English PEN joins PEN International in calling for the release of poet, lawyer and independent journalist Roberto de Jesús Quiñones Haces.
Roberto de Jesús Quiñones Haces was detained while covering a trial for news website CubaNet in April 2019. He was released five days later but handed a fine for his conduct in detention which allegedly constituted ‘disobedience’ and ‘resistance’. After refusing to pay the fine, he was sentenced to one year in prison on 7 August and detained on 11 September 2019.
During his imprisonment, Quiñones Haces has developed health problems due to the conditions of detention and, according to the writer’s relatives, he is particularly at risk from COVID-19.
Carles Torner, Executive Director of PEN International, said:
PEN International believes that Roberto de Jesús Quiñones Haces is a victim of censorship in Cuba and that his detention violates his right to freedom of expression. We are concerned for his health, and with this in mind call for him to be released without delay.
TAKE ACTION
Write to the authorities
Please send appeals calling on the authorities of the Republic of Cuba to:
- Release Roberto de Jesús Quiñones Haces immediately and unconditionally.
- End the persecution of writers, journalists, human rights defenders, cultural activists, artists and other dissident voices, and immediately release all those held in prison for having exercised their rights to freedom of opinion and expression.
- Repeal Decrees 370 and 349 that limit the right to freedom expression and information.
- Stop judicial harassment of writers and journalists.
President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez
President of the Republic of Cuba
Office of the President
Hidalgo Esq. 6
Plaza de La Revolución, La Habana
CP 10400
Cuba
Email: [email protected] Twitter: @DiazCanelB
Mr. Oscar Silvera Martínez
Minister of Justice
Calle O #216 entre 23 y 25.
Plaza de la Revolución, La Habana
Cuba
Email: [email protected] Twitter: @CubaMinjus / Facebook: @MinisterioJusticiaCuba
Please send copies to the Embassy of the Republic of Cuba in your own country. Embassy addresses may be found here.
Publicity
PEN members are encouraged to:
- Publish articles and opinion pieces in your national or local press highlighting the case of Roberto de Jesús Quiñones Haces and freedom of expression in Cuba;
- Share information about Roberto de Jesús Quiñones Haces and your campaigning activities via social media.
- Share his poetry (find it in Spanish and English below) on social media calling for his release.
Please inform PEN International of any action you take and of any responses you receive.
The Prison
The prison is old Enrique
wasting time
as he smokes away
it is Pompi the Haitian
calling to his ancestors
while his vision, broken by prison bars,
stretches up toward the sky.
Prison is the hate in eyes
rotten food that is served
longing for ones children
a nocturnal cabal severed by blows
against the fence
and light beams that slice the night
and everyones’ despair.
No one cares about the lost eyes
of the imprisoned
hands orphaned of touch
dreams or tears
while a sliver of salt
comes to pierce the dawn.
Here, they only have a gray life
like the humanity of their judges.
If they awake dead
they’ll have an unknown vigil
like our suffering.
Roberto de Jesús Quiñones Haces
Translated by Jennifer Clement, President of PEN International