Via Hablalo Sin Miedo, a statement from Yoani Sanchez on the murder of Cuban human rights activist, Wilmar Villar Mendoza (my translation):

Greetings and good evening.

My name is Yoani Sanchez. I am a blogger, a citizen journalist, and I want to make a denouncement.

I want to denounce that in my country, people have to use their bodies, their intestines, their stomachs as a battlefield, as as a way to mount a civic protest. It is very lamentable that an entire population -- 11-million Cubans on this island -- has had all their rights as citizens taken away or limited. The civic, electoral, and judicial avenues for citizens to seek change, to demand a transformation, to demand the end of the status quo in our country has been blocked. What do we have left? Well, the people then must use hunger strikes as a way to express their nonconformity. It is very sad what has happened today, the death of Wilmar Villar. It is also very sad that Orlando Zapata Tamayo had to die. Until when will Cubans have to put their own bodies up as a form of protest?

That is the denouncement I wanted to make. Perhaps it is just like a bottle thrown into the sea, something that falls into an abyss, but on this 19th of January, I want to leave constancy of this. Please, we do not want to continue utilizing our skin, our bones, as a way to show our outrage. We have to have the right to do it without repression.

Thank you.