Spotlight on Cuba: Crackdown on Dissidents

Chronology of Events

March 31, 2004: Cuba opened the doors of two penitentiaries to international journalists, hoping to rebut criticism about prison conditions in the weeks before the UN human rights body votes on the island's rights record. The visit by international media, limited to the hospital wards of Havana's Combinado del Este for men and the Manto Negro Western Women's Prison, was the first such group media visit to Cuban prisons in more than 15 years, authorities said. Military doctors and nurses led reporters, photographers and cameramen through operating rooms, an intensive care ward, and recovery rooms linked by hallways reeking of disinfectant and fresh paint. Journalists were invited to join the tour, originally organized for a national congress on prison medicine. In recent days, relatives of imprisoned opposition activists said Roberto de Miranda and Orlando Fundora - two of the peaceful dissidents convicted last April in Havana's worst crackdown in years - had been admitted to that hospital, along with Leonardo Bruzon, who was jailed in December 2002 and has been on a hunger strike demanding a trial. However, the press did not see any of these men at the hospital. Hospital chief Avelino Gonzalez said De Miranda and Bruzon had been transferred, although he did not specify where or when, while Fundora, he said, left the hospital on a conjugal visit. Reporters did not have access to any jailed dissidents or to inmates outside the medical centers. (Sun Sentinel, AP, BBC, Canadian Press, EFE, 1/4/04)

March 31, 2004: At the closing session of the first Cuban National Penitentiary Medicine Congress taking place in Havana, it was emphasized that without regard to ideology or social conduct, all prisoners have equal access to all health services of the country. According to this principle, the island's emphasis on preventive health extends to its prisons, Assistant Health Minister Gonzalo Estevez averred. (Prensa Latina, 31/3/04)

March 31, 2004: Maria de los Angeles Falcon Cabello, niece of Martha Beatriz, informed that when she arrived at Carlos J. Finlay Hospital for her weekly visit to her aunt, she was informed by the officer in charge that Martha Beatriz refuses to receive any visits or food. Falcón Cabello does not know what this prisoner of conscience's situation is, or what she is going through at the present time. (Puente Informativo, 31/3/04)

March 31, 2004: Cuban journalist Raúl Rivero and Moroccan Alí Lmrabet were granted the 13th ''Agustín Merello'' Award for the defense of freedom of expression in their countries. In a statement released to the press, the Press Association of Cádiz, Spain, explains that the jury based its decision on Rivero and Lmrabet efforts to exercise free journalism with "dignity and great sacrifice". (EFE, 1/4/04)

March 30, 2004: In a letter sent to Fidel Castro, over 107 civil society organizations from around the world requested the liberation of political prisoners in Cuba. Gathered at the CIVICUS World Assembly in Gaborone, Botswana, the signing organizations include 67 NGOs from Africa, and the rest from Latin America and Europe. (AFP, 30/3/04)

March 30, 2004: Prominent Cuban dissident Oswaldo Paya is urging the UN Human Rights Commission to condemn the Cuban government, arguing that not to do so "would be condemning the Cuban people," according to a letter released to media. To keep silent or justify on this commission the lack of and the violation of many rights in my country (...) indeed would be condemning the Cuban people," Paya said in a letter read before the full commission by Cuban dissident Francisco de Armas. "The 75 prisoners of the Spring of Cuba, all peaceful citizens, were condemned to prison terms ranging between 6 and 28 years, in summary trials and later locked in cells of 1,80 by 3 meters, with a dietary regime as that of a concentration camp. One of them, José Daniel Ferrer, is presently locked in a punishment cell the size of a "cage". You know what cruel and degrading treatment is like, and that is the treatment that political and common prisoners are subjected to in Cuba", the letter says. (AFP, 30/3/04)

March 30, 2004: Political prisoner Nelson Aguiar Ramírez, confined in the prison Combinado de Guantánamo, is presently hospitalized at the Guantánamo provincial hospital due to high blood pressure and chest pains. State Security officials have him in isolation, incommunicado. He is not allowed to receive telephone calls or any foods whatsoever. "They say he is in the hospital for a checkup but no tests results have been provided to him or his family", said Ada Kaly Márquez Abascal, coordinator in functions of the Democratic Party November 30 "Frank País". (Puente Informativo, 30/3/04)

March 30, 2004: The First Cuban Congress on Prison Medical Care began in Havana amidst national and international debate on prison conditions on the island. According to Lt. Col Terencio Batista, Cuba guarantees its prison population standards of free medical care equal to the rest of the population, as well as the possibility to upgrade their educational and cultural levels. The Cuban officer also informed a roundtable of 250 delegates that at present there is a doctor for every 200 prisoners, a dentist for every 900, and a nurse for every 100. The organizing committee member for the event also informed that all prisoners are routinely given a thorough medical and dental examination upon entry, and then receive immediate and appropriate treatment. Lt. Col. Doctor Rosa Campoalegre spoke on the success of the educational program functioning in all penal institutions on the island, providing prisoners the opportunity for culture and learning, which has not only proven itself in their increased self-esteem and better behavior, but has created a more secure climate and better functioning of the prisons themselves. This congress is part of the complete spiritual renovation of Cuban prisons, a qualitative transformation of the concept of penal regime, now in progress for prisoners in Cuba while they fulfill their debt to society. (Prensa Latina, 30/3/04)

March 29, 2004: Defenders of human rights in Cuba exhibited for the first time the documentary "The spring of Cuba" in the Palace of Nations where the UN Human Rights Commission is presently in session. Presenting the exhibition was the producer of the documentary Carlos González, member of the Czech ONG People in Need, as well as Jannet Rivero De Toro and John Suárez, activists of the Cuban Democratic Directorate and representatives before the Commission for the International Liberal and the Christian Democrat International, respectively. (Puente Informativo, 29/3/04)

March 27, 2004: Around a dozen members of the support committee of journalist and poet Raúl Rivero handed out postcards and books, some of which are banned in Cuba, to French tourists leaving for Havana from Charles de Gaulle airport at Roissy, north of Paris. Activists handed the books to the tourists so that they can give them to Cubans in the street or to the "independent libraries" the addresses of which were listed for them. The campaign, launched by the human rights organisation Pax Christi-Hollande, was due to be replicated simultaneously in several European countries. (NetforCuba, 27/3/04)

March 27, 2004: A group of Cuban exiles demonstrated in front of the Cuban Embassy in Madrid. Demonstrators showed banners calling for the release of the 75 dissidents in Cuban jails. (Europa Press, 27/3/04)

March 29, 2004: Relatives of jailed dissident Oscar Espinosa Chepe who is serving a 20 year sentence urged Cuban authorities to allow the International Red Cross to visit him to verify his health. Miriam Leiva, the 63-year-old economist's wife, refuted last week's statements to the contrary by Cuban foreign minister Felipe Perez Roque, calling for her husband's release on poor health grounds. The dissident's wife has maintained Espinosa Chepe suffers from cirrhosis of the liver, prostate adenoma, as well as hypertension, and is too sick to stay in jail. Leiva called for Amnesty International, which considers Espinosa Chepe a "prisoner of conscience", and Human Rights Watch as well as the Red Cross to personally verify her husband's state of health and his prison conditions. (AFP, 29/3/04)

March 26, 2004: In telephone interviews from Havana, the wives of two of the jailed dissidents since March 2003, told the press that they felt manipulated by the Cuban television interviews. ''The problem is that nobody had a chance to prepare,'' said Margarita Borges, whose husband, Edel José García, 58, was sentenced to 15 years. "I was so nervous that I couldn't think.'' The two women said the interviews lasted about 30 minutes and focused on the medical treatment that their husbands have received, they said. ''I felt depressed and cried a lot after the interview when I figured out what they could do,'' said Dulce María Amador, whose husband Carmelo Díaz is serving a 16-year sentence. "I said the truth. I didn't lie, and if they manipulate it then that's a different story.'' Amador, 42, said she became suspicious when the reporter only wanted to know about her husband's health and their prison wedding, while ignoring her pleas for her husband's freedom. The Cuban TV interviewer ''had specific questions and knew everything about our situation,'' Amador said. According to both women, the reporter also asked about their husbands' personal hygiene, eating schedule, reading materials, visitation rights, and any type of torture or mistreatment. (The Miami Herald, 26/3/04)

March 26, 2004: Cuban dissidents have appealed to the regime to allow international inspectors into prisons holding democracy advocates and independent journalists amid continuing reports of degrading and insalubrious conditions. The conditions under which 75 dissidents imprisoned a year ago are being held have become an issue in Cuba as the UN Commission on Human Rights debates the issue in Geneva. According to Oswaldo Paya, leader of the Liberation Christian Movement, the government is trying to cover up a "very serious" situation with a view to the upcoming vote in Geneva. "Why don't they release the sick? Why don't they let the International Red Cross into the prisons? Why don't they hold new trials in Cuba?" Paya asked. Elizardo Sanchez, who heads the outlawed Human Rights Commission, said the only way to establish the truth about the situation of the "prisoners of conscience" is to allow the International Red Cross, UN inspectors and even the international press to enter the prisons. Vladimiro Roca of the "Todos Unidos" movement called the government's attitude "choreography, theater," designed to confront "a difficult situation in Geneva." According to Blanca Reyes, wife of author and journalist Raul Rivero - sentenced to 20 years in prison - the dissidents' wives were "manipulated." Reyes was one of the relatives who refused to be interviewed by Cuban reporters. (EFE, 26/3/04)

March 26, 2004: Adolfo Fernández Saínz, 56, a translator, journalist and democracy advocate in Cuba, is in a cell in Holguín prison, nearly 500 miles from his family, which is permitted a two-hour visit every three months. Mr. Fernández Saínz shares his cell with 47 common prisoners, one of whom beat him into unconsciousness in December. Mr. Fernández Saínz, who is serving a 15-year sentence, is one of 75 journalists, economists, librarians, human rights workers and doctors arrested in Cuba last March and later convicted. (The New York Times, 26/3/04)

March 25, 2004: Cuba protested what it called a "biased report" submitted by a representative of the UN Human Rights Commissioner to the HRC in Geneva. Ivan Mora, the Cuban ambassador to Geneva-based UN organizations, responded to the report's accusations but was repeatedly interrupted by committee chair, Mike Smith of Australia. Cuba had previously objected to Chanet's report, calling it an instrument of the unrelenting US aggression against the island, filled with misinformation and fabrications issuing from the White House and from Miami, where militant anti- Cuban groups were said to operate with the blessing of their host government. (Radio Habana Cuba, 25/3/04)

March 24, 2004: In letters written from the province of Camaguey's prison Kilo 7, prisoners of conscience Juan Carlos Herrera Acosta and Léster González Pentón informed that to commemorate the first anniversary of their unjust imprisonment, and to show solidarity with their fellow men in prison, a 5-day hunger strike was conducted. At the end of the strike, Herrera Acosta cut his legs repeatedly with a blade to protest against harassment by prison authorities. (NetforCuba, 28/3/04)

March 24, 2004: Cuba is protesting UNESCO's decision to award jailed independent reporter Raul Rivero its World Press Freedom Prize, saying the action is an echo of US policies intended to isolate the island and promote dissidents. "It is deplorable and embarrassing that the Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Award has been used for ends separate from UNESCO's fundamental ideals, objectives and principles," read a communique posted on Cuba's Foreign Ministry web site. "Giving the award to this Cuban citizen who is serving a prison sentence for activities related to subversion of the constitutional and legal order of the Cuban system -- acting as a mercenary at the service of a foreign power -- threatens the legitimacy of the Press Freedom Award," the communique said. Last year, UNESCO granted Cuba an award for its work in literacy campaigns, and Michael Olomewa, president of the 32nd UNESCO'General Conference visited the island. (AP, La Jornada, 24/3/04)

March 24, 2004: Penitentiary system in Cuba was the topic of the official daily TV Program "Round Table" (Mesa Redonda). Colonel Rafael Guzmán, second in command of the Penitentiary Department of the Ministry of Interior, underlined that their main goal is to achieve full respect for human dignity of all prisoners. The TV program showed how education, culture, and sports have become main tools to work with inmates. Colonel Guzmán assured that the right to proper medical attention, regular family and marital visits, as well as good diet and hygienic conditions have been respected in all penitentiary facilities. (Granma, 24/3/04)

March 23, 2004: Orlando Tamayo Zapata, one of the 75 prisoners of conscience arrested on the last wave of repression that began on March 2003, began a hunger strike in solidarity with a common prisoner who is not receiving the medical attention he needs. The common prisoner, named Luis Moreira Ávila, began a hunger strike fifteen days before and is presently in critical conditions. Prison authorities ignore his plea. Moreira Tamayo Zapata's strike is indefinite. (Puente Informativo, 30/3/04)

March 22, 2004: The White House's top adviser on Latin American affairs said that the countries of the region need to acknowledge the "total absence of freedom" in Cuba, urging his hosts to vote to condemn the island nation in the UN Human Rights Commission. "Unfortunately, it's been 40 years now that ( Cuba) hasn't had any press freedoms in the least. It's important that Latin American nations recognize the total absence of freedoms in that country," Otto Reich, a special envoy of President George W. Bush, said at a press conference. The Cuban-born Reich met with Paraguay's foreign minister, Leila Rachid, to discuss the human rights situation on the communist island. (EFE, 22/3/04)

March 18, 2004: One year after Cuba rounded up 75 activists in a crackdown on dissent, wives and relatives of the prisoners fasted for 12 hours to demand their immediate release. "We make another call for the release of the 75 innocent prisoners, just as we have made various calls in the past," said Gisela Delgado, wife of jailed opposition party leader Hector Palacios. "The government has been increasingly intransigent, but we will keep on fighting," said Delgado, who wore a white T-shirt printed with a color photograph of her husband. Palacios, who recently underwent a gall bladder operation, is one of more than a dozen of the prisoners currently hospitalized in custody for serious ailments. Sitting under a red, white and blue Cuban flag tacked to the wall of her living room, Delgado spent the day in a protest fast with other prisoners' wives. At another gathering, Yolanda Vazquez, wife of imprisoned journalist Manuel Vazquez, called the wives' protest "a triumph." "I thank all the world for their solidarity with the 75 prisoners," said Blanca Reyes, wife of jailed journalist and poet Raúl Rivero. (AP, 18/3/04)

March 18, 2004: The Cuban exile community joined an international effort to mark the first anniversary of Havana's harshest opposition crackdown in years, during which 75 peaceful dissidents were sentenced to prison terms of up to 28 years. Writers, artists, journalists, students, clergymen and human rights activists were among those demanding the immediate release of the dissidents at a ceremony held in tandem with other similar gatherings in cities across the United States, Europe and Latin America. Each participant placed the photograph of one of the 75 prisoners on a mural located in front of the Friendship Torch in downtown Miami. Next to the mural, organizers built a replica of a jail cell 3 meters (9 feet) by 2 meters (6 feet) with some of the items that were confiscated from the dissidents by Cuban authorities: typewriters, computers, radios, paper, pencils and plastic chairs. (EFE, 18/3/04)

March 18, 2004: The Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) demanded the "immediate release" of the independent journalists jailed in Cuba, following an act in commemoration of the first anniversary of the repressive crackdown in Cuba that culminated with harsh prison sentences for 75 political opponents and independent journalists. (Europa Press, 18/3/04)

March 18, 2004: Proclaiming "Europe says no to repression in Cuba," Reporters Without Borders held a news conference at the European Parliament in Brussels to mark the first anniversary of the start a wave of arrests in Cuba on 18 March 2003, which ended with a total of 75 dissidents, including 27 journalists, being sentenced to long prison terms. Leading personalities and witnesses of the crackdown came to voice their views on the situation in Cuba. Spanish film-maker Fernando Arrabal was among those at the event, which was sponsored by Polish former dissident and former foreign minister Bronislaw Geremek and French writer and philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy. The organisation's secretary-general, Robert Ménard, urged European parliamentarians to sign a "Brussels Declaration" in which they undertake to constantly petition the Cuban government for the release of the 75 dissidents and to call on the "European Commission and Council to pursue policies consistent with this goal." The declaration's first signatories included Daniel Cohn-Bendit of France (president of the Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance); Emma Bonino of Italy (radical group of Non-Attached); Pervenche Berés of France (vice-president of the Group of the Party of European Socialists); Graham Watson of Scotland (president of the Group of the European Liberal, Democrat and Reform Party - ELDR); José Ribeiro e Castro of Portugal (Union for Europe of the Nations Group); Gérard Deprez of Belgium (European People's Party) and Jules Maaten of Netherlands (ELDR). (Reporters Without Borders Press Release, 18/3/04)

March 18, 2004: 75 people -- teachers, priests, students, librarians, historians, entrepreneurs, artists and activists -- each representing one of the 75 Cuban dissidents and opposition leaders arrested beginning a year ago, will demonstrate in Miami. They will stand along Biscayne Boulevard, each with an 8-by-10 photograph of an independent teacher, writer, doctor, lawyer, librarian or human rights activist who was summarily tried and sentenced to long terms for ''crimes against the state.'' The photographs will be attached to a 12-foot board, creating a mural that may later be put on display. Nearby, a makeshift cell will hold a typewriter and tape recorder, papers and pencils, books and blackboards -- things confiscated from raids on the dissidents' homes and used as ''evidence'' in their trials. ''There will also be a Cuban flag inside the cell. The entire nation is in prison,'' said Marilú del Toro, a spokeswoman for the Cuban Democratic Directorate, a nonprofit organization that supports island dissidents and organized the noontime demonstration in Miami. (The Miami Herald, 18/3/04)

March 18, 2004: The wives of 15 Cuban political prisoners jailed in last year's crackdown on dissent held a rare public march in Havana's streets demanding amnesty for their husbands. The women - dressed all in white, with many pinning their husbands' photographs to their chests - started their march at the well-known Coppelia ice cream restaurant in the city center. "Freedom for the 75 political prisoners!" the women shouted as they marched up to Department of Prisons headquarters seven blocks away. There, they submitted a letter to the department's director, General Rafael Calderín Tamayo, demanding freedom for their husbands and improved prison conditions. Authorities did not interfere with the march, which lasted about 2 1/2 hours. Several men who appeared to be plainclothes police officers were seen along the way, watching the protest from a distance. A green Peugeot sedan slowly followed the group while someone inside videotaped the procession. The wives also took a bus to the Miramar neighborhood, where they marched more than 30 blocks down the main Quinta Avenida thoroughfare to National Assembly headquarters. The women delivered a letter addressed to parliament President Ricardo Alarcon seeking amnesty for the prisoners. (EFE, AP, 19/3/04)

March 18, 2004: US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, requested solidarity with "the courageous men and women in Cuba who champion democracy's cause". In an official statement, Powell referred to last years's imprisonment of 75 dissidents in Cuba. (Radio TV Marti, 18/3/04)

March 18, 2004: A year after Fidel Castro launched a massive roundup of dissidents in Cuba, his pro-democracy opponents are divided and in disarray, but not defeated. "In spite of continued repression, the government has not achieved its main objective of eliminating the opposition," said Social Democrat Vladimiro Roca. "We were very battered, but we are recovering from this blow," said Roca. Oswaldo Paya, who started the Varela Project, a grass-roots effort backed by 11,000 signatures urging a national referendum on basic rights, including the right to open a business, said his nationwide campaign continues. "The government is afraid that Cubans have begun to lose their fear," Paya said in an interview. "It bragged about penetrating the dissidents and presented its spies. But this was a moral defeat for the regime, which is using repression and propaganda to stop Cubans learning about a peaceful road to change that Cuba badly needs," he said. With 50 Varela Project activists locked away, Paya said he has slowly rebuilt civic groups across Cuba and in September presented 14,384 more signatures to the National Assembly. (Reuters, 18/3/04)

March 18, 2004: During a press conference in Argentina, former Czech president Vaclav Havel expressed his solidarity with the victims of repression in Cuba. In a video film distributed in Buenos Aires, Havel says that the political situation in Cuba is of the most importance to him, and that he wants to take further steps in the promotion of freedom in the island. (Radio Martí, 18/3/04)

March 18, 2004: The first anniversary of Cuba's crackdown on a group of dissidents was marked by prayer and sadness along with defiant calls from family members for the release of the 75 people imprisoned. "We are in mourning because it's been one year since the wave of repression," said Laura Pollán, wife of imprisoned dissident Hector Maseda. "But we are united in demanding the freedom for the 75. They are imprisoned unjustly." The family members of more than a dozen of the prisoners gathered in Pollán's cramped home to pray, provide support and speak with reporters. They dressed in white, and many wore T-shirts emblazoned with faces of the jailed dissidents. (The Chicago Tribune, 18/3/04)

March 18, 2004: The Cuban Ambassador to Holland, Elio Rodríguez Perdomo, refused to accept a letter signed by seven organizations demanding the release of the 75 dissidents incarcerated a year ago and of all prisoners of conscience in the island. The letter, addressed to the Cuban authorities, was signed by Amnesty International, CLAT, CNV, Cuba Futuro (Future Cuba), Glasnot en Cuba (Glasnost in Cuba), the Dutch Association of Journalists (NVJ), and Pax Christi Netherlands. (El Mundo, 19/3/04)

March 17, 2004: Wives of Cuban dissidents jailed a year ago for opposing Fidel Castro said their husbands were withering away under harsh prison conditions and demanded their release. "My husband is dying slowly," said Cruz Delia Aguilar, whose husband Julio Antonio Valdes, who needs a kidney transplant. "I ask for his release into the hands of the International Red Cross." To honor the imprisoned dissidents, their wives and mothers will take part in a 12-hour fast accompanied by a prayer chain, Gisela Delgado, wife of the jailed Hector Palacios, told the press. The largest gathering will be held at Delgado's home in Havana, but she said similar events were planned in other cities throughout the country. Most of the dissidents "are languishing in subhuman conditions that are a violation of the U.N.'s regulations concerning the treatment of prisoners," according to Elizardo Sanchez, who heads the outlawed Cuban Human Rights Commission. "At least a dozen are in their 60s, and some were suffering from serious illnesses when they were arrested," he said. A year later, their health "has deteriorated as a consequence of all this time suffering in solitary confinement and isolated punishment areas in some 10 high-security facilities generally hundreds of kilometers from their homes." "Nobody has access to really potable water. The food they are given is practically inedible and sanitary conditions are awful. Medical care is very poor and they are subjected to veritable plagues of insects and rats," Sánchez added. According to Sanchez's group, at least 13 of the dissidents are hospitalized and another 10 are in no condition to be in prison. (Reuters, EFE, 18/3/04)

March 17, 2004: Oswaldo Paya, Cuba's most internationally celebrated opposition figure, yesterday proclaimed "Cuban Spring" in a letter released to mark the anniversary of a government crackdown on dissidents. In homage to the 1968 Prague Spring, in which Czech dissidents and artists protested against communism before a brutal Soviet crackdown, Mr. Paya said the suffering of Cuban dissidents had focused the world's attention on Fidel Castro's regime. "They are in cages, without space, even though they fought for the freedom of all," he said of 75 dissidents who have been jailed since their arrest last year, most for their participation in a petition campaign demanding basic human rights. (The Washington Times, 17/3/04)

March 17, 2004: Cuba defied the United Nations' top human rights body by rejecting a UN expert's criticism of abuse in the country and barring her from the country. "She has ended up acting as an instrument at the service of the US government," Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque told the annual meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Commission. Perez del Roque said Cuba "does not accept" a request that Chanet visit the country, even though the demand is regarded by human rights groups as a soft option. Cuba also railed against any nation that disapproves of Havana's practices, saying if it does so it must be a pawn of Washington. Perez Roque wondered if this year Costa Rica would be "the new pawn at the service of the imperial master," presenting the customary resolution against Cuba at the commission's annual meeting. In the same vein, Perez Roque predicted that the US government will again seek "to fabricate condemnation against Cuba (...) to justify its criminal embargo and its plans for military aggression." (AP, EFE, 17/3/04)

March 17, 2004: Washington has barred 300 Cubans involved in last year's crackdown against dissidents from the United States, State Department officials said, but the move was dismissed by critics as an empty election-year gesture. State Department officials told the press the policy targeted judges, prosecutors, witnesses and police who participated in a three-week roundup of scores of dissidents that began March 18, 2003. "None of these 300 people are ever coming to the United States, period," said a State Department official, who asked not to be named. "It shows those who participate in the abuse of human rights should know the United States will remember it for a long time." (Reuters, 18/3/04)

March 16, 2004: A new report by Amnesty International reveals the current state of 75 prisoners of conscience arrested during the March 2003 crackdown when scores of dissidents were detained in a series of targeted sweeps. Some were subsequently released, but many were subjected to hasty and manifestly unfair trials and sentenced to long prison terms. "After a detailed review of the legal cases against them, it is clear that they are prisoners of conscience -- detained for the peaceful expression of their beliefs. They should be released immediately and unconditionally," Amnesty International said. (Amnesty International Press Release, 16,3/04)

March 16, 2004: Over 600 writers linked to the US and Latin American media requested from Fidel Castro the release of Cuban journalists imprisoned in the island since last year. The letter was released by the Committee to Protect Journalists to the Cuban Interest Section in Washington, and is signed by well-known Latin American journalists and writers like Tomás Eloy Martínez (Argentina), Elena Poniatowska and Carlos Monsiváis (Mexico), Sergio Ramírez (Nicaragua) and Fernando Vallejo (Colombia). Also US writers Carl Berstein, Ed Bradley, Anthony Lewis, Clarence Page, David Remnick, Gwen Ifill and Michael Massing signed the letter. (El Nuevo Herald, 17/3/04)

March 16, 2004: Senate chairman Petr Pithart said that still 15 years ago there were political prisoners in the Czech Republic and that is why he volunteered to spend one hour in a symbolic prison cell in protest against the imprisonment of 75 Cuban political prisoners today. "Only 15 years ago there were political prisoners in this country, and it is in human nature not to forget. Our duty is to remind people of it," Pithart said. The four-day "Stop Repression in Cuba" campaign started when a mock prison cell was erected in Prague's Wenceslas Square. Seventy-five Czech political and cultural personalities will gradually spend one hour in the mock prison during the action by day and night. (CTK, 16/3/04)

March 16, 2004: During day 2 of the UN Human Rights Commission's 60th session in Geneva, Sweden's Foreign Minister, Laila Freivalds, expressed harsh criticism of the Cuban government. Freivalds reminded that, nearly a year ago, "in open violation of minimum UN standards for the application of the death penalty," Havana executed three men who hijacked a passenger boat in an attempt to flee the island. (Encuentro en la Red, 16/3/04)

March 14, 2004: The humiliation of independent journalists imprisoned or threatened by Fidel Castro's regime, was among the topics debated during a plenary meeting of the Inter-American Press Association (IAPA), currently in progress. Humberto Castelló submitted the report on the Cuban situation, on behalf of journalist Raúl Rivero, an IAPA regional vice-president, who is presently serving a 20-year jail sentence for contesting the state's media monopoly. (El Nuevo Herald, 15/3/04)

March 12, 2004: The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) expressed its concern about the deterioration of the rule of law in some countries of the region, including Cuba. At the end of the Commission's 119th regular session, José Zalaquett, president of the IACHR referred specifically to the situation in five countries: Bolivia, Colombia, Cuba, Haiti and Venezuela: "The grave human rights situation in Cuba has not changed, according to information received by the IACHR, due to the general violation of public liberties, particularly the right to freedom of expression, and due to the systematic repression of dissidents and independent journalists. The Commission will continue to study the general human rights situation in that country, not only in its general reports, but also as it considers individual cases and petitions, and issues precautionary measures", Zalaquett said. (IACHR Press Release, 12/3/04)

March 12, 2004: Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque said that the Cuban government is willing to resume its dialogue and ties with the European Union on condition that they stop inviting "mercenaries" --referring to local dissidents -- to their embassies in Havana. (El Nuevo Herald, 12/3/04)

March 11, 2004: USAID administrator Andrew Natsios declared that his country would continue financing oppositionist groups within the island. In a conference at the University of Miami, the Agency for International Development official admitted that the agency has already paid $28 million for projects in Cuba, with $7 million earmarked for 2004 "to help unify humanitarian, civic and religious groups with a government-in-transition that respond to the interests of the United States." The government of the United States, he said, is ready to give whatever assistance is necessary. (Prensa Latina, 11/3/04)

March 11, 2004: Cuba is the world's second leading jailer of journalists, after China, says an independent advocacy group called the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). The New York-based CPJ said in a new report that the regime of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro took advantage of the fact that international attention in 2003 was focused on the war in Iraq to launch a "massive attack" against Cuban independent media and political dissidents. The crackdown marked the "culmination of years of repression and intimidation" against journalists, the CPJ said, noting that 29 Cuban journalists were arrested, convicted, and sentenced to prison terms ranging from 14 to 27 years. (USInfo, 11/3/04)

March 10, 2004: "Those who fight for liberty know that the American people and America's leaders are their allies," said Assistant Secretary of State for Democacy, Human Rights and Labor Lorne Craner in a testimony to the House of Representatives International Relations Committee. There is still much work to be done, however, in the area of human rights, according to Craner. "Backsliding" on key human rights issues in China, repression in Korea, and abuses in Cuba are just a few examples of ongoing human rights problems described in the country reports, he said. (US State Department Press Release, 10/3/04)

March 10, 2004: The mother of a dissident who has been jailed for two years without charges said her son was critically ill and called on Cuban authorities to put him on trial. "He is a skeleton of his former self and has lost a lot of weight. He was vomiting blood from an ulcer when I saw him. If he dies the government will be responsible," said Alcira Avila, mother of Leonardo Bruzon. Bruzon, a 48-year-old former restaurant worker, went on hunger strike on January 27 to demand a trial, she said. (Reuters, 10/3/04)

March 9, 2004: Two groups of Cuban dissidents announced that they were starting a campaign to gather petitions for a moratorium on the death penalty on the communist-ruled island. Leonardo Calvo, coordinator of the Dialogue for Rights Coalition, told a news conference that the campaign will include a "national debate" and an anonymous survey in which citizens can explain their reasons for opposing capital punishment in Cuba. Beside the Coalition, the other organization pressing the issue is the Reflection Table of the Moderate Opposition. The campaign aims to start a national debate on human rights on the island to coincide with the upcoming meeting of the UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva. The signed petitions will be presented to the legislature, said the coalition coordinator, who did not disclose the number of petitions the dissident group hoped to collect nor when the campaign will end. (EFE, 9/3/04)

March 9, 2004: Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas, promoter of the Varela Project, denounced the serious situation of four political prisoners presently on a hunger strike protesting the abuses being perpetrated against Iván Hernández Carrillo, public relations secretary of the "Pedro Luis Boitel" Democracy Party, director of the Varela Project, and now a political prisoner. Alberto Domínguez --member of the Christian Liberation Movement, confined in the same prison as Hernández Carrillo--, and three other political prisoners have been on a hunger strike for more than 10 days, demanding to stop abuses against Hernández Carrillo. "Therefore I call all those who sympathize with democracy and respect for human rights to pray and express their solidarity with these Cuban prisoners, to demand that our brothers be treated with dignity and their immediate release," stated Payá Sardiñas. (Puente Informativo, 13/3/04)

March 8, 2004: Relatives and political activists launched an urgent request to the Red Cross and the international community to save Julio Antonio Valdés Guevara. Valdés Guevara, 52, who has been in jail since last year's crackdown against dissidents, was sent to a hospital due to severe kidney problems. He has been considered the most critical case among political prisoners with serious health conditions in Cuba. (El Nuevo Herald, 9/3/04)

March 7, 2004 : France's ambassador in Cuba has been given instructions to press the Cuban authorities for a "prompt improvement in prison conditions" for jailed dissidents, French Foreign Affairs Minister Dominique Villepin said. Mr Villepin confirmed this in a letter to Yves Bur, deputy for the UMP party in Bas-Rhin, who had called on the minister for support for two dissidents whom he is sponsoring. Officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the Quai d'Orsay, said that moves in support of the dissidents have been made much more problematic by a freeze in diplomatic relations between the European Union and Cuba. (AFP, 7/3/04)

March 2, 2004: While a number of positive developments are occurring in the Western Hemisphere, the region also faces many challenges in such countries as Haiti, Colombia, Venezuela, and Cuba, says Roger Noriega, the State Department's assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs. In a testimony before the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Noriega offered an analysis of the most important events affecting the nations of the hemisphere. For communist Cuba, Noriega said US policy is to encourage a rapid, peaceful transition to democracy characterized by strong support for human rights and an open-market economy. The United States will support Cuba's "embattled civil society and increase our efforts to break the information blockade" imposed on the island by the regime of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, said Noriega. In addition, he said the United States will provide a "voice to Cuba's independent journalists and human rights activists." (AP, 3/3/04)

March 3, 2004: "Corriente Agramontina", a dissident illegal organization that unites Cuban lawyers, denounced the harassment against one of its members by prison authorities. Juan Carlos González Leyva, a blind political prisoner that has been maintained in jail for two years without having been sentenced, has been persistently harassed in spite of his physical situation. (AFP, 3/3/04)

March 2, 2004: The November 30 Democratic Party "Frank País" called on all relatives of political prisoners and the opposition in general to permanently fast with Gregoria Corrales Borges, 61 years old and mother of political prisoner Luis Campos Corrales. Mrs Corrales is fasting in solidarity with her son who is on hunger strike. In February, Luis Campos Corrales was transferred from the Guanajay Prison to Agüica, a maximum security prison in Matanzas province. Luis Campos refused the food he was offered stating that he will continue a hunger strike until they tell him the reason of his transfer. He also refuses to wear the common prisoner's uniform. (Puente Informativo, 2/3/04)

March 1, 2004: According to relatives of Cuban dissident Oscar Espinosa Chepe, medical doctors from Havana's military hospital "Carlos J. Finlay" diagnosed him with cancer. According to Chepe's wife, Miriam Leyva, the news was transmitted to the imprisoned dissident by three physicians, after performing him various tests. (Encuentro en la Red, 1/3/04)

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