Orlando Zapata

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Orlando Zapata Tamayo (born May 15, 1967 in Santiago de Cuba , † February 23, 2010 in Havana ) was a Cuban dissident whose death as a political prisoner after a hunger strike caused a worldwide sensation.

Life

Zapata, a bricklayer and plumber by profession , was a member of the opposition group Republican Alternative and founder of the Carlos Manuel de Céspedes freedom movement in Las Tunas . He also took part in the collection of signatures for the Proyecto Varela , initiated by Oswaldo Payá , a petition for legal reforms to guarantee fundamental rights .

Amnesty International classified Zapata as a political prisoner after being arrested in March 2003 in connection with the Black Spring crackdown on opposition groups, in which around 75 other dissidents were sentenced to long prison terms by April 2003 . First, in May 2004, he was sentenced to three years in prison for “lack of respect for the person of Fidel Castro”, “disturbing public order” and “resisting”. In November 2005, the prison court increased the sentence to 15 years for "improper conduct" and "resistance" in prison. In several trials through 2009, Zapata received additional increases, bringing the total sentence to 36 years in prison.

To protest the prison conditions, Zapata went on a hunger strike and refused to eat. The week before his death, the Zapatas family announced that he was seriously ill. Zapata was transferred to Havana from a smaller hospital in the central Cuban province of Camagüey after his condition worsened on February 22nd. He died the following day after an 85-day hunger strike in Hermanos Ameijeiras Hospital .

Reactions

Zapata's mother, Reina Tamayo, then accused the Cuban authorities of killing her son in order to end his fight for human rights and said that he was tortured while in prison. According to the International Society for Human Rights , he was beaten and tortured in prison.

With the death of Zapata, after the poet and student leader Pedro Luis Boitel († 1972), another Cuban activist died on a hunger strike in protest against the regime. According to the forbidden but tolerated “Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation” ( Comision Cubana de Derechos Humanos y Reconciliacion Nacional , CCDHRN), around 200 political prisoners were still imprisoned in Cuba at the time of Zapata's death. This was about a third less than when Raúl Castro took power from his brother Fidel . According to information from the dissident Óscar Espinosa Chepe , the repression has intensified, and according to Human Rights Watch , the apparatus of repression has not changed .

Orlando Zapata was buried in his hometown of Banes in eastern Cuba. A funeral march was banned by the police. A large contingent of police and state security should prevent the participation of opposition activists. 126 people were arrested, including Yoani Sánchez, a critic and blogger .

Zapata's mother, Reina Luisa Tamayo, who belongs to the Damas de Blanco group founded by members of political prisoners , continued her public protests against the Cuban government even after her son's funeral, was frequently interviewed by international media, and thus became the most prominent opponent of the government in the East Cuba's. Amnesty International protested several times in 2010 and 2011 against "harassment and intimidation", including brief arrests, that Tamayo, her husband and other confidants were subjected to. In June 2011, she traveled with twelve other relatives and Zapata's ashes from Cuba to the United States in order to settle there permanently and to continue their opposition activities from there.

In July 2012, the local parliament of the Spanish capital Madrid decided to rename the previous Santa Marca Park in the northern district of Chamartín to Orlando Zapata Park in honor of the deceased.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.payolibre.com/PRESO-%20Orlando%20Zapata.htm
  2. ^ Dissident in Cuba dies after hunger strike , zeit.de, February 24, 2010.
  3. ↑ a b c Cuban prison hunger striker dies. In: news.bbc.co.uk. February 24, 2010, accessed May 2, 2020 .
  4. ^ Annual Report 2011 - Cuba , Amnesty International 2011
  5. ↑ http://www.elnuevoherald.com/2010/02/23/660805/muere-el-preso-politico-cubano.html
  6. ↑ a b Katharina Graça Peters: Hunger Strikes in Cuba: Fight of the Dungeon Victims. In: Spiegel Online . March 7, 2010, accessed May 2, 2020 .
  7. ↑ Political protest: dissident in Cuba dies after hunger strike. In: Zeit Online. February 24, 2010, accessed June 10, 2010 .
  8. ↑ Cuba leaders 'do not want' normal ties with US: Clinton  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: France24 of April 10, 2010, accessed June 15, 2011 (English)@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.france24.com  
  9. ↑ Cuban dissident Orlando Zapata buried  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Deutsche Welle from February 25, 2010@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.dradio.de  
  10. ↑ El régimen cubano pone al sitio de funeral Orlando Zapata , El País February 25, 2010
  11. ↑ The dictatorship hit the net. In: welt.de . March 3, 2010, accessed October 7, 2018 .
  12. ↑ Urgent Action: Parents Harassed, Amnesty International appeal, February 22, 2011, accessed May 28, 2014
  13. ↑ Family of late Cuban dissident Zapata emigrate to US In: BBC News of June 9, 2011, accessed June 15, 2011 (English)
  14. ↑ El Ayuntamiento de Madrid da el nombre de Orlando Zapata a un parque de la ciudad , in: Diario de Cuba of July 25, 2012 (Spanish)
personal data
SURNAME Zapata, Orlando
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Zapata Tamayo, Orlando
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Cuban dissident
DATE OF BIRTH May 15, 1967
PLACE OF BIRTH Santiago de Cuba
DATE OF DEATH February 23, 2010
Place of death Havana