A man named Wilman Villar Mendoza has died in Cuba. He was a prisoner of conscience, and he died after a 50-day hunger strike. I have written about hunger strikes, particularly those undertaken in Cuba, in great detail. I won’t go into the Mendoza case now. Suffice it to say that Cuban democrats often feel they have no recourse, no choice.
Mendoza’s wife, or widow, Maritza Pelegrino Cabrales, is a member of the Ladies in White. This is the group composed of wives and other relatives of political prisoners. They have endured terrible things (although not as terrible as their men). According to a Cuban-American activist of my acquaintance, the authorities are threatening to take away the widow’s two daughters, ages five and seven, if she continues her membership in the Ladies in White.
So, she is facing that, as well as the miserable death of her husband (age 31, by the way).
Throughout the Free World, the Communist dictatorship has always had more friends than the democratic opposition has had. I often quote Jeane Kirkpatrick, who called this “both a puzzling and a profoundly painful phenomenon of our times.”
To read about the Mendoza case, go here. That is a report from the Coalition of Cuban-American Women. If Cuban Americans are yucky, right-wing, and untrustworthy to you, try Amnesty International, here.