13/12/2010

Nothing has changed in Cuba
Cuban dictatorship prevents Guillermo Fariñas from receiving the Sakharov Prize

By José Ignacio Salafranca MEP, EPP Group Coordinator in the Foreign Affairs Committee

Hunger stikers in Cuba: using their lives as a weapon for change

Somewhere in the Colon Cemetery in Havana lies the body of Pedro Luis Boitel, an imprisoned Cuban poet who died on April 3rd, 1972 after 53 days on hunger strike to protest against the Castro brother regime in Cuba. He was the first of many who have used their lives as a weapon of pressure to achieve political change in Cuba, not having anything else. Last February, thirty eight years after Boitel, another political prisoner, Orlando Zapata, died in jail after 82 days of hunger strike for the same reasons.

Immediately after this, from his house in the city of Santa Clara, another Cuban dissident, Guillermo Fariñas, started his 23rd hunger strike to call for the liberation of another 26 political prisoners who were ill after long years of imprisonment. On July 8th, close to collapse, he ended his 135 days of hunger strike after the announcement that, thanks to the mediation of the Catholic Church, 52 political dissidents were going to be freed and expelled from the country.

Fariñas was ready to follow many others in Cuba who died or were ready to die to denounce the lack of freedom in their country.

The decision of the European Parliament to award him their Sakharov Prize for freedom of thought for 2010, was a symbolic joining of forces with those who are crying for freedom in Cuba.

Guillermo Fariñas

A former member of Castro's elite troops who fought in Angola during the 80s, Fariñas turned into a non-violent activist and decided to withdraw his affiliation to the "Communist Youth" in 1989. Journalist and psychologist, he founded an independent press agency - Cubanacan Press - with the aim of informing the rest of the world of the destiny of all political prisoners in Cuba. Eventually, he was forced to close by the Cuban authorities.

Since then he has become one of the most well-known dissidents to the Castro brother regime and has been imprisoned for 11 years. In 2006, he held a first seven-month hunger strike to protest against Internet censorship in Cuba. His action was rewarded with a Reporters Without Borders Cyber-freedom Prize the same year.

His struggle is an example to all those who want to be engaged in the promotion of freedom and democracy in the world.


The Sakharov Prize

The European Parliament created the Sakharov Prize in 1989 to honour exceptional individuals who combat intolerance, fanaticism and dictatorships - like Andrei Sakharov did in the former URSS.

The European Parliament decided last October to award its annual Sakharov Prize to Guillermo Fariñas for his fight on behalf human rights and freedom of expression in his country. The candidature of Mr Fariñas was promoted by MEP José Ignacio Salafranca and supported by the entire EPP Group.

It is traditional for the prize to be awarded during Parliament's December plenary session. Unfortunately Guillermo Fariñas will not be able to receive the prize in person, as the Cuban authorities will not allow him to travel freely.

"The absence of Guillermo Fariñas from the ceremony for the 2010 Sakharov Prize this Wednesday in Strasbourg means that nothing has changed in Cuba," said EPP Group Chairman, Joseph Daul.

"The fact that Guillermo Fariñas has not received the necessary permission to travel out of the island and come to Strasbourg to receive the award probes that the Castro brother's dictatorship continues to deny fundamental freedoms" he added.

He called for an empty chair to be present during the award ceremony to represent Guillermo Fariñas and symbolise the Parliament's disapproval of the Cuban regime - as was the case for Nobel Peace Prize Winner Liu Xiaobo, who was prevented from receiving his award on 10 December 2010.