AAAS Scientific Responsibility, Human Rights and Law Program

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FACTS OF THE CASE:

On 6 May 2002, the final remaining member of the Internal Dissidents' Working Group for the Analysis of the Cuban Socio-Economic Situation, Vladimiro Roca Antunez, was freed from jail. The working group is also known as the Group of Four after its four members: the economist Roca, engineer and physicist Felix A. Bonne Carcases, economist Maria Beatriz Roque Cabello, and attorney Rene Gomez Manzano. Bonne, Roque, and Gomez were released in May, 2000.

Members of the Group of Four were arrested on 16 July 1997 after releasing a pro-democracy briefing entitled, "The Homeland Belongs to Us All." After being detained for 15 months without charge or trial, the government charged the group with sedition on 15 October 1998. According to the Cuban Criminal Code, sedition includes nonviolent opposition to the government. Bonne and Gomez received a four-year prison term and Roque was sentenced to three and a half years. Because of his perceived role as the leader of the group, Roca received the longest sentence of five years, the majority of which he spent in solitary confinement.

The other members of the Group of Four were released one month after the United Nations' Human Rights Commission voted to censure the Cuban government for its human rights practices. The Human Rights Commission specifically mentioned the Group of Four in its report. Analysts of Cuba's human rights policy note that Roca's early release from prison comes one week before former U.S. President Jimmy Carter's planned trip to Cuba.

Vladimiro Roca is the son of a revered Communist Party leader Blas Roca. The elder Roca was a founding member of the Cuban Communist Party and was part of Cuban President Fidel Castro's inner circle until his death in 1987. However, Vladimiro Roca officially split with his father's party in 1991, when he formed the Socialist Democratic Party and began advocating for greater freedoms in Cuba.

(Sources of information for this case include: The Boston Globe and Digital Freedom Network.)

RECOMMENDED ACTION:

No action is need at this time. Many thanks to those who sent appeals.

Please send copies of your appeals, and any responses you may receive, or direct any questions you may have to Victoria Baxter, AAAS Science and Human Rights Program, 1200 New York Ave, NW, Washington, DC 20005; tel. 202-326-6797; email vbaxter@aaas.org; or fax 202-289-4950.

The keys to effective appeals are to be courteous and respectful, accurate and precise, impartial in approach, and as specific as possible regarding the alleged violation and the international human rights standards and instruments that apply to the situation. Reference to your scientific organization and professional affiliation is always helpful.

To ensure that appeals are current and credible, please do not continue to write appeals on this case after 90 days from the date of the posting unless an update has been issued.

To verify the contents of this alert and/or the electronic signature, please download the signed file for this alert along with the Program's PGP Public Key.

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