Condemnation of Cuba's Continuing Crackdown
- From: PL <pl.nospam@xxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 18 Jul 2011 14:39:37 +0200
Condemnation of Cuba's Continuing Crackdown
In what seems to be a season of intensifying repression in Cuba, members of the group "Damas de Blanco" (Ladies in White) were assaulted by police and paramilitary forces after attending church services in El Cobre on July 17th.
Belkis Cantillo Ramirez was shot in the arm, while others were brutally beaten with batons, stones and other objects. In the midst of the violence, Tania Montoya and Rodaisa Corrioso were arrested by the authorities. Aside from these two brave women, thirteen members of this organization, including Belkis Cantillo Ramirez, are receiving medical care at a local hospital.
Las Damas de Blanco are human rights advocates who refuse to be bound by the 'rule of silence' enforced by the Communist Party's thugs. Many members are female relatives of political prisoners - the mothers, daughters, sisters and wives of dissidents whose only crime may have been speaking out against government policy or having an Internet connection. As a form of protest, the Ladies in White frequently attend Mass on Sundays, dressed in white, and subsequently walk silently through the streets. The colour white was specifically chosen to symbolize peace.
These true patriots have been recognized for their outstanding work by many institutions within the international community. In 2005, the European Parliament awarded the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought to the group.
The International Federation of Liberal Youth (IFLRY) condemns these attacks in the strongest terms. Las Damas de Blanco is a strictly peaceful movement. To respond to such non-violent resistance with such brutal repression colours the Castro regime as tyrannical at best. If these attacks were not sanctioned by the authorities, then an investigation must be immediately initiated and given far-reaching jurisdiction.
Even so, public confidence and trust can only be established now through the development of an independent judiciary, as well as a legislature that is not the purview of a single party but instead consists of representatives chosen by the Cuban people themselves through free and fair multi-party elections.
Now is not the time for another Black Spring. Now is the time for a national re-birth as a successful and prosperous democracy.
IFLRY wishes a speedy and full recovery for all those who were injured in the July 17th attacks in El Cobre. Furthermore, Tania Montoya and Rodaisa Corrioso must be immediately and unconditionally released.
http://iflry.org/blogs/mos/archive/2011/07/18/Condemnation-of-Cuba_2700_s-Continuing-Crackdown.aspx
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