Spontaneous and successful march in Eastern Cuba (Video)

This past 20th of May, Cuban Independence Day, numerous pro-freedom activities were carried out throughout the island.  Now, a video has arrived from Santiago de Cuba which shows a march carried out by 16 dissidents, members of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU), throughout various blocks of the Sueño Neighborhood.  The participants of the march described it as a “spontaneous” and “successful” demonstration.

The activists who marched were not repressed by the political police during the moment of the activity, and much less by everyday citizens.  They demanded freedom for all political prisoners, mentioning specific names such as Bismark Mustelier, Jorge Cervantes Garcia and Dany Lopez de Moya.  They also shouted “Zapata Lives“, “Harold Cepero Lives” and “Oswaldo Paya lives“, among other messages in favor of freedom and true change.

Cuban political police agents, infuriated by the success of the march, organized a mob which carried out an act of repudiation against the dissidents when they returned to the home of Daniel Barriel Sanjurjo.  The mob shouted offensive slogans as well as things like ‘Down with the worms’ and ‘Leave the country’.  As a response, the activists expressed “Down with the political police” and “Long live the Cuban People“.

The dissidents did not back down at any moment.  Some of them were detained and beat later on.  See the video here:

Political Prisoner Declares Himself on Hunger Strike, Signs Appear Demanding his Freedom

Bismark Mustelier Galan. Political Prisoner. Held in Aguadores prison since April 1st 2012

Alina Fonseca Guevara, the wife of political prisoner Bismark Mustelier Galan, who has been jailed since April 1st in the Aguadores Prison after he complained in a hospital about lack of medical attention for a minor, informed this Friday, May 4th, about the danger which her husband faces in prison after he declared himself on hunger strike this past Thursday May 3rd.

According to Fonseca Guevara, Bismark began his hunger strike the moment in which the penal authorities, specifically the chief of the unit Luis Enrique Lopez, denied her right, and the right of other activists, to visit him in prison.  “I went to visit Bismark on Thursday along with a group of his childhood and neighborhood friends- Miguel Rafael Cabrera Montoya, Rolando Humberto Rodriguez, Hector Felix Labrada, and Jose Batista Flacon, and they denied our visit“, said Guevara, “so then, I went to speak to the chief of the unit (Luis Enrique Lopez) and he told me that he was the one who had made such decision and that the prison was like his house, that he would decide who could enter“.

Fonseca said that with the hunger strike, Bismark is demanding that the penal authorities  allow his friends and family to visit him, as well as that his prison conditions are immediately improved.  “In his penal ward, the bathrooms are horrible.  There has not been water for 15 days, they give them just a bit of water sometimes to shower and to drink.  Many prisoners chose to drink it and then they cannot shower“, said Alina, adding that she was able to communicate with her husband on Friday morning.  “Bismark told me not to worry, that he was strong.  He told me that he would not depose his hunger strike until his demands are fulfilled“.

Meanwhile, Yuniesky Domínguez González, an activist from the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU), reiterated the severity of Bismark’s case, pointing out and warning that the Aguadores Prison is the same penitentiary in which the dissident Wilman Villar Mendoza died just 4 months ago after he was kept in horrid conditions and he initiated a hunger strike.

“In other words, we fear for the security and life of Bismark Mustelier Galan,” said Gonzalez, “we know that the Aguadores Prison is a horrid place and we fear very much for his life”.

Gonzalez added that during the morning of Friday, May 4th, in the town of Palma Soriano their appeared 4 signs with anti-government messages written on them, as well as messages demanding the release of the political prisoners Bismark Galan and Dany Lopez de Moya.  The latter was recently sentenced to 1 year and 6 months of prison under false charges of “public disorder” after publcily wearing a T-shirt which read “Boitel-Zapata-Wilman Live“- a tribute to three Cuban freedom fighters who have died while demanding justice for the Cuban people.

According to Yuniesky Gonzalez, in addition to those 4 signs, throughout this past week “various signs have appeared on numerous occassions“, and “they have been put there by dissidents and by people who do not even belong to opposition groups“.

“It has gotten to the point that the government, and State Security, have put put up heir own signs with their own messages against the opposition, but people who pass by draw an ‘X’ on it and write ‘NO’, which goes to show the disapproval felt by the opposition and by everyday citizens in regards to these government signs“.

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Para más información desde Cuba:

Alina Fonseca Guevara – Cell Phone: +5358-146-523       // Yuniesky González – Cell Phone:   +5352-997-961