Hector Palacios, Cuban Rights Defender, Still Needs Your Help

Editor's Note: Sorry for the lack of update last week, as I was out of town. Regular updates will be commencing weekly again.

New Action:

From Defender Alert Network:

Hector Palacios Still Needs Your Help: Imprisoned Cuban Rights Defender Dangerously Ill

Hector Palacios, the subject of past Defender Alerts, needs your help now more than ever. For over a month, Hector Palacios, age 62, has suffered from serious heart problems and is not responding to medical treatment. His health problems have only been aggravated by harsh prison conditions.

Two years ago this week, Hector Palacios became one of 75 human rights advocates, independent journalists and librarians who were arrested, tried, and sentenced to up to 28 years in prison. Human Rights First believes that these people have been wrongfully imprisoned solely for openly exercising basic rights guaranteed to them in both international and Cuban law.

Currently serving a 25 year sentence, Hector Palacios has advocated for human rights reforms in Cuba since 1980, and is an independent librarian. Independent librarians in Cuba provide access to books that are banned by the authorities. These include literature written by authors such as George Orwell, Vaclav Havel, and Dr. Martin Luther King, who have penned many books considered to be among the classics of anti-totalitarian literature.

Join us today in calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Hector Palacios and all others who have been imprisoned solely for exercising basic human rights in Cuba. To date, fourteen of the original 75 dissidents have been released following international pressure. Your letters could mean the difference between life and death for Mr. Palacios.

Click Here to Take Action: http://action.humanrightsfirst.org/campaign/PalaciosII/ii86xu64z7btb38

Click here for more information on human rights defenders in Cuba.