Friday, April 9, 2010

Imprisoned Cuban Librarians OK by ALA: URGENT HEALTH APPEAL for Seven of Cuba's Library Prisoners, One Near Death

No sooner did I write about the American Library Association [ALA] supporting Palestinians and selectively addressing censorship when I learned that the ALA has repeatedly declined to oppose Cuba's continuing imprisonment of independent librarians!

I base this on the following:

[T]he most recent statement on the Cuban prisoners of conscience is the July 27, 2004 letter from the [ALA's] International Relations Committee Chair who asked not for the prisoners' release, but closed with this sentence: "We thank you very much for your attention and assistance to ensure the health and welfare of these detained individuals."
Source reprinted below.

I tracked down that July 27, 2004 letter.  It was reprinted in "Literacy, Censorship and Intellectual Freedom: The Independent Library Movement in Contemporary Cuba," by Kelsey Vidaillet, Florida International University, undated, p.75.  Here is a key portion of that letter:

The unfortunate political climate between our two countries is not cause for indifference to the fundamental human rights of all people as defined in Article 19 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Therefore, in the report ALA also joins IFLA in its "deep concern over the arrest and long prison terms" of 75 political dissidents in Cuba in spring 2003.

We thank you very much for your attention and assistance to ensure the health and welfare of these detained individuals.

"Deep concern" was first expressed in "International Relations Committee and Intellectual Freedom Committee's Report on Cuba," by American Library Association, 2003-2004 ALA CD#18.1 (2004 ALA Midwinter Meeting), 2004, wherein the ALA looked into the crackdown on Cuban independent libraries:

ALA supports IFLA in its call for the elimination of the U.S. embargo that restricts access to information in Cuba and for lifting travel restrictions that limit professional exchanges.  ALA also supports IFLA's call for the U.S. government to share information widely in Cuba.

ALA joins IFLA in its deep concern over the arrest and long prison terms of political dissidents in Cuba in spring 2003 and urges the Cuban Government to respect, defend and promote the basic human rights defined in Article 19 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

"Deep concern."  Impressive, no?  Jailed and beaten librarians, books set aflame, including those of Martin Luther King, Jr., and the ALA has a "deep concern."  Opposing United States policy vis-a-vis Cuba?  That the ALA "supports," something much more substantive than merely a "deep concern."  But let a child be denied inappropriate material, and the ALA suddenly gets serious.  And this ALA is supposed to be authoritative in your American community?   On censorship?  On freedom of speech?  On intellectual freedom?  On civil rights?

When the ALA imposes itself in your community, will it support keeping inappropriate material in the hands of children or will it merely express "deep concern."  What do you think?



by Steve R. Marquardt, Ph.D.,  
7 April 2010, 
emphasis mine.

Seven independent librarians imprisoned in Cuba are suffering from serious health problems.  You can help them by appealing for their release, their humane treatment and access to needed medical care.

This week marks the 7th anniversary of the 2003 sentencing of 26 
persons who had established independent libraries to prison terms 
averaging 19 years.  Ten have been released, mainly for health 
reasons.  Sixteen remain in prison, of whom seven are in very poor 
health, with one near death.

Please copy -- and perhaps put into your own words -- this appeal for 
the seven described below.

I'm suggesting copying individuals at the ALA International Relations 
Office and committees because the most recent statement on the Cuban 
prisoners of conscience is the July 27, 2004 letter from the 
International Relations Committee Chair who asked not for the 
prisoners' release, but closed with this sentence: "We thank you very 
much for your attention and assistance to ensure the health and 
welfare of these detained individuals."  Cuba has dismally failed to 
honor this hopeful expectation of compliance with international 
standards and common decency.

Please write on behalf of these prisoners as soon as possible.

Steve R. Marquardt, Ph.D. 

ALA Member since 1974 

South Dakota State University Dean of Libraries Emeritus 

Amnesty International Legislative Coordinator for Minnesota
9383 123rd Avenue SE 

Lake Lillian, Minnesota 56253-4700

SAMPLE LETTER TO THE HEAD OF CUBA'S PRISON SYSTEM:

7 April 2010

General Abelardo Colomé Ibarra
Ministro de Interior y Prisiones 

Ministerio del Interior y Prisiones 

Plaza de la Revolución 

La Habana, Cuba

Señor Ministro,

I write to bring your attention to very serious health problems 
experienced by seven prisoners under your care.  My concern for these 
individuals is the result of the efforts that I have made in my own 
career as a librarian, to provide library services similar to those 
that these nonviolent prisoners of conscience provided from the 
libraries that they established in their neighborhoods and for which 
they have been deprived of liberty.

Ariel Sigler Amaya, General Pedro Betancourt Avalos Library 

Ariel Sigler Amaya is dying because of the poor prison conditions and 
lack of medical treatment and has left him emaciated and in a 
wheelchair.  In March of this year he was reported to be expelling 
large amounts of blood from his rectum due to the advanced state of 
his hemorrhoids.  He is coughing up pieces of putrid green and yellow 
with a lot of stench; he has intense pain in his throat, digestive 
tract, esophagus and stomach; intense suffering and great pain in the 
pelvis and bladder when he urinates, he suffers from dizziness, severe 
headaches, he is very pale yellow, weak, his legs are blackened and 
dried and he remains bed ridden … According to doctors they can not 
intervene surgically for the hemorrhoids or tonsillitis in his throat, 
because he would not survive in his state of weakness and severity.


Victor Rolando Arroyo Carmona, Reyes Magos Library (Pinar del Río) 

Arroyo Carmona is diagnosed with diabetes, hypertension, and pulmonary 
emphysema.  He has protested a lack of medical attention, unsanitary 
cell conditions, cruel treatment, and obstruction of his efforts to 
practice religion.

José Luis García Paneque, Carlos J. Finlay Library (Las Tunas)
García Paneque was being held at Las Mangas Prison in Granma province, 
according to his wife, Yamilé Llánez Labrada.  Although general prison 
conditions improved in 2009, she said, García Paneque’s health has 
significantly deteriorated in prison.  He has been diagnosed with a 
kidney tumor, internal bleeding, chronic malnutrition, and pneumonia. 
 He continues to have digestive problems and suffers from malnutrition.

Ricardo González Alfonso, Jorge Mañach Library (Havana) 

González Alfonso, 59, was being held at Havana’s Combinado del Este 
Prison, where his small, windowless cell is hot and humid, and the 
prison food is poor.  As punishment for his refusal to wear a prison 
uniform, officials have denied him religious assistance, barred his 
family from bringing him clean clothes, and cut family visitation to 
once every two months.  He suffers from hypertension, arthritis, severe 
allergies to humidity and dust, chronic bronchitis, and several 
digestive and circulatory problems.

Iván Hernández Carrillo, Juan Gualberto Gómez Library, Branch II 
(Matanzas) 

Hernández Carrillo is held at Guamajal Prison in Santa Clara province 
in 2009 where he suffers from hypertension and gastritis.  On April 14, 
Hernández Carrillo went on a 10-day hunger strike to protest the 
conditions of his imprisonment, his mother, Asunción Carrillo, said. 
 Prison authorities encouraged other inmates to harass and attack him, 
he told his mother.

José Ubaldo Izquierdo Hernández, Sebastián Arcos Library (Havana 
Province)
Izquierdo Hernández is held at the Guanajay Prison in his home 
province.  Izquierdo Hernández has been diagnosed with severe 
depression, digestive ailments, circulatory problems, emphysema, and 
asthma.

Fabio Prieto Llorente, Mir Francisco Mulets Library (Neuva Gerona, 
Isla de la Juventud)
Prieto Llorente was being held in solitary confinement at El Guayabo 
Prison in his home province, his sister, Clara Lourdes Prieto 
Llorente, told the Committee to Protect Journalists.  In a January 7 
letter to Cuban President Raúl Castro Ruz, Fabio said his cell 
measured just 10 feet (three meters) by six and a half feet (two 
meters), and his meals consisted of spoiled and burned “animal 
products.”  He has been diagnosed with allergies, emphysema, back 
problems, high blood pressure, and depression.  He was allowed visits 
from two family members every two months, his sister reports.   In 
February, he waged a hunger strike to call attention to the situation 
at El Guayabo.

These nonviolent prisoners of conscience should be released 
immediately and unconditionally.

Until such time as they are released, they should have access to 
family members and effective medical care.  The conditions of their 
housing, hygiene and nutrition should be improved to comply with 
international standards.

I thank you for your attention to this situation, and I will continue 
to follow these cases closely.

Sincerely and respectfully yours,

Copies to: 

Michael Dowling, Director
International Relations Office 

American Library Association 

50 East Huron St. 

Chicago, IL 60611 

Email: mdowling@ala.org

Professor Beverly P. Lynch, Chair
ALA International Relations Committee 

241 GSEIS Bldg 

MB 95120 

University of California, Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1520 

Email: bplynch@ucla.edu

Patrick Sullivan, Chair
ALA IRC Americas Subcommittee
San Diego State University 

5500 Campanile Dr.
San Diego, CA 92185 

Email: sullivan@mail.sdsu.edu

URGENT HEALTH CONCERNS FOR CUBA'S LIBRARY PRISONERS, April 2010

Ariel Sigler Amaya, General Pedro Betancourt Avalos Library 

Calle 22 # 1910 e/ 19 y 21, Pedro Betancourt, Matanzas Province

The condition of Ariel Sigler Amaya has been recently reported by 
http://freecubafoundation.blogspot.com/2010/03/fcf-held-silent-vigil-for-brothers-to.html 
as follows:

Ariel Sigler Amaya is not on a hunger strike, but the treatment by 
Cuban officials is killing him little by little.  Ariel Sigler Amaya is 
dying because of the poor prison conditions and lack of medical 
treatment and has left him emaciated and wheel bound which is the 
regime's practice of punishing political prisoners who refuse to be 
"rehabilitated."  Poor prison conditions, the lack of proper nutrition 
and medical treatment have generated numerous illnesses causing Ariel 
to develop “advanced malnutrition” and weaken him to the point that he 
can no longer walk.

In a letter that reached his brother Juan Francisco he states:

"I have infinite desires to continue to live and recover to keep 
fighting for my country.  I love life and will fight to keep living.  
Therefore, never do anything against my health or any action that 
violates my life.  If something like this happens, from this moment to 
accuse Cuban State Security (...) specialized in inducing disease, 
delaying treatment for purposes of aggravating diseases and prepare 
alleged suicides and deaths." (…)  "The same ones who yesterday 
repressed and imprisoned me are the ones who have brought me to the 
brink of death, and made of me a small pile of bones and skin.  Everyone is well aware of cases like mine, of robust persons, 
physically strong and in excellent health, that with the monstrous 
methods of state security have died in prisons, hospitals and 
psychiatric centers.

A March 1 blog entry from his brother, exiled in the USA, describes 
Ariel’s condition:
“Ariel's condition.  It is getting worse by the day.  He is expelling 
large amounts of blood from his rectum due to the advanced state of 
his hemorrhoids.  He is coughing up pieces of putrid green and yellow 
with a lot of stench; he has intense pain in his throat, digestive 
tract, esophagus and stomach; intense suffering and great pain in the 
pelvis and bladder when he urinates (the urine has a strong stench), 
he suffers from dizziness, severe headaches, he is very pale yellow, 
weak, his legs are blackened and dried and he remains bed ridden … 
According to doctors they can not intervene surgically for the 
hemorrhoids or tonsillitis in his throat, because he would not survive 
in his state of weakness and severity.” 
Dutch visitors to this library, now managed by Ariel’s brother Juan 
Francisco Amaya, have reported as follows: 
“According to Juan Francisco libraries are crucial for a change in 
Cuba. The biggest problem in Cuba is not that there is no information, 
but that existing information is manipulated:   ‘Cubans are robots not 
programmed but uninformed.’ … The situation, according to Juan 
Francisco, is only worse since Raúl Castro became president, whom he 
called a puppet of Fidel....  Unfortunately, the collection of books 
has become more difficult now, because he is increasingly monitored.  
It is also difficult for him to obtain information; his radio is 
broken, he has no phone and no access to the Internet.”

The remaining reports are based on news from the Committee to Protect 
Journalists at http://cpj.org/imprisoned/2009.php#cuba and the IKV Pax 
Christi Nederland “Boeken voor Cuba” web pages:

Victor Rolando Arroyo Carmona, Reyes Magos Library (Pinar del Río) 

Imprisoned: March 18, 2003

Arroyo Carmona, also a journalist for the independent news agency 
Unión de Periodistas y Escritores de Cuba Independientes in his home 
province of Pinar del Río, was handed a 26-year prison sentence for 
acting “against the independence or the territorial integrity of the 
state” under Article 91 of the penal code in April 2003. 
 Arroyo Carmona was being held at the Kilo 5½ Prison, his wife, Elsa 
González Padrón, told CPJ.  The journalist, who was housed in a hall 
with at least 130 prisoners, waged a hunger strike in May to protest 
prison conditions, news reports said.  Arroyo Carmona—who had been 
diagnosed with diabetes, hypertension, and pulmonary emphysema— 
protested a lack of medical attention, unsanitary cell conditions, 
cruel treatment, and obstruction of his efforts to practice religion. 
 At least three other political prisoners joined him in his protest.

José Luis García Paneque, Carlos J. Finlay Library (Las Tunas)
Imprisoned: March 18, 2003

A physician by profession, García Paneque, 43, joined the independent 
news agency Libertad in 1998 after being fired from his job at a 
hospital in eastern Las Tunas because of his political views.  In April 
2003, a Cuban court sentenced him to 24 years in prison after he was 
convicted of acting “against the independence or the territorial 
integrity of the state” under Article 91 of the Cuban penal code.

García Paneque was being held at Las Mangas Prison in Granma province, 
according to his wife, Yamilé Llánez Labrada.  Although general prison 
conditions improved in 2009, she said, her husband still shared a 
small cell with several other inmates and complained of difficulty 
sleeping. García Paneque’s parents visited him every 45 days, his wife 
told CPJ; she and her children, who moved to Texas in 2007, talked to 
him on the phone monthly.

García Paneque’s health has significantly deteriorated in prison.  He 
has been diagnosed with a kidney tumor, internal bleeding, chronic 
malnutrition, and pneumonia.  Llánez Labrada told CPJ that her husband 
continued to have digestive problems and suffered from malnutrition.

Ricardo González Alfonso, Jorge Mañach Library (Havana) 
Calle 11 # 78, Apartment 2, E y entre Fonts, Reparto Lawton 
Municipio 10 de Octubre, La Habana
Imprisoned: March 18, 2003

Reporter Daniel Schweimler stated on the BBC Meridian Writing radio 
program May 1, 2002 (www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/programmes/ 
meridw.shtml): “Ricardo Gonzalez has about two thousand books in his 
home in the West of Havana.”

The Cuban government confiscated González Alfonso’s books, as reported 
by Dutch tourists who visited his wife Alida Viso Bello: “He had a 
pretty large independent library, perhaps the largest in Cuba. 
 However, Alida cannot regain [possession of] his books for her house, 
so she opted to re-start a library.  Currently, there are not really 
many books and she dares not even call it a library, but new books are 
heartily welcomed!”

González Alfonso, also a poet and screenwriter, began reporting for 
Cuba’s independent press in 1995.  He founded the award-winning 
newsmagazine De Cuba and a Havana-based association of journalists, 
and then worked as a freelance reporter and Cuba correspondent for the 
Paris-based press freedom group Reporters Without Borders.  He was 
taken into custody on March 18, 2003.  In April, the Havana Provincial 
Tribunal found him guilty of violating Article 91 of the Cuban penal 
code for “acts against the independence or the territorial integrity 
of the state,” and sentenced him to 20 years in prison.  That June, the 
People’s Supreme Tribunal Court upheld his conviction.

González Alfonso, 59, was being held at Havana’s Combinado del Este 
Prison, a two-hour car ride from his family home in the capital, his 
sister, Graciela González-Degard, told CPJ.  His small, windowless 
cell, she said, was hot and humid, and the prison food was poor.  As 
punishment for his refusal to wear a prison uniform, officials denied 
him religious assistance, barred his family from bringing him clean 
clothes, and cut family visitation to once every two months.

González-Degard, who lives in New York but visited her brother in 
August, told CPJ that he was in good health and spirits, though he 
suffered from hypertension, arthritis, severe allergies to humidity 
and dust, chronic bronchitis, and several digestive and circulatory 
problems.  During her three-week visit to Havana, she was followed and 
harassed by state security agents, she said.  She also told CPJ that 
González Alfonso’s two teenage sons had lost employment opportunities 
as a result of his imprisonment.

Léster Luis González Pentón, Jorge Mas Canosa Independent Library 
(Santa Clara)
Imprisoned: March 18, 2003

A court in the central province of Villa Clara sentenced independent 
librarian and freelance reporter González Pentón in April 2003 to 20 
years in prison under Article 91 of the Cuban penal code for acting 
against “the independence or the territorial integrity of the state.”

The youngest of the imprisoned Cuban journalists, González Pentón, 32, 
was being held in 2009 at La Pendiente Prison in the northern city of 
Santa Clara, according to news reports and CPJ interviews. González 
Pentón suffered from stomach problems, according to Laura Pollán 
Toledo, a human rights activist and wife of imprisoned journalist 
Héctor Maseda Gutiérrez. He was allowed occasional visits to his home 
for good behavior, she said.

Iván Hernández Carrillo, Juan Gualberto Gómez Library, Branch II 
(Matanzas)
Calle Mesa # 32, e/ San José y Concha, Colón CP 42400
Imprisoned: March 18, 2003

The Afro-Cuban Hernández Carrillo, also a reporter for the independent 
news agency Patria in the western city of Colón, was sentenced in 
April 2003 to 25 years in prison under Law 88 for the Protection of 
Cuba’s National Independence and Economy. Among his entire library 
collection that the court ordered to be incinerated was a biography of 
Martin Luther King, Jr.  In 1992, Iván had been given a two-year prison 
sentence for allegedly “distributing enemy propaganda and 
disrespecting Fidel Castro.”

Hernández Carrillo, 38, was being held at Guamajal Prison in Santa 
Clara province in 2009.  He suffered from hypertension and gastritis.

On April 14, Hernández Carrillo went on a 10-day hunger strike to 
protest the conditions of his imprisonment, his mother, Asunción 
Carrillo, said.  Prison authorities encouraged other inmates to harass 
and attack him, he told his mother.

His mother made the following comments to Dutch visitors to this 
library:  “It is striking and also hopeful that people who are not 
openly opposed to the regime come to borrow political books, in the 
eyes of the regime ‘subversive’ books,” she says.  “These are people 
who have mounting doubts about Castro's leadership.”  The library 
plays an important role in raising awareness of people and through 
books; we can open people's eyes.”

José Ubaldo Izquierdo Hernández, Sebastián Arcos Library (Havana 
Province)
Imprisoned: March 19, 2003

Izquierdo Hernández, who is also a reporter in western Havana for the 
independent news agency Grupo de Trabajo Decoro, was sentenced in 
April 2003 to 16 years in prison for acting “against the independence 
or the territorial integrity of the state” under Article 91 of the 
penal code.  Following an appeal the next month, the People’s Supreme 
Tribunal Court upheld his conviction.  In 2009, he was being held at 
the Guanajay Prison in his home province.

Izquierdo Hernández was diagnosed with severe depression, digestive 
ailments, circulatory problems, emphysema, and asthma, according to 
Laura Pollán Toledo, wife of fellow imprisoned journalist Héctor 
Maseda Gutiérrez.

Fabio Prieto Llorente, Mir Francisco Mulets (Neuva Gerona, Isla de la 
Juventud)
Imprisoned: March 19, 2003

From a report of Dutch visitors to his library:

“There are not many more visitors since the arrest of Fabio, because 
people from the village have become afraid.  Afraid to be seen with 
relatives of a convicted dissident.  We also have to pass through the 
back door when leaving the apartment, guided by a son of Clara who is 
not classified as a state suspect.  He can lead his life just as 
before, but his mother and sister suffer much from repression by the 
police and the secret service.”

Prieto Llorente was arrested in March 2003 during the massive 
crackdown on the Cuban independent press.  In April of that year, a 
local court sentenced him to 20 years in prison for violating Law 88 
for the Protection of Cuba’s National Independence and Economy.

Prieto Llorente was being held in solitary confinement at El Guayabo 
Prison in his home province, his sister, Clara Lourdes Prieto 
Llorente, told CPJ.  In a January 7 letter to Cuban President Raúl 
Castro Ruz, he said his cell measured just 10 feet (three meters) by 
six and a half feet (two meters), and his meals consisted of spoiled 
and burned “animal products.”  According to his sister, the journalist 
has been diagnosed with allergies, emphysema, back problems, high 
blood pressure, and depression. He was allowed visits from two family 
members every two months, his sister told CPJ.

In 2009, Prieto Llorente actively reported on and protested prison 
conditions.  His stories, published on overseas news Web sites, 
detailed such issues as the brutal punishment inflicted on other 
inmates by prison guards, and the “slave-like” work that authorities 
imposed on prisoners.  In February, he waged a hunger strike to call 
attention to the situation at El Guayabo, the Miami-based news Web 
site Payolibre reported.

.

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