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WIVES OF CUBAN POLITICAL PRISONERS DENOUNCE GOVERNMENT MANIPULATION
By Cuban Democratic Directorate

Dolia Leal Francisco, wife of Cuban political prisoner Nelson Aguiar Ramirez, is denouncing the government’s attempts to manipulate her and other political prisoners’ wives and mothers of the group known as the “Ladies in White” (Damas de Blanco) to keep them from campaigning for the liberation of their loved ones.

Dolia Leal Francisco, wife of political prisoner

Dolia Leal Francisco, wife of political prisoner

HAVANA, July 21, 2004 – Dolia Leal Francisco, wife of Cuban political prisoner Nelson Aguiar Ramirez, is denouncing the government’s attempts to manipulate her and other political prisoners’ wives and mothers of the group known as the “Ladies in White” (Damas de Blanco) to keep them from campaigning for the liberation of their loved ones.

 

“After 16 months without any telephone communication, the military command at the Provincial Prison of Guantanamo determined that the call with my husband would be every Sunday at 10 a.m., but every Sunday at that time I go to the Church of St. Rita.  It is my obligation and my duty to go and to walk down Fifth Avenue with the wives dressed in white and call for the liberation of all political prisoners, because they are innocent,” said Leal in a telephone conversation with the Cuban Democratic Directorate (“Directorio”).

 

According to Leal, her husband, who was sentenced to 13 years in prison during the crackdown in March 2003 on the island’s democratic opposition, is incarcerated at the Provincial Prison of Guantanamo, on the opposite end of the island, hundreds of miles away from his home in Havana, and is currently being kept in an isolation cell.  Until now, prison authorities have refused medical assistance for his hypoglycemia and orthopedic problems.

 

“On Sunday, July 11, I waited for Nelson’s first call and he told me, ‘Dolia, go to church. Run to church, because this is just another government maneuver and we are not going to let them keep you from going to church.  Tell the world that this is just another way for them to take you out of circulation.’  As a result, they are not letting me speak to Nelson,” said Leal.

 

Laura Pollan, wife of political prisoner Hector Maseda Gutierrez, told the Directorio that she was called from the prison La Pendiente in Villa Clara, where her husband is being kept, about changing their calls to Sunday morning.

 

“During the call, someone did my husband the favor of telling me that State Security officer Yaikel was telling him [Hector] that our calls should be Sunday morning instead of Wednesday.  They are doing this to try to keep me from going to church.  But my husband asked someone to tell me to continue life as usual, to continue doing what I had been doing for the good of the family.  When he says ‘the family,’ he means the 75 prisoners, and he told me to continue denouncing the situation to all the international organizations.  I think it is completely unfair that they are trying to keep me from attending,” she said.

 

Pollan also said that on important dates such as March 18th (the anniversary of the crackdown) and Father’s Day, many women were put in the painful position of having to choose between seeing their loved ones or participating in protests or acts to call for a general amnesty. 

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Directorio Democrático Cubano Cuban Democratic Directorate

 

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