Pablo Pacheco Avila - Cuba

Pablo Pacheco was sentenced under articles of Law 88 which provides lengthy prison terms for those found guilty of supporting United States policy on Cuba aimed at 'disrupting internal order, destabilising the country and destroying the Socialist State and the independence of Cuba'. It is believed that Pablo Pacheco's arrest and sentencing were politically motivated, relating to his legitimate journalistic activities and peaceful exercise of his right to freedom of expression and association. Amnesty International is also concerned for Pablo Pacheco's health.

"The enemies of freedom could have strength but not reason, they could have laws but not justice; They could have media but not truth. They could manipulate man's thoughts but not his conscience; They could imprison the body but not the spirit." Pablo Pacheco, from prison, November 2003

Pablo Pacheco, 35, is married with one young son. He works for an unofficial agency called Cooperativa Avileña de Periodistas Independientes, Avileña Cooperative of Independent Journalists, in Ciego de Avila. He is currently held in Morón Municipal Prison, Prisión Municipal de Morón, Ciego de Avila province.

Pablo Pacheco reportedly suffers from a number of health problems; migraine, acute gastritis, chronic synovitis (inflammation of a membrane covering the sinews in the knee), renal ptosis (displacement of the kidney) and high blood pressure. After being arrested in March 2003, Pablo Pacheco began his 20-year sentence in Prisión de Agüica, municipality of Colón, Matanzas province. In August 2004, he was transferred from Agüica Prison to Morón Municipal Prison in his home province of Ciego de Avila.

In December 2004 Pablo was reportedly temporarily transferred to a Havana prison for a medical check up and then back to Morón Municipal Prison. In February 2005 he was reportedly sent to a Ciego de Avila Provincial Hospital to be examined for synovitis, but because the machinery was broken the examination could not take place. He was told he would need physiotherapy and was returned to Morón Municipal Prison in July 2005.

Pablo Pacheco was sentenced under articles of Law 88 which provides lengthy prison terms for those found guilty of supporting United States policy on Cuba aimed at 'disrupting internal order, destabilising the country and destroying the Socialist State and the independence of Cuba'. It is believed that Pablo Pacheco's arrest and sentencing were politically motivated, relating to his legitimate journalistic activities and peaceful exercise of his right to freedom of expression and association. Amnesty International is also concerned for Pablo Pacheco's health.

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