BRATISLAVA, January 12, (WEBNOVINY) — Christian Democrats (KDH) Chairman and Transport Minister Jan Figel issued a statement on Thursday appealing on Cuban authorities to stop persecution of its citizens with dissenting opinions and to refrain from all forms of intimidation, brutality, criminalization of human right activists, including the practice of arbitrary detention, often accompanied by physical violence. As Figel told SITA news agency, Cubans do not need political repression but above all work so that their living standards would improve and their lives would become more humane. According to him, only the way of genuine dialogue can bring more peaceful and positive changes. “In this spirit, I spoke with the Cuban Ambassador in Bratislava, Loipa Sanchez Lorenzo. I’d also like to encourage Cuban dissidents and civil activists to not let the regime intimidate them, to constantly walk toward the perspective of a society that would be free and just for everyone,” he said. Figel thinks it is important that Slovakia, as well as the European Union, insist on the principle of universal human rights in developing dialogue and cooperation with Cuba.
The media recently informed that the Cuban regime achieved a new record in the number of persons detained for dissident activities or for political reasons in December 2011, with detention of 796 individuals. Most of them were detained only temporarily in connection with the Human Rights Day, which was celebrated almost worldwide on December 10. More people in one month were not detained for the past thirty years.
A short time ago, Raul Castro’s regime informed that as the visit of Pope Benedict XVI is approaching, they plan releasing over 2,900 political prisoners. Yet, according to the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation (CCDHRN), only seven of them were really released so far.
Figel said that overall assessment of human and civil rights situation in Cuba shows that propaganda declarations of the regime on releasing prisoners are intended to obscure the fact that the essence of the regime and its legal order, making repeated arrests of the regime’s critics possible, remains without substantial change.
SITA