By Judi McLeod
Thursday, October 5, 2006
Without the US-based Coalition of Cuban-american Women/LaIDa CaRRO, alejandrina Garcia de la Riva, would suffer alone.
It was the coalition who obtained via telephone, recorded, transcribed and translated to English in the US, the testimony of a frightened woman living without her husband in Fidel Castro's Cuba.
alejandrina Garcia de la Riva is the wife of Cuban prisoner of conscience, Diosdado Gonzalez Marrero, who is serving a 20-year sentence in the provincial prison of Kilo Cinco y Medio in the province of Pinar del Rio.
She suffers mental distress in knowing that her husband is now in solitary confinement, having been accused of having a "sharp pointed object" in his cell.
"I wish to condemn events that took place on September 23, 2006, when prison authorities locked up my husband, Diosdado Gonzalez Marrero, in a punishment cell or "tapiada" (prison cell with no windows or light) because, according to a high authority official called "Osmany", a sharp pointed object was found in his cell," de la Riva told the Coalition of Cuban-american Women.
Choosing to extinguish Marrero's light is an added heartache for his already worried family. Solitary confinement has broken many. In the graphic terms of the
West, solitary confinement is known as "the hole".
an inspection had been carried out on the same day of the accusation against the prisoner. This inspection took place at the entire prison Barrack # 8, where Marrero is confined.
"I must clarify that prison guards carry out a search when only all the prisoners are moved away in a hallway distant from their belongings," said de la Riva. "In addition, when family members visit their loved ones in prison every inch of our bodies is searched and the prisoners are thoroughly searched as well. During a prison visit nothing that might inflict injuries to any of the prisoners is allowed."
Head prisoner officials "Osmany" and "alejandro" of Barrack # 8 informed Marrero's wife by telephone that her husband will be prosecuted once more...that he will be taken before a tribunal for the common crime of keeping a sharp object to his cell.
"I hereby inform national and international public opinion that I make prison authorities at Prison Kilo Cinco y Medio responsible for introducing sharp objects inside the prison compound. This is as manipulative tactic implemented by the Cuban government and by Cuban State Security in order to bring legal action against my husband once more," said de la Riva. "Diosadado Gonzalez Marrero is a peaceful man imprisoned for his independent ideas. If he has never practiced violent acts and is confined alone, there is no reason why he would possess a sharp object in his cell."
But the manipulation, intimidation and harassment don't stop there.
Immediately after, on Sunday, September 24 de la Riva's house was surrounded by forces of the Communist Party of the "Committees of the Defense of the Resolution", of the Federation of Cuban Women, who carried out what she described as "a mob attack" or "act of repudiation" to prevent anyone from visiting her home on that day.
"My children and I endured this violent attack that began the night of Saturday, September 23, 2006 until Sunday, September 24 at 3:30 p.m.
No one was able to come to the home to comfort the wife and children of a prisoner abruptly moved into solitary confinement.
according to amnesty International, eleven people remain in detention following a government crackdown on dissidence around the time of the Ibero-american Summit' in Havana in November 1999. ammesty International is concerned that nine of them are prisoners of conscience and that the two others are possible prisoners of conscience, all of whom may be subjected to harsh prison sentences.
"Prior to and following the summit, some 260 dissidents, including human rights defenders, political opponents and journalists, were detained. all were released without charges except for eleven people, all of whom are reportedly peaceful opponents of the government. "
In a world where the media eye is trained on the prisoners of Guantanamo Bay, there is not much attention paid to the plight of Cuba's prisoners of conscience languishing seven years later in prison.
Life goes on in Cuba, a destination for throngs of tourists who vacation in the tropical sun. But there is a shadow on the sun for the all but forgotten Cuban prisoners and their ever-waiting families.
Canada Free Press founding editor Most recent by Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print media. Her work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck. Judi can be reached at: judi@canadafreepress.com
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