As of today, Monday, March 29, 56 people are on hunger strike, 49 of them inside Cuba and 7 people outside the Island. The seriousness of the situation and the danger to the lives of all these activists grows with the hours. Meanwhile, the siege of the political police and arbitrary arrests and detentions continue.
Considering the urgency of the moment, we ask your organization / State to make a public statement to:
Since March 20, 2021, José Daniel Ferrer, along with other activists, began a hunger strike in protest of police harassment and repression that prevents members of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU) from carrying out humanitarian efforts.
As the Secretary of State of the OAS, Luis Almagro, denounced on Friday in our press conference: “The dictatorship of Havana applies state terrorism against its citizens.” Through this proclamation, Luis Almagro, joins the accusations made by promoters of Cuba Decide before the IACHR, evidenced by the repressive patterns implemented by the State on the Island.
The leader of UNPACU and promoter of Cuba Decide, José Daniel Ferrer, who has been on a hunger strike for 10 days, explained his reasons for taking these extreme measures. “The Castro-communist regime leaves us no other option,” he said. In addition, Ferrer asked the United States to put “respect for human rights before business in its review of policy towards Cuba” and also claimed that the regime “makes fun” of the European Union, because “with its collaborative projects they help to consolidate the repressive and controlling policies of the Castro-communist regime.”
Another striker, Katherine Mojena, warned that the strikers are in danger of being forcibly evicted from the UNPACU headquarters as it is a habitual pattern of repression to stop the protest. The regime took similar action in 2019 with other strikers of UNPACU as well as in November 2020 with the San Isidro Movement. Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, director of the MSI, reinforced the warning and expressed total solidarity with the strikers.
Finally, Rosa María Payá stated that “Raúl Castro and Miguel Díaz-Canel, virtually in command of the Cuban State, are responsible for State terrorism that is carried out against citizens in Cuba and today they are also responsible for the physical integrity of each one of the strikers. We ask the governments and democratic institutions of the Americas and Europe to act. This is not the time for unilateral concessions, it is time to pressure the dictatorship in favor of the Cuban people’s demand for democratic change.
From Cuba Decide we do not encourage the hunger strike, but rather we defend the right to life and freedom of all strikers. It is urgent to act in solidarity. We will continue to report on the evolution of the hunger strike and its participants through the social media profiles of Cuba Decide.
From the Promoters of Cuba Decide
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