Imprisoned and on hunger strike in spite of the irregularities
Published: Sep 26, 2018 Reading time: 4 minutes
Tomás Núñez Magdariaga, 66, black and homosexual man from Cuba, is a member of dissident organization UNPACU (Cuban Patriotic Union). He has been unjustly imprisoned on the basis of false testimony by then-active State Security agent Aldo Rosales. Despite of Rosales' later confession that he lied at the court because he was under the pressure of State Security, Tomás remains in prison. To protest, he went on hunger strike more than 40 days ago - and his health is getting worse every day.
Tomás Núñez Magdariaga was first jailed last year because of accumulation of unpaid fines. Back then, he was serving 10 months in prison and released in November 2017.
"During the time he spent in prison, his house was raided several times, police officers stole his passport and other belongings. After fulfilling the penalty, he began to claim what had been taken from him, so the repressors began to avoid him, and they never gave him back his belongings," said Carlos Amel Oliva Torres, the youth leader of UNPACU.
After getting back home from prison, Tomás Magdariaga went on a hunger strike in order to have the stolen items returned. However, the State Security sent a supposed "activist" - in fact an active agent of the State Security called Aldo Rosales - to check him. Rosales claimed that when he visited Tomás, he was eating.
Some time passed and the two men - Tomás and Rosales - met on the street, where they have exchanged some words and then continued on their ways. Carlos Torres from UNPACU later said that "the agent offended the dissident, but did not go beyond a few words." Important is what happened next: after that incident, Rosales accused Tomás of having attacked him with a knife, which, according to him, Magdariaga took from a butchery store nearby.
The unjust trial
Tomás was accused of threatening Rosales and called to the court. Whereas Rosales, as a State Security agent, was allowed to take witnesses with him, Magdariaga was not allowed to do that. His witness would have been the vendor from the butchery store, from which he had allegedly taken the knife. Tomás, his family and UNPACU consider the trial a farce.
After the trial, in August, Tomás has been imprisoned again. He is currently in Boniato prison in Santiago de Cuba. To protest, he decided to go on a hunger strike, and because of that he was isolated and placed into a special punishment cell.
His niece went to visit him, affirming later that he was in a very bad state of health.
Rosales leaves the State Security
The story took another twist when Aldo Rosales decided leave the State Security and claimed that he had been a victim of blackmailing by the State Security in Cuban city of Palma Soriano - specifically by Major Damián Vásquez, better known as Norberto.
UNPACU published a video in which Rosales acknowledged the falsity of his accusation. The video states that he was intimidated and also promised a material reward: a house.
In his confession, Rosales said that Damián "Norberto" Vásquez referred to Magdariaga as the one who welcomes the opponents who go from one municipality to another, and who lends them money when José Daniel Ferrer (the leader of UNPACU and well known dissident in Cuba) has no money. Vasquéz claimed that Magdariaga was a very strong man in that organization and a person that has to be removed.
Aldo Rosales said in the video: "I feel very bad. I have no forgiveness from God for having done what I did.” He attempted suicide days later, ingesting medication and alcohol, but he was taken to the hospital on time.
What now?
Tomás Magdariaga went on a hunger strike more than 40 days ago, his health is getting worse every day. Many people have already asked for his immediate release, among them OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro, or prominent Cuban dissident Rosa María Payá.
This is the second time that Tomás Núñez Magdariaga is taken to prison for political reasons. In addition, this is his third hunger strike, having remaining sequels of previous food deprivation, suffering with problems with kidneys and digestive system.
People in Need is following the case of Tomás Magdariaga thanks to the Eye on Cuba project which aims to assist Cubans in exercising and demanding their rights through grassroot human rights initiatives covering all Cuban provinces. In addition to direct assistance on the ground, this project seeks to increase awareness of the international community upon the most flagrant abuses.
Cuba is a signatory of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and member of the Human Rights Council of the United Nations. However, the Cuban government repeatedly infringes human rights and refuses to recognize human rights monitoring as a legitimate activity. As a consequence, local human rights groups are denied legal existence and are victims of harassment, beatings and imprisonment.
