Dear members of this subcommittee, I would like to thank you very much for having me here as a guest to testify. I'm a representative of the Cuban Social Democratic Party, and I have a letter of credentials signed by Mr. Vladimiro Roca.
My party is the party of Vladimiro Roca, who was a well-known prisoner of conscience at one time. As a matter of fact, he was a member of the Group of Four. In relation to this, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien in 1998 requested that he be released. Unfortunately, Fidel Castro did nothing about it until the bitter end.
As social democrats, we would like to work with all Canadian parties in a democratic and peaceful manner. I would like to address four issues concerning Cuba in relation to human rights and the violation of human rights. Following that, I will give you my assessment of the situation.
I will first talk about the day-to-day situation of inmates, and in particular the situation or plight of the prisoners of conscience.
Second, I'll talk about the 29 Cuban journalists who have been imprisoned for no reason whatsoever.
Third, I'll talk about the re-emergence of racial discrimination in Cuba, particularly in relation to the 90,000 black Cubans who are currently imprisoned.
Finally, I'll talk about the health status of 57 prisoners of conscience.
So you have a list. It includes the names of the inmates, the sentences they received, the names of the prisons, and where the prisons are located. All in all, there are 300 prisoners.