CFTU Works to Gain Freedom for Son of Labor Official Jailed in Cuba
CFTU’s Chair, Thomas R. Donahue, recently contacted U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, for help in gaining freedom for Macdiel Bachiller Pedroso, the 21-year-old son of a Cuban labor union official now living in exile.
Pedroso has been imprisoned in Cuba for more than four years for the crime of “dangerousness.” The young man is the son of Aurelio Bachiller, the General Secretary of the Independent National Workers’ Federation of Cuba (CONIC). The elder Bachiller now lives in the United States.
“There is no doubt that the son is being punished for the sins of the father, the most recent of which was to testify before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and which occasioned Macdiel’s most recent arrest,” Donahue stated in a letter to Mrs. Clinton. “The Cuban government apparently is going to charge the young man with another false charge to extend his sentence.”
Donahue asked Mrs. Clinton to forcefully raise the issue of Macdiel’s imprisonment with the Cuban government, as well as the cases of the other independent trade unionists and democracy activists still suffering in Cuban prisons.
In a letter to Mrs. Clinton, Aurelio Bachiller stated that in March 2009, his son began the process of emigrating to the United States to join his family. Subsequent to his application, the young man was detained by the Cuban government many times, each time based on the testimony of false witnesses. All of that was preparation to send him to prison. Soon after receiving a visa to travel to the U.S., he was arrested and accused of violent robbery and possession of firearms.
“The Prosecutor is asking for 20 years’ imprisonment despite the fact that all the charges are false,” Bachiller told Mrs. Clinton. The only crime my son has committed was being the son of a father who is an independent trade unionist who continues to fight for worker rights in Cuba.
“My son is now being pressed to sign a declaration of guilt in exchange for his liberty – a common practice in Cuba for unjustly charged persons. My son is now alone, without support, in the hands of a government that will use any means to stay in power. By forcing him to sign this statement, the Cuban authorities wish to compromise Macdiel’s possibility to go to the U.S. to join his family so that they will be able to use him as blackmail to try to stop my work.”
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Cuban Dissident Guillermo Fariñas Awarded Sakharov Human Rights Prize
The BBC reports that the European Parliament has awarded its Sakharov human rights prize to Cuban dissident Guillermo Fariñas.
Fariñas ended a hunger strike in July after the Cuban government agreed to release 52 political prisoners.
During his campaign for human rights he has staged more than 20 hunger strikes and spent more than 11 years in prison.
Fariñas, 48, said he accepted the award in the name of the Cuban people and all those who campaigned for greater freedom in Cuba.
Speaking to the BBC, Fariñas said he thought the honour could make his campaign for greater freedom in Cuba more difficult.
“Anyone who is familiar with the Cuban regime understands that as a dissident becomes more well known the attacks against him become more sophisticated, more bloody and more inhuman”, he said.
But he said he was not afraid to continue his campaign for peaceful change in the island.
“The only fear I have is of failing the Cuban people and the campaign for democracy in Cuba”, he said.
Bargaining chip
He added that he expected the communist government to release more jailed dissidents.
“I think the Cuban government has learned that to win over the European Union, it has to make gestures that are public and visible”, he said.
“For the government, political prisoners are a bargaining chip with the civilised world. We are slaves that they can sell when they want.”
Cuban human rights groups say that there are still about 100 jailed dissidents on the island.
The Cuban government denies they are political prisoners, calling them mercenaries paid by the US to undermine the revolution.
It has made no comment on the award to Mr Fariñas.
Fariñas, a psychologist and journalist, had been near death while on hunger strike this year, doctors said.
The MEPs who nominated him for the prestigious award called him “a beacon of hope for dozens of journalists and activists who are currently in prison”.
EU foreign ministers are due to discuss relations with Cuba next week.