MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Round up of Cuban dissidents following the death of political prisoner

Death of Orlando Zapata Tamayo triggers international indignation

Cuban security agents detained dissidents across the country to prevent protests at the funeral of a leading dissident who died on a prison hunger strike and which has sparked international indignation. Cuban president Raul Castro said he regrets the death of Orlando Zapata and denies the rights activist had been tortured.

“There were no tortured people. There was no execution,” he said. “That is what happens at Guantanamo”. But Mr Zapata's mother Reina Luisa Tamayo says her son's death was a “premeditated murder”.

“My son was tortured the whole time he was in prison,” she said. Zapata, 42, was buried in his hometown of Banes, 830 kilometres east of Havana.
“I call on the international community to demand the release of the rest of the [political] prisoners ... so that what happened to my boy does not happen again,” Ms Tamayo said.

Mr Zapata's death 85 days into a hunger strike over prison conditions drew international condemnation and calls for an investigation and the release of all political prisoners.

The Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation spokesman Elizardo Sanchez said security agents detained about 30 activists Tuesday and Wednesday.

“Some also have been held in their houses, without a judicial warrant, to prevent people from going to the wake,” he said.
“[Mr Zapata's death] is bad news for the human rights movement and for the government as well,” Mr Sanchez said.

A Havana Hermanos Ameijeiras hospital spokesman says Mr Zapata died at 1:00 pm (local time) on Tuesday after a nearly three-month protest against prison conditions.

He had been in jail since 2003 and blamed his already deteriorating health on harsh conditions inside Cuba's jails. Zapata was transferred from a local clinic in the eastern province of Camaguey,
near his prison, to Havana’s largest hospital on Monday.

Amnesty International urged President Castro to immediately and unconditionally release all prisoners of conscience.

“The tragic death of Orlando Zapata Tamayo is a terrible illustration of the despair facing prisoners of conscience who see no hope of being freed from their unfair and prolonged incarceration,” said Gerardo Ducos, Amnesty International's Caribbean researcher. “A full investigation must be carried out to establish whether ill-treatment may have played a part in his death.”

According to AI, Zapata Tamayo was arrested in March 2003 and in May 2004 he was sentenced to three years in prison for “disrespect”, “public disorder” and “resistance”. He was subsequently tried several times on further charges of “disobedience” and “disorder in a penal establishment”, the last time in May 2009, and was serving a total sentence of 36 years at the time of his death.

“Faced with a prolonged prison sentence, the fact that Orlando Zapata Tamayo felt he had no other avenue available to him but to starve himself in protest is a terrible indictment of the continuing repression of political dissidents in Cuba,” said Gerardo Ducos

“The death of Orlando Zapata also underlines the urgent need for Cuba to invite international human rights experts to visit the country to verify respect for human rights, in particular obligations in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.”

Orlando Zapata Tamayo was one of 55 prisoners of conscience who have been adopted by Amnesty International in Cuba.