Cuba vs. U.S. in the Death of Wilman Villar

The death of Cuban dissident Wilman Villar has been called many different things by many different people. To the U.S. State Department, it was a sacrifice by “a young and courageous defender of human rights.” To the Cuban government, it was an act by a “common criminal” in an effort to evade other charges. Despite the two separate views, one thing is certain: Cuban dissidents are finally garnering the political and international attention they have strived for.

                Wilman Villar, only 31 years old and arrested on charges of assault, disrespecting authority, and resisting arrest, died on the 19^th of January after a 50 day hunger strike. While the Cuban government says he joined political prisoners of conscience inside the jail to evade charges of domestic violence, Amnesty International determined that he had actually originally been arrested for peaceful protest. His death brought an international reaction of presidential level. In a statement’ President Obama said, “Villar’s senseless death highlights the ongoing repression of the Cuban people and the plight faced by brave individuals standing up for the universal rights of all Cubans.”  The State Department spokeswoman also spoke out, saying that Villar’s death “underscores the urgent need for greater international scrutiny of Cuba’s human rights record and international monitoring of Cuba’s prisons and prisoner population.”

                This criticism did not by any means go unnoticed by Cuban government officials. In fact, they fired back their own criticism of the U.S., particularly in a case in Illinois where a prisoner died of malnutrition. They also claimed that the U.S’s criticism was “hypocrisy and double standard."

                It seems as if the Cuban government is definitely on the defensive after this incident. The statements of President Obama and the State Department are something that cannot go unnoticed, and will continue to shed light on the conditions in Cuba’ particularly for political prisoners, but for the general public’s lack of human rights as well. Despite its petty counterattacks on the U.S., the Cuban government may now be under higher scrutiny than ever.

                In her statement, the spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of State also promised, “We will continue to support, in the words of the president, ‘pockets of freedom’ in Cuba through Cuban American family visits and remittances, purposeful travel, and humanitarian assistance to dissidents and their families.” We can only hope that this is something the U.S. will follow through on, and that this is just the start of progress towards a free Cuba.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/01/21/2600693/cuba-rejects-us-criticism-over.html

http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/01/20/2599352/us-reacts-to-cuban-dissidents.html