AAAS Scientific Responsibility, Human Rights and Law Program

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AAAS Human Rights Action Network

FACTS OF THE CASE:

AAAS is pleased to report the release from prison of physician Omar del Pozo Marrero, along with eleven others. However, there is concern regarding the continued imprisonment of physician Desi Mendoza Rivero, who is suffering ill health, as well as the arrest of engineer and physicist Felix A. Bonne Carcases and economist Maria Beatriz Roque Cabello.

Dr. Omar del Pozo Marrero was among twelve Cubans released into exile in Canada following pleas from Pope John Paul II for clemency for political prisoners. He was serving a fifteen-year prison sentence for "revealing state secrets." The true reason for his arrest is believed to be his role as head of a 100-member pacifist human rights group.

According to Cuban officials, almost 300 prisoners of conscience were released from prison after Pope John Paul's visit to Cuba; however, groups monitoring these releases have only been able to confirm 110. While many of the released individuals have been allowed to remain on the island, some have been forced into exile as a condition of their release.

There is continued concern regarding the deteriorating health of Dr. Desi Mendoza Rivero, a prisoner of conscience and founder of the Independent Medical Association in Santiago de Cuba. Dr. Mendoza Rivero's acute hypertension, aggravated by harsh prison conditions, has led to his hospitalization in Saturnino Lora hospital in Santiago de Cuba. According to hospital personnel, officials from the Ministry of the Interior have kept Dr. Mendoza Rivero's wife from seeing him. They also have not allowed Dr. Mendoza Rivero to receive food prepared by his family. Dr. Mendoza Rivero's condition has reportedly been stabilized. According to his wife, he is receiving appropriate medical care from physicians, who intervened when officials attempted to return him to prison.

Dr. Mendoza Rivero was detained on 25 June 1997 for statements he made to foreign journalists in which he criticized the Cuban government's response to the an epidemic of dengue fever, which may have begun as early as December 1996. He was sentenced to eight years in prison. During his sentencing hearing, prosecutors accused Dr. Mendoza Rivero of behaving in a way that was "politically opposed to the Cuban social system."

AAAS has also recently learned of the imprisonment of engineer and physicist Felix A. Bonne Carcases and economist Maria Beatriz Roque Cabello. They were arrested on 16 July 1997, along with three others, for their membership in the Internal Dissidents' Working Group for the Analysis of the Cuban Socio-Economic Situation. Several members of the group were arrested for a short period of time (hours or days) on 27 June 1997 following a press conference in which they criticized an official document entitled The Party of Unity, Democracy and the Human Rights We Defend.

In September 1993, AAAS protested the dismissal of Dr. Bonne Carcases from his university position. He was among twenty university professors fired for signing and submitting an open letter from Cuban professionals to an Ibero-American summit meeting, calling for the universal right of free expression of all Cubans. Dr. Bonne Carcases joined the dissident movement in 1990. He was one of the founders of the Cuban Civic Movement and one of the first members of the dissident organization Concilio Cubano.

The detention of Dr. Desi Mendoza Rivero, Felix A. Bonne Carcases, and Maria Beatriz Roque Cabello, as well as the forced exile of Dr. Omar del Pozo Marrero, constitute serious violations of international human rights standards enumerated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was adopted without opposition by the United Nations' General Assembly on 10 December 1948. They include:

• everyone has the right to life, liberty, and security of the person (Article 3);
• no one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile (Article 9); and
• everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media regardless of frontiers (Article 19).

(Sources of information include The Cuba Free Press Project; Reuters, 7 April 1998, article entitled "Freed Cuban Prisoners Plan to Leave Canada for U.S.," by Theresa Ebden; and Amnesty International.)

RECOMMENDED ACTION:

Please send telexes, telegrams, faxes, or airmail letters:

• calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Dr. Desi Mendoza Rivero, Felix A. Bonne Carcases, and Maria Beatriz Roque Cabello on the grounds that they are prisoners of conscience;
• expressing concern about Dr. Mendoza Rivero's deteriorating health;
• requesting that he receive proper medical attention if he remains in detention;
• asking for details about their current status;
• praising the release of prisoners of conscience; and
• urging that their release and that of other prisoners of conscience be unconditional.

APPEAL AND INQUIRY MESSAGES SHOULD BE SENT TO:

Sr. Carlos Dotres Martinez
Ministro de la Salud Publica
Ministerio de la Salud Publica
Calle 23, No. 301
Vedado, La Habana, Cuba
Salutation: Senor Ministro

Dr. Juan Escalona Reguera
Fiscal General de la Republica
San Rafael 3
La Habana, Cuba
Fax: 011 53 7 333 164
Salutation: Senor Fiscal General

Sr. Jefe del Centro de Investigaciones del Departamento de
Seguridad Del Estado (DSE)
Versalles
Santiago de Cuba
Prov. Oriente, Cuba
Salutation: Sr. Director

COPIES SENT TO:

Sr. Roberto Robaina Gonzalez
Ministro de Relaciones Exteriores
Calzada No. 360
Vedado
La Habana, Cuba
Fax: 011 53 7 333 085 or 335 261
Salutation: Senor Ministro

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