This month marks the sixth anniversary of Cuban Black Spring – the Cuban government’s arrest and imprisonment of 75 Cuban journalists, librarians, and democracy and human rights activists. These individuals, arrested March 18, 2003, were subjected to summary trials, sentenced to prison terms of up to 28 years, and are currently living under brutal conditions for threatening the Cuban government’s tight grip on society. Many were charged with such crimes as “peligrosidad,” or pre-criminal “dangerousness,” for engaging in activities the government perceived as subversive.  Only 20 of the dissidents have been released; the rest remain in jail.

Over half of those imprisoned were organizers of the Varela Project, an unprecedented effort to mobilize Cuban citizens peacefully to pursue basic political and civil liberties. The Varela Project utilizes a provision in the Cuban constitution that enables citizens to introduce legislation when accompanied by 10,000 signatures.  While the Cuban government has attempted many times to suppress the Project, the petition campaign continues and the number of signatories continues to grow and has inspired other signature-gathering campaigns across the island. 

The activists arrested in this crackdown seek only to exercise universally recognized rights, such as the right to self-expression and other rights that are protected by international conventions. One year ago, the Cuban government signed two key United Nations agreements: the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.  Here are the names of the 55 Cuban Spring activists who remain in prison:

Nelson Aguiar Ramírez, Pedro Argüelles Morán, Victor Arroyo Carmona, Mijail Bárzaga Lugo, Oscar Elias Biscet, Marcelo Cano Rodríguez, Antonio Díaz Sánchez, Eduardo Diaz Fleitas, Alfredo Domínguez Batista, Adolfo Fernández Saínz, Efren Fernández Fernández, José Ferrer García, Luis Ferrer García, Alfredo Felipe Fuentes, Próspero Gaínza Agüero, Miguel Galván Gutiérrez, Julio Gálvez Rodríguez, José García Paneque, Diosdado González Marrero, Jorge González Tanquero, Lester González Pentón, Ricardo González Alfonso, Leonel Grave de Peralta Almenares, Iván Hernández Carrillo, Normando Hernández González, Juan Herrera Acosta, Régis Iglesias Ramírez, José Izquierdo Hernández, Librado Linares García, José Martínez Hernández, Héctor Maseda Gutiérrez, Luis Milán Fernández, Nelson Molinet Espino, Angel Moya Acosta, Jesús Felipe Mustafá, Félix Navarro Rodríguez, Pablo Pacheco ávila, Arturo Pérez de Alejo Rodríguez, Horacio Piña Borrego, Fabio Prieto Llorente, Alfredo Pulido López, Arnaldo Ramos Lauzerique, Blas Reyes Rodríguez, Alexis Rodríguez Fernández, Omar Rodríguez Saludes, Omar Ruíz Hernández, Claro Sánchez Altarriba, Ariel Sigler Amaya, Guido Sigler Amaya, Ricardo Silva Gual, Fidel Suarez Cruz, Manuel Ubals González, Héctor Valle Hernández, Antonio Villarreal Acosta, Orlando Zapata Tamayo.

• See also: Dissident, an NDI-produced short documentary on the Varela Project:

Pictured at top: Members of the Ladies in White, a Cuban dissident group, demonstrating for the release of those jailed during Black Spring.

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Published on March 24, 2009