Cuban Prisoner: Guillermo Farinas

Over thirty bloggers are posting today about Guillermo Fariñas, the Cuban prisioner of conscience who's on hunger strike for being denied internet access.  As Dean Esmay said,

They don't even deny people this freedom in China--they try to censor it, but they don't deny people access to it. In China they have it better! Is it even thinkable

The blogburst post is here at The Bad Hair blog
More over at the San Diego Union Tribune, Awaiting a free Cuban press from prison cells

Fidel Castro may be radical chic for some in Latin America these days but the Cuban dictator is no hero to those who defend freedom of the press, a bulwark of democracy everywhere else in the hemisphere.

The Inter American Press Association, a defender of press freedoms since the 1940s, roundly denounced Castro at its mid-year meeting here last week. Castro and his regime have been IAPA targets for decades, and deservedly so. Castro's revolution promptly killed freedom of the press in Cuba 46 years ago; a crime that continues undiminished today.

Moreover, Castro's unrelenting suppression of the barest hint of press freedoms signals another ominous reality – his refusal to moderate Cuba's repressive regime even as the post-Castro era (Castro will be 80 this summer) inexorably approaches. “Socialism or death,” the Cuban state's defiant slogan, remains the order of the day despite overwhelming evidence of a decrepit revolution's abysmal failure.

A tyrannical, thuggish regime that jails dissidents and journalists retains a food-rationing system begun in 1962, sells cheap labor to foreign corporations and condemns ordinary Cubans to subsist on earnings that average about $20 per month.

The IAPA's scathing report on Castro's continued suppression of freedom of expression and information begins by chronicling the plight of Cuba's imprisoned independent journalists. By current count, 25 Cuban journalists convicted of defying Cuba's state monopoly on all press and information are languishing in Castro's prisons.

The IAPA's meticulous reporting, gleaned mostly from sources inside Cuba, list these as among the most troubling cases of imprisoned and ill journalists, some now in their 60s:

José Luis García Paneque, serving a 24-year sentence, suffers from intestinal disorders, allergies, asthma and psychiatric problems. Garcia has lost about 80 pounds in prison.

Normando HernÁndez GonzÁlez has stomach ulcers and tuberculosis. He is serving a 25-year sentence.

José Gabriel Ramon Castillo, serving a 20-year sentence, is afflicted with advanced cirrhosis of the liver, circulatory problems and hypertension.

Juan Carlos Herrera Acosta has heart disease, hypertension, asthma and a psychiatric condition. He is serving a 20-year sentence.

Alejandro GonzÁlez Raga, serving a 14-year sentence, suffers from a bronchial condition and severe digestive disease.

Julio Cesar GÁlvez Rodríguez has hypertension, liver disease, cervical arthritis and various nervous disorders. Galvez is serving a 15-year sentence.

Ricardo GonzÁlez Alfonso, serving a 20-year sentence, had gallbladder surgery in 2005, two subsequent surgeries for complications and infections and suffers from a congenital heart murmur.

Pedro Arguelles Moran is afflicted with pulmonary emphysema, severe arthritis and loss of vision with cataracts in both eyes. He is serving a 20-year sentence.

For these and other imprisoned Cuban journalists, their long prison terms amount to de facto death sentences. For many, their only hope is early release and permission to leave Cuba.

Read it all here. Hat tip: Bruuuuuuuce

Comments

[Moshiak]

Posted in my blog:

Pamela directs us to a "blogburst" re: Guillermo Fariñas: the man who goes on hunger strike in the name of freedom of speech in Cuba. The man is not a hero. We already know that Cuba is messed up. Don't do that to yourself, buddy. Don't be a martyr. The solution to the problem of Cuba is that we distribute copies of The Manifesto over Cuban airspace, and you Cubans have yourselves a political revolution. If they ban or outlaw ownership of the book, then they would tamper with a trade that involves the United States, thereby giving us reason to bomb the joint or to otherwise punish those who interfere with the freedom of trade between those who want to teach you the Philosophy and those who want to censor the Philosophy. In principle, that's how it should've been done in Iraq or anywhere else where the state is particularly troublesome.

[Fausta]

My heartfelt thanks for your support, Pamela!