Center for a Free Cuba, September 30, 2020
CFC REQUESTS PROTECTION FROM THE OAS FOR THE LIFE OF LIBRADO LINARES GARCÍA WHOM CUBA HAS THREATENED WITH DEATH
The Center petitions the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to issue precautionary measures
Librado Linares and his wife Magaly received death threats from State Security agents in Cuba
Center for a Free Cuba, September 30, 2020, Washington, DC. The Center for a Free Cuba (CFC) today filed a request for precautionary measures with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on behalf of Librado Linares García, an engineer who heads Movimiento Cubano Reflexión in Cuba, in the wake of heightened death threats against him and his family; increased arbitrary arrests and attacks against his home; and the launching of a defamatory campaign against him.
“These death threats should not be taken lightly. Numerous Cuban opposition actors who have been threatened similarly have ended up dead while under custody of the regime in Havana, as was the case of Oswaldo Payá and of Laura Pollán, among many others. Librado Linares is an opposition leader who has been unjustly imprisoned and who has been the object of a relentless campaign against him this past year. We come before the IACHR seeking protection for his life as well as the lives of his wife and son,” stated John Suarez, the CFC’s executive director.
In its report dated September 29th, Movimiento Cubano Reflexión condemns these actions and describes the agenda of Cuba’s State Security authorities.
“The threats, including death threats, continue against MCR’s Secretary General and his family in Camajuaní. For more than a year and a half, [State Security] has implemented an additional repressive operative against MCR’s Secretary General, Librado R. Linares García and his family, that includes: death threats and/or threats of beatings, via mobile text and voice-mail messages; throwing garbage, rocks, paint and dead animals in front of his house; placing signs along the railing of his porch; and, in one occasion, writing lude statements on the façade of the house,” the report states.
The request for precautionary measures includes proof of these attacks and asks the IACHR to intercede with the Cuban government on Librado Linares’ behalf and demand protection for his physical integrity as well as that of his son César Linares and his wife Magaly Broche.
The Center for a Free Cuba calls on the international community to denounce the increase of repression in Cuba against advocates of human rights and hopes that this petition to the IACHR is answered before irreparable harm is done.