Cuba Study Group
Washington, DC- The Cuba Study Group issued the following statement following news that four peaceful democracy activists were sentenced to jail terms of up to five years for distributing leaflets:
“The Cuba Study Group condemns the continued repression of peaceful human rights and democracy activists by the Cuban regime. Despite positive steps taken to release the 52 remaining political prisoners from the black spring of 2003, the Cuban government has continued to harass and repress peaceful human rights and democracy activists with arbitrary detentions, acts of repudiation and now, even with lengthy prison sentences. As the Cuban regime seeks to reform its economy and to attempt to attract foreign investment, it must know that the international community demands that it take substantive and irreversible steps to respect the individual rights of its people. Only then, will Cuba be on a path toward prosperity and its reintegration into the international community”
According to the news agency Reuters, four men, Luis Enrique Labrador, 33, David Piloto, 40, and Wilfrido Rodrigues, 42, received five-year sentences, while Yordanis Martinez, 23, was sentenced to three years by a Cuban court on Tuesday for distributing anti-government leaflets in Havana’s Revolution Square.
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