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SANTA CLARA, February 20 (Omar Ruiz Hernández, Grupo Decoro /
www.cubanet.org) - A 24-year-old man was sentenced to two years hard labor for
loudly expressing his disapproval of Cuban leader Fidel Castro during an
argument with his father at home.
The man, Alain Ramos, was sentenced February 12 under the Cuban "disrespect"
statute, which covers Castro himself and a few other top government and
Communist Party officials.
Ramos said that during an argument about politics he had with his father
inside their home last October, he had said "Down with Fidel," among
other utterances uncomplimentary of the island's political system. The official
indictment states he said what he said from the balcony of their apartment.
Ramos said he was trying to persuade his father, a Party member, "of
the hypocrisy of the government which claims to prosecute all illegal activities
while at the same time allowing its minions to act with impunity," citing
as an example the president of the local Committee for the Defense of the
Revolution, whom he accused of fraud.
The selfsame, Félix Inocencio Hernández, was one of the
witnesses called by the prosecution at Ramos' trial, which was closed to the
independent press.
Versión original
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