Amnesty International Calls for Release of Cuban Artist
‘El Sexto’ Jailed for Castro Pig Art
by Frances Martel 2 Oct 2015
The non-government organization Amnesty International issued an urgent call for
the international community to pressure the communist Cuban
government to release Danilo Maldonado Machado, an artist known as
“El Sexto” who has spent ten months in prison for painting the names “Fidel” and “Raúl”
on two pigs.
“To jail an artist for painting a name on a pig is
ludicrous,” Amnesty’s
Americas Deputy Director Carolina Jimenez said of Machado’s case.
“Cuban authorities are using any cowardly excuse to silence Danilo and send a
message to others that any criticism of the government and its officials will
not be tolerated.”
Amnesty notes that Machado was arrested on Christmas Day
2014 while traveling in a taxi with two pigs, who had the names of the Castro
brothers written on them. The pigs were meant to have been publicly
displayed at an art show in Havana. While he has not been officially charged,
attorneys believe he is being imprisoned for “aggravated contempt.”
As Amnesty notes,
Cuban law prohibits criticism of public officials:
Anyone who threatens, slanders, defames, insults, harms or
in any way outrages or offends, orally or in writing, the dignity or honour of
an authority, public official, or their agents or auxiliaries, in the exercise
of their functions or on the occasion of or because of them will incur a
penalty of between three months and one year’s loss of liberty or a fine.
Maldonado began a hunger strike on September 8, and he is
reportedly in very poor health now. The PanAm Post
reports that some outlets are describing him as “near
death.” As the
Cuban-American Babalú Blog notes, Amnesty International’s call to
extend letter-writing campaigns on Maldonado’s behalf to November 10 disregard
that “El Sexto may not have that long to live.”
Maldonado’s mother announced
to Cuban media Friday that she has been told her son has ended his
hunger strike, which lasted for 24 days. His mother said she went to visit him
in prison and was told by a military officer that Maldonado “had given up his
hunger strike” and “would begin eating today”–on Thursday. She later met with
Maldonado himself, whom she described as in “high spirits” but looking
“noticeably like he had done a hunger strike,” and that “his lips were all
broken.”
Amnesty has correctly identified Maldonado as a prisoner of
conscience, but erroneously
proclaimed him the only one on the island of Cuba. Reuters notes
that human rights agencies on the island have estimated that at least 60 people
are being held in Cuban prisons for expressing a political opinion offensive to
the communist regime.
Cuban officials have managed to keep the official number of
prisoners of conscience down by using “temporary detention” as a way to curb
the freedom of dissidents while not having to bring them to trial or giving the
international community enough time to declare them prisoners of conscience.
Paramount among the victims of these detentions are the Ladies in White,
a group comprised of women whose relatives are currently serving time for their
political ideas. Every Sunday, the Cuban government arrests dozens of members
of the group following their presence at Catholic Mass, detaining them for up to 48
hours. They are later released, only to be arrested again the next Sunday.
Reports in April indicated that the Cuban government increased this type of arrest
by 70% following President Obama’s announcement that he would issue
the Castro regime a series of economic and political concessions to “normalize”
the relationship with the rogue state. The most recent such arrest occurred on
Friday morning, when a man shouting, “Down with Raúl” and “Down with the
dictatorship” was
arrested trying to climb the fence in front of the American Embassy
in Havana.
Amnesty
International
Open
Society Foundations was a funder for Amnesty
International, the Catholic Relief
Services, and the Atlantic Council
of the United States (think tank).
Note: George Soros is the
founder & chairman for the Open
Society Foundations, and was the
chairman for the Foundation to Promote
Open Society.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for Amnesty International, the Urban
Institute (think tank), and the Brookings
Institution (think tank).
Michael V. Hayden
is a director at the Atlantic Council of
the United States (think tank), and was a director for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
James R.
Schlesinger was an honorary director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank), and a director
for the Central Intelligence Agency
(CIA).
George
J. Tenet was a director at the Atlantic
Council of the United States (think tank), and a director for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
William H. Webster
is an honorary director at the Atlantic
Council of the United States (think tank), and was a director for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
Neal
S. Wolin is a director at the Atlantic
Council of the United States (think tank), and was a special assistant to
the director for the Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA).
R. James Woolsey
is a director at the Atlantic Council of
the United States (think tank), and was a director for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
John
M. Deutch was a life trustee at the Urban
Institute (think tank), and a director for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
Bruce
Riedel is a senior fellow at the Brookings
Institution (think tank), and was an officer for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
Kenneth M.
Pollack was a senior fellow, Middle East policy the Brookings Institution (think tank), and an analyst for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
Juanita Castro
collaborated with the Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA), and is Fidel
Castro & Raul Castro’s
sister.
Fidel
Castro is Juanita Castro’s
brother, and was the president of Cuba.
Raul
Castro is Juanita Castro’s
brother, and the president of the council of state for Cuba.
Judith A. Miscik
was the deputy director of intelligence for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and a director at the International Rescue Committee.
International
Rescue Committee is a partner with the ONE
Campaign.
Susan
McCue was the founding president & CEO for the ONE Campaign, Harry Reid’s
chief of staff, and is a director at the Millennium
Challenge Corporation.
Morton H. Halperin
is a director at the ONE Campaign, a
director at the Millennium Challenge
Corporation, and a senior adviser
for the Open Society Foundations.
Kenneth F.
Hackett was a director at the Millennium
Challenge Corporation, the
president of the Catholic Relief
Services, and is a U.S. ambassador for the Holy See.
Open
Society Foundations was a funder for the Catholic Relief Services, Amnesty
International, and the Atlantic
Council of the United States (think tank).
George
Soros is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations, and was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for Amnesty International, the Urban
Institute (think tank), and the Brookings
Institution (think tank).
Michael V. Hayden
is a director at the Atlantic Council of
the United States (think tank), and was a director for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
James R.
Schlesinger was an honorary director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank), and a director
for the Central Intelligence Agency
(CIA).
George
J. Tenet was a director at the Atlantic
Council of the United States (think tank), and a director for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
William H. Webster
is an honorary director at the Atlantic
Council of the United States (think tank), and was a director for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
Juanita Castro
collaborated with the Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA), and is Fidel
Castro & Raul Castro’s
sister.
Fidel
Castro is Juanita Castro’s
brother, and was the president of Cuba.
Raul
Castro is Juanita Castro’s
brother, and the president of the council of state for Cuba.
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