From our Bureau of Socialist Humanitarian Ethics
It’s happened again. Another Cuban dissident has died in prison.
Strangely, unlike previous hunger-striking political prisoners who received international attention, Yosvany Arostegui was barely noticed in social media and totally ignored by the world’s news outlets.
He joins a long list of hunger-strikers who have been pushed to their deaths by the Castro regime.
May his self-immolation in prison be the last, and may he rest in peace and eternal freedom.
Loosely translated from CiberCuba
Cuban political prisoner Yosvany Arostegui died after more than 40 days on a hunger strike in Camagüey, the activist Juannier Rodríguez reported on social media.
“Today I regret the loss of my friend Yosvany Arostegui. They knew him for being that opponent who went to the protests with a cart full of activists. When I made friends with the opposition for the first time in Camagüey, it was at his house that I stayed,” Rodríguez wrote on Facebook.
Arostegui died this Friday at the Amalia Simoni Hospital, in Camagüey, after more than 40 days on strike. The deceased had been a “plantado” [one who challenges prison routines]several times since she was in prison, his friend explained.
“At this time, State Security does not allow some opponents to attend my friend’s funeral. I am very sorry for your death in this way, my dear friend,” he added.
“Another crime of the Castro dictatorship,” added on Twitter activist Ana Belkis Ferrer García, sister of the national coordinator of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU), José Daniel Ferrer.
Yosvany Arostegui was a member of UNPACU for several years. In social networks, activists regret that his death has not transpired like that of other political prisoners.
“Ay Yosvany, you gave pleasure to the dictators”, “I am very sorry friend, rest in peace” and “Yosvani Arostegui is one of those who does not give in to the terror of Castro communism, his courage and dedication to the cause of the The freedom of Cuba is the same as that of men of the quality of Orlando Zapata Tamayo, Miguel Valdés Tamayo, Pedro Luis Boitel Abraham, Wilmar Villar Mendoza and so many “are some of the comments on his death.
I’m opposed to hunger strikes, because no matter how bad the outcome, nobody cares, and if the striker quits, it looks like a failure. It’s pretty much a no-win situation. It could work with lots of foreign media attention to a well-known dissident, but otherwise the odds are pretty poor.