The world continues to turn a blind eye to the horrific crimes against humanity committed by Cuba’s apartheid Castro dictatorship. Human rights activist Sonia Garro and her husband are still rotting in a Castro gulag two years after they were arrested during Pope Benedict’s visit to Cuba.
Marc Masferrer has more at Uncommon Sense:
2 years after Pope Benedict’s visit to Cuba, activists Sonia Garro and husband remain in jail without trial
Sonia Garro Alfonso and Ramon Alejandro Munoz
In Cuba, where repression and injustice are the norm, few cases are as eggregious as that of political prisoners Sonia Garro Alfonso and her husband Ramon Alejandro Munoz.
The couple were arrested March 17, 2012, on the eve of Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to Cuba, and two years later they remained jail with the supposed case against them in limbo. Prosecutors last fall indicated they were seeking a 10-year sentence for Garro and 14 years for Munoz, on charges of “attacking,” public disorder and attempted murder.
The court suspended the proceedings and since then, the couple’s attorney has been suspended by Cuban authorities, adding to the injustice of the case against Garro and Munoz.
Other opposition activists have spoken out on behalf the couple.
The case, said Berta Soler, head of the Ladies In White, is “proof to the world that the Cuban government arbitrarily imprisons men and women solely for defending and promoting human rights.”
Still, the pleas on her behalf have not been enough for Amnesty International to name her a prisoner of conscience.
Meanwhile, Garro’s health remains precarious. While in prison, she has been afflicted with vaginal bleeding, a kidney infection, skin infections and osteoarthritis.
On top of that, she and her husband have been beaten several times and suffered other punishment while prison.
Read more about the couple here.
Should Rome care about improving its lousy image among Cubans, it could do worse than push hard for the release of this couple. It also needs, badly, to put Cardinal Ortega out to pasture, which it can do very easily.