BLIND LAWYER, A DEFENDER OF HUMAN RIGHTS, IS BEATEN UP, DRAGGED, AND JAILED ALONG WITH OTHER ACTIVISTS

(Se encuentra la versión en español abajo)

CUBA
August 28, 2007

On Sunday, August 27, 2007, at 5:30 PM, I was arrested and beaten by several military personnel of the Penal Ward of Amalia Simoni Provincial Hospital of Camagüey and by policemen and State Security officials. Independent journalist, Luis Esteban Espinosa Echemendía, and Eisy Marrero Marrero, a member of the Cuban Council of Human Rights Rapporteurs, were also arrested and physically attacked.

The event took place when we were attempting to interview Michael, a handicapped individual in a wheel chair who is the son of the prisoner of conscience, José Antonio Mola Porro and who is in Ward H of that hospital. This ward, as well as the hospital, is not a military facility, but a rather public one, and it was visiting hours.

They locked us in the prisoners’ and tuberculosis ward, and they tried to search me, but I refused and said that I would only let them check me at police headquarters. A short time later, a patrol arrived, and they asked me to hand over my Canon digital video recorder that I was feverishly protecting. I had it tied through one of the loops on my belt. I told them I would turn over the cassette but never the camera. Then 5 or 6 of the prison guards dressed in green and two policemen dressed in blue uniforms, as well as some plain clothed individuals, jumped on top of me. They threw me to the floor, and while beating me, they tried to snatch the two small bags tied to my body.

They dragged me toward their car where they tried to force me in it, but I opened my arms and legs trying to grab onto anything in the way and preventing authorities from achieving their objective. Infuriated, they pulled me outside, and they tried it again, violently throwing me against the hatchback of the car, that is, against the top of the door frame of the back left door. I took three hard blows to the head and one to the left shoulder that caused huge bruises all over my body. Finally, they threw me head first onto the car’s seats and bending my legs, they locked me in the asphyxiating patrol car along with Marrero and Luis Esteban.

Upon arriving at the Avellaneda police unit, I refused to get out of the car on my own feet, telling the policemen that if I had been forced into the car, now they would have to take me out by force. Then they told me not to make things worse for myself, that they would accuse me of resistance and that I am a very rude lawyer. With a policeman on each side of me, they dragged me by the hands and took me across the filthy floor of the police station to an enclosed cell that was extremely hot and reeked of urine and feces. I was there for three hours along with my friends, Marrero and Esteban. Then, they let me go, saying that everything had just been a mistake. They returned my camera with 4 cassettes, the tape recorder, and everything else they had taken. (I had been interviewing 6 political prisoners arrested this August and other dissidents as well. All of the work on the video camera and recorder forms part of my work as the Executive Secretary of the Cuban Council of Human Rights Rapporteurs.)

This is a synthesis of everything that occurred. Presently, my entire body and head hurts a bit, but it’s going away. Yesterday, the pain was horrible. I was not taken to see any doctor.

I hold the Cuban government responsible for my health and my life, and I ask for solidarity from the international public opinion and world governments.

Thank you very much,

Juan Carlos González Leiva
Executive Secretary of the Cuban Council of Human Rights Rapporteurs
President of the Cuban Foundation of Human Rights

May God Bless Cuba
_______________________________
Testimony provided by Juan Carlos González Leiva from Cuba to the Coalition of Cuban-American Women/LAIDA CARRO. Joseito76@aol.com in the USA
Translation into English / Coalition of Cuban-American Women / Tanya Wilder / E-mail: tswilder@suddenlink.net
__________________________________________________
ABOGADO INVIDENTE, DEFENSOR DE LOS DERECHOS HUMANOS, ES GOLPEADO, ARRASTRADO Y ENCARCELADO JUNTO A OTROS ACTIVISTAS

AGOSTO 2007

El domingo, 26 de Agosto,2007 a las 5:30 pm fuí arrestado y golpeado por varios militares de la Sala Penal del Hospital Provincial de Camagüey Amalia Simoni y por policías y oficiales de la Seguridad del Estado. También resultaron arrestados y agredidos físicamente el periodista independiente Luis Esteban Espinosa Echemendía y Eisy Marrero Marrero, miembro del Consejo de Relatores de Derechos Humanos de Cuba.


El hecho se produjo cuando estábamos queriendo entrevistar a Michael, un discapacitado, en silla de ruedas quien es hijo de crianza del prisionero de conciencia José Antonio Mola Porro y está ingresado en la Sala H de ese hospital. Esta sala y el hospital no son areas militares, sino públicas y era horario de visitas.

Nos encerraron en la sala de penados y tuberculosos y quisieron requisarme corporalmente, pero yo me negué y dije que solo me dejaría revisar en la sede de la policía. Un rato más tarde llegó la patrulla y me pidieron la cámara de vídeo digital Cannon, la cual yo protegía férreamente atándola dentro de una riñonera a mi cintura. Yo les dije que les entregaría el cassette, pero jamás la cámara. Entonces se me echaron encima 5 o 6 guardias de prisión vestidos de verde y dos policías de azúl, así como vestidos de civil. Me lanzaron al suelo y a fuerza de golpes y sarrandeos trataban de arrebatarme los dos pequeños bolsos atados a mi cuerpo.Me arrastraron llevándome así hacia el auto e intentaban introducirme en éste, pero yo abría las piernas y los brazos y los enganchaba de cuanto encontré a mi paso y no lograban su objetivo. Enfurecidos, me alaban hacia afuera y luego lo intentaban de nuevo lanzándome violentamente contra el auto Lada, pero yo les repetía la acción y entonces comenzaron a golpearme la cabeza contra la lata del carro, es decir, contra los marcos superiores de la puerta trasera del lado derecho. Así recibí al menos tres golpes fuertes en la cabeza y uno en el hombro izquierdo y hematomas por todo el cuerpo. Finalmente, me lanzaron de cabeza hacia los asientos y doblándome los pies me encerraron en el caluroso patrullero, junto a Marrero y Luís Esteban.

Al llegar a la unidad policial de Avellaneda me negué a bajarme del auto por mis propios pies diciéndoles que si yo me había metido cargado y por la fuerza que hicieran ahora lo mismo. Entonce me dijeron que no me complicara más, que me acusarían de resistencia y que yo soy un abogado muy fresco. Me arrastraron por las manos, un policía a cada lado y así me llevaron por todo el mugriento piso de la unidad policial hasta un calabozo tapiado, caluroso y repleto de orina y escrementos, donde me tuvieron 3 horas junto a mis amigos Esteban y Marrero. Después, me dejaron en libertad diciéndome que todo había sido una confusión. Además me devolvieron mi cámara con 4 cassettes, la grabadora y todo lo demás. Yo me encontraba entrevistando a unos 6 prisioneros políticos escarcelados en este agosto y también a otros disidentes. Todo esto forma parte de mi trabajo como Secretario Ejecutivo del Consejo de Relatores de Derechos Humanos de Cuba.

He aquí una sínstesis de todo lo ocurrido. Actualmente me duele un poco la cabeza y todo el cuerpo, pero va disminuyendo. Ayer los dolores eran terribles. No fuí llevado ante ningún médico.

Responsabilizo al gobierno cubano, con mi salud y mi vida y pido la solidaridad de la opinión pública internacional y la comunidad de los Estados.

Muchas Gracias,

Juan Carlos González Leiva.
Secretario Ejecutivo del Consejo de Relatores de Derechos Humanos de Cuba
Presidente la Fundación Cubana de Derechos Humanos.

Que Dios Bendiga a Cuba
______________________________
Testimonio dado por Juan Carlos González Leiva desde Cuba a la Coalición de Mujeres Cubano-Americanas / LAIDA CARRO / Joseito76@aol.com

REPRESSION INCREASES IN CUBAN PRISONS

The following article is a press release from the Cuban Democratic Directorate

(Vean el enlace al artículo en español abajo)

Cuba, August 22, 2007.

During the past few months, there has been an increase in the Cuban internal opposition movement. For this reason, the regime fears, perhaps like never before, all human rights activists. Thus, it has taken extreme measures to increase the harsh repression against them, so that this dictatorial regime may remain in power.

The human rights violations in Cuban prisons continue increasing at all levels. Because of this, the latest releases of political prisoners and prisoners of conscience are not proof of a change in the oppression that the people of Cuba face daily. Instead, it simply means that they have been released after serving unjust sentences without committing crimes.

Cubanacán Press independent journalist, Guillermo Fariñas Hernández reported that Roberto Rodríguez Gil, political prisoner and member of the Pedro Luis Boitel Political Prisoners Association (PPPLB), was transferred on August 11th from Prison Kilo 9 to ‘La Empresita’ prison in the city of Camagüey. Authorities transferred him because Rodríguez Gil ‘filtrated’ information of abuses and mistreatment of political prisoners to the independent press.

Roberto Gil informed the press of beatings, lack of medical attention and food, as well as the terrible living conditions of the prisoners. According to Rogelio Suárez Robledo, also prisoner of the PPPLB, Rodríguez Gil stated: “Wherever they hide me, I will continue to denounce the conditions of these fascist concentration camps, because those are today’s Cuban prisons.”

At Ariza 1 prison, in the province of Cienfuegos, political prisoner Alexander García Lima was transferred to a punishment cell that is 1.5 meters long and 3 meters wide. This was done to impede him from organizing a protest on August 13th, the date of Fidel Castro’s birthday. The political prisoner had previously carried out a similar protest on August 13, 2005, after which he received a beating by prison guards as his punishment.

According to Félix Reyes Gutiérrez, source of the information about García Lima- the political prisoner was taken by the Chief penal authority in this prison, Lieutenant Yorlando, first Lieutenant Rafael Acebedo, and 5 guards, to cell #12, where he was locked up. The prison authorities gave him water only twice daily through a pipe that ran along side a hole designated for defecation.

Also, human rights activist René Montes de Oca Martijas reported to the Cuban Democratic Directorate that at the National Inmate Hospital at Combinado del Este prison, political prisoner and member of the Christian Liberation Movement, Efrén Fernández Fernández is denied the nutrition and medical attention he requires. Fernández has been in prison since 2003, for the supposed violation of Law #88- ‘Ley Mordaza’, for which 75 nonviolent activists were sentenced to unjust imprisonment-, and was sentenced to 12 years in prison. His family has solicited authorities a medical parole for Fernández Fernández based on his delicate state of health.

It is evident that the situation that Cuban political prisoners face is one of harassment, cruelty, and tortures, where all fundamental rights of human beings are continuously violated. The Cuban Democratic Directorate calls upon the national and international public opinion so that these barbaric acts against all Cuban prisoners are known to the world.

http://www.directorio.org/pressreleases/note.php?note_id=1686

Versión en español: http://www.directorio.org/comunicadosdeprensa/note.php?note_id=1685

CUBAN STATE AND THE IMPLEMENTATION ON THE CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD

In 1998, Dr. Liana Prieto Arcia compiled a report on behalf of the Coalition of Cuban-American Women for the NGO Group for the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The report is archived in the Database of NGO Reports presented to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child and can be accessed through the following link:

http://www.crin.org/docs/resources/treaties/crc.15/Cuba_NGO_Report.pdf

BISCET, FOREVER SILENCE, IS SiCKO

(Note: The following article was written by Peter Kirsanow, a member of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission and long-time advocate for Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet Gonzalez. Please see credits at the end of the article.)

August 15, 2007

Biscet Forever Silence is SiCKO
Peter Kirsanow

When Michael Moore traveled to Cuba to film scenes for his movie SiCKO, he failed to meet with a Cuban physician by the name of Oscar Elias Biscet who could’ve provided fascinating insights into that country’s medical system. It’s a shame Moore didn’t prevail upon his pals in the Cuban government to arrange a visit. An interview with Dr. Biscet easily would’ve been the most compelling scene in the movie. The difficulty, however, is that such an interview would’ve presented awkward problems both for the movie’s narrative and the reigning sentiment among many of Moore’s fans regarding Castro’s Cuba.

Ordinarily, the fact that Dr. Biscet is black, a follower of Martin Luther King Jr.’s nonviolence doctrine, and a political prisoner of an oppressive regime would ensure that his story would get widespread play. Actors, artists, authors, and activists would be clamoring for his release. Politicians would be making speeches condemning his treatment. Hollywood would be making movies about his struggles.

Instead, Biscet’s story has been buried. The celebrities, journalists, and civil-rights advocates who usually rally around figures like Biscet are silent — perhaps because his positions are disfavored by the glitterati: He’s pro-life, pro-individual liberty, and anti-Castro. For the Left, a more benighted and dangerous soul would be hard to find.

In fact, that’s precisely why Dr. Biscet just “celebrated” his 46th birthday in one of Castro’s dungeons: He was deemed a danger to the state and sentenced to 25 years in prison for supporting human rights by staging a peaceful hunger strike in his own home. He was one of approximately 75 human-rights activists, journalists, and librarians who were sentenced to lengthy prison terms during Castro’s 2003 crackdown on dissidents.

This is Biscet’s second stint in prison. He was initially released in October, 2002 after serving three years for the crime of “disrespect”. Among other things, according to the Catholic News Agency, Biscet had the impudence to publish a report — replete with statistics as well as testimonial accounts — describing alleged infanticide and abortion practices in the Cuban health-care system.

Biscet has a preternatural ability to drive Castro nuts. A black physician who exposes the depredations of Castro’s regime, including its vaunted medical system, punctures the rigorously guarded myths that Cuba is an egalitarian paradise with sterling health care for all. Consequently, not only has Biscet been imprisoned twice but he’s been arrested and detained nearly two dozen times for peacefully seeking basic human rights for all Cubans.

Michael Moore might find it interesting that even before Dr. Biscet was imprisoned he was barred from practicing medicine in the National Health System. Not because he was delivering poor quality care, (of course not; not in Cuba) but because Biscet was trying to secure for Cuban filmmakers and journalists the rights that Moore and all Americans take as a given.

Biscet’s condition is grave. Although reliable reports about his condition are sporadic because he’s rarely permitted visitors, it appears he’s lost at least 60 pounds during his latest confinement. While that may be a lot of weight, it’s a wonder he hasn’t lost even more. His treatment has been appalling even by the low standards applied to totalitarian regimes.

His cell is the stuff of a Victor Hugo novel: windowless and suffocating, with wretched sanitary conditions. The stench seeping from the pit in the ground that serves as a toilet is intensified by being compressed into an unventilated cell only as wide as a broom closet — and not much longer.

Biscet’s rarely permitted to leave this impossibly tiny cell that he somehow manages to share with a series of criminals who, it seems, are specifically selected by the authorities for violent tendencies, and who, Bisect maintains, are frequently incited by those authorities.

Biscet reportedly suffers from osteoarthritis, ulcers and hypertension. His teeth, those that haven’t fallen out, are rotted and infected. Water, if you can call it that, is at a premium. Prisoners often are forced to wash themselves and their clothing in water filled with feces and urine. Yet Biscet’s permitted no medicines or toiletries.

Nor is he allowed any communication with the outside world. He gets no newspapers. He can receive no visitors—not even doctors or clergy. Even his wife has only seen him fleetingly a few times over the last four years.

Despite the brutality and privation Biscet remains defiant. He somehow manages to compose brief, powerful anti-Castro letters that others smuggle out of the prison. He holds prayer vigils and hunger strikes. He continues to demand freedom and dignity for the Cuban people. In short, he insists on being an acute embarrassment to the dictatorship.

Dr. Biscet is one of many political prisoners in the Caribbean gulag (no, not Guantanamo, the accommodations at which are as a country day spa in comparison). Since Castro won’t allow human rights groups access to the prisons it’s hard to tell if the number is in the hundreds or the thousands. But the next time a besotted actor or director makes a pilgrimage to see the eloquent thug who rules the island, it wouldn’t hurt to ask. Or inquire — very respectfully, of course — as to when Dr. Biscet and all of Castro’s other victims will be released.

— Peter Kirsanow is a member of the National Labor Relations Board. He also is a member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. These comments do not necessarily reflect the positions of either organization.

© National Review Online 2006-2007. All Rights Reserved.

PRESO DE LOS 75 TEME POR SU INTEGRIDAD MENTAL

Aini Martín Valero, Periodista Independiente,

Cuba-Verdad
2007-08-09

El periodista independiente Omar Moisés Ruiz Hernández, uno de los 75 encarcelado en la causa del 2003, teme por su integridad mental luego de ser privado del sueño y el descanso en la Prisión Provincial de Sancti Espíritus, al centro sur del país, según comunicación telefónica del propio Ruiz.

Dijo el prisionero político obligado a convivir junto a otros reos comunes, que estos arman ruidos en las noches y madrugadas e impiden tomar su descanso.Afirmó el comunicador que las autoridades del penal, han negado su solicitud de traslado a una celda en solitario y que el problema se agudizó desde el inicio de la programación de 24 horas del Canal Cubavisión de la televisión cubana, con la temporada vacacional iniciado el pasado julio.Moisés Ruiz sufre al parecer, la contaminación sonora que generan los reclusos a todas horas, por lo que vive a base de fármacos para combatir el insomnio inducido.

Aclaró Ruiz, que dichas autoridades carcelarias no hacen nada por imponer orden y disciplina contra el ruido y la escasa instrucción que poseen los presos, violándose incluso, la hora del silencio impuesta en las prisiones después de las 10:00 PM.

©2004-2007 Misceláneas de Cuba – Todos los derechos reservados

http://miscelaneasdecuba.net/web/print.asp?artID=11111

IN CUBA, BLIND LAWYER AND DEFENDER OF HUMAN RIGHTS DENOUNCES SYSTEMATIC HARASSMENT AGAINST HIM ON THE PART OF THE CUBAN REGIME

(Vean el denuncio en español abajo)

August, 2007

I am Juan Carlos González Leiva, President of the Cuban Foundation of Human Rights and Executive Secretary of the Cuban Council of Rapporteurs of Human Rights. I am 42 years old, and my address is Calle Honorato del Castillo #154, Entre República and Cuba, Ciego de Avila, Cuba.

Branches of State Security still keep me under strict surveillance. For the most part, a police unit composed of members of the blue-uniformed Revolutionary Police, as well as ranked officials, such as lieutenant colonels and their superiors dressed in the olive green uniforms of the Ministry of the Interior, follow me wherever I go.

They closely monitor all telephone calls and visits I receive. Recently I received a phone call in which these people shouted threats that they could incarcerate me or harm me.

This harassment extends to everyone who works with me or is related to me in any way. A young journalist, Luis Esteban Espinosa, 21, who had to flee his home and seek refuge in home of family members, was threatened with being taken away to serve Obligatory Military Service, that is, to serve in the Revolutionary Armed Forces. Tania Maceda Guerra is another person closely related to me and to my work who is systematically harassed. Between January and April of 2007, these police units committed many acts of intimidation, such that more than 70 people, among them family members who were visiting my home, were threatened with prison and fined. For example, the President of the Association of Independent Deaf Citizens, a handicapped individual who was detained for weeks, was taken to court and fined more than $1,500 (national currency).

The Cuban government keeps me under constant economic siege so that I will not have any way to survive in Cuba (that is, purchase food, clothing, and travel, etc.) I have three siblings in the United States: Onel González Leiva, José González Leiva, and Silvia González Leiva, as well as my father, Agustín González Ferrer. They cannot send me money through Cuban agencies (all properties of the government) that make it possible to receive resources from abroad. These agencies have official orders from the Cuban government that forbid me from receiving money. Many times, the money my family members send has been stolen.

The Cuban government accuses me of being a “worm,” and it will not allow me to practice law in spite of the fact that I have applied for work many times through the Ministry of Justice.

I was expelled from the Cuban Association of the Blind, supposedly a humanitarian association but, in reality, a group at the service of the Cuban government. As a result, I, a blind person, do not have access to Braille writing papers, tape recorders, notebooks, or any assistance on the part of this association, which is the only entity for blind citizens permitted by the Cuban government on the island.

I cannot go to hospitals or any medical establishment even if I am ill. The Cuban government kept me in jail for 26 months where I fell ill and was infected with bronchial and lung ailments. I suffer from an allergy that will not go away, and I constantly expel phlegm. I cannot go to any doctors here in Cuba for the risk of what they might attempt on my life. Recently, I had to go for urgent reasons to the Antonio Luaces Iraola Provincial Hospital in Ciego de Avila where members of State Security showed up and took my medical files away. I received this information through doctors who are friends and work in the aforementioned hospital.

On March 16, 2007, the Chief of Counterintelligence of State Security in Ciego de Avila, José Mariño, confiscated a computer of the Cuban Foundation of Human Rights. This same official had already confiscated another computer that belonged to my family.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION GIVEN BY JUAN CARLOS GONZALEZ LEIVA CONCERNING THE CRUEL, INHUMANE, AND DEGRADING TREATMENT THAT CUBAN POLITCAL PRISONERS AND PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE CURRENTLY SUFFER IN CUBA:

Presently, the most worrisome situation is that which is occurring in Cuban jails. The cases of about 50 prisoners of conscience and political prisoners who are extremely ill and who are being tortured in these prisons are extremely urgent.

Normando Hernández’s situation is very alarming, as are the cases of Nelson Aguiar Ramírez, Dr. García Paneque, and Dr. Luis Milán Fernández. Dr. Milán Fernández has been tortured for two years in Boniato Prison along with psychiatrically ill common prisoners. There are numerous cases like these at this time that get much worse in prisons with each passing day. In the last three or four weeks in Kilo 9 Prison, three common prisoners have died because of lack of medical assistance.

The situation of political repression is also tremendous. We have the case of the death of an activist of the Cuban Foundation of Human Rights, whose assassination occurred at the Police Headquarters of Aguada de Pasajeros in Cienfuegos Province on June 26, 2007. After this incident, the death of another detainee occurred. He was set free and supposedly hung himself in the street because of threats and the indiscriminate application of the legal monstrosity that being a “social and criminal threat to society” constitutes.

Although at this time, acts of repudiation are not taking place and there has been a relaxation in “tolerance,” on occasion, if small meetings of 4 to 6 people take place, there are all types of threats, arrests, detentions, and any other act in order to put a stop to the work of peaceful dissidents and human rights defenders.

Juan Carlos González Leiva
President, Cuban Foundation of Human Rights
Executive Secretary of the Cuban Council of Rapporteurs of Human Rights
Havana, Cuba
August 1, 2007

Translation into English: The Coalition of Cuban-American Women / TANYA WILDER /
E-mail: tswilder@suddenlink.net

____________________________________________________

EN CUBA, ABOGADO INVIDENTE, DEFENSOR DE LOS DERECHOS HUMANOS, DENUNCIA HOSTIGAMIENTO SISTEMÁTICO CONTRA SU PERSONA POR PARTE DEL RÉGIMEN CUBANO
agosto 2007

Soy Juan Carlos González Leiva, presidente de la Fundación Cubana de Derechos Humanos y Secretario Ejecutivo del Consejo de Relatores de Derechos Humanos de Cuba. Tengo 42 años de edad y resido en la Calle Honorato del Castillo # 154 entre República y Cuba en Ciego de Ávila, Cuba.

Aún se mantiene una estrecha vigilancia y control de los órganos de la Seguridad del Estado sobre mi persona. En la mayor cantidad de las ocasiones, me sigue a todos los lugares donde me traslado un fuerte operativo policial de oficiales de la Policía Revolucionaria vestidos de azul, así como de altos oficiales: tenientes coroneles y mayores vestidos de verde olivo ( uniformes del Ministerio del Interior ).

Se mantiene una estrecha vigilancia y monitoreo de todas las comunicaciones telefónicas y de todas las visitas que recibo. Recientemente recibí una llamada telefónica en la cual me gritaban amenazas de que podían encarcelarme o podían hacerme daño.

Este hostigamiento alcanza a todas las personas que trabajan ó se relacionan conmigo como es el caso del joven periodista de 21 años de edad, Luis Esteban Espinosa, quien ha tenido que huir de su vivienda y se ha mantenido refugiado en casas de familiares, amenazado de ser llevado por la fuerza a servir al Servicio Militar Obligatorio, es decir, a las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias. La periodista independiente, Tania Maceda Guerra es otra de las personas estrechamente relacionadas conmigo y con mi trabajo, quien tambien es hostigada sistemáticamente. Entre los meses de enero y abril 2007, se cometieron muchos actos de intimidación ya que más de 70 personas, entre ellos familiares que visitaban mi casa, los intimidaron con prisión y se les impusieron multas. Por ejemplo, al presidente de la Asociación de Sordos Independientes, un discapacitado que lo tuvieron detenido por semanas, a quien se llevó a los tribunales y, después, se le impuso una multa de más de $1,500 pesos (moneda nacional.)

El gobierno cubano me mantiene bajo un constante asedio económico para que así yo no tenga manera de sobrevivir en Cuba ( alimentarme, vestirme, trasladarme, etc. ). Yo tengo en los EEUU a mis tres hermanos Onel González Leiva, José González Leiva y a Silvia González Leiva además de a mi padre, Agustín González Ferrer. Estos familiares no me pueden enviar dinero a mi nombre, a través de las agencies cubanas que hacen posible el envío de recursos desde el extranjero (todas propiedad del gobierno). Estas agencias tienen órdenes oficiales del gobierno cubano de que a mi no me pueden enviar dinero. Muchas veces me han robado el dinero que mis familiares me envían .

El gobierno cubano me acusa de ser un “gusano” y no me da empleo como abogado a pesar de que he solicitado trabajo muchas veces al Ministerio de Justicia.

Yo fuí expulsado de la Asociación de Ciegos de Cuba que es, supuestamente, una asociación humanitaria pero que está realmente al servicio del gobierno cubano y por lo tanto yo, como invidente, no tengo acceso a papeles Braille para escribir, ni máquinas grabadoras, ni libretas, ni ninguna asistencia por parte de esta asociación de ciegos que es la única entidad permitida por el gobierno cubano en la isla.

Yo no puedo acudir a los hospitales ni a ninguna institución médica a pesar de encontrarme enfermo. El gobierno cubano me tuvo preso durante 26 meses donde me enfermaron los bronquios y los pulmones. Padezco de una alergia que no se me quita, expulsando flema constantemente y no puedo acudir a ningún medico aquí en Cuba por riesgo a que atenten contra mi vida. Recientemente tuve que acudir de urgencia al Hospital Provincial Antonio Luaces Iraola en la ciudad de Ciego de Ávila donde se personó un cuerpo de la Seguridad del Estado que se llevó mi historia clínica. Esta información la obtuve a través de médicos amigos que trabajan en este hospital ya antes mencionado.
El 16 de marzo, 2007, el jefe de la contrainteligencia en Ciego de Ávila de la Seguridad del Estado, José Mariño, decomisó una computadora de la Fundación Cubana de Derechos Humanos. Ya éste mismo oficial había decomisado otra computadora que pertenecía a la familia.

Testimonio dado vía telefónica desde Cuba a la Coalición de Mujeres Cubano-Americanas/LAIDA CARRO. Dirección electrónica: Joseito76@aol.com


INFORMACIÓN ADICIONAL DADA POR JUAN CARLOS GONZÁLEZ LEIVA SOBRE LOS TRATOS CRUELES, INHUMANOS Y DEGRADANTES QUE SUFREN EN LA ACTUALIDAD LOS PRESOS POLÍTICOS Y DE CONCIENCIA CUBANOS EN LA ISLA DE CUBA:

La situación más preocupante actualmente es la que ocurre en las cárceles cubanas. El caso de alrededor de medio centenar de presos de conciencia y presos politicos que están extremadamente enfermos y estan siendo torturados en estos centros carcelarios.

El caso de Normando Hernández es bien alarmante como lo son los casos de: Nelson Aguiar Ramírez, el Dr. García Paneque y el Dr. Luis Milán Fernández quien desde hace dos años está siendo torturado en la prisión de Boniato junto a reos enfermos psiquiátricos. Hay numerosos casos como éstos en estos momentos que se agravan más en las prisiones. En la Prisión de Kilo 9, en las últimas tres ó cuatro semanas, han muerto por falta de asistencia médica tres reclusos comunes.

La situación de la represión policial también es tremenda. Tenemos el caso de la muerte de un activista de la Fundación Cubana de Derechos Humanos, asesinato ocurrido en la Unidad Policial de Aguada de Pasajeros en la provincial de Cienfuegos el 26 de junio, 2007. Después de esto ha habido otra muerte de un detenido que fué puesto en libertad y supuestamente, se ahorcó en la calle por las amenazas y la aplicación indiscriminada de la monstruosidad jurídica que constituye la “peligrosidad social pre delictiva”.

Aunque en estos momentos no se estan dando actos de repudio y ha habido como un relajamiento en “tolerar”, en ocasiones, las reuniones pequeñas de 4 ó 5 personas, si se llevan a cabo amenazas de todo tipo, arrestos, detenciones y cualquier acto para frenar el trabajo de los disidentes pacíficos y los defensores de los derechos humanos.

Juan Carlos González Leiva
Presidente de la Fundación Cubana de Derechos Humanos
Secretario Ejecutivo del Consejo de Relatores de Derechos Humanos de Cuba
Habana, Cuba
Agosto 1, 2007

DAMAS DE BLANCO SIGUEN DESAFIANDO AL REGIMEN

Diputados denuncian amenaza de Cuba
Agence France Press
LA HABANA

ALEJANDRO ERNESTO / EFE

LOS REPRESENTANTES de Hungría, Holanda y Estonia, acudieron a la habitual caminata de los domingos de las Damas de Blanco, quienes pidieron libertad para los presos políticos y agradecieron el apoyo de los diputados europeos.

Tres diputados de Hungría, Holanda y Estonia, miembros del Consejo de Europa, denunciaron ayer en La Habana que las autoridades cubanas amenazaron con expulsarlos del país, si continúan sus contactos con la oposición interna, una medida que ya aplicaron al traductor del grupo.

''La policía nos advirtió que seríamos expulsados si continuábamos con nuestras actividades'', declaró a la prensa Matyas Eorsy, diputado húngaro por el Partido Liberal, durante la habitual marcha que las Damas de Blanco --familiares de presos políticos-- realizan cada domingo por una céntrica avenida de La Habana para reclamar la liberación de sus parientes.

''Si nos expulsan, otros vendrán'', apuntó Eorsy, tras subrayar que el grupo, también integrado por el socialdemócrata holandés Erik Jurgens y el diputado estonio Andres Herkel, llegó el pasado martes a la isla para ''conocer su realidad'' y ``solidarizarse con la oposición''.

El legislador húngaro denunció que su compatriota Gabor Berzterczey, quien viajó a Cuba acompañado de su hija y ejercía como traductor del grupo, fue expulsado ayer por las autoridades cubanas.

Los tres diputados europeos son miembros del Consejo de Europa, una organización creada en 1949 para promover valores fundamentales como la democracia, los derechos humanos y la tolerancia.

''La situación que veo en Cuba se me parece mucho a la que existía en mi país (Estonia) antes de la desintegración de la ex Unión Soviética (1991), y es insostenible'', declaró a la AFP Herkel.
Eorsy indicó, por su parte, que ''el gobierno cubano tiene que escuchar las demandas de estas mujeres (Damas de Blanco)'' y ``dialogar con la oposición''.

''Cuando regresemos vamos a hacer todo lo posible para que la opinión pública europea conozca todo lo que ustedes están haciendo'' dijo Eorsy a las mujeres, a quienes manifestó su ''admiración'' y les deseó ''suerte'' en sus propósitos de ver liberados a sus familiares.

Durante su permanencia en la isla, los diputados europeos se reunieron con líderes de la disidencia.