March 30: The Vienna-based International Press Institute (IPI) said in its latest annual report that Fidel Castro's Communist-ruled government continued to exercise "tight control over (the island's) independent journalists, regarding them as counter-revolutionaries”. IPI said that Cuban security forces in 2005 "systematically monitored, harassed or detained" independent journalists who had not been arrested during a huge 2003 crackdown on the dissident press. (EFE, 30/3/06)
March 29: Cuban journalist and exile Raúl Rivero, his wife Blanca Reyes, and the NGOs People in Need and Reporters Without Borders conmmemorated in Madrid the 2003 crackdown on dissidents and paid tribute to the Cuban independent journalists who remain in jail. Two photo exhibitions were inaugurated with the presence of Rivero and Reyes, one of them dedicated to the Ladies in White, a group of women who demand the release of their beloved ones who remain in jail since 2003. “I walked together with them along the streets of Havana”, Reyes said. Rivero, who was also sent to jail in 2003, was later released due to health conditions and allowed to leave the island. (EFE, 29/3/06)
March 29: Imprisoned dissident Juan Carlos Herrera is recovering in a Camaguey hospital in eastern Cuba after ending a three-and-a-half-week hunger strike during which he sewed his lips shut, his wife announced. Herrera, 39 and a reporter for the non-officially-recognized Libre Oriental news agency, began his hunger strike on March 4 to demand that he be transferred from his condition of confinement in Camaguey's Kilo 8 prison, where he is serving a 20-year sentence for dissident activities. Herrera is one of the 75 Cuban opposition figures who were sentenced in the spring of 2003. Meanwhile, Guillermo Fariñas, a psychologist and director of the independent Cubanacan Press agency, is in serious but stable condition after a 56-day hunger strike he began to demand free access to the Internet. (EFE, 29/3/06)
March 27: The press watchdog and advocacy organization Reporters Without Borders asked Cuban authorities for "a humanitarian gesture" toward journalists Guillermo Fariñas Hernandez and Juan Carlos Herrera Costa who are on a hunger strike in prison.
The organization said in a communique that Fariñas Hernandez is "dying" and Herrera Costa is "in a critical state of health." "How can we understand so much indifference towards the suffering of these two people who ask for nothing more than the freedom to write or navigate the Internet?" the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders, or RSF for its initials in French, asked. The Inter American Press Association (IAPA), at its meeting in Quito earlier this month, demanded the release of all journalists imprisoned in Cuba and the end of government reprisals against independent reporters on the island. (EFE, 27/3/06)
March 27: Cuban independent journalist, Lamaciel Gutiérrez Romero, was released under parole. Lamaciel, who worked for the independent news agency Nueva Prensa Cubana, was imprisoned last October under charges of disobedience and resistance to the authorities. She is the wife of political prisoner, Rolando Jiménez Posadas, who has been in jail for over three years accused of possessing “enemy propaganda”. (Cubanet, 27/3/06)
March 23: Cuban dissident Vladimiro Roca denounced an “act of repudiation” organized by Cuban authorities in front of his home in Nuevo Vedado, Havana. Over one hundred persons gathered in front of Roca’s shouting slogans against “the enemies of the revolution”. Roca, who is also leader of the dissident coalition All United (Todos Unidos), told the press that the night before he decided to cancel a regular meeting he was having the next day with members of his organization when he saw some fifty people surrounding his house and preventing people to get in or outside the house. However, Roca couldn’t get in contact with dissidents who traveled from Santa Clara -- 275 kilometers from Havana--, who had to return when they reached the mob in front of Roca’s. In February, the illegal Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation (Comisión Cubana de Derechos Humanos y Reconciliación Nacional) denounced a new wave of repression organized by Cuban authorities against the dissident movement. (EFE, AFP, 23/3/06)
March 23: Different signs claiming “Liberty for the 75”and “Down Fidel Castro”, appeared in different public places of the eastern towns of Palmarito, Mella, San Luis, Alto Songo, La Maya, and the cities of Santiago de Cuba and Palma Soriano. The signs provoked an increase of the repression against the dissident movement in that eastern province. “Acts of repudiation” were organized by members of the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR) and of the Communist Party in front of the houses of several dissidents. (Cubanet, 29/3/06)
March 20: The practice of journalism is dangerous in much of Latin America, but no nation in the hemisphere sees the sort of systematic official repression of independent news gatherers that prevails in Cuba, the Inter American Press Association said in Quito, Ecuador. Cuba "continues to be the most repressive nation in this hemisphere, with little possibility of change under the regime of Fidel Castro," IAPA said in the final declaration from its midyear conference in Quito. The island's Communist government is currently holding 25 independent journalists behind bars, in conditions so awful that a number of the prisoners have resorted to hunger strikes. Another newsman, Mario Enrique Mayo, was released from prison into house arrest, but only after mutilating himself with a knife in a desperate bid to get medical attention. (EFE, 20/3/06)
March 20: The Ladies in White, a group of women relatives of 75 dissidents jailed by Cuban authorities in March 2003, commemorated three years of the incarceration of their beloved ones by marching for the second time in three days through the streets of Havana. The peaceful demonstration this time ended in front of the Cuban Attorney General’s office where the women released two white doves as they sang religious hymns, and asked for the liberation of the dissidents. Although Cuban authorities seemed to have not interfered in the demonstration, Miriam Leiva, the Ladies in White’s spokeswoman, said that Cuban State Security agents harassed several women who live in other provinces in order to prevent them from participating in Havana’s demonstrations. (El Nuevo Herald, 21/3/03)
March 18: The Cuban authorities threatened to prevent a rosary prayer for the political prisoners to be said at the Parochial Temple of Palma Soriano, Santiago de Cuba. Graciela González, Municipal Communist Party Secretary for Religious Affairs called Father Francisco Sanabria Encizo to warn him that the rosary prayer was considered to be a counterrevolutionary act and that he would be held accountable should he go ahead with it. The authorities installed speakers across from the temple and started playing loud music that made it nearly impossible to hear the prayer when it began. They also set up a boxing ring for the members of the local boxing club to spar in, which created an atmosphere of hostility directed at exiting Church-goers. (Cubanet, 23/3/06)
March 18: Thirty "Ladies in White'' marched through the streets of Havana to demand the release of dissidents jailed three years ago by Fidel Castro’s communist government. The women, who dress in white and march in silent protest, are relatives of 75 dissidents jailed in 2003 in a crackdown on mounting opposition to Castro's rule. Fifteen were freed last year on medical parole, but 60 are still behind bars. ``We are calling for freedom for all political prisoners,'' said Laura Pollan, leader of the group that last year won the Sakharov prize, the European Union's top human rights award. The women, wives and mothers of the jailed men, carried gladioli and banners that said ``Amnesty'' on their one-hour demonstration through central Havana. For three years, members of the group have marched silently every Sunday after mass at a Catholic church to demand the release of their loved ones. ``We have created this space despite great difficulties and repression,'' said Miriam Leiva, wife of economist Oscar Espinosa Chepe, who was freed last year on medical parole. She said the telephone of the house they met at was ''mysteriously'' cut off the day before. (Reuters, AP, 18/3/06)
March 17: The most recent report by Amnesty International on the situation of human rights in Cuba highlights an increase of the attacks against fundamental freedoms in the island, and “urges the Cuban authorities to unconditionally and immediately free all prisoners of concience”. “ On 22 July 2005 approximately 30 people were arrested as they tried to participate in a peaceful demonstration outside the French Embassy in Havana, to demand the release of political prisoners in Cuba. Nine of them remain in detention without charges. Amnesty International believes that at least four of those arrested in July 2005 are prisoners of conscience, detained solely for exercising their right to freedom of expression, association and assembly. All the prisoners remain detained without trial or any formal charges. Although not charged, they are reportedly being held in maximum security prisons outside Havana”, the report says. (El Nuevo Herald, 26/3/06)
March 17: Politicians from both the government and opposition parties have locked themselves closed in a symbolical prison at Prague's Wenceslas Square in support of Cuban dissidents. They supported a campaign by the group People in Need which will highlight the third anniversary of political repressions in Cuba. In March 2003, 75 representatives of Cuban opposition were arrested. A part of the sentence for Cuban dissidents has been "served" by Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda (the Christian Democrats, KDU-CSL), Mirek Topolanek, the chairman of the opposition Civic Democratic Party (ODS), Alexandr Vondra, a former diplomat and ambassador to the USA, and film directors Vaclav Marhoul and Otakaro Schmidt . The campaign was watched by about 30 people who could sign an open letter to Fidel Castro. In it, the activists ask for the release of the opponents of the regime who are often in a bad health condition. (CTK, 17/3/06)
March 17: Three years after the harshest crackdown on dissent in decades, human-rights conditions in Cuba have deteriorated as authorities intensify a campaign to disrupt and intimidate the island's small opposition movement, according to dissidents, diplomats and political analysts. Elizardo Sanchez, an opposition activist who heads the Havana-based Cuban Commission on Human Rights and National Reconciliation, said the number of political prisoners in Cuba increased from 306 in early 2005 to 333 in early 2006. Sanchez said that about 100 pro-government crowd actions, known in Cuba as "acts of repudiation," and other attacks have occurred against opposition figures since July 2005. "The situation with civil and political rights has worsened in the past three years," said Sanchez. "And what's most worrying for us is that it seems the situation is going to get even worse." Diplomats and experts say it is unlikely Fidel Castro will ease the pressure on opposition activists as the 79-year-old leader tries to boost revolutionary fever and tighten control to ensure the government's survival after his death. Cuban officials defend the island's human-rights record by saying they provide universal education, health care and other services. They portray the acts of repudiation as spontaneous outpourings of support for a system they describe as the world's most democratic and fair. (Chicago Tribune, 17/3/06)
March 17: The Christian Liberation Movement under Cuban opposition leader Oswaldo Paya, called on the United Nations, human-rights organizations, the international community and the Cuban people to demand the release of Cuba's imprisoned dissidents.
"They have already unjustly served three years in jail in inhuman conditions. Today marks three years of suffering for them and their families, and each day that passes makes the outrage that much greater," said a statement signed by Paya and other members of the group. The Christian Liberation Movement said that the prisoners had "worked peacefully and openly for the respect of human rights and peaceful changes in Cuban society." At the same time the opposition group decried the "subhuman conditions" in which the Cuban prisoners are living, and said that most of the political prisoners "suffer many serious illnesses that they caught or were made worse by the poor hygiene, deficient medical attention, lack of running water, overcrowding, verbal abuse and often physical abuse." "It is first of all up to the Cuban people to demand freedom for these prisoners who did nothing more than defend the rights of the Cubans themselves," he said. He also considered that the United Nations and organizations like the Commission on Human Rights and the international community "ought to demand directly and without ambiguities the liberation of Cuba's peaceful political prisoners." (EFE, 17/3/06)
March 16: Some 50 people gathered outside the Cuban Embassy in Prague to protest against the imprisonment of Cuban dissidents by the regime of Fidel Castro. The demonstration opened a three-day event that the People in Need NGO organized which commemorates the 3rd anniversary of political repressions in March 2003 when 75 representatives of the political opposition were arrested in Cuba. Jiri Knitl from People in Need read an open letter addressed to Castro in which they call on him to release the political prisoners who often have health problems. The embassy did not react in any way, only loud music was heard through the opened windows of the building. (CTK, 16/3/06)
March 16: In a Bundestag (lower chamber of the German Parliament) debate over the human rights situation in Cuba, there was a fierce exchange of blows between the Left Group and the four other Bundestag Groups. Deputies of the CDU/CSU (Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union), the SPD (Social Democratic Party of Germany), the FDP (Free Democratic Party), and the Greens expressed sharp criticism of the Left Party's position on the human rights violations under Fidel Castro. In response, Left Deputy Michael Leutert accused the other groups of not being interested at all in the people of Cuba. Rather, they want to "make" the Left Group "look like a fool," he said. The reason for the debate was a resolution by the European Parliament, where three of the Left Party deputies voted in favor of a condemnation of Cuba for gross violation of human rights. (DDP, 18/3/06)
March 16: The last three years of intense repression against independent journalists in Cuba have not succeeded in wiping out a critical press on the communist-ruled island, Reporters Without Borders said in a report. "On March 18, 2003, an unprecedented wave of repression broke over Cuban dissidents. For three days, ninety opponents of the regime were arrested on grounds that they were 'agents of the American enemy.' Among them were twenty-seven journalists," begins the document from the Paris-based group known as RSF. (EFE, 16/3/06)
March 9: The illegal Christian Movement of Liberation (MCL) announced that Cuban journalist Juan Carlos Herrera, one of 75 dissidents sentenced to prison terms of up to 28 years, has been on a hunger strike since last March 4th. Herrera, who is serving 20 years at the Kilo 8 prison facility in Camagüey, went on a hunger strike to protest the subhuman conditions of his confinement, the lack of medical assistance, as well as the physical and verbal abuse he endures there. (EFE, 10/3/06)
March 8: The top American diplomat in Cuba lashed out at what he called "a sinister wave of repression" on the island by the Castro government during a press conference timed to coincide with the release of the US State Department's annual Human Rights Report. Michael E. Parmly, chief of the US Interests Section, said the Cuban government continued to engage in "systematic violations of fundamental rights," and continued to sponsor mob actions designed to squelch dissent. "Acts of repudiation are occurring all over the country," said Parmly. "When a government-mobilized mob gathers at the home of a free-thinking Cuban and offers hateful chants, threats or violence, the victim suffers enormously, as do family members." There was no immediate response from the Cuban government, which in the past has ignored such reports. (Sun Sentinel, 9/3/06)
March 8: The United States denounced the human rights records of familiar foes Cuba and Venezuela in an annual report that noted improvements in Colombia, Washington's top Latin American ally. The US State Department's human rights report charged that the record of Fidel Castro's communist regime "remained poor," while the Venezuelan government was criticized for its treatment of the media and political opponents. Havana's "human rights record remained poor, and the government continued to commit numerous, serious abuses," the report said. "At least 333 Cuban political prisoners and detainees were held at year's end." Cuban citizens were denied the right to change their government, while "government-recruited mobs" frequently harassed political opponents, it said. Detainees, including human rights activists, were beaten and abused with impunity, the report said. (AFP, 8/3/06)
March 8: A Cuban dissident who has been on a hunger strike for 36 days to demand unfettered Internet access is refusing medication and his health is deteriorating rapidly, fellow dissidents said. Guillermo Fariñas, a 41-year-old psychologist, went on a hunger strike on January 31 to press Cuba's Communist authorities to respect his right to freedom of information and allow him Internet access, which is controlled by the government. Fariñas was moved to a hospital in his hometown of Santa Clara, in central Cuba, where he is being kept on an IV drip. Cuba, like China, controls access to the Internet. Direct access to the world wide web is generally only available to government-approved individuals, but passwords can be purchased on the black market. The postal service offers an e-mail service, but users can only surf Cuban Web sites. International web sites run by exile groups are routinely blocked by Cuba's state-run servers. Fariña's hunger strike has alarmed other opposition activists. Cuban dissident Oswaldo Paya urged him to end his protest. "We call on authorities to respect his rights, agree to his petition immediately, and save his life," Paya said. (Reuters, 8/3/06)
March 7: Spain's conservative opposition introduced a measure in Parliament calling on the Socialist government to condemn the upsurge in repression in Cuba. The "proposition," which is not draft legislation, urges Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's government to demand that Cuban authorities release political prisoners and stop harassing the opposition. The center-right Popular Party, or PP, said Cuba's Communist dictatorship violated human rights, "including civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights." The PP said the island imprisoned, in conditions that were "subhuman, dozens of independent journalists, peaceful dissidents, human rights activists" and members of the democratic opposition. Cuban authorities also prevent citizens from leaving the country, as was the case with the Women in White - relatives of jailed dissidents - who were prevented from traveling to Strasbourg, France, in December to accept the Sakharov Prize from the European Parliament, the PP said. The PP noted that Zapatero's government changed policy toward Cuba, "both in Spain and in the EU Council," and "the change has not produced any results." (EFE, 7/3/06)
March 7: A special UN rights envoy expressed alarm at allegations of ill treatment in Cuban jails, but said that a US economic embargo was hampering attempts to improve Cuba's respect for political rights. "The extreme tension between Cuba and the United States has created a climate which is far from conducive to the development of freedom of expression and freedom of assembly," French magistrate Christine Chanet said. In a new report to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, Chanet said her main concern was still the detention of dozens of dissidents whose arrest while working as journalists, writers and members of associations in March and April 2003 caused an international uproar. She said she was "alarmed at the allegations of ill-treatment in detention" submitted by prisoners' families. "Food and hygiene are substandard and medical care either unavailable or inappropriate," said Chanet, whose post was created in 2002. Furthermore, more people had been arrested over the past year for expressing opinions, added the magistrate, who has yet to be allowed to visit the Caribbean communist state. But Chanet, whose report was posted on the Commission's Web site, pointed to a number of "positive" developments in the areas of economic, social and cultural rights, especially in education and health. ( AFP, Reuters , 6/3/06)
March 6: T he wife of jailed dissident Hector Palacios, Gisela Delgado, divulged the contents of a letter addressed to Fidel Castro, Pope Benedict XVI and heads of "democratic governments" and international humanitarian organizations. It notified them of her husband's serious health problems. "I'm speaking out about the grave risk to my husband's life," Delgado said in the letter, which explains that Palacios has recently suffered a transient ischemic attack and currently is battling high blood pressure and poor circulation. The 64-year-old Palacios was sentenced to 25 years in prison in the Spring of 2003, one of 75 dissidents to receive lengthy prison terms in summary trials. (EFE, Acción Democrática, 6/3/06)
March 2: Members of the “Rapid Response Brigades” (Brigadas de Respuesta Rápida) organized by the Cuban authorities gathered across from the house of opposition leader Martha Beatriz Roque in order to prevent any access to or exit from her residence. Three accredited diplomats from different countries on their way to visit Roque were harassed by the demonstrators as they approached the building. (Netfor Cuba, 4/3/06)
