Whatever We Need to Do for the Freedom of Cuba, We Will Continue Doing

"Whatever We Need to Do for the Freedom of Cuba, We Will Continue Doing"
Translating Cuba, Translator: Raul G.

After being confined to a dungeon of the Versalles Police Unit in
Santiago de Cuba for 27 days, the leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba,
Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia, narrates how his recent arrest occurred, of
which "crimes" he is being accused of, and sends out a message to the
international and national (Cuba) community in the following interview:

Pedazos de la Isla: We have heard the testimonies of your wife, Belkis
Cantillo, and of your daughter Martha Beatriz about what happened in
your home on April 2nd. Tell us about that moment from your own experience.

José Daniel Ferrer García: I was detained on April 2nd, 2012 after
consecutively participating in two programs on Radio Marti. Upon
finishing the final program, the 3 main chiefs from the repressive
organisms of the Castro tyranny of Santiago de Cuba showed up to my
house along with other members of the political police and the national
police. They raided my home, tearing down the door and taking my wife
amid physical blows. They even used forced against my mother-in-law.

I only had enough time to send out a message on Hablalo sin Miedo,
detailing that my home was being invaded. They forcibly took my wife
and I, another relative, and 7 other activists from UNPACU who were
carrying out their activities in favor of freedom.

After they detained us, the police officials stayed in my house, sacking
it. They took laptops, 2 printers, lots of information on CDs, USB
drives, lots of books, print outs from UNPACU, our cell phones, photo
cameras, microphones, TV cards (during those days we had just finished
recording images from the papal visit to Cuba), blank sheets of paper,
pens, everything. They robbed us as they regularly rob the home of any
peaceful dissident.

PDLI: Have they returned any of these materials which they stole from you?

JDFG: None of the things they robbed from me have been returned. It is
all in their possession (the regime), including my wife's cell phone and
my cell phone. They even robbed flashlights and photographs.

PDLI: What happened after they arrested you?

JDFG: They took us to different police units- some to Micro 9, other to
"La Tercera". My wife, our other relative, and I were taken to the
Versalles Unit, to the department of Criminal Operations and
Instruction. After 72 to 96 hours, they started to release the rest of
the activists, including my wife.

PDLI: You spent 27 days detained. During this time, you declared
yourself on hunger strike, you received threats, etc. Now that they
released you, what do you know of what is happening with other activists
from UNPACU who are still being held?

JDFG : In these very moments, there are still two of our members in
prison. One of them- Dany Lopez de Moya- was sentenced under a false
judicial process which the regime routinely puts in practice in the
Castro tribunals. Moya was sentenced to 1 year and 6 months of prison
for the supposed crime of resistance and disobedience to the
authorities. There is also the case of Bismark Mustelier Galan who is
in preventative prison in the Aguadores Jail, waiting for a trial for
the supposed crime of "attempt" when he did not do such a thing. He was
actually the victim of an arbitrary and violent arrest on behalf of one
of the delegates from the Ministry of the Interior in Palma Soriano and
another police agent.

PDLI: Their were many civic demonstrations throughout the island in
demand of your liberation, as their also were in the Cuban exile
community and in other parts of the world. How does all this solidarity
make you feel?

JDFG : It has made my spirit stronger, especially upon seeing all of the
brothers and sisters who have displayed valor, intelligence and
sacrifice not only in this Eastern region but in other parts of the
country, as well as my brothers in exile and many other people around
the world. There has been much solidarity. Now, we must continue in
the fight and put our grain of sand for the freedom and democracy of Cuba.

PDLI: In your case, you still have pending accusations…

JDFG : They released me on the afternoon of April 29th under the warning
that there is still an open process against me. They gave me a file
number- 66- in which they accuse me of "instigating, organizing, and
financing" acts of public disorder in the Eastern region of Cuba.
According to them, our peaceful actions in favor of the democratization
of Cuba are acts of provocation which contribute to public disorder.
They have told me that if i continue "organizing, inciting, and
financing" these kinds of actions, then they would accelerate the
process against me and taken me to prison under supposed crimes of
disorder and I would have to serve the rest of my sentence of the Black
Spring of 2003. In other words, I would have to serve the remaining 17
years of my 25 year sentence, in addition to more time which they would
add for the crime of public disorder.

They told me that, if on the contrary, I understand this and chose the
"best" way out and avoid this situation, turning ourselves into a
"closed door" opposition, an opposition of only denouncements, of
moderate and timid actions, then they would possibly analyze my case and
decide a new verdict. This is their threat.

PDLI: And what is your response to this threat?

JDFG : My response is that whatever we need to do, in a peaceful manner,
for the freedom of Cuba, we will continue doing. And if we have to
return to prison, then we will go back to prison. As the saying goes,
in a nation where the elemental rights of men are violated, the best
place for an honest man is a jail cell.

–

For more information from Cuba:

Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia – Cell Phone (temporary): +5352-997-987 //
Twitter: @jdanielferrer

Post taken from Pedazos de la Isla: Follow this blog for daily
up-to-the-minute reports about what is happening in Cuba to opponents of
the regime, independent journalists, alternative bloggers and others.

30 April 2012

http://translatingcuba.com/?p=18000