August 31, 2004: The wives of Cuban political prisoners Hector Palacios and Oscar Espinosa, hospitalized several months ago due to ill health, expressed that they are worried because of their husbands' health. Gisela Delgado made a plea in favor of her husband, 63-year old Hector Palacios, in a letter addressed to the International Red Cross and international human rights organizations. Delgado reported that Palacios, sentenced to 25 years in prison as part of the group of 75 dissidents sentenced in the spring of 2003, "is in poor health and in the coming days his situation may worsen." Miriam Leiva shared a communique in which she warns that the health of her husband, Oscar Espinosa Chepe, sentenced to 20 years in jail, "continues to decline." She also expressed her "worry" for his "progressive deterioration." Espinosa Chepe, who also belongs to the "group of 75," is in the hospital at the "Combinado del Este" jail in La Habana. (EFE, 31/9/04)
August 31, 2004: Bertha Antúnez -- the sister of political prisoner Jorge Luis Antúnez-- was taken to a hospital in Placetas, Las Villas province, after losing consciousness. Over 20 persons, among relatives and human rights activists, have joined a hunger strike that Bertha initiated on August 27, in demand of better treatment and better conditions for her brother in jail. Among the people who have joined the hunger strike are Antúnez’ relatives, Alejandro García Sardiñas and Damaris García -- Bertha’s husband and daughter --, Mirta Asela Pernet Reyes -- her mother --, Damaysi Jiménez Pernet, Iris Pérez Aguilera and Mario Pérez Aguilera -- her cousins. Also joined the hunger strike human rights activists, Taimara Agramonte Grau, José Antonio Pérez González, Francisco Becerra Vázquez, Blas Fortún Martínez, Pedro Regalado Cárdenas Silverio, Amado Ruiz Moreno, Xiomara Martín Jiménez, María Elvira Ruíz García, Guillermo Pérez Yera, Marta Beatriz Roque, Marilín Díaz Fernández and Lázaro González Arana. The Directorio Democrático Cubano, based in Miami, made a call to Cuban authorities to listen to Bertha Antúnez requests for better treatment for her brother in jail. Dissident Martha Beatriz Roque who was recently released from jail, after having been sentenced in April 2003, joined the hunger strike. (Europa Press, 31/8/04)
August 30, 2004: Blanca Reyes, the wife of Cuban imprisoned dissident and writer Raúl Rivero, sent an “open letter” to intellectuals throughout the world denouncing Rivero’s worsening of conditions in jail. According to Reyes, Rivero is suffering from constant “psychological tortures and humiliations by the prison guards of a facility in Ciego de Avila -460 kilometers away from Havana-where the writer has being held since April 2003. (ABC, 30/8/04)
August 26, 2004: Blanca Reyes, wife of Cuban dissident and poet Raul Rivero, criticized the "harassment" of her husband in prison where he is completing a 20-year sentence. Reyes informed the press that her husband called her and explained that on August 20 he had a "verbally violent incident" involving prison security personnel. "They threatened to put him in solitary confinement for five days, but then decided to revoke his marital visiting privileges," stated Reyes. "They are tormenting Raul, even though he is smart and tries to take it very calmly, but they are trying to humiliate Raul, they are trying to break him, " she said. Rivero is being held in the Ciego de Avila prison some 450 km from Havana. According to his wife, Rivero is entitled to one visit by his spouse every five months, and the visit authorized for next September 11 has been cancelled. (EFE, 26/8/04)
August 26, 2004: A score of dissidents and wives of jailed government opponents gathered in a Havana apartment for a day of fasting to demand a pardon for all political prisoners. Most of those observing the day of fasting were the wives of the 75 dissidents sentenced in 2003 to up to 28 years in prison for allegedly conspiring with the United States, undermining the principles of the revolution and infringing on the freedom of the state. The protest was headed by Dolia Leal Francisco, whose husband, dissident Nelson Aguiar Ramirez, chairman of the outlawed Cuban Orthodox Party, is serving a 13-year prison sentence in the eastern province of Guantanamo. "We're asking for the immediate release of all Cuban political prisoners, which number more than 300, not only the 'Group of 75,' and we're also denouncing the conditions in which they are being held," Leal said. (EFE, 26/8/04)
August 26, 2004: In the town of Placetas, in the province of Villa Clara, 335 kilometers (208 miles) east of Havana, dissident Bertha Antunez has been on hunger strike since August 23 to demand that authorities transfer her brother, Jorge Luis Garcia Perez, to a jail in his native province, one of her relatives told the press. Garcia Perez was sentenced to 15 years in prison in 1993 after being found guilty of "enemy propaganda, attempted sabotage and possession of illegal arms and explosives," his brother-in-law, Alejandro Garcia, said. Several dissident groups have gone on hunger strike in the past weeks to demand that the communist regime headed by Fidel Castro release the island's political prisoners. (EFE, 26/8/04)
August 24, 2004: Reporters Without Borders is concerned by the state of health of journalist Fabio Prieto Llorente, who has been on hunger strike since 11 August to protest against his prison conditions. . "It is the third time since the beginning of the year that the journalist has been driven to take this course," said the international press freedom organisation, reiterating that it held the Cuban government responsible for his state of health. Also, the state of health of journalist and economist Oscar Espinosa Chepe, sentenced to 20 years, is giving rise to particular concern. His family says he is suffering from cirrhosis of the liver and cancer that was detected in February 2004. He can barely eat. Initially treated at the Carlos J. Finlay of Havana military hospital, he was moved on 12 August to the infirmary at Combinado del Este prison in Havana province before Hurricane Shirley hit the area. Despite promises, as of 19 August he had still not been returned to the military hospital. (RWB Press Release, 24/8/04)
August 23, 2004: Nivaldo Díaz Castellón, a Varela Project activist and member of Movimiento Cristiano Liberación (MCL) in Pinar del Río, was forced by State Security agents to get inside a police car where he was victim of harassment for two hours. After confiscating him MCL’s papers -- including a letter to the municipal delegation of the National Assembly denouncing arbitrary procedures by local police, and receiving threats by the agents, Díaz Castellón was released. (Grupo Decoro, 23/8/04)
August 23, 2004: Political prisoner Cándido Terry Carbonell was released from jail, after a two-year sentence for shouting “Down with Fidel” in front of tourists and passers by in Revolution Square, Havana. (Cubanet, 23/8/04)
August 22, 2004: María del Carmen Jerez Guevara, a 35-year-old nurse who worked for 14 years at a youth center in Manzanillo, was fired due to orders given by Cuban State Security in that locality. "She was fired because she visits and worries about the health of one of her cousins, political prisoner Julio Antonio Valdés Guevara, and also because she publicly protested when the government sentenced Julio to 20 years in prison back in April 2003”, said to reporters Cruz Delia Aguilar Mora, Valdés Guevara’s wife. According to the information provided, Abel Guevara, captain of the political police in Manzanillo, convinced the director of the youth center to fire María del Carmen. (Puente Informativo, 22/8/04)
August 19, 2004: For Manuel Vázquez, prison was hell, a place of rats and roaches, bedbugs and mosquitoes. In June, he was unexpectedly freed. Mr. Vázquez, 52, was among the 75 dissidents, writers and librarians sentenced to prison terms of up to 28 years in April 2003. But his torment isn't over. "I came out of prison completely crazy!" he yelled from his fifth-floor apartment in Alamar, east of Havana. "Tell them I'm crazy!" Back in Alamar, Mr. Vázquez is fighting, too. But it's taken a toll, his wife said. "Manuel thinks that God is speaking through him," she said. Over the last year, Ms. Huerga was among the many wives of jailed dissidents and journalists who risked their own freedom in denouncing prison conditions, staging silent marches and demanding that their loved ones' be released. Now that her husband is free, she doesn't want to get involved in the political opposition. "I'm relieved Manuel was released. But I'm also afraid because in Cuba nothing is certain." (The Dallas Morning News, 19/8/04)
August 11, 2004: Clara Lourdes Prieto, sister of independent journalist and political prisoner Fabio Prieto Llorente, reported that her brother began a hunger strike in Kilo 8 prison, Camagüey. The prisoner is demanding to be moved to a prison closer to his home, in Isla de la Juventud. (Europa Press, 19/8/04)
August 11, 2004: Cuban political prisoner Cándido Terry Carbonell was released from prison after a two-year sentence. Carbonell Terry was sent to jail after walking along the streets with a 1.60 meters poster that said "Down with the dictatorship". (AdCuba.Org, 17/8/04)
August 11, 2004: Three Cuban dissidents, installed in a house of one of Havana’s neighborhoods, are in their 11th days of hunger strike demanding freedom for political prisoners in the island. Carlos Miguel Lopez, 50, Francisco Moure, 44 and Yusimin Gil, 27, began the strike on August 1st in a house of La Lira, in the municipality of Arroyo Naranjo, where they have stayed having only water, with their mouths covered with plaster, sitting under a Cuban flag next to a wall full of signs that demand unconditional freedom for all political prisoners. (El Nuevo Herald, 11/8/04)
August 11, 2004: Vladimiro Roca, leader of the dissident coalition Todos Unidos, said that La Lira strikers are members of ground organizations not known by the Cuban population. But, Roca acknowledged that their attitude has generated solidarity and concern among residents of the neighborhood where the strikers have installed themselves. “Total control by the [Cuban] regime does not allow that the population knows what is going on”, he said. ''Although the government will not attend to their demands, the strike will have its impact in the international public opinion, that is well informed of what is happening in Cuba, ” he added. Members of the National Commission for Reconciliation and Human Rights have visited the strikers, who will finish their protest on August 13, Fidel Castro’s birthday. (El Nuevo Herald, 11/8/04)
August 10, 2004: Cuba 's highest-profile dissenter, Oswaldo Payá, who heads the Christian Liberation Movement, called for renewed efforts to press for the release of all political prisoners. Payá's plea for the release of all Cuban political prisoners is aimed at governments and international bodies like the United Nations and the Organization of American States. The campaign had started by the wives and relatives of the prisoners. “We think that this amnesty campaign that they had initiated should be a priority”, Payá said. “The campaign for the liberation of all our brothers should go on regardless of any political position or platform”, he added in a public statement given to the press in Havana. (EFE, Sun Sentinel, 11/8/04)
August 6, 2004: Cuban dissident Margarito Broche Espinosa, one of 75 mostly pro-democracy activists and independent journalists sentenced to prison more than a year ago, is in "stable" condition after suffering a heart attack in jail, according to his wife, Maria Caridad Noa. "His health is delicate although right now he is stable. His blood pressure and heart rate under control," she told the press. Doctors told Noa that her husband is "progressing quite well," and if he continues to improve, he could be transferred to intermediate care”. (EFE, 6/8/04)
August 5, 2004: Six former presidents and over 300 lawmakers from different Latin American countries have issued a public statement, in support of the Cuban dissident movement. In the statement, the Latin American politicians request from their countries’ embassies in Havana to “open” their doors to oppositionist leaders, following the European Union position. (Europa Press, 5/8/04)
August 4, 2004: One of 75 political dissidents arrested in a government crackdown last year was in the hospital after suffering a heart attack behind bars. Margarito Broche, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison for allegedly working with US diplomats to undermine Cuba's communist government, was transferred to Salvador Allende Hospital, said his wife, Maria de la Caridad Noa. Noa and other relatives waited outside the hospital in hopes of seeing the 47-year-old Broche. There was no official word on his condition. (AP, 5/8/04)
August 4, 2004: Journalist imprisoned Normando Hernández González has been kept in a punishment cell for over 90 days, after he declared himself "plantado" (a protest for not receiving the treatment political prisoners should). Hernández’ relatives have denounced that they haven’t been allowed to visit him in prison since last May, the organization Madres y Mujeres Anti-Represión por Cuba (MAR por Cuba) said. The independent journalist began his “plantado” strike after he was “brutally beaten and dragged” by the guards at Kilo 5 1?2 prison, in Pinar del Río, where he was sent for a 25 years sentence in April 2003. (Netfor Cuba, 4/8/04)
August 2, 2004: The Spanish government has proposed to its EU partners a reconsideration of the sanctions adopted by the 15 after Fidel Castro's regime executed three hijackers of a boat and imprisoned 75 dissidents. Spain's initiative is reflected in veiled fashion in statements made by the foreign minister, Miguel Angel Moratinos, during his recent visit to Colombia, when he expressed the government's satisfaction at the freeing of anti-Castro dissident Marta Beatriz Roque. The minister's precise words were that: "Spain is in touch with the Cuban authorities and with its EU partners to examine the current state of relations and their possible evolution". (ABC, 2/8/04)
