Prisoner of conscience on hunger strike: Calixto Ramón Martínez Arias

Document - Cuba: Further information: Prisoner of conscience on hunger
strike: Calixto Ramón Martínez Arias

Further information on UA: 25/13 Index: AMR 25/002/2013 Cuba Date: 14
March 2013

URGENT ACTION

PRISONER OF CONSCIENCE ON HUNGER STRIKE

image1.png Independent journalist and prisoner of conscience Calixto
Ramón Martínez Arias is on hunger strike to protest against his
detention in Cuba. As a result, he has been placed in solitary
confinement in a punishment cell.

On 6 March, journalist Calixto Ramón Martínez Arias went on hunger
strike to protest against his detention in Combinado del Este prison on
the outskirts of Havana, Cuba. He was consequently transferred by the
prison authorities to a punishment cell. According to his relatives, the
small cell where he is now held has no light, toilet facilities or
bedding, and he is not permitted to leave the cell to exercise in the
open air. These kinds of punitive measures are typically used by the
Cuban authorities against prisoners on hunger strike.

image2.jpgCalixto Ramón Martínez Arias works for the unofficial news
agency, Let's Talk Press (Hablemos Press). He was arrested in Havana on
16 September 2012 by the Cuban Revolutionary Police (Policía
Revolucionaria de Cuba) at José Martí International Airport in Havana.
He had been investigating allegations that medicine provided by the
World Health Organization to fight the cholera outbreak (which began in
mid-2012) was being kept at the airport instead of being distributed.
Since then, he has been detained in various detention centres. He has
been held at Combinado del Este prison since November 2012.

Calixto Ramón Martínez Arias is yet to be formally charged by the public
prosecutor, and according to his relatives he is reportedly being
accused of "disrespect" ("desacato"). Amnesty International believes
Calixto Ramón Martínez Arias' detention is politically motivated and
related to his peaceful exercise of freedom of expression.

Please write immediately in Spanish or your own language:

Calling on the Cuban authorities to release Calixto Ramón Martínez Arias
immediately and unconditionally, as he is a prisoner of conscience,
detained solely for peacefully exercising his right to freedom of
expression;

Urging them to remove him from solitary confinement, and ensure he is
granted any medical attention he may require;

Urging them to refrain from taking punitive measures against prisoners
for undertaking hunger strikes.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 25 APRIL 2013 TO:

�

Attorney General

Dr. Darío Delgado Cura

Fiscal General de la República, �Fiscalía General de la República,
Amistad 552, e/Monte y Estrella, �Centro Habana,

La Habana, Cuba

Salutation: Dear Attorney General

Interior Minister

General Abelardo Coloma Ibarra

Ministro del Interior y Prisiones

Ministerio del Interior, �Plaza de la Revolución, �La Habana, Cuba

Fax: +1 212 779 1697 (via Cuban Mission to UN)

Email: correominint@mn.mn.co.cu

Salutation: Your Excellency

And solidarity letters to:

Centro de Información Hablemos Press

Roberto de Jesús Guerra Pérez –

Director

calle Santa Marta 394, Apto 3 alto, entre Franco y Subirana, municipio
Centro Habana, La Habana, Cuba

Email: robersm2007@gmail.com

�

Also send copies to diplomatic representatives accredited to your country.

Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above
date. This is the first update of UA 25/13. Further information:
http://amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR25/001/2013/en

�

URGENT ACTION

prisoner of conscience on hunger strike
ADditional Information

Restrictions on the Cuban media are stringent and pervasive and clearly
stop those in the country from enjoying their right to freedom of
opinion and expression, including freedom to seek, receive and impart
information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. The
state maintains a total monopoly on television, radio, the press,
internet service providers, and other electronic means of communication.

Article 53 of the Cuban Constitution recognizes freedom of the press but
expressly prohibits private ownership of the mass media: "Citizens have
freedom of speech and of the press in keeping with the objectives of
socialist society. Material conditions for the exercise of that right
are provided by the fact that the press, radio, television, cinema, and
other mass media are state or social property and can never be private
property. This assures their use at exclusive service of the working
people and in the interests of society. The law regulates the exercise
of those freedoms." Although there is no censorship law that explicitly
regulates the functioning of the press or establishes what is published,
journalists must join the Cuban Journalists Association (Unión de
Periodistas Cubanos, UPEC) in order to practice journalism in the
state-owned media. UPEC is self-governing; however, in its statutes it
recognizes the Cuban Communist Party as "the highest leading force of
society and of the state" and agrees to abide by Article 53 of the
Constitution (see above).

Compulsory membership of a professional association for the practice of
journalism is an unlawful restriction on freedom of expression and a
violation of the right to freedom of association. Article 20 of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) states that, "no one may be
compelled to belong to an association". In the particular case of UPEC,
whose members are employees of the government of Cuba, compulsory
membership is a means of exerting political control in the field of
communications. Only journalists expressing views in line with official
government policies are accredited by UPEC; independent journalists are
barred from joining.

The news agency Hablemos Press is an unofficial Cuban news agency
founded in February 2009 by independent journalists and human rights
activists, "for the purpose of gathering and disseminating news within
the country and for the rest of the world" according to their website.
Hablemos Press journalists are regular victims of short-term arrests and
harassment related to their work. Prior to his September arrest, Calixto
Ramón Martínez Arias had been detained without charge on a number of
occasions in 2012. On 11 September 2012 the director of Hablemos Press –
Roberto de Jesús Guerra Pérez – was forced into a car and reportedly
beaten as he was driven to a police station. Before being released, he
was told that he had become the "number one dissident journalist" and
would face imprisonment if he continued his activities.

Amnesty International believes no prisoner should be confined long term
in conditions of isolation and reduced sensory stimulation, and that
conditions of detention should conform to the UN Standard Minimum Rules
for the Treatment of Prisoners and other international human rights
standards. Amnesty International believes that if solitary confinement
is used, strict limits should be imposed on the practice, including
regular and adequate medical supervision by a doctor.

Hunger strikes are often used in Cuba by political dissidents and other
activists as a way of protest, and demonstrate the situation of despair
and hopelessness that they face when victims of unfair and prolonged
incarcerations. For further information, see: Cuba must release prisoner
of conscience on hunger strike
(http://www.amnesty.org/en/for-media/press-releases/cuba-must-release-prisoner-conscience-hunger-strike-2011-03-11).
In September 2012 Jorge Vázquez Chaviano carried out a hunger strike
after the Cuban authorities failed to release him following the end of
his 18-month prison sentence. In recent years hunger strikes have led to
the death of two prisoners: Orlando Zapata Tamayo (see: Death of Cuban
prisoner of conscience on hunger strike must herald change,
https://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/death-cuban-prisoner-conscience-hunger-strike-must-herald-change-2010-02-24)
in February 2010, and Wilmar Villar Mendoza (see: Cuban authorities
'responsible' for activist's death on hunger strike,
http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/cuban-authorities-responsible-activists-death-hunger-strike-2012-01-20)
in January 2012 – both prisoners of conscience.

Name: Calixto Ramón Martínez Arias

Gender m/f: m

Further information on UA: 25/13 Index: AMR 25/002/2013 Issue Date: 14
March 2013

Calixto Ramón Martínez Arias © Hablemos Press

http://amnesty.org/en/library/asset/AMR25/002/2013/en/f2ef351c-54ab-43cb-a99e-0c39b3e9adab/amr250022013en.html