Voice of the opposition in Cuba is presented before the General Assembly of the OAS

Press Releases

From Cuba

Articles

Human Rights

Media Coverage

» Press Releases

Voice of the opposition in Cuba is presented before the General Assembly of the OAS
By Cuban Democratic Directorate

Civil society organizations in Santo Domingo unite with voices of Cuban exiles

Civil society organizations in Santo Domingo unite with voices of Cuban exiles

Santo Domingo, June 7th, 2006. On the mark of the 36th meeting of the General Assembly of the Organization of American Status which took place in the city of Santo Domingo from June 4th through the 6th, the voices of the Cuban opposition inside and outside of Cuba were raised to denounce the human rights violations on the Island and the decision of the internal opposition to continue in its struggle for democracy.

The Dominican Patriotic Youth, an organization of the Dominican civil society which has advocated for a free Cuba for many years, joined the Cuban Democratic Directorate and Mothers Against Repression (MAR) to address the media concerning the upcoming OAS Assembly.

“We want to take advantage of the upcoming meeting of the OAS to denounce the human rights violations committed in Cuba. In Cuba people are still being arrested for their ideas and government-organized mobs continue to attack human rights activists. I also want to denounce the situation of Guillermo Fariñas Hernández who is practically dying in a hospital asking for something which the regime says already exists in Cuba, access to the internet, and that is not true. We are asking for the liberty of political prisoners and the cessation of human rights violations,” expressed Bertha Antúnez, sister of political prisoner Jorge Luís García Pérez “Antúnez”, in a telephone recording presented before the press.

The organizations had the opportunity to address José Miguel Insulza, Secretary General, foreign ministers, diplomats and delegates present at the assembly through the presentation given by Sylvia Iriondo, president of MAR por Cuba, where she expressed her gratitude for participating in the event and asserted the absence of liberty the Cuban people have suffered for the past 47 years, the fact that an “empty chair” represents Cuba in the OAS signifies the lack of a voice for the Cuban people in this important forum. She also denounced the situation of Guillermo Fariñas, and above all, asked for the liberation of over 330 Cuban political prisoners.

María Lima, Cuban Democratic Directorate and Hipólito Ramírez, Dominican Patriotic Youth had the opportunity to interact with participants at the assembly and distribute information about the reality in Cuba.

Send by E-mail | Printable Version

About the author