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Carta de Cuba, la escritura de la libertad |
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JANUARY 25, 2006
CASTRO RESPONDS TO NEON SIGNS ON AMERICAN INTERESTS OFFICE Havana – With a clever manipulation Fidel Castro responded to the neon signs which has been seen for some days on the façade of the American Interests Office in the Cuban capital: He offered to freely grant eye surgeries to 150 thousand low income North Americans, basically from the black race, and even to place a Cuban airplane at their disposal to transfer them from the state of Florida to Havana. In this way, if the American government denies them the permission to travel to receive treatment, Cuba would argue that the phrases on civil rights on the neon signs, which were said by Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., are no more than pure American rhetoric. What Castro did not say is that more than 70 per cent of the doctors that are part of the Cuban health system are presently rendering services in other countries, something which has had a negative impact on the medical attention of the natives, which are facing long waiting lists in order to access to surgical procedures and other therapies. TRANSIT ACCIDENTS INCREASE IN 2005 Havana – Transit accidents, with their sequels of death and injury, registered a dramatic increase during 2005, in comparison with the previous year, according to official statistics revealed by the National Transit Authority, in the Cuban capital. The report which comprises only the first nine months of 2005, mentions 9534 accidents, an amount exceeding by 280 the total number of accidents in the country during the year 2004. Up to the month of November, 869 people have died, 58 more than in the previous year, with 7,244 persons injured, which means an increase of 111 in comparison to 2004. The worst provinces in number of accidents were Holguín, Villa Clara, Cienfuegos, Santiago de Cuba and Havana, in that order. IMPRISONED OPPONENTS TRANSFERRED TO PENITENTIARIES IN PINAR DEL RIO Havana – The Assembly to Promote the Civil Society in Cuba denounced the transfer to Pinar del Río prisons of a group of opponents to Fidel Castro government, incarcerated since July, 2005, in spite no charges have been brought against them. On the night of January 16th, Emilio Leiva Pérez, Manuel Pérez Soria and Ricardo Santiago Medina were taken to the ¨Kilo 5.1/2¨ prison, on the suburbs of Pinar del Río capital, while prisoner Santiago Bardeolla Pérez was transferred to the Sandino prison, near Cape San Antonio, on the far western side of the island. The Assembly to Promote the Civil Society in Cuba, in contact with lawyer Amelia Rodríguez Cala, who assumed the opponents’ defense, was able to know that none of the defendants has ever been sentenced, and that they were simply ordered to remain in provisional prison. These prisoners have been confined for more than six months in precarious conditions, in walled cells and police stations. MORE PEOPLE ARE JOINING THE FASTING AND PRAYER CHAIN Holguín – More than a dozen opponents from the Banes Municipality have joined, since January 17th, to the fasting and prayer chain summoned by the Cuban Human Rights Foundation, in response to the repressive actions against the Cuban people and the peaceful opponents. The house of Martha Rondón’s, one of the activists, now serves as headquarters to develop this kind of reflection and prayer action, where opponents and residents in the area may be free to participate. Such activity will continue for an indefinite time, on short periods, and possible government reprisals are not discarded. POLITICAL PRISONER LIBERATED Las Tunas – The political prisoner Ezequiel Morales Carmenates was released after serving a three-year prison term in this city’s provincial jail. Considered as a prisoner of conscience by the international human rights organizations, Morales Carmenates was arrested on January, 2003, before the beginning of the great repressive wave, on March 18th of that same year, and charges were pressed for his activism in the Christian Liberation Movement and its militancy in the Cuban Pro-Human Rights Party. Coming out of jail, Morales suffers from great weight loss, chronic gastritis, arterial hypertension and allergies in both eyes. His family, resident in the Puerto Padre Municipality, Las Tunas province, is subject to pressures and harassment by the Cuban authorities. RELATIVE OF OPPOSITIONIST LEADER DETAINED Ciego de Avila – Yódalis Calderín Columbié, niece-in-law of the President of the Cuban Human Rights Foundation, was arrested and taken to this city’s police station, where he received a warning note for public scandal and for meeting with antisocial elements and government dissidents. Yodalis is the niece of the wife of blind activist and lawyer Juan Carlos González Leyva, and simply visits his house due to family ties. During the recent repressive acts against González Leyva and his relatives, Yodalis was attacked by the crowds. INDEPENDENT LIBRARIES CONGRESS IN OCTOBER Havana – The Cuban Independent Librarians Congress will take place on next October 10th, a date which celebrates the beginning of the independence war in the island, in the year 1898. Marta Beatriz Roque Cabello, executive member of the Assembly to Promote the Civil Society, announced the celebration of the congress and said that in the preceding months to the designated date, a number of preparatory meetings will take place throughout the country, with the purpose of compiling the necessary information. To the preparatory meetings in the provinces may be able to assist the representatives of those libraries which are not affiliated to the Assembly to Promote the Civil Society. INCREASED ATTACKS AGAINST THE CUBAN DISSIDENTS Havana – In the last six months, more than 50 ¨repudiation acts¨ have been reported against pro-human rights activists, independent journalists and peaceful opponents in the island. The dissidents have also reported evictions, arrests, acts of violence, some 40 detentions and several confrontations with the semiofficial hoodlum groups known as ¨Rapid Response Brigades¨. The avalanche of attacks against the dissidents underlines the turbulent times prevailing in Cuba, where the government faces a fragile economy, attempts to stop corruption and the growth of dissidence, while a growing number of people is trying to escape abroad.
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