Spotlight on Cuba: Crackdown on Dissidents

Chronology of Events - August 2008

August 23: Prisoner of conscience of the Group of 75, Alfredo Domínguez Batista, was transferred from the provincial prison of Holguín to a prison in Las Tunas, his province of residence. At least four other members of the group of 75 dissidents given long prison sentences in the spring of 2003 have received similar transfers in the last 15 days, according to the Internet site PayoLibre.com. Domínguez Batista, 46 and member of the dissident Christian Liberation Movement, is serving a 14-year jail sentence (Cubaencuentro, 26/8/08).

August 20: Peaceful dissident Iris Tamara Pérez Aguilera was found guilty of contempt and resisting arrest by the Popular Municipal Court of Placetas. Pérez Aguilera was acquitted of the crime of disobedience and ordered to pay 250 pesos for the other two crimes. Attending the hearing were 39 dissidents from the provinces of the City of Havana, Matanzas, Sancti Spíritus and Villa Clara. Peaceful dissidents Yesmy Elena Mana, Pedro Yordy Tápanes, and Fidel Rodríguez García were detained by members of the political police at the bus station in Santa Clara and held in police stations until the hearing was over. The same happened to Amado Ruiz Moreno in Placetas (Cubanet, 22/8/08).  

August 12: A Cuban group painted a grim picture of the human rights situation in the island nation, saying in a report it was "very unfavorable" and not likely to get better soon. The Cuban Commission on Human Rights said the number of known political prisoners had fallen by 15 to 219 in the first half of 2008, but that short-term detentions of dissidents had increased dramatically. "At least 640 arbitrary detentions of political dissidents have taken place so far this year," said the commission, which is illegal in Cuba but tolerated by authorities. That compared to "at least 325 short-term detentions" in all of 2007, according to the report, signed by commission president and former political prisoner Elizardo Sanchez. Government opponents recently have accused authorities of stepping up harassment by taking them into custody for short periods of time. According to the report, which comes out every six months and is the only one of its kind in Cuba, rights had not improved since Raul Castro took power when his brother and long-time leader, Fidel Castro, fell ill two years ago. "Two years after certain rearrangements in the highest circles of government, the situation of civil, political and economic rights continues being very unfavorable," the report said. "Social repression is part of the daily life of the citizenry," it said, citing arbitrary police searches and government scrutiny as part of the authorities' "enormous capacity of social control." With "the incessant perfecting of the structures and methods of repression, it's unlikely that the situation will improve (…) at least in the short run," it said (Reuters, 12/8/08).

August 6: Members of the Central Dissident Coalition were detained in Placetas, Villa Clara, while marching in support of political prisoners and in remembrance of the August 5, 1994 events -- known as the “El Maleconazo”-- when thousands of Cubans took part in an unprecedented riot in the streets of Havana, during one of the most difficult times of the economic crisis. The activists set out from the house of former political prisoner Jorge Luis García Pérez (Antúnez), “their arms crossed in a gesture of peace and wearing white T-shirts,” said independent journalist Guillermo Fariñas. After about 100 meters, they were cut off by around 90 police officers and members of the Rapid Response Brigades,” added Fariñas  (Cubaencuentro, 7/8/08)

August 6: A Cuban political prisoner who sewed his mouth shut last month as part of a hunger strike was forced to end his protest when prison authorities undid his stitches, human-rights activists said. Juan Carlos Herrera Acosta, 42, is a journalist serving 20 years at the Holguín Provincial Prison after being swept up in the 2003 crackdown on dissent. He began a hunger strike July 18 to demand that prison authorities transfer him to a facility closer to his home in Guantánamo province. Many political prisoners in Cuba are serving time in facilities far from their homes, forcing their families to take days-long journeys to visit them. Herrera's teenage daughter died in a car accident earlier this year while making the trip to visit him. Havana human-rights activist Juan Carlos González Leiva spoke to Herrera by telephone and distributed a transcript of a statement from Herrera in a communiqué distributed by the exile group Democratic Directorate. Herrera said that after two weeks of his strike, military and prison authorities subdued him July 31 and undid the sutures. Former political prisoner Jorge Luis García Pérez, known as ''Antúnez,'' said prisoners routinely sew their mouths shut to protest poor prison food, lack of medical attention, and other issues. ''They find cables or wires laying around in the prison yard and strip it down like sugar cane so that it's sharp and not as rusty,'' García told the press from Villa Clara, in central Cuba. ''They insert in one end of the mouth and pull it to the other side of the mouth, wrapping it like three times,'' he said. ``It's now become a daily experience in Cuban prisons. I've seen it done dozens of times'' (The Miami Herald, 8/8/08).

August 4: The president of the Christian Liberation Movement, Oswaldo Paya Sardinas, has again denounced the inhuman conditions in which political prisoners and prisoners of conscience are held in Cuba. In a brief statement, Paya described the suffering of the prison population in Cuba, including a lack of medical care, poor nutrition, crowded conditions, censorship, invasive searches, and mistreatment by prison guards. He said the lack of medical attention leaves prisoners vulnerable to illness and disease.  Likewise, Paya said the lack of adequate nutrition results in many prisoners contracting “digestive problems and severe stomach infections.” Other mistreatment suffered by both common and political prisoners includes overcrowding in cells and the lack of potable water. “The plumbing is in very bad shape, and blockage in the lines as well as water leaks in the walls are commonplace, especially in prison cells that are located on the lower floors of the buildings,” Paya said. He also noted the censorship to which the prisoners are subjected, pointing out that their freedom of expression is suppressed as well as their access to literature (CNA, 4/8/08).

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