Cuba's dark places
The
Washington Times,
March 23, 2004.
Just over one year ago, Fidel Castro demonstrated
to the world once again what his power in
Cuba depends on: brutal repression. On March
18, 2003, Mr. Castro's security forces arrested
as many as 75 dissidents, 27 of them journalists.
Shortly afterward, those dissidents were
sentenced to up to 28 years in prison by
Cuba's corrupted courts. The imprisonment
of those Cubans remains a testament to the
dictator's illegitimacy.
Many world leaders have tried to cast
ambiguity on that illegitimacy. Supporters
of democracy must firmly challenge that
dangerous illusion and remind the world
of the dissidents languishing in Cuban jails,
many of whom have become seriously ill after
being confined for long periods in dank
cells. While opinion-makers may not be able
to stop Mr. Castro's repression, they can
deny him the international acceptance he
craves.
Around the world, champions of democracy
have mobilized to do just that. In the Czech
Republic, 75 politicians, human rights leaders
and others sat in a mock prison cell in
Prague's Wenceslas Square in solidarity
with Cuba's political prisoners. Prague
Mayor Pavel Bem launched the effort and
was joined by Deputy Prime Minister Petr
Mares, Senate Chairman Petr Pithart and
Alexandr Vondra, former ambassador to the
United States and deputy foreign minister.
A group of journalists from Miami - as
well as Peru, Argentina and Venezuela -
paid a visit to the Cuban Interests Section
in Washington to deliver a letter condemning
Mr. Castro's crackdown. The journalists,
with the Organizacion de Periodistas Ibero-Americanos,
told The Washington Times that they were
forced to throw the letter through the gate
at the Cuban mission, since they weren't
able to even get a receptionist to receive
it.
The group, funded solely through journalists'
contributions, campaigns for freedom of
expression. Through bare-knuckledrepression,Mr.Castrohas
extinguished the light of liberty that dissidents
risked their personal freedom to uphold.
It is the task of the free world to continue
exposing that glaring injustice and campaign
for the release of Cuba's prisoners of conscience.
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