Posted on 10/10/2003 10:26:18 AM PDT by Steve Schulin
There are now hundreds of political prisoners [in Cuba], many of whom are Christians, all of whom are incarcerated in grossly inhumane conditions...
Take for example Jorge Luis Antunez, who turns 39 years old today, Cuban Independence Day. He has been in prison since 1990, when he was first charged with "oral enemy propaganda." The story of this extraordinarily intelligent young Catholic man and his conscientious battle against the regime is remarkable.
Mr. Antunez was born into humble circumstances in the town of Placetas. He was sent away to a state boarding school in the countryside but the indoctrination he received there apparently didn't take. As he has written: "My first political uneasiness emerged in high school when I had the happiness to know, even in part, some articles from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and to discern the acute lack of rights and freedoms that Cubans are subjected to. These and other things made me reject the doctrine and demagoguery that was imparted in class . . . ."
Independent thinking meant Mr. Antunez had little chance of advancing in the Cuban system and becoming a lawyer as he had hoped. To support his household and his sick mother, he resigned himself to a life as a laborer. Still, he could not ignore the injustices of the regime. His public denunciations of the Cuban model and calls for Eastern European-style reform landed him in prison.
Afro-Cubans are supposed to be especially grateful to the regime, so Mr. Antunez's dissidence does not sit well with Fidel or his henchmen. He has been beaten repeatedly and locked in punishment dungeons without water. He has testified that he once heard a Cuban doctor, assigned to treat his wounds, announce "This Antunez's life is worthless because he is a black counterrevolutionary. He should pray to God he doesn't fall into my hands."
When his mother was dying Mr. Antunez requested permission to visit her. He was denied this but did manage to escape from jail in an attempt to reach her. State security got to her first and told her that should her son come to the house, he would be shot on sight. He did not see her, was eventually captured and she has since died.
Mr. Antunez may be seriously ill. According to his family, he has hypoglycemia, kidney problems, and respiratory difficulties. A cyst has been discovered on his lung. Yet after moving their ailing captive to Ariza prison in Cien Fuegos recently, authorities told his family that his medical records have been lost.
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