CUBA: Dissident Farinas Denied Exit To Receive Sakharov Prize.

BBC/
    Dissident Guillermo Farinas will be represented by an empty chair at a ceremony for the EU's Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.
    Farinas was not allowed to leave for France to collect the award.
     He has spent 11-and-a-half years in prison.
     Earlier this year, Farinas was near death while on a 134-day hunger strike protesting the death of fellow dissident Orlando Zapata. He ended it when President Raul Castro promised the release of 52 prisoners.
    Farinas is the third Cuban to receive the prize.
   Yoani Sanchez, another dissident and well-known blogger, also was recently denied an exit permit to receive the $45,000 Jaime Brunet International Prize for the Promotion of Human Rights in Spain.


FOR DETAILS ON SANCHEZ AWARD, SEE:
http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=381250&CategoryId=14510

CUBA:1ST UPDATE/ 22 OCT: Dissident Farinas Wins Sakharov Human Rights Prize; Another Blow To Castros.

LINK CHANGE/ M.HERALD/ UPDATE and ANALYSIS'
JUAN TAMAYO/
    Dissident journalist Guillermo Farinas, 48, was awarded the 2010 Sakharov human rights prize awarded by the European Parliament for his struggle for an "end to the dictatorship."
      Farinas has endured 23 hunger strikes in protest against Cuba's severely limited freedoms, including a 135-day strike that has still left him emaciated.
          He also spent more than 11 years in prison for a variety of offenses.
          Farinas is the third Cuban recipient of the prize, after Oswaldo Paya in 2002 and the Ladies in White in 2005. The award carries a stipend of  50,000 euros, worth over $69,000 usd, incidentally making him one of the richest Cubans in a society where the average wage is less than $20 per month.
     Cuba watchers ( Habanistas) believe this prestigious award is the fourth recent blow to the Castros hopes that economic and political easing was coming from the U.S.and the EU.

CUBA: 1ST UPDATE: After Castro Meet With Catholics, Changes Promised.

NEW LINK:GUARDIAN.U.K./ 23 May/               President Raul Castro met with Catholic Cardinal Jaime Ortega and Archbishop Dionisio Garcia of Santiago for 4 hours to discuss political dissidents and other issues. Later, according to a leading imprisoned dissident, Cuba agreed to move political prisoners held in jails to facilities closer to their hometowns and transfer sick prisoners to hospitals. Guillermo Farinas, still on a hunger strike after 88 days, told Reuters that a visiting bishop gave him the news.

CUBA: Raul Castro Attacks Media For Hunger Strike "Blackmail."

REUTERS/    In a speech, President Raul Castro says the U.S. and Europe are using the media to wage "a ferocious campaign" to discredit Cuba. "We will never yield to the blackmail of any country or group of countries, no matter how powerful they may be, no matter what happens," he said. "We have the right to defend ourselves." Cuba is under international pressure to release political prisoners since a dissident died in February after a long hunger strike and at least three other dissidents are also on hunger strikes.

CUBA: Hunger Striker Farinas Refuses Spain's Refuge Offer.

REUTERS/W.POST/    Writer and psychologist Guillermo Farinas says he is prepared to die from his hospital-supervised hunger strike if Cuba doesn't release 26 political prisoners. Farinas began his hunger strike on February 24. Spain offered to fly him out of Cuba.

BRASIL: Blowback Continues On Lula's Comments About Cuban Dissidents.

AP/ MIAMI HERALD/    Critics in Brasil and around the world are attacking President Lula da Silva's recent comments about Cuba's treatment of political prisoners and the use of hunger strikes for human rights. "With that statement, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva shows his commitment to the tyranny of Castro and his contempt for the political prisoners and their families," said Cuban dissident Guillermo Farinas. "A majority of the Cuban people feel betrayed by a president who was once a political prisoner." Lula led worker strikes against Brasil's military regime and was imprisoned for 31 days in 1980 for his political activities. "I've been on hunger strikes and I would never do it again," Lula said. "I think it's insane to mistreat your own body."

CUBA: Another Dissident Hunger Striker Says He's Ready To Die.

REUTERS/    Vowing that the recent death of dissident Orlando Zapata Tamayo would not be in vain, Guillermo Farinas, 48, said he is ready to die to bring change in Cuba. On February 24, the psychologist and freelance writer quit eating and taking liquids, one day after dissident Orlando Zapata Tamayo died from an 85-day hunger strike. Farinas has served time in jail for his dissident activities and is on his 23rd hunger strike.