Don't forget Cuba's political prisoners
OUR OPINION: PRESSURE DICTATORSHIP TO FREE THE UNJUSTLY IMPRISONED
Four years since Cuba cracked down on dissent, the more than 300
political prisoners in the country need the world's attention. They
remain behind bars for speaking their minds, defending human rights or
demanding a voice in their governance. Yet there still is no sign that
the regime intends to free them even though there was a power shift at
the top eight months ago. If anything, repression has worsened, and hope
for constructive change has faded.
Cuba's forgotten political prisoners are victims of a dictatorship that
unjustly accuses them of ''crimes'' that do not exist in the free world.
Their mistreatment and unjust punishment must be condemned. The
international community should ramp up pressure on the government to
release them.
People living in a democracy may find it hard to imagine being
imprisoned for signing a petition, advocating for free elections or
loaning books from a home library, but this is what Cuba does. Four
years ago this month, the regime began rounding up 75 activists. They
were tried in kangaroo courts and sentenced to as much as 28 years in
prison. The sweep was so egregious that Amnesty International declared
all 75 activists prisoners of conscience.
Alfredo Pulido López, a dentist turned independent journalist, got a
14-year prison term. One strike against him was that he was a leader of
the Varela Project, a legal petition asking for democratic,
constitutional changes. Locked up in a room with 100 hardened criminals,
he now fears for his life. He suffers with gastritis and other serious
ailments.
Other prisoners have endured abysmal treatment even longer. For
instance, Francisco Chaviano's offense was to document rafters who
disappeared or died trying to flee Cuba. Arrested in 1994, he was
sentenced to 15 years for ``revealing state security secrets.''
Mr. Chaviano also suffers severe ailments, including high blood pressure
and respiratory problems. His health has been worsened by pervasive
humidity, lack of sunlight and denial of medical care. Though eligible
for parole years ago, he now is the ''longest imprisoned human-rights
activist in the Americas,'' according to Cuba Archive.
The real crime here is Cuba's abuse of Messrs. Pulido López, Chaviano
and hundreds of others wrongly deprived of freedom. International
attention and pressure on the Cuban government helps political
prisoners, as those freed in the past have confirmed. Cuba must get the
message from all corners of the world: Release all political prisoners
-- now.
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