Shocking! There’s an AP story on Cuba’s political prisoners
As Marc reports, finally there is an AP story about Cuba's political prisoners, including mention of Dr. Darsi Ferrer's case.
Cuban political prisoners increase by 1
(AP) – 9 hours ago
HAVANA — Political prisoners held in Cuba increased by one to 206 in the past six months, the first time the number has not dropped sharply since Raul Castro took over running the communist country three years ago.The Cuban Commission on Human Rights and National Reconciliation said Monday that the increase compares to 205 in late January and 219 last summer.
"It's the first time in two decades that the number of prisoners has not fallen," said commission head Elizardo Sanchez.
Sanchez repeated his complaint that police still use brief detentions to intimidate the political opposition — although those detentions fell by two-thirds in the past six months.
The latest prisoner list includes Darsi Ferrer, a physician who organizes tiny Havana street protests to mark International Human Rights Day each December.
Ferrer was arrested July 21 for obtaining black-market building materials to repair his home in a country where the state controls nearly all construction.
Sanchez acknowledged that Ferrer's charges were not political but said officials wanted to stop his work protesting Cuba's single-party communist rule.
"They're trying to take him out of circulation," Sanchez said in a phone interview.
Numbers of Cuban political prisoners had fallen notably every six months since Raul Castro took over for ailing older brother, Fidel — temporarily in July 2006 and then as president in February 2008. But Sanchez said numbers of such prisoners also have been slowly declining for about 20 years.
Fidel Castro said he held 15,000 political prisoners in 1964. Cuban officials now say they do not hold political prisoners and dismiss opposition activists as "mercenaries," who take money from the U.S. government to destabilize the communist system.
Sanchez's commission is funded by international human rights organizations.
It is not the condemnation of the regime they should publish; but considering the fact that any mention of repression and political prisoners in Cuba is mostly non-existent in the MSM, I welcome this. Who knows, maybe seeing organized government thugs challenging the right of free speech in this country has some journalists rethinking the attractiveness of Cuba's aged anti-American "rebels."
Corre la bola | 
Elizardo Sanchez Santa Cruz is another ASS.
"Sanchez said numbers of such prisoners also have been slowly declining for about 20 years."
Considering that Sanchez (nor the Human Rights Commission for that matter)has never had any access to Cuban prisons I would like for Sanchez to tell me who is his source. In 1958 there were only 14 prisons in Cuba, as of 2009 there are 250. For heaven's sake, almost 8% of the Cuban population is behind bars.
Firefly- What? You expect they should think about what they're reporting? Afterall, they are only
humanjournalists.Elizardo Sanchez is a Cuban professor that lives on the island and has been jailed multiple times for expressing his views on human rights. On how his organization gets their information, an article from them begins "A partir de informes de fuentes familiares y de testimonios de prisioneros y ex-prisioneros." Rather than reacting with gut instinct whenever you see a word or phrase that goes against your conception of things, it may be good to do some research and get a deeper understanding of the intricacies of the world; truth is not always black and white. Even if overall prisoner numbers are going down, it is not an improvement in the fact that political speech is still a crime.
A Radio Marti report played up another statistic compiled by Sanchez: Cuban dissidents were arrested and detained at least 532 times during the first six months of the year. They may not have been sentenced to prison terms — and thus increasing the number of political prisoners — but the effect is very much the same. This is as much of an indicator of the human rights situation in Cuba, as the number of political prisoners. I don't have a reason to question Sanchez's report, but if anything, the actual number of political prisoners is much, much higher.
Eddy,
I personally have strong reservations about Elizardo Sanchez. The Cuban government even has a film about Elizardo receiving an award for duties rendered to the regime. Now, I know that the Cuban government sets people up, but I saw the film and it is evident that he is going along with the award. For whatever reason, the regime pulled a Magda Montiel [remember when they released the film of her going gaga over castro?] on Sanchez and released the film. Perhaps they thought that he wasn't as useful as he used to be? Who knows?
That said, I believe that Elizardo's statements to the press about "declining numbers" and the actual figures that he always gives in a sense serves the interest of the regime, because he grossly undercounts the numbers.
It seems clear
that the number of political prisoners
in Cuba is greatly underestimated
Eddy,
Why is it that when it comes to Cuba the MSM always quotes the likes of Elizardo Sanchez Santa Cruz, Vladimiro Roca or Oswaldo Paya and NEVER, EVER other members of the opposition? Why is it that in the U.S. the MSM always quotes “Cuban experts” such as Wayne Smith, Daniel Erikson, or Phil Peters, and NEVER, EVER Cuban-Americans? Because these people are SOFT on castro and they ALL have their own agenda.
I stand by what I said… Elizardo Sanchez Santa Cruz is an ASS! I’ve heard him speak often enough. He’s a cheap “dialoguer” that believes one can work with the Cuban government. As to his being a “political” prisoner and his having been arrested several times… Well, give me a day and time that he was tortured or beaten as others have been.
Rayena,
The video “Tras los Caminos del Camaján, El Agente Juana” that you speak of is the one that Cuban authorities presented during an international press release on the 28th of October 1998. The agent shown on the video is none other than Elizardo Sanchez Santa Cruz when he was being awarded (supposedly in a private ceremony) with “The Distinguished Service Order” for services rendered to the Cuban Government. There is also a book “El Camaján” written by two Cuban journalists in which they mention that Sanchez was a Cuban agent. The book was written by Arleen Rodríguez y Lázaro Barredo, details how Sanchez’s involvement with Cuban Counterintelligence (fiction or fact? Time will tell). By the way, Sanchez involvement with Cuban counterintelligence was denied by … You guessed it: Vladimiro Roca and Oswaldo Paya.
The word Camaján in English is Freeloafer.
Firefly,
I agree with everything that you wrote. You're correct, the MSM only quotes a select group of "dissidents" and "Cuba experts" and Sanchez is among that little group. Eloy Gutierrez Menoyo who in his hey days penned quite a few opinion pieces in mainstream papers like the odious Miami Herald and New York Times and who was touted around as an anti-castro combatant that spent 20 years in prison, used to belong to that little group, but he has since become so blatant [since his move to Cuba. Can it become anymore obvious?] that he's no longer useful and has gone into semi-retirement.
Thanks for the tip on the name of the video and book. I believe that its true. Honestly, I'm fed up with Sanchez's constant under counting of dissidents. It serves the regime and it serves it well.