Cuban dissident ends hunger strike after prisoner release deal
BY JUAN O. TAMAYO
jtamayo@ElNuevoHerald.com
Cuban dissident Guillermo Fariñas Thursday ended a 135-day hunger strike
that had put him close to death, and the island's Catholic church
identified the first five political prisoners to be freed.
Fariñas a 48-year old psychiatrist and independent journalist, has
refused to eat and drink since Feb. 24, but has received nourishment
intravenously in a Santa Clara hospital since March 11.
He took his first glass of water around 2 p.m. Thursday, according to
bloggers Yoani Sanchez and Claudia Cadelo, who were with Fariñas when he
announced that he was ending his hunger strike after the government
agreed to free 52 political prisoners.
A church statement Thursday identified the first five political
prisoners to be released as Antonio Villarreal Acosta, Lester González
Pentón, Luis Milán Fernández, José Luis García Paneque and Pablo Pacheco.
Pacheco's wife, Oleivys García, told El Nuevo Herald she was surprised
when she visited him in a Ciego de Avila prison Thursday and learned
Ortega had just called Pacheco to let him know he would be freed.
``We were surprised '' Garcia said via telephone from Cuba. Her husband
``told me he thanked Ortega, who was very courteous, and told him that
he was glad to be one of the first released, but hoped he would not be
one of the last.''
Pacheco, an independent journalist who has been writing a blog from
jail, Voz Tras las Rejas, -- Voice from Behind The Bars -- with the help
of Cadelo, has been serving a 20-year sentence.
Fariñas launched the strike one day after the death of political
prisoner Orlando Zapata following an 83-day hunger strike, to demand the
release of 26 other political prisoners reported to be in ill health.
Sanchez and Cadelo were among about 30 activists who traveled to Santa
Clara Thursday to persuade Fariñas to abandon his strike after Cuba
agreed Wednesday to release the 52 political prisoners over the next
four months.
The 52 are the last dissidents still in jail from the 2003 crackdown on
75 opposition activists known as Cuba's Black Spring. The others were
released for health reasons.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/07/08/1721605/cuban-dissident-ends-hunger-strike.html
No comments:
Post a Comment