Amnesty International issues urgent action for Antonio Rodiles

Antonio Rodiles

DOCUMENT - CUBAN MAN TARGETED FOR GOVERNMENT CRITICISM

UA: 333/12 Index: AMR 25/026/2012 Cuba Date: 15 November 2012

URGENT ACTION

Cuban man targeted for government criticism

Government critic Antonio Rodiles has been charged with “resisting authority”. It is believed the charges may be used to punish and prevent his peaceful criticism of Cuban government policies.

A coordinator of a civil society initiative calling on the government to ratify international human rights treaties, Antonio Rodiles, has been charged with “resisting authority” (resistencia). He has been placed in pre-trial detention (prisión provisional), but no date has been set for his trial.

Shortly after the arrest of the independent lawyer and journalist Yaremis Flores on 7 November, Antonio Rodiles, his wife and several other government critics went to the Department of State Security headquarters, know as Section 21 (Sección 21) in the neighbourhood of Marianao in Havana, to enquire after her whereabouts. Before they could reach the building they were approached by 20 people, all plain-clothed, as two officials from the Ministry of the Interior looked on. Antonio Rodiles was reportedly knocked to the ground and pinned down by four men. Several of the other activists were also manhandled and were forced into a police vehicle and sent to various police stations around Havana. All were released by 11 November, except Antonio Rodiles.

The Public Prosecutor’s Office (fiscalía) informed Antonio Rodiles’ wife on 14 November that he was being charged with “resisting authority” but a formal charge document has yet to be issued.

Antonio Rodiles is one of the coordinators of Citizen Demand for Another Cuba (Demanda Ciudadana Por Otra Cuba), an initiative calling for Cuba to ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, as well as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which the country signed in 2008. Amnesty International believes the charges against him may be being used to punish and prevent his peaceful activities as a government critic and is gathering further information on his case and treatment.

Please write immediately in Spanish or your own language:

Calling on the Cuban authorities to release Antonio Rodiles immediately and unconditionally if they are unable to substantiate the charges against him, and to investigate reports that he was ill-treated during his arrest;

Calling on them to immediately cease the harassment of all other citizens who peacefully exercise their rights to freedom of expression and association.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 27 DECEMBER 2012 TO:

Head of State and Government

Raúl Castro Ruz

Presidente de la República de Cuba

La Habana, Cuba

Fax: +41 22 758 9431 (Cuba office in Geneva); +1 212 779 1697 (via Cuban Mission to UN)

Email: cuba@un.int (c/o Cuban Mission to UN)

Salutation: Your Excellency

Attorney General

Dr. Darío Delgado Cura

Fiscal General de la República, 

Fiscalía General de la República, Amistad 552, e/Monte y Estrella, 

Centro Habana,

La Habana, Cuba

Salutation: Dear Attorney General

And copies to:

Interior Minister

General Abelardo Coloma Ibarra

Ministro del Interior y Prisiones

Ministerio del Interior,

Plaza de la Revolución, La Habana, Cuba

Fax:             +1 212 779 1697       (via Cuban Mission to UN)

Email: correominint@mn.mn.co.cu

Salutation: Your Excellency

Also send copies to diplomatic representatives accredited to your country

Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date.

URGENT ACTION

cuban man targeted for government criticism

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Journalist Yaremis Flores was held for 48 hours before being released without charge. During her detention she and was threatened with charges of “disseminating false information against international peace” (difusión de noticias falsas contra la paz internacional), which carries a prison sentence of one to four years, if she continued her work as a journalist.

Antonio Rodiles has been charged under Article 143 of the Cuban Criminal Code. This covers the offence of resistencia, which refers to resistance to public officials carrying out their duties and is often used to deal with alleged cases of resisting arrest. Article 143 is broad enough to encompass non-violent forms of resistance; it is sometimes used in ways that unlawfully restrict freedom of expression.

On 20 June, Citizen Demand for Another Cuba handed in a petition with 500 signatures to the National Assembly of People’s Power (Asamblea Nacional del Poder Popular) – Cuba’s legislative body located in Havana – calling on the government to ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Along with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, these covenants constitute the International Bill of Rights and are the key international human rights instruments. Since Cuba’s signing of both covenants in 2008, Amnesty International has called on the authorities to ratify them in order to bring them into force and begin their implementation.

Antonio Rodiles is also the coordinator of State of SATS (Estado de SATS), a forum which emerged in July 2010 to encourage debate on social, cultural and political issues.

Name: Antonio Rodiles

Gender m/f: m

UA: 333/12 Index: AMR 25/026/2012 Issue Date: 15 November 2012

http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/AMR25/026/2012/en/170bffe5-5755-4b42-80d0-6b7df7ad1843/amr250262012en.html

Oswaldo José Payá Sardiñas and Harold Cepero: Exemplars for Cubans everywhere

"Liberation is a task for the Cuban people – now with greater hope because we are definitely on the verge, on the threshold of truth and liberation. That is our hope." - Oswaldo Paya, March 29, 2012

Oswaldo José Payá Sardiñas died as he lived seeking the liberation of an island nation enslaved to communist totalitarianism for over 53 years. When asked in an interview whether Cuba was a dictatorship his response demonstrated his clear thinking. He said that Cuba was not a dictatorship but that there was a dictatorship in Cuba oppressing Cubans. He did not identify the Cuban nation or its identity with repression. He recognized the existence of the dictatorship but that it was also an aberration that needed to be overcome not a permanent part of the Cuban identity.

Harold Cepero was expelled from University for advocating and gathering signatures for the Varela Project. A citizen initiative that  was supposedly  legal according to the dictatorship's constitution. He began his activism as a youth leader of the Christian Liberation Movement.

They lived their lives resisting tyranny and advocating liberation and living the lives of a free men until the day they died. Oswaldo died at age 60 seeking nonviolent democratic change for over forty years. There is controversy surrounding the circumstances of his death and that of his young compatriot Harold Cepero in an accident that  may  have been a set up by Cuban State Security to murder these Cuban patriots.

We will join Oswaldo Paya's widow and all people of good will  in demanding that an international organization investigate with transparency the circumstances surrounding this accident and the deaths of these two great Cuban exemplars.

In the mean time we will not focus on how Oswaldo and Harold died but how they lived their lives to obtain the freedom of the Cuban people. We will honor their legacy by continuing the struggle for liberation.

Silent Vigil for Justice for the Victims of the "13 de Marzo" Tugboat Massacre

"Judgment for an evil thing is many times delayed some day or two, some century or two, but it is sure as life, it is sure as death!" - Thomas Carlyle 

Silent Vigil for Justice at Florida International University on July 13, 2012

July 13, 1994 around 3:00am a group of Cubans, mostly families, put out to sea from port of Havana on the tugboat "13 de Marzo". 7 miles from shore agents of the Castro regime on boats with high pressure hoses attacked the tugboat splitting the stern. 37 men, women and children were killed. 18 years later their killers haven't answered for this crime.



 Today students and activists gathered at the main fountain at Florida International University for 18 minutes of silence. One minute for each year that has passed in which the victims and their families have not had justice and their killers walk freely without having had to answer for their crimes in a court of law. This tradition has been carried out since 1995 and we will make every effort to see that it continues to be observed in the future until justice is achieved.

These are the victims of the tugboat! Victims of a cruel tyrant that claims to be a defender of the women and children of Cuba.

Below is a list of the 37 victims of the "13 de Marzo" Tugboat Massacre that took place 17 years ago today on July 13, 1994. Next to their names is their age on the day their lives were taken away by agents of the Cuban government. May they rest in peace and let us continue to pursue justice for them and their loved ones.

Hellen Martínez Enríquez (5 months old)

Xicdy Rodríguez Fernández (2 years old)

Angel René Abreu Ruiz ( 3 years old)

José Carlos Nicle Anaya (3 years old)

Giselle Borges Alvarez (4 years old)

Caridad Leyva Tacoronte ( 5 years old)

Juan Mario Gutiérrez García (10 years old)

Yasser Perodín Almanza (11 years old)

Yousell Eugenio Pérez Tacoronte ( 11 years old)

Eliecer Suárez Plasencia (12 years old)

Mayulis Menéndez Tacoronte (17 years old)

Miladys Sanabria Cabrera ( 19 years old)

Joel García Suárez ( 20 years old)

Odalys Muñoz García (21 years old)

Yaltamira Anaya Carrasco ( 22 years old)

Yuliana Enríquez Carrazana ( 22 years old)

Lissett María Alvarez Guerra ( 24 years old)

Jorge Gregorio Balmaseda Castillo ( 24 years old)

Ernesto Alfonso Loureiro ( 25 years old)

María Miralis Fernández Rodríguez ( 27 years old)

Jorge Arquímedes Levrígido Flores ( 28 years old)

Leonardo Notario Góngora ( 28 years old)

Pilar Almanza Romero ( 31 years old)

Rigoberto Feu González ( 31 years old)

Omar Rodríguez Suárez ( 33 years old)

Lázaro Enrique Borges Briel ( 34 years old)

Martha Caridad Tacoronte Vega ( 35 years old)

Julia Caridad Ruiz Blanco ( 35 years old)

Eduardo Suárez Esquivel ( 38 years old)

Martha M.Carrasco Sanabria ( 45 years old)

Augusto Guillermo Guerra Martínez ( 45 years old)

Rosa María Alcal de Puig ( 47 years old)

Estrella Suárez Esquivel ( 48 years old)

Reynaldo Joaquín Marrero Alamo ( 48 years old)

Amado González Raíces ( 50 years old)

Manuel Cayol ( 50 years old)

Fidencio Ramel Prieto Hernández ( 51 years old)

Useful links:

CUBA: The Sinking of the "13 de Marzo" Tugboat on 13 July 1994 / Amnesty International

https://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/AMR25/013/1997/en/0f6d3a5e-ea51-11dd-965c-b55c1122d73f/amr250131997en.html

REPORT Nº 47/96: CASE 11.436 VICTIMS OF THE TUGBOAT "13 DE MARZO" vs.CUBA October 16, 1996 / IACHR
http://www.cidh.org/annualrep/96eng/Cuba11436.htm

Cuba: Cuban authorities should lift threats against peaceful protesters / Amnesty International https://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/AMR25/032/1996/en/fc0ad8fb-eaf1-11dd-aad1-ed57e7e5470b/amr250321996en.html

Silent Vigil for Justice for the Victims of the "13 de Marzo" tugboat massacre

There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest. - Elie Wiesel

Since members of the Free Cuba Foundation learned in 1994 that 37 men, women and children were massacred by agents of the Castro regime as they tried to flee to freedom in the early morning hours of July 13, 1994 aboard the "13 de Marzo" tugboat FCF members have taken part in or organized flotillas, lectures, and silent vigils for justice.

Although 18 years have passed our call for justice has not diminished.

It is important to remember and denounce such injustices in an effort to ensure that these crimes are not repeated. In the video below survivors of the massacre describe what happened.





Last year we gathered at the main fountain at Florida International University for a moment of silence at 12 noon. This year we call on all people of good will to join us in a 18 minute silent vigil at noon. One minute for each year that has passed without justice at the main fountain located next to the Graham Center at Florida International University located on 107th Avenue and SW 8 Street.

 


Video above and below was taken on July 13, 2010



On the 15th anniversary of the massacre the Free Cuba Foundation invited a family member who had lost 14 relatives in the massacre. His name is Jorge Garcia and his testimony was powerful and gripping.

In prior years the Free Cuba Foundation has organized a silent vigil for justice at Florida International University at 12 noon. The video below is from 2006.



What do you plan to do now in 2012 to denounce this crime? Please comment below.

Remembering and Honoring an American Hero

Relaunching the Thomas P. Ray Lecture Series

The Thomas "Pete" Ray Lecture Series

Thomas "Pete" Ray

This lecture series will address the long silent voice of Cuba's democratic opposition in American academia. Miami is the logical location for such a lecture series to originate from. It is home to a large number of Cuban exiles and Cuban Americans. They have seen and experienced firsthand the suffering and oppression perpetrated by the Castro government against the Cuban people. 

The fact that pro-Castro voices have had a greater voice on American campuses than the voices of those who speak for democracy and human rights in Cuba is a sign that American universities are out of touch with the reality of the Orwellian nightmare that is Cuba. The Thomas P. Ray Lecture Series is an important step in combatting Castro's campaign of misinformation.

The lecture series is named in honor of Thomas "Pete" Ray, an American pilot who was summarily executed trying to liberate Cuba during the Bay of Pigs. He was a member of the Alabama National Guard. Captured and wounded he was taken to a Cuban hospital. While in the hospital a communist militia member shot and killed him in his hospital bed. During the next 18 years his family searched for his remains. Upon ascertaining were his remains were located, they had been kept frozen by the regime, the Castro government told the family that they would have to pay $36,000 in "storage fees." The University of Alabama Honors College produced a documentary, La Batalla de Playa Girón: The Alabama Air National Guard's Role in the Bay of Pigs Invasion, that provides a historical overview of the Bay of Pigs and the events surrounding the death of Thomas "Pete" Ray.


Thomas "Pete" Ray lost his life seeking to save members of the Brigade 2506 who had been abandoned when the U.S. government wanted to maintain "plausible deniability" with the "Bay of Pigs" action in 1961. 


The Free Cuba Foundation believes that by spreading the message about the Cuban reality we honor the memory of those who gave their lives in the cause of a free Cuba. One of these heroes is Thomas "Pete" Ray.

Janet Ray Weininger with a picture of her father Thomas "Pete"Ray 

 Janet Ray spent decades trying to find out what had happened to her father Thomas "Pete" Ray. Janet Ray Weininger took part in the July 13, 1995 flotilla that entered Cuban waters to pay their respects to the 37 men, women, and children massacred in the "13 de Marzo" tugboat by agents of the Cuban government on one year earlier on July 13, 1994. She had an exchange with Clinton Administration officials explaining why she would participate in the flotilla and put it in writing:

August 25, 1995 Richard Nuccio
Special Advisor to the President
and the Department of State for Cuba
The White House
OEOB Room 469
Washington DC 20500

Dear Mr. Nuccio:

Last week in Miami at the Association for the Study of the Cuban Economy Conference, I had the opportunity to have a brief conversation with you concerning the Democracia Flotilla to Cuba.  It is important to the struggle for the freedom of Cuba that our words be put in a hard copy form.

It is best to begin by reintroducing myself to you, for if you met me on the street you would describe me as one who represented the typical American wife and mother, carpooling the children to school, ball games, dance and music lessons with the dog in the back for companionship. I like to describe myself as Pure Vanilla with a lot of Tobasco. The Tobasco part I inherited from my father an American pilot who gave his life for the freedom of Cuba.

On the July the 13th Flotilla of which I was a participant, I couldn't go on the Democracia because I wasn't Cuban, but this time Ramon Saul Sanchez said, "Janet this time we need your flag." You forewarned me to be careful because as you said, "Cuba dosen't need another hero." I responded ,"Yes, Cuba doesn't need another hero. They just need to know the way home."

When my father made the decision to fly his final mission, he knew the highest levels of the United States government had betrayed the Brigade 2506 and Cuba under the facade of the best national interest of the United States. He made the right decision, a decision of conscience, not a selfish decision.

It is time to make decisions of conscience. It is time for Cuba to be free.

Sincerely,

Janet Ray Weininger

Lectures and Conferences:

I Contemporary opposition to the Castro Regime

a. Exile opposition

b. Internal opposition

c. Future of the opposition movement

II Human Rights Violations in Cuba

a. Violations of the articles of the Universal Rights of Man
b. Psychiatry and repression in Cuba
c.Treatment of Political Prisoners
d.Relevant cases today

III Analysis of the Cuban Revolution

a.Causes
b.Myths
c.Accomplishments
d.Shortcomings
e.Current Issues
f.Future of the revolution
g.Q&A period

IV Video Presentation

a. Nobody Listened - Documentary about political prisoners
b. Improper conduct- Documentary about the treatment of "social undesirables" by the communist government.
c. The Last Communist - Frontline Documentary chronicles Castro's rise to power.
d. Last Days of the Revolution- Chronicles Cuba's reaction to the post-Cold War world.
e. Cuba and Cocaine - Frontline Documentary offers proof of the Castro regime's conspiration with International drug cartels. 

Where were you the day Orlando Zapata Tamayo died?

Orlando Zapata Tamayo was unjustly imprisoned and tortured into an early grave by agents of the Castro regime, dying at the age of 42.  He would have been 45 years old this upcoming May 15. Lets not forget him or the many other victims of this regime.

Yesterday was the one year anniversary of the death by brutal beating of Cuban human rights defender Juan Wilfredo Soto Garcia.

At the same time let us be vigilant and do all we can to stop the dictatorship from claiming new victims. Let us speak out for all the political prisoners and dissidents risking their lives for freedom in Cuba. At this moment a special mention should be made for Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia who was taken early this morning while on his way to a meeting in Havana, Cuba.

A Liberating Project by Monsignor Agustín Román (R.I.P.)

Monsignor Agustín Román passed away on Wednesday, April 11, 2012 just days after Father Felix Varela had been declared "venerable" by the Catholic Church during the octave of Easter while Cubans were still celebrating the 400th anniversary of the appearance of the Virgin of Charity in Cuba. This modern Felix Varela will be greatly missed. The  Christian Liberation Movement republished the 2001 text written by the Monsignor on their webpage stating that, "Ten years after this prescient call, the prophetic message of Monsignor Roman is more relevant today than ever." We share their sentiment and offer this translation.

Monsignor Agustín Román and Oswaldo Payá (2003)

Lets support the Varela Project
by Monsignor Agustín Román

The Varela Project, conceived and made known by the Christian Liberation Movement from the home territory of the Cuban nation, and inspired by the preaching of God's servant and patriot whose name it bears, comes at a timely and necessary moment. The Varela Project arrives to rekindle the flames of civic renewal, which the Cubans have desired for four decades, and that Cuba has experienced especially after the visit of Pope John Paul II in January of 1998.

This civic renewal is manifested in the emergence, during recent years, of a large number of nongovernmental organizations, such as independent libraries, professional associations, etc. This in concordance to what the Church proposes as activities for the laity in the exercise of their rights.

I am convinced that the Varela Project deserves the support from all who want to see real and nonviolent change in Cuba, for three fundamental reasons:

• The first is that it does not seek false solutions, as would any one based on the assumption of commitments tothe Cuban government, in alleged concessions or gifts from other governments or entities. The Cuban people claim, through this project, their right to freely exercise their vote and choose through the same their political destination. If those obligated to listen to the voice of the people do not, they will be the only ones responsible for the present stalemate and its consequences in the future.
• The second reason is that, framing itself within the laws currently in force in Cuba, facilitates the participation of a large number of Cubans who would deprived of their fear to form part of a project that cannot be described as "illegal" or " subversive. " In this manner, without barely trying, the Cuban would be becoming "the protagonist of his history" as specified by the Messenger of Truth and Hope in addressing the youth of our country in Camaguey during the above mentioned visit to Cuba.
• And the third reason is its inclusive character, covering both the Cubans from the island and those in exile. Only through the paths of union, making good the phrase that affirms "we are one people" is that there may be for Cuba a future of liberty, justice and progress.

Moreover, in the five proposals that this project contains (political amnesty, rights to free expression, free association, free formation of businesses and reform of electoral laws), I see collected many of the approaches that have been formulated by exile organizations over the years.

All this should animate us to support this project, while, as I have always done, sought to collect once more all the most fervent prayers so that, placed at the feet of the Mother of Christ and Our Mother Mary of the Charity of Cobre, come to the Lord Jesus, Lord of Liberty in favor of Cuba and all its children.

Source: The Catholic Voice. March, 2001





Oswaldo José Payá Sardiñas on the life and legacy of Monsignor Agustín Román, (in Spanish)





Bishop Agustin Roman reflects on his life (In Spanish)