LET'S FIGHT BACK
GOD BLESS AMERICA
Tuesday, December 31, 2024
Monday, December 30, 2024
“The Tears of Strangers are Only Water”
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Sunday, December 29, 2024
Saturday, December 28, 2024
Friday, December 27, 2024
Thursday, December 26, 2024
Free Cuba Now!
To promote a peaceful transition to a Cuba that respects human rights
and political and economic freedoms
Here are 5 great reasons to make your tax-deductible donation to Center for a Free Cuba today:
- You’ll help expose abuses of human rights in Cuba that would otherwise go unreported and unresolved
- Donations at this time of year help us prepare for next year — there’s a direct line between how much we raise now and how much work we can do in 2025.
- You’ll power our work to help free imprisoned Cuban journalists and activists — so they can continue their important work.
- You’ll make it possible for us to distribute humanitarian assistance to human rights defenders.
- Your tax-deductible gift will be automatically DOUBLED because a generous donor is offering a 2X match through the end of the year.
You can help us close the gap and start 2025 strong.
Please don’t wait — make your gift today, and it will be doubled to defend and strengthen human rights in Cuba.
With gratitude,
John Suárez
Executive Director
Center for a Free Cuba
417 West Broad St. Suite 204
Falls Church, VA 22046
http://www.cubacenter.org/
Wednesday, December 25, 2024
Free Cuba Now!
“Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.”- Hebrews 13:3
Tuesday, December 24, 2024
Free Cuba Now!
To promote a peaceful transition to a Cuba that respects human rights
and political and economic freedoms
On Christmas Eve remember hundreds jailed in Cuba for exercising their rights, and those subjected to ongoing predetermined political trials
"Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering." - Hebrews 13:3
CUBA
Communist Cuba, like Communist China, does not have an independent judicial system, nor does it meet international standards of justice. Trials across the island condemned nonviolent protesters that took part in nationwide demonstrations in July 2021. Diario de Cuba reported on December 23, 2021 on one set of proceedings in the courtroom for crimes against state security of the Diez de Octubre Municipal Court were sentences against 15 protesters were handed down that ranged from 12 years to 30 years in prison.
Still jailed today are Dayron Martín Rodríguez, Alexander Guillermo Martínez Amoroso, Miguel Páez Estiven, Lázaro Zamora González, Alexis Sosa Ruiz, Elier Padrón Romero, José Luis Sánchez Tito, Jesús Enrique Vázquez Cabrera, Frank Aldama Rodríguez, Orlando Carvajal Cabrera, Dianyi Liriano Fuentes, Leoalys de la Caridad Valera Vázquez(six months pregnant ), Karen Vázquez Pérez and Brusnelvis Adrián Cabrera Martínez. These last three were on bail until the day of the trial; the rest were in prison.
The 15 protesters initially charged with “public disorder, damage to property, contempt, resistance” for participating in protests on July 12, 2021 in La Güinera found that a few weeks prior to trial, these charges were replaced with “sedition” – a crime against State security, and the Prosecutor’s Office requested sentences increased to 15, 18, 20 and 25 years in prison.
On December 10, 2021, a group of intellectuals, artists, former diplomats, religious leaders, and human rights defenders from around the world made an appeal that during this holiday season Catholic bishops “issue statements backing their Cuban counterparts’ calls for the release of Cubans jailed for the events of July 2021 and before, and a rejection of violence by the regime,” and that they “include the freedom of Cuba’s political prisoners, justice for the victims of repression, and national reconciliation for Cuba in prayers said at Mass during this Christmas.”
These closed door trials took place on December 14,15, and 16th of 2021, and only one family member was able to attend the proceeding for each of the accused. Their sentences and guilt were decided before the trial began. These nonviolent protestors were collectively sentenced to 1,916 years in prison.
Friends and family members continue to call for a Christmas without political prisoners, and over 1,100 identified Cuban political prisoners remain unjustly imprisoned.
VENEZUELA
During this Christmas season, Nicolas Maduro, with the help of Cuban henchmen, continued kidnapping and torturing members of the democratic opposition in an effort to hang on to power, and annul the results of the July 28, 2024 presidential elections in Venezuela, which he lost by a landslide. It is estimated that over 2,000 Venezuelans have been kidnapped in what the Venezuelan dictatorship euphemistically calls “Operation Knock Knock.”
Maduro has also targeted children. Six children in Venezuela were subjected to arbitrary detention, torture, maltreatment, and flagrant violations of their right to a fair trial between July 29 and July 31, 2024 as part of the post-election crackdown on dissent by Nicolas Maduro’s government, according to new research released by Amnesty International on November 28, 2024. At least 198 children are still suffering from the severe psychological and physical effects of abuse committed by Venezuelan authorities, unjust detention, or fabricated criminal charges four months later, reports Amnesty.
Repression, and violence will continue to intensify in the lead up to January 10, 2025 when the next presidential term is set to begin. There are already thousands of political prisoners.
NICARAGUA
Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo continue to consolidate their dictatorial rule in Nicaragua. Since 2018, the NGO Colectivo Nicaragua Nunca Más has documented at least 229 instances of detainee torture and more than 2,000 arbitrary detentions. Ortega has ordered that all nuns must leave the country by the end of 2024. More than 1,500 nonprofits and NGOs in Nicaragua, including hundreds of Catholic and Protestant organizations and churches, had their legal status revoked in August 2024, a move that drew international censure earlier this year.
The late Vaclav Havel recognized the importance of people of good will to take action when he said in 2011: “It’s up to all of us to try, and those that say that individuals are not capable of changing anything are only looking for excuses.”
THOUSANDS OF POLITICAL PRISONERS IN LATIN AMERICA
There are over 3,067 political prisoners in Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela today.
One of them is Sayli Navarro Álvarez, a young Cuban woman.
38-year-old activist Sayli Navarro Álvarez is a cofounder of the Damas de Blanco (Ladies in White), a group of mothers, wives, and daughters of the 75 individuals detained during the “Black Spring.” When Sayli and her father, Felix Navarro, went to the local police station in the town of Perico, Matanzas province, on July 12, 2021, to check on the status of demonstrators who had been arrested during the protests the previous day, they were violently arrested. In March 2022, Félix and Sayli Navarro received prison sentences of nine and eight years, respectively, for their involvement in the 11J Protests. According to Saylí’s mom, Sonia Álvarez, she has an unidentified pain that affects both her stomach and back, but she is not receiving adequate care.
Another is Jesús Armas, a young Venezuelan pro-democracy activist.
Jesús is believed to have been taken to a torture centr in Caracas, where he is being held by Maduro’s political police force. Six masked agents in an unmarked SUV took Mr Armas, a Venezuelan national, on the evening of December 10, 2024. Venezuelan regime officials have not confirmed his whereabouts.
His partner, Sairam Rivas, stated on December 11th that Jesús was forcibly disappeared by regime agents.
Prior to his involvement in the 2024 Venezuelan presidential elections he was “the president of Ciudadanía Sin Límites, an organization that promotes freedom and democracy in Venezuela. Jesús leads the core programming of Ciudadanía Sin Límites, including an online crowdsourcing platform that maps and records power and water supply failures in Caracas.” Jesús Armas was also a “Bristol University graduate and former Institute of Economic Affairs.”
On December 17, 2024, Amnesty International designated Brooklyn Rivera, a leader of the Miskito Indigenous people, a prisoner of conscience and urged Nicaraguan authorities to free him immediately, and without condition.
He was denied entry into the country by officials in April 2023 after criticizing the plight of Indigenous peoples at an international forum. He was arbitrarily detained and subjected to 14 months of enforced disappearance after entering through alternate routes in September of that year, citing the right to freedom of movement recognized for cross-border Indigenous peoples. The Nicaraguan government ultimately acknowledged that Brooklyn Rivera was being held on treason charges, undermining national integrity and conspiracy, during a UN Universal Periodic Review session in November 2024.
