdate: July 20, 1961
Sentence: 25 years
Prison: Combinado del Este (Havana)
Accusation: Article 91 of the Penal Code


DR. MARCELO CANO RODRÍGUEZ

A medical doctor, Dr. Cano Rodríguez served as the National Coordinator of the unofficial Cuban Independent Medical Association, an association of medical professionals around the island and a member of the unofficial Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation (CCDHRN). Marcelo Cano was summarily tried on April 6, 2003,and convicted under article 91 of the Penal Code and articles 4.1, 4.2a-b, 6.1, 6.2a-b, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 8.1, 8.2, 9.1, 9.2, 10 and 11 of Law 88 to 18 years in prison. The activities, which the prosecution cited against this human rights defender, included visiting prisoners and their families as part of his work with the CCDHRN, and maintaining ties to the international organization, Doctors without Borders. Dr. Marcelo Cano has been severely harassed by penal authorities since his incarceration. This physician has not seen the light of the sun since 2004 and his 6-year-old daughter is traumatized after two and a half years of prison visits. Due to the lack of hygiene, he suffers from parasites and fungus on his feet.

Family: (aunt) Catalina Cano Vergara.
Address: Calle 72 #907. Altos, entre 9na y 11na, Playa, Ciudad de La Habana, Cuba
Birthdate: January 20, 1965
Sentence: 18 years
Prison: Prison of Ariza in Cienfuegos (423 km. east of Havana)
Accusation: Violation of Law No. 88 and Article 91

DR. JOSÉ LUIS GARCÍA PANEQUE

Dr.Paneque, trained as a plastic surgeon, is a member of the unofficial Cuban Independent Medical Association and director of the independent news agency Libertad and of the unofficial Journalists' Society, "Manuel Marquez Sterling." He was also reportedly involved in the Proyecto Varela initiative as well as in directing a private library. Dr. Garcia Paneque was detained on 18 March 2003. Following a search of his house, materials, correspondence and medical equipment were reportedly confiscated. He was charged and summarily tried under Law 88 and Article 91 of the Cuban Penal Code and sentenced to 24 years in prison. Since then, his weight has dropped from 86 to 48 kg. due the development of intestinal mal absorption syndrome, and he is presently in a prison hospital in Havana, 700 km. away from his hometown. According to his wife, Cuban authorities keep her husband in prison even while he suffers an illness that is incompatible with a prison routine and when his life is in danger. Dr. Garcia Paneque’s family is presently being threatened with an imminent mob attack against their home in Las Tunas.

Family: (Wife)Yamilé Llánez Labrada, (a lawyer) Four children ages 6,8,10,15
Address: Calle Emilio González No.63, entre Eliades Ávila y José Licea, Reparto Aguilera, Las Tunas, Cuba
Telephone: + 53-31-42910
Birthdate: July 24, 1965
Sentence: 24 years
Prison: National Prisoners’ Hospital at the Combinado del Este Prison (Havana) -
Accusation: Violation of Law No.88 and Article 91

DR. LUIS MILÁN FERNÁNDEZ

A medical doctor, he is a member of the unofficial Independent Cuban Medical Association. On June 2001 he and his wife, a dentist, signed a document called 'Manifiesto 2001,' calling, among other measures, for recognition of fundamental freedoms in Cuba. Together with other health professionals, they carried out a one-day hunger strike to call attention to the medical situation of detainees and other issues. On April 4, 2003, he was summarily tried for violating Law 88, and sentenced to 13 years in prison. Though he has never suffered from any emotional or mental problems, Dr. Milan has been confined since February 18, 2005, with mental patients of all kinds in the psychiatric ward of the Prison of Boniato, in the province of Santiago de Cuba where he presently remains. Two or three mental patients sleep in Dr. Milan’s prison cell, and some, due to their aggressiveness, have annoyed and provoked him. Penal authorities follow a pattern, changing his cellmates periodically, occasionally leaving him alone in his cell.

Family: (wife) Dr. Lisandra Laffita Hernández (dentist)
Address: Edificio B27, Apt. 10, Reparto Antonio Maceo, Santiago de Cuba, Cuba
Birthdate: February 21, 1970
Sentence: 13 years
Prison: Psychiatric Ward of the Prison of Boniato (Santiago de Cuba)
Accusation: Violation of Law No. 88


RICARDO ENRIQUE SILVA GUAL

A medical doctor and member of the Movimiento Cristiano Liberación, (Christian Liberation Movement.) On April 7, 2003, Dr. Silva was sentenced to serve ten years in prison under articles 4.1 and 6.1 of Law 88. Dr. Silva carried out a hunger strike from January 13-February 5, 2005, in the maximum-security prison of Boniato to protest the cruel treatment he was being subjected to by prison authorities and by dangerous convicts who were being encouraged by prison guards to harass him. There, he received a savage beating by Sargent Arrastre. He was eventually transferred to the Prison of Aguadores in Santiago de Cuba where he feels he has achieved his demands which are: not wear the common prisoner’s uniform, not salute or acknowledge the military personnel or accept the penal system’s reeducation program which includes compulsory participation in political marches. According to Dr. Silva, he will continue with his demands until he is a free man. He is presently having very serious problems with his eyesight and has just been diagnosed with glaucoma. Dr. Silva is married and has a young child. His father has been hospitalized twice, affected by his son’s incarceration.

Family: (mother) Elina Rosa Gual. Wife and a son, two and a half years old.
Address: Calle Martí, Alta #458, entre Eduardo Chibás y Oscar Lucero, Palma Soriano, Santiago de Cuba, Cuba.
Birthdate: April 19,1973
Sentence: 10 years
Prison: Aguadores Provincial Prison, Santiago de Cuba.
Accusation: Violation of Law No. 88

ALFREDO MANUEL PULIDO LOPEZ

Dr. Pulido practiced as a dentist for 22 years until he was expelled from his profession when he became involved with the independent dissident movement, Movimiento Cristiano Liberación. In 2001, he began working as an independent journalist for the unofficial news agency El Mayor in Camagüey. He is a Master Freemason who belongs to a Grand Lodge. On March 18, 2003 he was arrested and was summarily tried April 4 and sentenced to 14 years of imprisonment under Articles 91 of the Cuban Penal Code and Law 88. He is presently confined in Kilo 7 Prison in Camagüey in a barrack with 100 delinquents, many of them condemned for murder. Dr.Pulido told his wife he “feels like he is in hell”. His state of health is critical since, for months, he has been suffering multiple severe ailments and is unable to read, write, and hardly sleep as a result of severe, chronic and recurrent migraines.

Family: (wife) Rebeca Antonia Rodríguez Souto and a teenage son.
Address: Palomino #445 entre Linea y Primera, Reparto La Mascota, Camagüey, Cuba.
Birthdate: November 14, 1960
Sentence: 14 years
Prison: Kilo 7, Camagüey
Accusation: Violation of Law No.88 and Article 91


LEGAL INSTRUMENTS UTILIZED BY CUBAN AUTHORITIES TO CONVICT THE SIX CUBAN HEALTH PROFESSIONALS (Law No. 88 and Article 91 of the Cuban Penal Code)

Law No 88 (gag law) - The Law for the Protection of National Independence and the Economy of Cuba - Mandates prison sentences of up to twenty years for those found guilty of "supporting, facilitating, or collaborating with the objectives of the Helms-Burton Law [U.S. legislation that imposes sanctions on foreign companies trading with Cuba], the embargo, and the economic war against our people, with the goal of ruining internal order, destabilizing the country, and liquidating the socialist state and Cuba's independence."
Acts against the Independence or the Territorial Integrity of the State. ARTICLE 91.
“The person who, in the interest of a foreign State, commits an act with the intent to cause damage to the independence of the Cuban State or the integrity of its territory, shall be punished with 10 to 20 years in prison or death.”

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The COALITION OF CUBAN-AMERICAN WOMEN compiled the information on the five Cuban physicians and a dentist, present prisoners of conscience in Cuba, through recorded testimonies obtained (constantly updated) from their families via telephone from Cuba and translated to English. Contact LAIDA CARRO/ Email: Joseito76@aol.com
Phone: + (305) 662-5947 Fax: + (305) 740-7323.
Address: 4635 Granada Blvd. Coral Gables, Fl. 33146, USA


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND REFERENCES:

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL - AMR 25/017/2003
International report on Cuba (June 3, 2003) called CUBA: "Essential Measures"? Human Rights Crackdown in the Name of Security, found at URL - http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engAMR250172003?open&of=eng-cub

LAW 88 - CUBA: BACK TO DARKNESS by Andrés Oppenheimer – Article Published Thursday March 18, 1999 / The Miami Herald / http://www.fiu.edu/~fcf/rtrndrknessoppenheimer.html

ARTICLE 91 (Cuban Penal Code) International Pen Writers in Prison Committee- Cuba Campaign http://www.pen.org/freedom/cubafox.htm

THE WORLD MEDICAL ASSOCIATION PRESS RELEASE – 23 March 2004. World Medical Association pleads for doctors and dentists imprisoned in Cuba. http://www.wma.net/e/press/2004_4.htm

“DIRECTORIO” ( Human Rights organization -Cuban Democratic Directorate)
Email: Info@directorio.org Phone: (305) 279-4416.

“PLANTADOS” ( Human Rights organization consisting of exCuban political prisoners)
151 S.W. 57 Avenue, Miami, Florida 33144. Email: Plantados@bellsouth.net . Phone: 305-269-1812

Internet websites with documented information about Cuban Political Prisoners: http://www.payolibre.com/

Dr. Biscet’s website: http://www.biscet.org

LETTER FROM LAS DAMAS DE BLANCO - February, 2006

A CALL FROM THE LADIES IN WHITE (LAS DAMAS DE BLANCO) TO WOMEN, TO ALL THE CUBAN PEOPLE, AND TO INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC OPINION

Since March 20, 2005, supposedly spontaneous “Meetings” or “Acts of Repudiation” have been carried out against the Women in White (Damas de Blanco) in Havana and other cities and towns in Cuba. We know that citizens, among them Cuban women, are being instigated by the authorities so that the attack us verbally and harass us. Usually the participants do not know us personally nor do they know about our activities.

These aggressions have become ones of physical danger against peaceful women, and they have placed our health and lives in danger, as well as that of our children and other family members. It was possibly not the initial intention of the participants, both men and women, to cause the damage they have caused. Nevertheless, verbal abuse in the midst of so much tension that exists in our country due to the shortage of daily necessities and the different forms of repression can have nasty consequences, especially coming from the hands of the State Police that directs them. These lamentable actions bring the “Porras” (beatings) of the dictatorship of Gerardo Machado and the fascist hordes to mind.

We call upon all people and especially Cubans who carry out such embarrassing acts to get to know us and to think seriously about the fact that they could also be exposed to similar situations. We are all Cubans, and as such we are all brothers and sisters. We require solidarity, especially when reason and a just and peaceful cause are on our side.

WHO ARE THE LADIES IN WHITE?

We are the peaceable wives, mothers, daughter, sisters, and aunts of the 75 prisoners of conscience, incarcerated on March 18th, 19th, and 20th of 2003 only for the crime of attempting to exercise their right to free expression and desiring good things for our people and our country. WE ARE ALL VOICES. Pain and injustice unite us.

We come together without affiliation to any party, political criteria, or religious beliefs. The majority of us – workers, university and technical professionals, or housewives – never imagined ourselves in the situations that life has imposed on us. We have survived without noticing we overcome repression and fear every day. We have no other choice.

During those days of March, 2003, immediately when the ostentatious searches behind closed doors with cars and uniformed and civil police everywhere concluded, we wives began to denounce the terrible conditions of confinement and impoverishment and the permanent interrogations to which our loved ones were submitted at the General Headquarters of State Security (State Police). Later the summary trials without due process followed with sentences of up to 28 years in prison.

Our numbers grew. The majority of the wives, mothers, daughters, sisters and aunts of the 75 met in the ill-starred headquarters or at the prisons. The prisoners, residents throughout the country, were sent to prisons far away from their homes. As such, our families were also condemned and submitted to psychological tortures that cruelly affect our children and the older folks in particular. Nevertheless, being so displaced contributed to our getting to know each other and to the entire population learning about the injustices committed against the 75.

A few of us were involved in projects as journalists and independent librarians or human rights activists. EACH ONE PARTICIPATES IN ACTIVITIES OF SOME POLITICAL OR OTHER TYPE OF ORGANIZATION. SHE DOES SO ON HER OWN ACCORD, NOT AS A REPRESENTATIVE OF THE LADIES IN WHITE.

We demand justice of the competent authorities in our country, according to laws in force. We attend mass on Sundays at the Church of Santa Rita de Acacia, the Patron Saint of Impossible Causes. We walk down 5th Avenue in Miramar, Havana. We fast, and we get together for Literary Teas to exchange ideas, read and our and the prisoners’ letters and poetry, find out about any new arbitrary actions, and support one another. We ask for and we receive support and solidarity from the Cuban people and the international community.


The authorities have repressed us in many different ways. They have practically surrounded the church we attend; they place operatives of State Security in public places where we meet; they threaten us in our homes or in State Security Offices; they compel our neighbors to keep their distance; they intimidate people who offer their homes for us to stay overnight when we visit our husbands in other provinces. On March 20, 2005, Palm Sunday, when we were walking down 5th Avenue in Havana in honor of the second anniversary of the arrests, a huge number of women organized and directed by State Security flung themselves at us. Carrying pink gladiolas y blessed palm branches, we responded level-headedly; we continued walking, singing and praying. It was the first “Meeting” or “Act of Repudiation” in a renewed wave of repression. Afterwards, basically in the interior of the country, the intimidations, offenses, and aggressions against women and their families have continued.

The prisoners of conscience receive frequent visits from State Police, who demand that their wives stop their efforts. The authorities tell the prisoners that their terrible prison conditions depend on us. The prisoners know that the authorities are lying to them. In addition, these people want the men to think that they are forgotten and that they will stay in prison until the end of their sentence of until their death. The prisoners do not receive adequate medical attention. Presently, sixty of the 75 are languishing in prison. Fifteen have been released because of illness; three of them have been able to leave the country, but the twelve who are at their homes could be returned to prison at any time. Some, like Julio Valdés Guevara who urgently needs a kidney transplant, are in danger.

Other Cuban women have joined the Ladies in White as a show of SUPPORT. They are welcome and undoubtedly are very courageous because they face repression in spite of NOT BEING LADIES IN WHITE because they are not connected to the 75 prisoners of conscience. However, we also support the other political prisoners in Cuba.

On December 14, 2005, we received the Andrei Sakharov Freedom of Conscience Prize from the European Parliament. The Cuban government did not grant the five delegates to attend the award ceremony in Strasbourg, France, in spite of the efforts of Mr. Josep Borrel, president of the European Parliament, the English and Spanish governments, among others, and prominent people. The Cuban authorities prevented five peaceable women to travel, but in reality the Cuban government has demonstrated its true nature, one which violates the most basic human rights.

Upon conferring the Sakharov Prize to the Ladies in White, the European Parliament has inspired new hope in our innocent prisoners of conscience who are unshakeable in their convictions. The efforts of governments, parliaments, NGO’s, prominent personalities, and the information in the international press have saved lives and must continue to work for the immediate and unconditional freedom of all these prisoners.

SOLIDARITY AMONG WOMEN AND THE CUBAN PEOPLE CAN ACHIEVE EVEN MORE.

MAY THE HARASSMENT, REPRESSION, AND ABUSE END!
IMMEDIATE AND UNCONDITIONAL FREEDOM FOR THE 75 PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE! THEY ARE INNOCENT!

Havana, February 6, 2006


Translation: Tanya S. Wilder / Human Rights Committee / Coalition of Cuban-American Women / tswilder@charter.net

TESTIMONY FROM JUAN CARLOS GONZALEZ LEIVA - FEBRUARY 21,2006

CUBA: BLIND ACTIVIST AND PRESIDENT OF THE CUBAN FOUNDATION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS IS BEING SERIOUSLY THREATENED

February 21, 2006.

JUAN CARLOS GONZALEZ LEIVA, a blind Cuban lawyer and civic activist; president of the Cuban Foundation for Human Rights, today denounced from his home in the city of Ciego de Avila, that almost every day Cuban State Security is sending him "messages" with strangers who request membership in the Cuban Foundation for Human Rights, that he will soon suffer another violent act of repudiation. Rubber tubes and cables were given to Gonzalez Leiva by these strangers, as proof of the knowledge they have that he will soon be violently attacked in another act of repudiation being prepared against him.

This blind lawyer recently had to give away a dog he had acquired to protect himself since there was evidence the animal was going to be poisoned.

Gonzalez Leiva continues very active, providing support to the human rights movement in Cuba, denouncing the savage attacks committed by the political police against activists, independent journalists, and their families throughout the island. Those dissidents in the eastern provinces where there are no foreign embassies and press to protect them, suffer the most.

In mid January, Gonzalez Leiva's house was under military seige for several days, where he remained confined without any water, electricity or telephone service. Mobs of up to 400 people brought by State Security surrounded his home, screaming governmental slogans, committing acts of vandalism, and beating activists. These violent assaults by Cuban State Police are widespread throughout the island; committed against those who express independent ideas.

Juan Carlos Gonzalez Leiva is proud of and determined to continue his peaceful activism and alerts the international community that anything that happens to him is the responsibilty of Cuban State Security, Cuban Military and the Cuban goverment.

THOSE WHO STRUGGLE ON BEHALF OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN CUBA ARE SUFFERING A VIOLENT WAVE OF REPRESSION THAT DEMANDS THE ONGOING SOLIDARITY AND COMMITTMENT OF THE FREE WORLD.
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Juan Carlos Gonzalez Leiva - Address - Honorato del Castillo 154/ entre Republica y Cuba. Ciego de Avila, Cuba. Tel: + 53-33-222235

Testimony of Juan Carlos González Leiva obtained from Cuba. translated to English by the Coalition of Cuban-American Women in the United States. Telephone: 305-662-5947 / Fax: 305-740-7323. E-mail: Joseito76@aol.com

PRESENTATION: NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF HISPANIC AND LATINO STUDIES

" An Overview of Human Rights Violations in Cuba from 1959 through the Present"

(Panelists: Manuel Vázquel Portal, ex-political prisoner / Laida Carro, President, The Coalition of Cuban-American Women / Tanya Wilder, Human Rights Committee-The Coalition of Cuban-American Women)
February 17, 2006 - Baton Rouge, Louisiana


On Friday, February 17, 2006, The Coalition of Cuban-American Women, represented by Laida Carro and Tanya Wilder, delivered a presentation at the National Association of Hispanic and Latino Studies Conference entitled "An Overview of Human Rights Violations in Cuba: 1959 through the Present." Ex-prisoner of conscience and well-known poet / author, and founder of the Independent Journalist movement in Cuba, Manuel Vázquez Portal also participated in the roundtable and provided information regarding his recent incarceration and the current political situation on the island. In addition to the well-received panel presentation, the Cuban Prisoners of Conscience Quilt, crafted by La Bandera Cubana in Boston, MA, under the directions of Mrs. Regla González, (see above) hung at the registration area of the conference. To its left, the video,"Damas de Libertad," a documentary about the Damas de Blanco (Ladies in White) produced by Luis Guardia, played non-stop throughout the conference. Both the quilt and the video captured the attention of many conference participants and brought attention to the situation of political prisoners and their families in Cuba.

The presentation was well-received. Those in attendance asked insightful questions and were very complimentary about the presentation. The director of the conference, Dr. Lemuel Berry, has invited the panel to return next year for a special presentation which will be scheduled without conflicting sessions so that all people attending the conference will be able to attend.

WHAT IS THE COALITION OF CUBAN-AMERICAN WOMEN?

The Coalition of Cuban-American is an organization whose membership is devoted to denouncing human rights violations in Cuba and disseminating information about those violations Cuba throughout the world. In addition, the Coalition advocates for the Cuban people, in particular peaceful dissidents, political prisoners, women, and children whose human rights are denied by the Cuban government.

Begun in September, 1995, The Coalition is based in Miami, Florida, but its membership includes women from across the United States and Europe. Members of this organization have made presentations on behalf of Cuban prisoners of conscience at academic conferences and international forums. In addition, they disseminate information regarding the situation of Cuban prisoners of conscience to governments, human rights agencies, the Organization of American States, the United Nations, religious organizations, and other non-governmental agencies. Furthermore, the Coalition is responsible for the translations and dissemination of many testimonies written by prominent dissident leaders in Cuba that highlight human rights violations and other acts of repudiation carried out against them by the Cuban government.