古巴：渴望自由

CUBA’S leadership understands only too well how starving to death can help a cause. In 2000 Fidel Castro, who had apparently been moved by the plight of Irish republican hunger-strikers, approved the construction in Havana of a memorial to Bobby Sands and his fellow prisoners. Gerry Adams, Sinn Fein’s leader, attended its unveiling.

古巴領導人非常了解絕食而死會帶給革命事業多大的協助。2000年，Fidel Castro顯然被愛爾蘭共和軍絕食者的處境所感動，同意在哈瓦那為Bobby Sands和追隨他的絕食者興建紀念碑。新芬黨黨魁Gerry Adams受邀參加揭幕儀式。

Now, the same form of protest has been turned on Cuba’s rulers. In February Orlando Zapata, a 42-year-old plumber and bricklayer, died after 12 weeks without food. He was demanding better conditions in Cuba’s grim prisons. A second hunger-striker, Guillermo Fariñas, is critically ill. Although not in jail, he is calling for the release of 25 ailing prisoners. In an online letter he said dying would be an “honour”.

現在，同樣的抗議形式轉而朝向古巴的統治者。今年二月，現年42歲的水管工人兼泥水匠Orlando Zapata在絕食十二週之後死亡。他要求改善古巴監獄嚴苛殘忍的生活條件。第二名絕食者Guillermo Fariñas（如圖）目前罹患重病。雖然人不在監獄，但他要求釋放25名重病的政治犯。他在網路上發表一封公開信，表示因絕食而死是一種「光榮」。

The tactic has worked. On July 7th, Cuba’s Catholic church announced that the government had told it that 52 prisoners arrested in 2003 would be freed from jail. Five were set to leave immediately, and the rest are expected to be liberated (but then exiled) in the next few months. If implemented, it will be Cuba’s first mass-release of political prisoners since 1998.

這招絕食戰術已經發揮作用。七月七日，古巴天主教會宣布政府已經知會教會，2003年逮捕的52名政治犯將從監獄釋放。其中五位政治犯會立即獲釋，其他政治犯預計在未來幾個月釋放（但要流亡海外）。如果實現，這將是自1998年以來古巴第一次大規模釋放政治犯。

The hunger strikes were probably what prodded Raúl Castro, who became Cuba’s president in 2006, to act. They were attracting unwelcome attention. In May Jaime Ortega, the cardinal of Havana, negotiated the lifting of a ban on marches by the Ladies in White, a group of wives and mothers of political prisoners, and an end to their harassment by government-organised mobs. He later convinced Raúl Castro to free a paraplegic prisoner, Ariel Sigler.

絕食抗議或許可以刺激2006年就任古巴總統的Raúl Castro採取行動，他們正在吸引不受歡迎的注意。今年五月，哈瓦那樞機主教Jaime Ortega談判取消關於白衣女士（政治犯的妻子和母親）的遊行禁令，，以及結束政府組織暴民對白衣女士的騷擾。後來，他說服Raúl Castro釋放一名癱瘓的政治犯Ariel Sigler。

International pressure also grew stronger. The church called in reinforcements from abroad: last month the Vatican’s senior diplomat, Dominique Mamberti, went to Cuba and met the president. That trip was followed on July 6th by a visit from Miguel Ángel Moratinos, Spain’s foreign minister. The timing of the prisoners’ release—as well as the decision to send the first five to Spain—seems to have been aimed at giving Mr Moratinos something to show for his effort.

國際壓力也日漸強大。天主教會號召來自國外的聲援︰上個月，梵諦岡資深外交官Dominique Mamberti來訪古巴並晉見總統。這趟旅行之後，緊接著西班牙外交部長Miguel Ángel Moratinos在七月六日進行訪問。釋放政治犯的時間表—以及將前五名政治犯送往西班牙的決定—似乎一直是Miguel Ángel Moratinos努力奔走的目標。 更多信息请访问：http://www.24en.com/

Official Cuban media damns political prisoners as “mercenaries” in the pocket of the United States. This release will reduce their number by about a third, leaving 100 or so in jail—half the average of recent years. The outbreak of clemency suggests that Raúl Castro may have decided that exiling dissidents is easier than locking them up: as one Western diplomat in Havana says, the president “seems to view [the prisoners] as an unfortunate inheritance from his brother.” Their release will improve relations with the European Union, which will meet in September to discuss Cuba, and encourage those in America who want to loosen trade and travel restrictions on the country.

古巴官方媒體指責政治犯是美國口袋裡的「貪財者」。這次釋放將減少約三分之一人數，留下一百人左右監禁—相當於最近幾年平均人數的一半。外界出現仁慈的聲音，建議Raúl Castro決定讓異議份子流亡海外可能比監禁他們容易得多︰正如哈瓦那的西方外交官表示，Raúl Castro「似乎將（這些政治犯）視為兄長留給他的燙手山芋。」釋放他們將會改善古巴與歐盟的外交關係，歐盟將在今年九月開會討論古巴，並且鼓勵想要鬆綁與古巴貿易和旅行限制的美洲國家。

But Fidel Castro, who is still the power behind the throne in Cuba, may block any attempt to free the remaining prisoners, even if they are sent overseas. In 1955, as a young revolutionary, he was freed from jail by Fulgencio Batista, a dictator, following international pressure. He knows better than anyone what happened next.

但是，仍躲在古巴總統大位後面垂簾聽政的Fidel Castro可能會阻擋釋放其他政治犯的任何嘗試，即使他們將被送往海外。1955年，當Fidel Castro還是一位年輕的革命家，在國際壓力之下，他從獨裁者Fulgencio Batista的監獄裡獲得釋放。他應該比任何人都清楚，接下來會發生什麼事。