September 6 2004

Letters addressed to the European Parliament from Cuban human rights activists were presented to MEPs in a visit to Brussels organised by CSW this week.

Laida Carro, representing the Coalition of Cuban American Women, carried letters from Juan Carlos Gonzalez Leiva, a blind human rights activist currently under house arrest, and Bertha Ant'nez, the sister of Jorge Luis Garcia Perez who has now been in prison for 14 years for his human rights work. The letters were read to her by Gonzalez Leiva and Ant'nez over the phone in anticipation of her visit to Brussels. The text in full is below.

Gonzalez Leiva, a blind human rights activist who in May was sentenced to four years house arrest after spending 26 months in prison without a trial, addressed MEPs by saying: "I wish to tell you that the policies of the European Union on behalf of Cuban dissidents and human rights activists are so vital that an error in them along the way would not only be fatal for our burgeoning civil society and for our entire nation, but without a doubt, it would mean our imprisonment and another death."

Bertha Ant'nez, who is currently on hunger strike in protest at the treatment of her imprisoned brother and uncle, denounced the beating of her brother inside the prison in July and appealed to the European Parliament to continue to use their influence to apply pressure to the Cuban regime.

The letters were presented to a number of MEPs representing different EU countries, including the vice-chair of the subcommittee on human rights, Dr Charles Tannock MEP (Conservative, London).

Carro also brought letters from the wives of two other political prisoners, Victor Rolando Arroyo and Luis Enrique Ferrer Garcia addressed to the parliament. In his conclusion, Gonzalez Leiva summed up the general sentiment of all four letters by saying, "I trust in Europe's ability, not to save Cuba, but rather to contribute to the establishment of freedom, democracy, and the right to respect of human rights within the island."

CSW has recently visited Christians in Cuba and has been lobbying the EU for their help in improving human rights generally as well as for the release of several prisoners including Gonzalez Leiva and Ant'nez.

CSW's National Director Stuart Windsor said: "Cuba's treatment of political dissidents and human rights activists is appalling. We are joining with these Cuban brothers and sisters in calling on the regime to change the way it treats those who raise their voices in peaceful protest. A strong message from the EU to the Cuban regime would be of immense benefit for those currently in prison in Cuba."

For more information, including copies of the letters, please contact Richard Chilvers, Communications Manager, CSW at richard.chilvers@csw.org.uk or ring 020 8329 0045 or visit www.csw.org.uk

CSW is a human rights charity working on behalf of those persecuted for their Christian beliefs. We also promote religious liberty for all.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

Full text of the letters from Berta Ant'nez and Juan Carlos Gonzalez Leiva follows below:

Placetas, Cuba. August 26, 2004

URGENT LETTER TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT:

I address you with great urgency and under very difficult conditions with the purpose of getting worldwide attention and immediate action concerning the sad and unjust situation which my brother, Jorge Luis Garc'a P'rez (Ant'nez) as well as my uncle, Omar Pernet Hern'ndez are suffering for dissenting from the regime that oppresses us.

Internationally, my country, Cuba, deals and discusses these matters demagogically using a double standard and, logically, presents it before you in the most favorable and positive manner. I, Bertha Ant'nez Pernet will present a brief summary of the calvary which my imprisoned family members and my family in general are enduring.

My brother Jorge Luis was accused of "enemy propaganda" and sentenced to prison in 1990. He has spent his youth in Castro's jails and has suffered numerous beatings in punishment cells during his confinements in multiple penitentiaries throughout the island of Cuba. We, his family, have had to travel hundreds of kilometers to manage the prison visits. Jorge Luis is ailing with several chronic diseases - from a calcified lung lesion, to renal disease and asthma. On many occasions, he's had to be hospitalized in critical condition.

Ladies and gentlemen, when I speak of a beating you can "imagine" pain, but there is a big difference between imagining a beating and feeling the blows against your own skin. During a prison visit, my family and I witnessed how my brother was beaten with impunity and how, as we tried to intervene, were also beaten. I assure you that never will a Cuban government official admit to a member of the European Parliament that such an event took place.

My uncle's situation is different, though tinged with the same cruelty. Omar Pernet Hern'ndez is part of the group of 75 Cubans condemned in March of 2003. He is a frail man who was sentenced to 25 years in prison for his political ideas and for the "crime" of establishing an independent library where Cubans are free to choose literature which the regime prohibits. He's been confined in two prisons located at opposite ends of the island, first in Havana and later in the Province of Granma in Oriente. The poor transportation system in Cuba has made extremely difficult the family visits when we take him the essential food and medicines the prisons do not supply.

My uncle has been very sick and has lost a great deal of weight. He is hospitalized and treated by specialists who diagnosed abdominal lumps and inflammation and found staphylococcus in his kidneys. As if by magic, all these doctors now say that their previous diagnosis was mistaken. Gentlemen, though my uncle continues suffering the same ailments as before, he is not being provided with the necessary antibiotics nor the medical attention required.

This diabolical game with the health of an imprisoned and sick man whom they claim to be fine is the manner which authorities hide the true and cruel character of Cuban jails.

We appeal to the European Parliament's influence so that Justice may prevail. We, the family and the political prisoners are in danger of being taken to trial only for demanding our rights and suffering harsh punishments in prison for merely claiming justice.

Looking forward to your attention I remain

Sincerely yours,

Bertha Ant'nez Pernet
7ma. del Sur #3 entre Paseo Mart'
y 1ra. del Este, Placetas, Villaclara, Cuba.


URGENT LETTER TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT FROM A BLIND CUBAN LAWYER AND LEADER IN THE PEACEFUL
HUMAN RIGHTS MOVEMENT IN THE ISLAND

Ciego de Avila, Cuba
August 18, 2004

Illustrious Gentleman:

I send you a warm greeting in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ, and in whose name I also express to you the purpose of this letter, which is none other than devotion to my country, Cuba.

My name is Juan Carlos Gonz'lez Leiva. I am a blind lawyer recently released from prison by the Cuban government after having been sentenced to four years of deprivation of freedom for organizing and celebrating the 2nd Congress of The Cuban Foundation of Human Rights, an institution over which I still preside.

For twenty-six months, I remained imprisoned in the Operations Center of the State Security Prison in Pedernales, Holgu'n, under torture and terror every day. The rest of my sentence, the next eighteen months, I must serve under a sort of house arrest that the authorities call "limited freedom."

I wish to tell you that the policies of the European Union on behalf of Cuban dissidents and human rights activists are so vital that an error in them along the way would not only be fatal for our burgeoning civil society and for our entire nation, but without a doubt, it would mean our imprisonment and another death.

It is for this reason that I am sending you the following considerations:

' Over the course of this year, there has been no appreciable sign of change or relief in the sustained repressive activity by the Cuban government against dissidents or society in general.

' The release of some well-known dissidents who were gravely ill does not constitute acts of freedom or a spirit of change. These people have been sent home after having been terrorized, tortured, and weakened in governmental jails.

' These dissidents remain under a sort of parole or legal condition which is referred to here as "libertad extra-penal" under the psychological terror of returning to prison at any given moment when the authorities should so decide.

' These human beings will still have to drag out their draconian prison sentences of more than twenty years for exercising basic freedoms of expression, assembly, and association.

' From March of this year until this date, peaceful opposition members have been arrested and sent to operation centers of State Security where they remain awaiting trial, accused of prefabricated charges.

' At least three oral trials have taken place in which some twenty peaceful opposition members have been sentenced and sent to prison.

' In these jails, the sub-human conditions get worse by the day. Political and common prisoners are psychologically and physically tortured by military officials, who respond to protests or demands for medical assistance with tremendous beatings. No one escapes these beatings, not even the insane or the sick. The beating dealt in recent days to the well-known political prisoner, Jos' Garc'a P'rez Ant'nez , and to his family members, including a nine-year old child who was kicked, is a palpable example of the routine violence that prisoners in Cuban jails suffer.

' The food in these penitentiaries is a swill and is teeming with insects and rodents everywhere. This horrible situation is not by accident. It is an environment purposely conceived by the Cuban military officials in order to exterminate their political enemies, along with the common delinquency that they consider a nuisance to the so-called "construction of socialism."

I trust in Europe's ability, not to save Cuba, but rather to contribute to the establishment of freedom, democracy, and the right to respect of human rights within the island.

JUAN CARLOS GONZALEZ LEIVA
President (under house arrest) of the Cuban Foundation for Human Rights
Honorato del Castillo 154, entre Rep'blica y Cuba, Ciego de Avila, Cuba
Telephone: + 53-33-222235

Testimony obtained via telephone. Recorded, transcribed, and translated by the
Coalition of Cuban-American Women.
Tel: + (305) 662-5947
Fax: + (305) 740-7323
Email: (Joseito76@aol.com) or (tswilder@charter.net)