Document - Cuba: Further information on Fear for safety / Fear of torture / Intimidation / Harassment
PUBLIC AI Index: AMR 25/001/2007
22 January 2007
Further Information on UA 298/06 (AMR 25/002/2006, 08 November 2006) Fear for safety/Fear of torture/Intimidation/Harassment
CUBA Miguel Valdés Tamayo (m), aged 49
Juan Carlos González Leiva (m), aged 41
Their families
New name: Tania Maceda Guerra (f), independent journalist
The authorities have threatened to jail human rights defender Juan Carlos González Leiva unless he gives up his human rights work. They have also threatened to imprison an independent journalist who has been staying at his family’s house for her unofficial journalistic work.
On 15 January an official from the identity card office in Juan Carlos González Leiva's home town of Ciego de Avila reportedly came to his house and ordered independent journalist Tania Maceda Guerra to go with her to the office to apply for official permission to stay in the house. She was held there for two hours, and interrogated by the head of intelligence from the Ciego de Ávila Province Department of State Security. He allegedly warned her that she would be imprisoned if she continued with her journalistic work. He also apparently told her to tell Juan Carlos González Leiva that he should leave Cuba, or else he would be imprisoned. Tania Maceda Guerra is a member of the Cuban Foundation for Human Rights (Fundación Cubana de Derechos Humanos), of which Juan Carlos González Leiva is the president.
Juan Carlos González Leiva is reportedly kept under close surveillance wherever he goes, and has complained that his home telephone is repeatedly cut off, and appears to have been tapped.
Human rights defender Miguel Valdés Tamayo died of a heart attack on 10 January. He was President of the group Fraternal Brothers for Dignity (Hermanos Fraternales por la Dignidad) and a member of the Assembly to Promote Civil Society in Cuba (Asamblea para Promover la Sociedad Civil en Cuba),was detained on 19 March 2003, convicted of “acts against the independence or territorial integrity of the state” and sentenced to 15 years in prison. Amnesty International adopted him as a prisoner of conscience. He was allowed out of prison for medical treatment for a chronic heart condition in June 2004. Once out of prison, he was reportedly threatened and harassed by the security forces. He died in a Havana hospital where he had been in intensive care since 31 December 2006.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in Spanish or your own language:
- expressing concern at reports that the security forces are harassing and intimidating Juan Carlos González Leiva and Tania Maceda Guerra;
- urging the authorities to allow human rights activists and political dissidents engaged in legitimate non-violent activities to carry out their activities unhindered, and without fear for reprisals;
- calling on the authorities to cease the harassment, intimidation and persecution of independent journalists who are exercising their right to freedom of expression, assembly and association.
APPEALS TO:
Acting President
Raul Castro Ruz
Presidente interino
La Habana, Cuba
Fax: +53 7 8333085 (c/o Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
+1 2127791697 (c/o Cuban Mission to UN)
Email: cuba@un.int (c/o Cuban Mission to UN)
Salutation: Su Excelencia/Your Excellency
Attorney-General
Dr Juan Escalona Reguera
Fiscal General de la República,
Fiscalía General de la República, San Rafael 3, La Habana, Cuba
Fax: + 53 7 669 485
+ 53 7 333 164
Salutation: Señor Fiscal General/Dear Attorney General
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Sr Felipe Pérez Roque
Ministro de Relaciones Exteriores
Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, Calzada No. 360, Vedado, La Habana, Cuba
Fax: + 53 7 8333 085
E-mail: cubaminrex@minrex.gov.cu
Salutation: Señor Ministro/Dear Minister
Interior Secretary
General Abelardo Colomé Ibarra
Ministro del Interior y Prisiones
Ministerio del Interior, Plaza de la Revolución, La Habana, Cuba
Fax: + 53 7 8301 566
Salutation: Señor Ministro/Dear Minister
COPIES TO: diplomatic representatives of Cuba accredited to your country.
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY. Check with the International Secretariat, or your section office, if sending appeals after 5 March 2007.