CUBAN OPPOSITION RECEIVES AWARD “PREMIO PALOMA 2006”

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CUBAN OPPOSITION RECEIVES AWARD “PREMIO PALOMA 2006”
By Cuban Democratic Directorate

April 12, 2006 – Every year, the Cuban Foundation for Human Rights awards the “Premio Paloma” prize to a selection of human rights activists and independent journalists for their exceptional work in the opposition movement in the island. This year, the award was presented on April 10th as a way to commemorate the anniversary of the Guáimaro Assembly where the new republic was founded. The recipients of this honorable award were Néstor Rodríguez Lobaina and Margarito Broche for the Human Rights category, and the Guillermo Fariñas Hernández as Independent Journalist.

The judges for the Human Rights category included Juan Carlos González Leiva, president of the Cuban Foundation for Human Rights, Guillermo Llano Ricardo, delegate for Eastern provinces, and Eliécer Consuegra Rivas, president of the Eastern Democratic Alliance.

“Being a judge for the “Premio Paloma 2006” award, given by the Cuban Foundation for Human Rights, it was extremely difficult due to the tremendous amount of courageous activists who risk their lives to defend the rights that have been violated for more than forty years in Cuba,” commented Guillermo Llano Ricardo.

Néstor Rodríguez Lobaina, winner of the “Premio Paloma” for the Human Rights category, is a leader in the Cuban Youth Movement for Democracy and has been victim of imprisonment, beatings, and other oppressive acts by the Cuban regime. “This courageous man from Guantánamo has been honored with this award for the University Autonomy Project and his outstanding life within the human rights movement,” said Llano Ricardo.

A political prisoner in the cause of the “75”, Margarito Broche, was awarded for his work in the pro human rights movement in spite of his weak state of health and the political police oppression he has received.

Guillermo Fariñas Hernández, who received the “Premio Paloma” as an independent journalist is the director for the Cubanacán Press Agency and is honored for his outstanding “professionalism leading this agency, one of the most prestigious in the island, while risking his life carrying out a hunger strike demanding free internet access for all Cubans as well as freedom of the press. Fariñas Hernández has served prison time for working with the free press, and in various occasions, he has carried out hunger strikes and acts of peaceful protest against the cruelties of this government,” declared Liannis Meriño Aguilera, a presiding judge for “Premio Paloma 2006”.

This year, the Independent Journalism award was presided by Liannis Meriño Aguilera, director of Youth Against Censorship, a press agency where other young independent journalist like Luís Esteban Espinosa Echemendía from Ciego de Ávila, and Ahmed Rodríguez Albacia from Havana.

The “Premio Paloma” award is given by the Cuban Foundation for Human Rights to human rights activists and independent journalists for their significant activities within the opposition movement. The prize for this prestigious award is $300 per category for the recipients. Previous recipients of this award include Leonardo Bruzón Ávila, Pedro Argüelles Morán, and the Sigler Amaya family.

Information given to the Cuban Democratic Directorate by Juan Carlos Gonzalez Leiva via telephone

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