Blas Giraldo Reyes Rodríguez (born August 7, 1955) is a

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

n librarian and a member of

Varela project The Varela Project () is a project that was started in 1998 by Oswaldo Payá of the Christian Liberation Movement (MCL) and named after Felix Varela, a Cuban religious leader. Many members were imprisoned during the Black Spring in 2003. The Va ...

. He was imprisoned in 2003 during a crackdown on dissidents and sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

has declared him as a

prisoner of conscience A prisoner of conscience (POC) is anyone imprisoned because of their race, sexual orientation, religion, or political views. The term also refers to those who have been imprisoned or persecuted for the nonviolent expression of their conscienti ...

. His wife, Isel Acosta, is a member of Ladies in White. Isel Acosta has been assaulted by mobs: "banging on windows and doors, shouting insults and making threats against her life. The Cuban government has organized mob assaults against its critics in the past, and there are indications of official involvement in this incident, as well".

References

1955 births Amnesty International prisoners of conscience held by Cuba Cuban librarians Cuban dissidents Living people Cuban prisoners and detainees Black Spring detainees {{Cuba-activist-stub