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Activists and political prisoners pay homage to Pedro Luís Boitel
By Political Prisoner Jorge Luis García Pérez "Antúnez"

 

Jorge Luís García Pérez “Antúnez”, former political prisoner and national coordinator of the Pedro Luís Boitel Political Prisoner Union, tells of what happened when Cubans paid tribute to the pioneer martyr of the Cuban civic resistance within prisons and in their homes.

 

Villa Clara, May 30, 2007 - “The initiative to pay homage to Pedro Luis Boitel annually came about in 1995, in Kilo 8 prison in Camagüey. It was precisely in this maximum security prison, where the desire to pay tribute to this Cuban martyr was born, that he died while on a hunger strike. The campaign took place from May 13th, the date in which he was born in 1931, to May 25th, date in which he died a victim of the Cuban regime in 1972 in Castillo del Principe prison.

 

This 2007 campaign was carried out in homes and prisons in various provinces through very symbolic actions. Activists Ramón Delgado Prieto, Alexis Sabatel Ugarte, Ángel Tejera Rodríguez, Rigoberto Morejón Delgado, Normando Hernández González, Alejandro González Raga, Alfredo Pulido López, Armando Sufa Fortuni and Jesús Rojas Pineda participated in Kilo 7 prison in Camagüey.

 

In Kilo 9 prison, also in Camagüey, members of the Pedro Luis Boitel Political Prisoner Union Conrado Grindo Sarol and Virgilio Mantil Arango, participated. In Manacas Prison, in Villa Clara, Alexander García Lima and other brothers participated.

 

In Ariza prison, in Cienfuegos, with great courage, Luís Cueto Echevarria and Juan Carlos Vásquez García paid homage to our model and martyr Boitel.

In Kilo 8 prison, where I was imprisoned for many years and also suffered beatings, we can count on the strength of character and heroism of patriots: José Daniel Ferrer García, Juan Carlos Herrera Acosta, Leoncio Rodríguez Ponce and Carlos Luis Díaz Fernández. On May 20th, during this celebration, these brothers in Kilo 8 were brutally punished by prison guards. The repression was abundant.

 

On the street, different organizations of the internal opposition actively participated in the campaign. For example, in the municipalities of Isla de Pinos and Villa Clara, members of the Marta Abreu Feminine Front carried out a meeting to discuss the life of Boitel and its effect today.

 

We met on May 25th to conclude the campaign in the home of delegate Amado Ruíz Moreno, member of the of the Frank País November 30th Party. After a convocation made for the participation of different organizations and activists, the homage was concluded with the participation of 20 people. These participants participated despite the inconvenient time, blackouts, and other situations that they faced. Among those present were Joaquín Cabezas de León, Alejandro González Raga, Glafortur Martínez, Dora Lara, Marcelina, Ángel Luís Gallardo Mora, Alejandro Gradiel Martínez, Juan Molina Labrada, Edgar Herrera Rodríguez, Bertha Antúnez, Iris Pérez Aguilera, and other activists.

 

During this activity, which was the culmination of the entire campaign, the National Anthem was sung after the opening statement by Alejandro García Sardiña, member and Villa Clara representative of the recently created Human Rights National Council.

 

He read a synopsis of the life and words of the martyr, Pedro Luís Boitel. We discussed various articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which Cuba signed on December 10, 1948, despite its constant systematic violations of the same.

 

We also compared the totalitarian regime of Fidel Castro with other dictatorships such as those of Batista, Stalin in the former Soviet Union, Romania, and North Korea, among other totalitarian governments. During the debate, the situation in these systems was discussed. Emphasis was made on the fact that there are no noble dictatorships; no left or right-winged dictatorships. We must oppose all they stand for. We also spoke about the need to analyze deeply the organized work of the civil opposition.

 

Activist Joaquín Cabezas de León, Secretary General of Communications of the Cuban Reflection Movement, presented an interesting lecture on human rights violations and civic responsibility.

 

To conclude, Psalm 121 was read, giving thanks to God. Together, we announced: “LONG LIVE HUMAN RIGHTS, LONG LIVE FREEDOM, DEMOCRACY, AND FREEDOM FOR ALL CUBAN POLITICAL PRISONERS!”

 

 

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