Interviews with Jorge Luis Garcia Perez Antúnez

To the foreign governments who support or side with the regime in Havana, what they are doing is nothing other than perpetrating the suffering and agony of 11 million Cubans who, like many of you, yearn for freedom.

It is not fair that when there are so many Cubans who suffer, when decent brothers are falling, when they have converted our island into a prison, that a totalitarian dictatorship could be legitimized.

Take interest in the people and in the resistance, not in the regime that oppresses our country. Know that the Castro regime is committing a true genocide. They are selective assassinations that should call the attention of the free and democratic world.

It’s vital that governments, whether Latin American, European, or North American, strengthen their support and solidarity with the Cuban opposition. It’s not just a political duty, but also a moral one.

Jorge Luis García Pérez (better known as “Antúnez”) was born in Placetas, Cuba in 1964. He is the leader of the Orlando Zapata Tamayo National Resistance Front. The Front is a Cuban civil society organization named for a political prisoner who died while on a hunger strike in 2010.

As an Afro-Cuban, Antúnez experienced the regime’s discrimination against minorities in restricting both educational and career opportunities. Such treatment, along with severe political repression, contributed to his disenchantment with the regime.

Antúnez, inspired by freedom movements in Eastern Europe, became active in the Cuban opposition. In March 1990, he was arrested for publically denouncing the Castro regime and sentenced to five years in prison. Despite his incarceration, Antúnez remained defiant by refusing to wear a prisoner’s uniform and rejecting the government’s re-education programs.

Antúnez also created the Pedro Luis Boitel political prisoners group in honor of the famous prisoner of conscience who died during a hunger strike in 1972. Through this organization, the prisoners drew inspiration and encouragement to continue their struggle. As a result, Antúnez was subject to solitary confinement, torture, and an extension of his five year sentence. He endured 17 years of prison before being released in 2007.

Antúnez continues advocating for freedom and democracy in Cuba with his wife, Yris Tamara Pérez Aguilera, leader of the Rosa Parks Feminist Movement for Civil Rights. His work involves supporting Cuban political prisoners, and expanding political freedoms and civil liberties.

Twitter: @antunezcuba