Jailed Cuban Journalist Sews Mouth Shut to Protest Prison Conditions

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Jailed Cuban Journalist Sews Mouth Shut to Protest Prison Conditions
By Cuban Democratic Directorate

Independent journalist and political prisoner Juan Carlos Herrera Acosta in a March 2008 photo. Courtesy of the Cuban Youth Movement for Democracy.

Miami. July 25, 2008. Cuban Democratic Directorate. On July 21, after three days on hunger strike, Cuban political prisoner Juan Carlos Herrera Acosta sewed his mouth shut in protest over human rights violations committed against him in Holguín Provinvicial Prison. Herrera Acosta was unjustly imprisoned during the March 2003 crackdown for his independent journalism.

According to a report by independent journalist Caridad Caballero Batista, Herrera Acosta is protesting to condemn acts of physical and psychological torture, the isolation in which he is kept from communicating with his family, the seizure of his correspondence, extremely poor nutrition, lack of medication, and the diseases to which he is made susceptible by inhumane prison conditions.

Caballero Batista also reported that Herrera Acosta made the drastic decision to sew his mouth shut when authorities ignored his demands, despite the fact that fellow political prisoners Alfredo Rodolfo Domínguez Batista, Orlando Zapata Tamayo y Luis Mariano Delís Utria joined his protest on July 19. The prisoners supporting Herrera Acosta stated that they will not relent from their firm commitment, and that they are willing to continue the protest on to its final consequences since they will no longer tolerate violations of their rights.

“The situation of repression in Cuba has worsened in recent months both in the prisons and on the streets of the Island. The Cuban Democratic Directorate has called upon the member countries of the United Nations Human Rights council to confront the Raúl Castro regime, which recently signed two UN human rights treaties, and to demand respect for human rights in Cuba,” stated Janisset Rivero, Adjunct National Secretary of the Cuban Democratic Directorate (Directorio).

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