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Cuban Activist at UN Condemns Systematic Torture, Seeks Support for Political Prisoners
By Cuban Democratic Directorate

New York. 25 July 2008. Cuban Democratic Directorate. Cuban human rights activist Bertha Antúnez Pernet condemned the Cuban regime’s systematic torture of opposition activists and urged solidarity for Cuban political prisoners and the cause of freedom in Cuba at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on Thursday, July 24, 2008. Antúnez Pernet is the sister of former political prisoner, opposition activist, and torture victim Jorge Luis García Pérez “Antúnez.”

 

“Fidel and Raúl Castro have said publicly that there are no political prisoners in Cuba and have affirmed that no one is tortured in Cuba. This is false and I say this from my own experience. My brother… spent 17 years and 38 days in captivity and was submitted to physical torture, brutal beatings, and confinement in punishment cells without the right to communicate or see his family for long periods of time, without the right to religious or medical assistance. In 1992 my brother was handcuffed and dogs were set on him. He still bears the scars from their bites,” stated Antúnez Pernet.

 

“We ask the democratic countries of the World for their support and solidarity. The cause of freedom for Cuba and for Cuba’s political prisoners is one that concerns humanity. It is about reaching out a hand in solidarity to those with the courage to speak up when their rights are violated. If the democratic countries of the World remain silent toward this reality, they will be turning their backs on those who suffer and will be supporting the evil of the Castro brothers’ repressive system with their silence,” concluded Antúnez Pernet.

 

Antúnez Pernet’s remarks were part of an event sponsored by the United States Mission to the United Nations called “Courageous Voices: Speaking out for Prisoners of Conscience.” Victims of repression from Belarus, Burma, Eritrea, Syria, and Uzbekistan also offered their testimonies.

 

 

Remarks by Mrs. Bertha Antúnez Pernet during the event concerning Prisoners of Conscience at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on July 24, 2008.

 

I would like to thank you for the opportunity to provide my testimony as a human rights activist and as a defender of political prisoners and prisoners of conscience in my country, Cuba. I have only been in exile for five months and for many years I struggled in Cuba for freedom for all Cuban political prisoners, and especially for the freedom of my brother, Jorge Luis García Pérez “Antúnez”, and my struggle continues although I am off the Island.

 

I would like to summarize the situation in my country with respect to human rights. In Cuba, hundreds of people serve prison sentences for their ideas, for thinking differently from the Castro brothers’ communist ideology. These people are arbitrarily detained, submitted to psychological and physical torture, and in many cases their families are harassed. They are tried without legal guarantees, and later confined in prisons, in most cases, hundreds of kilometers from their places of residence and under inhumane conditions.

 

Fidel and Raúl Castro have said publicly that there are no political prisoners in Cuba and have affirmed that no one is tortured in Cuba. This is false and I say this from my own experience.

 

My brother was detained in 1990 for expressing, in a public square, that there needed to be reforms in Cuba like those that were being carried out in Eastern Europe. He spent 17 years and 38 days in captivity and was submitted to physical torture, brutal beatings, and confinement in punishment cells without the right to communicate or see his family for long periods of time, without the right to religious or medical assistance. In 1992 my brother was handcuffed and dogs were set on him. He still bears the scars from their bites. In mid 2000, our family had to peacefully protest and carry out a sit-in in front of Nieves Morejón Prison in Sanctí Spíritus for 29 days and nights for my moribund brother to be granted medical assistance in that prison.

 

In July 2004, in Ariza Provincial Prison in Cienfuegos during a family visit, my brother was savagely beaten in our presence and we and the children who were with us were also beaten. The incident occurred because my brother asked the prison guards about the letters and cards that he had been sent from different parts of the world which he was not allowed to receive. Yedier Rodríguez Pérez, my young step-nephew who was with us that day because he is my brother’s wife’s son, received a strong kick in the kidney during the beating. My brother spent more than 13 years in prisons thousands of kilometers from our city of residence as a punitive measure against us who had to travel under terrible conditions to see him during the rare family visits. In 1996, my brother had only one family visit. Another aspect I would like to point out is that my brother and our family suffered not only because of our political ideas, but also because of the color of our skin. My brother suffered greater abuses and humiliations because he is black. The regime sells a false image of equality. If you are black, you have to be communist or you are doubly repressed.

 

I could continue enumerating concrete facts about my own experience but it would be a long list of violations. What happened to my family and my brother is not an isolated case, it happens in Cuba to hundreds of people who have to suffer the unjust imprisonment of their loved ones and the pain of seeing them fall ill and physically deteriorate on the whim of a political system that oppresses and deceives its citizens.

 

The Declaration about prisoners of conscience in the World distributed as a document of the United Nations General Assembly and signed by numerous member countries of this entity allows us to make an urgent petition for Cuban prisoners of conscience and their immediate and unconditional release.

 

The Cuban state is a member of the United Nations General Assembly as well as this entity’s Human Rights Council. To achieve their membership in this Council, Cuba promised to respect and promote the 30 articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in a document signed on March 16, 2006. In addition to this, Cuba signed the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights early this year. Why does the Cuban government break these international covenants, increasing the repression and the harassment against Cuban citizens on the island and especially against defenders of human rights? The countries and non-governmental entities that belong to the United Nations should ask Raul Castro’s government this question. The Cuban people have been asking that government this question for almost 50 years.

 

We ask the democratic countries of the World for their support and solidarity. The cause of freedom for Cuba and for Cuba’s political prisoners is one that concerns humanity. It is about reaching out a hand in solidarity to those with the courage to speak up when their rights are violated. If the democratic countries of the World remain silent toward this reality, they will be turning their backs on those who suffer and will be supporting the evil of the Castro brothers’ repressive system with their silence. The Cuban people who struggle for their freedom hope for your support.

 

Thank you.                                                                 

 

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