Opponent Miraida Martín Calderín demands news about her son’s health, in addition to his transfer to a lower severity regimen.
This June 20, Bianko Vargas Martín, a Cuban political prisoner, served 10 days on hunger strike at Kilo Cinco prison in Pinar del Río, according to his relatives.
Vargas Martín would have made the decision on June 12 after the criminal authorities sent him to a punishment cell. In retaliation for allegations of the living conditions of the inmates, which the opponent made by telephone call.
Since that day, Miraida Martín Calderín, his mother, has not received any news about the health of his son. Who suffers from asthma, has a valvular murmur and immunodeficiency.
«I’m demanding news from my child because I don’t know what health he’s in. I said that if in 48 hours I didn’t know anything I was going to go on strike too,». Said Martín Calderín, who like his son is a member of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU) and promoter of Cuba Decides.
The opponent, who has been on hunger strike for more than 24 hours, is also in a delicate state of health.
«It’s going to be detrimental to me to refrain from eating food. I’m diabetic and I need six meals a day, but I’m willing to take a chance because there’s nothing a mother can’t do for her children,» she told CubaNet.
Bianko Vargas Martín and one of his brothers were imprisoned while still minors, in retaliation for their mother’s activism at UNPACU. In 2013, they were declared prisoners of conscience by Amnesty International. At the time, Bianko served just over two years in prison.
Staying active in the opposition group led to him being sent back to prison in 2016, this time sentenced to 15 years of deprivation of liberty.
At first he was held in Boniato, the highest severity prison in Santiago de Cuba. Recently, he was transferred to another criminal, in the western end of the country.
Her mother is coordinator of one of UNPACU’s most active cells in Santiago de Cuba. His militancy in the opposition has cost him arrests and beatings by agents of the Ministry of the Interior.
Faced with Martin’s decision to remain on hunger strike as long as he receives no information on his son’s health and is transferred to a detachment (less severe regime). UNPACU reiterated its support for both activists. However, he stated that the movement does not encourage its members to conduct prolonged hunger strikes. Even though it acknowledged that «the arbitrariness of the Cuban regime, in most cases, leaves no alternative».
