Thursday, April 07, 2005
Cuban Librarians Jailed: American Library Association Shelves Their Case : March 2004 : Peacework
Nat Hentoff, a biographer of 20th century peace icon A. J. Muste, and columnist for the Village Voice, is writing a series of columns on jailed librarians in Cuba. Excerpts from these columns have been combined, with his permission, below.
In Cuba, 51-year-old Victor Rolando Arroyo - who directed an independent, private library before being sentenced to 26 years in prison during Castro's crackdown on dissenters in the spring of 2003 - is now in solitary confinement after protesting the treatment of another prisoner.
Arroyo belongs to the Independent Cuban Journalists and Writers Union. At his trial for "undermining national independence and territorial integrity," Arroyo refused a government-appointed defense lawyer because, he said, the verdict had been decided in advance.
According to the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (Reporters Sans Fronti�res), Arroyo "has high blood pressure, headaches, and diarrhea, and has lost between 15 and 20 kilograms since he was imprisoned." He is not receiving treatment. At his trial, closed to foreign journalists, the judge called Arroyo a "traitor to Cuba" and a "lackey of the US government."
. . .
Nat Hentoff, a biographer of 20th century peace icon A. J. Muste, and columnist for the Village Voice, is writing a series of columns on jailed librarians in Cuba. Excerpts from these columns have been combined, with his permission, below.
In Cuba, 51-year-old Victor Rolando Arroyo - who directed an independent, private library before being sentenced to 26 years in prison during Castro's crackdown on dissenters in the spring of 2003 - is now in solitary confinement after protesting the treatment of another prisoner.
Arroyo belongs to the Independent Cuban Journalists and Writers Union. At his trial for "undermining national independence and territorial integrity," Arroyo refused a government-appointed defense lawyer because, he said, the verdict had been decided in advance.
According to the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (Reporters Sans Fronti�res), Arroyo "has high blood pressure, headaches, and diarrhea, and has lost between 15 and 20 kilograms since he was imprisoned." He is not receiving treatment. At his trial, closed to foreign journalists, the judge called Arroyo a "traitor to Cuba" and a "lackey of the US government."
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