ARTEMISA, Cuba, 4 Septemver 2013, Moisés Leonardo/ www.cubanet.org.- An urgent call regarding the increase in violence against the Ladies in White and other defenders of human rights was presented today to the United Nations High Commission on Human Rights through its Office for Latin America and the Caribbean, through the organization Martí Current.
The two-page document, addressed to the High Commissioner Mrs. Navanethen Pillay, outlines the factual basis for the request as well as the history of the escalation of repression against those who just wanted to leave the country during the exodus of 1980 and only stopped after the institutionalized violence cost Cuban lives.
The appeal has as its basis “a wave of violence around the whole island against human rights defenders who act according to the basic principles required of them under the Resolution on Human Rights Defenders (Resolution 53/144 of the United Nations).
It then refers to the arrests, beatings and death threats made to the Ladies in White and other advocates in recent times by paramilitary and State Security agents as part of the escalation against them.
The experience of the great repression against those who only tried to leave the country in 1980 is mentioned briefly to justify the fear Cuban lives are one again at risk with the rise of repression in the country.
It then warns that “Only the timely intervention of the bodies responsible for ensuring respect for and observance of human rights in all countries can reverse the current situation on the island.”
After requesting the intervention of the international organization in the human rights crisis in the country, it states that “the indifference and inaction at this time is equivalent to tolerance for what contradicts, in fact and in law, the essence of United Nations Charter and international standards of human rights that must underlie and give meaning to the mission of your organization.”
As spokesman for the senders, the petition is signed by the Initial Developer of the Current Marti organization, Moisés Leonardo Rodríguez, and concludes by giving the contacts for an answer by the Office of the High Commissioner, which will be duly informed.
The call is available here in PDF (untranslated): LLAMAMIENTO URGENTE DAMAS DE BLANCO 2013
About the Author
Moisés Leonardo Rodríguez, born Havana, 1947. He was a professor at the Naval Academy and the Enrique José Varona Higher Pedagogical Institute, among other academic endeavors throughout his life. He started in the independent press at the Decorum Working Group agency, and is a director and founding member of the organization Current Marti. He is also part of the Association for Freedom of the Press. Email corrientemartiana2004@gmail.com
From Cubanet
4 September 2013
