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José Gabriel Ramón Castillo habla sobre la tortura y el presidio en Cuba
By: Freeforall
Posted: Apr 25 09
Witnessed: 1784 times
Regions: Cuba, Switzerland
Issues: Human rights defenders, Torture
Tags: Cuba, derechos humanos, human rights, political prisoners, torture
José Gabriel Ramón Castillo Licenciado en Educación, especialidad construcción de maquinaria, Máster en Pedagogía, Activista de Derechos Humanos, Periodista, Promotor Cultural, Conferenciante, Ensayista y Analista Político. Exprisionero de Conciencia y Exiliado.
Born in 1957 in Manzanillo, Cuba, Jose Gabriel Ramon Castillo holds a license in Education with a specialization in machinery construction, as well as a Master’s degree in Pedagogy and a post-graduate degree in metals technology. He has worked in various professional positions and functions: Tire Specialist, Mechanic, Chief of Human Resources, Professor and Program Head for Technical Courses, Human Rights Activist, Sociologist, Journalist, Cultural and Civil Society Promoter, Lecturer, Essayist and Political Analyst.
In light of the democratic transformations in the former Soviet Union, in 1987 he founded the informal group “Perestroikos Santiagueros” (Santiago Perestroikans”). In 1992 he founded the Movimiento Cívico – Cristiano Pro Derechos Humanos, Patria, Independencia y Libertad (Civic-Christian Movement for Human Rights, the Fatherland, Independence and Liberty). The next year Ramon Castillo was jailed in Mar Verde Prison for the supposed crime of “Illegally leaving the national territory.” There he published the newspaper “La Voz” (The Voice), which exposes the situation in the Castroist prisons.
In 1995 he created the Instituto Cubano Amnistía y Democracia (Cuban Institute for Amnesty and Democracy). Two years later, he dismantled that entity and founded the Proyecto Instituto Independiente “Cultura y Democracia” (Project for the Independent Institute “Culture and Democracy”). While directing work in the Project for the Institute, he worked simultaneously as a journalist, corresponding for Agencia Cuba Press in Santiago de Cuba. During this period, Ramon Castillo contributed to Cuba Free Press, CubaNet, Revista Hispano-Cubana and other media sources overseas. He regularly participated in broadcasts of Radio Martí, Radio Miami and other stations of the Cuban exile community.
In 1999 he inaugurated “Salir al Mundo” (Going Out to the World), an independent cultural space where intellectuals from around the island gather. He also organized the contest “Arrecife,” the first independent literary contest in Cuba. Additionally, he prepared the “First Independent –Saloon of Visual Arts, ARTE OPEN,” sponsored by the Fundación Hispano-Cubana and the Centro de Estudio para una Opción Nacional (CEON), part of the Directorio Democrático Cubano. He teaches conference cycles on Human Rights and hosts the conference series “Democracia y Democratización, Proceso Histórico Cubano” (Democracy and Democratization, Historical Cuban Process). He also published the Fueros bulletin and organized the “Iniciativa de Centros Cívicos Comunitarios de Cuba,” as well as the workshop, “Vocabulario Común de la Oposición Cívica Cubana.”
Mr. Ramón Castillo works as one of the managers of Project Varela and as President of the Citizens’ Managing Committee in Santiago de Cuba. He collected 273 citizen signatures requesting the government to allow the mass media to divulge the Project.
In what came to be known as the Black Spring of 2003, he was sentenced to twenty years imprisonment. The verdict was handed out under the Law for the Protection of the National Independence and the Economy of Cuba, but Ramón Castillo was really imprisoned for opposition activities and all civic activities carried out for the transition towards democracy of the current Cuban regime, such as exercising independent journalism, human rights activism and requesting democratic changes in the island through the request for a referendum of Project Varela—a legislative initiative backed by 11,020 citizens.
He spent the first two years of his prison sentence at the Provincial Prison for Youth in Santa Clara, seven hundred kilometers from home. There Ramón Castillo faced severe conditions with no intellectual liberties and absolute seclusion in a punishment cell. In this Castroist sewer, his right to free expression was systemically violated; he had to stop writing his daily experiences due to the many times in which his diary was confiscated.
In February 2005 he was transferred to Boniato National Prison. There he spent the worst moments of his life in prison: living in cramped conditions, eating rotten food, and being assaulted by common inmates. He felt constant discomfort and faced the prison (political) police every single day. Between October 17th and November 11th 2006 he underwent a hunger strike in protest over issues of access to medical attention, religious assistance, limits on the products and the weight of food stuffs, having a “P” painted over his clothing, his confiscated books, as well as the abuses by the prison police and the right to the benefits of the Cuban prison system. When “El Boniateño,” a newspaper edited while in Boniato, was published, access to medical assistance was denied. His family was not allowed to provide him with medicine to counteract the diseases and poor conditions of the prison.
This former prisoner of conscience and now political refuge, contributes to ABC, Patria Digital Cuba and other online publications. He has a blog, Pepinistas.es, where he displays his works and those of his collaborators (http://pepinistas.blogspot.com). As Manager of the Proyecto Ciudadano (Citizens’ Project), he carries on with these initiatives, with the goal of strengthening the exile community and Cuban civil society in their work towards a democratic transformation.
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