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SINOPSIS OF OUR TRUTH
 
January 10, 2005
 
Her Majesty’s Prison, Fox Hill
 
OUR TRUTH
 
Statement from the 7 Cuban immigrants’ confined to Her Majesty’s Prison,
Fox Hill, all members of the Democratic Party November 30 “Frank País”,
an illegal party of the Cuban opposition, addressed to all human rights
organizations and entities who are willing to listen.  The Statement was
removed from Her Majesty’s Maximum Security Prison in a clandestine
manner and mailed to Daisy Gil Ortiz of the Information Bridge Cuba
Miami  for proper distribution.
 
 
This is addressed to governments, human rights organizations and
people of good will, willing to help us in this our most distressing
situation in this maximum security prison in Nassau, Bahamas.
 
We are 7 Cuban activists, defenders of the human rights, members
of the Democratic Party 30 of November “Frank País”, forced to
flee our suffering homeland to escape the political persecution we were
subjected to and for fear of being incarcerated due to our pacific activism
against the dictatorship that rules and oppresses our people.
 
We left the coast of Havana, Cuba, on August 31, 2004, on board a rustic raft,
without food or a compass and under the threat of an upcoming hurricane.
 
On September 3, we were intercepted (Thank to God), by a Bahamian
coast guard cutter after a failed attempt to arrive to the United States to
seek political asylum.
 
On September 6, we were turned over to the Detention Centre in Nassau,
finding to our surprise what looked like a concentration camp: guards yelling
to us in a strange language with very threatening gestures and actions and
aiming their weapons at us.  There were small children crying of hunger.  No
milk was given to the children and the food was scarce and of poor quality,
lack of medical attention, with no potable water to drink, abuses etc.
 
Faced with all of the above violations in matters of basic human rights, we
could no longer remain silent, and we decided to denounce such violations
to the World relying on our Cuban brothers and sisters who work in  different
organizations in the United States, knowing full well the risks we were taking.
 
As time went by, the violations at the center were increasing, and of course
so were our complaints.  We were interviewed and threatened by an
immigration officer who handles Cuban Refugees like us, and he told us that
our petition for political asylum had been denied because we went public and
denounced the violations that were taking place.
 
After being victimized for over a period of 7 months, a group of Cubans could
not take it anymore and they began a hunger strike demanding that their rights be
respected, we joined their hunger strike in solidarity.
 
In the early morning hours of December 9th, 2004, the problems got worse
When a Dominican detainee and two Cubans took advantage of the fact that
Some guards were missing and decided to escape. Two of them were captured
soon and they were brutally mistreated, one of them managed to escape and
was captured days later.  We repudiated these actions for they only risked
our interests and it gave the guards even more reasons to commit the
atrocities that followed:
 
At approximately 11 AM, we the ( opponents) were in bed, very weak for it
Was our fourth day into the hunger strike, when all of the sudden 4 guards
of the Defense Forces came inside our barrack asking who spoke any English,
when a Cuban by the name of Jesús responded that he understood a little,
 they began brutally beating him up. Jesús was not resisting, immediately
 thereafter they began beating two others  ( Wilfredo, Oreste), we all began to
scream for the abuse to stop; then the guards turned to us and began to fire
their weapons at us and some Cubans began moving the beds for protections
and began to throw shoes and cups trying to stop their advance towards us.
Then we all ran to the back of the room towards the bathrooms.  Then a large
cloud of smoke filled the room to the point of asphyxiation.  We started to
scream asking them to open the back gate that divided  the bathroom from
the bedroom so that we could get out because it was impossible to exit the
room through the front door due to flames of a fire at the front of the bedroom. 
 
The shots continued, this time by the guards that were on the sides of the
dormitory, in a desperate attempt to get away from the shots and the
asphyxiating fumes  we all were able to knock down the iron gates in the
back of the room and we were able to go outside but the officers continued
aiming and firing at us, firing at every Cuban that was exiting in terror that
barrack.
 
Most of us suffered gun shot wounds; most in our backs.  Then they threw
Us to the floor outside the front of the building and the guards began again
With their brutal beatings.  ( Frank, Oreste and Anulfo), who were on the
floor with handcuffs were beaten again.  The women and the children were
screaming outside their barracks calling for their husbands and fathers and
in that precise moment a female officer by the name of Sandra began
brutally beating one of he women who was carrying her 2 year old son in
her arms. 
 
Six of us were taken to the hospital, 2 to the nearest police station, and
the rest were loaded in a bus and taken to a prison.  The same 3 Defense
Force whom  had entered earlier in our barracks were also inside the bus,
and they continued their abuse inside the bus, brutally beating us and
walking over us,  they stopped their abuse only meters before the
bus arrived at the place.
 
It is senseless to think we would burn our belongings, which our
relatives and brothers in exile sent us with so much sacrifice.  How
could anyone think that we would set fire to the place with us
inside, when there was only one exit in that room?
 
 
On December 15, 2004, 28 Cubans were repatriated, amongst them,
 2 small children and three women, many of them barefooted, without
shirts, wounded, burned and traumatized with what they had endured
at the detention centre.
 
At the present time, there are 21 of us (Cubans) we can account for
in cells at Her Majesty’s Fox Hill Prison, a place for criminals,
 “incommunicado” and deprived of our rights, we have no rights as
prisoners and no rights as immigrants.
 
We had the opportunity to secretly read in some of the newspapers,
accusations that we are responsible for the fire, that 11 officers of
the marine were hurt, that the fire broke out in order for some to
escape.  Theses accusations are all FALSE.  We are not at fault for
the escape.  Besides, in the month of October we spent 4 days without
any guards and we kept to ourselves, peaceful, for we were here
waiting our political asylum.  The guards were the ones that entered
our barracks by force, hitting everyone, shooting at us, making use
of physical force.  We were in no conditions to provoke any problems,
we had no strength for we were in our 5th day of a hunger strike.
The police took our statements and thereafter, 28 Cubans were
Repatriated.
 
We read the declarations of the Immigration Minister stating that
He closed our case.  Why do we remain here? 
Who listens to us?
 
Organizations of the Cuban exile Community requested international
Organizations to visit us.  No one has visited us to date.  Not one
Visit from officials of The Red Cross, Human Rights Commission or
from Amnesty International.
 
We are honest men, most of us are Christians, without a common
criminal record, we have technical and some professional education,
all we want is to be able to work in LIBERTY, STRENGTHEN OUR
CHRISTIAN FAITH, and NOT RETURN TO OUR HOMELAND
UNTIL CUBA IS FREE FROM THE COMMUNIST EPIDEMIC.
 
The decision of the Immigration Authorities to deny our asylum is in
reprisal for denouncing the violations and abuses that are being
committed here;  we also know that the Cuban government had a lot
to do  with this decision due to their enormous desire to have us
incarcerated.
 
May God allow this letter to reach those who can help us in our quest
for freedom and prevent our deportation to Cuba, for prison is awaiting
for us there.
 
Please get in touch with Mrs. Daisy Ortiz, a director of The Information
Bridge Cuba Miami at (305) 220-2715 and our Representative in the
United States.  She can provide with all the information needed in our
case.
 
Thank you very much,
 
God Bless you All,
 
 
Signed By:
 
Pedro Batista Méndez
Mario Paneca Rodríguez
Frank García Llerena
Alejandro Llerena Romero
Alxel E. Rondón Herrera
David Martínez
Jorge L. Conde
 
Letter from the 7 members of the Democratic Party 30 of November
“Frank País”, smuggled out of the maximum security prison Her
Majesty’s Prison, Fox Hill, in Nassau, Bahamas and mailed to The
Information Bridge Cuba Miami towards the end of February of
2005.  Translation:  Robert Ortiz, a  director of the Information
Bridge Cuba Miami.

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