July 20: The "Ladies in White," representing the families of scores of Cuban dissidents jailed in 2003, appealed to the leaders of the Mercosur trade bloc to urge Fidel Castro to free the island's more than 300 political prisoners. In a communique released after learning of Castro's travel plans, the Ladies in White asked the seven other heads of state who will be at the meeting in Argentina to intercede with "the maximum authority in the government of Cuba" in the name of basic human rights. "It is estimated that there are more than 300 peaceful political prisoners in all," the statement said. "All of them should be released." The Ladies in White asked Mercosur leaders to make surprise visits to Cuba jails and to the homes of the prisoners' families in order to see for themselves "the psychological torture, the intimidation and the smear campaigns" to which the prisoners and their relatives are subjected. The Ladies in White, which last year received the European Parliament's Sakharov Prize for human rights activism, is comprised of wives, mothers, sisters and other female relations of 75 peaceful opponents of the Castro regime who were sentenced in 2003 to stiff prison terms for allegedly conspiring with Washington to undermine the Cuban Revolution. (EFE, 20/7/06)
July 20: Cuban dissident leader, Oswaldo Paya, denounced to the press a series of acts of harassment against him and his family by dozens of people who have been demonstrating for weeks in front of his home in Havana. Since July 9, Paya said, demonstrations began with people shouting and showing posters that said, “In a country under siege, dissidents are considered traitors”. "These policemen, agents, and well known “esbirros” from the Cerro municipality in Havana have been threatening my family and my neighbours”, Paya said. “And they will continue”, he added in a communiqué handed to the press. (AFP, 20/7/06)
July 18: Reporters Without Borders reiterated its support for two independent journalists, Roberto de Jesús Guerra Pérez and Oscar Mario González Pérez, who have been held without trial since their arrests one week apart a year ago. Guerra was a regular contributor to the US-based Radio Martí and the Nueva Prensa Cubana and Payolibre websites until his arrest on 13 July 2005. He was also a member of a news centre operated by La Corriente Martiana, a patriotic group. “The plight of Guerra and González suggests that the Cuban authorities apparently no longer need a court’s permission to throw journalists in prison,” Reporters Without Borders said. “In the absence of any charges against these journalists and in view of their state of health, we call for their immediate release and that of the 20 journalists who have been imprisoned since March 2003. We also call for the release of their colleague, Armando Betancourt, who has been held without any official reason being given since 23 May of this year,” Reporters Without Borders added. González’s wife, Mirtha Wong, told Reporters Without Borders that her husband is currently being held in the prison known as “1580” in San Miguel de Padrón, in Havana province. Aged 62, he is in the “FD” section of the prison reserved for those for whom there is a “Falta de Documentación,” meaning a “lack of documentation.” The prison authorities say they are unaware of the charges against him. (RWB Press Release, 18/7/06)
July 17: Melba Santana Ariz, wife of Alfredo Batista Domínguez, who was imprisoned following the notorious Trial of the 75, denounced being subject to harassment and threats by a highly dangerous ex-convict manipulated by the Cuban State Security police. “I am making the Cuban authorities responsible for what could happen to me and my children," Melba Santana told the independent press. (Cubanet, 17/7/06)
July 10: The NGO “Spanish Solidarity with Cuba” published the first "solidarity tourist guide" of a country, in which the customary description of the island and its tourist landmarks is used as a vehicle to deliver abundant information about the prisoners of conscience and his families, activists of human rights and civil society of Cuba. The head of Communications of the organization and coauthor of the guide, Maria Ángeles Altozano, pointed that several NGOs from other countries "have shown interest in having the guide translated into English, French, German and even Polish.” (Europa Press, 10/7/06)
July 10: Alexander Santos Hernández, Cuban Liberal Movement (CLM) coordinator for the eastern provinces was sentenced to four years in prison following charges for his alleged involvement in a dangerous crime. Santos was a victim of an “act of repudiation” in Gíbara, in the Holguín province, during which he was beaten and humiliated by a rabble organized by forces of the Cuban secret police. His wife Milisa Aballe Ricardo, an independent reporter affiliated with the “Youths Without Censorship” news agency, was also arrested. The Gíbara political police also detained Juan Ramón Claro Infante and Jesús Ramsés, municipal CLM delegate in that city. They were all threatened with lengthy prison terms and "worse" if they maintained their positions against the government of Fidel Castro. (Cubanet, 10/6/07)
July 6: Trade union activist and independent librarian Lázaro González Adán, imprisoned without due process in the Cerámica Roja penitentiary of Camagüey since October, 2004, will have to face new charges for allegedly causing bodily harm on another prisoner who attacked him. This is not the first time that González Adán has been assaulted in the 21 months he has been confined with common criminals. (Cubanet, 6/7/06)
July 6: The Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation (CCDHRN), headed by Elizardo Sánchez, and the National Coordination of Political Prisoners, headed by Aida Valdés, agree in the assessment that police pressure is likely to heat up in the months leading up to the 14th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement, to take place in Havana September 11-16. "Now we're seeing signs that the government may be about to tighten the thumbscrews by stepping up 'pre-emptive' repression to prevent incidents and social unrest during the Summit," said a CCDHRN report. The CCDHRN warned that "barring a miracle, the international community should prepare, at least in the short term, to receive nothing but bad news in the areas of civil, political and economic rights in Cuba." (IPS, 6/7/06)
July 5: The number of Cuban political prisoners dropped to 316 from 333 in the first six months of this year, but the government stepped up extrajudicial harassment of opponents, the island's main rights group said. "The slight decline (…) appears to reflect a change in the form of political repression," the nongovernmental Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation said in a report. The illegal but tolerated group charged the government was organizing supporters to surround and intimidate dissidents at home and on the street, arresting opponents for brief periods of time, increasing visits by security officials and firings from state jobs, among other tactics.
"There is a decline in numbers of prisoners, but it is irrelevant because it is still more than 300," commission President Elizardo Sanchez told the press. "Without a doubt the government has changed its tactics. They are resorting more to other methods besides prison." The Commission’s report said even harder times were ahead for civil liberties on the Communist-ruled island. (Reuters, EFE, 5/7/06)
July 4: Supporters of Cubans jailed by the regime for challenging the one-party state held a press conference in Vienna to urge the Castro government to free more than 300 political prisoners. The president of the Dutch-based Cuba Futuro Foundation, Jan ter Laak, and the executive director of the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights, Aaron Rhodes, said that a recent visit to the island left them convinced that "the general human rights situation in Cuba is rapidly deteriorating." Rhodes said that Cuba's more than 300 political prisoners "are suffering from malnutrition, rat infestation and they have little chance of seeing their families." Locked up in Cuban jails, he said, are people who have been arrested for using computers, publishing articles, having telephone conversations with foreigners, owning certain books or disseminating the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which Cuban authorities have classified as enemy propaganda. (EFE, 5/7/06)
