Norwegian Lawmaker Supports Freedom for Cuban Political Prisoners

Press Releases

From Cuba

Articles

Human Rights

Media Coverage

» Press Releases

Norwegian Lawmaker Supports Freedom for Cuban Political Prisoners
By Cuban Democratic Directorate

Parlamentarian Jan Torre Sanner of Norway’s Høyre Party, along with Christian Angell, Chief of Høyre’s International Office, receive an update on the situation of the Cuban human rights movement with Janisset Rivero, Directorio’s Adjunct National Secretary.

Miami. June 16, 2008. Cuban Democratic Directorate. Norwegian member of Parliament Jan Tore Sanner, the second-ranking member of Norway’s Conservative Party (Høyre) expressed his solidarity with Cuba’s political prisoners during a visit to Miami from June 15-16. The delegation from the Scandinavian country also included Christian Angell, Chief of the International Office for Høyre, who also expressed his support for the civic movement in Cuba.

Sanner, who represents the suburbs of Oslo in the Stortinget, the Norwegian parliament, made the trip in order to learn about the current human rights situation in Cuba and about the Cuban civil movement struggling for democracy on the Island.

During his stay, the lawmaker met with former political prisoner and journalist Manuel Vázquez Portal, the recently exiled activist Bertha Antúnez Pernet, sister of former political prisoner Jorge Luis García Pérez “Antúnez,” and with Blanca González, the mother of Normando Hernández González, a young imprisoned journalist. He listened to their personal testimony of the struggle for freedom in spite of the persecution they suffered.

The European lawmaker was also able to directly address the Cuban people, delivering his message through a Radio República broadcast.

“I’m here to show my solidarity with the people of Cuba, and those who are imprisoned for their beliefs. I am also here to have a dialogue with the people who care about Cuba, and the people of Cuba… When I was 13 years old, my parents took me to the wall that divided Europe, the Iron Curtain. It taught me a lesson. We in the West, we were lucky. We were living in democratic countries, we had our freedom, a free press, political power was divided, and we lived in countries which put people first,” stated Sanner in an interview on the shortwave station.

“Human rights are universal rights, and we have to fight to have them. Poland, the Czech Republic, and other countries in the eastern part of Europe are now free countries, and they have democracy,” emphasized Sanner.

In April, John Suárez, the Director of International Relations for Directorio, and Bertha Antúnez Pernet visited Oslo where Suárez gave a presentation on human rights in Cuba at the Høyre Party’s National Convention. The event was part of the relaunch of the Campaign to Adopt Cuban Prisoners of Conscience, which has been well-received in Europe and Latin America.

Send by E-mail | Printable Version

About the author