by Carmen Ferreiro
I met Dania Virgen García towards the end of 2009, an independent journalist and human rights activist; she was referred to our news bureau by a fellow journalist. She, like fellow independent journalists, are courageous enough to report news from Cuba, free from the bias and control of the state-run press. Dania, like the other journalists who I am privileged to work with, wants to be a good journalist. And so she without trepidation, enthusiastically, despite limited resources and living under the continuous persecution of government agents in Cuba, with dedication sent me her writings on daily life in the island and on the activities of freedom and democracy movements in Cuba.
She wanted a blog and I created a news blog for her, something that I happily do for any Cuban on the island who wishes to exercise their right to free expression and to inform the world of everyday life in Cuba. For journalists in Cuba, those who are not officially appointed or belonging to the current government in power, there are no news agencies or outlets were they can publish their work. Censorship dominates not only the press and culture in Cuba, but also every aspect of freedom of expression, opinion and even simple conversations between Cubans of what happens on the island. For these journalists, living in a country without a free press and under the absolute control of the State; blogs have become the newspapers and magazines in which they can publish their news stories. Without blogs, they would be the silenced, this would allow the totalitarians to absolutely do and destroy anything they please with total impunity; meanwhile the free world would be blind, deaf and mute to this sad reality in Cuba.
The blog allowed Dania to write and print her articles and share them with other Cubans; some of them supportive of her ideas and writings, and other non-supporters but perhaps interested by this cyber world which is inaccessible to many of them. What I did notice was the more she wrote, the more she wanted to do to help achieve freedom in Cuba.
It is inevitable not to have ties of affection with those one has constant contact with in Cuba. Through them we learn about what happens in our suffering country, which is located so close yet is unattainable for many of us. But we also come to know about their lives through the emails exchanged. This is how in a short time I came to know that Dania was very devoted to her Catholic faith, that she spoke affectionately about her family, that she enjoyed photography and struggled despite limited resources for human rights in Cuba.
A week ago she wrote me concerned because she had been alerted at a center she occasionally went to use the internet (I intentionally omit the name to avoid compromising others who may use this center), that a State Security Agent had there been asking about her. Days later I received another email in which she expressed with alarm that State Security Agents had mounted a surveillance operation at her home and she said: “things in Cuba are not well at all, but I am going to continue this struggle to the death or until whatever they want happens, I will continue to support the Ladies in White, even if they continue to beat us, because what they want is for us to be afraid and we are not going to allow that to happen.” I replied that she should be careful, expressing my concern over the threats from Section 21 State Security Agents warning Laura Pollan and the Ladies in White, that “they would only be allowed to walk in the area of the Church of Santa Rita of Casia, from 30 to 22 Street, without affecting traffic... with the participation of the Ladies in White and only 10 of the Ladies who Support them". I told her that if she needed anything to let me know.
Three days later (on April 22nd) Dania was arrested and 1 day after (on April 23rd) sentenced and imprisoned in Manto Negro; the same prison that houses the women who were sent to repress and beat the Ladies in White during their walks commemorating the 2003 Black Spring Crackdown in Cuba.
I ask of all who value human rights, in particular freedom of expression, to let the world know what the regime in Cuba has done to Dania Virgen García. We will maintain the same determination and courage that she exhibited during that week she suffered harassment and vigilance, and we will not cease defending her and all Cuban women, freedom fighters in today’s Cuba.
Dania Virgen García is an independent journalist and the Representative in Havana for the Freedom and Democracy Party of Holguín
This is the link to El Blog de Dania: http://daniavirgengarcia.blogspot.com/
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