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Country Listing: Cuba Name: Vladimiro Roca Antunez Profession: Economics Subject: Imprisoned Scientists Charged with Sedition Alert Date: 20 October 1998 Case Number: CU9813.Ant Human Rights Issues
Vladimiro Roca Antunez was among four leaders of the Internal Dissidents' Working Group for the Analysis of the Cuban Socio-Economic Situation (GTDI) charged with sedition on 15 October 1998. Prosecutors are seeking a six-year sentence for Roca Antunez and five-year sentences for the others. The four were arrested on 16 July 1997. They have been detained for fifteen months without charge or trial. A government spokesman indicated that the trial would take place "soon." The four leaders were sent to separate prisons were they were subjected to extremely poor prison conditions and held with convicted violent criminals. Roca Antunez is being held in Ariza Prison. He has not received proper medical attention for his high blood pressure and visits from his family have been restricted. Please see Felix A. Bonne Carcases and Maria Beatriz Roque Cabello for related cases. (Sources of information for this update include Human Rights Watch, El Nuevo Herald, the Associated Press, Reuters, Cuba Free Press Project, and Amnesty International.) Many of the rights and freedoms listed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was adopted without opposition by the United Nations General Assembly on 10 December 1948, have passed into international customary law and should therefore be upheld by Cuba. Relevant International Treaty Articles The detention of Vladimiro Roca Antunez constitutes serious violations of international human rights standards enumerated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. They include:
Name: Oscar Elias Biscet Profession: Physician Subject: Physician Detained Alert Date: 31 August 1998 Case Number: CU9811.Bis Updated: 11 December 1998 Human Rights Issues
Doctor Oscar Elias Biscet, a Cuban physician and anti-abortion activist, was arrested on 9 July 1998 along with his colleague, a computer technician. The two men have been charged with "improper use of state-owned materials." The arrests stem from a study the men conducted between January and February 1997 on abortion. Although Biscet was subsequently released, he was re-arrested on 9 December 1998. His recent arrest may be related to activities he was organizing in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In the course of their research the two men used computers belonging to the hospital Hijas de Galicia; however, the disproportionate response by Cuban authorities may be due to their anti-abortion and political activities, and the release of the study's results to members of the foreign press. (Sources of information on this case include The Miami Herald, Cuba Press, and the Lawton Foundation for Human Rights.) Relevant International Treaty Articles The arrests of Dr. Biscet and his colleague constitute serious violations of international human rights standards enumerated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. They include:
Name: Maria Beatriz Roque Cabello Profession: Economics Subject: Continued Detention of Scientist Alert Date: 20 October 1998, 14 April 1998 Case Number: CU9804.BEA Updated: 20 October 1998 Human Rights Issues
Cuban prosecutors have requested that economist Maria Beatriz Roque Cabello be sentenced to five years in prison. Although she has been detained for more than one year without trial, no trial date has yet been set. Maria Beatriz Roque Cabello was arrested on 16 July 1997, along with four others, for membership in the Internal Dissidents' Working Group for the Analysis of the Cuban Socio-Economic Situation. Roque Cabello has been held in a military hospital since June 1998. Family members fear that once she is released from the hospital she will be sent to a prison far from their home in Havana, as her cell in Manto Negro prison where she was previously held has already been filled by another inmate. Please see Felix A. Bonne Carcases and Vladimiro Roca Antunez for related cases. (Sources of information on this case include the Cuba Free Press Project; Reuters, and Amnesty International.) Relevant International Treaty Articles The detention of Maria Beatriz Roque Cabello constitutes serious violations of international human rights standards enumerated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. They include:
Name: Felix A. Bonne Carcases Profession: Engineering and Physics Subject: Continued Detention of Scientist Alert Date: 20 October 1998, 14 April 1998 Case Number: CU931 Updated: 20 October 1998 Human Rights Issues
On 15 October 1998, Cuban prosecutors charged engineer and physicist Felix A. Bonne Carcases and four other leaders of the of the Internal Dissidents' Working Group for the Analysis of the Cuban Socio-Economic Situation (GTDI) with sedition. Prosecutors are seeking a five-year prison sentence. 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. Please see Maria Beatriz Roque Cabello and Vladimiro Roca Antunez for related cases. (Sources of information on this case include the Cuba Free Press Project; Reuters, and Amnesty International.) Relevant International Treaty Articles The detention of Felix A. Bonne Carcases constitutes serious violations of international human rights standards enumerated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. They include:
Name: Omar del Pozo Marrero Profession: Physician Subject: Physician Released Alert Dates: 14 April 1998, 19 September 1995 Case Number: CU9556.POZ Human Rights Issues
while in detention AAAS is pleased to report the release from prison of physician Omar del Pozo Marrero, along with eleven others. 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. No further action is requested. (Sources of information include The Cuba Free Press Project, Reuters, and Amnesty International.)
Name: Desi Mendoza Rivero Profession: Physician Subject: Physician Released Alert Dates: 14 April 1998, 23 December 1997, 22 October 1997 Case Number: CU9714.MEN Updated: 2 December 1998
Human Rights Issues
On 20 November 1998, physician Desi Mendoza Rivero was released from prison on humanitarian grounds due to his ill health and on the condition that he leave Cuba. A prisoner of conscience and founder of the Independent Medical Association in Santiago de Cuba, Dr. Mendoza was detained on 25 June 1997 for statements he made to foreign journalists in which he criticized the Cuban government's response to the dengue fever epidemic. No further action is requested. (Sources of information include the Cuba Free Press Project, Reuters, Amnesty International, Science, CubaPress, and independent sources.) |
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