|
|
NEWS
For Immediate Release:
Contact:
Francisco De Armas
International Representative, Christian Liberation Movement
(305) 285-7970
www.mclpaya.org <http://www.mclpaya.org/>
Man Sews his
Mouth Shut Due to the Silence of Many in the Face of Injustice and
Extreme Cruelty in Cuban Prison against Juan Carlos Herrera
Havana, October 24, 2006- It is 5:45 p.m. today, Tuesday, October 24th.
At this moment my telephone conversation has just finished with the
prisoner Juan Carlos Herrera Acosta, a Varela Project organizer who is
serving 20 years of unjust imprisonment in the dreary kilo 8 prison in
Camagüey province. He told me that the second in command of the State
Security in this Province had allowed him to call me, which is
extraordinary, considering that yesterday he was released from a
punishment cell in which he had been confined for 21 days.
Juan Carlos had been dragged through the floor, beaten and locked up in
the punishment cell living side by side with rats in the most inhumane
conditions that one can imagine. Why? Because he had protested when they
had prohibited him from speaking on the phone. The State Security and
the prison authorities, the protagonists of these tortures, prohibited
his use of the phone because he would denounce the abuses and inhumane
conditions to which the political and common prisoners are subjected to.
Juan Carlos states: "if there were no mistreatment and abuse I would not
have to denounce them."
But the solution of the State Security is to punish him further and to
isolate him. Now they have warned Juan Carlos that they will inspect his
mail, something that they always do and that they never warn about. They
have also warned him that he cannot speak about any political topics,
nor about the inhumane abuses in this prison, nor issue denunciations,
because if he does they will block his communication and he will be
prohibited from speaking. Today he spoke with me to tell me that from
this moment on he would sew his mouth. I have asked him not to do it- I
am not ashamed to say that I begged it of him- telling him that it is us
who still have the opportunity to speak out, that it is us who have to
defend the dignity and the rights of those who are reduced to total
disadvantage under truly perverse treatment. On other occasions, Juan
Carlos has sewed his mouth- we do not want him to do it again. Let's not
allow this to happen.
His sealed mouth will not only be a denunciation against his jailers,
but also a shame upon those who in Cuba and around the world remain
silent in the face of the cruel and degrading treatment in Cuban
prisons. God willing he will not do it, but he has done it before, and
he sews his mouth with a wire that he passes between his lips. I warned
him that I was not going to support that, that this decision is against
the will of all his brothers and that he does not have to go to such
extremes, since we would denounce the violations that he and many other
prisoners are suffering.
But he has already done it once. God willing he will not do it again. I
also said to him: “we are not your judges, but your brothers.” That is
why, all those who read this denunciation, before questioning Juan
Carlos psychologically, before daring to judge him, should ask
themselves: “What have I done in the face of this horror that so many
human beings live through day to day in Cuban jails?”
Juan Carlos, you do not have to sew your mouth closed, but rather the
hearts of your jailers should open so that some humanity can enter them.
It is not your mouth which needs to sewed, but rather those whom human
prudence advised towards silence should free their ears and remove their
gags.
Oswaldo José Payá Sardiñas
Christian Liberation Movement
October 24, 2006
For more information or to obtain a copy of the press release, please
contact: Francisco De Armas, International Representative, Christian
Liberation Movement,
(305) 285-7970, fdamcl@cs.com
News Archive
| Home
|
 |
|
