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Guillermo Fariñas

Guillermo Fariñas Hernández (born 3 January 1962) ("El Coco") is a Cuban doctor of psychology,[1] independent journalist[2] and political dissident in Cuba. He has conducted 23 hunger strikes over the years to protest various elements of the Cuban government[3] and spent more than 11 years in prison.[4] He vowed that he would die in the struggle against censorship in Cuba.[2]

Guillermo Fariñas
Born (1962-01-03) 3 January 1962 (age 61)
NationalityCuban
Occupationjournalist
Known forhunger strike, dissident journalism
AwardsSakharov Prize (2010)

Early life

Fariñas was born in Santa Clara. Fariñas's father, Guillermo Fariñas Key, had been part of the Cuban military forces, and fought in the Congo under Che Guevara in the 1960s. After completing ninth grade, he too began to study in the Camilo Cienfuegos military school, after which he went to Havana as a precadet in the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces, where he studied intelligence and counterintelligence with the special forces. Fariñas formed part of the unit sent to guard the Peruvian embassy during the Mariel Boatlift.[5]

Fariñas underwent special forces training with Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese trainers. In 1980, he was deployed to Angola, where he fought under Colonel Antonio Enrique Luzon. As a special forces soldier in the Commandos for Demolition, Penetration, and Sabotage, he participated in eleven missions into the UNITA rearguard, for which he received military decorations. He received two bullet wounds. In 1981, Fariñas went to the U.S.S.R. to Tambov where he studied at the Airborne Academy but, due to official negligence, suffered exposure to a chemical nerve agent that damaged his health to the point that he had to be discharged from the army.[5]

In 1983, he began studying in the Department of Psychology in the Universidad Central de las Villas. In 1986 he was nearly expelled for being part of a Freudian group which was considered sympathetic to Perestroika and Glasnost. He graduated in 1988. Unable to become a psychology professor because he was considered politically unreliable, Fariñas began working as a clinical psychologist in Camajuaní. He was the Secretary General of the Young Communist League. When he opposed the execution of Arnaldo Ochoa Sánchez, he was expelled from his clinic and lost his membership in the Communist Youth League.[5]

He was transferred to the José Martí Pediatric Hospital in Sancti Spíritus, where he established the mental health ward and adolescent clinic. Nevertheless, he was denied housing for not being politically reliable.[5]

In 1993, he called on Fidel Castro in front of the foreign press to fulfill his promise to reopen the Pedro Borrás Pediatric Hospital in Havana. He was elected General Secretary of Healthcare Workers' Union.[5]

In 1995, Fariñas was sent to the Valle Grande jail in Havana for 20 months. According to Fariñas, this was because he had denounced the corruption of the director of the hospital where he worked, a Central Committee member, to the National Revolutionary Police Force, and as a result was accused of various false crimes, including illegal possession of arms.[5] State media, on the other hand, claim that he went to jail after physically attacking a woman, an official from the health institution where he worked as a psychologist.[6] In 1997, he was condemned to a further 18 months of confinement, during which he undertook a strike on eating solid food.[5] In 2002, he was attacked by a State Security agent and condemned to seven years of confinement, but after undertaking a fourteen-month hunger strike he was released.[5]

In a 2007 interview with Harper's magazine ("The Battle of Ideas"), Fariñas described State Security officers detaining him in Santa Clara, forcibly committing him to a psychiatric hospital ward overnight, and supervising his injection with unknown drugs.

2006 hunger strike

In 2006, Fariñas held a seven-month hunger strike to protest against the Internet censorship in Cuba, in particular the closure of the Ciber Cafe in Santa Clara by State Security forces.[5] He ended it in Autumn 2006, due to severe health problems.[2] His acts received worldwide attention and Reporters Without Borders awarded its cyber-freedom prize to Guillermo Fariñas in 2006.[7] He also received the International Human Rights Award at Weimar.[8]

2010 hunger strike

On February 26, 2010, Fariñas declared yet another hunger strike to protest the death of fellow dissident Orlando Zapata Tamayo. He has indicated that he will remain on strike until twenty-six other prisoners of conscience who are seriously ill are set free.[3] In July, he ended the protest after Raul Castro, the Cuban president, approved the release of 52 prisoners of conscience.[4]

Cuban government response

"Cuba will not accept pressure or blackmail, important Western media groups are again calling attention to a prefabricated lie. It is not medicine that should resolve a problem that was created intentionally to discredit our political system -- but rather the patient himself, unpatriotic people, foreign diplomats and the media that manipulates him. The consequences will be their responsibility, and theirs alone."

— Granma, March 8, 2010 [9]

The Cuban state newspaper Granma stated that Fariñas's legal troubles began "because of a physical altercation with a female co-worker - not politics" and described him as "a paid agent of the United States" and employee of the U.S. Interests Section.[9]

On July 8, 2010, Fariñas ended his 134-day hunger strike Thursday, following signs the communist government is making good on its promise to release 52 political prisoners.

2010 Sakharov Prize

On 20 October 2010, Fariñas was awarded the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought by the European Parliament.[10] In presenting the award the parliament commended Fariñas saying that he was a "symbol of the fight for freedom of speech".[11] This marks the third time that the award has been made to Cuban dissidents.[10]

In December 2010, the Cuban government denied Fariñas an exit visa necessary to travel to Strasbourg to accept the award. In response the European Parliament said that it would have an empty chair to represent him at the ceremony. Fariñas said, "I believe that the Cuban government has shown over the years that it is behaving in an arrogant manner."[12]

In 2013, the travel ban was lifted and Fariñas finally received his Prize.[13]

2011 hunger strike

On 3 June 2011, Fariñas declared his hunger strike to protest the Cuban authorities' response to fellow dissident Juan Wilfredo Soto García's death. Fariñas called for those responsible for the reported police beating three days before Soto died in a Santa Clara hospital to be brought to justice. He also demanded for the Cuban government to stop using violent means in its approach to non-violent opposition.[14]

2012 detention

On 24 July 2012, he was one of dozens of activists arrested in Havana at the funeral of dissident Oswaldo Payá.[15] Amnesty International and the U.S. criticized the arrests, with the White House describing them as "a stark demonstration of the climate of repression in Cuba."[16] The dissidents were freed the following day.[17]

2016 hunger strike

In 2016, Fariñas and other members of the opposition organization Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU) protested against the increasingly violent repression of dissidents and activists.[18]

Personal life

Fariñas has a wife, Clara, and a daughter.[19]

References

  1. ^ "Psychologist and independent journalist Guillermo Fariñas transferred to new unit". Net for Cuba.[dead link]
  2. ^ a b c . Reporters Without Borders. 1 September 2006. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 25 July 2012.
  3. ^ a b Estaban Israel (29 March 2010). "Cuban hunger striker rejects Spanish offer". Reuters. Retrieved 25 July 2012.
  4. ^ a b "Cuba briefly holds top dissident". 2011-01-27. Retrieved 2019-09-25.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Fariñas, Guillermo (2010). Radiografía de los miedos en Cuba: Autobiografía y otros textos. Colección Ensayo. Madrid: Editorial Hispano Cubana. pp. 165–169.
  6. ^ Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cuba (2010-03-09). "Cuba: neither Pressure nor Blackmail / Media campaign on hunger strike of a counterrevolutionary". Granma. Communist Party of Cuba. Retrieved 2013-11-25.
  7. ^ "Cyber-freedom prize for 2006 awarded to Guillermo Fariñas of Cuba". Reporters Without Borders. 13 December 2006. Retrieved 25 July 2012.
  8. ^ "IGFM dankt Weimar: "Der Menschenrechtspreis für Dr. Fariñas Hernández ist das richtige Signal an Castro"". igfm.de. July 2006. Retrieved 25 July 2012.
  9. ^ a b Cuba blasts the foreign press for coverage of dissident hunger strike[permanent dead link] by Paul Haven, Associated Press, March 8, 2010
  10. ^ a b "Cuba dissident Farinas awarded Sakharov Prize by EU". BBC News. 21 October 2010. Retrieved 25 July 2012.
  11. ^ Andreas Illmer and David Levitz (21 October 2010). "EU awards Cuban dissident Guillermo Farinas top human rights prize". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 25 July 2012.
  12. ^ "Cuba refuses dissident exit visa". Al Jazeera. 15 December 2010. Retrieved 25 July 2012.
  13. ^ "Guillermo Fariñas receives his Sakharov Prize | News | European Parliament". www.europarl.europa.eu. 2013-03-07. Retrieved 2019-09-25.
  14. ^ "Cuban dissident on hunger strike to protest death". Agence France-Presse. 3 June 2011. Retrieved 25 July 2012.
  15. ^ . Amnesty International. 25 July 2012. Archived from the original on 28 July 2012. Retrieved 25 July 2012.
  16. ^ "US, Amnesty Critical of Cuban Dissident Detentions". ABC News. Associated Press. 25 July 2012. Retrieved 25 July 2012.
  17. ^ "Police free Cubans detained at Oswaldo Paya's funeral". BBC News. 25 July 2012. Retrieved 25 July 2012.
  18. ^ "Cuban dissident briefly hospitalized, hunger strike in third week". Reuters. 2016-08-05. Retrieved 2019-09-25.
  19. ^ Sanchez, Yoani (2010-05-12). "Farinas Continues Hunger Strike for Release of Ill Political Prisoners in Cuba". HuffPost. Retrieved 2019-09-25.

External links

  Media related to Guillermo Fariñas at Wikimedia Commons

  • Biography by CIDOB (in Spanish)

guillermo, fariñas, hernández, born, january, 1962, coco, cuban, doctor, psychology, independent, journalist, political, dissident, cuba, conducted, hunger, strikes, over, years, protest, various, elements, cuban, government, spent, more, than, years, prison, . Guillermo Farinas Hernandez born 3 January 1962 El Coco is a Cuban doctor of psychology 1 independent journalist 2 and political dissident in Cuba He has conducted 23 hunger strikes over the years to protest various elements of the Cuban government 3 and spent more than 11 years in prison 4 He vowed that he would die in the struggle against censorship in Cuba 2 Guillermo FarinasBorn 1962 01 03 3 January 1962 age 61 Santa Clara CubaNationalityCubanOccupationjournalistKnown forhunger strike dissident journalismAwardsSakharov Prize 2010 Contents 1 Early life 2 2006 hunger strike 3 2010 hunger strike 3 1 Cuban government response 4 2010 Sakharov Prize 5 2011 hunger strike 6 2012 detention 7 2016 hunger strike 8 Personal life 9 References 10 External linksEarly life EditFarinas was born in Santa Clara Farinas s father Guillermo Farinas Key had been part of the Cuban military forces and fought in the Congo under Che Guevara in the 1960s After completing ninth grade he too began to study in the Camilo Cienfuegos military school after which he went to Havana as a precadet in the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces where he studied intelligence and counterintelligence with the special forces Farinas formed part of the unit sent to guard the Peruvian embassy during the Mariel Boatlift 5 Farinas underwent special forces training with Chinese Korean and Vietnamese trainers In 1980 he was deployed to Angola where he fought under Colonel Antonio Enrique Luzon As a special forces soldier in the Commandos for Demolition Penetration and Sabotage he participated in eleven missions into the UNITA rearguard for which he received military decorations He received two bullet wounds In 1981 Farinas went to the U S S R to Tambov where he studied at the Airborne Academy but due to official negligence suffered exposure to a chemical nerve agent that damaged his health to the point that he had to be discharged from the army 5 In 1983 he began studying in the Department of Psychology in the Universidad Central de las Villas In 1986 he was nearly expelled for being part of a Freudian group which was considered sympathetic to Perestroika and Glasnost He graduated in 1988 Unable to become a psychology professor because he was considered politically unreliable Farinas began working as a clinical psychologist in Camajuani He was the Secretary General of the Young Communist League When he opposed the execution of Arnaldo Ochoa Sanchez he was expelled from his clinic and lost his membership in the Communist Youth League 5 He was transferred to the Jose Marti Pediatric Hospital in Sancti Spiritus where he established the mental health ward and adolescent clinic Nevertheless he was denied housing for not being politically reliable 5 In 1993 he called on Fidel Castro in front of the foreign press to fulfill his promise to reopen the Pedro Borras Pediatric Hospital in Havana He was elected General Secretary of Healthcare Workers Union 5 In 1995 Farinas was sent to the Valle Grande jail in Havana for 20 months According to Farinas this was because he had denounced the corruption of the director of the hospital where he worked a Central Committee member to the National Revolutionary Police Force and as a result was accused of various false crimes including illegal possession of arms 5 State media on the other hand claim that he went to jail after physically attacking a woman an official from the health institution where he worked as a psychologist 6 In 1997 he was condemned to a further 18 months of confinement during which he undertook a strike on eating solid food 5 In 2002 he was attacked by a State Security agent and condemned to seven years of confinement but after undertaking a fourteen month hunger strike he was released 5 In a 2007 interview with Harper s magazine The Battle of Ideas Farinas described State Security officers detaining him in Santa Clara forcibly committing him to a psychiatric hospital ward overnight and supervising his injection with unknown drugs 2006 hunger strike EditIn 2006 Farinas held a seven month hunger strike to protest against the Internet censorship in Cuba in particular the closure of the Ciber Cafe in Santa Clara by State Security forces 5 He ended it in Autumn 2006 due to severe health problems 2 His acts received worldwide attention and Reporters Without Borders awarded its cyber freedom prize to Guillermo Farinas in 2006 7 He also received the International Human Rights Award at Weimar 8 2010 hunger strike EditOn February 26 2010 Farinas declared yet another hunger strike to protest the death of fellow dissident Orlando Zapata Tamayo He has indicated that he will remain on strike until twenty six other prisoners of conscience who are seriously ill are set free 3 In July he ended the protest after Raul Castro the Cuban president approved the release of 52 prisoners of conscience 4 Cuban government response Edit Cuba will not accept pressure or blackmail important Western media groups are again calling attention to a prefabricated lie It is not medicine that should resolve a problem that was created intentionally to discredit our political system but rather the patient himself unpatriotic people foreign diplomats and the media that manipulates him The consequences will be their responsibility and theirs alone Granma March 8 2010 9 The Cuban state newspaper Granma stated that Farinas s legal troubles began because of a physical altercation with a female co worker not politics and described him as a paid agent of the United States and employee of the U S Interests Section 9 On July 8 2010 Farinas ended his 134 day hunger strike Thursday following signs the communist government is making good on its promise to release 52 political prisoners 2010 Sakharov Prize EditOn 20 October 2010 Farinas was awarded the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought by the European Parliament 10 In presenting the award the parliament commended Farinas saying that he was a symbol of the fight for freedom of speech 11 This marks the third time that the award has been made to Cuban dissidents 10 In December 2010 the Cuban government denied Farinas an exit visa necessary to travel to Strasbourg to accept the award In response the European Parliament said that it would have an empty chair to represent him at the ceremony Farinas said I believe that the Cuban government has shown over the years that it is behaving in an arrogant manner 12 In 2013 the travel ban was lifted and Farinas finally received his Prize 13 2011 hunger strike EditOn 3 June 2011 Farinas declared his hunger strike to protest the Cuban authorities response to fellow dissident Juan Wilfredo Soto Garcia s death Farinas called for those responsible for the reported police beating three days before Soto died in a Santa Clara hospital to be brought to justice He also demanded for the Cuban government to stop using violent means in its approach to non violent opposition 14 2012 detention EditOn 24 July 2012 he was one of dozens of activists arrested in Havana at the funeral of dissident Oswaldo Paya 15 Amnesty International and the U S criticized the arrests with the White House describing them as a stark demonstration of the climate of repression in Cuba 16 The dissidents were freed the following day 17 2016 hunger strike EditIn 2016 Farinas and other members of the opposition organization Patriotic Union of Cuba UNPACU protested against the increasingly violent repression of dissidents and activists 18 Personal life EditFarinas has a wife Clara and a daughter 19 References Edit Psychologist and independent journalist Guillermo Farinas transferred to new unit Net for Cuba dead link a b c Guillermo Farinas ends seven month old hunger strike for Internet access Reporters Without Borders 1 September 2006 Archived from the original on 4 March 2016 Retrieved 25 July 2012 a b Estaban Israel 29 March 2010 Cuban hunger striker rejects Spanish offer Reuters Retrieved 25 July 2012 a b Cuba briefly holds top dissident 2011 01 27 Retrieved 2019 09 25 a b c d e f g h i Farinas Guillermo 2010 Radiografia de los miedos en Cuba Autobiografia y otros textos Coleccion Ensayo Madrid Editorial Hispano Cubana pp 165 169 Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cuba 2010 03 09 Cuba neither Pressure nor Blackmail Media campaign on hunger strike of a counterrevolutionary Granma Communist Party of Cuba Retrieved 2013 11 25 Cyber freedom prize for 2006 awarded to Guillermo Farinas of Cuba Reporters Without Borders 13 December 2006 Retrieved 25 July 2012 IGFM dankt Weimar Der Menschenrechtspreis fur Dr Farinas Hernandez ist das richtige Signal an Castro igfm de July 2006 Retrieved 25 July 2012 a b Cuba blasts the foreign press for coverage of dissident hunger strike permanent dead link by Paul Haven Associated Press March 8 2010 a b Cuba dissident Farinas awarded Sakharov Prize by EU BBC News 21 October 2010 Retrieved 25 July 2012 Andreas Illmer and David Levitz 21 October 2010 EU awards Cuban dissident Guillermo Farinas top human rights prize Deutsche Welle Retrieved 25 July 2012 Cuba refuses dissident exit visa Al Jazeera 15 December 2010 Retrieved 25 July 2012 Guillermo Farinas receives his Sakharov Prize News European Parliament www europarl europa eu 2013 03 07 Retrieved 2019 09 25 Cuban dissident on hunger strike to protest death Agence France Presse 3 June 2011 Retrieved 25 July 2012 Cuba Dozens arrested at funeral of prominent rights activist Amnesty International 25 July 2012 Archived from the original on 28 July 2012 Retrieved 25 July 2012 US Amnesty Critical of Cuban Dissident Detentions ABC News Associated Press 25 July 2012 Retrieved 25 July 2012 Police free Cubans detained at Oswaldo Paya s funeral BBC News 25 July 2012 Retrieved 25 July 2012 Cuban dissident briefly hospitalized hunger strike in third week Reuters 2016 08 05 Retrieved 2019 09 25 Sanchez Yoani 2010 05 12 Farinas Continues Hunger Strike for Release of Ill Political Prisoners in Cuba HuffPost Retrieved 2019 09 25 External links Edit Media related to Guillermo Farinas at Wikimedia Commons Biography by CIDOB in Spanish Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Guillermo Farinas amp oldid 1168807559, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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