{"id":1129686,"date":"2021-12-17T21:58:59","date_gmt":"2021-12-18T02:58:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1129686"},"modified":"2021-12-17T21:59:01","modified_gmt":"2021-12-18T02:59:01","slug":"battered-cuban-political-prisoners-call-for-more-protests-from-within-prison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/battered-cuban-political-prisoners-call-for-more-protests-from-within-prison\/","title":{"rendered":"Battered Cuban Political Prisoners Call for More Protests from Within Prison"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fbattered-cuban-political-prisoners-call-for-more-protests-from-within-prison%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1129686&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Mitzael-Diaz-Paseiro-and-Arianna-Lopez-Roque-640x335-1.png\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p class=\"subheading\">Cuban political prisoners Arianna L\u00f3pez Roque and Mitzael D\u00edaz Paseiro issued letters from prison this week urging citizens to rise up against the communist regime and participate in a national strike \u2013 a continuation of the massive anti-communist protests of July 11.<\/p>\n<p>L\u00f3pez and D\u00edaz, a married couple, were arrested on July 11 for being one of an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/latin-america\/2021\/08\/03\/study-187000-cubans-participated-protests-july\/\">estimated<\/a> 187,000 people to peacefully take the streets demanding an end to the 62-year-old Castro dynasty dictatorship. Both are <a href=\"https:\/\/diariodecuba.com\/derechos-humanos\/1635517754_35170.html\">facing<\/a> eight years in prison.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p>Making their continued resistance even more remarkable are reports of extensive abuse within prison walls against them. Cuban dissidents on the island confirmed reports in October that L\u00f3pez received a gang beating at the hands of Cuban regime thugs in front of a sizeable population of the Santa Clara prison containing her in response to her urging protests among the inmates.<\/p>\n<p>Both activists released handwritten letters on Wednesday through the Assembly for the Cuban Resistance, a coalition of pro-democracy groups on the island and in exile.<\/p>\n<p>L\u00f3pez vowed in her letter to continue advocacy against the communist regime at all times, even from behind bars, according to a transcript and images of her letter published by the Assembly for the Cuban Resistance.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cI belong to the generation of&nbsp;<em>Patria y Vida<\/em>,\u201d she wrote, referring to the Grammy Award-winning song whose name translates to \u201cFatherland and Life,\u201d a play on the Cuban communist motto \u201cFatherland or Death\u201d (<em>patria o muerte<\/em>). \u201c[I am among] those who want a real change, those who want to be free, the mothers who want a better future for their children.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI do not know if today the dictatorship will finally execute its macabre plan of imprisoning me as punishment for my political activism,\u201d L\u00f3pez wrote. \u201cAll I know is that, from wherever I may be, I will offer my modest but sincere effort to achieve a free and democratic Cuba, the nation that [Cuban founding father Jos\u00e9] Mart\u00ed for Cubans.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Both L\u00f3pez and D\u00edaz categorically denied having broken any laws in their letters. D\u00edaz, like L\u00f3pez, wrote that he would continue advocating for a free Cuba and urged as many Cubans as possible to participate in anti-regime efforts.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI do not regret struggling for Cuba\u2019s freedom. I feel proud of my people, who went out on the street civilly to demand their rights,\u201d D\u00edaz wrote. \u201cWe will be outside as many times as it is necessary to free Cuba. I reiterate the same call to a National Strike that I made before I was imprisoned, for the freedom of our people and of the political prisoners.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Castro regime has repeatedly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/clips\/2016\/03\/21\/raul-castro-political-prisoners\/\">denied<\/a> the existence of political prisoners on the island despite the ample evidence of their existence. Estimates regarding the true number of political prisoners vary widely and most human rights organizations trying to keep track of those the Communist Party disappears into its repressive justice system. The Spain-based NGO Cuban Prisoners Defenders \u2013 issuing a heavy caveat that the number only represented individuals the regime confirmed to be behind bars and was a significant underestimate of the true toll \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/latin-america\/2021\/12\/09\/cuba-ngo-logs-500-jump-political-prisoners-this-year\/\">documented<\/a> 805 political prisoners in Cuba as of December 2021, a 500-percent increase year-on-year.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B3\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p>Jorge Luis Garc\u00eda P\u00e9rez, one of the longest-service former political prisoners in the island\u2019s history, confirmed in October that police had beaten L\u00f3pez and forced other prisoners to watch for her support of a national strike, a move to paralyze the Castro economy and pressure it to end its stranglehold on power.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey dragged her to the prison yard and there was an entire garrison waiting there armed with batons, hoses,\u201d Jorge Luis Garc\u00eda P\u00e9rez, known popularly as Ant\u00fanez,&nbsp;<a class=\"x5l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.radiotelevisionmarti.com\/a\/la-arrastraban-la-escup%C3%ADan-la-pateaban-en-presencia-de-toda-la-poblaci%C3%B3n-penal-ant%C3%BAnez-denuncia-golpiza-a-presa-pol%C3%ADtica-arianna-l%C3%B3pez\/306380.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\">confirmed<\/a>&nbsp;to Radio Mart\u00ed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey dragged her, they spit on her, they kicked her in front of the entire prison population and they did it with the objective of trying to terrorize the prison population. From there they moved her into a penitentiary cell where she currently remains,\u201d Ant\u00fanez said at the time.<\/p>\n<p>L\u00f3pez\u2019s open disrespect for regime violence is a growing pattern among the July 11 protesters and their families. While the July 11 national protests attracted more international corporate media attention, Cubans also took to the streets on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/latin-america\/2021\/11\/25\/gutierrez-boronat-cuba-hasnt-stopped-protesting-thanks-to-its-children-the-world-is-listening\/\">November 16<\/a>, this time often flanked by members of the Catholic clergy. Among those protesting were entire families demanding their imprisoned loved ones be released.<\/p>\n<p>Among the most dramatic images from November 16 was the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/latin-america\/2021\/11\/16\/video-protesters-cuba-chant-we-want-freedom-regime-mobs-faces\/\">protest<\/a> by the family of July 11 protester Andy Garc\u00eda Lorenzo, who responded to an \u201cact of repudiation\u201d \u2013 a mob attack on a dissidents\u2019 home \u2013 by standing outside and singing pro-freedom songs, smiling and laughing in the oppressors\u2019 faces.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"video-src-attr\">Assembly of the Cuban Resistance<\/span><\/p>\n<p>On Thursday, the independent outlet Cubanet reported that Cuban authorities had punished Lorenzo, 23, by prohibiting phone calls for him in prison for two months in response to continued resistance from both himself and his family. Sister&nbsp;Roxana Garc\u00eda Lorenzo told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cubanet.org\/noticias\/castigan-a-andy-garcia-por-apoyo-de-su-familia-a-presos-politicos-del-11j\/\">Cubanet<\/a> that the punishment was partially because Garc\u00eda was sharing information about the status of prisoners in the facility with his family, who had publicized it through the media, but also because his family had been so publicly supportive.<\/p>\n<p>In the prison, his sister said, Garc\u00eda is facing \u201cthreats, they tell him that if he keeps helping the prisoners they will add to their sentence demand and charge him with \u2018incitement to commit crime,\u201d that he will be judged for what we, his family, do out here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Garc\u00eda is facing seven years in prison for \u201cdisrespect,\u201d a crime in Cuba.<\/p>\n<p><em>Follow Frances Martel on&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/francesimartel\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/francesimartel\/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1639654455979000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1fRfb_h2E6ZdmFpXjJbORU\">Facebook<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/francesmartel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/twitter.com\/francesmartel&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1639654455979000&amp;usg=AOvVaw030ychS5E25vfDOdsWnlWi\">Twitter.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cuban political prisoners Arianna L\u00f3pez Roque and Mitzael D\u00edaz Paseiro issued letters from prison this week urging citizens to rise up against the communist regime and participate in a national &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1129686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1129686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1129686"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1129686\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1129686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1129686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1129686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}