June 14, 1999

Havana, June 12, 1999 (Angel Pablo Polanco, CPI) – A conference on the topic of political prisoners in Cuba will take place Monday the 14th at 10 in the morning in this capital, informed the Doctor Oscar Elías Biscet of the Lawton Foundation for Human Rights [Fundación Lawton de Derechos Humanos] and one of the fasters in Havana to the Cooperative of Independent Journalists. [Cooperativa de Periodistas Independientes].

The conference will take place at the main headquarters of the fast, in Tamarindo 34 between Rabí and 10 de Octubre in the Cuban capitol, where since Monday the 7th members of the opposition to the totalitarian regime of Fidel Castro are realizing a fast of 40 days demanding that human rights be respected in Cuba and the freedom for the political prisoners.

The activity was announced by Doctor Biscet and substitutes a conference about the topic of the environment recently announced for the same time and place.

The topic of the political prisoners, according to Biscet, is an issue that he wants to prioritize during the fast. "The situtation of the political prisoners is very serious, because of that we want to give priority to this topic," said he regarding the matter.

Among the hundreds of political prisoners who suffer in the Cuban prisons, figure figuran Rafael Ibarra y Maritza Lugo, president and vicepresident, respectively, of the Democratic Party November 30 [Partido Democrático 30 de Noviembre] one of whose members, Marcos Lázaro Torres, was detained during the fast for wearing a t-shirt with photos of Ibarra and of Chamber Ramírez and a sign that says, "Freedom for the political prisoners."

Precisely on Monday the 14th according to Cuba Press agency [agencia Cuba Press] , Vladimiro Roca, one of the four members of the Internal Dissidence Work Group [Grupo de Trabajo de la Disidencia Interna], together with three other prisoners in the prison of Ariza will be carrying out a 24 hour hunger strike to solidarize themselves with the just demands of the hunger strikers in Havana.

Vladimiro Roca, Martha Beatriz Roque, Félix Bonne and René Gómez, signers of the well known document The Homeland Belongs to All [La Patria es de Todos] were put in prison in Cuba for having written and distributed the document.

Translated by the Free Cuba Foundation

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