Black Spring refers to the 2003 crackdown on

Cuban dissidents The Cuban dissident movement is a political movement in Cuba whose aim is to replace the current government with a liberal democracy. According to Human Rights Watch, the Cuban government represses nearly all forms of political dissent. Backgrou ...

. The government imprisoned 75 dissidents, including 29 journalists, as well as librarians, human rights activists, and democracy activists, on the basis that they were acting as agents of the United States by accepting aid from the US government. Although Amnesty International adopted 75 Cubans as prisoners of conscience, according to Cuba "the 75 individuals arrested, tried and sentenced in March/April 2003 ... who were jailed are demonstrably not independent thinkers, writers or human rights activists, but persons directly in the pay of the US government ... those who were arrested and tried were charged not with criticizing the government, but for receiving American government funds and collaborating with U.S diplomats." The crackdown on grassroots activists began on 18 March and lasted two days, coordinated with the US invasion of Iraq for minimum publicity. The crackdown received sharp international condemnation, with critical statements coming from the George W. Bush administration, the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been ...

, the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizi ...

and various human rights groups, including Amnesty International. Responding to the crackdown, the

imposed sanctions on Cuba in 2003, that were lifted in January 2008. The European Union declared that the arrests "constituted a breach of the most elementary human rights, especially as regards freedom of expression and political association". All of the dissidents were eventually released, most of whom were exiled to

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

starting in 2010.

Imprisoned people

Manuel Vázquez Portal received the International Press Freedom Award in 2003. Héctor Maseda Gutiérrez received the same prize in 2008, while locked up in a maximum-security prison. List of 75 jailed dissidents and their prison sentences: * Nelson Aguiar Ramírez 13 years * Osvaldo Alfonso Valdés 18 years * Pedro Pablo Alvarez Ramos 25 years * Pedro Argüelles Morán 20 years * Víctor Rolando Arroyo Carmona 26 years * Mijail Barzaga Lugo 15 years * Oscar Elías Biscet González 25 years * Margarito Broche Espinosa 25 years * Marcelo Cano Rodríguez 18 years * Roberto de Miranda Hernández 20 years * Carmelo Díaz Fernández 15 years * Eduardo Díaz Fleitas 21 years * Antonio Díaz Sánchez 20 years * Alfredo Domínguez Batista 14 years * Oscar Espinosa Chepe 20 years * Alfredo Felipe Fuentes 26 years * Efrén Fernández Fernández 12 years * Adolfo Fernández Sainz 15 years * José Daniel Ferrer García 25 years * Luis Enrique Ferrer García 28 years * Orlando Fundora Alvarez 18 years * Próspero Gaínza Agüero 25 years * Miguel Galván Gutiérrez 26 years * Julio César Gálvez Rodríguez 15 years * Edel José García Díaz 15 years * José Luis García Paneque 24 years * Ricardo Gonzales Alfonso 20 years * Diosdado González Marrero 20 years * Léster González Pentón 20 years * Alejandro González Raga 14 years * Jorge Luis González Tanquero 20 years *

Leonel Grave de Peralta Leonel Grave de Peralta (born May 30, 1976) is a Cuban activist and dissident. He was an active member of the Christian Liberation Movement, Varela Project, and Director of the Independent Bartolomé Massó Library. He was one of the approximat ...

20 years * Iván Hernández Carrillo 25 years * Normando Hernández González 25 years * Juan Carlos Herrera Acosta 20 years * Regis Iglesias Ramírez 18 years * José Ubaldo Izquierdo Hernandez 16 years * Reinaldo Labrada Peña 6 years * Librado Linares García 20 years * Marcelo López Bañobre 15 years * José Miguel Martínez Hernández 13 years * Héctor Maseda Gutiérrez 20 years * Mario Enrique Mayo Hernández 20 years * Luis Milán Fernández 13 years * Nelson Moliné Espino 20 years * Angel Moya Acosta 20 years * Jesús Mustafá Felipe 25 years * Felix Navarro Rodríguez 25 years * Jorge Olivera Castillo 18 years * Pablo Pacheco Avila 20 years * Héctor Palacios Ruíz 25 years * Arturo Pérez de Alejo Rodríguez 20 years * Omar Pernet Hernández 25 years * Horacio Piña Borrego 20 years * Fabio Prieto Llorente 20 years * Alfredo Pulido López 14 years * José Gabriel Ramón Castillo 20 years *

Arnaldo Ramos Lauzerique Arnaldo Ramos Lauzerique is a Cuban independent economist. Ramos Lauzerique and Marta Beatriz Roque founded the Instituto de Economía. Information The group of economists has exposed how the communist government uses false statistics when report ...

18 years * Blas Giraldo Reyes Rodríguez 25 years * Raúl Rivero Castañeda 20 years * Alexis Rodríguez Fernández 15 years * Omar Rodríguez Saludes 27 years * Marta Beatriz Roque Cabello 20 years * Omar Moisés Ruiz Hernández 18 years * Claro Sánchez Altarriba 18 years * Ariel Sigler Amaya 20 years * Guido Sigler Amaya 20 years * Ricardo Enrique Silva 10 years * Fidel Suárez Cruz 20 years * Manuel Ubals González 20 years * Julio Antonio Valdés Guevara 20 years * Miguel Valdés Tamayo 15 years * Héctor Raúl Valle Hernández 12 years * Manuel Vázquez Portal 18 years * Antonio Augusto Villareal Acosta 15 years

Related movements

The wives of imprisoned activists, led by Laura Pollán, formed a movement called

Ladies in White Ladies in White ( es, italics=no, Damas de Blanco) is an opposition movement in Cuba founded in 2003 by wives and other female relatives of jailed dissidents and those who have been made to disappear by the government. The women protest the impri ...

. The movement received the

Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought The Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, commonly known as the Sakharov Prize, is an honorary award for individuals or groups who have dedicated their lives to the defence of human rights and freedom of thought. Named after Russian scientis ...

from the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

in 2005.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Cuba's Long Black Spring
- A report by the committee to Protect Journalists
Interviews (video)
with imprisoned dissidents who were released to Spain
Spring Nightmare
- Manuel Vázquez Portal, an imprisoned Cuban writer, poet, and journalist, describes the prison conditions. Censorship in Cuba Political repression in Cuba History of Cuba 2003 in Cuba

Imprisoned people

Related movements

See also

References

External links