Professor Pedro Albert writes to the rapporteur for Human Rights of the European Union: “Visit the political prisoners”

The Cuban professor and political prisoner,Pedro Albert Sánchez, wrote a letter to the Rapporteur for Human Rights (DD.HH) of theEuropean Union (EU), in which he begged him to visit thepolitical prisoners of the regime during his visit to the Island.

In a letter addressed toEamon Gilmore, Special Representative and Rapporteur for Human Rights of the EU, the activist testified to the systematic violation of human rights.human rights and political freedoms of Cubans.

“In this way I make known to you my deepest conviction that in Cuba the most basic rights of citizens to express their disagreements with the current totalitarian regime that governs the destinies of the Cuban Nation in a militarized manner are systematically violated,” Albert Sánchez began by saying in his letter.

In addition to this, the political prisoner referred tothe persecution suffered by dissidents, opponents, independent journalists and activists, who are not allowed to “exercise the right to peaceful assembly or demonstration.”

Despite being one of the most lucid voices in theCuban civil society, Albert Sánchez preferred not to put his testimony before that of the more than a thousand political prisoners of the regime, and urged Gilmore to visit those who "stand out for their innocence and the exaggeratedness of their sentences."

In that list, he listed the leader of thePatriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU),Jose Daniel Ferrer; to the artist and activistLuis Manuel Otero Alcántara; to thePerdomo brothers and theGarrido sisters, unjustly convicted for their participation inthe historic 11J protests in Cuba.

“I could ask you to give us an interview with DoctorAlina Bárbara López Hernández, to the doctorFernando Vazquez and me, who are current victims of such violations, but I would not dare to do such a thing without first asking you to visit the political prisoners who are currently in prison and their families,” the activist told Gilmore.

Likewise, he asked him not to make his mission a diplomatic instrument to continue "normalizing" the EU's relations with the longest dictatorship in the Western Hemisphere, an ally of China and Putin's Russia in times of extreme tension in these countries and its satellites with democratic countries.

“I hope that your visit seeks contact with that reality that I describe and that you do not take up all your valuable time listening to biased versions of it,” Albert Sánchez requested.

Briefly explaining his case, the 9/11 political prisoner also expressed to Gilmore his willingness to demonstrate publicly during the four days of his visit to Cuba (November 22 to 25), “sitting in the John Lennon Park of the Capital Vedado, praying for his meeting with the political prisoners and their families”.

Gilmore's visit will serve to “analyze the situation created before, during and after the demonstrations and arrests” of 11J, as explained in May by the head of diplomacy of the European bloc,Joseph Borrell, during his visit to Havana.

Professor Albert Sánchez's letter was made public through the activist's social networksCarolina Barrero, who held a meeting at the end of October with Gilmore.

“We talk about the situation of political prisoners and persecuted people", of the harassment of their families, of the forms of torture and degrading treatment to which they are systematically subjected, of the lack of access to a fair and independent defense of the State, of the criminalization of civil rights and political participation," he said. Barrero from Brussels.

After the meeting, the activist and promoter of the 'Cuba says NO to the dictatorship' platform hoped that Gilmore's visit “will be an opportunity for the EU to explicitly express its support for those who suffer oppression and fight every day.” for a Cuba without dictatorship, just and free, where the cult of human dignity is the first law.”