To Peter Maurer, President, International Committee of the Red Cross and five others:
The signatories, doctors concerned about the progressive deterioration of the health and potential death of 26 Cubans, promoters of human rights on the island, who have been on hunger strike since March 20. We address your organizations urging the immediate attention and intervention that these cases deserve.
The Cuban regime has not only increased repression against members of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU), a peaceful dissident organization, but also have surrounded the vicinity of its headquarters to prevent access to the facility. UNPACU headquarters provides humanitarian aid to a significant number of citizens in extreme poverty throughout Santiago de Cuba. Food is given to the hungry, as well as medical services, including medicine to the sick.
The strikers -- men and women, including a prisoner of conscience -- considered the hunger strike to be the only option available to demand the end of the police harassment against the UNPACU headquarters that prevents access to those who come in search of help. Activists are prevented from carrying out humanitarian work and denied basic rights, such as freedom of movement. The repression they face includes beatings and stoning; these practices do not discriminate against innocent people such as children and the elderly.
On the island, from January 1959 to the present, there have been at least 13 documented cases of Cuban citizens who have died on hunger strike claiming their most fundamental rights.
The Cuban people are going through one of the most difficult periods in recent decades.
We urge you to speak out in favor of ending the repression against the strikers. Do not be silent in the face of this reality. Act according to the ideals and precepts that should govern your institutions and within the unavoidable duties for which they were created. We implore you to act, and to seek assistance for the people whose lives are at risk.
It is an ethical imperative to speak out in favor of life.
Respectfully,
Dr. Vicente Lago
Dr. Herminio García Estrada
Dr. Alexis Abril
Dr. Manuel Alzugaray
Dr. Jorge Acevedo
Dr. Angel Garrido
Dr. Fernando Alvarez Pérez
Dr. Ramón Dominguez
Dr. Carlos Flores
Dr. Félix González
Dr. Ricardo de Armas
Dr. Andrés Redondo
Dr. Jorge Beato
Dr. Ana Solís
Dr. María del Carmen Valdés
Dr. Henry Sacerio
Dr. Orlando Torres
Dr. Xiomara Puig
Dr. Santiago Cárdenas
Dr. Orlando Rivero
Dr. Lorenzo Rodríguez
Dr. José Brea
Dr. Joel Gómez
Dr. Alejandro Serralvo
Dr. Jorge Marcos
Dr. Roberto Echarri
Dr. Miguel Machado
Dr. Osvaldo de la Pedraja
Dr. Agustin Martínez
Dr. Antonio Barquet
Dr. Omar Vento
Dr. Eduardo Otero
Please sign petition here. (This is not ours, but we wish to share it with others, because of its importance.)