U.S. Condemns Continued Imprisonment of Cuban Human Rights Defenders

Last March, the Cuban government convicted 75 independent Cuban journalists, librarians, and human rights defenders on trumped-up charges and sentenced them to unjust prison sentences -- an average of 20 years each – for attempting to exercise their fundamental, internationally protected rights. The United States condemns the continued unfair detention of these individuals and calls for their immediate release.

As an added injustice, the Cuban government is systematically persecuting these individuals. Christian Liberation Movement member Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia, who was sentenced to 28 years for his role in promoting the Varela Project, a grassroots movement that supports a national referendum calling for democratic change, was sentenced to three months of solitary confinement as punishment for protesting prison guards' mistreatment of his wife . Martha Beatriz Roque, a 57-year-old independent economist, is serving a 20-year prison term for her efforts to organize non-governmental organizations dedicated to civic freedoms, entered prison with numerous health problems. Independent economist and journalist Oscar Espinosa Chepe, who is 62, remains in very poor health, and suffers from severe liver disease and other ailments. He is serving a 20-year prison term for reporting news about the Cuban economy and social issues. Neither Roque nor Espinosa Chepe have received adequate treatment for their illnesses, and their conditions are deteriorating.

Such deprivation and flagrant abuse of human rights have not been limited to the group of 75. In February, human rights activist Leonardo Bruzon Avila, who is in poor health due to repeated hunger strikes, will soon complete two years in prison without a trial. In March, blind pro-democracy activist Juan Carlos Gonzalez Leyva will also complete two years in prison without a trial. Gonzalez was jailed for protesting the police beating of an independent journalist. Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet, who has worked tirelessly to express his commitment to the use of non-violence to achieve change, was arrested in December 2002 for attempting to teach others about international human rights practices. We also should not forget long-suffering political prisoners like Francisco Chaviano, an advocate of peaceful democratic reforms, who was sentenced in 1994 to 15 years in prison for revealing that a member of his organization was in fact a government agent.

We express our admiration for all Cuban political prisoners and our solidarity with their families. The United States salutes their courage in standing up to tyranny while continuing to insist that Cuba must change, democratically and peacefully.

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