Independent Journalist Ends Hunger Strike

Independent Journalist Ends Hunger Strike

2006-02-11

Dear friends,

We have just received a report by AFP press agency that Guillermo
Farinas has stopped his hunger strike and agreed to be put on
intravenous drip (please see the report below). We welcome this news and
hope Farinas will recover soon from the critical health condition caused
by the hunger strike.

We would like to thank you all for helping us with the appeal to the
ambassadors of foreign missions in Havana to support Farinas. According
to our information, the appeal was heard by the diplomatic staff.

We also hope that we will together keep on raising the awareness about
the repression against Cuban opposition in future.

Thank you and all the best,

Kristina Prunerová

People in Need, Czech Republic
Human Rights and Democracy
ICDC Secretary

Tel: +420 226 200 462
Cell: +420 777 787 917
E-mail: kristina.prunerova@peopleinneed.cz
Web: www.peopleinneed.cz

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Cuban dissident on hunger strike agrees to be fed intravenously

HAVANA, Feb 9, 2006 (AFP) - A Cuban dissident journalist has agreed to
be fed intravenously after an eight-day hunger strike left him in
critical condition, a family member told AFP on Thursday. Guillermo
Farinas, who heads the outlawed Cubanacan news agency, had called the
hunger strike to protest the communist regime's censorship of the Internet.

Farinas initially "said that he didn't want any treatment and insisted
on continuing his strike," said a relative, who asked not to be named.
But after medical staff and relatives insisted, he consented to be put
on an intravenous drip, the relative said.

His family did not support his hunger strike but respected the reasons
for his protest, the source said.
The journalist was in the intensive care ward of Arnaldo Milian hospital
in central Cuba. His health remained in a "delicate" state after having
arrived dehydrated and unconscious, the relative said.

Farinas, 42, a former psychologist who runs his illegal news agency from
Santa Clara, central Cuba, has been detained in the past for his
criticism of Fidel Castro's regime and released for health reasons,
according to a dissident source.

He was hospitalized on Wednesday after eight days on hunger strike, his
20th such protest. The journalist said he went on hunger strike after
the authorities blocked his access to the Internet by cutting off his
account at a cyber cafe where he transmitted news items for his agency.

"He is demanding that there be Internet access in Cuba like in the other
countries of this hemisphere, a free access to the Internet," human
rights activist Elizardo Sanchez said of Farinas Wednesday.

http://www.presslingua.com/web/article.asp?artID=4503