Men in Havana risk arrest and worse, attend
a symbolic wake
for Orlando Zapata Tamayo, who died after a hunger
strike to
protest the lack of civil liberties in Cuba, Feb.23.
Gazeta Wyborcza, Poland
Set Aside Anti-Americanism and Condemn Cuban Tyranny
"The
death of Cuban Orlando Zapata Tamayo, a bricklayer who starved to death during
a hunger strike, should be taken to heart by leaders of the many Latin American
countries that due to their aversion to the U.S. - which is historically
justified - don't condemn Cuba's regime as a tyranny."
Orlando Zapata Tamayo: Sentenced in 2002 to 36 years in prison for being in 'contempt' of the Cuban government, died during a hunger strike on Feb. 26.
The communist dictatorship of
the Castro brothers has allowed a Cuban dissident, Orlando Zapata Tamayo,
to starve to death in prison. A bricklayer, Zapata had been condemned to 36
years in prison, castigated and tortured just for demanding a return of basic
civil liberties to the island.
[Editor's Note: According
to the Miami Herald, in July, 2008, Orlando Zapata Tamayo joined a
protest launched by opposition journalist Juan Carlos Herrera Acosta, who had
sewn his own mouth shut and launched a hunger strike. According to
Wikipedia, on either December 2 or 3, 2009, Orlando Zapata Tamayo began his
own hunger strike as a protest against the Cuban government for having denied
him the choice of wearing white dissident clothes instead of the designated
prisoner uniform, as well as denouncing the living conditions of other
prisoners. As part of his claim, Zapata sought conditions comparable to those
that Fidel Castro had while incarcerated after his 1953 attack against the Moncada Barracks. The
Cuban government claims he refused food because authorities wouldn't put a TV
set, a stove and a phone in his cell. Tamayo died on February 23.]
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
What more do we need for the
international community to decide it should unify to do something to put an end
to this Stalinist anachronism in the Western hemisphere?
The death of the Cuban should
be taken to heart by leaders of the many Latin American countries that, due to
their aversion to the United States - which is historically justified - don't
condemn Cuba's regime as a tyranny. They themselves prefer to live in
democracies but leave the Cuban dictatorship alone because it remains a symbol
of the hopeless rebellion of David against Goliath.
This death should also be
taken to heart by those European countries and leaders who just shrug their
shoulders when the fate of the island is discussed, either because they are
anti-American or simply indifferent to the fate of the eleven million
Cubans."
This applies most of all to
the socialist government of Spain, which for many years has diligently sought
to convince democratic Europe that it shouldn't bother about Cubans persecuted
by the dictatorship. According to Spain's leadership, Europe should forget
about sanctions and admonishments and make peace with the Castro brothers, “for
the sake of fruitful mutual cooperation.”
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
Let us hope that after the
death of Zapata Tamayo, the Spanish government won't dare push the issue
further, or that no one else listens if it does.
