From: lazaro@riemann.math.mun.ca (Lazaro Nunez)
Subject: Help Cuban poet Maria Elena Cruz Varela
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: CS Dept., Memorial University of Newfoundland
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 21:37:38 GMT

Dear netters:

There is a campaign initiated in soc.culture.latin-america to bring 
attention to the release of Cuban prize-winning poet Maria Elena Cruz 
Varela who is serving a two year sentence in Cuba for political dissent.
I include in this post a copy of an article that appeared in The New York
Times last year about the brutality of her arrest. I also include the 
addresses of Amnesty International, Fidel Castro and several Cuban embassies
around the world. We ask of you to solidarize with our campaign by sending
letters, signed by as many people as possible to the embassy of your country
or the one closest to you. Let's all together stop human right abuses!
Thank you for your cooperation.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

	      Castro Meets Dissent With an Iron Hand
		      By Howard W. French
		  Special to The New York Times

Miami, Dec. 7 [1991] - Tow months after a congress of the ruling Cuban
Communist Party hinted at limited democratic reforms, the Government of
President Fidel Castro has unleashed a violent crackdown on political
dissent.
   In recent weeks, according to international human rights monitors and
diplomats, members of Cuba's embryonic political opposition have been
imprisoned after hasty trials on charges like "illicit association" and
"defamation." Some have been beaten by angry crowds, directed by
plainclothes security agents, or otherwise menaced.
   On Nov. 19, according to the human rights group Americas Watch, as
many as 200 people surrounded the home of one dissident, the poet Maria
Elena Cruz Varela, chanting "Down With Worms," a term often employed in
Government-sponsored demonstrations against political opponents.
   With plainclothes agents firing gunshots into the air, a mob burst
into Ms. Cruz's apartment and in an "act of repudiation," as the
demonstrations are called in the Government-controlled press, forced the
poet to eat some of her political writings in the presence of her
daughter.
                       Dragged Down Stairs by Hair
   Minutes later, the 37-year-old poet was dragged by the hair down four
flights of stairs and into the street, where she was arrested, the human
rights group said. Ms. Cruz was accused of distributing leaflets about a
dissident group, Criterio Alternativo, of which she is a leader. The
pamphlets carried the simple slogan "Join the Liberal Criterion
Alternative."
   Ms. Cruz was sentenced last week to two years in prison, and several
other dissident groups have been detained in the wave of arrests, some
of whom have also been beaten by crowds surrounding their homes like Ms.
Cruz.
   The Government's ire against Ms. Cruz had been mounting since the
summer, when she wrote a public letter with a small group of
intellectuals that condemned what they said was Cuba's one-party
dictatorship and the cult of personality that surrounds Mr. Castro.
			    Attacked in Granma
   In June, shortly after the letter was distributed to foreign
journalists, the Communist Party newspaper, Granma, ran a series of
front-page articles attacking the dissidents.
   But specialists of Cuban affairs say the Government has been prompted
to harsher action by the group's recent success in attracting the
attention of diplomats and foreigners at a time when Cuba, its economy
badly deteriorating, has been desperately seeking private investment
from abroad. One day before her arrest, Ms. Cruz had met with the
visiting president of the Asturias autonomous region of Spain, Juan Luis
Rodriguez Vigil, from whom Cuba hoped to win Spanish capital.
   On Wednesday, diplomats from several European countries were turned
away by plainclothesmen from the courthouse where Ms. Cruz
unsuccessfully appealed her conviction. In addition, diplomats say, the
Castro Government's recent actions have offended many Latin American
leaders.
   At the conclusion of a meeting on Tuesday of 13 Latin American and
Caribbean leaders in Cartagena, Colombia, the final communique expressed
"profound concern for the situation and future of Cuba."
 
---------------------------end of article------------------------------------

	Amnesty International (Main Worldwide Office)
	1 Easton St.,
	London, WC1X 8DJ, England
	tel. (071) 413-5500
	telex 28502; fax (071) 956-1157
	Chair. Annette Fischer

	Cuban Permanet Mission to the UN
	315 Lexington Ave and 38th St.,
	New York, NY 10016
	tel. (212) 689-7215; fax (212) 779-1697
	Ricardo Alarcon de Quesada
	
	Office of the Cuban President
	Fidel Castro Ruz
	Plaza de la Revolucion 'Jose Marti'
	Havana

	Cuban Embassies around the world
 	--------------------------------

	   Afghanistan
           -----------
        Cuban Embassy
	Shar Rahi Haji Yaqud, opp. Shar-i-Nau Park,
	Kabul.
	tel. (93) 30863
	Ambassador: Regino Farinas Cantero

	   Albania
	   -------
	Cuban Embassy
	Rruga Kongresi i Permetit 13, Tirana
	tel. (42) 25176; telex 2155
	Ambassador: Julio C. Cancio Ferrer.

	   Algeria
	   -------
	Cuban Embassy
	22 rue Larbi Alik, Hydra, Algiers.
	telex 66163
	Ambassador: Ulises Estrada Lescaille
	
	   Angola
	   ------
	Cuban Embassy
	Luanda.
	telex 3236
	Ambassador: Narciso Martin Mora

	   Argentina
           ---------
	Cuban Embassy 
	Virrey del Pino 1810,
	1426 Buenos Aires
	tel. (1) 782-9049; telex 22433
	Ambassador: Santiago Diaz Paz

	   Austria
	   -------
	Cuban Embassy
	1130 Vienna, Himmelhofgasse 40 a-c
	tel. (01) 887-81-98; telex 131398; fax (01) 82-77-03
	Ambassador: Javier Rosales Arias

	   Belgium
	   -------
	77 rue Roberts-Jones, 1180 Brussels
	tel. (02) 343-00-20; telex 21945; fax (02) 344-96-91
	Ambassador: Rosario Navas Morata

	   Benin
	   -----
	Cuban Embassy
	BP 948, Cotonou;
	tel. 31-47-92; telex 5277
	Ambassador: Jose Felipe Suares Gomez

	   Bolivia
	   -------
	Cuban Embassy
	Avda Arequipa 8037, Calacoto, La Paz
	Ambassador: Gustavo Brugues-Perez

	    Brazil
	    ------

	Cuban Embassy
	SHIS, QI 05, Conj. 18, Casa 01,
	Lago Sul, 71.600 Brasilia, DF
	tel. (61) 248-2018
 	Ambassador: Rene Rodriguez

	   Bulgaria
	   --------
	Cuban Embassy
	Sofia, Mladezhka St 1
	tel. (2) 72-09-96; telex 22428
	Ambassador: Manuel Perez Hernandez

	   Burkina Faso
	   ------------
	Cuban Embassy
	BP 3422, Ouagadougou
	telex 5360
	Ambassador: Reme Remigio Ruiz

	    Canada
	    ------
	Cuban Embassy
	388 Main St.,
	Ottawa, ON K1S 1E3
	tel. (613) 563-0141; telex 053-3135; fax (613) 563-0068
	Ambassador: Carlos Castillo Calan~a

	   Congo
	   -----
	Cuban Embassy
	BP 80, Brazzaville
	tel. 81-29-80, telex 5308
	Ambassador: Juan Cesar Diaz

	   Cyprus
	   ------
	Cuban Embassy
	39 Regas Phereos St, Acropolis, Nicosia
	tel. (02) 427211; telex 2306; fax (02) 429390
	Ambassador: Jorge Rodriguez Grillo

	   Czechoslovakia
	   --------------
	Cuban Embassy
	Sibirske nam. 1, 125 35 Prague 6
	tel (2) 3122246; telex 121163
	Ambassador: Benigno Perez Fernandez

	   Ecuador
	   -------
	Cuban Embassy
	Quito
	Ambassador: Carlos Zamora

	   Egypt
	   -----
	Cuban Embassy
	6 Fawakeh St, Madinet el-Mohandessin, Cairo (Dokki)
	tel. (02) 710525; telex 93966
	Ambassador: Orlando Marino Lancis Suarez

	   Finland
	   -------
	Cuban Embassy
	Paasivuorenkatu 3, 00530 Helsinki
	tel. (90) 766199; telex 121017
	Ambassador: Oscar Fernandez Mell

	    France
	    ------
	Cuban Embassy
	16 rue de Presles,
	75015 Paris
	tel. (1) 45-67-55-35; telex 200815
	Ambassador: Fernando Florez Ibarra

	    Germany
	    -------
	Cuban Embassy
	5300 Bonn 2,
	Kennedyallee 22-24
	tel. (0228) 3091; telex 885733; fax (0228) 309244
	Ambassador: Raul Barzaga Navas

	   Ghana
	   -----
	Cuban Embassy
	20 Amilcar Cabral Rd, Airport Residential Area
	POB 9163 Airport, Accra.
	tel. 775868; telex 2234
	Ambassador: Laureano Cardoso

	   Guyana
	   ------
	Cuban Embassy
	46 High St, Kingston, Georgetown
	tel. (2) 66732; telex 2272;
	Ambassador: Omar Mendosa Sosa

	   Hungary
	   -------
	Cuban Embassy
	1021 Budapest, Budakesi ut 55D
	Ambassador: Faustino Manuel Beato Morejon

	   India
	   -----
	Cuban Embassy
	4 Munirka Marg, Vasznt Vihar, New Delhi 110 057
	tel. (11) 600508; telex 3171395; fax (11) 615338
	Ambassador: Sonia Diaz LLera

	    Italy
	    -----
	Cuban Embassy
	Via Licinia 7,
	00153 Rome
	tel. (06) 5755984; telex 610677
	Ambassador: Javier Ardizones Ceballos

	   Jamaica and other Caribbean countries
	   -------------------------------------
	Cuban Embassy
	9 Trafalgar Rd, Kingston 5
	tel. 978-0931; telex 3710
	Ambassador: Dario de Urra

	    Japan
	    -----
	Cuban Embassy
	3-16-23, Higashi-Gotanda,
	Shinagawa-ku,
	Tokyo 141	
	tel. (03) 3449-7511; telex 22369
	Ambassador: Amadeo Blanco Valdez Fauly

	    Mexico
	    ------
	Cuban Embassy
	Presidente  Mazaryk 554,
	Col.  Palmitas, 11560
	Mexico DF
	tel. (5) 540-6890; telex 1774472
	Ambassador: Dr Jose Fernandez de Cossio Rodriguez

	   The Netherlands
	   ---------------
	Cuban Embassy
	Prins Mauritslaan 6, 2582 LR The Hague
	tel. (070) 3541417; telex 31318; fax (070) 3520159
	Ambassador: German Gustavo Mazorra Hernadez

	   Nicaragua
	   ---------
	Cuban Embassy
	Las Colinas Sur, 2a entrada, Managua, JR
	Ambassador: Julian Lopez Diaz

	   Panama
	   ------
	Cuban Embassy
	Avda Cuba y Ecuador 33, Apdo 6-2291, El Dorado, Panama
	tel. 27-5277; telex 2788
	Ambassador: Arnaldo Molina Perez

	   Peru
	   ----
	Cuban Embassy
	Coronel Portillo 110, San Isidro, Lima;
	tel. (14) 227128; telex 25644
	Ambassador: Luis Karakadze Berrayarza

	   Philippines
	   -----------
	Cuban Embassy
	51 Paseo de Roxas, Urdaneta village, Makati, Metro Manila
	tel. (02) 8171192; telex 63609
	Ambassador: Ana Maria Gonzalez Suarez

	   Poland
	   ------
	Cuban Embassy
	02-053 Warsaw, Reja 6
	tel. (022) 256041); telex 813588;
	Ambassador: Isabel Allende Karan

	   Portugal
	   --------
	Cuban Embassy
	Rua Pero da Covilha 14 (Restelo), 1400 Lisbon
	tel. (01) 3015317; telex 12167
	Charge d'affaires: Carlos Gomes Owen

	    Rusia
	    -----
	Cuban Embassy
	Moscow, Mosfilmovskaya ul. 40
	tel. (095) 147-43-12
	Ambassador: Jose Ramon Balaguer Cabrera

	    Spain
	    -----
	Cuban Embassy
	Paseo de la Habana 194,
	28036 Madrid
	tel. (91) 4582500; telex 23858
	Ambassador: Juan Luis Mendez Morejon

	   Sweden
	   ------
	Cuban Embassy
	Karlavagen 49, 114 49 Stockholm
	tel. (8) 663-08-50; telex 11910
	Ambassador: Alberto Dennys Guzman Perez

	    Switzerland
	    -----------
	Cuban Embassy
	Gesellschaftsstr. 8, 3012 Berne
	tel. (031) 242111; telex 912621
	Ambassador: Madeleine Teran Rodriguez

	    U. K. (Great Britain)
	    ---------------------
	Cuban Embassy
	167 High Holborn,
	London WC1V 6PA
	tel. (071) 240-2488; telex 261094
	Ambassador: Maria A. Florez Prida

	    United States of America
	    ------------------------
	Cuban `Interests section' in the Embassy of Switzerland
	2900 Cathedral Ave, NW,
	Washington DC 20008
	tel. (202) 745-7900
	Official Representative: Jose Antonio Arbesu Fraga

	   Uruguay
	   -------
	Cuban Embassy
	Montevideo
	tel. (2) 800237; telex 23031
	Ambassador: Abelardo Curbelo Padron

	    Venezuela
	    ---------
	Cuban Embassy
	Quinta Affise, Avda El Cafetal,
	Chuao, Caracas 1060
	tel. (2) 92-1124
	Ambassador: Norberto Hernandez Curbelo

	   Zaire
	   -----
	Cuban Embassy
	4660 ave Cateam, BP 10699, Kinshasa
	telex 21158
	Ambassador: Enrique Montero

	   Zimbabwe
	   --------
	Cuban Embassy
	5 Phillips Ave, Belgravia, POB 4139, Harare
	tel. 720256; telex 24783
	Ambassador: Eumelio Caballero Rodriguez

-- 
| Lazaro Nun~ez Figueiral         ||  !Lloran sobre el Mar de Cuba	     |
| Memorial University of Nfld.    ||  enormes flores bermejas;	             |
| St. John's, Terranova, Canada.  ||  sobre la isla perdida	   	     |
| lazaro@odie.cs.mun.ca           ||  el aire amarillo tiembla! - F.G. Lorca |

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