Hunger Striker Jorge Cervantes Garcia’s Health Worsens (Update)

Dissident Jorge Cervantes Garcia declared himself on hunger strike during the final days of May in protest for his arbitrary arrest.  Cervantes had served nearly 14 years in the Castro gulags and was released recently.  However, the regime cracked down on him once against after he assumed the posture of NOT ceasing his anti-government activities.  For this reason, he has been on hunger strike for two weeks now.

His relatives and friends are very worried about his health.  Alba Verdecia Garcia, his mother, informed dissident Jose Daniel Ferrer about her son this past Saturday.  Ferrer published the report on “Hablalo Sin Medio“, a cooperative website which dissidents on the island can call to report instant acts of repression against them or any other of their counterparts.

Transcription/Translation:

Alba, mother of hunger striker Jorge Cervantes,  tells me that they are congregated outside the police operations station in Versalles, Santiago de Cuba, and that she is surrounded by political police agents.  Her son’s health is in a very bad shape.  She is demanding he be transferred to a hospital.  Alba’s cell number is +5353791610.

Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia, former prisoner of conscience.

As usual, the totalitarian Cuban regime not only denies its people the right to freedom, but also to health.  Jorge Cervantes Garcia is in a critical condition but he has declared that he is sure of his convictions.  “They either release me, or I die“, he told his mother.

Today, Tuesday June 14th 2011, reports made by Garcia’s mother from within Cuba and his brother in exile,  and which were  published on the blog of Angelica Mora, “Apuntes de una Periodista” have informed us all that her son was recently transferred to Saturnino Lora Hospital in Santiago de Cuba.

Here’s the report:

Jorge Cervantes on Hunger Strike

By Agustin Cervantes

Through a telephone conversation, my mother Alba Verdecia informed me that on the 11th they took my brother out of the dark, humid, small and pestilent cell he was being kept in ever since May 29th, while coughing out blood due to the tuberculosis he contracted a few years ago in the “El Tipico” Prison in Las Tunas.  The reason he came in contact with this disease in the first place was because of the deplorable hygiene and sanitation of the prison.

Today, my brother is checked in at the Saturnino Lola Hospital in Santiago de Cuba due to the devastating ravages of the hunger strike which he has been carrying out for 14 days now while he demands his liberation and that Human Rights be respected for all Cubans .

My mother commented to me that the fact that he was transferred to the hospital was solely a product of the posture she and other relatives assumed in front of the Police Unit of Versalles where he was arrested, and also thanks to all the solidarity of various people throughout the world, and primarily because of all the support he has received from human rights defenders from Palma Soriano and Mella, all of which have been repressed and detained arbitrarily for the simple act of supporting the cause of Jorge.

Alba made it clear that, despite the strong operation being carried out by State Security in which the entire hospital is surrounded by officers, she will continue standing by the side of her son until he is freed.

The Cervantes family is calling on all people of goodwill throughout the world to defend the physical integrity and life of Jorge Cervantes Garcia and to hold the Cuban government accountable for anything that may happen to him.

For more information on Jorge Cervantes Garcia, I recommend this post from Uncommon Sense: Jorge Cervantes García, Cuban Political Prisoner of the Week, 6/12/11 (UPDATED)