2010

On February 23, 2010, Orlando Zapata Tamayo died in a Havana hospital, where he had been transferred from prison after an 83-day hunger strike in Cuba.  Mr. Zapata was among the 75 internal opposition activists detained in Cuba in March of 2003. He and the others were quickly tried and sentenced.  Mr. Zapata was serving a 36-year sentence, extended from an original three-year sentence.  He was one of 55 Cubans who have been designated by Amnesty International as “Prisoners of Conscience.”

The Latin America Working Group expresses our utmost sorrow at his passing and our distress over this tragic and indefensible death. We call upon the Cuban government to institute a thorough investigation into Mr. Zapata’s death.

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In a decisive ruling for democracy, Colombia’s Constitutional Court determined February 26th that a law authorizing a referendum to change the constitution to permit a second consecutive reelection of President Álvaro Uribe would be unconstitutional. President Uribe immediately accepted the decision.

While some historic snowstorms and the President's Day recess sidetracked our congressional advocacy work in the first couple weeks of February, the introduction of the Peterson-Moran Cuba bill (HR 4645) has helped us regain our "travel for all" momentum and represents our best chance to end the travel ban on Cuba in 2010.