Tuesday, August 07, 2007 IN CUBA, BLIND LAWYER AND DEFENDER OF HUMAN RIGHTS DENOUNCES SYSTEMATIC HARASSMENT AGAINST HIM ON THE PART OF THE CUBAN REGIME
Rapporteurs of Human Rights. I am 42 years old, and my address is Calle Honorato del Castillo #154, Entre República and Cuba, Ciego de Avila, Cuba. Branches of State Security still keep me under strict surveillance. For the most part, a police unit composed of members of the blue- uniformed Revolutionary Police, as well as ranked officials, such as lieutenant colonels and their superiors dressed in the olive green uniforms of the Ministry of the Interior, follow me wherever I go. They closely monitor all telephone calls and visits I receive. Recently I received a phone call in which these people shouted threats that they could incarcerate me or harm me. This harassment extends to everyone who works with me or is related to me in any way. A young journalist, Luis Esteban Espinosa, 21, who had to flee his home and seek refuge in home of family members, was threatened with being taken away to serve Obligatory Military Service, that is, to serve in the Revolutionary Armed Forces. Tania Maceda Guerra is another person closely related to me and to my work who is systematically harassed. Between January and April of 2007, these police units committed many acts of intimidation, such that more than 70 people, among them family members who were visiting my home, were threatened with prison and fined. For example, the President of the Association of Independent Deaf Citizens, a handicapped individual who was detained for weeks, was taken to court and fined more than $1,500 (national currency). The Cuban government keeps me under constant economic siege so that I will not have any way to survive in Cuba (that is, purchase food, clothing, and travel, etc.) I have three siblings in the United States: Onel González Leiva, José González Leiva, and Silvia González Leiva, as well as my father, Agustín González Ferrer. They cannot send me money through Cuban agencies (all properties of the government) that make it possible to receive resources from abroad. These agencies have official orders from the Cuban government that forbid me from receiving money. Many times, the money my family members send has been stolen. The Cuban government accuses me of being a “worm,” and it will not allow me to practice law in spite of the fact that I have applied for work many times through the Ministry of Justice. I was expelled from the Cuban Association of the Blind, supposedly a humanitarian association but, in reality, a group at the service of the Cuban government. As a result, I, a blind person, do not have access to Braille writing papers, tape recorders, notebooks, or any assistance on the part of this association, which is the only entity for blind citizens permitted by the Cuban government on the island. I cannot go to hospitals or any medical establishment even if I am ill. The Cuban government kept me in jail for 26 months where I fell ill and was infected with bronchial and lung ailments. I suffer from an allergy that will not go away, and I constantly expel phlegm. I cannot go to any doctors here in Cuba for the risk of what they might attempt on my life. Recently, I had to go for urgent reasons to the Antonio Luaces Iraola Provincial Hospital in Ciego de Avila where members of State Security showed up and took my medical files away. I received this information through doctors who are friends and work in the aforementioned hospital. On March 16, 2007, the Chief of Counterintelligence of State Security in Ciego de Avila, José Mariño, confiscated a computer of the Cuban Foundation of Human Rights. This same official had already confiscated another computer that belonged to my family. |
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