CUBAN PRISONER OF CONSCIENCE ORLANDO ZAPATA TAMAYO DEAD FOLLOWING HUNGER STRIKE

Miami, February 23, 2010. Prisoner of conscience, Orlando Zapata Tamayo, one of the 75 prisoners of conscience imprisoned during the wave of arrests of Cuban dissidents in March of 2003, has died today in Havana. Zapata Tamayo was in the midst of a two month hunger strike in protest of the Cuban regime’s failure to comply with the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners adopted by the first United Nations Congress.

The death of this prisoner of conscience reveals the subhuman and deplorable nature of the Cuban regime that in direct defiance of International law and norms provoked the slow and torturous death of an innocent man. The Cuban regime’s refusal to listen to domestic and international pleas to save the life of Orlando Zapata is a clear demonstration of their lack of respect for human life.

The Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba holds the Cuban regime directly responsible for the death of this prisoner of conscience. During this difficult and painful time, we not only mourn for the loss of this brave man but call on those who know of his plight to turn his sacrifice into a battle cry so that once and for all we can eradicate the brutal regime that fails to place any value on the lives of its citizens. Today, more than ever, the Cuban people must find ways to send a strong message to the regime that they are united in their demand for the respect of their most basic freedoms.


Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba
Telephone: 305-592-7768

Necessity is the Mother of Invention

Or in the case of Cuba, we can say she is the Mother of Progress. A recent article by the Washington Post comments on Cuba's decrease of agricultural imports from the US. The global economic crisis has caused Cuba to begin privatizing the national agricultural industry. Fallow land has been given to Cubans to own and cultivate, a move which could prove fatal to the Communist ideals that have been inculcated into the Cuban people for over 50 years.

The opening up of markets has proven destructive to Communist regimes in the past (e.g. Poland, Russia, Czechoslovakia). Are these the first steps to the opening of the flood gate? Have the flood gates of change been open already? What do you think?