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August
11, 2001
Bridges constructed to prevent Cubans fleeing Reported by Ferdinando Castro de Lardiller, Guantanamo Delegate of the "Partido Democratico 30 de Noviembre 'Frank Pais' ", received by Martha Tamargo of the Information Bridge Cuba-Miami, August 11, 2001.
(GUANTANAMO, CUBA) The Province of Guantanamo,
characterized by the most severe measures of repression on a national scale,
has been creating a security system aimed at impeding the exodus of Cubans
towards the US Naval Base, not only by criminally maintaining a large mine
field which serves no military objective, but to serve as a deterrent to the
Cubans trying to exit illegally to the American Military Base of Guantánamo.
Many Cubans have lost their lives and others have been mutilated trying to
reach American soil.
Now, they have imposed another security method
of building bridges on both sides of the bay in its narrowest part. These
bridges, 400 meters long each, are approximately 100 meters apart, and are
located in the center of the bay where ships are supposed to pass; in
addition, the part of the bridge that is under water has a massive wire mesh
and another one that goes from one bridge to another, that not only impedes
the passage of boats but also interferes in the normal circulation of the fish
in the bay and also provokes the rotting of the fish that become entrapped
there, this method together with the construction of rock roads up to the
natural islet inside the Guantánamo Bay have not only affected the food
supply of the "Municipality of Caimanera", but have also provoked the
contamination of the ocean life, and with it, the loss of breeding crabs and
oysters, which represented work for people whom are now left without work.
This disruption of the ecosystem has been
denounced by the fishing management in the municipality before the Academy of
Science of Cuba (Academia de Ciencias de Cuba). However, the General
Management of the Ministry of the Interior, does not authorize the suspension
of the closing of the bay by the "Dancymar", which is the name given to the
bridges and the mesh that have lights that run 25 meters from one side of the
bridge to the other which at night time create so much light that it appears
to be daytime.
In the Caimanera Municipality, with its
population of 10,542 residents, members of the Revolutionary Defence Committee
and also members of the Communist Party of Cuba, maintain an obligatory
vigilance of the bay with the objective of impeding any escape attempts by
Cubans to leave the country, this vigilance is rigorously controlled by
patrols from the Department of State Security whom maintain a strict and
impeccable route of surveillance from the tip of "Canito" up to the beach of
Tokio.
And last but not least, at age 16, the young
people in this municipality are taken away from this municipality to serve
their obligatory military service. This is the reality which the people of
Cuba are forced to live because of the despotism of a totalitarian regime that
was imposed 42 years ago.
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August 15th, 2001
Iovani Aguilar Camejo arrested in Havana
by
Israel Abreu
On today's date at 10:30
P.M., Iovani Aguilar Camejo, official of the Cuban Center of Information in
Havana, was arrested while transmitting for the program “1ra. Plana”, of
Radio WADO in New York.
As Iovani was being
interviewed live by Miguel Pérez of Radio WADO, as background noises became
apparent, Iovani’s voice was heard telling Pérez to wait on line because
agents of the State Security were knocking on his door. " Iovani returned
to the phone minutes later, to inform Miguel Pérez that the agents had taken
away his identification card and that he had to go with them even though
they did not bring an arrest warrant, and that if he did not go with them
they would accuse him of resisting arrest. Miguel asked Iovani to tell the
Castro agents, as a protection measure, that at the moment of his arrest he
was transmitting for Radio WADO in New York.
Everything happened so
fast and without any warning that the listeners of Radio WADO were perplexed
at the fact that in Cuba they had just arrested a Cuban journalist only for
being interviewed on a foreign radio station. The commentaries subsequently
made on the program by listeners speak for themselves. Regrettably, the
individual rights of yet another man inside Cuba were not honored, but the
world is beginning to realize the lack of freedom of the Cuban people.
The November 30 Movement (Movimiento
30 de Noviembre) condemns the police brutality against the independent
journalists in Cuba and it demands that our brother Iovani Aguilar Camejo be
released immediately, his only crime has been to exercise his profession,
just like the rest of the journalists around the world do on a daily
basis. We want to take this opportunity to congratulate Miguel Pérez,
journalist with Radio WADO, and Sergio Gatria, Director of the Cuban Center
of Information in New Jersey for their magnificent work in providing a
vehicle so that the voices of the independent journalists and that of the
Cuban Civic Resistance that the Cuban dictatorship gags, are heard outside
the Island .
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August 15 2001
Food supply taken from mother of 3 small children By Pedro Castellanos Pérez (Cienfuegos, Cuba), on the 13th day of August at 5:30am, a group of agents of the police entered and searched the home of Mrs. Oneida Romero Godoy, and they confiscated her flour, sugar and shortening. Mrs. Romero Godoy acquired these products in the “black market”, to bake sweets, and sell them to be able to support her three small children after she was laid off from her job at Mrs. Nelly’s candy store. Embarrassing cases like this one are happening in our Country on a daily basis. Reported from Cienfuegos, Pedro Castellanos Pérez, for the Informative Bridge Cuba-Miami.
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Iovany transferred to the
DTI in Havana.
August 16, 2001
Iovany Aguilar Camejo,
member of the Fraternal Brothers for the Dignity Movement( Movimiento
Hermanos Fraternales por la Dignidad), affiliated to the PD-30-N “Frank
País”, was detained yesterday, August 15th, at around 10:15 in the
morning, while he participated via telephone, in a radio program based in New
York, and was driven to the unit of the “Capri” in Havana .
According to Alma, Iovany’s
wife, they have been participating in an activity requesting freedom without
exile for the prisoners. This activity took place every Wednesday in different
homes, but they are now held at “La Virgen del Camino”, this was the third
time they held this activity at that location.
Carlos Oquendo, Delegate of
the Movement 13th of July ( Movimiento 13 de Julio), was
detained in this activity, but he was released today, at aproximately one
o’clock in the afternoon. This leads us to believe that Iovany’s arrest is not
only because of his participation in this activity, being
that he was transferred to The Technical Department of
Investigations (Departamento Técnico de Investigaciones, DTI) in the
Municipality of Boyeros in the City of Havana, better known as “100 and
Aldabó”.
This is the latest
information known on the whereabouts of Iovany Aguilar Camejo, as stated by
his wife Alma, this Thursday, August 16th at 9:00 p.m
Received by Pablo
Rodríguez Carvajal, for the Informative Bridge Cuba-Miami, this 16th day of
August, 2001.
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René Montes de Oca transferred
to another prison.
By Eloína Díaz Ruiz
August 19th, 2001
(Villa Clara, Cuba) – On
this past July 16th, the political prisoner René Montes de Oca
Martija, General Secretary of the Pro Human Rights Party of Cuba (Partido
Pro Derechos Humanos de Cuba), affiliated to the Andrei Zajarov Foundation,
was transferred from the “Combinado del Este” prison in Havana, to the
“Canaleta” ”prison, in the County of Ciego de Avila.
Rene’s health problems have
not improved. He continues to experience a lack of air, severe ulcers, and
complications from hepatitis B; he has not received any medical assistance
from the prison’s doctors. Jesús Montes de Oca Martija, René’s brother, and
whom collaborated in gathering this information stated that he fears for his
brothers’ life, René Montes de Oca Martija has lost a lot of weight.
From Villa Clara, Eloína
Díaz Ruiz, for the Information Bridge Cuba-Miami. Given to Martha Tamargo on August
19 2001.
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Detained, President of Association of Prisoners and
Former Political Prisoner in Guantánamo
By Ferdinando
Castro de Lardiller
August 19th, 2001
(Guantánamo, Cuba) –Alberto
Martínez Fernández, former political prisoner, and President of the
Association of Prisoners and Former Political Prisoners in Guantánamo was
detained, while complying with the association’s program of visiting the
political prisoners at the “Combinado de Guantánamo” prison. On August 14,
the prison authorities detained Martínez Fernández during his visit with
political prisoner Randy Cabrera Mayor.
In the four hours that his
detention lasted, Alberto was subjected to the usual threats; he was accused
of being a contrarevolutionary and was told that if he returned to visit the
political prisoners, they would make life difficult for him.
This Leader of the
opposition in Guantánamo, this year alone has been a victim of many injustices,
detentions, even kidnapping by the repressive machinery of the State Security.
Ferdinando Castro de
Lardiller, Delegate in Guantánamo of the PD-30-N “Frank País”, for the
Information Bridge Cuba-Miami. Given to Martha Tamargo this 18th
day of August, 2001.
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Former
political prisoner was detained and threatened
By Eloína Díaz Ruiz
August 19th, 2001
(Villa Clara, Cuba) - Joaquín Morales López, 38 years old, and
a neighbor of Carrillo 121 A, in the municipality of Sagua La Grande was
detained in public at 4:10 o'clock AM, on August 18th 2001, by a
Major of the State Security that goes by the name of Arias.
This oppositionist was detained and driven in a white lada car
to the office of the State Security of this municipality; his detention lasted
12 hours.
According to Joaquín , “ Major Arias informed him that next
time, he will arrest him and throw him out of the car far away from the
municipality of Villa Clara, and if he continues attending meetings in his
activities of the opposition, he will make sure that he disappears.
The reason for this opponent’s arrest was that he was going to
attend a meeting in Santa Clara on August 18th, at the home of
oppositionist Edy Espinosa, but the meeting could not take place due to the
measures of repression and as a consequence, the arrest of the oppositionists.
Also, in the morning of the 15th of August, a poster
was attached to the front door of the home of Morales López, with the
following offenses written: WORM, PIG, OPPOSITIONIST, TAKE CARE, TRAITOR. WE
WILL MAKE YOU DISAPPEAR.
This oppositionist, a member of the PPDHC (Spanish Acronym) for
the Cuban Pro Human Rights Party, affiliated to the Andrei Zajarov Foundation,
is a former political prisoner of 1983.
Eloína Díaz Ruíz, Delegate of the PPDHC, affiliated to the
Andrei Zajarov Foundation, for the Information Bridge Cuba-Miami. Given to
Martha Tamargo, this 19th day of August 2001.
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Denouncement: Repression and Harassment of Political
Prisoners
(Guantanamo, Cuba) - Political prisoner Jorge Luis Larrazabal Sulueta, after having served 21 days in a punishment cell (Tapiada) , to which he had been confined last July 25th for having made numerous signs against the dictatorship, motivated by of the July 26th celebrations (anniversary of the dictator's revolution); was transferred to an isolated cell on the 5th floor of the Provincial Prison of Guantanamo called “Combinado”, where he is the constant subject of threats and body searches at the hands of prison officials Lieutenant Jorge Cherie Perez, Captain Raidel, Captain Silvestre, Major Caraballo, First Lieutenant Jorge Ricardo La Mora Suarez and First Lieutenant Jesus Beuly, whom is also second in chief to the warden of said prison. These officials believe that Larrazabal is the head of the opposition in this prison. Larrazabal Sulueta suffers from an active arterial hypertensive condition, which provoke his chest pains and shortness of breath. He is not receiving the necessary medical treatment that his illness requires, in several occasions, they have refused to give him the necessary medical attention his condition has required. Reported by Ferdinando Castro de Lardiller, Delegate in Guantánamo, of the "Partido Democratico 30 de Noviembre 'Frank Pais' ", given to Martha Tamargo of the Information Bridge Cuba-Miami, on the 18th of August, 2001.
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Violence among the youth in Guantánamo
Ferdinando Castro de Lardiller
August 23, 2001
(Guantánamo, Cuba) - The young man Jorge Luis
López, 20 years old, whom lives at Street 3 West No. 1266, between 1 and 2
South, in this City of Guantánamo, became the latest victim of the wave of
violence unleashed by the youth in this city.
On the night of August 21st, this young man was
coming back home from the location where he is serving his Obligatory Military
Service, when he tried to break up a fight in which approximately 7
adolescents were carrying machetes, reminisent of the Mambises era, when one
of them tried to strike him with a machete over the head. In order to protect
his head from the blow, Jorge Luis held his left hand up in the air, the
impact of the "machete"severed three of his fingers, leaving the index finger
and the thumb intact.
Upon his arrival at the provincial surgical
clinic Agustino Neto, his entire hand was amputated.
As of the date of this transmission, August
22nd, the police had not yet found the young perpetrators of this violent act
which left an innocent young victim without a hand.
Reported by Ferdinando Castro de Lardiller,
Guantánamo Delegate of "Partido Democratico 30 de Noviembre 'Frank País' " to
the Information Bridge Cuba-Miami. Given to Martha Tamargo on the 23rd of
August, 2001.
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Media Group Protests to Cuba
PARIS (AP) - An international media advocacy group said Friday it has protested to Cuba about the police questioning of three reporters who work outside the government media. The Paris-based Reporters Without Borders said it sent a letter to Cuban Interior Minister Gen. Abelardo Colome Ibarra, asking him to ``put an end to the state's pressure on journalists.'' Jesus Joel Diaz Hernandez and Carlos Brizuela Yera, who work for non-state news agencies, were questioned for eight hours on Wednesday, the group's director Robert Menard said in a statement. Also Wednesday, police took Dorka de Cespedes of the non-state Havana Press in for questioning ahead of an unauthorized demonstration she planned to cover, the group said. She was threatened with imprisonment but released. The majority of the independent journalists work with organizations in the United States. Many of them are run by groups opposed to Cuban President Fidel Castro (news - web sites). The Cuban government calls the journalists who do not work for state-run or state-sponsored organizations ``counterrevolutionaries.'' Menard said that more than 15 non-government Cuban reporters had been taken in for questioning since the beginning of the year, including the three this week. About 100 independent Cuban journalists face constant harassment by authorities, the organization said.
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Detained: Activist of the "Partido
Democrático 30 de Noviembre"
by Ferdinando
Castro de Lardiller
August 25, 2001
(Guantánamo, Cuba) - On Wednesday, August 22, at
5:00 AM, Pavel Manuel Vargas D'ville, a 28 year old member of the Cuban
peaceful opposition, with the "Partido Democrático 30 de Noviembre (PD-30-N)"
, was arrested at his home.
His wife, Yeni, went to several different police
stations looking for him in this city, including the Department of Operations
of the State Security, wherein she was informed that he was not at any of
these stations. Relatives continue insisting that authorities reveal the
location where Pavel is being held.
Members of th PD-30-N have joined in the search,
along with other members of various other organizations of the peaceful
opposition in Guantánamo.
Pavel was previously detained at the end of July,
wherein the Official Fernando Repilado summoned Pavel's wife, and requested
that she colaborate with them so that her husband would not have trouble in
the future.
This official's
attitude demonstrates how in communist regimes an innocent person is
transformed into a guilty person and taken to prison.
Reported Ferdinando Castro de Lardiller, Guantánamo Delegate
of the PD-30-N “Frank País”. To the Information Bridge Cuba-Miami. Given to Martha
Tamargo on August 23, 2001.
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Mother is desperate over her son's
disappearance
By
Ferdinando Castro de Lardiller
August 25, 2001
(Guantánamo, Cuba) – Mrs. Virgen Justi García
is asking for the intersession of the international public opinion to help
find her son Héctor Preval Justi, whom disappeared January 13, 1994, he was
24 years old at the time of his dissapearance.
This mother notified the government from the
first moment her son disappeared. She asked for help from the Red Cross,
where she was assisted by Mr. Nivaldo, head of the Red Cross in the province,
whom explained to her that there was nothing they could do, and that they
had nothing to do with that.
Upon receiving such a response from an
organization whose mission is to save lives, she decided to write to the
general of the army and official of the Interior Ministry Abelardo Colomé
Ibarra. He forwarded her letter to the Citizen Care Department of the
Interior Ministry in this city. She was given an appointment to see a
Lieutenant Blanco, who told her that perhaps her son abandoned the country,
and if that is the case they are not interested because he is a traitor to
the country, they added that they had no knowledge of what happened to her
son.
Months later she was given an appointment to
see Tony, an official of the Department of State Security for her to sign
the file, being that the case was closed. The mother refused to sign it, alledging
that the government had not made any attempt to find her son.
Nevertheless, the police summoned Virgen on
two occasions so that she would give up her son's rationing card, to which
she responded "What is more important to the State, the five pounds of rice
or the life of a missing young man?" To which they responded that the case
had been closed because her son was not in Cuba.
I ask myself, Does the government know the
whereabouts of this young man? And if they don't know, who can they state
that he is out of the country and close the case.
Virgen's intuition tells her that her son is
alive, and that if he were not in the country he would have gotten in touch
with her by now, being that they are very close. She is asking the
international community to please help her find her son, because if
the Cuban government would have had political use for him, as in the case of
Elián González, then they would have tried to find him.
Reported by Ferdinando Castro de Lardiller,
Guantánamo Delegate of the "Partido Democratico 30 de Noviembre 'Frank
País'" to the Information Bridge Cuba-Miami. Given to Martha Tamargo, August 23,
2001.
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Payback against prison military man
by Ferdinando Castro de Lardiller
August 23, 2001
(Guantánamo, Cuba) - On the night of August 21st, north of the
City of Guantanamo, a member of the military prison personnel was attacked
with a machete. Apparently, this violent act was payback from a prisoner who
was a victim of the abuses the prison military officials constantly perpetrate
against the penal population of the prison known as "Combinado de Guantánamo".
The official in question is presently in the intensive care
unit of the Provincial Hospital of Guantánamo with life threatening injuries.
The name of this military official is not known, due to the
heavy vigilance on this unity by members of the Ministry of the Interior.
As of the date of this report the police had no clue as to who
was the perpetrator of this act of retaliation.
Reported Ferdinando Castro de Lardiller, Delegate in
Guantánamo of "Partido Democratico 30 de Noviembre 'Frank País' " to the
Information Bridge Cuba-Miami. Given to Martha Tamargo on the 23rd of August,
2001.
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Detained: President of “Movimiento 6
de Enero”
By Rogelio Menéndez Díaz
(LA HABANA, CUBA) - Bárbaro Antonio Bela Gregor,
President of “Movimiento 6 de Enero” (January 6th Movement), was detained today
August 27, at approximately 3:00 pm, according to his wife.
This member of the peaceful opposition was
taken to the Fourth Unit located at Infante and Manglar, and from there he was
taken to Villa Marista.
As of the date of the transcription of this
report the motive for his detention is unknown.
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No Water
By Rogelio Menéndez Díaz
(LA HABANA, CUBA)
This August 26th, at "La Habana Vieja's " (Old Habana's),
central station, the passengers that were waiting for the train that runs from
La Habana to Manzanillo, traveled for 22 hours without water. Twelve
passenger wagons without water.
Upon their arrival at the Santa Clara station, approximately
100 passengers disembarked from the train demanding water from the station's
employees. Many of them shouted "we want water, the children can not be
without water. It is abusive." Also, there were elderly people onboard.
It was raining when the train was scheduled to leave at 8:25 pm.
It left seven hours later because the employees did not have rain coats, being
that the State did not provide them with coats.
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Havana is falling apart
By Rogelio Menéndez Díaz
(LA HABANA, CUBA) On August 25, 2001, on the street
"10 de Octubre, number 1201", between San Mariano and Vista Alegre, the
balcony from a home fell after being held together with wooden boards for the
past 8 years. The astonished neighbors manifested against the Castro
government by screaming on the street: "how much longer will we have to
continue risking our children's lives? . Others were heard saying, "There are
so many luxiourious hotels - what about us?!"
The latest Tropical Depression, Chantal,
caused heavy rain over our city. Many homes in danger of collapsing were
abandoned, the home whose balcony collapsed was one of them.
From Havana, Rogelio Menéndez Díaz,
President of "Municipios de Cuba Derechos Humanos". For the Information
Bridge Cuba-Miami. Given to Martha Tamargo on the 27th day of August 2001.
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Support Requested/Political Prisoner
in Hunger Strike
Eloína Díaz Ruiz
August 27, 2001
The National Executive of the Pro Human Rights Party of Cuba, affiliated to the Andrei Zajarov Foundation, its Provincial Delegation of Villa Clara, and the pacifist organizations of the country and in the exterior, as well as the Pentecost and Catholic Churches, hereby request support from the Vatican, Pope Juan Pablo II, the International Public Opinion and the International Red Cross, for the Cuban Political Prisoner René Montes de Oca Martija. His health has deteriorated rapidly due to the lack of medical assistance inside the Cuban jails. Notwithstanding his frail health, on August 20th, Montes de Oca began a hunger strike, because the Cuban authorities want to prosecute him again, for having escaped a few months back. The upcoming visit of September 2nd for this political prisoner was suspended because he was caught trying to smuggle out information on the serious tuberculosis epidemic inside this prison.
We request immediate support for this
political prisoner, his life is presently in danger.
Eloína Díaz Ruiz, Provincial Delegate of
the PPDHC, affiliated to the Andrei Zajarov Foundation. Given to the
Information Bridge Cuba-Miami, this August 23, of 2001.
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TRANSLATION:
Published on Thursday,
August 30 2001 in
"El Nuevo
Herald"
A political prisoner
denounces physical abuse
Néstor Rodríguez was beaten
at the hands of the political police
EFE
The Cuban political prisoner Néstor Rodríguez Lobaina who is
serving a six year sentence in a jail in Guantánamo, denounced before several
international organisms that he had been a victim of
“violent aggressions” at the hand of the Political Police of Cuba.
The Cuban Democratic Revolutionary Directory Organization, with
headquarters in Miami, informed that Yunaibis Castillo Betancourt, wife of the
political prisoner, read over the telephone a letter sent to several
international organisms.
Rodríguez Lobaina, 35 years old, is the president of the Cuban
Youth Movement for the Democracy (Movimiento de Jóvenes Cubanos por la
Democracia), group of the opposition trying to achieve autonomy for the
university since 1991. He was accused of `` disobeying the orders of the
commander in chief Fidel Castro”, as well as for “public disorder”.
The dissident sent a missive on his situation to Amnesty
International, (organization that has declared him a prisoner of conscience);
to the Commissions of Human Rights of the UN and of the European Parliament
and to the diplomatic entities credited in Cuba.
``At this moment I find myself in the urgent necessity to
appeal to the above referred international organisms and to all the honest men
of good will in the civilized World to denounce and to send out an SOS in
defense of my physical integrity”, he points out.
Lobaina explained that he entered the ward for prisoners of the
General Hospital of Guantánamo, with `` a bilateral fracture in his jaw, as a
result of a violent aggression inflicted by elements recruited by the
paramilitary repressive bodies of the Political Police".
According to Rodríguez Lobaina, the incident is the "strategy"
used by the police organism ``to create psychological terror and to lower the
morale of political prisoners that are serving unjust prison terms imposed by
the communist régime of the Island".
`` I ask them to intercede before the Cuban government so that
my physical integrity is respected and to put an end to the politics of terror
and vandalism, which is covered up, of the Cuban authorities against its
political opponents and pacífic oppositionists'', the political prisoner said.
He specified that his ``only crime is to exercise the
legitimate right of association, manifestation and of freedom of speech. All
in a pacific manner and not by force. During the past eleven years, I have
been subjected to a wide range of physical and psychological tortures on the
part of the Department of the State Security," he added.
The prisoner's wife informed that Rodríguez Lobaina completes
his sentence in the Prison of "Combinado de Guantánamo", and in spite of his
health condition that requires he remains hospitalized, the police want to
transfer him to the prison infirmary.
All this ``without taking into account that at the present time
he can only be fed liquids", affirmed his wife.
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Love, Homeland and Liberty
By: Rene Montes de Oca Martija
Smuggled out / Canaleta Prison in Cuba on:
August 9th, 2001
Received at PICM on:
August 27th, 2001
I want to take this opportunity on
behalf of our Organization to thank and congratulate all our
brothers and sisters in Exile, whom have shown solidarity to our
pain, in every which way possible.
Thank you for your generous economic
and spiritual contributions. My special thanks to those, whom by
means of diffusion take the Cuban reality before the eyes of The
World.
Thank you also to those who are
sacrificing so much for our Country; especially to the members of
our party. Thanks to Carlos Alberto Domínguez, Marcé, Magalys.
Thanks to Emilio Leyva, Lázaro Miguel Rodríguez, Antonio
Esquiarrosa, Eloína Díaz Ruiz, Maritza Lugo, Iovany Aguilar,
Carlos Oquendo, Mercedes Clementina Constantín, Elizardo Sánchez,
Osvaldo Payá Sardiñas. Thanks to all my brothers in this quest for
Liberty.
From the prison of Canaleta in
Ciego de Avila, Cuba René Montes de Oca Martija, August 9th,
2001. Transmitted to The Information Bridge Cuba- Miami by, Eloina
Díaz Ruiz, Provincial Delegate of the PPDHC affiliated to the
Andrei Zajarov Foundation. This 27th day of August,
2001.
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Medications retained and sent to lab for
analysis
By Eloína Díaz Ruiz
August 28, 2001
(Villa Clara, Cuba) - August 20 2001 - Jesus Montes de Oca,
brother of René Montes de Oca Martija, the Cuban Political prisoner, confined
in the Canaleta prison in Ciego de Avila, denounced to the International
Public Opinion the deterioration of his brother’s health and stated the
following:
“ The Cuban government refuses to provide medical assistance to
my brother René. His health is deteriorating rapidly, he is experiencing
severe pain in his lungs, the ulcers are severely affecting him also”. His
brother Jesús went on to say “ In their efforts to prevent my brother from
receiving any and all medical assistance, the Cuban government confiscated the
medication we brought to the prison for René. Using the justification that
they had to analyze the medications that came from abroad for it could be
contaminated, could cause the death of the prisoner, and then they would be
held accountable”.
“René Montes suffers from hepatitis B, he was intentionally
infected inside the prison in 1993. His relatives are formally requesting the
International Community to intercede on his behalf “. His brother Jesús went
on to say, “We request the intercession of the International Red Cross for the
medical attention my brother so desperately needs.”
Eloína Díaz Ruiz, Provincial Delegate of the PPDHC Affiliated
to the Andrei Zajarov Foundation in Villa Clara, for the Informative Bridge
Cuba-Miami.
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Cubanet: in Spanish
Political prisoner writes "Down
with the tyrant Fidel Castro" in his own blood
LA HABANA, Cuba, August 31 (José Antonio Fornaris, Cuba-Verdad) - Political
prisoner Yorkis Pineda Laurencio cut himself in order to write with his blood
the proclamation "Down with the tyrant Fidel Castro" on one of the cell walls
where he is locked up in the prison known as "Combinado de Guantánamo".
Pineda's action was in protest of the beating which he received moments
earlier at the hands of two penal officials, Oniel Despaigne and Bartolo
Lescay. These officials stated that they were carrying out direct orders from
Jorge Chediak, warden of the prison.
The assault took place towards the end of last month and it was made public
in clandestine letter written by a political prisoner of the same prison,
Jorge Luis Larrazábal Zulueta, whom requests in his letter that the
denouncement be delivered to international human rights organizations.
The "Combinado de Guantánamo" prison, which is also known as the provincial
prison of Guantánamo, and located in the province of Guantánamo is
characterized by the cruel and inhumane treatment of prisoners at the hands of
prison officials.
This information was transmitted by telephone, being that the government of Cuba
does not permit Cuban citizens private access to the Internet.CubaNet does not
claim the exclusivity of its collaborators, and authorizes the reproduction of
this material, as long as it is recognized as its source.
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Cubanet: in Spanish
TRANSLATION:
Quarantine in force in Guantánamo prison due to
tuberculosis outbreak
LA HABANA, CUBA, August 31 (José Antonio Fornaris, Cuba-Verdad)
- The provincial prison of Guantánamo is presently in quarantine due to the
large magnitude of the tuberculosis outbreak affecting the penal population of
the prison.
Although confirmation of the number of people affected by the
illness is impossible, for there are almost 4,000 prisoners in this prison
known as "Combinado de Guantánamo", sources say that there are many cases.
This information was smuggled out of that prison by way of a
written report signed by the political prisoners Juan Carlos Fonseca, Randy
Cabrera Mayor y Genaro Anache.
Said report reveals that the penal officials limit themselves only
to ordering blood tests to the prisoners that are being released.
According to the report by the previously mentioned political
prisoners, the justification used by the prison's officials for their lack of
medical diagnosis and treatment for this epidemic in the "Combinado de
Guantánamo" is that they do not have the means needed to assist the prisoners
with symptoms of tuberculosis.
According to the laws and other regulations currently in force
in the country, the National Board of Jails and Prisons of the Interior
Ministry (located at 15 and K, Vedado, City of La Habana) is responsible for
the physical and mental integrity of all of the prisoners in Cuban
penitentiaries.
This information was transmitted by telephone, being that
the government of Cuba does not permit Cuban citizens private access to the
Internet.
CubaNet does not claim the exclusivity of its collaborators,
and authorizes the reproduction of this material, as long as it is recognized
as its source.
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Tuberculosis epidemic in Canaleta Prison, in Ciego de Avila
By René Montes de Oca
August 28 2001
(Villa Clara, Cuba) - August 9 2001 – On August 1st, I was called to the
medical office at the prison’s infirmary for an interview with the physician
who is head of the medical department. At which time I was informed that they
would not give me the medication my family brought for treatment of my ulcer,
until Gustavo, who’s the official of the State Security (Cuban Political
Police), gave his authorization, “those medications were donated and if
something happens to you, we would be held accountable”, said the above
mentioned physician. This of course is his justification to deny me any and
all medical assistance. In the time I spent in this office, they had the
following statistics registered in a board:
21 cases of tuberculosis
30 cases of arterial hypertension
18 cases of ulcer.
I think they are not disclosing the real number of cases with “TB”, because
when I was transferred to this prison in February of this year, in department
3, cubicle 42 alone, at least 25% of the prisoners had tuberculosis.
The government's lack of interest in the containment of this epidemic is
alarming: The lack of hygiene, the lack of nutritional meals, and many other
inhumane factors are the root of this epidemic and the reasons for the
critical health issues that the Cuban prisoners suffer.
From the Canaleta prison, in Ciego de Avila, René Montesde Oca Martija,
General Secretary of the PPDHC, affiliated to the Andrei Zajarov Foundation,
and transmitted by Eloína Díaz Ruiz , provincial Delegate of Villa Clara.
============================
Tense situation in the
Provincial Prison Combinado of Guantanamo
The
situation remains tense in the Provincial Prison Combinado of Guantanamo
because of the authorities' inability in controlling the outbreak of
tuberculosis which originated there as a consequence of the violations
committed in regards to sanitary hygiene for the prison and for the
prisoners.
Patients
in critical condition, like that of Isidro Osmel Sosa Taurio and
Pausides Tejeda Ge are forced to live together the rest of the penal
population, in violation of the isolation procedures that this disease
requires due to its easy and rapid contamination rate.
The
dictator's lackeys, in a perverse and diabolic attitude, transfer the
contagious prisoners to the cells holding political prisoners, in the
same manner as they did it to the prisoner of conscience Nestor
Rodriguez Lobaina.
Reported by Ferdinando
Castro de Lardiller, Guantanamo, Cuba, Delegate of the "Partido
Democratico 30 de Noviembre 'Frank Pais' ", to Martha Tamargo of the
Information Bridge Cuba-Miami, Miami, Florida, USA, July 26, 2001.
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Cubanet: in Spanish
TRANSLATION:
Tuberculosis outbreak in the neighborhood of
Bazán Cuatro
in Sagua de Tánamo
HOLGUIN, Cuba, August 31 (Juan Carlos Garcell, APLO) - Health officials in the
neighborhood of Bazán Cuatro, located in Sagua de Tánamo, Province of Holguín
(Cuba), reported an outbreak of tuberculosis, although the number of
people infected with the illness has not been released.
Those afflicted with the disease are mostly outcasts, alcoholics,
undernourished people, some living under inhumane conditions.
Specialists whom wished to remain anonymous were consulted, they all agreed
that there is a connection linking this illness, to the lack of nutrition and
the general unhealthiness of most of the inhabitants in this area.
A reliable source revealed that officials of the Public Health Ministry in
Sagua de Tánamo, are alarmed at the increasing amount of people afflicted with
the disease, although he did not want to be more specific due to "security
reasons".
The local press has not mentioned the problem and has not even reported any
sanitary measures that need to be implemented to to deal with this epidemic.
"If urgent action is not taken in order improve the nourishment of the people
of this area and in educating them in the hygiene/preventive measures that
need to be implemented , their health and even their lives will be in danger",
said one of the specialists that were consulted.
This information was transmitted by telephone, being that the government of Cuba
does not permit Cuban citizens private access to the Internet.
CubaNet does not
claim the exclusivity of its collaborators, and authorizes the reproduction of
this material, as long as it is recognized as its source.
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