13 years after the Cuban Black Spring

CADAL´s Program for International Democratic Solidarity organized a conference on the Cuban legal system and the challenges of political opening thirteen years after the crackdown on Cuban dissidents that culminated in 75 activists sentenced to long prison terms.

The speakers were the jurist Ricardo Rojas, former political prisoner Luis Enrique Ferrer Garcia and the wife of former political prisoner Librado Linares García.

The opening of the conference was given by Gabriel Salvia, head of CADAL and compiler of the book "Diplomacy and human rights in Cuba: from the Black Spring to the release of political prisoners."

 

The Argentinian lawyer and essayist Ricardo Manuel Rojas presented the characteristics of the Cuban legal system and the verdicts of Cuban´s people's courts against the condemned during the black spring of 2003. Rojas is author of several books, including "The fundamental rights and the legal and institutional order of Cuba" and "Elements of constitutional theory and a proposal for Cuba ".

Then, Magaly Broche de la Cruz, wife of former political prisoner Librado Linares García, sentenced in 2003 to 20 years in prison, gave his testimony. She is spokeswoman for the Cuban Reflection Movement. Linares García was released in 2011 on license, he is the leader of the Cuban Reflection Movement and is prevented from traveling abroad. Both live in the municipality of Camajuaní province of Villa Clara, Cuba

The closing of the conference was conducted by Luis Enrique Ferrer Garcia, former Cuban political prisoner, sentenced in 2003 to 28 years in prison. He was banished in 2010 to Spain and now lives in Miami. His brother, Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia, sentenced in 2003 to 25 years in prison and released in 2011 with special political release, lives in Santiago de Cuba and is leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU) and prevented from travel abroad.