CSW Calls for Release of Cuban Prisoners as UN Human Rights Commission Begins

In a press release dated on 15th March, the UK-based human rights organisation Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) is calling on the international community to renew pressure for the release of a Cuban prisoner of conscience named Jorge Luís García Perez (also known as Antúnez). The call coincides with the 15th anniversary of his imprisonment and the opening of the 61st session of UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva.

According to CSW, 40-year-old Antúnez, was arrested and imprisoned on 15th March 1990 and charged with "verbal enemy propaganda" for shouting: "We don’t want communism, we need reforms!" in a public square during the live broadcast of the inauguration of the Fourth Congress of the Cuban Communist Party.

Antúnez was at first sentenced to six years imprisonment in the Alambradas de Manacas Prison. CSW said he suffered repeated beatings by the prison guards for his refusals to participate in mandatory Marxist "re-education". In May 1993 his sentence was increased to a total of 17 years for "enemy propaganda" and "intent to inflict damage on government property".

Antúnez endured the pain throughout these 15 years in prison under the torture and other inhumane treatment of the guards. The authorities have repeatedly confiscated his Bible and denied him water, medical attention and clothes. He has even repeatedly gone on hunger strikes to draw attention to the plight of all the prisoners, and his health has suffered enormously.

CSW reported that he and his family members were beaten by prison guards when they came to visit him last summer.

Antúnez’s situation has drawn the concern of the Pope and human rights organisations. During the Papal visit to Cuba in 1998, the Pope included Antúnez’s name on the list of political prisoners for whose freedom he was petitioning. Antúnez is also considered to be a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International.

Currently, on the 61st session of UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva, the US and US-based human rights organisations are making great efforts to condemn the human rights violations of Cuba and are urging for a change.

One of the latest major persecutions occurred on 18th March 2003, the Cuban dictatorship arrested more than 75 journalists, labour union organisers, civic leaders, and human rights activists and sentenced them to a total of more than 1,000 years in prison, most of them will die before their sentences are completed.

Human Right Watch, based in US, said that despite the release in 2004 of 14 of the 75 prisoners, the human rights conditions in Cuba have not improved. It added that the Cuban government systematically denies its citizens basic rights to free expression, association, assembly, movement, and a fair trial. Some US human right campaigners have organised a candle-light vigil today to mark the second anniversary of the 18th March crackdown.

Stuart Windsor, Director of CSW UK said, "The government in Cuba continues to try to convince the world that it does not have a human rights problem. The experience of Antúnez, however, which has been ongoing for 15 years, contradicts this. The international community, including the UK as it prepares to take the EU presidency later this year, must continue to apply pressure on the Cuban authorities to respect basic principles of human rights and democracy. Our thoughts and prayers are with Antunez and his loved ones and we look forward to the day when we can celebrate his release."