Activists on Weeks Long Fast Appeal for Urgent Medical Attention

Press Releases

From Cuba

Articles

Human Rights

Media Coverage

» Press Releases

Activists on Weeks Long Fast Appeal for Urgent Medical Attention
By Cuban Democratic Directorate

Placetas. April 8, 2009. Cuban Democratic Directorate. A group of Cuban activists engaged in a protest during which they have not consumed solid food since February 17, have urgently called on international organizations to intercede on their behalf before the Cuban regime, which has kept them besieged in a house in Placetas.

The activists, among them Tamara Pérez Aguilera, Jorge Luis García Pérez (usually known as “Antúnez”), Ernesto Mederos Arrozarena, Diosiris Santana Pérez and Carlos Michael Morales Rodríguez, are carrying out their fase in Antúnez’s home, which has been surrounded by Castro regime forces since March 17th. The political police cordon has blocked anyone from entering or leaving, and kept out medical supplies. Pérez Aguilera’s health has deteriorated, and she is showing the effects of diabetes, hormonal disorders, and chronic asthma.

“We appeal to human rights institutions and bodies to intercede before Cuba’s government so that Pérez Aguilera may be visited and duly attended to by a physician chosen by the fast protestors, thereby avoiding any kind of manipulation or kidnapping on the part of the political police officers who constantly harass this home,” stated Morales Rodríguez on behalf of the activists by telephone to the Cuban Democratic Directorate.

Amnesty International, which considers the activists to be “in grave danger,” asked its members and sympathizers to send statements “urging the authorities to stop the harassment and intimidation of Antúnez, Iris Tamara Pérez Aguillera, Carlos Michael Morales Rodriguez, Diosiris Santana Pérez and Ernesto Mederos Arrozarena, and allow them to come and go from their house freely, without fear of reprisals or arbitrary detention; calling on the authorities to allow those who want to visit them to do so without harassment; [and] calling on the authorities to reform the laws, regulations and administrative practices which curtail freedom of expression, association and assembly,” according to an Urgent Action alert sent on March 31.

The activists directed their appeal to Amnesty International, the International Convention against Torture, the European Parliament, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the Diplomatic Corps accredited in Havana, Cuba.

*Below is the complete text of the activists’ statement:

“Faced with the serious deterioration of human rights activist Iris Tamara Pérez Aguilera’s state of health, a product of the fast she is engaged in without any possibility of resorting to a hospital, given the rigid state of siege under which her home is held, to the degree that political police authorities do not allow the entrance or exit of any person, even family members. We appeal to human rights institutions and bodies to intercede before Cuba’s government so that Pérez Aguilera may be visited and duly attended to by a physician chosen by the fast protestors, thereby avoiding any kind of manipulation or kidnapping on the part of the political police officers who constantly harass this home.

Iris began a hunger strike this past February 17, and shifted to a fast during which she only consumes liquid three times a day on March 15. She shows, among others, the effects of diabetes, hormonal disorders, and chronic asthma.

Signed:

Iris Tamara Pérez Aguilera

Jorge Luis García Pérez Antunez

Ernesto Mederos Arozarena

Diosiris Santana Pérez

Carlos Michael Morales Rodríguez

Copies to Amnesty International, the International Convention against Torture, the European Parliament, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the Diplomatic Corps accredited in Havana, Cuba.”

Send by E-mail | Printable Version

About the author