The Coalition of Cuban-American Women's blog is now linked (see list of links to the right) to
Memorial Cubano.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Thursday, February 12, 2009
CUBA FACTS - INSTITUTE OF CUBAN & CUBAN-AMERICAN STUDIES
The following articles represent come from the Institute of Cuban & Cuban-American Studies:
SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONDITIONS IN PRE CASTRO CUBA (English)
http://ctp.iccas.miami.edu/FACTS_Web/Cuba%20Facts%20Issue%2043%20December.htm
CONDICIONES SOCIO-ECONOMICAS EN CUBA ANTES DE LA REVOLUCION (Espanol)
http://ctp.iccas.miami.edu/FACTS_Web/spn/Cuba%20Facts%20Issue%2043December2008%20SPANISH.htm
LABOR RIGHTS IN CUBA (English)
http://ctp.iccas.miami.edu/FACTS_Web/Cuba%20Facts%20Issue%2045%20February.htm
LOS DERECHOS LABORALES EN CUBA (espanol)
http://ctp.iccas.miami.edu/FACTS_Web/spn/Cuba%20Facts%20Issue%2045February2009%20SPANISH.htm
WHAT CUBANS CANNOT DO UNDER RAUL CASTRO
http://ctp.iccas.miami.edu/FACTS_Web/Cuba%20Facts%20Issue%2042%20August.htm
SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONDITIONS IN PRE CASTRO CUBA (English)
http://ctp.iccas.miami.edu/FACTS_Web/Cuba%20Facts%20Issue%2043%20December.htm
CONDICIONES SOCIO-ECONOMICAS EN CUBA ANTES DE LA REVOLUCION (Espanol)
http://ctp.iccas.miami.edu/FACTS_Web/spn/Cuba%20Facts%20Issue%2043December2008%20SPANISH.htm
LABOR RIGHTS IN CUBA (English)
http://ctp.iccas.miami.edu/FACTS_Web/Cuba%20Facts%20Issue%2045%20February.htm
LOS DERECHOS LABORALES EN CUBA (espanol)
http://ctp.iccas.miami.edu/FACTS_Web/spn/Cuba%20Facts%20Issue%2045February2009%20SPANISH.htm
WHAT CUBANS CANNOT DO UNDER RAUL CASTRO
http://ctp.iccas.miami.edu/FACTS_Web/Cuba%20Facts%20Issue%2042%20August.htm
Sunday, February 08, 2009
RESPUESTA AL INFORME OFICIAL: UNA RESPUESTA NECESARIA por RENE GOMEZ MANZANO
Please note: The length of the response to the Official Report of the UN Universal Periodic Review on Cuba, written by René Gómez Manzano makes it impossible to publish in its entirety. Please see the following link:
URL: http://www.netforcuba.org/espanol/News-SP/2009/Feb/Noticia11479.htm
URL: http://www.netforcuba.org/espanol/News-SP/2009/Feb/Noticia11479.htm
UNIVERSAL PERIODIC REVIEW OF CUBA - A MISSED OPPORTUNITY?
8 February 09
Release from FIDH - With the support of a large majority of member States of the UN Human Rights Council, Cuba was submitted to a concert of praises, rather than an objective evaluation of its human rights record, on the occasion of its review by the UN human rights Council, on February 6th 2009. The Cuban government as of yesterday failed to commit to any substantive progress on the occasion of the review.
A large number of countries, reviving the 1970s “non-aligned movement”, occupied the three hour debate with praises of the alleged achievements of Cuba, and failed to reflect objectively the human rights challenges. In particular, a huge majority refused to question Cuba about major violations, such as the detention of political prisoners, the restrictions of freedom of expression and of movement, the blocade of human rights defenders and the total lack of independence of justice. Praises of the alleged Cuban record in the field of economic social and cultural rights failed to include the challenges in these sectors.
Questioned nevertheless by members of the Western group and some Latin American countries on violations of civil and political rights, the Cuban officials refused to commit to achieving progress, in contradiction with the spirit of the review.
In earlier statements, the government of Cuba had confirmed its ratification of the ICCPR and the ICESCR, as well as indicated its positive response to an invitation of the UN Special rapporteur on Torture. Yet, as recognised Souhayr Belhassen, FIDH President, “these declarations were made previously to the UPR review. They fall short from the obligations Cuba as a long-standing member of the UN human rights council to cooperate with ALL special procedures. We also awaited commitments to guarantee the freedom of association and of movement of independent human rights defenders, to abolish death penalty and to put an end to the arbitrary detention of all political prisoners”.
Yet, as the process concludes in June with the adoption of the UPR report, “Cuban has a few months to revisit its position and respond to the concerns of the overarching human rights community”, indicated Mrs Belhassen.
Paris, Geneva, February 6th 2009
AS UN CONDUCTS UNIVERSAL PERIODIC REVIEW, 205 POLITICAL PRISONERS, INCLUDING 23 JOURNALISTS, AWAIT RELEASE
As the UN Human Rights Council prepares to hold its universal periodic review of the situation in Cuba on 5 February in Geneva, Reporters Without Borders points out that the Cuban government, for all its denials and claims to have a “clear conscience,” continues to hold 23 journalists solely because of their dissident views and still refuses to permit an independent press.The press freedom organisation hopes that mediation by other Latin American countries and by Spain, and the new US administration’s declared readiness to dialogue could open the way to the release of the imprisoned journalists.
“Almost a year has passed since Raúl Castro formally took over as president on 24 February 2008, but the few signs of an opening have fallen far short of the expectations of Cuban civil society and those outside the country that support it,” Reporters Without Borders said. “At that time, Cuba signed two UN human rights conventions but it still has not ratified them. The sanctions which the European Union imposed after the March 2003 “Black Spring” were quickly suspended and were finally lifted altogether last June, but Cuba gave nothing in return and continues to be the world’s second biggest prison for journalists, after China.”
The organisation added: “The universal periodic review by the UN Human Rights Council, on which Cuba has a seat, and the announced visit by the UN special rapporteur on torture should not be used to exempt Cuba from the commitments and concrete gestures that these imply. We call on those governments engaged in a dialogue with Cuba to step up mediation aimed at obtaining the release of the imprisoned journalists.”
According to a report released yesterday by the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation (a Havana-based organisation that is illegal but nonetheless tolerated by the regime), Cuba currently has 205 political prisoners, down from 234 at the beginning of 2008. Although there were a few releases or cases of sentences being suspended for health reasons, the reports says a total of 54 prison inmates died as a result of suicide, violence by criminal detainees or negligence by the prison authorities in 2008, and that there were more than 1,000 brief arrests of suspected dissidents.
Ricardo González Alfonso, the Reporters Without Borders correspondent and editor of the magazine De Cuba, was returned to his cell last year after a long spell in the hospital of Havana’s Combinado del Este prison. He was repeatedly denied the right to speak to his children by telephone in December, after being awarded the 2008 Reporters Without Borders journalist of the year prize. Serving a 20-year jail sentence imposed during the 2003 “Black Spring” and now aged 58, González is currently being held in a damp and unhealthy isolation cell in which his health is deteriorating.
Fabio Prieto Llorente, 45, another independent journalist serving a 20-year sentence imposed in March 2003, is also being kept in solitary confinement. Held in El Guayabo prison on the Isle of Youth, where he is from, he has been on hunger strike since 28 January in protest against the harassment to which he has been subjected by the prison’s guards and the State Security (the political police).
Pablo Pacheco Avila, 38, a reporter with the Cooperativa Avileña de Periodistas Independientes who was also sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2003, was transferred from Morón prison to Canaleta prison in the central province of Ciego de Ávila at the start of January. According to a fellow detainee, he was moved because Morón prison needs to be repaired before the UN special rapporteur’s arrival.
Normando Hernández González, 39, the head of the Colegio de Periodistas Independientes in the central province of Camagüey, is very ill and unable to eat normally, but he did not receive appropriate treatment and was finally admitted to the Combinado del Este prison hospital on 8 January. He is serving a 25-year sentence that was imposed during the “Black Spring.” The Costa Rican government’s offer to take him on humanitarian grounds never received a reply.
Nineteen of the 23 dissident journalists currently imprisoned in Cuba were arrested in 2003. They were given sentences ranging from 14 to 27 years in prison on the alleged grounds that they were “mercenaries in the pay of the United States.”
Reporters Without Borders defends imprisoned journalists and press freedom throughout the world. It has nine national sections (Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland). It has representatives in Bangkok, London, New York, Tokyo and Washington. And it has more than 120 correspondents worldwide.
© Reporters Without Borders 2009
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
ACTIVISTAS DE DERECHOS HUMANOS CUBANOS DENUNCIAN EN LA ONU VIOLACIONES A LOS DERECHOS HUMANOS EN CUBA
COMUNICADOGinebra, Suiza, 4 de febrero de 2009.
Directorio Democrático Cubano.
Activistas de derechos humanos cubanos denunciaron el miércoles, 4 de febrero, las arbitrariedades del régimen de La Habana ante delegados, organizaciones no gubernamentales y periodistas que participan en la sesión del Examen Periódico Universal del Consejo de Derechos Humanos de la ONU.
Bertha Antúnez, reconocida activista de derechos humanos y Omar Pernet Hernández, ex prisionero de conciencia cubano del grupo de los 75 arrestados y condenados en la primavera negra del año 2003, brindaron sus testimonios a los presentes en el evento convocado por las organizaciones no gubernamentales UN Watch e Internacional Demócrata de Centro.
Asimismo, durante la actividad se logró hacer comunicación con los representantes de las dos organizaciones que desde Cuba lograron insertar informes de denuncia sobre las violaciones a los derechos humanos que ocurren de forma sistemática en la Isla.
“Durante el 2008 el Consejo de Relatores de Derechos Humanos de Cuba recibió más de mil cuatrocientas denuncias, también documentamos más de cien muertos en unas treinta prisiones, de un total de más de doscientas prisiones en todo el país, esto como resultado del rigor carcelario, de las torturas y tratos crueles, inhumanos y degradantes, y sobre todo como producto de las palizas y los castigos a que los reclusos cubanos, más de cien mil, son sometidos cada día. Cerca de sesenta de estos muertos se ahorcaron, casi todos tienen menos de cuarenta años. También alrededor de setenta disidentes pacíficos fueron enjuiciados por los tribunales, cincuenta y ocho de ellos fueron encarcelados con condenas de entre dos y cinco años de cárcel por ejercer los derechos contenidos en la Declaración Universal de los Derechos Humanos y el Pacto Internacional de los Derechos Civiles y Políticos”, expresó desde La Habana Juan Carlos González Leiva, secretario ejecutivo del Consejo de Relatores de Derechos Humanos ante los delegados de países y miembros de organizaciones no gubernamentales presentes en el evento.
“Nosotros somos perseguidos y hemos recibido castigos, hemos sido expulsados de las viviendas desde donde trabajamos, se nos corta la comunicación telefónica y corremos un inminente riesgo de cárcel por hacer todo este trabajo. (…) en el poco tiempo que tenemos no podemos explicar completamente lo que ocurre en Cuba en el tema de derechos humanos pero sí podemos decir que el 24 de febrero de 2008 en Cuba se estableció la dinastía de los hermanos Castro, que en Cuba el pueblo cubano permanece secuestrado sin ejercer la soberanía, ni los derechos ni las libertades públicas”, prosiguió González Leiva, quien instó al relator contra la tortura que ha manifestado su deseo de visitar a la Isla, a que se reúna no solo con los activistas de derechos humanos sino con las víctimas y testigos de la represión.
El foro contó además con la presentación sobre el uso de la tortura en las cárceles de Cuba realizada por John Suárez, del Directorio Democrático Cubano y la Internacional Demócrata de Centro; y la de León Saltiel, representante de la organización no gubernamental UN Watch, quien abordó el tema de las irregularidades en el desempeño del gobierno de Cuba dentro del seno de la ONU.
“Mientras el gobierno de Cuba trataba de distribuir información acusatoria contra el Directorio en otro salón, nosotros logramos exponer la realidad que viven los cubanos dentro de Cuba, a pesar de todas las trabas para lograr nuestra presencia aquí y que la voz del pueblo cubano se escuchara en este foro. Ha sido una victoria para la oposición cubana y la causa de la libertad de Cuba”, expresó John Suárez, director de relaciones internacionales del Directorio Democrático Cubano.
Friday, November 21, 2008
INTENTA GOBIERNO DESTRUIR CENTRO DE INFORMACION DEL CRDHC
(Fuente: CubaNet - http://www.cubanet.org/)LA HABANA, Cuba, 17 de noviembre (Tania Maceda Guerra / http://www.cubanet.org/) -
El gobierno cubano intenta destruir el Centro de Información del Consejo de Relatores de Derechos Humanos de Cuba (CRDHC), según denunció Juan Carlos González Leiva, secretario ejecutivo de esta institución, el pasado 12 de noviembre.
González dijo que la semana anterior habían sido expulsados de la vivienda donde funcionaba la oficina del CRDHC debido a las presiones ejercidas por la Seguridad del Estado sobre la dueña.
Añadió que entre las acciones realizadas por la policía política contra el Centro se cuentan la quema del equipo de grabación; la amenaza de muerte contra esta reportera; el arresto de decenas de relatores el pasado 4 de julio para impedir la celebración de una convención y el intento de dividir y destruir el CRDHC valiéndose de la difamación.
Añadió que entre las acciones realizadas por la policía política contra el Centro se cuentan la quema del equipo de grabación; la amenaza de muerte contra esta reportera; el arresto de decenas de relatores el pasado 4 de julio para impedir la celebración de una convención y el intento de dividir y destruir el CRDHC valiéndose de la difamación.
Actualmente el Centro de Información radica en calle Mayía Rodríguez, edificio 459, apartamento 305, e/ Carmen y Patrocinio, La Víbora, municipio 10 de Octubre, Ciudad de La Habana, Cuba. Telf. 53 (7) 649 96 63 casa; móvil: 5 273 09 68 Juan Carlos González Leiva dijo también que el gobierno cubano trata de impedir que el CRDHC emita su informe de fin de año de 2008 que incluiría más de 1 200 arrestos de disidentes, unos 60 opositores enjuiciados o encarcelados y más de 70 muertes en las cárceles cubanas debidas a suicidios y malos tratos.
Centro de Información del Consejo de Relatores de Derechos Humanos de Cuba.
Centro de Información del Consejo de Relatores de Derechos Humanos de Cuba.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
TIRANIA RECHAZA AYUDA DIRECTA DE 25 NACIONES EUROPEAS
Fuente del artículo: ANTONIO MARTINEZ / EFE
LA HABANA
Funcionarios cubanos comunicaron a representantes europeos que el gobierno de La Habana no acepta ayuda directa para los damnificados por los huracanes de la Comisión ni de 25 de los 27 países de la Unión, informaron ayer fuentes diplomáticas.
Cuba sólo ha aceptado asistencia directa de España y Bélgica, mientras que la Comisión y otros países de la Unión Europea (UE) que ofrecieron donaciones no han obtenido hasta ahora respuesta, por lo cual algunos planean enviarlas por medio de organismos de la ONU, la Cruz Roja y otros intermediarios, explicaron las fuentes.
Funcionarios del Ministerio cubano para la Inversión Extranjera y la Colaboración Económica dijeron a representantes europeos que este país mantiene su política de no aceptar ayuda directa de naciones que no han normalizado acuerdos de cooperación con el gobierno del general Raúl Castro.
"No es nada nuevo, pero sorprende que se mantenga en estas circunstancias'', con millones de damnificados por los huracanes y una crítica situación alimentaria, comentó un diplomático.
La isla no ha admitido cooperación de la UE desde el 2003, cuando ese bloque impuso al régimen cubano sanciones diplomáticas, técnicamente sólo "medidas'', a raíz de la condena de 75 disidentes a penas de cárcel hasta de 28 años.
Las medidas, que estaban suspendidas desde el 2005 y se limitaban a restringir las visitas oficiales a Cuba y a invitar a opositores a los cocteles de las embajadas europeas en La Habana, fueron levantadas totalmente en junio pasado.
El ministro cubano de Exteriores, Felipe Pérez Roque, declaró el jueves que su gobierno aceptó el diálogo políticoque ofreció la UE cuando levantó las sanciones, pero aclaró que está pendiente un "acuerdo formal'' sobre el marco, las modalidades y los principios en los que se basarán las conversaciones.
Agregó que las relaciones de su país con la UE han tenido "cierto avance'' hacia la normalización tras la eliminación definitiva de las medidas y dijo que Cuba está dispuesta a "considerar'' la recepción de la ayuda humanitaria que la UE pueda ofrecer tras el paso de los huracanes Ike y Gustav por la isla.
"En este momento no ha sido ofrecida aún esa ayuda a Cuba de otros gobiernos o de la Comisión. Si se produce, es un tema que habrá que considerar a la luz de la nueva situación'', explicó el canciller.
En cambio, diplomáticos europeos dijeron que varios países y la Comisión sí han ofrecido ayuda directa para los damnificados y no han obtenido hasta ahora respuesta oficial del gobierno cubano.
Funcionarios cubanos han sugerido extraoficialmente a esos donantes que podrían utilizar intermediarios como la Cruz Roja Internacional, la Iglesia Católica, organizaciones no gubernamentales y organismos de la ONU, pero nada se ha concretado hasta ahora, agregaron las fuentes.
Algunos diplomáticos expresaron esperanza de que el mejoramiento de las relaciones de Cuba con la UE permita superar pronto el veto a las donaciones directas.
De las excepciones, Bélgica se apartó de la política comunitaria y mantuvo la cooperación con Cuba cuando era ministro de Exteriores Louis Michel, ahora comisario europeo de Desarrollo y Ayuda Humanitaria, quien impulsó el fin de las sanciones y es calificado por diplomáticos de favorable al gobierno de la isla.
España, que lideró el levantamiento de las medidas, reanudó su cooperación con Cuba en el 2007 y ha enviado ya dos aviones con ayuda para las víctimas de los huracanes Ike y Gustav.
Los ciclones Gustas e Ike, que azotaron Cuba entre el 30 de agosto y el 9 de septiembre, causaron siete muertes y han dejado medio millón de viviendas destruidas o dañadas, cientos de miles de hectáreas de cultivo arrasadas, severos daños en infraestructuras y, en conjunto, pérdidas calculadas oficialmente en $5,000 millones.
El embajador de España en La Habana, Carlos Zaldívar, dijo días atrás que hasta ahora su gobierno ha acordado con las autoridades de la isla una ayuda de casi 800,000 euros ($1.1 millones), primera asistencia que Cuba acepta a su país en años.
El gobierno cubano también ha rechazado la ayuda humanitaria ofrecida por Estados Unidos con el argumento de que no puede aceptarla de un país que le bloquea.
LA HABANA
Funcionarios cubanos comunicaron a representantes europeos que el gobierno de La Habana no acepta ayuda directa para los damnificados por los huracanes de la Comisión ni de 25 de los 27 países de la Unión, informaron ayer fuentes diplomáticas.
Cuba sólo ha aceptado asistencia directa de España y Bélgica, mientras que la Comisión y otros países de la Unión Europea (UE) que ofrecieron donaciones no han obtenido hasta ahora respuesta, por lo cual algunos planean enviarlas por medio de organismos de la ONU, la Cruz Roja y otros intermediarios, explicaron las fuentes.
Funcionarios del Ministerio cubano para la Inversión Extranjera y la Colaboración Económica dijeron a representantes europeos que este país mantiene su política de no aceptar ayuda directa de naciones que no han normalizado acuerdos de cooperación con el gobierno del general Raúl Castro.
"No es nada nuevo, pero sorprende que se mantenga en estas circunstancias'', con millones de damnificados por los huracanes y una crítica situación alimentaria, comentó un diplomático.
La isla no ha admitido cooperación de la UE desde el 2003, cuando ese bloque impuso al régimen cubano sanciones diplomáticas, técnicamente sólo "medidas'', a raíz de la condena de 75 disidentes a penas de cárcel hasta de 28 años.
Las medidas, que estaban suspendidas desde el 2005 y se limitaban a restringir las visitas oficiales a Cuba y a invitar a opositores a los cocteles de las embajadas europeas en La Habana, fueron levantadas totalmente en junio pasado.
El ministro cubano de Exteriores, Felipe Pérez Roque, declaró el jueves que su gobierno aceptó el diálogo políticoque ofreció la UE cuando levantó las sanciones, pero aclaró que está pendiente un "acuerdo formal'' sobre el marco, las modalidades y los principios en los que se basarán las conversaciones.
Agregó que las relaciones de su país con la UE han tenido "cierto avance'' hacia la normalización tras la eliminación definitiva de las medidas y dijo que Cuba está dispuesta a "considerar'' la recepción de la ayuda humanitaria que la UE pueda ofrecer tras el paso de los huracanes Ike y Gustav por la isla.
"En este momento no ha sido ofrecida aún esa ayuda a Cuba de otros gobiernos o de la Comisión. Si se produce, es un tema que habrá que considerar a la luz de la nueva situación'', explicó el canciller.
En cambio, diplomáticos europeos dijeron que varios países y la Comisión sí han ofrecido ayuda directa para los damnificados y no han obtenido hasta ahora respuesta oficial del gobierno cubano.
Funcionarios cubanos han sugerido extraoficialmente a esos donantes que podrían utilizar intermediarios como la Cruz Roja Internacional, la Iglesia Católica, organizaciones no gubernamentales y organismos de la ONU, pero nada se ha concretado hasta ahora, agregaron las fuentes.
Algunos diplomáticos expresaron esperanza de que el mejoramiento de las relaciones de Cuba con la UE permita superar pronto el veto a las donaciones directas.
De las excepciones, Bélgica se apartó de la política comunitaria y mantuvo la cooperación con Cuba cuando era ministro de Exteriores Louis Michel, ahora comisario europeo de Desarrollo y Ayuda Humanitaria, quien impulsó el fin de las sanciones y es calificado por diplomáticos de favorable al gobierno de la isla.
España, que lideró el levantamiento de las medidas, reanudó su cooperación con Cuba en el 2007 y ha enviado ya dos aviones con ayuda para las víctimas de los huracanes Ike y Gustav.
Los ciclones Gustas e Ike, que azotaron Cuba entre el 30 de agosto y el 9 de septiembre, causaron siete muertes y han dejado medio millón de viviendas destruidas o dañadas, cientos de miles de hectáreas de cultivo arrasadas, severos daños en infraestructuras y, en conjunto, pérdidas calculadas oficialmente en $5,000 millones.
El embajador de España en La Habana, Carlos Zaldívar, dijo días atrás que hasta ahora su gobierno ha acordado con las autoridades de la isla una ayuda de casi 800,000 euros ($1.1 millones), primera asistencia que Cuba acepta a su país en años.
El gobierno cubano también ha rechazado la ayuda humanitaria ofrecida por Estados Unidos con el argumento de que no puede aceptarla de un país que le bloquea.
Friday, September 19, 2008
HERMANAS TIENDEN SU MANO A CUBA
La hermana Hilda Alonso, de las Hijas de la Caridad, recolecta los artículos que serán donados a las víctimas de los huracanes Ike y Gustav en Cuba.Tras la cinta amarilla que bloquea el paso en una calle lateral de un barrio residencial de Miami, docenas de voluntarios en tiendas blancas empacan cajas vacías de Corona con jugos, frijoles, arroz y medicinas. Sor Rafaela González, a sus enérgicos 75 años, dirige la acción mientras que los pitidos continuos de un montacargas abrumado de botellas de agua alerta a los voluntarios que se quiten de su camino.
"Este ha sido mi trabajo por 30 años'', dice ella con una sonrisa.
Su "trabajo'' en la orden católica de las Hijas de la Caridad de San Vicente de Paul es el de servir a los pobres tanto con buenas acciones como con palabras bondadosas. Alimentar al hambriento, dar de beber al sediente, vestir al desnudo, dar refugio al desamparado --palabras de misericordia católica que no conocen fronteras políticas, sólo el amor de Dios.
Mientras de Miami a Washington la gente debate si se debe o no aflojar las restricciones de viajes o el embargo comercial a Cuba tras dos huracanes seguidos, las monjas no tienen nada que debatir. Su trabajo principal es el de salvar tanto vidas como almas. Los políticos y los demagogos pueden señalar con el dedo y levantar sospechas sobre si los artículos donados están siendo interceptados por el gobierno cubano, pero las monjas tienen 14 años de experiencia en asegurarse que sus contenedores lleguen a las manos correctas.
Este no es tiempo de debate. Es tiempo de acción.
Y nuestra comunidad lo sabe.
Las Hijas de la Caridad han contado con un apoyo abrumador por parte de los residentes del sur de la Florida, ansiosos por ayudar al millón o más de cubanos que quedaron sin casa luego de que los huracanes Gustav y Ike devastaran la isla de una punta a la otra. Ellas también están ayudando a enviar provisiones a dos iglesias católicas locales --Notre Dame y St. James-- que están organizando envíos a Haití.
En sólo seis días, las hermanas han enviado cuatro contenedores de 40 pies con comida, agua y medicinas por un valor de $100,000 al Puerto de La Habana. Dos de esos contenedores ya están alimentando a gente en la atribulada provincia de Pinar del Río. El jueves, prepararon otros dos largos contenedores mientras docenas de voluntarios trabajaban sincronizadamente clasificando y empacando cajas y cargando los camiones.
Estudiantes de la escuela secundaria de Hialeah llegaron al mediodía con un camión de donaciones. El cartero trajo también un montón de donaciones que vienen hasta de California. El teléfono no paraba de sonar.
Todo comenzó con Sor Hilda Alonso, la monja de 87 años que dirige en Miami a las Hermanas de la Caridad. Ella era la directora del Colegio La Inmaculada, una escuela para niñas en La Habana antes de que la revolución de Fidel Castro cerrara las escuelas católicas y expulsara a sacerdotes y monjas. Luego de enseñar y dirigir escuelas en Puerto Rico, y de trabajar en Haití para fundar órdenes de San Vicente de Paul --‘‘la necesidad era muy grande''-- ella comenzó su misión en Miami.
Desde 1994, este pequeño grupo de seis monjas católicas han enviado contenedores llenos de donaciones en alimentos, medicinas y hasta equipos médicos para ayudar a las embarazadas, a niños con el Síndrome de Down, enfermos de lepra y a los ancianos en hogares de retiro en Cuba de los que se ocupa la iglesia.
Durante años, sus antiguas alumnas de la Inmaculada han pasado por el limpio y austero hogar de las monjas con cajas de donaciones, sabiendo que éstas llegarán a las personas necesitadas.
Sentada tras su escritorio de metal, junto a su cama personal con un cubrecama de algodón blanco en su pequeño dormitorio, Sor Hilda hizo notar que, para fines de esta semana, las monjas habrán enviado alrededor de seis contenedores --normalmente lo que hacen en un año.
"Ha sido una generosidad extraordinaria de los que viven aquí'', me dijo, añadiendo que personas de todas las razas estaban viniendo a traer donaciones.
No son solamente artículos, sino dinero lo que se necesita. Cuesta $5,000 enviar un contenedor a Cuba.
Yo había oído hablar por años de las buenas acciones de Sor Hilda, y este verano la visité con un amigo para averiguar más cosas sobre esta mujer menudita, oriunda de los campos tabacaleros de Pinar del Río, que ha asumido un trabajo tan gigantesco. A pesar de sus muchos años de trabajo duro, ella sigue siendo el "Conejito de Energizer'' --sólo que sin el tambor para llamar la atención sobre sí misma.
Como me dijo una voluntaria de la Inmaculada sobre la monja que ella conoció en Cuba: "Ella es la humildad personificada''.
Ahora las hermanas están trabajando prácticamente veinticuatro horas al día para llevar ayuda de emergencia a Cuba. Las monjas tienen un largo historial de llevar artículos aprobados por EEUU a la isla, sin que el gobierno cubano interfiera. Sor Hilda ha ido allí en persona para asegurar que los artículos sean entregados a las monjas, en el barrio habanero de La Víbora, quienes entonces distribuyen las donaciones.
Las monjas en Cuba van a los muelles, inspeccionan los contenedores y luego una monja los acompaña con un chofer de confianza para asegurarse de que la comida vaya a los necesitados y no acabe en el mercado negro.
"Estamos enviando a los lugares que han visto el peor destrozo'', dijo, y enumeró a Pinar del Río, Baracoa, Oriente y Camagüey.
La semana que viene, las monjas comenzarán a recoger sábanas y otros artículos de primera necesidad. Pero hoy, lo principal es la comida, el agua, las cosas esenciales.
Sobre todo, lo principal es el amor incondicional.
Las Hijas de la Caridad de San Vicente de Paul están aceptando comida, agua, medicinas y ropa de cama para las víctimas de los huracanes en Cuba en el 500 N.W. 63 Ave., Miami. O llame al 305-266-6485 para más información.
Fuente: El Nuevo Herald / C.M. Guerrero
COMMITTEE FOR THE PROTECTION OF JOURNALISTS: INTERNATIONAL PRESS FREEDOM AWARDS 2008
CPJ to honor five international journalistsTo Attend the Awards Dinner
Bilal Hussein
Danish Karokhel and Farida Nekzad
Andrew Mwenda
Héctor Maseda Gutiérrez
New York, September 16, 2008
The Committee to Protect Journalists will honor courageous journalists from Iraq, Afghanistan, Uganda, and Cuba with its 2008 International Press Freedom Awards at a ceremony in November.
Bilal Hussein of Iraq, Danish Karokhel and Farida Nekzad of Afghanistan, Andrew Mwenda of Uganda, and Héctor Maseda Gutiérrez of Cuba have all risked imprisonment, harassment, and, above all, their lives to report the news and stand up for press freedom in their countries.
“These are the front-line reporters who risk their lives and their liberty to bring the news not only to the people of their own countries but to a global audience,” said CPJ Board Chairman Paul Steiger. “Their courage and determination have expanded the world’s knowledge in critically important ways.”
“These are the front-line reporters who risk their lives and their liberty to bring the news not only to the people of their own countries but to a global audience,” said CPJ Board Chairman Paul Steiger. “Their courage and determination have expanded the world’s knowledge in critically important ways.”
“Our award winners embody what CPJ stands for—the right of journalists everywhere to report the news as they see it,” CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon said. “We honor them and stand behind them and their colleagues as they strive to keep all of us informed.”
Beatrice Mtetwa, a press and human rights lawyer in Zimbabwe, will receive CPJ’s Burton Benjamin Memorial Award for lifetime achievement in recognition of her continued efforts to ensure a free press in one of the most repressive regimes in the world.
The awards will be presented at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City on Tuesday, November 25. Jeff Zucker, chief executive of NBC Universal, is chairman of the black-tie dinner. Gwen Ifill, CPJ board member and managing editor of PBS’ “Washington Week,” will be the host.
The Burton Benjamin Memorial Award is named in honor of the late CBS News senior producer and former CPJ chairman who died in 1988. Mtetwa, a 2005 recipient of CPJ’s International Press Freedom Award, is the first person to be honored with both awards.“Mtetwa’s courageous efforts on behalf of journalists in Zimbabwe demonstrate her unflinching commitment,” CPJ’s Steiger said. “She is richly deserving of the Burton Benjamin Award, given for lifetime achievement in the cause of press freedom.” The International Press Freedom Awards, now in their 18th year, are the centerpiece in CPJ’s annual fund-raising effort, providing more than a third of the budget for our press freedom advocacy efforts around the world. To attend the awards dinner, see our online reply form.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
THE WEEKEND INTERVIEW WITH ARMANDO VALLADARES: TWENTY-TWO YEARS IN CASTRO'S GULAG
By Mary Anastasia O'Grady
16 August 2008
The Wall Street Journal
www.wsj.com/opinion
Miami -- In late December 1959, nearly a year after Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista had been run out the country by a movement that had a goal of restoring the 1940 Cuban constitution, Fidel Castro was tightening his grip.
At the time, Armando Valladares was a 22-year-old government bureaucrat at the Post Office Savings Bank. One day a group from the Communist Party showed up in his office and put a sign on his desk that read "If Fidel is a communist, put me on the list. He's got the right idea."
Castro had not yet made public his communist intentions. But Mr. Valladares says that "the sign was part of the campaign by the party and by Fidel to prepare the population for communism, which most knew little about. The idea was that since Fidel had already made his name synonymous with the Cuban messiah, he must be right about communism."
Mr. Valladares told his visitors that he didn't want that sign on his desk. "Five or six days later, in the wee hours of the morning, they came to my house. My mother's room was closest to the front door so she heard the knock and got up to see who was there. When she opened the door, the men pushed her out of the way and rushed into the house. I awoke with a machine gun against my temple."
The young Valladares had a lot of company. Thousands were being rounded up. Some waited months for their trials. Many others were immediately marched before firing squads.
Mr. Valladares got his day in court within the week. The judge, he says, sat with his feet up on the desk reading a comic book and making jokes. The search of his home had produced "no evidence, no weapons, no propaganda opposing the state." Nevertheless he was convicted as a potential conspirator against the Revolution and sentenced to 30 years. His cell mates applauded the decision, because the only other possible sentence was the death penalty.
Cuban state security applied every torture method in the totalitarian handbook -- and even some new inspirations -- to break the prisoners. Many cracked and many committed suicide, but Mr. Valladares, along with a minority of others, would not bow to the "Revolution." He says that three things preserved him during his 22 years in prison. First, he was totally sure of his ideals. Second was the love of Martha -- who would become his wife -- and the fact that she believed in him. Third were his religious convictions. He was finally released from prison in 1982 and forced into exile.
Castro's resignation as "president" of Cuba this February has touched off a landslide of speculation about whether his brother Raul, the new official head of state, might soon begin a transition away from political and economic repression. But the 71-year-old Mr. Valladares, who has become an accomplished poet and artist, human-rights activist and diplomat -- he served as U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Human Rights Commission in Geneva -- says forget it.
I recently had dinner with him and Martha at their home in Miami, and used the opportunity to pepper him with questions about the political landscape in Cuba today. Topping my list was whether we are already seeing the nascent stages of reform on the island.
His answer is an unequivocal no: "Until Fidel Castro dies, there will be no changes in Cuba. Fidel will not permit it. The terror imposed since 1959 continues today and Raul will not dare make a single change as long as his older brother is alive."
And what about Fidel's health? "He can still terrorize because he has lucid moments," Mr. Valladares says. "But those moments are unpredictable, which is why he cannot be seen in public or on live television, even for a minute." In the meantime, the repression has increased in recent months, he tells me, as those who have participated in his crimes seek to preserve the status quo.
The Castro government has been a killing machine since it took over in 1959. If a truth and reconciliation commission is ever called on to establish accountability, Fidel, Raul and many of their henchmen whose "hands are stained with blood," according to Mr. Valladares, would not fare well.
It is no coincidence that the three beliefs which helped Mr. Valladares survive prison were also key tenets that the communists were determined to destroy: liberal ideals, the family and God. For their refusal to accept indoctrination -- even in the face of constant beatings and forced labor, solitary confinement in tiny, windowless cells for weeks at a time, and near starvation -- Mr. Valladares and his group became known as the "plantados," which roughly translates as "the unwavering ones."
The regime went to such extremes that I wonder if it lost its zeal to torture after a time. Mr. Valladares corrects me. He says that the conditions only grew "more repressive. As my group [the plantados] refused to accept 'rehabilitation,' everyday they tried to come up with new ways to torture us."
In 22 years he only had 12 visits. The strength of the plantados impressed even his captors and in the late 1970s, he says, the official publication from the interior ministry wrote about them, marveling that "all repressive methods and tactics have failed to force a certain group of counterrevolutionary prisoners into accepting political rehabilitation."
Mr. Valladares and three other prisoners -- including Pedro Luis Boitel, who would later die on a hunger strike in 1972 when Castro gave an order to refuse him water -- even escaped once from the maximum security prison on Cuba's Isle of Pines. Using materials smuggled in from visitors, they dyed their clothes the color of military uniforms and filed through the prison bars. The disguises worked so well that "we waved to the guards as we walked out," Mr. Valladares says, chuckling.
But the boat that was supposed to pick them up never arrived; and eventually the prison guards hunted them down in the island swamps. What happened? Mr. Valladares says he can only speculate, but that everyone knew the reputation of the prison and believed that escape was impossible. "They must have thought the plan and the planners were simply crazy so they never even bothered to come for us."
That event would foreshadow the wider experience of the Cuban people over the next 50 years -- abandonment by the outside world. Mr. Valladares explains it this way: "We felt that the world had turned its back on the prisoners of conscience in Cuba." In truth, it had.
When Mrs. Valladares was allowed to leave Cuba in 1972 with her father -- who had also been a political prisoner -- and began an international effort to bring attention to the Cuban prisoners, the brutality of the regime was already well established. But as she found out, the facts weren't much help. "It was very difficult," she tells me, slowly and deliberately with more than a touch of sadness.
As an example, she describes her encounter with Sean MacBride, who was the former Amnesty International Chairman, at a human-rights conference in Venezuela in 1977. "He was very nice to me at first because he didn't realize who I was. But when I tried to speak about the Cuban prisoners of conscience, he began banging on the microphone and screaming, 'Don't translate that! Don't translate that!' The journalists covering the event asked me, 'Why is this man telling you to shut up?'"
The next day in the Venezuelan press there was a story titled "Human rights violated in a human-rights conference." That same year MacBride was awarded the Lenin Peace Prize given by the Soviet Union.
Mr. Valladares says that as amazing as it sounds, it took Amnesty International until 1978 to "discover" that there were political prisoners in Cuba. "Eighteen years after I was jailed! There were already thousands murdered, tortured, Boitel had already died."
Still AI has been downright progressive compared to some European governments. Mr. Valladares says that in 1988 the Spanish government of Felipe Gonzalez was especially disingenuous, when its foreign minister told Mr. Valladares that Spain had no evidence of human-rights violations in Cuba. Only weeks later, he says, the Spanish embassy in Havana produced a report documenting the atrocities of the Cuban regime, but opted to bury it so as to give cover to Fidel.
When the report was leaked to the press, Mr. Valladares says he brought dozens of the Spanish newspapers to the U.N. Human Rights Commission in Geneva and distributed them. "I told the Spanish ambassador, 'Congratulations, your report is very good. It is as good as the CIA report.'"
Mr. Valladares was giving the Spaniard a dig, but not without provocation. Both he and Mrs. Valladares say that over the years European government officials (Spain and Sweden to name but two) repeatedly acknowledged privately the regime's unacceptable brutality. But the same officials also said that to come out against it publicly would be to admit that the U.S. was right about Castro. And nobody wanted to do that.
"Castro is still there because the world envies the U.S., and all that hatred for the U.S. has gone to support Fidel Castro," Mr. Valladares says. As a result, the Cuban people have been left to fend for themselves against the jackboots and East German spy techniques of Cuban state security. Thousands have died trying to flee.
Martha Valladares says that in the past 50 years she thinks international support for Cuban liberty has improved "a little." She believes the foreign press in Cuba -- despite the fact that it is not free and is manipulated -- has helped. "The Women in White" [a group of prisoners' wives, mothers and sisters who have organized to bring attention to their loved ones] could not have existed before. We tried to do that when Armando's group was on a hunger strike and they took us to jail."
Mr. Valladares says that once Fidel dies, the regime will not be able to keep his death a secret for very long, and the odds for change will go way up. "The old guard will try to maintain the status quo, but there are many young officers who do not have blood on their hands and who won't want to fight for a system that has failed and is dying." Under those circumstances, he contends, there could be a struggle inside the military.
Add to this the fact that Raul is not respected -- and that "the youth are losing their fear and criticizing the government openly" -- and you can see the possibilities for change. "The capacity to terrorize has a limit," he says, "and the country is reaching it." If anyone knows about that limit, it's Mr. Valladares.
---------------------------------------
Ms. O'Grady writes the Americas column for The Wall Street Journal.
Copyright (c) 2008, Dow Jones & Company, Inc
16 August 2008
The Wall Street Journal
www.wsj.com/opinion
Miami -- In late December 1959, nearly a year after Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista had been run out the country by a movement that had a goal of restoring the 1940 Cuban constitution, Fidel Castro was tightening his grip.
At the time, Armando Valladares was a 22-year-old government bureaucrat at the Post Office Savings Bank. One day a group from the Communist Party showed up in his office and put a sign on his desk that read "If Fidel is a communist, put me on the list. He's got the right idea."
Castro had not yet made public his communist intentions. But Mr. Valladares says that "the sign was part of the campaign by the party and by Fidel to prepare the population for communism, which most knew little about. The idea was that since Fidel had already made his name synonymous with the Cuban messiah, he must be right about communism."
Mr. Valladares told his visitors that he didn't want that sign on his desk. "Five or six days later, in the wee hours of the morning, they came to my house. My mother's room was closest to the front door so she heard the knock and got up to see who was there. When she opened the door, the men pushed her out of the way and rushed into the house. I awoke with a machine gun against my temple."
The young Valladares had a lot of company. Thousands were being rounded up. Some waited months for their trials. Many others were immediately marched before firing squads.
Mr. Valladares got his day in court within the week. The judge, he says, sat with his feet up on the desk reading a comic book and making jokes. The search of his home had produced "no evidence, no weapons, no propaganda opposing the state." Nevertheless he was convicted as a potential conspirator against the Revolution and sentenced to 30 years. His cell mates applauded the decision, because the only other possible sentence was the death penalty.
Cuban state security applied every torture method in the totalitarian handbook -- and even some new inspirations -- to break the prisoners. Many cracked and many committed suicide, but Mr. Valladares, along with a minority of others, would not bow to the "Revolution." He says that three things preserved him during his 22 years in prison. First, he was totally sure of his ideals. Second was the love of Martha -- who would become his wife -- and the fact that she believed in him. Third were his religious convictions. He was finally released from prison in 1982 and forced into exile.
Castro's resignation as "president" of Cuba this February has touched off a landslide of speculation about whether his brother Raul, the new official head of state, might soon begin a transition away from political and economic repression. But the 71-year-old Mr. Valladares, who has become an accomplished poet and artist, human-rights activist and diplomat -- he served as U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Human Rights Commission in Geneva -- says forget it.
I recently had dinner with him and Martha at their home in Miami, and used the opportunity to pepper him with questions about the political landscape in Cuba today. Topping my list was whether we are already seeing the nascent stages of reform on the island.
His answer is an unequivocal no: "Until Fidel Castro dies, there will be no changes in Cuba. Fidel will not permit it. The terror imposed since 1959 continues today and Raul will not dare make a single change as long as his older brother is alive."
And what about Fidel's health? "He can still terrorize because he has lucid moments," Mr. Valladares says. "But those moments are unpredictable, which is why he cannot be seen in public or on live television, even for a minute." In the meantime, the repression has increased in recent months, he tells me, as those who have participated in his crimes seek to preserve the status quo.
The Castro government has been a killing machine since it took over in 1959. If a truth and reconciliation commission is ever called on to establish accountability, Fidel, Raul and many of their henchmen whose "hands are stained with blood," according to Mr. Valladares, would not fare well.
It is no coincidence that the three beliefs which helped Mr. Valladares survive prison were also key tenets that the communists were determined to destroy: liberal ideals, the family and God. For their refusal to accept indoctrination -- even in the face of constant beatings and forced labor, solitary confinement in tiny, windowless cells for weeks at a time, and near starvation -- Mr. Valladares and his group became known as the "plantados," which roughly translates as "the unwavering ones."
The regime went to such extremes that I wonder if it lost its zeal to torture after a time. Mr. Valladares corrects me. He says that the conditions only grew "more repressive. As my group [the plantados] refused to accept 'rehabilitation,' everyday they tried to come up with new ways to torture us."
In 22 years he only had 12 visits. The strength of the plantados impressed even his captors and in the late 1970s, he says, the official publication from the interior ministry wrote about them, marveling that "all repressive methods and tactics have failed to force a certain group of counterrevolutionary prisoners into accepting political rehabilitation."
Mr. Valladares and three other prisoners -- including Pedro Luis Boitel, who would later die on a hunger strike in 1972 when Castro gave an order to refuse him water -- even escaped once from the maximum security prison on Cuba's Isle of Pines. Using materials smuggled in from visitors, they dyed their clothes the color of military uniforms and filed through the prison bars. The disguises worked so well that "we waved to the guards as we walked out," Mr. Valladares says, chuckling.
But the boat that was supposed to pick them up never arrived; and eventually the prison guards hunted them down in the island swamps. What happened? Mr. Valladares says he can only speculate, but that everyone knew the reputation of the prison and believed that escape was impossible. "They must have thought the plan and the planners were simply crazy so they never even bothered to come for us."
That event would foreshadow the wider experience of the Cuban people over the next 50 years -- abandonment by the outside world. Mr. Valladares explains it this way: "We felt that the world had turned its back on the prisoners of conscience in Cuba." In truth, it had.
When Mrs. Valladares was allowed to leave Cuba in 1972 with her father -- who had also been a political prisoner -- and began an international effort to bring attention to the Cuban prisoners, the brutality of the regime was already well established. But as she found out, the facts weren't much help. "It was very difficult," she tells me, slowly and deliberately with more than a touch of sadness.
As an example, she describes her encounter with Sean MacBride, who was the former Amnesty International Chairman, at a human-rights conference in Venezuela in 1977. "He was very nice to me at first because he didn't realize who I was. But when I tried to speak about the Cuban prisoners of conscience, he began banging on the microphone and screaming, 'Don't translate that! Don't translate that!' The journalists covering the event asked me, 'Why is this man telling you to shut up?'"
The next day in the Venezuelan press there was a story titled "Human rights violated in a human-rights conference." That same year MacBride was awarded the Lenin Peace Prize given by the Soviet Union.
Mr. Valladares says that as amazing as it sounds, it took Amnesty International until 1978 to "discover" that there were political prisoners in Cuba. "Eighteen years after I was jailed! There were already thousands murdered, tortured, Boitel had already died."
Still AI has been downright progressive compared to some European governments. Mr. Valladares says that in 1988 the Spanish government of Felipe Gonzalez was especially disingenuous, when its foreign minister told Mr. Valladares that Spain had no evidence of human-rights violations in Cuba. Only weeks later, he says, the Spanish embassy in Havana produced a report documenting the atrocities of the Cuban regime, but opted to bury it so as to give cover to Fidel.
When the report was leaked to the press, Mr. Valladares says he brought dozens of the Spanish newspapers to the U.N. Human Rights Commission in Geneva and distributed them. "I told the Spanish ambassador, 'Congratulations, your report is very good. It is as good as the CIA report.'"
Mr. Valladares was giving the Spaniard a dig, but not without provocation. Both he and Mrs. Valladares say that over the years European government officials (Spain and Sweden to name but two) repeatedly acknowledged privately the regime's unacceptable brutality. But the same officials also said that to come out against it publicly would be to admit that the U.S. was right about Castro. And nobody wanted to do that.
"Castro is still there because the world envies the U.S., and all that hatred for the U.S. has gone to support Fidel Castro," Mr. Valladares says. As a result, the Cuban people have been left to fend for themselves against the jackboots and East German spy techniques of Cuban state security. Thousands have died trying to flee.
Martha Valladares says that in the past 50 years she thinks international support for Cuban liberty has improved "a little." She believes the foreign press in Cuba -- despite the fact that it is not free and is manipulated -- has helped. "The Women in White" [a group of prisoners' wives, mothers and sisters who have organized to bring attention to their loved ones] could not have existed before. We tried to do that when Armando's group was on a hunger strike and they took us to jail."
Mr. Valladares says that once Fidel dies, the regime will not be able to keep his death a secret for very long, and the odds for change will go way up. "The old guard will try to maintain the status quo, but there are many young officers who do not have blood on their hands and who won't want to fight for a system that has failed and is dying." Under those circumstances, he contends, there could be a struggle inside the military.
Add to this the fact that Raul is not respected -- and that "the youth are losing their fear and criticizing the government openly" -- and you can see the possibilities for change. "The capacity to terrorize has a limit," he says, "and the country is reaching it." If anyone knows about that limit, it's Mr. Valladares.
---------------------------------------
Ms. O'Grady writes the Americas column for The Wall Street Journal.
Copyright (c) 2008, Dow Jones & Company, Inc
Monday, June 02, 2008
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE INTER-AMERICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS / INFORME ANUAL DE LA COMISION INTERAMERICANA DE DERECHOS HUMANOS
Click on the links to see the report, either in English or Spanish / Haga un clic en los enlaces para ver las denuncias en inglés o español.
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE INTER-AMERICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS 2007 / CUBA
http://www.cidh.org/annualrep/2007eng/Chap.4b.htm
INFORME ANUAL DE LA COMISIÓN INTERAMERICANA DE DERECHOS HUMANOS 2007/ CUBA
http://www.cidh.org/annualrep/2007sp/cap4Cuba.sp.htm
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE INTER-AMERICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS 2007 / CUBA
http://www.cidh.org/annualrep/2007eng/Chap.4b.htm
INFORME ANUAL DE LA COMISIÓN INTERAMERICANA DE DERECHOS HUMANOS 2007/ CUBA
http://www.cidh.org/annualrep/2007sp/cap4Cuba.sp.htm
Friday, May 16, 2008
IMPRISONED CUBAN PHYSICIAN'S CRITICAL STATE OF HEALTH IS PROGRESSIVELY DETERIORATING
May 2008Moralinda Paneque returned home extremely distressed and worried after her last scheduled family visit to her son on Monday, May 5, 2008, in the Prison of Las Mangas. “ I anticipated an improvement in his health but that wasn’t at all what I witnessed…”
Dr. José Luis García Paneque’s semblance was a shock to his mother, father and sister, “…my son resembles a skeleton…he barely has any fat under his skin…he has stick like thighs, his backbone protrudes as he bends over…he is emaciated to the point that his stomach is almost touching his backbone…his skin color is very strange to me…I would describe it as grayish blue…”.
The 42-year old Cuban prisoner of conscience who weighs a little over 100 pounds told his family that he continues bleeding daily through the rectum, a complication related to the malabsorption syndrome he suffers from, an illness that he developed in prison and which does not allow the food he ingests to nourish his body.
Dr. García Paneque also expressed that he is having trouble sleeping at night since the common prisoners he is forced to share a barrack with make loud noises as they play games throughout the night.
Dr. García Paneque was arrested on March 18, 2003, and sentenced to 24 years in jail during the wave of repression that the Cuban government carried out against members of the civil society who were promoting independent ideas on the island.
The wife and four children of this Cuban doctor were forced to seek exile in the United States on March 8, 2007, because of the violent acts of repudiation that were being carried out against their home by mobs instigated by Cuban State Security.
Dr. García Paneque’s family makes an URGENT APPEAL to the international community since they fear for the safety and physical and psychological well-being of this Cuban physician who is unjustly imprisoned in a maximum-security prison for peacefully defending the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in his own country.
Information obtained from Mrs. Moralinda Paneque via telephone from Las Tunas, Cuba, by the Coalition of Cuban-American Women / LAIDA CARRO / E-mail: http://webmail.suddenlink.net/do/mail/message/mailto?to=joseito76%40aol.com / FAX: 305-740-7323
--------------------------------------
SE DETERIORA PROGRESIVAMENTE LA CRÍTICA SITUACIÓN DE SALUD DE UN MÉDICO CUBANO, PRESO EN LA ISLA
mayo 2008
Moralinda Paneque regresó a su hogar sumamente disgustada y alarmada tras haber visto a su hijo en la visita familiar programada el lunes, 5 de mayo, 2008 en la prisión de Las Mangas, “ yo esperé verlo mejor que en la última visita pero cuando llegué a la prisión no era así…”
El semblante del Dr. José Luis García Paneque impactaron a su madre, su padre y a su hermana, “…mi hijo parece un esqueleto…está tan delgado que se le sobresalen los huesos de la columna…se levantó el pullover y el estómago está pegado al espinazo…los muslos son dos palos…tiene un color de la piel muy extraño…yo diría que grisáceo… ”
El prisionero cubano de conciencia de 42 años, quien pesa poco mas de 100 libras, le dijo a su familia que sigue con sangramientos diarios por el recto, una complicación de la propia enfermedad que padece - el síndrome de malabsorbción intestinal – la cual ha desarrollado en prisión y que le previene que los alimentos que ingiere nutran su organismo.
El galeno también le informó a su familia que no puede dormir debido a que los presos comunes con quienes está obligado a convivir en el destacamento de la prisión juegan y hacen ruido hasta la madrugada.
El Dr. García Paneque, fué detenido el 18 de marzo, 2007, y condenado a 24 años de cárcel durante la ola represiva que llevó a cabo el gobierno de Cuba contra miembros de la sociedad civil que promovían ideas independientes en toda la isla.
La esposa y los cuatro hijos del Dr. García Paneque se vieron obligados a exiliarse en los Estados Unidos el 8 de marzo, 2007, debido a la violentos actos de repudio que sufrían en su hogar en las Tunas por turbas alentadas por la Seguridad del Estado Cubana.
La familia del Dr. García Paneque hace un LLAMADO URGENTE a la comunidad internacional ya que temen por la seguridad e integridad física y psicológica del galeno cubano quien está injustamente confinado en una prisión de máxima severidad por defender pacíficamente la Declaración Universal de Derechos Humanos en su propio país.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Información obtenida de la Sra. Moralinda Paneque vía telefónica desde Las Tunas, Cuba por la Coalición de Mujeres Cubano-Americanas / LAIDA CARRO – Email: http://webmail.suddenlink.net/do/mail/message/mailto?to=Joseito76%40aol.com. Fax: 305-740-7323
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
SURVEY LISTS WORLD'S MOST REPRESSIVE REGIMES
( From The Miami Herald: posted on Tue, May. 06, 2008
http://www.miamiherald.com/692/v-print/story/523089.html )
By BARRY SCHWEID
In a worldwide survey, a democracy watchdog organization said 90 countries respect a broad array of basic human rights and political freedom while 103 countries fail to some degree to observe standards of liberal democracy.
Eight countries were judged by Freedom House, the New York-based organization, to have the most repressive regimes. They were Cuba, Libya, Myanmar, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Two restive territories, Chechnya and Tibet, "whose inhabitants suffer intense repression," the organization said, were placed in the lowest category, as well.
Violent repression of protests of food prices in Myanmar, or Burma as it is commonly known, contributed to a further downward trend in the South Asian country, now devastated by a staggering cyclone.
Within the eight countries and two territories "state control over daily life is pervasive and wide-ranging, independent organizations and political opposition are banned or suppressed and fear of retribution for independent thought and action is part of daily life," said Jennifer Windsor, executive director of Freedom House, in issuing the annual report.
Ranked only slightly better than "the worst of the worst" were Belarus, Chad, China, Equitorial Guinea, Eritrea, Laos, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Zimbabwe as well as the Western Sahara territory of North Africa. They severely suppress opposition political activity, impede independent organizing and censor or punish criticism of the state, Windsor said.
Increased corruption and controls on non-governmental organizations placed Chad on the list for the first time. The African country replaced another, Cote d'Ivoire, in this group while the "worst of the worst" remained the same.
Syria showed a downward trend, the report said. While it held elections, candidates' eligibility was tightly circumscribed, new measures to control Internet activity were adopted and prominent reformers were sentenced for signing a declaration supporting Lebanese sovereignty.
Summing up world trends in an interview, Arch Puddington, director of research at Freedom House, said "even while global freedom has stagnated in the past decade we had seen a decline in the 'worst of the worst' countries." But, he said, "that process seems to have come to at least a temporary halt as the 'worst of the worst' countries seem to be pushing back."
http://www.miamiherald.com/692/v-print/story/523089.html )
By BARRY SCHWEID
In a worldwide survey, a democracy watchdog organization said 90 countries respect a broad array of basic human rights and political freedom while 103 countries fail to some degree to observe standards of liberal democracy.
Eight countries were judged by Freedom House, the New York-based organization, to have the most repressive regimes. They were Cuba, Libya, Myanmar, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Two restive territories, Chechnya and Tibet, "whose inhabitants suffer intense repression," the organization said, were placed in the lowest category, as well.
Violent repression of protests of food prices in Myanmar, or Burma as it is commonly known, contributed to a further downward trend in the South Asian country, now devastated by a staggering cyclone.
Within the eight countries and two territories "state control over daily life is pervasive and wide-ranging, independent organizations and political opposition are banned or suppressed and fear of retribution for independent thought and action is part of daily life," said Jennifer Windsor, executive director of Freedom House, in issuing the annual report.
Ranked only slightly better than "the worst of the worst" were Belarus, Chad, China, Equitorial Guinea, Eritrea, Laos, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Zimbabwe as well as the Western Sahara territory of North Africa. They severely suppress opposition political activity, impede independent organizing and censor or punish criticism of the state, Windsor said.
Increased corruption and controls on non-governmental organizations placed Chad on the list for the first time. The African country replaced another, Cote d'Ivoire, in this group while the "worst of the worst" remained the same.
Syria showed a downward trend, the report said. While it held elections, candidates' eligibility was tightly circumscribed, new measures to control Internet activity were adopted and prominent reformers were sentenced for signing a declaration supporting Lebanese sovereignty.
Summing up world trends in an interview, Arch Puddington, director of research at Freedom House, said "even while global freedom has stagnated in the past decade we had seen a decline in the 'worst of the worst' countries." But, he said, "that process seems to have come to at least a temporary halt as the 'worst of the worst' countries seem to be pushing back."
Monday, May 05, 2008
NEW WEBSITE LAUNCHED
The official May 21 (Cuba Solidarity Day) website has been launched and is now available at :
The website is also listed on the Coalition of American Women's links on the right side of our blog, where it will be available for accessing at any time.
Monday, April 07, 2008
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE INTER-AMERICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS / INFORME ANUAL DE LA COMISION INTERAMERICANA DE DERECHOS HUMANOS
Organization of American States ANNUAL REPORT OF THE IACHR 2007CUBA: http://www.cidh.org/annualrep/2007eng/Chap.4b.htm . Organizacion de Estados
Americanos INFORME ANUAL DE LA COMISION INTERAMERICANA DE DERECHOS HUMANOS 2007CUBA: http://www.cidh.org/annualrep/2007sp/cap4Cuba.sp.htm
Americanos INFORME ANUAL DE LA COMISION INTERAMERICANA DE DERECHOS HUMANOS 2007CUBA: http://www.cidh.org/annualrep/2007sp/cap4Cuba.sp.htm
Thursday, April 03, 2008
CUBAN PHYSICIAN, PRISONER OF CONSCIENCE, SUFFERS TORTURES AT THE HANDS OF COMMON PRISONERS
(Se puede encontrar la información en español abajo)
Cuba
April 2, 2008
Cuban prisoner of conscience, Dr. José Luis García Paneque, who is forced to share
a barrack with dangerous common prisoners in Las Mangas Prison will declare himself on a hunger strike if the criminals in his cell continue harassing him in such a cruel and viscious manner. Dr. García Paneque, weighing a little over 100 lbs., has already endured beatings at the hands of such delinquents.
Moralinda Paneque, mother of the imprisoned doctor, learned that new prisoners who are serving sentences for murder and drug addiction have been introduced in her son’s cell and that these convicts intentionally make noise to prevent him from sleeping; they steal his personal possessions and provoke him, seeking a physical confrontation with Dr. García Paneque.
It has been a practice of Cuban prison authorities to confine political prisoners next to violent delinquents as a method of physical and mental torture. Cuban State Security offers special privileges to common prisons provided they provoke, beat up, and humiliate, etc., Cuban political prisoners.
Dr. García Paneque’s health is in a critical state since he’s been confined to numerous prison hospitals suffering from prolonged chronic diarrhea and bouts of rectal bleeding as a result of the malabsorption syndrome he has developed since he was imprisoned in 2003. He’s also been diagnosed with a kidney tumor, pneumonia, and a pleural effusion of the right lung.
Dr. García Paneque’s wife and four children were forced to seek exile in the United States on March 8, 2007, because of the violent acts of repudiation that were being carried out against their home by mobs instigated by Cuban State Security.
Dr. García Paneque was arrested on March 18, 2003, and sentenced to 24 years in jail during the wave of repression that the Cuban government carried out against members of the civil society who were promoting independent ideas on the island.
Dr. García Paneque’s family makes the Cuban government responsible for the life of this 42 year old surgeon and makes an URGENT APPEAL to the international community since they fear for the safety and physical and psychological well-being of this Cuban physician who is unjustly imprisoned in a maximum-security prison for defending the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in his own country.
Information obtained via telephone from Mrs. Moralinda Paneque (Las Tunas, Cuba) and from Yamile Llanes, Dr. Paneque’s wife.
Coalition of Cuban-American Women / LAIDA CARRO / E-mail: joseito76@aol.com
FAX: 305-740-7323
---------------------------------------
CUBA
MÉDICO CUBANO, PRESO DE CONCIENCIA, SUFRE TORTURAS
A MANOS DE PRESOS COMUNES
2 de abril, 2008
El preso de conciencia, Dr. José Luis García Paneque, obligado a convivir con presos de alta peligrosidad, en la prisión de Las Mangas se va a declarar en huelga de hambre si éstos criminales que lo rodean continúan el hostigamiento tan brutal contra su persona. Ya el Dr. García Paneque, quien pesa poco más de 100 lbs., ha sufrido golpizas a manos de estos delincuentes.
Moralinda Paneque, madre del médico encarcelado supo que a su hijo le han introducido en el cúbiculo de la prisión nuevos reos que cumplen condena por asesinato y drogadicción y que éstos no lo dejan dormir haciéndole ruido intencionalmente, le roban sus pertenencias y lo provocan buscando el contraataque por parte del Dr. García Paneque.
Ha sido una práctica común de las autoridades carcelarias cubanas el confinar a presos políticos junto a delincuentes violentos como método de tortura física y mental. La Seguridad del Estado cubana le ofrece privilegios a los reos comunes con tal de que provoquen, agredan, humillen, etc. a los presos políticos en Cuba.
La salud del galeno cubano corre peligro ya que ha estado recluído en los hospitales de numerosos penales, padeciendo de una crisis diarréicas y colitis sangrante derivadas del Síndrome de Mal Absorpción Intestinal que ha desarrollado desde que fué encarcelado en el 2003. También le fué diagnosticado un tumor en un riñón, además de un derrame pleural en el pulmón derecho, producto de una neumonía.
La esposa y los cuatro hijos del Dr. García Paneque se vieron obligados a exiliarse en los Estados Unidos el 8 de marzo, 2007, debido a la violentos actos de repudio que sufrían en su hogar en las Tunas por turbas alentadas por la Seguridad del Estado Cubana.
El Dr. García Paneque, fué detenido el 18 de marzo, 2007, y condenado a 24 años de cárcel durante la ola represiva que llevó a cabo el gobierno de Cuba contra miembros de la sociedad civil que promovían ideas independientes en toda la isla.
La familia del Dr. José Luis García Paneque hace responsable al régimen cubano por la vida de este cirujano de 42 años y hace un LLAMADO URGENTE a la comunidad internacional ya que temen por la seguridad e integridad física y psicológica del médico cubano, quien está injustamente confinado en una prisión de máxima severidad por defender la Declaración Universal de Derechos Humanos en su propio país.
-------------
Información obtenida vía teléfonica de la Sra. Moralinda Paneque (Las Tunas, Cuba) y de la esposa del Dr. García Paneque, Yamile Llanes (EEUU)
Coalición de Mujeres Cubano-Americanas / LAIDA CARRO
Email: joseito76@aol.com / Fax: 305-740-7323
April 2, 2008
Cuban prisoner of conscience, Dr. José Luis García Paneque, who is forced to share
a barrack with dangerous common prisoners in Las Mangas Prison will declare himself on a hunger strike if the criminals in his cell continue harassing him in such a cruel and viscious manner. Dr. García Paneque, weighing a little over 100 lbs., has already endured beatings at the hands of such delinquents.Moralinda Paneque, mother of the imprisoned doctor, learned that new prisoners who are serving sentences for murder and drug addiction have been introduced in her son’s cell and that these convicts intentionally make noise to prevent him from sleeping; they steal his personal possessions and provoke him, seeking a physical confrontation with Dr. García Paneque.
It has been a practice of Cuban prison authorities to confine political prisoners next to violent delinquents as a method of physical and mental torture. Cuban State Security offers special privileges to common prisons provided they provoke, beat up, and humiliate, etc., Cuban political prisoners.
Dr. García Paneque’s health is in a critical state since he’s been confined to numerous prison hospitals suffering from prolonged chronic diarrhea and bouts of rectal bleeding as a result of the malabsorption syndrome he has developed since he was imprisoned in 2003. He’s also been diagnosed with a kidney tumor, pneumonia, and a pleural effusion of the right lung.
Dr. García Paneque’s wife and four children were forced to seek exile in the United States on March 8, 2007, because of the violent acts of repudiation that were being carried out against their home by mobs instigated by Cuban State Security.
Dr. García Paneque was arrested on March 18, 2003, and sentenced to 24 years in jail during the wave of repression that the Cuban government carried out against members of the civil society who were promoting independent ideas on the island.
Dr. García Paneque’s family makes the Cuban government responsible for the life of this 42 year old surgeon and makes an URGENT APPEAL to the international community since they fear for the safety and physical and psychological well-being of this Cuban physician who is unjustly imprisoned in a maximum-security prison for defending the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in his own country.
Information obtained via telephone from Mrs. Moralinda Paneque (Las Tunas, Cuba) and from Yamile Llanes, Dr. Paneque’s wife.
Coalition of Cuban-American Women / LAIDA CARRO / E-mail: joseito76@aol.com
FAX: 305-740-7323
---------------------------------------
CUBA
MÉDICO CUBANO, PRESO DE CONCIENCIA, SUFRE TORTURAS
A MANOS DE PRESOS COMUNES
2 de abril, 2008
El preso de conciencia, Dr. José Luis García Paneque, obligado a convivir con presos de alta peligrosidad, en la prisión de Las Mangas se va a declarar en huelga de hambre si éstos criminales que lo rodean continúan el hostigamiento tan brutal contra su persona. Ya el Dr. García Paneque, quien pesa poco más de 100 lbs., ha sufrido golpizas a manos de estos delincuentes.
Moralinda Paneque, madre del médico encarcelado supo que a su hijo le han introducido en el cúbiculo de la prisión nuevos reos que cumplen condena por asesinato y drogadicción y que éstos no lo dejan dormir haciéndole ruido intencionalmente, le roban sus pertenencias y lo provocan buscando el contraataque por parte del Dr. García Paneque.
Ha sido una práctica común de las autoridades carcelarias cubanas el confinar a presos políticos junto a delincuentes violentos como método de tortura física y mental. La Seguridad del Estado cubana le ofrece privilegios a los reos comunes con tal de que provoquen, agredan, humillen, etc. a los presos políticos en Cuba.
La salud del galeno cubano corre peligro ya que ha estado recluído en los hospitales de numerosos penales, padeciendo de una crisis diarréicas y colitis sangrante derivadas del Síndrome de Mal Absorpción Intestinal que ha desarrollado desde que fué encarcelado en el 2003. También le fué diagnosticado un tumor en un riñón, además de un derrame pleural en el pulmón derecho, producto de una neumonía.
La esposa y los cuatro hijos del Dr. García Paneque se vieron obligados a exiliarse en los Estados Unidos el 8 de marzo, 2007, debido a la violentos actos de repudio que sufrían en su hogar en las Tunas por turbas alentadas por la Seguridad del Estado Cubana.
El Dr. García Paneque, fué detenido el 18 de marzo, 2007, y condenado a 24 años de cárcel durante la ola represiva que llevó a cabo el gobierno de Cuba contra miembros de la sociedad civil que promovían ideas independientes en toda la isla.
La familia del Dr. José Luis García Paneque hace responsable al régimen cubano por la vida de este cirujano de 42 años y hace un LLAMADO URGENTE a la comunidad internacional ya que temen por la seguridad e integridad física y psicológica del médico cubano, quien está injustamente confinado en una prisión de máxima severidad por defender la Declaración Universal de Derechos Humanos en su propio país.
-------------
Información obtenida vía teléfonica de la Sra. Moralinda Paneque (Las Tunas, Cuba) y de la esposa del Dr. García Paneque, Yamile Llanes (EEUU)
Coalición de Mujeres Cubano-Americanas / LAIDA CARRO
Email: joseito76@aol.com / Fax: 305-740-7323
Friday, March 14, 2008
US STATE DEPARTMENT-2007 REPORT ON HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES - CUBA
To view the specific report on Cuba from the report from the 2007 US State Department on Human Rights Practices, click here:
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2007/100635.htm
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2007/100635.htm
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
URGENT APPEAL FOR HELP FROM DOLIA LEAL FRANCISCO, WIFE OF POLITICAL PRISONER NELSON AGUIAR RAMIREZ
(NOTE: La carta en español sigue abajo.)
Havana, Cuba
October 29, 2007
To: His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI
Presidents and Heads of Democratic Governments
The Secretary General of the United Nations
Human Rights Organizations and Institutions
The International Red Cross
National and International Public Opinion
I am Dolia Leal Francisco, co-founder of the Ladies in White and wife of Nelson Aguiar Ramírez, 62, who is a prisoner of conscience and one of the Group of 75 who was incarcerated in the spring of 2003, during the wave of repression that took place in Cuba. With this letter, I am making a call in order to save the life of my husband, who is currently in grave danger.
In December of 2004, Nelson was operated on for a hiatal hernia, which, unfortunately, returned again five days later. In July, 2005, he was operated on for a second time, but because of the weakness of his muscle tissue and the damage caused during seven months of waiting, the operation was not a success, and an internal portion of the incision which is only protected by a small gauze dressing has not closed.. For the rest of his life, Nelson will be unable to lift any weight, bend over from the waist, or stoop down, etc.
Besides this very serious condition, the following pathologies (among others) are noted in his medical file:
Advanced Degenerative Arthropathy
Herniated Disks: L3, L4 and L4, L5
Chronic Hypertension
Profound Venous Insufficiency
Stage 1 Prostatic Hyperplasia with Calcification
Fatty Liver
Because of the arthropathy, Nelson frequently loses his balance and suffers from vertigo. As a result, he fractured his left arm and dislocated his shoulder. He suffers from severe pain from two herniated discs, incapacitating him from moving at times. Nelson is afraid he will be come paralyzed. All of this is exacerbated by the 18 months he spent isolated in very small and humid punishment cells without being able to walk or go outside.
In spite of these serious health problems, on May 4, 2006, Nelson was unexpectedly taken from of Carlos J. Finlay Military Hospital (where he had been for 11 months) to Combinado del Este Prison in Havana, where he was placed, without any concern for his critical state of health, in a barrack for more than 50 days with more than 160 common prisoners. His health deteriorated gravely, and faced with this situation, prison authorities sent him to the small hospital in Combinado del Este, where he remains today. However, in this small hospital, conditions do not exist to attend to his critical state of health, and therefore, the hiatal hernia has returned, and he has a large bulge in the upper part of his stomach. The surgeon who operated on him told me Nelson could not tolerate a third surgical intervention.
After the second operation, the medical commission determined that Nelson was not capable of enduring any sort of prison regimen. The political police who control Nelson’s case have purposely ignored this report and have sequestered his clinical history. To keep Nelson in prison is to kill him slowly, little by little every day. There is no hope for him.
It is because of all the aforementioned circumstances that I come to you so that you can help me save my husband’s life by asking the Cuban government to grant Nelson house arrest, in agreement with Article 31-3-B of the Penal Code in force. (Please note that I asked this of the Minister of the Interior, Abelardo Colomé Ibarra, in writing on February 9, 2007. I have not received a response.)
With the hope that you will devote maximum attention to this humanitarian request, I remain,
Respectfully,
(signature included)
Dolia Leal Francisco
Lady in White
2005 Sakarov Prize from the European Parliament
My address is: Calle 28, No. 157, Apto. 15 e/17 y 19 Vedado, Municipio Plaza de la Revolución, Ciudad de la Havana, Cuba
___________________________________________________________
Translation into English: The Coalition of Cuban-American Women
Tanya S. Wilder / E-mail: tswilder@suddenlink.net
____________________________________________________________________
La Habana, 29 de Octubre de 2007
A: Su Santidad el Papa Benedicto XVI
Presidentes y Jefes de Gobiernos Democráticos
Secretario General de las Naciones Unidas
Organizaciones e Instituciones de Derechos Humanos
Cruz Roja Internacional
Opinión Pública Nacional e Internacional
Soy Dolia Leal Francisco, co-fundadora de las Damas de Blanco, esposa de Nelsón Aguiar Ramírez de 62 años de edad, preso de conciencia del Grupo de los 75 encarcelados desde la primavera del año 2003. Por este medio estoy haciendo un llamado para salvar la vida de mi esposo que se encuentra en grave peligro.
En el mes de diciembre del año 2004, Nelsón fue operado de una hernia epigástrica, la que desgraciadamente se reprodujo a los cinco días. En julio del año 2005 fue intervenido por segunda vez pero debido a la debilidad de sus tejidos envejecidos y al daño causado durante los siete meses de espera, la operación no tuvo éxito y no se puede cerrar una porción interna, la que ahora sólo está protegida por una pequeña malla. Nelsón está invalidado de por vida para levantar pesos y doblar el torso hacia delante, agacharse al piso ect.
Además de esta gravisima situación de salud, en su historia clinica se encuentran reflejadas, entre otras, las patologías siguientes:
• Artrosis Degenerativa Avanzada
• Hernia Discal L3, L4 y L4, L5
• Hipertensión Arterial Crónica
• Insuficiencia Venosa Profunda
• Hiperplasia Prostática Grado 1 y Calsificación
• Esteatosis Hepática
Debido a la artrosis pierde frecuentemente la estabilidad, sufre vertigos y producto de ello se fracturó el brazo izquierdo y se dislocó el hombro. Padece fortisimos dolores por las dos hernias discales quedando incapacitado para moverse a veces, por lo que teme quedar paralitico, todo esto motivado por los 18 meses que pasó aislado en celdas de castigo muy pequeñas y humedas, sin apenas poder caminar ni coger sol.
A pesar de estos graves problemas de salud, el 4 de mayo del año 2006, lo sacaron inesperadamente del Hospital Militar Carlos J. Finlay (donde permaneció 11 meses ingresado) para la prisión del Combinado del Este en Ciudad de La Habana, donde estuvo por más de 50 días en una galera con más de 160 presos comunes sin ninguna condición para su crítico estado de salud, esto lo agravó aún más. Ante esta situación lo retornaron al pequeño Hospitalito del Combinado del Este y aún permanece ingresado allí, pero en ese lugar no existen las condiciones para atender su crítico estado de salud, resultando que se le ha vuelto a reproducir la hernia epigástrica presentando un abultamiento en la parte superior del estómago. El cirujano que lo operó me dijo que ya Nelsón no admitia una tercera intervención quirúrgica.
Tras la segunda operación, la Comisión Medica determinó que Nelsón no estaba apto para el régimen penitenciario. La policía política que controla el caso de Nelsón ha hecho caso omiso de ese dictamen y ha secuestrado su Historia Clinica.
Mantener a Nelsón Aguiar Ramírez en prisión es matarlo lentamente, un poco cada día, ya no hay salvación para él.
Es por todo esto que acudo a ustedes para que me ayuden a salvar la vida de mi esposo, pidiéndole al Gobierno Cubano que otorgue a Nelsón la licencia extrapenal que comtempla el artículo 31-3-B del código penal vigente (esto lo pedí por escrito al Ministro del Interior, Abelardo Colomé Ibarra, el pasado día 9 de febrero del año 2007, de lo que no he recibido ninguna respuesta).
Esperando de ustedes la máxima atención a esta solicitud humanitaria,
quedo respetuosamente,
Dolia Leal
Dama de Blanco
Premio Sajarov año 2005 del Parlamento Europeo.
Mi dirección es: Calle 28 No 157 apto 15 entre 17 y 19 Vedado, Municipio Plaza de la Revolución, Ciudad de La Habana, Cuba.
Transcrito por Carlos Oyarce, defensor de los derechos humanos.http://www.opositorcubano.blogspot.com/
Havana, Cuba
October 29, 2007
To: His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVIPresidents and Heads of Democratic Governments
The Secretary General of the United Nations
Human Rights Organizations and Institutions
The International Red Cross
National and International Public Opinion
I am Dolia Leal Francisco, co-founder of the Ladies in White and wife of Nelson Aguiar Ramírez, 62, who is a prisoner of conscience and one of the Group of 75 who was incarcerated in the spring of 2003, during the wave of repression that took place in Cuba. With this letter, I am making a call in order to save the life of my husband, who is currently in grave danger.
In December of 2004, Nelson was operated on for a hiatal hernia, which, unfortunately, returned again five days later. In July, 2005, he was operated on for a second time, but because of the weakness of his muscle tissue and the damage caused during seven months of waiting, the operation was not a success, and an internal portion of the incision which is only protected by a small gauze dressing has not closed.. For the rest of his life, Nelson will be unable to lift any weight, bend over from the waist, or stoop down, etc.
Besides this very serious condition, the following pathologies (among others) are noted in his medical file:
Advanced Degenerative Arthropathy
Herniated Disks: L3, L4 and L4, L5
Chronic Hypertension
Profound Venous Insufficiency
Stage 1 Prostatic Hyperplasia with Calcification
Fatty Liver
Because of the arthropathy, Nelson frequently loses his balance and suffers from vertigo. As a result, he fractured his left arm and dislocated his shoulder. He suffers from severe pain from two herniated discs, incapacitating him from moving at times. Nelson is afraid he will be come paralyzed. All of this is exacerbated by the 18 months he spent isolated in very small and humid punishment cells without being able to walk or go outside.
In spite of these serious health problems, on May 4, 2006, Nelson was unexpectedly taken from of Carlos J. Finlay Military Hospital (where he had been for 11 months) to Combinado del Este Prison in Havana, where he was placed, without any concern for his critical state of health, in a barrack for more than 50 days with more than 160 common prisoners. His health deteriorated gravely, and faced with this situation, prison authorities sent him to the small hospital in Combinado del Este, where he remains today. However, in this small hospital, conditions do not exist to attend to his critical state of health, and therefore, the hiatal hernia has returned, and he has a large bulge in the upper part of his stomach. The surgeon who operated on him told me Nelson could not tolerate a third surgical intervention.
After the second operation, the medical commission determined that Nelson was not capable of enduring any sort of prison regimen. The political police who control Nelson’s case have purposely ignored this report and have sequestered his clinical history. To keep Nelson in prison is to kill him slowly, little by little every day. There is no hope for him.
It is because of all the aforementioned circumstances that I come to you so that you can help me save my husband’s life by asking the Cuban government to grant Nelson house arrest, in agreement with Article 31-3-B of the Penal Code in force. (Please note that I asked this of the Minister of the Interior, Abelardo Colomé Ibarra, in writing on February 9, 2007. I have not received a response.)
With the hope that you will devote maximum attention to this humanitarian request, I remain,
Respectfully,
(signature included)
Dolia Leal Francisco
Lady in White
2005 Sakarov Prize from the European Parliament
My address is: Calle 28, No. 157, Apto. 15 e/17 y 19 Vedado, Municipio Plaza de la Revolución, Ciudad de la Havana, Cuba
___________________________________________________________
Translation into English: The Coalition of Cuban-American Women
Tanya S. Wilder / E-mail: tswilder@suddenlink.net
____________________________________________________________________
La Habana, 29 de Octubre de 2007
A: Su Santidad el Papa Benedicto XVI
Presidentes y Jefes de Gobiernos Democráticos
Secretario General de las Naciones Unidas
Organizaciones e Instituciones de Derechos Humanos
Cruz Roja Internacional
Opinión Pública Nacional e Internacional
Soy Dolia Leal Francisco, co-fundadora de las Damas de Blanco, esposa de Nelsón Aguiar Ramírez de 62 años de edad, preso de conciencia del Grupo de los 75 encarcelados desde la primavera del año 2003. Por este medio estoy haciendo un llamado para salvar la vida de mi esposo que se encuentra en grave peligro.
En el mes de diciembre del año 2004, Nelsón fue operado de una hernia epigástrica, la que desgraciadamente se reprodujo a los cinco días. En julio del año 2005 fue intervenido por segunda vez pero debido a la debilidad de sus tejidos envejecidos y al daño causado durante los siete meses de espera, la operación no tuvo éxito y no se puede cerrar una porción interna, la que ahora sólo está protegida por una pequeña malla. Nelsón está invalidado de por vida para levantar pesos y doblar el torso hacia delante, agacharse al piso ect.
Además de esta gravisima situación de salud, en su historia clinica se encuentran reflejadas, entre otras, las patologías siguientes:
• Artrosis Degenerativa Avanzada
• Hernia Discal L3, L4 y L4, L5
• Hipertensión Arterial Crónica
• Insuficiencia Venosa Profunda
• Hiperplasia Prostática Grado 1 y Calsificación
• Esteatosis Hepática
Debido a la artrosis pierde frecuentemente la estabilidad, sufre vertigos y producto de ello se fracturó el brazo izquierdo y se dislocó el hombro. Padece fortisimos dolores por las dos hernias discales quedando incapacitado para moverse a veces, por lo que teme quedar paralitico, todo esto motivado por los 18 meses que pasó aislado en celdas de castigo muy pequeñas y humedas, sin apenas poder caminar ni coger sol.
A pesar de estos graves problemas de salud, el 4 de mayo del año 2006, lo sacaron inesperadamente del Hospital Militar Carlos J. Finlay (donde permaneció 11 meses ingresado) para la prisión del Combinado del Este en Ciudad de La Habana, donde estuvo por más de 50 días en una galera con más de 160 presos comunes sin ninguna condición para su crítico estado de salud, esto lo agravó aún más. Ante esta situación lo retornaron al pequeño Hospitalito del Combinado del Este y aún permanece ingresado allí, pero en ese lugar no existen las condiciones para atender su crítico estado de salud, resultando que se le ha vuelto a reproducir la hernia epigástrica presentando un abultamiento en la parte superior del estómago. El cirujano que lo operó me dijo que ya Nelsón no admitia una tercera intervención quirúrgica.
Tras la segunda operación, la Comisión Medica determinó que Nelsón no estaba apto para el régimen penitenciario. La policía política que controla el caso de Nelsón ha hecho caso omiso de ese dictamen y ha secuestrado su Historia Clinica.
Mantener a Nelsón Aguiar Ramírez en prisión es matarlo lentamente, un poco cada día, ya no hay salvación para él.
Es por todo esto que acudo a ustedes para que me ayuden a salvar la vida de mi esposo, pidiéndole al Gobierno Cubano que otorgue a Nelsón la licencia extrapenal que comtempla el artículo 31-3-B del código penal vigente (esto lo pedí por escrito al Ministro del Interior, Abelardo Colomé Ibarra, el pasado día 9 de febrero del año 2007, de lo que no he recibido ninguna respuesta).
Esperando de ustedes la máxima atención a esta solicitud humanitaria,
quedo respetuosamente,
Dolia Leal
Dama de Blanco
Premio Sajarov año 2005 del Parlamento Europeo.
Mi dirección es: Calle 28 No 157 apto 15 entre 17 y 19 Vedado, Municipio Plaza de la Revolución, Ciudad de La Habana, Cuba.
Transcrito por Carlos Oyarce, defensor de los derechos humanos.http://www.opositorcubano.blogspot.com/
Monday, March 10, 2008
NIEGAN CULTO Y ASISTENCIA MEDICA A REO POLITICO / WORSHIP AND MEDICAL ASSISTANCE DENIED TO POLITICAL PRISONER
(NOTE: The English versions follows the report in Spanish.)
Por Juan Carlos Fonseca Fonseca
25 de enero de 2008
La Habana – www.PayoLibre.com – El prisionero político Alexander Aguilar Sosa, denunció vía telefónica el pasado 22 de enero, que las autoridades de la prisión de Agüica, en Matanzas, no le permiten reunirse con otros reos para orar a Dios y leer la Biblia.
Dijo el reo, que el jefe de Orden Interior llamado “Aramis”, le destruyó el pequeño culto que celebraba regularmente en compañía de otros presos.
Por otra parte, la fuente agregó que Aramis le impide hacerse el tratamiento médico recetado por los especialistas para una fístula en el recto que de no ser atendida cuidadosamente requerirá intervención quirúrgica.
Aramis también acosa a los prisioneros políticos Efraín Roberto Rivas y Pedro de la Caridad Álvarez Pedroso, concluyó Aguilar Sosa.
Alexander Aguilar Sosa fue condenado a 6 años de cárcel por desacato a la figura del comandante y atentado contra la Policía Nacional Revolucionaria; permanece en prisión desde el 30 de abril de 2004. Reside en Roque, Perico, Matanzas, Cuba.
Centro de información del Consejo de Relatores de derechos Humanos de Cuba.
_________________________________________________________
WORSHIP AND MEDICAL ASSISTANCE DENIED TO POLITICAL PRISONER
Juan Carlos Fonseca Fonseca
January 25, 2008
Havana, Cuba – www.PayoLibre.com
Political prisoner, Alexander Aguilar Sosa, reported via telephone on January 22, 2008, that prison authorities of Agüica Prison in Matanzas do not allow him to meet with other prisoners to pray to God or read the Bible.
The prisoner said that the Chief of Interior Order, a man named “Aramis”, broke up the small worship service that he was celebrating on a regular basis with other prisoners.
In addition, the source added that Aramis stops him from giving himself medical treatment prescribed by specialists for a fistula in his rectum that if not looked after carefully will require surgical intervention.
Aramis also harasses political prisoners Efraín Roberto Rivas and Pedro de la Caridad Alvarez, Aguilar Sosa concluded.
Alexander Aguilar Sosa was condemned to 6 year in prison for disrespect for the comandante and an attempt agains the National Revolutionary Police. He has been in prison since April 30, 2004. He resides in Roque, Perico, Matanzas Cuba.
Source: http://www.payolibre.com/noticias/noticias2.php?id=2626
__________________________________________________________
Translation into English: The Coalition of Cuban-American Women /
Tanya S. Wilder / E-mail: tswilder@suddenlink.net
Por Juan Carlos Fonseca Fonseca
25 de enero de 2008
La Habana – www.PayoLibre.com – El prisionero político Alexander Aguilar Sosa, denunció vía telefónica el pasado 22 de enero, que las autoridades de la prisión de Agüica, en Matanzas, no le permiten reunirse con otros reos para orar a Dios y leer la Biblia.
Dijo el reo, que el jefe de Orden Interior llamado “Aramis”, le destruyó el pequeño culto que celebraba regularmente en compañía de otros presos.
Por otra parte, la fuente agregó que Aramis le impide hacerse el tratamiento médico recetado por los especialistas para una fístula en el recto que de no ser atendida cuidadosamente requerirá intervención quirúrgica.
Aramis también acosa a los prisioneros políticos Efraín Roberto Rivas y Pedro de la Caridad Álvarez Pedroso, concluyó Aguilar Sosa.
Alexander Aguilar Sosa fue condenado a 6 años de cárcel por desacato a la figura del comandante y atentado contra la Policía Nacional Revolucionaria; permanece en prisión desde el 30 de abril de 2004. Reside en Roque, Perico, Matanzas, Cuba.
Centro de información del Consejo de Relatores de derechos Humanos de Cuba.
_________________________________________________________
WORSHIP AND MEDICAL ASSISTANCE DENIED TO POLITICAL PRISONER
Juan Carlos Fonseca Fonseca
January 25, 2008
Havana, Cuba – www.PayoLibre.com
Political prisoner, Alexander Aguilar Sosa, reported via telephone on January 22, 2008, that prison authorities of Agüica Prison in Matanzas do not allow him to meet with other prisoners to pray to God or read the Bible.
The prisoner said that the Chief of Interior Order, a man named “Aramis”, broke up the small worship service that he was celebrating on a regular basis with other prisoners.
In addition, the source added that Aramis stops him from giving himself medical treatment prescribed by specialists for a fistula in his rectum that if not looked after carefully will require surgical intervention.
Aramis also harasses political prisoners Efraín Roberto Rivas and Pedro de la Caridad Alvarez, Aguilar Sosa concluded.
Alexander Aguilar Sosa was condemned to 6 year in prison for disrespect for the comandante and an attempt agains the National Revolutionary Police. He has been in prison since April 30, 2004. He resides in Roque, Perico, Matanzas Cuba.
Source: http://www.payolibre.com/noticias/noticias2.php?id=2626
__________________________________________________________
Translation into English: The Coalition of Cuban-American Women /
Tanya S. Wilder / E-mail: tswilder@suddenlink.net
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