Friday, February 26, 2010
For the first time in almost 40 years, a political prisoner in Cuba has died from a hunger strike. Orlando Zapata Tamayo, a 42-year-old plumber and bricklayer, was arrested in 2003 for his participation in several dissident groups. He began a hunger strike on December 3, 2009, to protest his treatment in Cuba’s Kilo 7 prison, where he was subjected to numerous beatings, according to his family.
Cuban President Raúl Castro not only publicly acknowledged Tamayo’s death, but also claimed that he lamented it. The last time a Cuban political prisoner died from a hunger strike was 1972, when Pedro Luis Boitel, a poet and student leader, died after fighting against both the Fulgencio Batista and Fidel Castro dictatorships.
Zapata was buried on Thursday in his hometown of Banes, leading to tightened security and more arrests.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Jailed Cuban Activist Orlando Zapata Tamayo Dies on Hunger Strike (by Juan Tamayo, Miami Herald)
Orlando Zapata Tamayo Dies (Uncommon Sense)
Raul Castro Expresses Regret over Cuban Dissident's Death in Prison (by Tracy Wilkinson, Los Angeles Times)
Dissident's Funeral Spurs Crackdown in Cuba (by John Lyons, Wall Street Journal)
CUBA: Newly Declared Prisoners of Conscience (Amnesty International) (pdf)
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