CUBA
HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER DYING IN A
HOSPITAL AFTER ALMOST TWO MONTHS ON A
HUNGER STRIKE
More than 100
Ladies in White march throughout Cuba in spite of violent repressive
acts
January 15,
2012
Wilmar Villar
Mendoza, a 32 year
old Cuban political prisoner of the Eastern city of Contramaestre was
transferred on January 14, 2012, from the Prison of Aguadores to the Hospital
Juan Bruno Zayas in Santiago de Cuba in critical condition after almost two
months on hunger strike. Wilmar is unconscious and suffering from pneumonia. The
doctors informed the family that there is nothing that can be done for him and
that his death is imminent. The activist, a member of the Patriotic Union of
Cuba (UMPACU), was on a hunger strike demanding his freedom and protesting the
false accusations that led to his unjust incarceration. Wilmar was beaten and
arrested following a public peaceful protest in Contramaestre on November 14,
2011, and sentenced in a trial he called a “judicial farce” to four years in
prison. He was charged with “refusing to obey an official” (desacato),
“resistance” (resistencia), and “assault”
(atentado).
Wilmar’s wife, Maritza Pelegrino Cabrales, as well as
activists of several human rights groups had been demanding for several weeks,
in front of the prison, that he be taken out of the harsh conditions he was
subjected to and that he receive a medical attention he was being denied. She
denounced that State Security tried to bargain her husband’s release when he was
already on his deathbed, demanding that she stop being a member of the “Ladies
in White”. When she refused, the agents threatened to take her children away
from her. Maritza was misled to go to the Prison of Boniato where she was
falsely informed that her husband had been
transferred.
Yasmin Conyedo, the representative of the Ladies in
White in Villa Clara, central Cuba, and her husband, Rafael Yusmani Esmoris continue under
arrest in a police unit known as the UPOP since Sunday, January 8, 2012 when
their house was attacked by a pro-government mob and when they were both
severely beaten and arrested. As a result of their unjust detention, twenty
seven arrests were documented in the central province of Villa Clara.
The Lady
in White, Ivonne Malleza Galano, her husband, Ignacio Martinez
Montejo, and a Cuban citizen, Isabel Haydee Alvarez remain confined
in maximum security prisons in Havana without formal charges. All three were
violently arrested on November 30, 2011, following a peaceful protest in the
Fraternidad Park in central Havana.
Throughout the week of
January 9 – 15, 2012, members of the
peaceful Cuban internal resistance movement who publicly demanded fundamental
freedoms in numerous provinces across the island where threatened, intimidated,
subjected to threats, beatings, short term detentions, house arrests, and acts
of repudiations that were instigated and carried out by the political police.
Below are some of the human rights violations reported from the island
since January 9, 2012.
JANUARY 10, 2012 – Yris Tamara Perez
Aguilera, president
of the Cuban Rosa Parks Civil Rights Movement, was beaten and detained when she
was on her way to the local hospital in Placetas (Central Cuba) to seek medical
treatment. Yris has been beaten with such violence by State Security agents on
so many ocassions in the last months that she is suffering from serious injuries
throughout her body (see attached photo of Yris sent from
Cuba).
JANUARY 11-12, 2012 –
In the evening hours of January 11 in (Eastern Cuba), Municipio
Luis Antonio Mella, Santiago de Cuba, the house of human rights defender Karina Santana (Lady in White) and her
husband Ramón Bolaños was attacked
for hours as it has been many times before by a mob throwing
eggs.
In
Eastern Cuba, Roberto
González, Arnold Hernández
and Raúl Frómeta, were arrested in
Dos Caminos where they were going to carry out a public peaceful
protest.
A group of activists in Villa Clara, Placetas, Cienfuegos, Sagua la
Grande and Manicaragua (Central Cuba) were subjected to beatings and short term
detentions when they went to march and protest on behalf of Yasmin Conyedo and
her husband, Rafael Yusmani. After their released, many were left abandoned in
remote areas, far from their homes: María del Carmen Martínez López, Alexei Sotolongo Díaz, Yanoisi Contrera Aguilar, Michel Oliva López,
Yosmel Martínez Colcho, Víctor Castillo Ortega, Omar Núñez Espinosa, Zander
Reyes Machado, José Lino Ascencio López, Rodoisy Zapata Blanco, Jesús Arístides Hernández Pérez, Jorge Luis
Artiles Montier, and Guillermo Fariñas Hernández. In Placetas: Yris Tamara Pérez Aguilera,
Yaimara Reyes Mesa, Xiomara Martín Jiménez, Yaite Diosnellys Cruz Sosa. In
Cienfuegos: Pablo González Villa,
Justo Luis Alonso García.
On
January 12, Ignacio Martinez Montero, confined in the Combinado del Este
Prison began a hunger strike demanding his freedom. In a recording obtained via
telephone by the independent journalist, Roberto de Jesus Guerra in Havana,
Martinez Montero states: “ either I’m
released or I will be taken out of this prison dead.”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJ8oo0HCvJY
In
Havana, a vigil that was to take place on behalf of Ivonne Malleza and her
husband Ignacio Martinez caused the short term arrest of the following
activists: Vidiet Martinez, Mercedes Evelyn Garcia, Ismael Alfaro, Leonardo
Chalas and Odalis Sanabria. Odalis was taken to the outskirts of Havana and
left abandoned far from her home.
JANUARY 13, 2012
– The house of Lady in White, Caridad
Caballero Batista, was under watch by State Security to intimidate her and
prevent her attendance to Sunday Mass in the Eastern city of Holguin.
In the Western province of Pinar del Rio, activists and members of the
Ladies in White were subjected to house arrest when their houses were surrounded
and their phone service was interrupted.
Maria Cecilia Ramos, the representative of the Ladies in White in the
western province of Pinar del Rio, was threatened by the political police on
January 12 so she would not participate in the marches of the Ladies in White.
She was summoned on the 13th to appear at a Police Unit in Pinar del
Rio and suffered an act of repudiation or mob attack to her home on Sunday,
January 15, 2012.
JANUARY 14, 2012 – Idania Llanes
Contreras, president
of the Central Coalition Opposition reported from Central Cuba that State
Security had surrounded the homes of numerous human rights defenders to prevent
any public protests for the arrest of the Lady in White, Yasmin
Conyedo,
and her husband, Rafael Yusmani Esmoris.
The ex-political prisoner of conscience, Librado Linares was held prisoner in
his house in Camajuani and the same happened to the activists
Enrique Martinez Marin and Orlando Alfonso Martinez in
Manicaragua.
Also in Central Cuba, the
activist Jose Lino Asencio Lopez
declared himself on hunger strike, demanding the freedom of Yasmin
Conyedo.
Ladies in White, Marta Diaz
Rondon, Gertrudiz Ojeda Suarez and Miladis PInales Rosa were beaten and
arrested when they were traveling from Banes to Holguin. Mariblanca Aviles Esposito was also
subjected to acts of repression in the town of Velasco, province of
Holguin.
Antonio
Gonzalez,
president of the Cuban Republican Party and affiliated to UMPACU in Eastern
Cuba, reported the arrest of the following Ladies in White who were taken to the
Police Unit called “Unidad de Enfrentamiento”: Aurora Martin Calderin, Niraida Martin
Calderin and Matilde
Mejias.
JANUARY 15, 2012 – Rapid
Response Brigades, members of the political police, the communist party and
communist youth surrounded the homes of activists and Ladies in White to prevent
them from attending Mass in the Western province of Pinar del Rio. The home of
the ex-political prisoner of conscience, Eduardo Diaz Fleites (located at Calle
20 #1303A at Entronque de Herradura) where he was with his niece and Lady in
White, Marielis Diaz Torres,
suffered an act of repudiation carried out by a mob of around 40-50 people from
8:00 a.m.-11:00a.m. to prevent them from going to the Church of Consolacion del
Sur.
At around midday, at a checkpoint located between the cities of El Cobre
and Santiago de Cuba, nineteen members of the Ladies in White who had just
attended Mass at the Basilica of El Cobre in Santiago de Cuba, and who were on
their way to give their support to the wife of Wilmar Villar Mendoza at the Juan
Bruno Zayas Hospital, were violently beaten and arrested by male and female
police agents. Those who were beaten the most were Tania Montoya Vazquez, Yakelin Garcia Jaen
and Aricel Figueredo Valdes.
Other women involved in the incident were: Yanelis Elegica Despaigne, Yamiseli
Aliaga Callamo, Karina Quintana Hernandez, Madelaine Santo Grillo, Mayelin la O
Montero, Darmis Aguedo Zaldivar,Yarisel Figueredo Valdes, Yanilla Montero
Vazquez, Aliagna Isaac Leme,Arelis Rodriguez Chacon, Aurora Martin Calderin,
Miraida Martin Calderin, Yudislaidis Travieso Barlobo, Yusmari Chacon Lamot,
Elisa Milagro Reinier Acosta, and Maria Alfonso Cordoba. Aurora and Miraida
were arrested twice on January 15, and still remain under
arrest.
Human rights defenders in Eastern Cuba who were also beaten and arrested
when they tried to show their solidarity on behalf of Wilmar Villar Mendoza in
front of the hospital where he lies in critical condition were: Raumel
Tinajera Altive, Rulisan Ramirez Rodriguez, Enyor Bismar Peña Perez, Yuselin
Ferrera Espinosa, Antonio Gonzalez Bordonado, Ovidio Martin Castellanos, Carlos
Martin Calderin, manuel Santiago Zaldivar Gonzalez, Andry Verdecia Osorio,
Abraham Carrera Torres, Aurora Martin Calderin, Arelis Rodriguez Chacon, Luis
Enrique Lozada Igarza, Enrique Lozada Ayedo, and Miraida Martin Calderin. Ana Celia
Rodriguez Torres and her husband Henry Perales
Elias.
In Contramaestre, Eastern Cuba, the home of human rights defender, Jorge Cervantes was attacked by a mob
because he had a sign in the front that read: “Wilmar cannot die”.
The Lady in White, Caridad
Caballero Batista and her husband, the activist, Esteban Sande Suarez, were arrested in
the Eastern city of Holguin. Though Caridad was released, the whereabouts of her
husband are still unknown.
Guillermo
Fariñas
was arrested in the central Cuban city of Villa Clara.
The
Coalition
of Cuban-American Women
alerts
the international community that the lives of those members of Cuban civil
society who are actively and publicly struggling on behalf of fundamental
freedoms are in danger. We are particularly concerned in the cases of Wilmar Villar Mendoza, Yasmin Conyedo,
her husband, Rafael Yusmani Esmori,
Ivonne Mayeza, her husband Ignacio Martinez Montero, and Isabel H. Alvarez. International
recognition of the peaceful resistance and solidarity for those human rights
defenders is crucial. We make an urgent call on religious, civic, political, and
cultural entities and its leaders, as well as to non-governmental human rights
organizations worldwide.
Facebook: Coalition of Cuban-American Women
Twitter: @COCAW1
FURTHER
INFORMATION IN CUBA: Berta
Soler +5352906820 /
José
Daniel Ferrer - + 53 53631267 /
/ Jorge
Cervantes - +53 53791610 / Tania Montoya + 5-3146329 / Caridad Caballero Batista
+ 5-2629749 /
Idania Yanes Contreras + 5-2510980
