Rufina Velázquez González speaks about her father’s unjust imprisonment
By Rufina Velázquez González

Rufina Velázquez González is the 18 year-old daughter of the human rights activist Ramón Velásquez Toranzo, who was detained on January 24th after carrying out the March for Dignity in protest for human rights violations in Cuba. The march began at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Charity in Santiago de Cuba, on December 10, 2006 – Human Rights Day – and was set to finish in Havana. The activist marched along with his wife Bárbara González and his daughter Rufina Velásquez Toranzo. Rufina narrates an update on her father’s condition:

LAS TUNAS, Cuba - February 20, 2007 - At this moment, my father, Ramón Velásquez Toranzo, is in good health, although he is recovering from the hunger strike he carried out from January 24 to February 9 to protest his unjust imprisonment. My father was condemned to 3 years of prison for a supposed antisocial conduct.

I don’t know if he is in the prison hospital or if he was already transferred to a jail cell, and they are still evaluating whether he will be taken to a work camp or to a prison of minimum severity.

This imprisonment was carried out by State Security in collaboration with the National Revolutionary Police in order to impede the March for Dignity, which despite some obstacles, we completed up to Ciego de Ávila.

When my father finished his hunger strike after having continued it for 16 days, he was transferred to the prison hospital. My family took the opportunity to take food to him while he was in the hospital, and after seven days, the prison authorities said we could no longer take food to my father. My father will have to recover in harsh condition, with whatever food they provide in the prison.

On Wednesday the 14th, my father was allowed to see my mom, and like other visits, it took place in an office. The following day, one day before he was to receive medical treatment, he was allowed to see my mother and grandmother.

Personally, this affects me tremendously because I have not been allowed to see my father since January 24th, because they think I might impact him negatively. This shows the repressive extremes to which the regime will resort. I would like to know: when will it end?

Source: Cuban Democratic Directorate – www.directorio.org

Young Cuban imprisoned for "potentially commiting a crime in the future"

SANTA CLARA, Cuba – January 30, 2007 - (Félix Reyes Gutiérrez, Cubanacán Press) - Yaney Ruiz, a 24 year-old member of the Cuban Liberal Party (CLP) was condemned to 1 year in prison by the Santa Clara Municipal Tribunal on January 23rd for the supposed crime of “social dangerousness.”

According to Bernardo Luis Ascanio, delegate of the CLP in Villa Clara, Ruiz’ trial was extremely short, and was plagued by strong political manipulation by State Security official,  Fulgencio Bagué.
Yunieski García, a young member of the party who was present at the trial noted: “This trial was a fraud. They did not consider the statements from Hilda Elsa Moya Marrero, director of the Gerardo Abreu Educational Center, who certified that Yaney Ruiz studies at the center and receives a monthly stipend of 80 pesos."

The current Cuban penal code contains a “pre-crime social dangerousness” item that is applied to Cuban citizens over 21 years old who do not have a job or study at a university:

Dangerousness: Article 73 - 79

• If an individual is considered to be "dangerous" before an actual crime is committed, the State can force the individual into labor camps, "re-education programs" and penitentiary establishments for a period of up to four years.
• This is used not only as a means for preventing common crimes but also to curb "counterrevolutionary" behavior.

Source: www.Cubanet.org

Young Cubans Defy Police Brutality

CAIBARÍEN, Cuba – January 13, 2007 – An entire neighborhood celebrating traditional parrandas infantiles or youth festivals in Caibarién had to band together in self-defense as police brutally tried to disrupt the event.

The street festival, which had been organized by local teenagers and children selling bottles, cardboard, and other scrap materials to build their own parade floats, was violently interrupted by two police patrols at the corner of Maceo and Agramonte streets.

According to Maria de la Caridad Noa, a member of the Peace, Democracy and Freedom National Rafters’ Association, teenagers, children, and women were parading through city streets playing upbeat drum music and riding on trucks and improvised floats when they were attacked.

“When local residents saw the abuses being committed against these teenagers and young people, they spilled out into the street shouting at the police and even tried to overturn the patrol car,” Noa stated.

Tania Maceda Guerra, of the Cuban Independent Journalists’ Cooperative (CPIC) reported that “When the young people received the help of many people in the area the police had to flee. They took three people with them under arrest, but the parade followed them in their cart and truck as far as the police station, forcing the officers to release the detainees without charges.”

Source: Cuban Democratic Directorate – www.directorio.org

Young independent journalist detained
By Juan Carlos González Leiva

Students refuse to participate in conference
By Alejandro Tur Valladares

CIENFUEGOS, November 18, 2006 – Students enrolled in a special program at the University of Cienfuegos decided not to participate in the national University Student Federation’s conference. According to statements from conference organizers, 100 invitations were issued and only 8 people attended on the day of the conference, causing the event to be cancelled.

While conference organizers blame themselves for the lack of attendance, it is believed the failure of the event is an expression of the students, many of which refused to sign a document promoted by the organizers, alleging that the conferences serve no purpose.

The future depends on what we do today
By Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia

August 22, 2006 - For over four decades our nation has been ruled by a repressive, hypocritical and manipulative regime that controls every aspect of life in society. An immense structure, by means of terror and deception, is in charge of reminding people that they should demonstrate adherence to the system, or at least abstain from expressing their discontent with those in power.


There are dozens of prisons with their customary horrors; verbal and physical attacks known as “acts of repudiation;” dismissal from workplaces and schools; and many other actions aimed at dissuading any attempt at dissent.
 
The Castro brothers’ tyrannical regime forces people to live in falsehood. It turns them into accomplices—whether active or passive— to their crimes, injustices and errors. Ya lo decía Martí hace mas de un siglo con semejante sistema lamentable será y general la servidumbre. But in every era and in the most diverse regions of the world there have existed and will exist persons committed to truth and justice, willing to make any sacrifice even in those places where the cruelest dictatorships have ruled. It could not be any other way in the land of Hatuey the Indian, Varela, Maceo, and Pedro Luis Boitel.

Those of us who love our homeland, our people, liberty and democracy, know that oppression and hardship will not disappear by themselves. It is necessary to unite our efforts and to dedicate all the valor, intelligence, and energy that may be required to the peaceful struggle for the nation’s democratization and prosperity.

Those of us who are conscious of what the remedy is for the affliction of our country and who are willing to employ it without fear of daily reprisal must exhort our countrymen through example and solid arguments not to cooperate with him who causes such hardship and pain.

We must constantly invite our brothers to demand respect for their fundamental rights. A tyrant, as powerful as he may be, cannot govern without the consent of the governed.

It is not enough to tell good from evil, truth from falsehood. Good and truth must be firmly defended, and we must firmly deny all collaboration with evil and falsehood.

We must all ask ourselves: “Why must I belong to organizations whose primary end is to uphold tyranny? Why must I participate in false elections that only benefit my people’s oppressor? And why play along with him who causes so many hardships? Why fear exhorting my fellow citizens to do what is right? Why will I not say what I think? Why will I not join those who struggle for a better future for all? Why not participate in undertakings aimed at getting out of the economic, political and social crisis through which the country is going? Why not publicly manifest my discontent? Why not denounce injustices and protest against them if they are my universally recognized rights, if my conscience and my duty demand it?”

The welfare of a nation depends in great measure on the civic virtues of its children. To live in truth has a high cost, but believe me, it is well worth paying. The future depends on what we do today.

From Kilo 8 Maximum Security Prison, Camagüey
José Daniel Ferrer García, member of the Christian Liberation Movement, Varela Project Coordinator, and prisoner of conscience sentenced to 25 years in jail in the black spring of 2003 for defending the human rights of every Cuban.