Moa, Cuba – June 23, 2006 –Cuban Democratic Directorate –The workers of the Nickel Association Services Company in Moa were summoned by the communist party to request that Osmar Pérez Torres, activist of the Pedro Luís Boitel National Civic Resistance Movement, be forcefully dismissed from his job as a driver at this mining entity.

According to Juan Carlos Garcell from the Oriental Free Press Agency, “The gathering was carried out in a tense atmosphere, because Osmar Pérez was being accused of being a well known counterrevolutionary, and as such, they demanded that he sign the act of forced dismissal. Under these circumstances, coworkers in solidarity with Osmar Pérez informed him that there was a whole “show” prepared for the occasion, and that communist militants Gabriel Russiano, Delfín Romero Gainza, and one known as Ezequiel were waiting for him at the firm’s exit to beat him with pipes.”

Thanks to the cooperation of his coworkers, Osmar Pérez was able to evade the alleged aggressors and leave without signing the act of dismissal.

This past February 17^th, Osmar Pérez was beaten savagely in a public area by a governmental mob, leaving him “unconscious, with a broken head, bruises all over his body, bleeding from his mouth and nose. He was cruelly beaten.” The beating resulted in the fracture of two ribs, a wound on the head which required various stitches, and an ocular hemorrhage.

As a consequence of these injuries, Osmar Pérez was placed on medical leave on doctor’s orders, and now faces the possibility of losing of his job.

The Cuban Democratic Directorate denounced this case when it first occurred before international human rights entities and will continue to monitor the case, taking into account that the first meeting of the Human Rights Council of the United Nations is currently in session.