Human Rights in Cuba?

One would have to ask if the Universal Declaration of Human Rights has three or thirty articles. Health, education, and the access to culture are basic rights, but we cannot be distracted by them and forget all the other rights, which are just as, or even more, important than the previous mentioned. What is the point of a person having an educational system, medical attention, and cultural activities when all their freedoms are infringed upon, sometimes even by physical violence?

There are supposed important international names that defend the ruling military regime in Cuba. Those people should be checked under the so-called Miracle Operation so that perhaps the miracle of being able to see the truth may occur, even though, as everyone knows, there is no worse blind person than the one that does not want to see, just like there is not a worse deaf person than the one who does not want to listen.

After what occurred on December 10th, the international Day of Human Rights, it was made clear how that issue was to be handled under the Castro dynasty. Defenseless women whom simply ask for freedom for their loved ones were victims of harassment by gangs convoked by the anti-Cuban mafia which the regime uses for that purpose- State Security.

Although this is only a superficial report, if we go deep into the subject then we would never finish. The amount of violations committed daily are innumerable, whether it is in the large prison that is Cuba and its streets, or in the smaller prisons where thousands of Cubans are punished for an offense they have committed or have not.

By Diosdado Gonzalez Marreo, prisoner of conscience in the provincial prison of Pinar del Rio.

Translated by Raul Garcia & AV

Note: “Operation Miracle” is a joint eye surgery program between the governments of Cuba and Venezuela that has treated patients from multiple countries and is free of charge.

All for Victory

On a day like today, but in 1853, a man was born who later became the Cuban Apostle. That was the birth of our José Martí Perez, who from his early years regarded with horror the evil deeds of those who governed this land. For criticizing their abuses he served time in prison at hard labor, and was expelled from his homeland, which is also ours. From exile he continued his toil for the freedom of Cuba. His tireless work established the Cuban Revolutionary Party and managed to reunite the forces to begin the war necessary to lead, finally and with the help of old friends, to the Republic with a constitution that makes us independent of all foreign domination.

This great man left us a legacy worth following, but Cubans continue to suffer the same chronic disease of despotism. It is time for us to stop jockeying for position. Think of José Martí, fighting alongside those who wished him well or ill, so that Cuba could be free. We must understand that our struggle is against a single evil: the dynastic dictatorship of the Castro brothers. To commemorate the 157th anniversary of the birth of the Apostle, let us unite in his name and in one tight-knit group who are all for victory.

Prisoner of conscience Diosdado González Marrero, from the provincial prison of Pinar del Rio.

Translated by: Tomás A.