Cuba's Democratic Youth: Imprisonment, Punishment, Hunger Strike Mar International Youth Festival

HAVANA 23 July (New Press) In a Guantanamo City prison, Democratic Youth Movement President Nestor Rodriguez Lobaina declared that he will begin a hunger strike on July 28, opening day of the World Student/Youth Festival in Havana hosted by the Cuban government. His hunger strike will continue until the festival's closure on August 5.

According to a signed letter smuggled out of the prison, Rodriguez stated that his hunger strike will be a protest against the repression and political marginalization to which several generations of Cuban youth have been subjected since Castro seized power in 1959.

Rodriguez , who was imprisoned on April 10th after co-authoring the Universities Without Borders declaration [which seeks the restoration of the pre-communist autonomy and political neutrality of Cuba's universities], said that the hunger strike will be dedicated to the youth leaders who have traditionally been the vanguard of resistance to anti-democratic governments in Cuba, and who currently suffer imprisonment for reasons of conscience.

Rodriguez stated furthermore that his protest will also be dedicated to the hundreds of young people who have died escaping from Cuba by sea; to the 22 children who were killed on July 13, 1994, when their refugee-laden boat was intentionally sunk by government gun boats; and to the four young Brothers to the Rescue pilots whose unarmed civilian craft was shot down by the Cuban Air Force over international waters.

In related events:

A municipal court in Palma Soriano, Santiago Province, has levied a stiff fine against Democratic Youth Movement Vice-president Heriberto Leyva Rodriguez, .

Leyva, who co-authored the Universities Without Borders project with Nestor Rodriguez, was ordered to pay the State 1000 pesos, equivalent to several months' wages. Leyva was accused of "disrespect to the Court" after speaking out in a Santiago courtroom where the other Vice-president of Democratic Youth, Radames Garcia de la Vega, was being tried for political reasons.

Leyva uttered statements in support of Garcia, for which the presiding judge charged him with violating the "solemnity" of the political trial. Leyva's words generated daring expressions of support from the public gathered in the courtroom, who during and after the proceedings openly spoke out against the Cuban government and in favor of the young activists.

Radames Garcia today began serving an 18-month sentence in a Santiago prison, charged with "disrespect towards the President of the Cuban State", Fidel Castro.

Distributed by Cubanet