25 Cuban Dissidents Launch a Hunger Strike

Yoani Sanchez - Award-winning Cuban blogger

25 Cuban Dissidents Launch a Hunger Strike
Posted: 09/12/2012 10:58 pm

This Monday several Cuban dissidents started a hunger strike which has
already been joined by 25 people throughout the country. At a press
conference, Martha Beatriz Roque Cabello explained that that the
strikers are demanding the immediate release of Jorge Vázquez Chaviano,
age 42. In 2011 this activist was sentenced for the supposed crime of
"illicit economic activity," although many believe this charge masks
retaliation for his dissident activities. This legal maneuver is common
in Cuba and is intended to make it difficult for the international
organizations to count the "political prisoners" and "prisoners of
conscience" on the Island.

Vázquez Chaviano is currently being held in the Alambrada maximum
security prison in the central province of Villa Clara. His sentence
ended this past Sunday, September 9, but the prison authorities, instead
of releasing him, moved him to a punishment cell. The spokesperson for
the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation
(CCDHRN), Elizardo Sanchez, also called for "an urgent response" from
the government, for "the violation is such that it would justify a writ
of habeas corpus."

Martha Beatriz Roque Cabello was the only woman imprisoned during the
so-called Black Spring of 2003. At the press conference held Monday she
also denounced the repression that State Security carried out against
the internal opposition, independent journalists and human rights
activists. As examples, the well known economist listed the police
cordons established around people's homes, the surveillance, the
retention of identity documents -- which Cubans are required to carry at
all times -- the arbitrary arrests, and the forced entry into their
homes to arrest them and confiscate their property.

Several activists consulted by this writer said they were worried about
the outcome of this situation. Berta Soler, leader of the Ladies in
White, declared, "We are women who love our families and our lives, we
are not in favor of hunger strikes, but we morally and spiritually
support those who undertake them."

For his part, José Daniel Ferrer, leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba
(UNPACU) said, "Some feel they are forced to this as a last resort,
mainly because the indifference of most Cubans has allowed this
aggravation of the problems."

Former political prisoner and opposition leader Jorge Luis Garcia Perez
(Antunez) is another who has joined the strike. As of Wednesday
afternoon a total of 21 men and four women were among those refusing to
ingest food. Nine of them are in prison. At Roque Cabello's house there
are at least six members of the "Network of Community Communicators,"
which she heads, all refusing to eat until their demands are met.

Roque Cabello's health is deteriorating rapidly, in part because of her
refusal to administer the medications necessary to control her diabetes.
According to what I was able to verify, by the end of the second day of
fasting she suffered from dry lips, trembling and numbness in her hands.
At the end of the afternoon she had suffered a fainting spell.

The hunger strike has become a recurring method to put pressure on the
Cuban government. One of the more publicized in recent years was carried
out in 2010 by the journalist and psychologist Guillermo Fariñas, winner
of the European Parliament's Sakharov Prize. After several days without
food or water, Fariñas physically collapsed and was admitted to
intensive care where he was fed intravenously. His persistence was the
determining factor in the subsequent process of releases of the
remaining prisoners of the Black Spring still in prison.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/yoani-sanchez/25-cuban-dissidents-launc_b_1879443.html