Cuban political prisoner Orlando Zapata Tamayo has died (UPDATED)

Feb. 23 -  UPDATED at 9:30

"They managed to do what they wanted. They ended the life of a fighter for human rights,'' his mother said. BBC

Amnesty prisoner of conscience Orlando Zapata Tamayo 'unrecognizable' after 85-day fast over beatings The Guardian

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, of Nebraska, said in his own statement that ''freedom-loving people everywhere should hold the Cuban regime responsible for the fate of Orlando Zapata Tamayo.'' The New York Times

On February 9, we denounced that prisoner of conscience Orlando Zapata Tamayo was dying in a Cuban prison.

Zapata Tamayo, one of the Group of 75 arrested during the Black Spring of 2003, was originally sentenced to 25 years in Castro's Gulag.

But after spending 7 years in jail, he was tried again and his sentence was extended to 47 years.

To protest that arbitrary decision, he went on a hunger strike last December.

Today, his mother called from Cuba to say that her son was pronounced dead at 3 PM this afternoon.

"I accuse the Castro regime for the murder of my son," she said.

Orlando Zapata Tamayo, a Black Cuban declared prisoner of conscience, died inside Castro's Gulag.

We will see if any of the so called Black leaders or Black organizations in the United States; South African leader Nelson Mandela or anyone anywhere in the world, will denounce this new crime by the racist and fascist tyranny that has been ruling Cuba for 51 long years.

Don't hold your breath.

May this brave and patriotic Black Cuban rest in peace. The peace that the fascist and racist Castro brothers denied him.
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