Cuban Political Prisoners: They are our problem too

From the International Committee for Democracy in Cuba

Name: ANTONIO DÍAZ SÁNCHEZ, sentenced to twenty years in prison.

Author: Alexander Polo
Description: Gisela Sánchez Verdecia, wife. "I’ll never forget it. The whole street was full of policemen. Eight of them barged into our flat, and searched our home for seven hours".

Name: LUIS MILÁN FERNÁNDEZ, sentenced to thirteen years in prison.
Author: Alexander Polo
Description: Lisandra, wife. "Since they arrested my husband, I have had to take my six-yearold daughter to the psychologist. She’s very anxious and she doesn’t understand where her father is or why he has abandoned her."

Name: FÉLIX NAVARRO RODRÍGUEZ, sentenced to twenty-five years in prison.
Author: Alexander Polo
Description: Sonia Álvarez Campello, wife. "My husband continues to fight for human rights even in prison. Recently, some inspectors visited the prison and he told them that one prisoner was sleeping on the floor. As a result the guards and some inmates started to threaten him. These are serious threats, as he is imprisoned with thirty-eight dangerous criminals."

Name: JESÚS MUSTAFÁ FELIPE, sentenced to twenty-five years in prison.
Author: Alexander Polo
Description: Juana Felipe de Mustafá, mother. "The neighbors throw stones and paint at our house because they have been promised a television and a phone line in exchange for doing it."

Name: LUIS ENRIQUE FERRER GARCÍA, sentenced to twenty-eight years in prison.
Author: Alexander Polo
Description: Milka Maria Peña Rodriguez, wife. "Of the seventy-five prisoners of conscience, my husband received the heaviest sentence. During his trial he dared to ask whether the judge would like to sign the Varela petition. The judge immediately recommended the death penalty, but in the end it was reduced to twenty-eight years in prison."

Name: MANUEL UBALS GONZÁLEZ, sentenced to twenty years in prison.
Author: Alexander Polo
Description: Mayelín Bolívar González, wife. "When my husband was arrested, our relatives gave us a tiny room. Because our relatives helped us, they were fired from their jobs. Now not a single member of our family is earning money." * Mayelín and her three children must travel by train to visit her husband in prison. Because the train does not stop at the prison, Mayelín must watch her two oldest children jump from the moving train and then follow after them, holding the youngest while she jumps herself.

Name: MARGARITO BROCHE ESPINOSA, sentenced to twenty-five years in prison.
Author: Alexander Polo
Description: María de la Caridad Noa González, wife. "On September 4, 2003, my husband went into hypoglycemic shock. He was in solitary confinement at the time, but he managed to get to the door and to call for a doctor. The doctor came nine days later." * Margarito was released on November 29, 2004. The Cuban government is not loosening its grip on the prisoners, but rather it is avoiding the embarrassment of having the dissidents die behind bars. Approximately twenty prisoners are suffering from serious illnesses.

Name: NELSON AGUIAR RAMÍREZ, sentenced to thirteen years in prison.
Author: Alexander Polo
Description: Dolia Leal Francisco, wife. "I’m weak, tired and sick. I have health problems from stress. I haven’t had news about my husband in several weeks, and I don’t know where he is, if he’s alive, or ill, or whether they’ve beaten him."

Name: OMAR RODRÍGUEZ SALUDES, sentenced to twenty-seven years in prison.
Author: Alexander Polo
Description: Ileana Marrero Joa, wife. "When they arrested my husband, our seven-year-old son turned in on himself. He has lost interest in school and in his friends, and he doesn’t communicate with anyone. He has also begun to be very aggressive, and he sees the world as unfair and corrupt."

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