Cuba Gets Historic Criticism From Chile’s Socialist Party
Cuba Gets Historic Criticism From Chile's Socialist PartyWritten by Mira GalanovaMonday, 22 March 2010 05:21
Socialist deputies express concern over human rights violations
Chile's Socialist Party (PS) is condemning the regime of Cuban President Raul Castro for its abuse of human rights — a historic change in the attitude of Chile's most important left-wing party, which had never been critical of this communist country before.
"Our sympathy for Cuba doesn't make us to forget that the human rights proclaimed and established in the 1948 charter (Universal Declaration of Human Rights) are of the first priority," reads a declaration of the Socialist Party (PS) deputies published last week.
Although the PS acknowledged "the show of solidarity that the Cuban people and authorities have shown towards the Chilean people in various historical circumstances," Chile's PS also said this doesn't mean they "should or could hold back from just criticism."
The PS deputies expressed their concern over "prisoners of conscience," requesting their immediate and unconditional liberation, to the Cuban ambassador in Chile.
The declaration brings up the case of Cuban political prisoner Orlando Zapata Tamayo who died in February after a 85-day hunger strike. This was the first time in nearly 40 years that a Cuban activist starved himself to death to protest against government abuses.
Cuba's (illegal) Human Rights Commission says there are about 200 political prisoners still held in Cuba, about one-third less than when Raul Castro took over as president from his brother Fidel. However, the group says that the harassment of dissidents has increased over last year.
The chief of the Socialist Party's parliamentary committee, Dep. Sergio Aguiló, described last week's declaration as historic. "This is the first time in 20 years of the democracy in Chile that we, the Socialists, are speaking critically on this topic," he said.
Previously, the closest the PS got to criticism was in 1996 when Cuba's then-President Fidel Castro visited Chile to attend the 6th Iberoamerican Summit. At that time the widow of former socialist president Salvador Allende, Hortensia Bussi, called for political opening and democratic liberty on the Caribbean island. Castro´s regime interpreted the episode as a political manoeuvre of the Socialist Party and the relationship between Cuba and the Allende family became tense.
Current Chilean President Sebastian Piñera criticized his PS predecessor, Michelle Bachelet, for refusing to meet with Cuban dissidents on her official visit to the nation in 2009.
He affirmed that his government would strongly defend human rights giving much more attention to Cuba. Still, he did not rule out a future official visit to Havana and stated a willingness to meet with leading authorities as well as with dissidents (ST, Feb. 17).
The PS last week also decided to postpone internal party election until June because about one third of its membership is located in the earthquake devastated south central part of the country. The PS also debated whether or not to extend an invitation to PS dissident Marco Enriquez-Ominami (MEO) to future PS meetings, reaching no final conclusion.
MEO, 36, bolted the party last year when PS leadership would not allow him to run as a primary candidate in the nation's presidential primary and won 20 percent of the national vote as an independent last December, 2009.
SOURCES: LA TERCERA, BBCBy Mira Galanova
http://www.santiagotimes.cl/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=18430:cuba-gets-historic-criticism-from-chiles-socialist-party-&catid=19:other&Itemid=142
Cuban official urges political hunger striker to stop
Cuban official urges political hunger striker to stopAFP March 22, 2010, 9:26 am
HAVANA (AFP) – A top Cuban state security official for the first time visited hunger striker Guillermo Farinas in hospital and urged him to stop his nearly month-long protest, a spokesman for the dissident said.
The head of Cuba's department of counterrevolutionary activities Hector de la Fe Freire "asked Guillermo Farinas to end his strike, telling him his health was so poor that he risks dying," Licet Zamora told AFP by telephone.
The spokeswoman said it was the first time a government official had visited Farinas since he began his hunger strike seeking the release of political prisoners on February 24.
"Guillermo told him he first wants 26 political prisoners who are sick to go free," she said, adding that the official made no comment on that request or others Farinas made.
A journalist and psychologist, Farinas, 48, launched his fast the day after political prisoner Orlando Zapata died on the 85th day of his own hunger strike.
Farinas has been protesting the treatment of 26 political prisoners needing medical attention in Cuba, the only one-party communist regime in the Americas.
Farinas was taken to a local hospital from his home in Santa Clara, 280 kilometers (168 miles) east of Havana, after he passed out on March 11, and is being fed intravenously.
The Cuban government deems Farinas "an agent of the United States" and his protest "blackmail," and has said he would be "entirely responsible" for his own fate should he die.
Farinas' hunger strike and Zapata's death have ignited international outcry. Spain even offered Farinas political asylum, which he turned down.
Meanwhile, wives and mothers of numerous political prisoners completed an unprecedented week of protest marches in Havana in defiance of the authorities to press for the release of the dissidents, some of whom have been held for seven years.Havana insists it keeps no political prisoners, branding the dissidents in jail as "mercenaries" in the pay of the United States.
http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/world/6964041/cuban-official-urges-political-hunger-striker-to-stop/
Cuba Worst Offender of Press Freedoms
Cuba Worst Offender of Press FreedomsSunday, March 21, 2010 8:32 PM
CARACAS, Venezuela – Press freedoms in countries throughout the Western Hemisphere are facing serious threats from authoritarian governments, especially in Venezuela and communist-led Cuba, a group representing news media from across the Americas warned Sunday.
Alejandro Aguirre, president of the Inter American Press Association, singled out Cuba as the region's the worst offender against press freedom.
"The most worrisome case continues to be the case of Cuba, where a dictatorship that has lasted nearly half a century has not allowed a minimum of freedom of expression or free press," Aguirre said in a telephone interview from the Caribbean island of Aruba.
The Miami-based IAPA, which includes 1,380 publications from throughout the Western Hemisphere, is discussing what it considers a host of threats to freedom of expression emerging across the region during a meeting in Aruba. The meeting ends on Monday.
Aguirre also condemned what he called efforts by President Hugo Chavez to silence media critics in Venezuela.
Chavez "has used all the government's tools to close and antagonize the media — doing everything possible so that the flow of information in Venezuela is dictated by the government," said Aguirre, executive director of the Miami-based Diario de Las Americas.
Chavez's administration revoked the licenses of 34 radio stations last year, saying most of them failed to update their registrations or allowed their concessions to expire. Officials have said dozens of other broadcasters could also lose their licenses.
In January, Venezuela's state-run telecommunications regulator ordered local cable companies to drop RCTV — an anti-Chavez TV channel — because the network allegedly defied new rules requiring cable channels to carry mandatory government programming, including some of Chavez's speeches.
Chavez denies attempting to silence his critics. The former paratroop commander has repeatedly rejected the IAPA's criticisms in the past, calling the organization a pawn of the "empire," a reference to the U.S. government.
David Natera, who heads Venezuela's largest association of newspapers, accused Chavez's government of starving newspapers of revenue from public advertising by steering that to pro-Chavez media.
"He's not closing newspapers, but he's strangling them financially," said Natera, owner and publisher of the Venezuelan newspaper Correo de Caroni.
The IAPA is also increasingly concerned that democratically elected leaders in countries such as Nicaragua, Ecuador and Bolivia appear to be following Chavez's example by cracking down on critical media outlets.
Violence against journalists is reaching alarming levels in Mexico, where four journalists have been slain so far this year. The IAPA claims a fifth was recently killed in the border city of Reynosa, but media outlets there were too afraid to file a police report. Twelve reporters were killed in Mexico in 2009.
Critics have accused Mexican authorities of not doing enough to stop such attacks — some of which are linked to Mexico's violent drug gangs.
The press association said the lack of justice in crimes against reporters is increasingly driving journalists in Mexico to self-censorship.
In Haiti, the IAPA said the devastating Jan. 12 earthquake crippled the media by destroying outlets' offices, shutting down businesses that provided advertising revenue and killing 31 journalists. In Port-au-Prince, only about a dozen radio stations out of 50 remain on the air.
The report said the damage to the industry has dramatically limited the dissemination of important humanitarian information, especially to people migrating in and outside the capital.
The editors of two Haitian papers, Le Nouvelliste and Le Matin, pleaded for help, including printing and training for reporters, from their IAPA colleagues.
Le Nouvelliste is down to publishing twice a week, instead of daily, and has shrunk from a staff of 150 to 40. Le Matin now prints in the Dominican Republic and has cut salaries by 50 percent.
"In 35 seconds the news media lost more reporters than in the last 35 years," said Max Chauvet, editor of Le Nouvelliste, now down to publishing twice a week instead of daily. "The Haitian press has been crippled, crippled."
http://www.newsmaxworld.com/global_talk/Cuba_press_freedoms/2010/03/21/313793.html
Marchers defy Cuba on political prisoners
Marchers defy Cuba on political prisonersAFP , HAVANATuesday, Mar 23, 2010, Page 7
Wives and mothers of political prisoners completed an unprecedented week of protest marches in Havana in defiance of the authorities to press for the release of dissidents held for seven years.
"I hope that these [marches] will be the last ones, that there won't be an eighth anniversary," said Laura Pollan, the leader of the so-called Ladies in White, as they set out on a march on Sunday to the offices of the National Assembly.
It is the only opposition group on the island that regularly takes their protests to the street, challenging the limits of the Americas' only one-party communist regime's tolerance for dissent.
Pro-government counter-protesters were out in force all week, including on Sunday, heckling the women and shouting slogans like "the streets belong to the revolutionaries" and "the streets are with Fidel."
The women, who march dressed in white and carrying white gladiolas, are demanding the release of the 53 political prisoners who remain locked up seven years after the government's last major crackdown.
Twenty-two other prisoners have been released for health reasons since the March 2003 arrests, which the opposition calls "Black Spring."
The women were accompanied by Reyna Luisa Tamayo, the mother of political prisoner Orlando Zapata, who died at age 42 in a hunger strike on Feb. 23 to protest prison conditions. She said her son was tortured and called his death a "premeditated murder;" Cuban authorities denied the claims.
Journalist and psychologist Guillermo Farinas launched another hunger strike the day after Zapata's death, demanding the release of 26 political prisoners who are in poor health. He has been hospitalized in the city of Santa Clara, 280km east of Havana.
The protests have aroused strong criticism of the Cuban regime in many European countries, the US and among international rights organizations, but Havana has so far dismissed it all as a political campaign.
"It is, really, a colossal deception operation, the longest, most costly and dirtiest in history. It has lasted now half a century," National Assembly speaker Ricardo Alarcon said.
Departing from a Catholic church, where they first attended mass, the Ladies in White marched through various Havana neighborhoods each day last week, shouting "Liberty."
On Wednesday, however, in the Parraga district of Havana, the march was interrupted by authorities, who forced the women onto two buses after they had been shoved and hit by government supporters.
The incident prompted the government to reinforce the small group of security agents that normally accompany the marches to prevent incidents, establishing a large police cordon in the subsequent marches.
The government, which accuses the women of being "mercenaries," and "the point of the spear" of US sponsored "subversion" on the island, carried its version of events for several days in television news shows, which was unusual.
"As a result, even though they speak badly of us, the entire Cuban people know that the Ladies in White are in the street asking for the freedom of our loved ones," Pollan said.
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2010/03/23/2003468689
Cuba Still Fails On Human Rights
Cuba Still Fails On Human Rights
One party rule remains the law of the land, and when elections are held they are neither free nor fair.
The U.S. again urges the Cuban government to allow the Red Cross and United Nations officials to visit Cuban jails.
For 34 years, the United States has reviewed the state of human rights around the world, to provide the U.S. Congress with a record to help it make decisions on U.S. relations with other nations. Human rights begin with a fundamental commitment to the dignity that is the birthright of all people, and the report is a fair measure of assessing how a country measures up to that ideal, in the interests of its citizens and the greater international community. As it has so many times in previous years, Cuba continues to fail in that regard.
Since the 2009 Human Rights report was released, the island nation's government has made no effort to expand political freedoms. One party rule remains the law of the land, and when elections are held they are neither free nor fair. Citizens have no avenues to press for change. There also remain strict limitations on freedom of expression and freedom of movement. Internal travel is restricted and Cuban citizens are selectively denied exit permits to leave the island even for short trips. There is no free press. The government also censors and greatly restricts access to the Internet.
Draconian laws maintain state control, allowing for punishment of any unauthorized assembly of more than 3 persons, including private religious services. The law also provides for imprisonment for vaguely defined crimes such as "dangerousness," a pre-emptive arrest for a crime that hasn't been committed. The government has held numerous opposition leaders on such authority on prison sentences up to 25 years, even for engaging in peaceful political activities.
Underscoring the lack of change in Cuba, the release of this year's Human Rights Report coincides with the anniversary of the 2003 Black Spring crackdown in which 75 activists were arrested. Fifty-three are still jailed. Their imprisonment violates international human rights law, which as a member of the United Nations, Cuba is obliged to respect.
The U.S. again urges the Cuban government to allow the Red Cross and United Nations officials to visit Cuban jails. The necessity for this was sadly demonstrated by the recent death of prisoner of conscience Orlando Zapata Tamayo. And as always, we urge Cuba to release all of its prisoners of conscience.
http://www1.voanews.com/policy/editorials/Cuba-Still-Fails-On-Human-Rights-88838862.html
Cuál es la Cuba real?
Publicado el lunes, 03.22.10¿Cuál es la Cuba real?
Para conocer la manipulación comunista en seis idiomas, visite www.granma.cu. Prepárese para quedarse congelado en el tiempo de manera tal que no le quedará más remedio que agacharse y cubrirse la cabeza.
Porque en Cuba, la propaganda del régimen durante 51 años no ha evolucionado más allá de la táctica de asustar: el “monstruo imperialista del norte'' se prepara a atacar.
Estamos acostumbrados a ese viejo guión en el sur de Florida, donde los exiliados sufren su propia mentalidad de Guerra Fría, por buenas razones. Usted no se asocia para nada con Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, el presidente de Irán, y cualquier otro maniático hambriento de poder como lo han hecho desde 1959 Fidel y Raúl Castro, quienes se confabulan con Irán y Venezuela con el guión cubano a la mano.
Muchos estadounidenses piensan que Cuba es una isla pobre con playas hermosas y quieren visitarla porque, como me dijo uno hace algunos años, no hay McDonald's. ¡Qué pintoresco!
El mundo no conoce la historia de Cuba más allá de las imágenes de un joven Fidel entrando en La Habana con multitudes que lo adoraban y abrazaban el cambio de régimen. Disculpan los fusilamientos como una reliquia de otro siglo y consideran a los prisioneros políticos desafortunados peones en el drama entre Estados Unidos y Cuba, pero nada que quite el sueño.
Entonces el prisionero político Orlando Zapata Tamayo estuvo en una prolongada huelga de hambre y murió el mes pasado en protesta por las condiciones de los prisioneros políticos. El régimen no movió un dedo.
El mundo abrió de repente sus ojos a la Cuba de hoy, que es lo mismo que la Cuba de ayer. El mismo lugar que predica la justicia social con equipos de respuesta rápida, matones de ojos desorbitados cuya respuesta a una marcha pacífica de mujeres por las calles de La Habana es golpearlas, patearlas y arrastrarlas hasta un autobús.
En Estados Unidos también tenemos nuestra historia lamentable, pero incluso en los peores días de las batallas por los derechos civiles de la década de 1960, los tribunales fallaron a favor de derechos sin distinción de color, las leyes cambiaron y, lentamente, también cambió el corazón de los estadounidenses. Todavía hay racistas entre nosotros, pero nadie puede decir que somos una nación racista y explicar la elección de Barack Obama a la presidencia.
Sin importar lo mucho que Raúl y Fidel Castro traten de alegar que Obama es un Tío Tom del siglo XXI, suena hueco para la mayor parte de los cubanos, que en su mayoría son mestizos o negros. Y eso es lo que asusta a los Castro.
Los cubanos observan a sus gobernantes y ven a viejos blancos enojados que mantienen un país destruido con el pretexto de que las bombas de Estados Unidos están a punto de caer.
Ven los programas de “noticias'' controladas por el régimen donde califican a Zapata de delincuente común, pero escuchan en la calle y leen en los blogs que Raúl usa comentarios racistas para describir la huelga de hambre del periodista independiente Guillermo Fariñas. Y huelen desesperación.
Al igual que Irán, los cubanos usan la tecnología para poner al régimen en las noticias, incluso cuando Cuba ha prohibido las antenas de satélite y el “uso contrarrevolucionario'' de computadoras y teléfonos celulares para pasar por alto el control de internet y la intervención de las líneas telefónicas.
Es por eso por lo que blogueros como Yoani Sánchez son hostigadas por la seguridad del Estado. Es por eso que violentos matones revolucionarios reprimen una marcha pacífica de las Damas de Blanco.
Hemos tenido otros de esos momentos cuando los acontecimientos en Cuba parecían impulsar al pueblo a exigir sus derechos, momentos en que los exiliados contenían la respiración, no esperando a que Estados Unidos bombardeara la isla, sino que los cubanos tomaran lo que la revolución les prometió hace 51 años y no les entregó: libertad.
http://www.elnuevoherald.com/2010/03/22/679935/cual-es-la-cuba-real.html
Fariñas responde al Gobierno cubano que mantendrá su huelga de hambre y sed
Publicado el 03-22-2010
Fariñas responde al Gobierno cubano que mantendrá su huelga de hambre y sedLA HABANA (EFE).
El disidente cubano Guillermo Fariñas, en huelga de hambre y sed desde hace 26 días, dijo que recibió hoy la visita de un oficial de seguridad del Gobierno, que le pidió que abandone el ayuno, y que él le respondió que seguirá, que nada le hará desistir.
Fariñas declaró a Efe que el mayor Héctor de la Fe, primer enviado gubernamental que le visita, le expresó que "el alto mando" del Ministerio del Interior "está muy preocupado" por su salud, dadas las secuelas de 22 huelgas de hambre anteriores.
El sicólogo y periodista, de 48 años, concedió sus declaraciones por teléfono desde la sala de terapia intensiva del hospital "Arnaldo Milián Castro", de Santa Clara, a 270 kilómetros al este de La Habana, donde fue hospitalizado el pasado día 11, tras sufrir un segundo colapso.
Fariñas dejó de comer y beber el 24 de febrero, un día después de la muerte del opositor Orlando Zapata tras una huelga de hambre en la cárcel de 85 días, y demanda al general Castro que excarcele a 26 disidentes enfermos.
Según Fariñas, hoy respondió al mayor que él reclama "menos que la Unión Europea", porque solo pide "la libertad de 26" y ese bloque la de todos los presos políticos cubanos (cerca de 200, según la oposición).
El militar "no dio esperanzas de ningún tipo", agregó, y detalló que tuvieron "una conversación muy profesional, sin que se produjera ningún tipo de exabrupto".
"Finalmente no nos pusimos de acuerdo y terminamos hablando de béisbol, porque los dos somos fanáticos del equipo Villa Clara", explicó Fariñas.
Por otra parte, anunció que está listo para casarse, por lo civil y por la Iglesia Católica, con su pareja desde hace 21 años, Clara Pérez.
http://www.diariolasamericas.com/news.php?nid=96234
Mujeres en otra protesta en Cuba
Mujeres en otra protesta en CubaCumplen siete días de marchas entre policías y opositores22/03/2010
LA HABANA, Cuba (EFE).— Las Damas de Blanco terminaron ayer, ante la sede de la Asamblea Nacional de Cuba, siete días consecutivos de protestas por el séptimo aniversario de la llamada "Primavera Negra" de 2003, cuando fueron condenados a largas penas de cárcel 75 opositores al gobierno, familiares suyos.
Como en las seis jornadas anteriores, estuvieron rodeadas de policías y agentes del Ministerio del Interior y fueron acosadas e insultadas por una contramanifestación de cientos de partidarios del régimen que encabezan desde hace 51 años los hermanos Fidel y Raúl Castro.
Más de 50 familiares de presos políticos, vestidas de blanco, asistieron a una misa en la iglesia católica de Santa Rita, como hacen todos los domingos desde hace siete años, y luego recorrieron varios kilómetros hasta la sede parlamentaria.
Siguen encarcelados 53 de los 75 condenados en 2003, acusados de ser "mercenarios" de Estados Unidos.
Los contramanifestantes gritaron "vivas" al presidente cubano, general Raúl Castro, y a su antecesor y hermano, Fidel, aún primer secretario del gobernante Partido Comunista, y repitieron lemas e insultos.
http://www.yucatan.com.mx/noticia.asp?cx=99$1410000000$4267951
Cuba pide a Fariñas deponer la huelga de hambre
su salud empeora
Cuba pide a Fariñas deponer la huelga de hambreEl sistema venoso del disidente "colapsó" porque "tiene obstruidas las venas"
MADRID, 22 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) -
Un mayor de la Seguridad del Estado cubano visitó este domingo al opositor Guillermo Fariñas, quien se encuentra ingresado en un hospital de la localidad de Santa Clara, para pedirle que deponga la huelga de hambre y sed que mantiene desde hace casi un mes, mientras su estado de salud empeora, informó este lunes a Europa Press la portavoz del disidente, Licet Zamora.
"El jefe del departamento de actividades contrarrevolucionarias (en Santa Clara), Héctor de la Fe Freire, estuvo ayer (domingo) con Fariñas para expresarle su preocupación y disuadirlo de su demanda, pero Guillermo dijo que no, que mantendrá la huelga" de hambre y sed, comentó Zamora.
Esta es la primera vez que un representante del régimen cubano visita personalmente al disidente que pide al Gobierno de Raúl Castro para que libere a 26 presos políticos que se encuentran gravemente enfermos.
El periodista disidente, de 48 años, dijo al oficial: "Yo te pido menos de lo que ha pedido el Parlamento Europeo, que quiere la liberación de todos los presos, no pido que se caiga el sistema ni que se vayan los hermanos Castro, lo que quiero es la liberación de estos prisioneros enfermos", según informó Zamora.
El oficial de la Seguridad del Estado respondió, en cambio, que la excarcelación de los opositores al castrismo "no estaba en sus manos" y le insistió "que recapacitara y que deje la huelga de hambre" y sed, la número 23 que realiza desde el año 2003.
Entretanto, en Cuba se sigue viviendo una "situación muy convulsa", indicó Zamora, ante las manifestaciones que han tenido lugar tras la muerte del opositor Orlando Zapata y el inicio del ayuno de Fariñas.
"He recibido mensajes anónimos de amenaza que por debajo de la puerta de mi casa y a mi hijo (de 15 años) lo sacaron de las actividades deportivas del colegio porque 'no es fiable por ser hijo de una contrarrevolucionaria' dijeron en el colegio", lamentó Zamora.
SALUD DELICADA
El estado de salud de Fariñas, en tanto, sigue empeorando cuando faltan apenas dos días para que cumpla un mes de huelga de hambre. El sistema venoso "colapsó" porque "tiene obstruidas las venas y se le tuvo que dejar de suministrar sueros, hidratación y medicamentos porque no pueden ubicarle la vena", explicó la portavoz.
Zamora advirtió de que en las últimas horas la salud del disidente se ha ido "resquebrajando" y que los médicos han tenido que iniciar una serie de exámenes para buscar "una posible bacteria" que le haya ocasionado la fiebre que tuvo durante toda esta madrugada y que apenas remitió a primeras horas de este lunes. "Estamos muy preocupados por lo que le pueda pasar", expresó.
http://www.europapress.es/latam/cuba/noticia-cuba-seguridad-estado-cubano-pide-farinas-deponer-huelga-hambre-mientras-salud-empeora-20100322183317.html
Damas de Blanco lanzan llamado de reflexión al Gobierno cubano
Damas de Blanco lanzan llamado de reflexión al Gobierno cubano
Un funcionario de Estado le ha pedido a Fariñas que termine su huelga de hambre
La Habana.- Las Damas de Blanco, familiares de 75 presos políticos cubanos, concluyeron una inédita semana de marchas por La Habana, en un desafío a las autoridades para pedir la libertad de sus parientes, que cumplieron siete años encarcelados "injustamente", dijeron.
"Espero que sean los últimos (días), que el año que viene no haya octavo aniversario", dijo a la prensa Laura Pollán, líder de las mujeres, al iniciar la caminata de ayer, que llegó hasta las oficinas del Parlamento Nacional, indicó AFP.
La bloguera cubana Yoani Sánchez informó a través de Twitter que durante la protesta de este domingo "hubo varios detenidos, entre ellos Iris Pérez, esposa de Jorge Luis García Ant´´unez" y se encontraba en paradero desconocido.
Las Damas de Blanco se trata del único grupo de oposición en la isla que se manifiesta habitualmente en las calles, cruzando la frontera de la relativa tolerancia de las autoridades.
Los partidarios del Gobierno realizaron durante toda la semana, incluyendo ayer, contramanifestaciones en las que abuchearon a las opositoras y gritaron consignas como "las calles son de los revolucionarios" o "estas calles son de Fidel, nuestro comandante".
Reyna Luisa Tamayo, madre del preso Orlando Zapata, de 42 años, muerto el 23 de febrero tras dos meses y medio de huelga de hambre por mejoras carcelarias, acompañó a las Damas en sus marchas. La protesta tuvo como telón de fondo otra huelga de hambre y sed que sigue el periodista y psicólogo Guillermo Fariñas.
Asimismo, Fariñas aseguró ayer haber recibido en el hospital la visita de un alto funcionario de la isla para expresarle la preocupación de las autoridades por su estado de salud y pedirle que abandone su huelga de hambre y sed, indicó DPA.
Desde Madrid, la portavoz de las Damas de Blanco en Europa, Blanca Reyes, pidió al ministro español de Asuntos Exteriores, Miguel Ángel Moratinos, reconsiderar su pretensión de suavizar la posición común de la Unión Europea con Cuba al asegurar que este cambio de relación no favorece el fin de una "dictadura feroz".
Por otro lado, el informe sobre la situación de la libertad de prensa e información en Cuba presentado ante la Sociedad Interamericana de Prensa (SIP) reunida en la isla caribeña de Aruba, los periodistas independientes y los blogueros en Internet son "la esperanza para el futuro" en la isla en la medida que informan lo que ocurre dentro.
http://www.eluniversal.com/2010/03/22/int_art_damas-de-blanco-lanz_1805148.shtml
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