Reports over the past three years demonstrate a pattern of repression during Christmas in Cuba that should raise concern. The latest involve children physically assaulted and toys seized by the political police to prevent them being given to children on Three Kings Day. Unfortunately, this is not the first time that the Free Cuba Foundation has had to address the issue. Back in 2000 we held a press conference to protest the seizure of toys and clothing for Cuban children and also the beating and arrest of Cuban dissident Victor Rolando Arroyo who was storing the toys and clothes. Below is the statement that Free Cuba Foundation released at the time. Sadly, things haven't improved since then. Victor was imprisoned on March 18, 2003 and sentenced to 26 years in prison. Recognized as a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International and spent nearly the next 8 years in prison only to trade prison in Cuba for exile in Spain.
Free Arroyo and Return the Toys
Free Cuba Foundation, January 18, 2000
The Free Cuba Foundation held a press conference January 17 at 11:30am at the Graham Center west wall located on the University Park Campus at Florida International University denouncing the Cuban government's Scrooge-like arrest and prosecution of Victor Rolando Arroyo for gathering and distributing toys to poor Cuban children.
"If the Cuban government claims that they have mobilized the Cuban people out of the humanitarian motive that a boy be reunited with his father, then how can it explain impeding toys obtained legally in Cuba for distribution to economically disadvantaged children?" asks John Suarez of the Free Cuba Foundation. "Free Arroyo and return the toys and clothing so that they can be distributed to those in need," concludes Mr. Suarez.
Last Saturday Victor Rolando Arroyo's residence was searched by State Security and 150 toys were confiscated, and he was immediately arrested. He had already distributed over a 100 toys, and his home was being used as a distribution center in Pinar del Rio for The Millenium's Three Wise Men Project. A project initiated in Cuba by the Cuban non-governmental organization Corriente Martiana. Arroyo was tried on Friday and sentenced to 6 months in prison for "hoarding toys."
"Victor Rolando Arroyo will spend 6 months in prison for gathering and distributing toys to poor children in Cuba according to a Havana court if we do nothing," declared Xavier Utset. Arroyo has 72 hours to appeal and they run out this afternoon at 3pm. "It's both ironic and sad that on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the year 2000 we have to be defending the right of a man to engage in acts of charity without being imprisoned," said John Suarez.
The Free Cuba Foundation, an FIU student based organization, gathered toys, and clothing for The Millenium's Three Wise Men Project. For additional background information on the organization and the project visit http://www.fiu.edu/~fcf.
Attached is the declaration read by Mr. Suarez in English. Xavier Utset read it in Spanish.
FREE ARROYO AND RETURN THE TOYS
Press Conference
Free Cuba Foundation
Monday, January 17, 2000
This statement is not a political statement, nor was our participation in The Millenium's Three Wise Men Project remotely political. We are here today to demand that Víctor Rolando Arroyo be released, and that the toys confiscated by Cuban State Security be returned to him so that they can be finally delivered to the poor children of Pinar del Rio in Cuba. We believe that interactions between the Cuban people can and must transcend politics. That is why we as individuals, and as an organization embarked on supporting this project initiated in Cuba by the civic group Corriente Martiana.
In Cuba it is almost impossible for families without hard currency to buy toys and gifts for their children. Corriente Martiana initiated a national and international campaign to collect toys and clothing and distribute them to the neediest children on the Day of the Three Wise Men which is traditionally January 6. The aims of Corriente Martiana (which we share) in carrying out this project are the following:
First - To provide a moment of happiness to the neediest children and families in each community, without discrimination of any kind, by distributing the gifts that may be collected through charity.
Second - To foster evangelization by enclosing a message explaining the significance of that day according to Holy Scripture and Cuban cultural and religious traditions.
Third - To revitalize a traditional feast day in our culture.
What we say today echoes the declarations made by Corriente Martiana in Cuba on January 10. We call to reason, justice, and the law to prevail in this case, and that the confiscated toys be returned to the city of Pinar del Rio and that the 6 month prison sentence leveled against Víctor Rolando Arroyo be dismissed. Finally, that these toys be delivered to the poor children without any political taint.
If the government claims that they have mobilized the Cuban people out of humanitarian motives for the sole purpose that a boy be reunited with his father, then how can it explain impeding toys obtained legally in Cuba for distribution to economically disadvantaged children?
According to Prof. Moisés Leonardo Rodríguez Valdés, of Corriente Martiana the days leading up to January 6 toys and clothing were distributed in the towns of Bahía Honda, Cabañas, Guanajay and El Cano, without incident but the evangelization was limited due to a lack of equipment to reproduce the evangelical message on paper.
The arrest and trial of Arroyo, and the confiscation of over 140 toys in Pinar del Rio was the exception. We demand that justice be done. That an act of charity, by people of goodwill on both sides of the Florida Straits, not end in such an ugly manner. Imprisonment for an innocent man and children denied toys on the Day of the Three Wise Men. Free Arroyo and return the toys and clothing so that they can be distributed to those in need.
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| Victor Rolando Arroyo |
Free Arroyo and Return the Toys
Free Cuba Foundation, January 18, 2000
The Free Cuba Foundation held a press conference January 17 at 11:30am at the Graham Center west wall located on the University Park Campus at Florida International University denouncing the Cuban government's Scrooge-like arrest and prosecution of Victor Rolando Arroyo for gathering and distributing toys to poor Cuban children.
"If the Cuban government claims that they have mobilized the Cuban people out of the humanitarian motive that a boy be reunited with his father, then how can it explain impeding toys obtained legally in Cuba for distribution to economically disadvantaged children?" asks John Suarez of the Free Cuba Foundation. "Free Arroyo and return the toys and clothing so that they can be distributed to those in need," concludes Mr. Suarez.
Last Saturday Victor Rolando Arroyo's residence was searched by State Security and 150 toys were confiscated, and he was immediately arrested. He had already distributed over a 100 toys, and his home was being used as a distribution center in Pinar del Rio for The Millenium's Three Wise Men Project. A project initiated in Cuba by the Cuban non-governmental organization Corriente Martiana. Arroyo was tried on Friday and sentenced to 6 months in prison for "hoarding toys."
"Victor Rolando Arroyo will spend 6 months in prison for gathering and distributing toys to poor children in Cuba according to a Havana court if we do nothing," declared Xavier Utset. Arroyo has 72 hours to appeal and they run out this afternoon at 3pm. "It's both ironic and sad that on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the year 2000 we have to be defending the right of a man to engage in acts of charity without being imprisoned," said John Suarez.
The Free Cuba Foundation, an FIU student based organization, gathered toys, and clothing for The Millenium's Three Wise Men Project. For additional background information on the organization and the project visit http://www.fiu.edu/~fcf.
Attached is the declaration read by Mr. Suarez in English. Xavier Utset read it in Spanish.
FREE ARROYO AND RETURN THE TOYS
Press Conference
Free Cuba Foundation
Monday, January 17, 2000
This statement is not a political statement, nor was our participation in The Millenium's Three Wise Men Project remotely political. We are here today to demand that Víctor Rolando Arroyo be released, and that the toys confiscated by Cuban State Security be returned to him so that they can be finally delivered to the poor children of Pinar del Rio in Cuba. We believe that interactions between the Cuban people can and must transcend politics. That is why we as individuals, and as an organization embarked on supporting this project initiated in Cuba by the civic group Corriente Martiana.
In Cuba it is almost impossible for families without hard currency to buy toys and gifts for their children. Corriente Martiana initiated a national and international campaign to collect toys and clothing and distribute them to the neediest children on the Day of the Three Wise Men which is traditionally January 6. The aims of Corriente Martiana (which we share) in carrying out this project are the following:
First - To provide a moment of happiness to the neediest children and families in each community, without discrimination of any kind, by distributing the gifts that may be collected through charity.
Second - To foster evangelization by enclosing a message explaining the significance of that day according to Holy Scripture and Cuban cultural and religious traditions.
Third - To revitalize a traditional feast day in our culture.
What we say today echoes the declarations made by Corriente Martiana in Cuba on January 10. We call to reason, justice, and the law to prevail in this case, and that the confiscated toys be returned to the city of Pinar del Rio and that the 6 month prison sentence leveled against Víctor Rolando Arroyo be dismissed. Finally, that these toys be delivered to the poor children without any political taint.
If the government claims that they have mobilized the Cuban people out of humanitarian motives for the sole purpose that a boy be reunited with his father, then how can it explain impeding toys obtained legally in Cuba for distribution to economically disadvantaged children?
According to Prof. Moisés Leonardo Rodríguez Valdés, of Corriente Martiana the days leading up to January 6 toys and clothing were distributed in the towns of Bahía Honda, Cabañas, Guanajay and El Cano, without incident but the evangelization was limited due to a lack of equipment to reproduce the evangelical message on paper.
The arrest and trial of Arroyo, and the confiscation of over 140 toys in Pinar del Rio was the exception. We demand that justice be done. That an act of charity, by people of goodwill on both sides of the Florida Straits, not end in such an ugly manner. Imprisonment for an innocent man and children denied toys on the Day of the Three Wise Men. Free Arroyo and return the toys and clothing so that they can be distributed to those in need.
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