CENTER FOR A FREE CUBA APPEALS TO AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL, MORE HUNGER STRIKERS IN CUBA

CENTER FOR A FREE CUBA APPEALS TO AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL, MORE HUNGER
STRIKERS IN CUBA
2010-02-27.
Frank Calzon, Executive Director, Center for a Free Cuba
(www.miscelaneasdecuba.net).-

February 26, 2010

Mr. Claudio Cordone
Amnesty International
One Easton Street
London WCIX 0DW, UK

Dear Mr. Corone,
I am writing to ask Amnesty International to do everything it can to
gain access to Cuban political prisoners, especially those held at three
prisons where some of them have started hunger strikes in response to
beatings and abuse at the hand of guards.

The prisoners are calling on the Cuban government to release all Cuban
political prisoners. They are said to have been placed in punishment
cells at Prison Kilo 8 and Kilo 5 in the Province of Pinar del Rio. We
also received reports that another hunger strike has started at the
Prison of Canaleta in Ciego de Avila.

The recent death of Orlando Zapata, after more than eighty days in a
hunger strike, has been reported by the international media and some
governments have spoken on the case, but it took Zapata's death to end
the lack of media interest and the silence of key governments.

Amnesty International should be commended for its many efforts.
Nevertheless, while the world has taken notice of the situation at the
US Naval Base at Guantanamo, few if any have called on General Raul
Castro to allow the International Red Cross into Cuba's political
prisons. Perhaps a concerted international effort led by Amnesty
International will result in Amnesty and the Red Cross entering Cuba.

The repression surrounding the burial of Orlando Zapata should remind
everyone of the real nature of the Cuban government, and the urgent need
for the international community to insist with General Raul Castro that
the dismal conditions under which Cuban prisoners are held must end.

Respectfully,
Frank Calzon
Executive Director
Center for a Free Cuba

CENTER FOR A FREE CUBA APPEALS TO AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL, MORE HUNGER
STRIKERS IN CUBA - Misceláneas de Cuba (27 February 2010)
http://www.miscelaneasdecuba.net/web/article.asp?artID=25954