Cuba: Mob threatens to burn the house of the wife of Doctor who is a prisoner of conscience.

“… the act as such was an act of terrorism…”
Yamile Llanes

On Thursday, August 3, 2006, the house where the four children and wife of Dr. José Luis García Paneque live in Las Tunas, Cuba, was surrounded and attacked by a mob of about 100 Cubans armed with sticks, stones, and parasols that shouted “Get out of here!”, “Assassins!”, and “Terrorists!”

For an hour and a half after 7:15 PM, neighbors, ranging from young children to elderly people, shouted insults at Yamile Llanes and her young children, as well as at seven Catholic young people who were staying at her house while on their way to the Sanctuary of The Virgin of Cobre in Santiago de Cuba.

“My seven-year old daughter, María, held on to her older sister, and her screams were uncontrollable because she was terrified when a woman shouted that they were going to set the house on fire so that they would do away with the “worms” by burning them up…I thought I would have to leave the house with the children even though they would beat me with the sticks…,” Yamile Llanes declared. “This has been a terrible experience that has instilled a lot of fear….the act as such was an act of terrorism…", added the wife of the prisoner of conscience.

The Cuban physician and prisoner of conscience, Dr. José Luis García Paneque, was summarily tried and is serving a 25-year sentence for expressing independent ideas and remains in the “Las Mangas” Prison hospital in Bayamo alongside common prisoners. He suffers from a severe chronic diarrhea and continuous hemorrhagic colitis resulting from intestinal Mal Absorption Syndrome that has developed since he was incarcerated in 2003.

Dr. García Paneque’s health continues to worsen every day. According to his wife, his worn out and deteriorated body weighs less than 50 kilograms (110 pounds). The prison food in the awful state he has to consume it causes and worsens the chronic diarrhea. In addition, he is kept for months without seeing the sun, and he suffers tremendous psychological pressure because the common prisoners harass and beat him.

Yamile de los Angeles Llanes Labrada.
ADDRESS - Calle Emilio González #63, Entre Eliades Ávila y José Licea, Reparto Aguilera, Las Tunas, Cuba
TEL: +53-31-42910

Additional information:
Dr.José Luis García Paneque, born 1965, is married with four children. He is a plastic surgeon and member of the unofficial Colegio Médico de Cuba, Cuban Medical Association. He is also active in journalism and is the director of the independent press agency, Libertad. He was arrested on 18 March 2003 in his home city, Las Tunas, in the east of Cuba, and was sentenced to 24 years' imprisonment under Law 88 and Article 91 of the Penal Code. He is currently in Villa Clara prison -- some 500 km from his home -- having reportedly been transferred from "El Típico" provincial prison in Las Tunas following a protest with other prisoners who were arrested in the March 2003 crackdown.

Photo: Dr. Jose Luís García Paneque Cuban prisoner of conscience.