8/22/2011: WOMEN OF THE CUBAN RESISTANCE LAUNCH APPEAL TO DEFEND WOMEN SUFFERING REPRESSION AT THE HANDS OF THE CUBAN REGIME

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Women of the Cuban Resistance Launch Appeal to Defend Women Suffering Repression at the Hands of the Cuban Regime

Miami. August 22, 2011. Assembly of the Cuban Resistance. At a press conference held in Miami today, the women of the Assembly of the Cuban Resistance and other exile organizations launched a campaign to defend the Ladies in White and other women resistance activists who are facing brutal repression at the hands of the Castro regime.

“The physical, verbal, and psychological assaults that non-violent Cuban women are suffering at the hands of mostly male State Security (SS) officials, violate Article 1 of the Belem do Para Convention, adopted by the Organizations of American States in reference to the rights of women in modern society”, states the appeal launched today in the form of a petition signed by 20 women Cuban exiles.

The petition calls for:  

1-      An end to the systematic and institutionalized violence against the Ladies in White and the non-violent women of the Cuban resistance movement, who are all defenders of the human rights and  fundamental freedoms of the Cuban people.

2-      The undertaking of investigations by international organizations on each case of violence perpetrated by the Cuban regime against Cuban women during 2011

3-      International solidarity from women leaders in the free world, international organizations and democratic governments.

The Assembly of the Cuban Resistance also made public a special report detailing cases of violence against the Ladies in White and other women members of the Resistance in 2011.

Please find below the complete text of the appeal launched today by the Women of the Assembly of the Cuban Resistance:

DECLARATION IN DEFENSE OF THE PHYSICAL WELL-BEING

OF THE CUBAN WOMEN IN THE RESISTANCE MOVEMENT

As Cuban women in exile and members of the Assembly of the Resistance and other exile organizations, we denounce before international public opinion, humanitarian organizations and democratic governments, the increase of violence against those Cuban women who struggle nonviolently inside Cuba. We denounce the criminal nature of the regime of Fidel and Raul Castro, with its systematic physical aggressions and attacks on the dignity of these Cuban women of the internal resistance; methods that were once carried out during the sixties and seventies against women political prisoners and their families, as well as against women in the past who were not political prisoners, as were the case of those Cuban women who were forcibly relocated far from their homes to internment camps.

The physical, verbal, and psychological assaults that non-violent Cuban women are suffering at the hands of mostly male State Security (SS) agents, violate Article 1 of the Belem do Para Convention, adopted by the Organizations of American States in reference to the rights of women in modern society.

Therefore, we call for:

4-      An end to the systematic and institutionalized violence against the Ladies in White and the non-violent women of the Cuban resistance movement, who are all defenders of the human rights and  fundamental freedoms of the Cuban people.

5-      The undertaking of investigations by international organizations on each case of violence perpetrated by the Cuban regime against Cuban women during 2011, which are documented in the report attached to this petition.

6-      International solidarity from women leaders in the free world, international organizations and democratic governments.

The undersigned exiled Cuban women, in a personal capacity and in representation of their respective organizations belonging to the Cuban Assembly of the Resistance and others, urgently call upon  all Cuban women and all defenders of the rights of women around the world- both in a personal capacity and on behalf of the organizations they represent- to sign this petition and raise their voices together with ours, to denounce the violations and abuses that are being perpetrated systematically by the Castro regime against the Ladies in White and women of the resistance in Cuba.

We hold the Castro regime, headed by Fidel and Raul Castro, responsible for the physical integrity and the lives of these Cuban women.

Signed by:

Rosa Parks Women's Front for Civil Rights - In exile                        Bertha Antúnez

The White Rose                                                                                  Ana Carbonell

Coalition  of Cuban-American Women                                               Laida Carro

Federation of Electric Plant Workers in Exile                                     Gina Chirino

The Cuba Corps                                                                                 Mercy Cubas

Women Fighters for Democracy                                                        Alde Escandón

Casa Cuba Houston                                                                           Margarita Ferragut

Vuelta Abajo  for Cuba / Lady in White                                               Aniley Fuentes Varela

Alpha 66                                                                                              Olga Gómez

Ladies in White – Representative in America                                    Yolanda Huerga

Mothers and Women against Repression for Cuba                          Sylvia G. Iriondo

Cuban Youth for Democracy Movement- In exile                               Laura López   

Plantados until Freedom and Democracy in Cuba                            Maritza Lugo

Cultivamos una Rosa Blanca                                                             Marta Menor

Historical Political Prisoners- Casa del Preso                                   María de los Angeles Munero

Cuban Liberty Council                                                                        Ninoska Pérez Castellón

Nueva Prensa Cubana                                                                       Nancy Pérez Crespo

International Group for Corporate Social Responsibility                     Nivia Quintela

Cuban Democratic Directorate                                                          Janisset Rivero

United Western Front                                                                         Araceli Rodríguez San Román