Fariñas, the Caribbean Gandhi.

By: Pedro Corzo - 10/07/2023

Guest columnist.
Share:     

Once again, the opponent of totalitarianism, Guillermo Fariñas, Sakharov Prize of the European Union 2010, is on a hunger strike, being 28 times that he uses his body as a shield, with very severe consequences for his health.

On this occasion, in convict language, the opposition leader "raised the dictatorship's stop" by also refusing to drink water, a decision that accelerates the striker's physical and emotional deterioration, dramatically shortening his existence, luckily, by On the seventh day of the strike, he decided to drink water temporarily, to give time for his demands to be considered by the corresponding governments and institutions.

Fariñas, founder and leader of the illegal United Anti-Totalitarian Front (Fantu), demands "the unconditional release of all political prisoners", currently estimated at more than a thousand people, including minors of both sexes, and also demands a naval siege and air to the Island, that the Organization of American States (OAS) apply the Inter-American Charter, that the Russian and Chinese military personnel stationed on Cuban soil be withdrawn and that the European Union terminate the political treaty and economic cooperation with Cuba, agreement in force since 2017.

Leading by example is one of Fariñas' maxims. His feeling of solidarity is very strong. She has a firm commitment to political prisoners and those persecuted for the same cause. He has been beaten and arrested numerous times for demanding the release of his companions or the cessation of the beatings inflicted by the henchmen of the regime.

Due to this repeated conduct of not shying away from problems, he has enjoyed the solidarity of many people. In Las Tunas, Cuba, the opponents Irenaldo Sosa Báez, Martin Tomás Domínguez and Yadira Puerto Cruz, a cancer patient, a condition that severely affects their resistance, also declared a hunger strike.

The maximum of the henchmen of Castroism has been that the head of the sector of the Ministry of the Interior, did not give his name, said in the house of Báez, one of the strikers, that if one of the protesters died in the feat, he would accuse homicide survivors.

It is valid to say that there are also strikers in Miami, such as the Spanish citizen Nacho Rocha and the Cuban activist, Jaimiel Hernández, who scheduled a fast in solidarity with those on the Island who demand, among other demands, the freedom of all political prisoners.

On the other hand, the leadership of FANTU in exile, headed by the businessmen Manuel Milanés, Lissette Coll and the former political prisoner Ramiro Gómez Barruecos, have worked intensely in favor of the strikers, carrying out intense campaigns of denunciations against the tyranny and contacting figures national and international so that they pronounce themselves in favor of the Protestants.

Guillermo Fariñas, has had the will, intelligence and courage to develop in Cuba the form of struggle that Mahatma Gandhi personified, although he is aware that the strength of the British crown does not come close in any way to the extreme cruelty of the regime of the brothers. Castro.

Even the physical appearance of Fariñas is close to that of Gandhi. The way he sits, his slow speech, his occasional semi-nudity and his invariable hunger strikes, give him the air of a man of great spirituality who has assumed the commitment to conquer the goal or die in the effort. Another similarity between Fariñas and Gandhi is that the islander is not a visionary, but a practical idealist as Mahatma described himself.

Gandhi on numerous occasions caused the arrests to which he was subjected, for his part, Fariñas, does not avoid jail either, despite his delicate health condition. Apparently, both Gandhi and Fariñas consider that being in prison strengthens them, while the cause is also favored.

I know Guillermo Fariñas, as I knew other strikers who gave their lives in the commission they imposed on themselves. Those were times when the horrors of insular totalitarianism went unnoticed by numerous governments, individuals and even organizations that defend human rights, luckily, apparently, there is a greater awareness of the Cuban reality, so we hope that the strikers will not join to the martyrdom of the at least 13 Cubans who have given their lives on strike, including Pedro Luis Boitel and Orlando Zapata Tamayo.

«The opinions published herein are the sole responsibility of its author».