» Human Rights

PUBLIC LETTER TO FELIPE PEREZ ROQUE
By Political prisoner Angel Moya Acosta

Carlos J. Finlay Hospital

March 19, 2005

 

To: Felipe Perez Roque

Foreign Minister of the Republic of Cuba

 

From: Angel Moya Acosta, political prisoner and prisoner of conscience, currently recuperating from a herniated disc in the Carlos J. Finaly Hospital.

 Cuban political prisoner Angel Moya Acosta

Dear Sir:

 

On March 16, 2005 you read the following before the Human Rights Commission in Geneva and I cite:

 

“The Cuban people fervently believe in freedom, democracy and human rights.”

“There has not been in Cuba during the 46 years of the Revolution, nor is there now, ont a single case of a dissappeared person.”

“Let them present the name of single tortured person...a single one! Let them present the name of a single political prisoner humiliated by his captors.”

“In Cuba, the press, radio and television is the property of the people and serves its interests.”

 

End of quote.

 

Sir, I do not seek to remind you or inform you or even respond to what you have said. I am not a foreigner, I do not live abroad, I am Cuban and I live in Cuba with the only difference that I am in pison in this Island for political reasons and due to my convictions.

 

Sir, where are the victims of the March 13th tugboat who were fleeing Cuba on the night of July 13, 1994?

 

Who and how many died on that night?

 

You and I both know the answers, but I prefer that it be the family members of the victims who respond. And they will.

 

On May 13, 2003, the Chief of the Provincial Prison of Holguin forced me to undress in his office in front of my jailers. Once I had done this he gave them the order to take me to the punishment cells. The jailers placed me in a dark cell, infested with mosquitos, dirty, with no water. They took away the mattress, blanket and towel, and for three days I had to sleep on a board with no protection whatsoever. Again, I point out that while I was taken to the cell I was naked, barefoot, handcuffed and in plain view of both prisoners and guards.

 

Sir, how do you classify these actions by jailers which I have been a victim of? Are these practices by the jailers an expample of proper treatment?

 

No sir, they are not an example of good treatment. These measures are an example of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.

 

In Cuba the press, radio and television do not belong to the people as you say. They are owned and controlled by the Communist Party. They are managed by members of the Communist Party and the Union of Young Communists. And to provide you with an example of this, I urge you to pick up a copy of the Granma newspaper where you can read under the main heading where it says: “Official organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba.” Then, who does this newspaper answer to? Without a doubt, to the interests of the Communist Party of Cuba.

 

On November 10 and 11, 1999 my family and I, among them my mother and two nephews who were then minors, were victims of attacks by mobs organized by the Communist Party and other satellite organizations. They had the support and complicity of the Department of State Security. For more than three hours they shouted and chanted slogans and obscenities such as “faggots, sons of bitches, etc.” Is this action an example of what you call freedom and democracy?

 

No, Mr. Minister, they are not. These fascist and terrorist acts took place on Calle 20, #2525, between 25 and 27, in Pedro Betancourt, Matanzas, Cuba.

 

Lastly, I am in prison for political reasons, because of my convictions. My only crime has been to exercise my right to struggle and defend the right of Cubans to be free. I have not attacked army barracks, I have not betrayed my people, and as you mentioned before the Human Rights Commission in Geneva, I am absolutely convinced of my belief and love of freedom, human rights and democracy, only that, and this you did not express, we Cubans have not had these rights for 46 years.

 

Cubans will only live in freedom, with democracy and human rights, when in Cuba there are no longer any mob attacks against those persons who express themselves against the Regime’s policies, when no one is persecuted or imprisoned for their political opinions, and when the government you represent permits and respects the right to freedom of expression, association, assembly and protest.

 

Angel Moya Acosta

Political prisoner and prisoner of conscience

Cell #75

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