From: rjv@a2.cim.cdc.com (Rene Valdes)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.latin-america
Subject: Re: Cuban solidarity then and now
Date: 4 Sep 92 23:57:53 GMT
Reply-To: rjv@a2.cim.cdc.com (Rene Valdes)

In article <2A9E7875.19644@orion.oac.uci.edu>, rravelo@asturias.acs.uci.edu (Ray Ravelo) writes:
|> In article <16442@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu> ez000281@hamlet.ucdavis.edu writes:
|> >In<2A9D6327.27547@orion.oac.uci.edu> Ray Ravelo writes:
|> >Ray,
|> >Is there anything we can do to obtain the release of Ms. Varela?  Has Amnesty 
|> >International looked into the matter?  I think its a perfect example of human 
|> >rights abuses: a poet is incarcerated for writing a letter to the New York 
|> >Times!  What's the official explanation from the Cuban government? Maybe there 
|> >is a letter campaign going on for her release and we should share it on the net 
|> >so that those who really are worried about inhumane treatment against Cubans 
|> >can sign on.  If there isn't, please post the details of the case, send me an 
|> >adress of a Cuban agency or their UN embassy and I could write the letter so 
|> >that we can all deliver a message for her release.
|> 
|> >Sincerely,
|> >Edelmiro
|> 
|>  Edelmiro, I really don't know if AI is doing anything about Ms. Cruz Varela,
|>  heck, I don't know if any of the many exiled groups are doing anything on
|>  her behalf, but I like your idea. All I know about her is from the NY Times
|>  article that printed her open letter to Castro. 
|>  
|>  I'll try to get more information about what's going on (if any) on the
|>  next few days. Thanks for your suggestion.
|> 
|>  Note:
|>  Anyone with information about this is more than welcome to share that
|>  information with us, please.
|>  
|>  Sincerely,
|> --
|> Ray I. Ravelo                 "We're your opposition, Mr. Castro, we 10 million
|> Office of Academic Computing.  Cubans who look around us in terror"
|> UC, Irvine.                   from the open letter to Castro by M.E. Cruz-Varela

This is a very interesting idea.  I was also very impressed with the open letter 
written by Maria Elena Cruz Varela a Castro.  Unfortunately, the majority
of the Cubans in the Island know absolutely nothing about this letter or about
her at all.  I was in Cuba at the end of July and only a few people seem to be
aware of her efforts.  Someone told me that she had requested and gotten an
interview with Manuel Fraga when he was in Cuba and that this particularly
angried the Cuban government.  People say she was beaten up at home and
arrested and now languishes in a Cuban prison.

I think it would be a great idea to contact AI on her behalf and possibly also
to write letters to the Cuban Interest Section in Washington, which now is
diplomatically part of the Embassy of Switzerland.  Writing to third
country governments, particularly France, Spain, and Mexico, might also
be a good idea.  Unfortunately, I do not have any actual address handy at
this moment, but I'll tryto dig out some.

Actually, if someone has more information about her activities and her
current situation, it would be great if they would post it here.  By the way,
as I understand it, she did not write a letter to the New York Times.  The
letter was an open letter to Fidel Castro.  Moreover, she was said to be the
author of a declaration of Cuban intellectuals, signed initially by ten 
members of the Union de Escritores y Artistas last year, in which the 
current situation in Cuba was harshly critized.  I remember a rather
clever statement that was part of this declaration concerning the absolute
ownership of truth by the Cuban governing body:  "Toda verdad absoluta
es una verdad obsoleta.", which easily translates as "Every absolute truth
is an obsolete truth."  Well, let's find out some more and do something!

    Rene J. Valdes              |     rjv@a2.cim.cdc.com