The two are among 11 high-profile political dissidents who rejected a
deal for foreign exile as pushed by Havana.
Their move was rain on the political parade of the Americas' only
one-party Communist regime, which -- by releasing prisoners to church
officials -- is trying to portray itself as making progress on human
rights even as it forces its opponents to emigrate.
President Raul Castro's government, in desperate economic straits and
seeking international cooperation, faced embarrassment and
international outrage last year after a prominent dissident died
following his hunger strike.
Hunger strikers seem to be particularly noisome for Havana. Cuba
maintains it has no dissidents, and calls most political opponents
pawns in the pay of the United States.
But more than 100 political prisoners remain in the Caribbean nation
-- down from 201 in January 2010 -- according to Elizardo Sanchez, who
leads the Cuban Committee for Human Rights and National
Reconciliation.
And the strikers' move Wednesday came just as the local Roman Catholic
Church said Cuba would release four other prisoners charged with
piracy and send them to Spain.
The hunger strikers are part of a group of 52 political detainees who
were to be freed in a deal brokered by the Catholic Church with Castro
in July.
Of the group, 40 agreed to emigrate to Spain with their families and
one stayed in Cuba, but the remaining 11 are still in jail and refuse
to be exiled.
The agreed-upon deadline for their release expired on November 7.
Sanchez identified the hunger strikers as Diosdado Gonzalez and Pedro
Arguelles -- both considered prisoners of conscience by Amnesty
International.
The pair, who began a hunger strike Tuesday, has turned down the offer
to move to Spain and is demanding to be released in Cuba.
Gonzalez and Arguelles's protest is in solidarity with Gonzalez's wife
Alejandrina Garcia, who has only been drinking water since Friday.
"I will not stop this hunger strike until he is released," Garcia told
AFP in a phone call from her home in central Cuba.
"The government has made a mockery of these 11 men."
Laura Pollan, leader of the Ladies in White -- a group of relatives of
the jailed dissidents -- visited Garcia, a 44 year-old agronomist, on
Wednesday. She said she failed to dissuade her from continuing the
hunger strike.
"The government has raised false expectations, because it said that
everyone in the group would be released, including those who reject
leaving the country, but that has all been a lie," said Pollan.
Pollan's husband Hector Maseda is one of the jailed dissidents.
The four prisoners heading to Spain face piracy charges and do not
belong to the original group of 52, according to a note from the
office of the Archbishop of Havana, Cardinal Jaime Ortega.
Sanchez says the men are accused of using violence to hijack vessels
in failed attempts to flee Cuba, as well as other acts of violence.
"We are happy about to learn about the prison releases, but the
government is using Spain's open door to get rid of prisoners that it
does not want, while 11 prisoners of conscience remain in prison,"
Sanchez argued.
Cuban dissident Guillermo Farinas was awarded the European
Parliament's Sakharov prize in October after his latest hunger strike,
following the February death of fellow dissident Orlando Zapata.
Zapata's mother charged government officials with allowing her son to
die, which the Cuban government took the unusual step of denying
repeatedly, and detailing the medical care he received.
Farinas, who ended his latest hunger strike, was not allowed to travel
to pick up the prestigious Sakharov prize.
The dogs, which pulled tourist sleds in the Canadian ski resort of
Whistler, were reportedly killed by one tourism company worker using a
shotgun and a knife. Injured dogs tried to escape and one survived to
crawl from a mass grave a day later.
"No creature should ever have to suffer in the manner that has been
reported, and we want to ensure that nothing like this ever happens
again in our province," British Columbia premier Gordon Campbell in a
statement.
The province appointed a panel headed by a veterinarian to investigate
the two-day slaughter last April.
A criminal investigation was announced Monday by Canada's national
police force and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
The dogs reportedly were killed because business slumped in the two
months following the Games and they were no longer needed by tourism
company Outdoor Adventures, which sold dog-sled rides to tourists.
They were among several hundred owned by Outdoor Adventures and its
subsidiary Howling Dog Whistler Inc..
Outdoor Adventures said in a statement that it was "shocked and
appalled" by the description of the killings. It has suspended sales
of sled rides to tourists.
The company said it was aware of the planned euthanization of dogs
last April but "expected this to be done in a proper, legal and humane
manner." It "did not instruct the employee to euthanize the dogs in
the manner described."
The case came to light on Monday after the unnamed worker claimed
post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of slaughter, and
reportedly was awarded compensation from British Columbia worker's
board.
After the case sparked worldwide media reports, rallies were held in
support of the dogs and a Facebook campaign was launched to boycott
Outdoor Adventures.
In addition to the slaughter, the British Columbia task force will
report on the regulation and oversight of the dog sledding industry
and the role of government agencies including the worker's
compensation board, which did not communicate the case "to appropriate
authorities." The board's report is due in March.
Terrified residents emerged to check the damage after Severe Tropical
Cyclone Yasi hit land at around midnight, packing winds of up to 290
kilometres (180 miles) per hour, in a region still reeling from record
floods.
Queensland state premier Anna Bligh warned that 90 percent of the main
street in the small town of Tully, south of Cairns, had "extensive
damage", while the coastal community of Cardwell suffered "significant
devastation".
"Some people will be going back into their communities... and facing
scenes of considerable devastation," Bligh said.
"There are people now that have lost their homes, they lost their
farms, they have lost their crops and they have lost their livelihoods
and I have no doubt that many of them will experience a great sense of
despair."
Regional hub Cairns, a centre for foreign tourists visiting the Great
Barrier Reef, was spared Yasi's worst with problems largely restricted
to fallen trees and minor damage to buildings.
But in small towns further south, families cowered as roofs were
ripped from homes, and some 10,500 people huddled in makeshift
evacuation centres as the storm raged with a din likened to a jet
engine or an express train.
"We were sitting at the kitchen table, we heard a ripping and off came
the roof," said Scott Torrens, 37, who was sheltering with his wife,
three children and father-in-law in the family home near Innisfail.
Click image to see photos of the cyclone aftermath
AP Photo/Rick Rycroft
"Before we knew about it, it was gone. It happened that quick,"
Torrens told AFP.
Bligh said no deaths or serious injuries were immediately reported,
adding that much of the region would be breathing a "sigh of relief"
following dire predictions of widespread catastrophic damage.
But she warned that a full picture was yet to emerge from a group of
worst-hit towns, where communications and road access remained
difficult.
"It's a long way to go before I say we've dodged any bullets. It is
still not safe out on any of those streets... many injuries and
fatalities can occur after the cyclone has passed," she said.
The maximum-category five storm, reportedly large enough to cover most
of the United States and with winds stronger than Hurricane Katrina,
follows widespread flooding that left much of the state under water.
Authorities warned residents to stay in their homes to avoid a second
storm surge along the coast and fallen power lines, as strong winds
howled. Yasi was downgraded to category two but threatened more towns
as it blew inland.
"Surging tides, powerlines that are down, flooding danger and there
are some parts of Queensland that are bracing for the cyclone to come
across land and to still hit," said Prime Minister Julia Gillard of
the ongoing disaster.
"People cannot let their guard down yet. The danger is not over."
Queensland premier Bligh said Tully's hospital had lost its roof,
although its seven patients were safe. Tully cane farmer Vince
Silvestro said the country town resembled a war zone.
"There's so much damage it's just incredible," he told AAP news
agency. "Our crops are completely destroyed... The countryside is
completely stripped, the trees, even the hospital's damaged.
"When I woke up it looked like what it would have looked like in World
World II or something if the city had been bombed."
The storm's size and power dwarfed Cyclone Tracy, which hit the
northern Australian city of Darwin in 1974, killing 71 people and
flattening more than 90 percent of its houses.
It was also twice the size and far stronger than the category four
Cyclone Larry that caused Aus$1.5 billion ($1.5 billion) of damage
after hitting agricultural areas around Innisfail, just south of
Cairns, in 2006.
Queensland, a mining, farming and tourism hotspot, is still battling
to recover from floods which left about three-quarters of the
sprawling state under water, even inundating large parts of its
capital, Brisbane.
Witnesses said also that there were many people wounded by fire coming
from the October Bridge where partisans of embattled Egyptian
President Hosni Mubarak were positioned.
Sporadic gunfire started around 4:00 am (0200 GMT) and could still be
heard, an AFP correspondent reported.
Egypt braced Thursday for another day of violence after backers of
Mubarak stormed the Cairo stronghold of anti-regime protesters,
sparking clashes.
Washington, which has called for restraint since demonstrations broke
out 10 days ago, deplored the violence against "peaceful protesters"
while UN chief Ban Ki-moon said the attacks on demonstrators were
"unacceptable."
The European Union added its voice Wednesday to calls from US
President Barack Obama for the transition from Mubarak's
three-decade-long rule to begin immediately after the veteran
president announced late on Tuesday that he would not seek re-election
in September.
But the Egyptian foreign ministry said such calls "sought to inflame
the internal situation," while Vice President Omar Suleiman, who was
appointed this week, insisted there could be no dialogue with the
opposition until all the protesters went home.
From early afternoon until well into the night, regime supporters and
opponents threw stones and battled with sticks and fists in Cairo's
Tahrir Square, the epicentre of the nine straight days of protests
that have rocked the Egyptian regime and sent shock waves around the
Arab world.
Tensions had been rising from early morning when Mubarak supporters
began staging their own rallies around Cairo, saying the president
represented stability amid growing insecurity, and branding as
"traitors" those who want his departure.
A hard core of tens of thousands of anti-regime protesters had
remained at Tahrir Square through the night, angry at the
82-year-old's refusal to step down immediately in line with the
demands of opposition leaders for a clean break with his regime.
Witnesses and AFP correspondents said bands of Mubarak supporters
raided the square without warning, some on camels and horses, creating
mayhem that quickly degenerated into violent clashes.
Regime supporters dropped concrete blocks on the opposition protesters
from the roofs and balconies of surrounding buildings.
The worst of the fighting was just outside the world-famous Egyptian
Museum, which was targeted by vandals last week.
Soldiers deployed in the square took cover from the projectiles after
initially standing on tanks to appeal in vain for calm.
After sundown, with Molotov cocktails being thrown, troops opened up
on the crowd with water hoses to disperse protesters. Two petrol bombs
landed inside the grounds of the museum.
Amnesty International's Hassiba Hadj-Sahraoui rebuked the army, saying
it had "failed in its commitment to protect peaceful protesters. The
fact that such violence is allowed to continue as they stand there
begs the question whether they have orders not to interfere."
AFP correspondents saw scores of wounded carried to a makeshift
hospital in a mosque near Tahrir Square, and a medic there said the
injury toll ran into the hundreds.
Health Minister Ahmed Hosni Farid told state television 639 people
were wounded in the clashes in the square.
Although an AFP correspondent heard a number of gunshots and saw one
young man hit in the chest and evacuated, the minister insisted: "No
one was wounded by gun shots. The majority of the wounded were injured
by stones."
Both sides continued throwing rocks and skirmishing into the night,
with army and civilian ambulances coming to take the wounded away.
Anti-regime protesters stopped handing over pro-Mubarak militants to
the army as they said they were just being released. Instead, they
kept some 30 of those they captured at an improvised prison near a
metro station.
The captives were badly beaten, an AFP correspondent reported.
Several foreign journalists covering the confrontations in Cairo
became the target of violent attacks, a media watchdog and news
organisations said.
Correspondents, photographers and cameramen reporting on the fierce
clashes in Tahrir Square said that the Mubarak supporters were hostile
to the press.
Media watchdog group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said the
"shocking" attacks appeared to be in revenge for the coverage of nine
days of protests calling for the departure of Mubarak.
Protesters have said they will proceed with plans for a massive
protest on Friday, their designated "departure day" for Mubarak.
US State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said the attacks on the
protesters were a "direct threat" to the Egyptian people.
"We don't know who unleashed these thugs on the streets in Cairo...
Whoever they are, there needs to be accountability here. This was
clearly an attempt to intimidate the protesters," Crowley said.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said: "If any of the violence is
instigated by the government, it should stop immediately."
Tensions rose after Mubarak addressed the nation late on Tuesday,
refusing to step down immediately, the key demand of the protesters
who have flooded the streets.
"My first responsibility is now to bring security and stability to the
nation to ensure a peaceful transition of power," he said.
Those remarks were seized upon by Obama, who spoke to Mubarak after
the speech, and announced on television that he had told the Egyptian
president an orderly transition "must begin now".
Pressed after Wednesday's bloody violence on what that meant, Obama's
spokesman said: "Now means yesterday.
"When we said now, we meant yesterday. What the people of Egypt want
to see is not some process that starts a week, a month or several
months from now," Gibbs added.
The European Union added its voice to those calls with foreign affairs
chief Catherine Ashton urging Mubarak to act "as quickly as possible."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that there was a
battle afoot in Egypt between those who favoured democracy and those
who wanted to enforce an Iranian-style radical Islamist system, that
could destabilise the key Middle East peace partner "for many years."
But the State Department spokesman played down such concerns.
"We would hope that the next government of Egypt will play a
constructive role in the peace process and will recognise the
importance of having a peaceful relationship with Israel," said
Crowley.
