Orlando Zapata Tamayo dies

February 23, 2010
Orlando Zapata Tamayo dies

Cuban political prisoner Orlando Zapata Tamayo died today, 82 days after
he started a hunger strike to demand respect for his human rights,
according to a report from Cuban Democratic Directorate.

"The death of my son was premeditated murder," said Zapata's mother,
Reina Luisa Tamayo.

May he rest in peace, and may the Castro dictatorship be held to account
for his death.

Here is the Directorate's release in English:

Orlando Zapata Tamayo, a valiant defender of the liberty of the
Cuban people, died today, murdered by the Castro regime which refused to
guarantee respect for his basic rights. An Amnesty International
prisoner of conscience, Zapata Tamayo engaged in a hunger strike of over
80 days to demand such a guarantee and to protest against terrible
mistreatment he suffered in the Communist regime's prisons, including
brutal beatings. Zapata Tamayo, who will be remembered as a giant of the
Cuban resistance, had been unjustly imprisoned since March 20, 2003.

"The abuses committed against Orlando Zapata Tamayo prove that
torture and terror are inflicted upon the Cuban people are official
policy under the Castro regime. His death is evidence of the practice of
state terrorism," stated Janisset Rivero, Adjunct National Secretary of
the Cuban Democratic Directorate.

In October, 2009, Zapata Tamayo was brutally beaten by military
personnel at Holguin provincial prison, causing an internal hematoma in
his head so severe that Zapata Tamayo had to undergo surgery. He began
his hunger strike on December 3, 2009, at Kilo 8 prison in Camagüey,
classified in Cuba as employing a "maximum severity" prison regime. For
18 days, Major Filiberto Hernández Luis, the prison's director, denied
Zapata Tamayo drinking water, the only thing he was ingesting during the
strike. The effect of this act of torture was to induce kidney failure.
In mid-January, he was transferred to Amalia Simoni Hospital in the city
of Camagüey, where he was left to languish nearly completely nude under
intense air conditioning, causing him to contract pneumonia. Despite his
critical health condition, the regime transferred him to the hospital at
Combinado del Este prison, which did not have the equipment and
conditions necessary to treat him.

The Cuban Democratic Directorate also underlines that this crime
joins a long list of atrocities committed by the Castro brothers which
include thousands of executions by firing squad and countless cases of
unjust imprisonment of Cuban citizens.

Additionally, Cuban prisoners of conscience Ariel Sigler Amaya and
Normando Hernández González are also unjustly imprisoned and in terrible
health. Their cases require prompt support and solidarity from Cubans
around the world and the international community.

"They finally murdered Orlando Zapata Tamayo. They finally finished
him. My son's death has been a premeditated murder. I thank all of those
brothers who struggled not to allow my son to die. There has been
another Pedro Luis Boitel in Cuba," stated Reina Tamayo Danger to the
Cuban Democratic Directorate. Boitel was a Cuban student leader who was
unjustly imprisoned by the Castro regime and died after a prolonged
hunger strike in 1972.

The Cuban Democratic Directorate condemns this horrendous crime. We
raise our voice to call for the condemnation of the Raúl Castro regime
and those directly responsible for the death of this human rights
defender for committing this crime against humanity.

Zapata Tamayo's death will not be in vain. It will illuminate the
path of Cuba's civic resistance until the Cuban people achieve their
freedom.

Uncommon Sense: Orlando Zapata Tamayo dies (UPDATED) (24 February 2010)
http://marcmasferrer.typepad.com/uncommon_sense/2010/02/orlando-zapata-tamayo-dies-ozt-cuba.html