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Havana, May 22, 1998, Cuba Free Press

FROM PRISON: Cuban Dissident Vladimiro Roca Thanks the Efforts Towards His Release made by the Pope, Madeleine Albright, Jean Cretien, and Leaders. By Tania Quintero Antunes, Cuba Free Press.

"I wish to thank from the bottom of my heart all the requests for my release which have been made from all over the world, particularly the requests issued by the Vatican, the United States' State Department, and the Canadian government", stated the well-known opposition leader, 55 years old Vladimiro Roca Antunes, during a visit I made to Ariza prison, in Cienfuegos province, some 336 km southeast of Havana. Vladimiro, my cousin on my mother's side, is the president of the Cuban Social Democrat Party and a member of the Task-force for the Internal Dissident Movement, whose other three members, Marta Beatriz Roque Cabello, Felix Bonne Carcaces, and Rene Gomez Manzano, along with him, have been under arrest since July 16, 1997, still awaiting trial.

The visit took place in the afternoon of Thursday, May 14, at the time when the burial of the Dominican Revolutionary Party President, Jose Francisco Pena Gomez, was taking place. He was Vladimiro's personal friend. Upon hearing the news of the death of Pena Gomez, last May 10th, Roca begged us to send his deepest regards to the people of Santo Domingo. "It is an irreparable loss for Social Democracy Movement worldwide, because Pena Gomez was one of its greatest leaders", he stated while visibly moved by the loss.

Ariza and its Penal Population

As you arrive from Havana, Ariza lies towards the end of a small town of the same name. It is a complex of prefabricated white buildings. Were it not for the barbed wire surrounding it, its architecture is much like the structure of school buildings built in the 1970's throughout the island. The penal population of Ariza is some 1600 men, 8 of which are for political matters, (all except Vladimiro have been sentenced), the rest are common prisoners. Compared to the Combinado del Este in Havana, Ariza is smaller, but from the point of view of security, Ariza is one of the most secure. It is known as the Cuban "Alcatraz". The ethnic makeup of its population is mostly black and mixed, but lately there have been an increase in the number of white youngsters sent here for crimes related to theft and the illegal killing of livestock; the derailment of state resources; theft of dollars and products destined to the tourist market; and drug dealing. This is evident upon visit day: whites are abundant. The majority of those in Ariza are from Cienfuegos or neighboring towns in Villa Clara and Sancti Spiritus.

Visits to those pending trial, like Vladimiro, is every 21 days, and those who have been sentenced every 45. Three family members are allowed per visit. Periodically, those who are married or give the name of their girlfriend or lover, are allowed marital visits in a series of rooms in an area of the prison called "Pavilions". Their visits range from 2 to 24 hours, according to the prisoner's record of good behavior. In the case of Vladimiro they allowed this extra visit because the next day, the 15th, he was scheduled to have a marital visit.

Even as this is the first time that Vladimiro Roca has remained in jail for so long, he has adapted well to the hardships of penal life. "The food has improved. It can't be compared, of course, with the food found in a paladar (private restaurant), but it is edible", he says laughingly. His physical appearance is good, in spite of the fact that he has been suffering hypertension for the last few months. He's doing okay keeping his jail cell clean, washing his clothes, and other prison chores. He's held at security cell No. 23, in an area set aside for those who the prosecutor is expected to ask for the death penalty.

He remains isolated but is aware of any anomaly taking place at the prison.

"I'm receptive to the denunciations of violations of human rights, so long as I can verify them. When a beating takes place at the hands of one of the "combatants" (such is the name given to the jailers), or a fight amongst the prisoners, immediately the word spreads throughout the prison".

Vladimiro has no complaints on the treatment which he has received from the prison administration, or the State Security officer in charge of his case, Rene Orlando. He does complain that after asking for many months for religious services, it is only now that they've promised them that they are soon to get religious assistance from the Catholic Church in Cienfuegos. He constantly receives messages of solidarity. An example of this is that during a visit session which took place alongside the common prisoners, several of them approached him to greet him and introduce him to their families.

Blas Roca Present.

It is the case that Vladimiro is the third of the four children of the marriage of Blas Roca Calderio with Dulce Maria Antunes Aragon, both deceased. Blas was a self-taught man, who from the lowly job of shoe maker in his native Manzanillo, went on to reach the highest levels of Cuban politics. First at the General Secretary of the Marxist Socialist Popular Party, founded in 1925, later as a member of the Politburo of the Cuban Communist Party. When on December 2, 1976 he started in his duties at the 1st National Assembly of the Popular Power, Blas was elected president. Among the decisive qualifications for his selection was having been one of the authors of the 1940 Cuban Constitution and having led the approval of the 1976 Constitution through the referendum held on February 24th, 1976. "Recently, says Vladimiro, as I walked towards the prison infirmary to have my blood pressure taken, and a "combatant" approached me to ask if I was the son of Blas Roca. When I said yes, he said that he couldn't understand why I was there. As a reply to this I told him that all my life I had followed two basic teachings passed on by my father: To respect other's views and to think for myself".

To my question on how he views the process of the world opening to Cuba after the Pope's visit, Vladimiro pointed out that he thinks its great, but that "Cuba should not only open to the world, but also to its own people". With regards to the American embargo towards Cuba, he stated: I have the same views: the embargo must be lifted and Helm-Burton must be left void". He valued as a positive move President Clinton's recently announced measures regarding the softening of the embargo, as well as, the measures taken by Torres and Rangel to exempt from the embargo food and medicines.

Vladimiro receives newspapers and official publications from his wife, Magaly de Armas, every three weeks. Lacking a television set or a radio, this is the main method of communication with the world beyond the bars. >From his prison cell he keeps next to his bed the Bible, which he has read and re-read many times, waiting to be Baptized. Right now he's also reading texts from Jose Marti, a hero of Cuban independence. "I'm reading the words of Marti just in the aftermath of the death of Karl Marx. They are very prophetic".

Some weeks earlier he had been subjected to a detailed search of his cell, looking for a copy of "The Motherland Belongs to All", a copy of which he was allegedly circulating in prison. The document, put together by the Task-force for the Internal Dissident Movement, which was made public on June 27th, 1997. Eighteen days later, on July 16th, a violent operative of the State Security (the Cuban KGB), shook them from their beds: Vladimiro, Marta Beatriz, Felix, and Rene, and took them to four months of interrogations at the walled-in cells of Villa Marista, CEDSE. On November 19th, Vladimiro was taken, dressed in street clothes and handcuffed to Ariza. By then his three colleagues had been transported to other prisons, but none as distant as this one. Ariza has been visited by well-known dissident figures such as Sebastian Arcos Bergnes, who died in exile on December, 1997, and lawyer and leader of Concilio Cubano, Leonel Morejon Almagro, released last year after serving one year six months for alleged political crimes.

The Motherland Indeed Belongs to All.

On the document "The Motherland Belongs to All", which can be found on the Internet in both English and Spanish, Vladimiro Roca doesn't regret having taken part in its composition and is convinced that the motherland, indeed belongs to all, and it must encompass all, without distinctions. "I'm in favor of a process of slow changes, not sudden. I'm against any type of violence. I would personally not be against the changes, so necessary for the country, would be promoted by the current leadership, including Fidel and Raul Castro".

Regarding the context in which his arrest, as well as, his colleague's in the Task-force, on July 16th, 1997, Vladimiro is convinced that the cause of that was not the document "The Motherland Belongs to All", but that the cause was the bombs which exploded five days earlier, on Saturday, July 11th, which exploded almost simultaneously at Capri and Nacional Hotels, in the busy neighborhood of El Vedado. "The government took advantage of the difficult position it was placed in regarding tourism to take us out of circulation. If before I was a devout defender of peaceful methods, now, after ten months in prison, I declare myself to be fully supportive of a dialogue. Everything can be resolved with love, pardon, and reconciliation."

Asked about the special interest shown by the Canadian Prime Minister Jean Cretien in his recent visit, Vladimiro stated: "I was not surprised. I knew that Canada, a country with which we have had discrepancies (concerning the issue of foreign investments and the disadvantage of the Cuban workers who work for them), for that very same reason would be engaged in requesting our release. Canada is not only one of the most advanced nations in the world, it is also one of the most democratic. If at some point in time we have disagreed with them, doesn't mean that we don't hold Canadians in high esteem."

Upon upcoming mediation which would facilitate their release by Spain, the European Union, or the upcoming summit of Ibero-American leaders in Portugal, scheduled for this fall, Vladimiro was sharp in his answer:

"I don't accept any negotiated solution in my case, but I respect the decisions which Marta, Rene, or Felix would take in their respective futures. I would only agree to leave Cuba with a written agreement in which a change of measure has been granted:

Instead or prison, deportation.

I'm prepared to survive a long prison term. And if, according to the official data, 97 percent of the population supports the government, "what fear do they have for four disarmed and peaceful persons to be on the streets? Because all that we were doing was studying and analyzing the situation in the country. In their refusal to agree to the requests issued by the Pope and other distinguished personalities for clemency, there's a good dosage of contempt".

By Tania Quintero, Cuba Free Press.