Cuba USA
CUBA
HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER DIES AFTER BEING SUBJECTED TO CRUEL AND DEGRADING TREATMENT WHILE ON A HUNGER STRIKE IN PRISON
Peaceful Resistance Movement urgently requests world solidarity for the memory of Wilman Villar Mendoza
January 20, 2012
Cuban human rights defender, Wilman Villar Mendoza, who had been admitted in critical state to the Juan Bruno Zayas Hospital in Santiago de Cuba on January 14 following a 50 day hunger strike (begun November 25, 2012), died on the evening of Thursday, January 18, 2012 of a multiple organ failure and a generalized sepsis.
Wilman Villar Mendoza, who was 31 years old and a member of the human rights group UMPACU (Union Patriotica de Cuba) began a hunger strike in the Prison of Aguadores on November 25, 2011 to protest the false accusations that led to his unjust incarceration and to demand his unconditional freedom. Wilmar was beaten and arrested following a public peaceful protest in the eastern town of Contramaestre on November 14, 2011, and sentenced in a trial he called a “judicial farce” to four years in prison. He was charged with “refusing to obey an official” (desacato), “resistance” (resistencia), and “assault” (atentado).
As most members of the peaceful resistance movement in the island, Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia, leader of UMPACU, holds the Cuban government directly responsible for the demise of this peaceful human rights defender. Numerous activists across Cuba declared themselves in mourning and said this sad event unites them even more to continue defending the cause of human rights in Cuba.
The death of Wilman Villar Mendoza did not come about fortuitously nor is it an isolated case. The same terror tactics of mental and physical torture to subdue a political prisoner that have been systematically applied in Cuban prisons and which were applied to Orlando Zapata Tamayo, (who died on February 23, 2010 following a prolonged hunger strike) were also practiced on Wilman:
· Accused of being a common criminal
· Isolated in a humid punishment cell
· Confined naked
· Deprived of water and medical assistance
· Transferred to a medical facility once he is in a critical state of health
Wilmar’s widow, Maritza Pelegrino Cabrales, who is a “Lady in White”, is presently being denied access to her husband’s body and the Cuban government has unleashed a wave of repression throughout Cuba as members of the peaceful resistance movement are trying to pay their last respects to their compatriot. The Juan Bruno Zayas Hospital is surrounded by military guards. Liudmila Rodriguez Palomo reported that State Security agents in patrol cars, carrying sticks and stones, violently arrested activists in the Eastern city of Palma Soriano. The house of Jorge Luis Garcia Perez Antunez and his wife, Yris Tamara Perez Aguilera in the Central city of Placetas is surrounded by State Security agents.
For months, the Coalition of Cuban-American Women has been alerting the international community that the lives of those human rights defenders who are publicly struggling on behalf of fundamental freedoms in Cuba are in danger. We urgently call on religious, civic, political and cultural entities and its leaders, as well as the media and the non-governmental human rights organizations worldwide, to recognize and display their solidarity on behalf of these men and women who are sacrificing their lives for the cause of human rights in Cuba.
Coalition of Cuban-American Women / [email protected] / Laida A.Carro
FURTHER INFORMATION IN CUBA: Berta Soler +5352906820 / José Daniel Ferrer - + 53 53631267 / Maritza Pelegrino Cabrales + 5353842338 / Iris T. Perez Aguilera +5352417749 / Jose Luis Garcia Perez “Antunez” +5352731656
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AUDIO/ in Spanish (4:36 min.) http://fonoteca.esradio.fm/2012-01-20/testimonio-en-esradio-de-la-mujer-de-wilman-villar-38912.html A Maritza Pelegrino Cabrales, viuda del reciente fallecido defensor de los derechos humanos en Cuba Wilman Villar Mendoza,...
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Cuba USA
HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER DIES AFTER BEING SUBJECTED TO CRUEL AND DEGRADING TREATMENT WHILE ON A HUNGER STRIKE IN PRISON
CUBA
HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER DIES AFTER BEING SUBJECTED TO CRUEL AND DEGRADING TREATMENT WHILE ON A HUNGER STRIKE IN PRISON
Peaceful Resistance Movement urgently requests world solidarity for the memory of Wilman Villar Mendoza
January 20, 2012
Cuban human rights defender, Wilman Villar Mendoza, who had been admitted in critical state to the Juan Bruno Zayas Hospital in Santiago de Cuba on January 14 following a 50 day hunger strike (begun November 25, 2012), died on the evening of Thursday, January 18, 2012 of a multiple organ failure and a generalized sepsis.
Wilman Villar Mendoza, who was 31 years old and a member of the human rights group UMPACU (Union Patriotica de Cuba) began a hunger strike in the Prison of Aguadores on November 25, 2011 to protest the false accusations that led to his unjust incarceration and to demand his unconditional freedom. Wilmar was beaten and arrested following a public peaceful protest in the eastern town of Contramaestre on November 14, 2011, and sentenced in a trial he called a “judicial farce” to four years in prison. He was charged with “refusing to obey an official” (desacato), “resistance” (resistencia), and “assault” (atentado).
As most members of the peaceful resistance movement in the island, Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia, leader of UMPACU, holds the Cuban government directly responsible for the demise of this peaceful human rights defender. Numerous activists across Cuba declared themselves in mourning and said this sad event unites them even more to continue defending the cause of human rights in Cuba.
The death of Wilman Villar Mendoza did not come about fortuitously nor is it an isolated case. The same terror tactics of mental and physical torture to subdue a political prisoner that have been systematically applied in Cuban prisons and which were applied to Orlando Zapata Tamayo, (who died on February 23, 2010 following a prolonged hunger strike) were also practiced on Wilman:
· Accused of being a common criminal
· Isolated in a humid punishment cell
· Confined naked
· Deprived of water and medical assistance
· Transferred to a medical facility once he is in a critical state of health
Wilmar’s widow, Maritza Pelegrino Cabrales, who is a “Lady in White”, is presently being denied access to her husband’s body and the Cuban government has unleashed a wave of repression throughout Cuba as members of the peaceful resistance movement are trying to pay their last respects to their compatriot. The Juan Bruno Zayas Hospital is surrounded by military guards. Liudmila Rodriguez Palomo reported that State Security agents in patrol cars, carrying sticks and stones, violently arrested activists in the Eastern city of Palma Soriano. The house of Jorge Luis Garcia Perez Antunez and his wife, Yris Tamara Perez Aguilera in the Central city of Placetas is surrounded by State Security agents.
For months, the Coalition of Cuban-American Women has been alerting the international community that the lives of those human rights defenders who are publicly struggling on behalf of fundamental freedoms in Cuba are in danger. We urgently call on religious, civic, political and cultural entities and its leaders, as well as the media and the non-governmental human rights organizations worldwide, to recognize and display their solidarity on behalf of these men and women who are sacrificing their lives for the cause of human rights in Cuba.
Coalition of Cuban-American Women / [email protected] / Laida A.Carro
FURTHER INFORMATION IN CUBA: Berta Soler +5352906820 / José Daniel Ferrer - + 53 53631267 / Maritza Pelegrino Cabrales + 5353842338 / Iris T. Perez Aguilera +5352417749 / Jose Luis Garcia Perez “Antunez” +5352731656
- The Organization Against Torture (omct) And Amnesty International Denounce Repressive
AMIDST A CLIMATE OF POLITICAL REPRESSION, THE ORGANIZATION AGAINST TORTURE (OMCT) AND AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL DENOUNCE REPRESSIVE ACTS IN THE ISLAND February 26, 2012 “Authorities must urgently stop harassing activists and preventing any of the ‘Ladies...
- Nonviolent Activists Throughout Cuba Continue To Be Systematically Attacked By Rapid Response Brigades
CUBA NONVIOLENT ACTIVISTS THROUGHOUT CUBA CONTINUE TO BE SYSTEMATICALLY ATTACKED BY RAPID RESPONSE BRIGADES Children are recruited by the regime to scream insults and slogans at human rights defenders January 29, 2012 The week of January 23-29,...
- Cuba: Testimony Of Widow/viuda De Wilman Villar
AUDIO/ in Spanish (4:36 min.) http://fonoteca.esradio.fm/2012-01-20/testimonio-en-esradio-de-la-mujer-de-wilman-villar-38912.html A Maritza Pelegrino Cabrales, viuda del reciente fallecido defensor de los derechos humanos en Cuba Wilman Villar Mendoza,...
- Cuba:human Rights Defender Dying In A Hospital After Almost Two Months On A Hunger Strike
January 15, 2012 Wilmar Villar Mendoza, a 32 year old Cuban political prisoner of the Eastern city of Contramaestre was transferred on January 14, 2012, from the Prison of Aguadores to the Hospital Juan Bruno Zayas in Santiago de Cuba in critical condition...
- Children Of Human Rights Defenders Suffer Mob Attacks
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