A hunger strike by a Cuban dissident has been a hot story for Spanish-language media based in Miami, and concern about her health even reached the halls of the US Congress, where an anti-communist Cuba lawmaker warned she was “close to death.”
But Martha Beatriz Roque’s condition and the extent of her fast were not clear until the 64-year-old appeared at a news conference in Havana on Tuesday.
The activist appeared unsteady but far from death.
Her associates said that Roque had only given up solid foods over the past eight days — and, in any case, was calling off the protest.
Although Roque faced reporters, she refused to speak. A supporter read a statement saying she was returning to a normal diet. Roque, wearing a purple house dress over a light long-sleeve shirt, walked with a cane and at times was steadied by a friend.
She and five other dissidents began a sit-in protest 40 days ago, complaining that state security agents stole a camera from her. The group said they stopped eating solid food last week.
On Monday, Republican Representative Lincoln Diaz-Balart said on the floor of the US House of Representatives that Roque was “close to death in Havana because of complications arising from a hunger strike.”
Spanish-language media in Miami followed Roque’s protest closely, with many in the Cuban-American community expressing outrage.
Diaz-Balart accused the international press of ignoring the story.
Despite such interest, Roque and the island’s other dissidents are largely unknown inside Cuba and enjoy virtually no public following.
Cuba’s government, which tolerates no organized opposition to its single-party communist system, severely limits freedom of expression and controls all media.
It says dissidents are agents of Washington working to undermine the government.
Roque is a state-trained economist who has been an open critic of Cuba’s government for more than 20 years. She was arrested and imprisoned as part of a crackdown on dissident in 2003 but granted parole for health reasons after a bit more than a year. She can, however, be returned to prison at any time for violating the conditions of her parole.
Of the 75 activists jailed in what opposition leaders call the “Black Spring,” 55 remain imprisoned.
The independent Cuban Commission on Human Rights and National Reconciliation says more than 200 political prisoners are being held in Cuba.
Seven people sustained mostly minor injuries in an airplane fire in South Korea, authorities said yesterday, with local media suggesting the blaze might have been caused by a portable battery stored in the overhead bin. The Air Busan plane, an Airbus A321, was set to fly to Hong Kong from Gimhae International Airport in southeastern Busan, but caught fire in the rear section on Tuesday night, the South Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said. A total of 169 passengers and seven flight attendants and staff were evacuated down inflatable slides, it said. Authorities initially reported three injuries, but revised the number
A colossal explosion in the sky, unleashing energy hundreds of times greater than the Hiroshima bomb. A blinding flash nearly as bright as the sun. Shockwaves powerful enough to flatten everything for miles. It might sound apocalyptic, but a newly detected asteroid nearly the size of a football field now has a greater than 1 percent chance of colliding with Earth in about eight years. Such an impact has the potential for city-level devastation, depending on where it strikes. Scientists are not panicking yet, but they are watching closely. “At this point, it’s: ‘Let’s pay a lot of attention, let’s
‘BALD-FACED LIE’: The woman is accused of administering non-prescribed drugs to the one-year-old and filmed the toddler’s distress to solicit donations online A social media influencer accused of filming the torture of her baby to gain money allegedly manufactured symptoms causing the toddler to have brain surgery, a magistrate has heard. The 34-year-old Queensland woman is charged with torturing an infant and posting videos of the little girl online to build a social media following and solicit donations. A decision on her bail application in a Brisbane court was yesterday postponed after the magistrate opted to take more time before making a decision in an effort “not to be overwhelmed” by the nature of allegations “so offensive to right-thinking people.” The Sunshine Coast woman —
CHEER ON: Students were greeted by citizens who honked their car horns or offered them food and drinks, while taxi drivers said they would give marchers a lift home Hundreds of students protesting graft they blame for 15 deaths in a building collapse on Friday marched through Serbia to the northern city of Novi Sad, where they plan to block three Danube River bridges this weekend. They received a hero’s welcome from fellow students and thousands of local residents in Novi Said after arriving on foot in their two-day, 80km journey from Belgrade. A small red carpet was placed on one of the bridges across the Danube that the students crossed as they entered the city. The bridge blockade planned for yesterday is to mark three months since a huge concrete construction
RSS