Cuban dissident on hunger strike to protest death
HAVANA — Cuban dissident Guillermo Farinas has launched a hunger strike, his 24th in 15 years, to ask the government to prosecute those "responsible" for the death of a fellow activist.
"I started the hunger strike today at noon (1600 GMT), demanding the government to bring the perpetrators of the murder of Juan Soto and stop beating dissidents," the 49-year-old Farinas told AFP via telephone from his home in Santa Clara, east of Havana.
The online journalist, who led a 135-day hunger strike last year to demand the release of political prisoners, said he would keep up his protest "until the ultimate consequences" and would only agree to negotiate with the government on "equal conditions."
Soto's supporters say he died last month after being taken to the Santa Clara hospital following his arrest in a park and subsequent beating. Cuban official media quoted Soto's doctor and his sister as saying that police brutality had nothing to do with his death.
It seems that not much change has occurred during the House of Castro's first succession. The scepter has passed from Fidel I to Raul I, but the dynasty lives on Long live the revolution! Long live the king!
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