Monday, March 01, 2010

Radio República and the death of a dissident


Cuban Dissident's Death Felt in Miami


They are glued to the phones at the Directorio. The audio engineer at the group's shortwave radio station takes in a feed that includes shouts of "Libertad, Libertad, Libertad!" All attention focused on the funeral services for Orlando Zapata Tamayo.

The Cuban Democratic Directorate is a low key, yet high energy Cuban exile group based in Miami that documents civic resistance on the Island. They have been very busy this year.

"So far in 2010 we have seen a big spike in activism. This also corresponds with a big spike in repression," said Aramis Perez, a spokesperson for the group.

The funeral of Zapata Tamayo was producing numerous examples of protest and resistance. Zapata Tamayo was a political prisoner, a dissident, who died after an 80-day hunger strike. The handyman bricklayer was demanding the Cuban government respect his basic human rights. He died in prison serving time for opposing the Castro Brother's regime. "Murder," claims his mother.

Additional story from NBC Miami
www.nbcmiami.com/news/local-beat/Resistance-on-the-Cuban-Horizon-85390352.html

Radio República on shortwave: 0100- 0300 UTC on 9490 kHz in Spanish
(Gayle Van Horn, Frequency Manager/Monitoring Times)